AN ABANDONED FELLOWSHIP--Part II (of III)

"MY CUP YOU WILL DRINK."--Jesus.

This is the second of three articles on the fellowship of His suffering, based on this passage:

Philippians 3:8-11.
8More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,

9and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

11in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

The fellowship of His suffering is currently an abandoned fellowship. No one is signing up. At church we will have services for fellowship, dinners for fellowship, small groups for fellowship. Fellowship, fellowship, fellowship. And when we think of that sort of fellowship we are happy and look forward to good times, laughter, Christian camaraderie, and sympathetic tears.

We don't expect to die.

The Scripture speaks of a number of fellowships. We can have fellowship in the evil doings of false teachers if we offer them any sort of support, according to II John. We can have the type of fellowship with other Christians I described above. However, there is another sort of fellowship that can only come to those who suffer. And that fellowship is intimate and it is between the Christian sufferer and his Captain in Suffering. Christ died first. Is He your Master? Are you better than He?

Here is another passage that sheds light on His will for His followers:

Matthew 20: 20-23.
20Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.

21And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left."

22But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to Him, "We are able."

23He said to them, "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father."

Read that through. Look at verse 23. There are two promises given to the sons of Zebedee:
1. You will die.
2. There is no guarantee of honor or recognition.

Are you ready to die? God requires it. Will you sign up to die?

Paul repeats the promise of suffering to his beloved Timothy:

II Timothy 3:10-13.
10Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,

11persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!

12Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

13But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

"Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." According to verse 12, what is guaranteed to those who are real Christians? Good times? Health? Wealth? No. Persecution!

If you are not being persecuted, you are not obedient to Christ. If you are persecuted, it's sign of salvation and obedience.

We are required to be willing to die.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins. PS--In the next of the three articles, we will discuss purposely going into persecution and the contrast between the false teacher and the true and how the mark of persecution identifies the true. I intend to finish that article this weekend, Lord willing.