“Though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered and being made perfect he became the Author of everlasting salvation unto all them that obey him.”  Hebrews 5:8-10

The phrase ‘learned obedience’ is from Strong’s #5214 and it means attentive hearkening. Jesus learned to listen attentively to the Heavenly Father on the deepest level when he was faced with the depth of human need, human nobility, and human depravity.  The word “suffer” means to experience, usually painfully.  Every experience Jesus had after his baptism, the positive and especially the negative, challenged his thinking and his actions. Each experience provided a ‘megaphone’ to hear His Father’s will and to carry it out. Jesus’ faithfulness to these experiences, even in the face of the contradiction of sinners against himself, led him to be faithful to the death of the cross. (Hebrews 12:2-3)  His faithfulness through every experience of joy and suffering prepared him to be a High Priest, a King, and a Deliverer.  (Philippians 2:5-11)

The same thing is true of faithful Christians, those who have given their wills in full surrender to God in Christ. (Romans 6:3-6)  We have the privilege of sharing in the sufferings of Christ.  “But whatsoever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More 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…that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death.”  Philippians 3:8-10 

Our desire is to delight in the will of God, as Jesus did. “If any man wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me,”  Matthew 16:24.  The cross is individually chosen for each one of us.  The priority of our life is to do the will of the Father, to give in the way that he leads us to give, to use our energy and time to share the encouragement of His Word with our brothers and sisters in Christ and to be a light to this weary world.  The priority of our life is to be faithful unto death.

Each experience in our life can be a ‘megaphone’ to hear our Father’s will and to carry it out, whatever the cost. And the result of faithfully participating in these experiences of Christ will prepare us for the privilege of sharing in the reign of Christ, as Kings and Priests, bringing deliverance and blessing to all who have died in Adam.  (Revelation 1:6; Romans 8:17-21)

“If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him.”  2 Timothy 2:12