The Ripple Effects of Your Suffering

Ten Reasons for Continuing to Spread the Gospel

Throughout 2 Corinthians 4, Paul explained why he had continued to spread the gospel message despite the suffering that he endured as a result. Multiple factors fueled his undeterred motivation. These including the following ten reasons:

1. He believed that gospel outreach was a better ministry than enforcing the Old Testament law (2 Cor 4:1).
2. He believed that participating in gospel outreach was a privilege he did not deserve (2 Cor 4:1).
3. He had rejected falling back on dishonest methods, refusing to change his message or adjust his approach to achieve increased popularity or material gain for selfish reasons (2 Cor 4:2).
4. He understood that people are unable to see the truth of God apart from believers like him allowing God's light to shine through the platform of their suffering (2 Cor 4:3-4).
5. He had learned to serve God and others by relaying God's message in a faithful, accurate way, relying on God alone to persuade and convince people to believe (2 Cor 4:5-6)
6. He had accepted the fact of his ongoing weakness (like a fragile, breakable clay pot), recognizing the gospel (and not his self-comfort) as the true treasure of his life (2 Cor 4:7).
7. He believed that the excruciating experiences he endured on a repeated basis highlighted in a special way the superior, sustaining power of God (2 Cor 4:8-9).
8. He viewed the gospel as more than a message; he viewed it as a corresponding lifestyle that revealed the power of the gospel in a visible way (2 Cor 4:10-12).
9. He viewed his suffering as a shared experience with faithful icons of the past, like King David and also with believers in the present and future (2 Cor 4:13-14).
10. He viewed his suffering as a reason to keep on speaking, not a reason to desist (2 Cor 4:13).

In the end, these factors merged together to forge a mindset that motivated Paul to speak for Christ despite all suffering.

Spreading God's Grace

After saying all these things, Paul encapsulated his "speaking and suffering" for the gospel in a summarized way when he says, "For all things" (2 Cor 4:15). This "all things" refers back to his multiplied experiences of speaking and suffering for the gospel, which he insists that he endured not for his own sake, but for the benefit of others instead. These 'others' which he envisioned include both the smaller group of people in Corinth ("for your sakes") and a much larger group of people throughout the world ("the many"). So he suffered for the benefit of the church at Corinth and for the greater church at large.As Paul suffered, he believed that his Christ-like response would enlighten the believers in Corinth to a more profound understanding of the gospel. Furthermore, he believed that his resolve would enable them in turn to suffer and embolden them to keep on speaking for Jesus themselves. As a result of this chain reaction moving from Paul's suffering into the lives of the Corinthian believers, Paul believed that the grace of God would spread to even more people.

As Paul suffered, he believed that his Christ-like response would enlighten the believers in Corinth to a more profound understanding of the gospel.

The word spread means "to increase more and more." According to Paul, when a believer suffers as a minister of the gospel, there will be an expanding effect over time. The grace of God will flow from the person who ministers to the people he or she is serving. Then, through these people, the grace of God will spread to the people they are influencing, reaching more and more people from one person to the next.Grace as Paul uses it in this letter refers to God's love and favor bestowed on those who do not deserve it. We receive this grace through the message of the gospel. Then we grow in our reliance on this unlimited and unending supply of grace to meet our every need. This grace, in fact, is all the goodness of God himself poured out into our lives.

Grace is all the goodness of God himself poured out into our lives.

At the beginning of this letter, Paul had opened with a special greeting, saying, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 1:2). This word grace was not a standard way to begin a letter, whether in Hebrew or Greek culture.[1] A normal introduction would be charein (or "greetings"), alluding to a general wish for personal well-being. Yet Paul chose a different but similar sounding word with deep Christian significance instead, charis (or "grace"), which refers to God bestowing his divine goodness in a personal and profound way.Experiencing this expansive supply and expanding influence of God's lavish grace in daily, personal and practical ways is a uniquely Christian experience. Through Christ, the grace of God meets our every need and transforms us more and more into the likeness of Jesus. As one Christian suffers in reliance on God's grace, this grace touches the lives of other believers, and through their lives the grace of God expands to reach more and more people. When a believer refuses to suffer or retreats from gospel ministry due to the suffering he or she endures, then they hold back the grace of God from flowing in this way.

Increasing Thanksgiving to God

When the grace of God flows to other believers in a church (like Corinth) through the suffering of one (like Paul), then more and more people will be exposed to the message and power of the gospel through believers who speak and live according to its transforming power. This expanding influence leads to an increase of genuine conversions and to an ever-growing number of Christians throughout the world.

This expanding influence leads to an increase of genuine conversions and to an ever-growing number of Christians throughout the world.

What makes this so remarkable is not just that increasing numbers of people are rescued from the power of sin and restored to a relationship with God. Though this is a noteworthy outcome, Paul focused instead on the outcome of this speaking and suffering cycle from God's perspective. In other words, though this speaking and suffering cycle benefits believers in the church and nonbelievers in the world who will receive salvation, how does the bestowal of the grace of God benefit God himself?As more believers reach more nonbelievers for Christ, then more and more people end up returning thanks to God for his marvelous grace. In other words, the more people there are who are responding to the saving grace of God, the more people there are who will be giving thanks to God for his inexhaustible love and kindness. Now that is what God deserves and that is what can happen through your suffering! The word abound here means "to abound in a large quantity." It also describes something as "being considerably more than what would be expected." [2]When you reflect on what Paul is saying here, you realize the magnitude of what he envisioned. As he suffered repeated and excruciating things for presenting and representing the gospel, he refused to desist. Why? Because he understood the ripple effects. He understood the way that God's grace operates. The grace of God delivers a person from the penalty of death and the power of sin. Then it enables that person to speak and suffer for Jesus. When a believer speaks and suffers for Jesus in reliance on God's grace, then this grace touches other believers in the church, who in turn reach many more nonbelievers in the world with the same gospel of grace that reached the original person in this chain reaction.Think about it this way. When you suffer as a Christian, don't lose sight of the fact that by relying on the grace of God and by continuing to be witness for the gospel, you will set off a chain reaction which eventually leads to far more people giving thanks to God in the church and throughout the world than you would naturally expect.When you consider how God bestows his grace on undeserving sinners like you and me, then consider what God deserves for doing this. We don't deserve his grace, but he deserves our thanksgiving. Furthermore, God not only deserves our thanksgiving, but he deserves far more thanksgiving from far more lips that he currently receives. To increase the number of voices giving genuine thanks to God, then you should follow the example of Paul. Learn to share the truth of Jesus and to receive the suffering the comes your way as a result.

We don't deserve God's grace, but he deserves our thanksgiving.

Consider that you yourself are the "ripple effect" of the speaking and suffering cycle in the life of some other believer before you. What's more, God desires you to become the source of many more ripple effects to come. Though your suffering may be hard and the temptation to be silent grows strong, learn to lean upon the grace of God more firmly. As you continue to speak and continue to suffer, you will set off a chain reaction of grace that eventually leads to more and more thanksgiving in the world for the glory of God as more and more believers grow strong in faith and more and more nonbelievers come to faith at last.

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[1] Roger L. Omanson and John Ellington, A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1993), 11–12.[2] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 599.