By Joseph Tson
The communist attack in Romania is a three-fold one directed toward individuals, churches, and pastors. The primary plan of attack on individual Christians is to make their life miserable where they work. Discriminate! Demote! Keep them at the lowest place. Continually tell them how they are not wanted there, that they are merely tolerated. Make trouble for them! Harass them! There are few in prison. The main threat is this constant daily trouble, harassment, and hate.
Now I was a pastor to such people. I knew how much they had to suffer because they were always coming to me, their pastor. It was mainly this question of 'Why?' 'Why, pastor, why do we have to suffer like this? Why does God allow it? I had to study this issue of suffering. I had to give them an explanation, a reason for it.
Personally, I have a problem with certain preachers who say, 'Come to Jesus and all your problems will be solved.' I do not find that message in the New Testament. I find a Christ who says, 'Before following Me, stop and ponder. You have to enter a narrow gate, to walk a narrow path with very few on it. You will be hated because of Me. I am poor, poorer than a fox. You must know whom you follow. And you must know that it involves taking a cross daily. A cross means dying. Make your mind up and only then follow.'
The great book on suffering is I Peter. In chapter two, Peter is speaking of suffering for doing good. Then he adds in verse 21, 'To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.' 'To THIS you were called.' To what? We were called to suffering. You see, suffering is a call. It is not an accident.
I had the extremely rare privilege, for my generation of Romanians, of going to study theology at Oxford University in 1969. I was aware, during the three years that I spent abroad, that when I returned to Romania, I would be facing difficult situations. I was preparing myself for the worst. One way I prepared myself was by going repeatedly to the Martyrs' Monument in the center of Oxford. Three giants of the faith, Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer, were burned at the stake there in Oxford during the Reformation period. Over and over I meditated on the words engraved there: '...rejoicing that to them it was given not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake...' These three men went to the stake rejoicing that they were given the honor to suffer for Jesus.
Now what is involved in suffering? What does suffering mean? As we go further in Scripture, we find three deep meanings. When I try to arrange them in logical sequence, I see that they are actually three steps toward Christian maturity. As we examine them, please try to locate yourself-just where are you in these stages.
First of all, suffering is for our perfection. Peter speaks of this aspect of suffering. I especially appreciate his words in I Peter 2:5. He is speaking about suffering and in that context mentions that we are living stones, to be built one day into a spiritual temple. What does he mean by that? He has in mind Solomon's temple.
Now Solomon had a fantastic team of architects who calculated every stone needed in that building and planned for each one individually. He had 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains in the quarry, cutting and polishing every stone as it was planned. They were all brought to the building site and one day the signal was given 'Build!' And the temple was assembled.
We are specifically told that there was no noise of chisel or hammer. Why does the Old Testament emphasize that? Because only then can we understand what Peter says. We, God's saints from all ages, are living stones, which one day are going to be built into a spiritual temple. What a beauty that building will be-with God inside! And as we are assembled together, there will be no noise of chisel or hammer. Why? Because the chipping off will have been done on this planet. Here God has His stonecutters, His hammers and His chisels working on us for that day when we will be perfected.
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