Monday, March 14, 2016

Chapter 18a (3.8.1-7): What do we need to bear our Cross

Image result for Jesus bearing our cross
 Jesus said to his disciples, “whomever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16: 24).

Calvin begins the discussion of why we need to bear our cross, by setting the standard for the “godly minded” to the same standard as for Christ’s disciples. The standards include, tests and tribulations which, is prepared for the children of God.

Calvin affirms that it is the heavenly Father’s will to put his own children to a test. “Beginning with Christ, his first born, He follows this plan with all his children” (Institutes, 3.8.1). Therefore Jesus Christ bore the cross while on earth at the Father’s behest. The Apostle Paul wrote, “That it behooved him to learn obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5: 8).

Christ by his example of submission to obedience for our sake takes the lead such that we have no choice but to follow this lead. It is therefore part Apostle Paul’s teachings that we are destined to conform to Christ. Calvin supports Apostle Paul that suffering, difficulty, and harsh conditions be our portion but in bearing our cross, “a great comfort comes to us; we share Christ’s suffering in order that as he has passed from a labyrinths of all evils into heavenly glory, we may in like manner be led through various tribulations to the same glory” (Institutes, 3.8.1).

Calvin wants to know how such bitterness and suffering of the cross strengthen our fellowship with Christ. He is of the opinion that “by communion with him the very suffering themselves not only become blessed to us but also help much in promoting our salvation” (Institutes, 3.8.1).

Accordingly, Calvin writes that “the cross leads us to perfect trust in God’s power” (Institutes 3.8.2), for which reason we must continually be under the cross. We are inclined to depend on our weak nature and attribute whatever happens to our nature and confidently and proudly rely on it as if our powers are sufficient without God’s grace. For this Calvin teaches that God can prove our incapacity and frailty by afflicting us with disgrace, or poverty or other calamities that we learn to depend on the power of God.

In bearing the cross, God provides the necessary assistance that He has promised which Apostle Paul teaches – in which our hope is strengthened. It is in this that the “goodies,” are to be expected for the cross also teaches us to rest upon God alone with the result that we do not faint or yield and you may persevere unconquered to the end.

Another purpose of bearing the cross, according to Calvin is, “to test our patience and instruct us to obedience,” (Institutes 3.8.3). For this God tried Abraham and he did not refuse to sacrifice his only son” (Genesis 22: 1, 12). Peter also teaches that our faith is proved by tribulations as gold is tested in a fiery furnace.

To Calvin, the Cross is a medicine. Calvin stresses the importance of obedience by considering also what he calls “the great wanton impulse on our flesh to shake off God’s yoke if we for a moment softly and indulgently treat that impulse” (Institutes, 3.8.5). That we tend to ignore God’s goodness and rather get ourselves corrupted all the time without discipline. But God sees this and restrains us with the cross.

Finally, in the suffering salvation is achieved as an honor from God. Calvin states that “not only they who labor for the defense of the gospel but they who in anyway maintain the cause of righteousness suffer persecution for righteousness” (Institutes, 3.8.7). Calvin advices that we should not grief when we devote our efforts to God, when we find ourselves in difficulties for God’s sake because in such matters God declares us blessed.

Calvin mentions Jesus Christ the first Son of God and Abraham in the light of suffering and obedience for us to emulate. What is suffering today, and how do we find obedience in such suffering?



15 comments:

  1. Great post!
    Suffering is all around us today. Sometime obedience can be seen as simply getting up in the morning and facing the new day. Often the lessons found in tragedy are long after the event. One may need the perspective of some time and healing to be able to see God’s hand shaping one’s life for the better.
    I thought of the Amish community who forgave the gunman who stormed into a one room schoolhouse, shooting 10 young girls. He killed five young daughters. The obedience shown by the Amish people was their immediate forgiveness of the killer. The day after attending the funeral service of their own daughters, families attended the killer’s service. They hugged his widow and his family. A year later this community even donated money to the widow and her three young children. Counselor Jonas Beiler says that “tragedy changes you. You can’t stay the same. If you bring what little pieces you have left to God, he somehow helps you make good out of it.” (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14900930) I suppose that is the fruit of obedience.

