Bearing the Marks of Christ

God has called us to the marvellous ministry of Christ. He has called us to the fellowship of His suffering. There will be circumstances, situations and relationships that are quite abrasive to the flesh. The devil will always seek to tempt the Christ in us. He will do all that is within his power, to persuade our souls to give up on God. However, a true perspective of suffering gives us the power to resist him.

Galatians 6:15

From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

Paul walked in God’s perspective regarding suffering. This is something every member of the Body of Christ will have to embrace if they want to enter into that eternal kingdom. We must not see Paul as unique in this mindset. It was the mind of all the apostles and most members of the early church. They suffered and died without relinquishing their integrity in Christ. As it relates to the sufferings Paul endured for truth’s sake, his response was …let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. He was in total agreement with the mystery of Christ and was not offended at what it demanded of him. His agreement allowed him to fellowship with Christ as Christ suffered in him. Have you ever been through a season of trials and testing, where it seems as if the devil is coming from the left, right and the center with his biggest blows? Often at this time we feel alone and as if God has abandoned us. It is at this point that we usually pray to seek out His presence, or to hope that the Lord will do something to encourage us. When we operate like this we fail to recognize the Word in our lives. If we think like this we no longer see ourselves as one with Christ, but rather as separate and in desperate need of His help. However, the true perspective of suffering is: Christ is facing tribulation, and we are fellowshipping with Him as He suffers. It is important we understand this concept of suffering. Here is where we must connect the dots. When Paul was on his way to Damascus to continue his persecution of the church, he had an encounter with Jesus. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest (Acts 9:4-5).

You must open your heart to see that the persecution of the Body of Christ is a literal persecution of Jesus Christ Himself. How could it not be? He is living in our fleshy bodies. He is the new man, the resurrection of our circumcised flesh. Therefore, we must accept the truth here. If we live holy, the Christ in us is the one who is under attack. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:10-11; But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. This is such a revelation of Paul’s agreement with God. He points out to them the facts surrounding his apostleship in their lives. You know my doctrine, (what I teach), my manner of life, (how I live), my purpose and faith, (my commitment), my longsuffering, charity and patience, (how I treat people, even my offenders); and my sufferings, (persecutions and afflictions). His life is defined by what he preaches, how he lives, and how he suffers with Christ. It is all one. There is no teaching or preaching without living and loving; and there is no life without suffering. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). Therefore, there should be an expectation of suffering in the sons of God.

According to Philippians 1:29; For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; To suffer for Christ’s sake simply means to suffer because of the presence of Christ within you. This goes beyond people hating you because they know you are a Christian. It speaks to the fact that the devil and his angels will do all that is within their power to buffet Christ. Therefore, this includes situations that are designed to leave us weary and down, or even discouraged. It is good for us to bear in mind that we are only on this earth because of the body of Christ. We are not of this world; we are peculiar people. However, Christ in His desire to become a man has brought us with Him. Therefore, even though we are from another realm, we are here on this earth only for the purpose of adding souls to the body of Christ. Therefore, as long as we are in agreement with Christ everything that happens to us in this life is because of Christ. He goes on to warn of the spiritual disposition of those in the Body who will not embrace the truth. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. Paul goes on to instruct us in steadfastness. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Paul was once overwhelmed with his trials, let us examine the revelation he came to.

2 Corinthians 12: 7-10

7. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

8. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

First of all, Paul realized that there was a great purpose of God in the trials he was facing. He was being buffeted by the devil so that he would not be exalted above measure. This was the chastening of the Lord, to ensure that he remained humble amidst the abundance of revelations he walked in. Before he understood this he sought the Lord thrice asking him to remove these trials. However, the response of the Lord was that his grace was sufficient. Christ has done a wondrous work in us. Great is the mystery of godliness indeed. We will never know the workmanship that we are if it is never tried. The grace of God in us is sufficient in anything that we face. It is powerful to keep us in perfect peace. It is sufficient to keep us in agreement with Him at all times. No matter what life may throw at us, it is thrown because of Christ, and He has called us to join Him in His suffering. However, our peace is in the fact that He has already overcome the world. There is nothing new under the sun and there is nothing that Christ has not already overcome. He has already overcome our trials. He has overcome our every reason for weariness, discouragement or sin. We are made able to stand in the toughest of trials. In addition, Christ will never place more on us than we can bear. Seeing He has already overcome, He can bear all things. However, Christ is very mindful of us as we suffer with Him. He will not allow us to face anything with Him that He knows we cannot handle. He will allow us to be tried according to our experiential knowledge and the influence of the Lord within us. This truly defines the trials of our faith and why Peter called them precious.

1 Peter 1:7-9

7. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

8. Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

9. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Peter describes the mindset of a son as he walks in the midst of his trials. We may not be able to see Christ with our natural eyes, but we know that he lives within us. We know that he is the new man in our flesh. Therefore, every buffeting and hard persecution is intended to offend Him. But he is prepared to suffer such persecution today, just as he suffered it nearly two thousand years ago. Our faith in Christ is being tried in suffering. Do we truly believe that it is the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ that we are made a partaker of? If not, then we will truly take these trials personally. And to do so, would negate our fellowship with Him. You see, if we are truly in fellowship with the sufferings of Christ, then we would surely have His sentiments inside the suffering. There would be no place for offense or retaliation. We would love and long suffer with our offenders, knowing they are persecuting Jesus in their ignorance. We would pray for them as our Lord does. In other words, we would have the same emotions towards them as Jesus does. He died for them so that they might be saved. He is willing to suffer persecution at their hand, without malice, in order to prove His love for them. If we are walking in the Spirit, then that too, would be our deepest sentiments. Suffering gives us an opportunity to experience the strength of Christ. We will come to know Him in the power of His resurrection in us. Paul could freely say to the Galatians, “do not trouble me,” because he was already sold out to Christ. No matter what the devil decided to throw at Him he understood that it was because of Christ; and he had decided to bear the marks of Christ in his flesh. He saw these marks as a blessing. He did not want to be troubled by those who war with obedience; his decision was to suffer. To follow the grace of God will challenge everything within you. It will challenge everything you want and desire. However, by agreeing with God, you too can decide to bear the marks of Christ in your flesh now, and in turn be glorified with Christ in the end.