I invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to First Peter.
First Peter chapter 1, taking a short break from our series in
Isaiah. Lord willing, we will be back in
Isaiah next Sunday. Today we're looking at First
Peter chapter 1. We're going to focus in on
verses 6 through 9, but to give us a little bit more of the
context of what Peter is saying here, I'm going to begin reading
in verse three of First Peter chapter 1.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
According to His great mercy. He has caused us to be born
again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled,
and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are
being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now
for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved
by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your
faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is
tested by fire, may be found to result in the praise and glory
and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him.
Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice
with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining
the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Let's pray together. Father, as we pray so often, we
ask for You to be at work in these moments as we read Your
Word, as we meditate upon it through the Holy Spirit, open
our eyes, open our hearts to receive it and to understand it.
And we would ask boldly, Father, that You would actually change
us because of what Your Word says.
Do this. We ask because we ask it in
Jesus name, Amen. A number of years ago, someone
mentioned to me and shared with me about a documentary they had
watched about D-Day in World War Two.
I've looked for the documentary, I haven't been able to find it
anywhere, but as this person described it, it was an
interview of a number of soldiers that were involved in
the D-Day events, looking at all of their different perspectives
around the same events that were taking place.
Many different perspectives, many different angles of
thinking and seeing. At one point in the documentary,
two men are interviewed back-to-back with different
perspectives about the exact same events.
The first man was involved as a foot soldier who arrived by
boat, pushing back the the German army and coming on to the
beach and looking around and and seeing men being killed left and
right by the German gunfire. Horrific carnage and death.
And he said to himself that he remembered that he thought
there's no way we're going to win this beach.
The man right after that he was interviewed was an American
pilot who was flying a bomber over the same beach at the same
time, watching the events from a vantage point in the sky.
He said he watched the events unfolding on the beach and he
saw line after line after line of the American troops coming
and coming and coming. And he said he realized there
was no way they weren't going to take that beach.
Both men saw the exact same events, but with completely
different perspectives. One on the ground with the
events happening all around him. In the midst of battle, he could
only see what was right in front of him.
That's the whole picture of truth that he had at that
moment. The other man in the plane,
thousands of feet above, could see the battle.
In the big picture, he could see what the man on the beach
couldn't see. He could see more of the whole
story and so he had a different and more accurate perspective.
When we go through difficult things, when when we go through
suffering, when we go through trials and afflictions, it helps
immensely for us to have the right perspective, an
understanding of the big picture.
If if we're only in the moment and only able to see what is
right in front of us, then it easy.
It is easy for us to become discouraged and distressed,
doubtful and even devastated. But if we're able to see the
bigger picture from a higher vantage point, we realize the
difficulty that we experience is not the final story.
That's what Peter is doing here. In these first verses of his
letter. He's writing to people who are
experiencing an extreme suffering, grief, being
persecuted, and wondering if they would survive.
Some of you may know that verses 3 through 12 is just one long
sentence in the Greek. Peter's attempting to give them
the right perspective, the big picture, to help them to see
what actually is happening. In verses 3 through 5 that we
read, he goes at length to tell them about the accomplished and
the secured glorious inheritance they have because of their faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then at the beginning of
verse 6, he tells them that they are to rejoice in this great
truth about the inheritance that is theirs, even though they may
face suffering, even though he says you are grieved by various
trials, you are, you are pained, you are saddened, you are, you
are suffering unjustly, even through temptation.
There's a sense in which we should still rejoice.
How could Peter say this? How are we supposed to be joyful
and rejoice in the midst of affliction and trials and
suffering? Peter says it again in chapter 2
and verse 19. He talks about enduring sorrow
and suffering unjustly as a gracious thing.
Paul said similar things in Colossians chapter 1.
Paul said he rejoices in sufferings for the sake of the
Colossians. Romans chapter 5.
He says we rejoice in hope of glory of God and we rejoice in
our sufferings. Second Timothy 1.
Paul says that we should aspire to share in suffering for the
sake of the gospel. Second Timothy chapter 2.
He says we should share in suffering as a good soldier of
Jesus. James said something similar as
well in James chapter one. We should count it all joy when
we have trials of various kinds. Solomon in his wisdom sorrow is
better than laughter because a sad face is good for the heart.