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    1. Laurie:

      Thank you for your statement that "suffering is all around us today." Indeed God speaks to us, prompts us, opens us up to things, but we do not see, hear, because we do not listen.
      We are happy when all is well with us, but we grumble when things are not going our way. We forget what the scripture teaches us in our adversity.
      Job listened to God and he heard the voice of God in his suffering and so he never wavered in his faith. In the end, God restored him and all he lost in many fold.
      I am happy you used the Amish community case as an example, in their suffering, hey showed forgiveness and love to a neighbor. Are we up to such task? God speaks, but we do not listen.

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    2. Laurie:

      Thank you for your statement that "suffering is all around us today." Indeed God speaks to us, prompts us, opens us up to things, but we do not see, hear, because we do not listen.
      We are happy when all is well with us, but we grumble when things are not going our way. We forget what the scripture teaches us in our adversity.
      Job listened to God and he heard the voice of God in his suffering and so he never wavered in his faith. In the end, God restored him and all he lost in many fold.
      I am happy you used the Amish community case as an example, in their suffering, hey showed forgiveness and love to a neighbor. Are we up to such task? God speaks, but we do not listen.

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  2. Very thorough and informative post, Kwasi. There is lots of support from the Bible on this one. I always find it interesting how modern philosophers think they have discovered something new, when it has been in the Bible (or the Institutes) all along. This section reminds me of Nietzche's famous comment, "What does not kill me makes me stronger."

    Suffering today, I think, is not that much different than it has always been. In this country we do not do as much of it as elsewhere, perhaps, but it is in this world. I think we sometimes magnify our own problems. Truthfully, most of them are self-created, either by individual or societal choices. But whatever the magnitude or origin of our sufferings they do have the ultimate effect of helping us to get just a little glimpse of what Christ suffered for us, and help us to be less confident of the flesh, and put more reliance on God.

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  3. I wish Calvin would have been a little more clear about whether he means that 'all suffering' is from God or just 'suffering for the sake of righteousness' is from God. I understand the concept that how we respond to suffering is a revelation of our true faith. I understand how suffering makes the proud, humble. But brother, we've all seen suffering that if from God, God is NOT worthy of praise.

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  4. I wish Calvin would have been a little more clear about whether he means that 'all suffering' is from God or just 'suffering for the sake of righteousness' is from God. I understand the concept that how we respond to suffering is a revelation of our true faith. I understand how suffering makes the proud, humble. But brother, we've all seen suffering that if from God, God is NOT worthy of praise.

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    1. I am reading this as the news of the bombings in Brussels are being reported. You make a good point Tim. I am reading 3.8.7 on how we are supposed to rejoice in our suffering. It seems that God might "order" the suffering and if suffering is really joy shouldn't we just participate in creating it? This seems like a logical no, but the terrorist mindset certainly has adopted this mindset. In 1.17.5 Calvin refutes such a stance a explaining that if men in performing evil are "serving God's will, shall they be punished? On the contrary, I deny that they are serving God's will. for we shall not say that one who is motivated by an evil inclination, by only obeying his own wicked desire, renders service to God at His bidding." It seems like we have some ability, dictated by evil, to put off providence or to go counter to God. (2.2.7) Perhaps it is in this disobedience that such suffering is seen?

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  5. Kwasi thank you for this summary. As I think of suffering, I am reminded of the story of Mary, Martha and Lazarus in John 11:1-45. These two women suffered a great loss! Their faith was challenged when they called Jesus out "If you had been here!" In this case I don't believe that God caused Lazarus to die. But God was able to use this unfortunate event - including the resurrection of this dead man to demonstrate a greater power and glory! I wonder what calvin would say about this particular example of suffering. There are tragedies in our world which are simply unexplainable, the thousands of deaths in a natural disaster, the senseless violence of a shooting in a public place. For me, God does not cause this suffering, but walks with us through it.

