Tim Chester summarises the teaching of John Stott in The Cross of Christ:

1. The cross of Christ is a stimulus to patient endurance. There are times when we must endure suffering as Jesus did at the cross (Heb. 12:1–3; 1 Pet. 2:18–23).

2. The cross of Christ is the path to mature holiness. Suffering can be formative (James 1:2–4), as it was for Jesus (Heb. 2:10; 5:8–9).

3. The cross of Christ is the symbol of suffering service. “Suffering is indispensable to fruitful or effective service,” for, as with a seed falling to the ground, death brings greater fruit (John 12:23–26, 32–33; Eph. 3:1, 13; Col. 1:24; 2 Tim. 2:8–10).

4. The cross of Christ is the hope of final glory. Just as we share in Christ’s sufferings, so we will share in his glory (Acts 14:22; Rom. 8:17; Rev. 7:9, 14).

5. The cross of Christ is the ground of a reasonable faith. It is not that the cross explains the perplexities of suffering, but it does demonstrate God’s holy love and justice. “We have to learn to climb the hill of Calvary, and from that vantage-point survey all life’s tragedies.” In other words, while suffering gives us powerful reasons to doubt the justice and love of God, the cross gives even more powerful reasons to trust the justice and love of God. We may not be able to explain the mystery of suffering, but we can look to the cross, and there we see the love of God writ large.

6. The cross of Christ is the proof of God’s solidary love—“his personal, loving solidarity with us in our pain.”

Stott on the Christian Life