What about Jesus? Matthew chapter 5.
We are blessed when persecuted for Jesus sake we should rejoice
and be glad. How possibly can we endure
suffering, let alone welcome it and rejoice in it?
Buddhists, Eastern religions say suffering is an illusion.
Western people secularist saying suffering is a curse and it
should be avoided at all costs. Christianity has a different
perspective. We have to get the right
perspective on affliction and suffering in trials, the
biblical perspective. So what is that perspective?
What do we need to know and what do we need to do?
Let's look at those two things. What do we need to know and what
do we need to do? As we look at these verses now,
before we dive in and and look at what Peter is saying, in
order to get the full impact of what he's saying, we need to
remind ourselves who he's writing to.
These people are suffering significantly and they're not
suffering because they're only able to buy a $10,000 car as
opposed to a $25,000 car. They're not suffering because
they got a flat tire on the Interstate.
They're not suffering because they've got three tests in one
week at school. They're not suffering because
they got a new health diagnosis. Now, I'm not diminishing our
suffering, our afflictions, our trials.
Those are real things. We have significant trials and
afflictions and suffering as well.
But we have to remember that the people that Peter was writing
to, they are suffering and being persecuted because of their
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are suffering because they
trust and love Jesus. They are facing persecution for
their faith. They are facing exile and they
are facing death. That's who he's writing to.
And what does he say that they need to know several things.
The first is this suffering is temporary.
Verse 6, he says, though now for a little while you'll be grieved
by trials and suffering for a little while, it's temporary.
Now it's not necessarily meaning that the suffering will only
last for a short period of time. It does mean that it's
temporary. Several times in these verses,
Peter references eternity and eternal life.
He he did it earlier in the first verses.
He did it in verses 4-5 and nine as well.
And what he's telling us is compared to eternity, compared
to eternal life, our suffering in this life is temporary.
Paul said that as well in Romans chapter 8.
He said, I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to
us. He said something similar in
Second Corinthians chapter 4. He said, for this light
momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal
weight of glory beyond all comparison.
We are to view our sufferings and our afflictions and our
trials in the light of eternity. They are temporary, they are
momentary, and they help us to endure and persevere through
them. Paul says nothing that we endure
now all of these things that are temporary, nothing can compare
to what's coming for us. Our suffering is temporary.
But he also says our suffering is necessary.
See that in verse 6 again, he says if necessary, it's the
little Greek word day and and it literally means it is necessary.
Now, the way that our English translation reads, it sounds
like Peter is saying maybe it'll be necessary, maybe it won't be
necessary. But that's actually not the
sense of the Greek construct. The sense here is more of a as
it is necessary, more of a factual reality.
Now that Peter doesn't elaborate here.
He doesn't go into why we suffer or who it is that that is in
charge. But he doesn't need to elaborate
in this specific verse if we just look at what he's already
said in the letter. Verse 2, he speaks about the
work of the Trinity. Verse three, he says God causes
new life and living hope. Verse 4, God is the one who
keeps our inheritance in heaven for us.
Verse 5, God guards and prepares us for our inheritance and
salvation. So who it is that he's talking
about that's at work in verse 6, it is God.
God is the one who is in control of all things, and he's even in
control of our trials and our suffering.
Now we have to be careful. God is not the author of sin.
God is not the author of evil, but in his sovereign and good
Providence He does ordain and oversee the trials and
afflictions and suffering in our life.
We see this truth in other places in Peter as well.
First Peter chapter 4 verse 19. He says therefore let those who
suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a
faithful Creator while doing good.
First Peter 2 verses 20 and 21. But if when you do good and
suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight
of God. For to this you have been
called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an
example so that you might follow in his steps.
We see at other places in the Bible as well.
Job chapter 1. Satan has to go to God to get
permission to deal with Job. Genesis chapter 50 Joseph going
through incredible suffering from his brothers, tells his
brothers you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
Jesus himself in John Chapter 9, addressing the man that was born
blind, his disciples asked who sinned, this man or his parents?
And Jesus answers, it was not that this man sinned or his
parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Now some might argue that this makes God sound harsh.
