In a very real sense, Christ’s sufferings have not yet been completed. Consider Paul’s word in Colossians 1:24: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and fill up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body, which is the church.” As the Head, Christ’s sufferings for the accomplishment of redemption are complete, but the sufferings of Christ for the producing and building up of the Body are not yet finished. Such sufferings are also called “His sufferings.” Furthermore, in Colossians 1:24 Paul regarded his own sufferings as the filling up of what is lacking of Christ’s sufferings for His Body. For this reason, Paul indicates in Philippians 3:10 that we still need to share in Christ’s sufferings. The sufferings of Christ for His Body are still going on, and we need to share in them. When Christ was on earth, He suffered. As those who follow Him, we must share in His sufferings for His Body. If we would know Christ by experiencing the power of His resurrection, we must share His sufferings.

There is a difference between those sufferings which are for our transformation and those which are for the Body. Paul’s word in 3:10 does not refer to suffering for transformation. If we compare 3:10 with Colossians 1:24, we shall see that the sufferings about which he is speaking in 3:10 are those which make up the lack of Christ’s afflictions for the Body. It is when we suffer for the Body that we experience the power of Christ’s resurrection.

In order to experience Christ, we must be in the power of His resurrection. We cannot be in our natural life. The more we know the power of Christ’s resurrection, the more we shall participate in the sufferings of Christ and thereby have the fellowship of His sufferings. To know Christ in these aspects is truly to experience Him and enjoy Him.

It is crucial for us to realize that Christ is in resurrection. When we experience Christ in His resurrection, we are infused with all the elements of resurrection, and this infusion enables us to partake of His sufferings for the Body. In other words, we must have the dispensing of Christ’s resurrection so that we may experience His cross, His death. It is by knowing Christ’s resurrection that we experience His death. The following stanza from a hymn written by A. B. Simpson indicates this:

’Tis not hard to die with Christ
When His risen life we know;
’Tis not hard to share His suff’rings
When our hearts with joy o’erflow.
In His resurrection power
He has come to dwell in me,
And my heart is gladly going
All the way to Calvary.

Hymns, 481

Whereas Christ first passed through death and entered into resurrection, we first enjoy His resurrection and then we experience His death. The more we know His resurrection, the more we shall be put into His death to share in the fellowship of His sufferings.

In 1 Corinthians 1:9 Paul speaks of being called by God into the fellowship of His Son. All believers desire to enter into the fellowship of the Son of God. However, in Philippians 3:10 Paul speaks of the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, something in which we are not naturally inclined to share. But the more we experience Christ’s sufferings, the more we shall gain Christ. In other words, the more we experience the cross, the more we experience Christ. God gives us the cross, and the cross gives us Christ. We all need to have more experience of these things.
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