1 Thessalonians 1:6
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit…

A Christian is one identified with Christ in both word and deed. Having placed the sum of their faith in Christ’s death as a substitution for their sins, they now live in a way that seeks to imitate His faith and obedience, empowered by the Holy Spirit. And this is an important distinction. A Christian’s call is not to simply follow Christ’s teachings or to become acquainted with his history. No, we are to imitate him, and that imitation is marked by two distinct characteristics: affliction because of the gospel and the joy of the Holy Spirit.

First, let us address the idea of affliction, or suffering. If we truly seek to follow Christ, we will suffer affliction. It is for this reason that Paul says: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” [2 Timothy 3:12].

Are we willing to suffer for the name of Christ? If we want to be Christ-like, we cannot merely settle for imitating the parts of Christ’s life we would seem to enjoy. Being like Christ – imitating Him – will involve persecution. And through the lens of the Scripture, this is clearly seen. Was not Christ the one who suffered more than anyone else? He is completely innocent, yet he suffered betrayal, endured beatings, and was murdered as a criminal.

Jesus even went as far as to tell us that suffering would come to those who wear His name: "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you…Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” [John 15:18-20]. More than that, Christ said we would be blessed for this suffering. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” [Matthew 5:11-12].

What kind of blessing could possibly come from suffering? Again, we turn to God’s Word for illumination. Romans 5:3-5 says: “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

This hope that suffering produces in us is nothing less than eternal fellowship with Christ. Listen to the words of Paul as he describes suffering in Philippians 3:7-11:

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”