Suffering Submission and Salvation

When we think of being a Christian what are the first three words that come to mind? For me it’s probably Salvation, holiness and heaven. What about you? I’m sure there are many words that come to mind, but I wonder how often the three S’s come up. Suffering, Submission and Salvation.

I am pretty confident salvation might be up there, but we try not to think too much about the other two, that’s for sure. Especially not in our contemporary American- greatest country in the world, technologically advanced society. We have invented things to make sure we eliminate suffering, we certainly don’t want to think that it is a part of our religion.

And submission has been fodder for tales of domination and brutality. Certainly this is not embodied in the service of the one true God. Certainly not. At least not this understanding of it. But as we will see, when we look at the life of Jesus, our example we see these traits as good and godly things that are not simply a part of our religion, but are the foundation for it.

As we look into the letter written to the Hebrews, we know that a substantial portion of this letter goes about setting forth proofs for the Israelites to except Jesus as God and Christ, and explaining what he accomplished on the cross. This brief section from Hebrews five is no exception and reveals quite plainly who Jesus is, and what he accomplished. Listen to what the writer says about Jesus and his priesthood.
Hebrews 5:5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,
"You are my Son,
today I have begotten you";

Now priests were the intercessors between God and man. They were the ones who could speak on our behalf. They were responsible for taking care that worship was done properly and they were the ones considered closest to God. Of course you may recall that Peter declares all Christians to be priests, therefore this is the responsibility of everyone of us. Nevertheless, Jesus is referred to here as a high priest.

Now we know that in the eyes of the Jews of Jerusalem in 30 AD this was not the case. He was not a levite, which all priests had to be. However, he did get his priestly orders from his lineage, for as verse 5 says, he was begotten directly from God. Surely this superceded any Levitical claim of priesthood. But he continues in verse 6 to describe it even more.
[6] as he says also in another place,
"You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek."

There are two important things to see in this. One Melchizedek was a mysterious figure in the Old Testament that appeared to Abraham whose priesthood had no beginning or end, at least in the eyes of the Jewish system. He transcended the Israelite system because he was before it and was not bound by it. Also of importance is that Melchizedek was a priest-king. He was not only priest, but king. That sure seems applicable to Jesus, doesn’t it?

So we have established Jesus as an unending high priest, ordained by God himself in the order of the king priestly line. Yet what does this great high priest and king do?
[7] In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

It is believed that this is referring to the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus spent his last night before he died. But what does it say he did. He prayed… with loud cries and tears… Is this what we think of when we think of praying? He was emotional, gut wrenching, heartfelt, honest, transparent and real in his prayers. He wasn’t just saying the nice words, dear Lord please help me through this difficult time.. No! He was weeping and bawling and getting serious with God. We see David doing the same thing in Psalm 51, although under different circumstances. Yet both these men knew how to be serious in prayer. Now while Jesus was praying for himself, he was also praying for you, and for me. He was praying about what was going to happen and about God’s will. He was praying earnestly because he was in turmoil. AND HE WAS HEARD.

Have you ever been in turmoil and cried out to God. I mean spent hours or at least minutes crying before God, belieiving that he cared and that he would do something. Have you realized that he heard? Now I am not saying that he always answers our prayers the way we want him to. That would make him subject to our demands and we would be nothing more than selfish magicians. But looking back at Jesus, why did it say that he was heard? Because OF HIS REVERENT SUBMISSION.

There’s one of those S words. Submission. And what it really means in this case is what we need to learn from Jesus. It means gracefully submit to God’s will. Accept what God has deemed will happen. Remember Jesus was praying about his impending death. Did he still die? Yes. Did God hear his prayer? Yes. You may say, that doesn’t make sense. God is not bound by what makes sense to us. Jesus was praying, according to this verse that he be saved from death. Was he saved from death? Absolutely. God heard his prayer and answered it with resurrection. So the first S we learn from Jesus is to submit to God.

Now the second S
[8] Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;
There it is suffering. And what is more, suffering is viewed as a good thing (can you believe it?) Why is suffering a good thing? Because we learn through suffering. What did Jesus learn? He learned obedience it says, but does this imply that Jesus wasn’t obedient? Of course not. But being obedient when it will cause you pain is a difficult thing. It was in this that he proved his humanity and was made perfect as the next verse says. Yet what does this suffering have to do with us?

Let me ask you, would you be willing to suffer for your faith? Would you be willing to suffer for Jesus? Part of the reason he shows us this suffering is because he knew that suffering would be the lot for those who followed him. Consider this.
In Indonesia hundreds of radical Muslims converged on the Church of Pentecost in Indonesia during a Sunday morning service. Indonesia does have a constitutional freedom of religion clause, but that didn’t stop the mob. The mob’s angry protest over the property being “misused” as a church building lasted five hours. By the way, this was a month ago.

Also consider the case of Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old Afghan Christian. Rahman reportedly became a Christian 16 years ago while working with a Christian aid group in Pakistan. His conversion became public because of a custody dispute involving his two daughters. Now he faces a possible death sentence for converting to Christianity Imagine going to court to get custody and finding yourself looking at execution. The Voice of the Martyrs estimate that there are between 1,000 and 3,000 born-again Christians in Afghanistan, and say other Christians are watching Rahman’s case closely. There are reports that two more Christians have been arrested since Rahman’s story broke, and a third was beaten badly.

“The Afghan government recognizes that Afghans can be Hindus, and can be Sikhs, and in one case even recognizes they can be Jewish,” said Todd Nettleton of the voice of the martyrs. “But they do not recognize Afghan Christians. Our brothers and sisters there have no legal standing, and that has got to change. American soldiers didn’t go to Afghanistan and lay down their lives so that Christians could be persecuted; they fought and died so that Afghans could truly have freedom.”
Nevertheless, many realize when they convert, that suffering may come with it. Do we? Let’s continue.
[9] and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

Finally, the last S.
This is the one we recognize, Salvation, but it didn’t come without submission and suffering. This is not to say that we must suffer to be Christian, yet I offer that we must submit to God, and be willing to suffer or we will never understand salvation. Salvation is not something that just comes in a box and we can unwrap when we are ready. Salvation comes by recognizing what Jesus has done for us and according to this verse, by obeying him. This is not a works rightousness, but an obedient submission.

Just because salvation is freely offered we need not think it to be cheap grace. Jesus said it himself, if you love me keep my commandments. You see, at the center of this submission, suffering and salvation, is not really suffering, it is obedience. That is the central truth that Jesus revealed, the way he showed us to live.

So often I hear people saying Jesus just wants us to treat people nice. That is not at all what Jesus wants. Jesus wants us to be obedient to him, to follow God’s words and his will, and in so doing, we will treat our neighbors as ourself. God desires obedience, which is evident in our submission, may allow us to suffer, and has awarded our salvation. Thanks be to God.