It makes God sound mean. How can we embrace a God who is
in control of afflictions and trials and sufferings in our
life? But don't we want a God who is
sovereign even over our suffering and trials?
Isn't that a comfort to us? Our trials, our afflictions, our
suffering? It is not arbitrary.
It is not because of fate, it is not a result of some impersonal
force or chance. It is God Almighty, the
sovereign who is in control. RC Sproul said this.
When we say God is not involved in any way in our suffering and
affliction, we of all people are most to be pitied.
The comfort that we received from the Word of God is that God
is involved with our suffering even to the extent He ordains
them. But the purpose of that
ordination is always good and righteous.
Enduring suffering with even a measure of joy comes not just
from knowing that God is in control, but it is as we know
that He is in control and that He has a good and righteous
purpose for it, which is the next thing.
Peter tells us that our suffering has a purpose.
You can see it in verses 7 and 9.
He says so that the tested genuineness of our faith, more
precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by
fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at
the revelation of Jesus Christ, obtaining the outcome of your
faith, the salvation of your souls.
The Lord uses trials and suffering and afflictions and
difficulties to test and to refine and to shape our faith,
to burn away our impurities, to help our faith to be even more
genuine, more precious than purified gold that results in
the praise and the honor and the glory for God and results in US
obtaining the salvation of our souls, our suffering as a
purpose. David Brooks gave a lecture at a
place called The Gathering in October of 2014.
Brooks is an American political and cultural commentator, a
journalist for a number of publications and organizations.
And the speech that he gave and that on that occasion was how to
be religious in the public square and more specifically
about what the culture needs to hear from Christians.
He spoke about the need for Christians to demonstrate love.
But then he also talked about how Christians need to view and
deal with suffering. He said this when people think
about their future, they're often thinking about happiness.
What can I do that will make me happy?
But when you look in the past and think about things that
formed you, it's really the happy moments.
It's more often the moments of suffering.
So we shoot for happiness, but were formed by suffering.
Now, it should be said that there's nothing intrinsically
noble about suffering. If it's not connected to any
larger transcendent purpose, it's just dehumanizes people and
shrinks them. But if it's connected to some
greater design, people are clearly ennobled by it.
Brooks is right here. He's saying what Peter said.
He's saying what we read in other places in the scriptures,
in James chapter 1. Count it all joy, my brothers,
when you meet trials of various kinds.
For you know that the testing of your faith produces
steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full
effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in
nothing. Romans chapter 5, Paul says not
only that, but we rejoice in our suffering 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. Referenced earlier Second
Corinthians chapter 4. Our afflictions are suffering
prepares us for an eternal weight of glory beyond
comparison, right? This is the biblical
perspective. This is the right perspective.
Our suffering, our afflictions, our trials, they have a purpose.
God is in control. He is at work through our
suffering and affliction, preparing us for an eternal
weight of glory, strengthening our faith and making our faith
even more genuine and pure, creating in a steadfastness and
maturity and endurance and character and hope as He refines
us. When we face suffering and
afflictions and trials, it is evidence that God is at work in
our lives. These are all important things
to know, to have the right perspective, the biblical
perspective about our suffering. Suffering is temporary,
suffering is necessary. It's Our Calling, suffering as a
purpose. But the most important thing for
us to know is that our suffering is modelled for us.
God Himself understands suffering in ways far beyond
what we know. First Peter chapter 2, verse 21.
For to this you have been called, because Christ also
suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow
in his steps. Hebrews chapter 12 verse two
look to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for
the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
The right perspective on our suffering is to know not only
that God is in control and He uses our trials and affected
afflictions for His purposes and good purposes, but that He has
experienced it Himself. Jesus suffered for us.
Jesus endured suffering for the sake of the joy that was set
before him. And what is that joy?
It is the joy of redeeming his people, you and me.
The God of the Bible is the only God who actually suffers in the
person of Jesus. He went through trials and
temptations. He received wounds and
afflictions far greater than anything that we will or could
ever experience. And the Father poured out the
wrath and the judgment of God on the Son, and Jesus the Son
endured it in order to secure our our salvation.
So when we go through afflictions, when we go through
trials and suffering, we can truly trust that God loves us
and hasn't forsaken us. He is at work in those things
for our good, and He will give us strength to endure them.