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  6. Kwasi, thank you for pulling out all the best parts of this section. As others have mentioned, this is a hard section for me. It comes smack up against my notion that God is not actually meting out our adversities and disasters, as opposed to Calvin's definition of giving medicine in greater measure to some than others (3.8.5). I am all in when it comes to reliance on God through adversity, and even the need for troublesome circumstances to bring us back to God when we get too big for our britches, but the thought of God doling out our adversities is unsettling.

    This reminds me of a recent conversation between pastors on Facebook concerning the statement "God will never give us more than we can handle." Many were very concerned that the first part of that statement is untrue. God doesn't give out the trouble. Now that I reflect on this more, I wonder if the section part of the statement contains the great falsehood. "We" don't actually handle it unless we give it over to God to handle through us. Calvin is very adamant about that point and I would agree (3.8.2). Whatever comes our way, it is imperative that "we" don't handle it without God. If we can master than, perhaps it is less relevant to consider how the tragedy arose.

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  8. Translating suffering and sacrifice into our American culture can be hard to navigate. But I do think matters of the heart counts just as much as matters of physical depravity. There are people who struggle with matters of the heart and for us to be sympathetic towards them and feel their pain is the same as being in a prison or being worried about a government persecution. Start Over (https://youtu.be/nCmHiRUDBr4) is a song about experiencing freedom that Jesus offers. It is upon the church to lead people to these healing concepts. Our cross we carry is the gospel. We should embrace conversations that lead to us sharing our faith or what God is doing in our life. We carry experiences that people need to experience for themselves.

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  9. I think this goes back to "take up your cross" and self-denial. If I truly love Jesus above all else, any struggle that I am going through will have no power over me. I know this all goes against the flesh and the world. I know I'll never be perfect in this. However, I know that no matter what happens in this life, I don't go through it alone. I think you see Calvin's "total depravity" being expressed here when he talks about our natural inclination to attribute everything good to our own flesh.

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  10. Thank you for your post!
    From our reading and in your post, Calvin's comment about the Cross as medicine struck me as I had not seen medicine as a restraint, but when reading this I became reflective of the ways in which 'medicine' as in the profession often restrains us (sprained or broken bone for instance). And then I realized medicines as in prescriptions act to restrain (or increase) chemicals, hormones etc... So, this intrigued me and gave me a new perspective of the Cross.

    In answer to your question, What is suffering today...
    My thought is that our suffering today is much like it was in Calvin's day. We are separate from God and in a melting pot of sin and dismay. Our suffering comes from what we see in other's lives, and what we feel and endure in our own lives. The plan of God is a mystery, my want of an explanation for all the hurt and pain of our lives, goes unanswered. This is suffering upon suffering for me, anyway.
    We are asked to be patient, to be grateful and to be faithful. That is to be our response, but often I am not any and certainly not all of these at one time. Which in some way answers the second part of your question. But, to add, that if we seek to walk, to make decisions as if we were Christ like, if we shoot high in our motivations and actions, that is or should be our goal. Just to continue to shoot high in our efforts and to continue to reflect and to be patient and allow God to work in and through us, as we tarry through. I suppose this is part of the struggle, and therefore the suffering.

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  11. Thank you for the great summary this week. I think that suffering is tough to define in the world today. One person's suffering may be no coffee in the morning and another's suffering may be the lack of clean drinking water. I am seeing the good that comes in times of suffering as we are currently dealing with major flooding in Louisiana. Some have lost everything and others are extending their hands to help. People who share in suffering often overcome and become very close.

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  12. Great post, It's in the suffering that great faith is produced. Easy times rarely produce growth. During the time of suffering we don't "in this world" know we are growing. When we suffer we grow in strength, faith, and character. Character builds Godly dependents, I think this is because we see ourselves for what we are and God for what He is. He is infinitely Holy we are total depraved.

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