Last Sunday I preached from 1 Timothy 6 on contentment. Paul tells Timothy that godliness with contentment is great gain. It is hardest to be content in the midst of suffering. That's why I think this call to contentment is also a call to receive suffering; to treat our trials as a temporary treasure. They are temporary because, for the believer, they will not last. They are treasures since they magnify in our lives the magnifence of God and prepare us, through pain, for the glory of heaven.
Suffering is, therefore, a temporary treasure.
On April 16, 1530, Martin Luther preached a sermon on the cross and suffering. It was the Saturday before Easter, and he wanted the congregation to understand that the believer can receive suffering as a temporary treasure. This is possible because, through faith, we share in Christ's suffering, a suffering that conquered sin and death and brings everlasting life, the true and lasting treasure:
If you are willing to suffer, very well, then the treasure and consolation which is promised and given to you is so great that you ought to suffer willingly and joyfully because Christ and his suffering is being bestowed upon you and made your own. And if you cn believe this, then in time of great fear and trouble, you will be able to say: Even though I suffer long, very well then, what is that compared with the great treasure which my God has given to me, that I shall live eternally with him?
Look what happens then: the suffering would be sweet and easy and no longer an eternal suffering, but only a modicum which lasts only a short time and soon passes away, as St. Paul [II Cor. 4:17], and St. Peter [1 Pet. 1:6], and also Christ himself says in the Gospels [John 16:16-22]. For they look to that great, immeasurable gift, which is that Christ with his suffering and merit has become altogether ours. Thus the suffering of Christ has become so mighty and strong that it fills heaven and earth and breaks the power and might of the devil and hell, of death and sin. And then if you compare this treasure with your affliction and suffering, you will consider it but small loss to lose a little property, honor, health, wife, child, and even your own life. But if you refuse to regard this treasure and to suffer for it, so be it; go on and let it lie. He who does not believe will also receive none of these unspeakable goods and gifts.
I don't want to suffer. But I know that when it comes, from the tiniest inconvenience to the deepest pain, it can be welcomed as a temporary treasure preparing me for "these unspeakable goods and gits."
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