Elizabeth Elliott in her book A Path Through Suffering,
concludes the book this way. We bow in gratitude for Jesus's
willingness to take the cup the Father gave him, a cup so
immensely more bitter than the 1 He gives us ever.
Shall we refuse the cup he gives us, or shall we grasp it with
both hands, as it were, realizing it holds just what is
most needful for our spiritual wholeness.
Ours has been sweetened at the lip of sweet Jesus.
We drink it by trustful acceptance, and God transforms
it for His glory. Thus, our very suffering may
become the substance of sacrifice, a love offering to
God and a sacrifice of praise. When we understand this
perspective, that the biblical perspective of God's suffering
for us, it moves us beyond just what we need to know to be doing
what we're supposed to be doing. So what do we need to do?
Now, this may sound simplistic. That would challenge us not to
dismiss it. We need to love and trust Jesus.
We need to be patient, and we need to suffer together.
First of all, we need to love and trust Jesus.
That's what Peter says right here in the middle of all of
these words about our suffering, our afflictions, what God is
doing right in verse 8. Though you have not seen Him,
you love Him. Though you do not now see Him,
you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible
and filled with glory. Peter's point to his readers is
you haven't seen Jesus and you don't see Him now, but you love
Him and you trust him. Because you've experienced
Jesus's love for you, that he considers you his joy, you know
that you can trust Him, that no matter what suffering you are
called to go through, even if you are called to make the
ultimate sacrifice and give your life, you can go through those
trials and troubles and suffering and affliction without
doubting God's care and love for you, without giving in to
despair, without utterly being devastated.
You can even have a measure of joy.
Not a worldly joy, not not a joy that is giddy and sentimental
and shallow and fake, but a deep, soul satisfying,
inexpressible, enduring joy. A joy that transcends the
circumstances of life, transcends even the suffering
that we are called to go through.
Why? Because even though you haven't
seen Jesus and you don't see him, now you love Him and trust
Him because you know what He has gone through, what He has
endured for you, what He has suffered for you.
It shows you how much He loves and cares you, how much He is
worthy of your love and trust. Secondly, we need to be patient.
That was referenced earlier in our confession of faith.
It's also what James chapter 5 says.
Be patient. Therefore, brothers, until the
coming of the Lord, be patient as an example of suffering and
patience. Brothers, take the prophets who
spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those
blessed who remain steadfast. You have heard of the
steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the
Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
If anyone among you is suffering, let him pray.
In the midst of suffering and trials, trials we are called,
called to be patient and not be anxious.
If we know that God is at work in the midst of our suffering,
we can be patient for His work to be worked out in our lives.
If we know that the Lord loves us to such an extent that Jesus
would go to the cross and die for us, we can trust that His
work in our lives is good. As we meditate on that truth, as
we remind ourselves of that truth, it helps us to be patient
in the midst of our afflictions. And James said we should also
pray to talk with the Lord about how we're feeling, what we're
experiencing, to ask Him for relief from our suffering and
trials, and to ask for peace and patience and perseverance if the
relief is not His will. Think of it this way.
If our closest friend was the source of our suffering and
troubles and trials, we would talk to them about it.
It's no different with the Lord. We can talk with the Lord about
it, share how we're feeling, share what we're going through,
praying for His mercy. Thirdly and lastly, we should
suffer together. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 24 and
25 says, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love
and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit
of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you
see the day drawing near. Now certainly this is a verse
that is an encouragement to not stop meeting together for
corporate worship, but I think it's also an application for
meeting together with other believers for fellowship and
encouragement. Because we are united to Jesus,
we are therefore united to one another.
We are in fellowship with one another.
We are called to help one another, to pray for one
another, to to encourage patients in the midst of
suffering and trials and affliction, to spur one another
on toward faith and trust and love.
Christian life is not meant to be lived in isolation.
The Lord created us to be in fellowship with fellow believers
in Christ. And fellowship can be a means of
grace, a means by which the Lord works His grace and strength
into our lives. If we isolate ourselves from the
fellowship that is ours, we cut ourselves off from one of the
helps that the Lord's given us in the midst of our suffering
and affliction and trials. Love and trust Jesus.
Be patient, suffer together. Let's pray together.