1 Peter 1:6-7
INTRODUCTION
A couple at our church lost
a dear little daughter to cancer a few years ago. Although they are faithful
believers, they have never stopped wondering “why?”
They are sure that if they
could understand why God let their little die so early in life, her loss would
be more bearable.
Maybe you’ve experienced
such a tragic loss—the death of a loved one at an early age, the birth of a
defective child, a crippling illness, a natural disaster, a severe financial
setback—something that makes you wonder just what God is thinking.
You know that if someone
could just tell you why the tragedy had happened, it would be easier for you to
believe that God is your loving heavenly Father.
We search the Bible in vain
to find the “why?” answer.
One of the reasons the book
of Psalms in our Bible is so helpful to us is because those ancient believers
also asked “why?” just as we do—and yet they kept on believing.
The Bible has so much about
suffering because people in Bible times suffered just like we do—and probably
more than most of us—because we know so much more about the causes and cure of
diseases than they did. Our government is more stable; we are unlikely to face
invasions from hostile countries, and we never face starvation from droughts or
floods.
In ancient times, and even
until fairly recently, many women died giving birth. Many—maybe most—babies
didn’t survive to adulthood, and adults typically lived only 35 or 40 years.
Although the Bible doesn’t
give us the answers about why so many people endure more than their share of
trouble and afflictions and calamities, the writers who wrote the books of our
Bible give us many helpful ways to look at the disappointments and troubles of
our lives.
These godly saints of long
ago constantly reflected on the human condition and how we can live faithfully
and usefully in a world that doesn’t make sense and in which sorrow touches
every life.
The text:
1 Peter 1:6-7: “In this you rejoice, though now for a
little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of
your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire,
may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
This verse comes just after
Peter has reminded the believers of the wonderful, living hope they have of
resurrection, to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,
kept in heaven for them who by God’s power are guarded through faith for a
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
And then he adds the verse I
read: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to
suffer various trials…”
I. How can believers in
Christ rejoice in sufferings? We all
avoid suffering and it is right that we should. But Peter is telling us that we
can rejoice because even our troubles can have a good result.
A. One of the world’s great
psychiatrists wrote in a famous book: “We learn nothing from our pleasures. We
learn only from our sufferings.”
Not long ago I heard a radio
program about raising tomatoes. The horticulturist who was being interviewed
told why hothouse tomatoes never taste as good as tomatoes raised in a garden.
You would think that
hothouse tomatoes would be the best because all their needs are perfectly
provided for. The temperatures are always right. There is good air circulation
but no strong winds. They are watered whenever they need it. What more could a
tomato ask?
And yet tomatoes raised in a
garden are much tastier.
The horticulturist said that
tomatoes need stress to bring out the flavor. They need dry spells and wet
spells and windy spells and variations in temperature—in other words, they need
a certain amount of hardship to bring out the best flavor.
We Christians are like
tomatoes in this way. We need struggle in our life to mature us and make us
sweet and good.
If you look back on your
life and consider the troubles you have faced and overcome, you realize that
those difficulties have made you the person you are.
Someone said, “Whatever
doesn’t destroy us makes us stronger.”
For many of us the
accomplishments we get the most satisfaction in recalling are the struggles we
faced and overcame with the help of God.
Those are the times we
proved that our faith was real.
B. When gold is dug up it is
mixed with rock in the form of gold ore. The goldsmith heats the ore to a high
temperature and the gold melts out our and sinks to the bottom of the vessel,
and the rock and impurities float to the top.
Peter is telling us that the
fire of suffering in our lives is what proves that our faith is genuine.
Suppose that you could live
your life with no sickness, no loss, no failure—good health, plenty of money,
in a family with no disappointments, basking in the love of everyone.
Such a life would be pleasurable.
You might be thankful to God for such a good life.
But how would you know that
you really loved and trusted God or that you were just enjoying his gifts?
It is interesting that Peter
compares faith to gold.
We think of gold as about
the most permanent thing there is.
Gold lasts forever.
Gold doesn’t tarnish or rust
or decay.
No one throws gold away.
Some of the gold in your
wedding ring may have been in a pharaoh’s tomb, and then it may have been
melted down to make into the crown of a queen. It may have been in a statue of
a saint, and finally a coin before it was melted down and made into your ring.
A few months ago Charlotte
sold a couple of gold fillings from her teeth. I wonder what they have been
made into by now.
But compared to true faith, Peter
says gold is perishable—because tested faith lasts forever.
When our faith is tested and
proved to be real, it glorifies God—it will “redound to praise and glory and
honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
II. In the middle of your
Bible, just before the book of Psalms, is the story of Job.
A. Job was a good man. If
fact, we read that he was the most righteous man in the world.
He was upright and truthful.
He was kind to the poor, the widows and the orphans and strangers. He was a
good father. He was admired by the people who knew him.
But trouble was on the way.
Raiders attacked his
servants, killed them and stole his camels and donkeys.
Next all of his children
died in when a great wind collapsed the house in which they were celebrating in
the oldest brother’s house.
But Job’s faith seemed to be
unshaken by the loss of all his property and his children.
He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and
naked shall I return there. The Lord gave and the Lord took away. Blessed be
the name of the Lord.”
But then Job was afflicted
with a disgusting skin disease.
We read that he was
afflicted with loathsome sores from the sole of his feet to the crown of his
head.
In his despair he sat on an
ask heap and scraped his itching sores with a potsherd.
The people who had admired
him now scorned him.
They said that he surely
must be a wicked man to be punished so severely.
Even his wife turned against
him.
She said, “Do you still
persist in your integrity? Curse God and die.”
But Job did not curse God.
He argued with God.
He questioned God. He
complained to God.
He clung to God and would
not let go.
Although the Hebrew religion
of Job’s time did not include the truth of resurrection and eternal life, he
expressed the faith that someday, somehow, he would be vindicated.
He said, “I know that my
Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth, and after my
skin has thus been destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God” (19:25-26).
At the end of the story, God
speaks to Job and shows him his power. He shows Job the limitations of Job’s
knowledge.
God never explains to Job
why he suffered so—although the reader of the book knows.
We who are readers of the
story know much more than Job did about the purpose of Job’s sufferings.
As long as life was easy—in
health and prosperity—it was easy for Job to believe in God and live for God.
But at the end of the story,
Job proved to himself that he really did love and trust God—even when a time
came when he enjoyed none of god’s gifts and blessings.
So what did Job gain from
all his troubles?
He learned one great thing:
He learned—and he proved to the world—that his faith was genuine.
This is what Peter is
telling the suffering believers of his day.
He is telling them that by
remaining faithful in suffering, they are proving that their faith is
genuine—and that faith that is tested and proved is more precious than gold.
CONCLUSION
A few weeks ago, one of you
shared with Charlotte and me something of her health struggles. But then she
added something like this: “But I know that others suffer even more. And when I
think of what Jesus suffered on the cross for me, my troubles don’t seem so
great after all.”
We all know people who have
been embittered by suffering.
I have known people who have
actually turned against God because of their troubles.
It’s not automatic that
suffering strengthens our faith and our character.
It depends on the attitude
we take.
Peter urges his readers to
take the attitude that the persecutions they are facing are actually an opportunity
to put their faith to work…to be a witness of God’s power in a life…to prove
that God is real.
We will not face persecution
for our faith, but, like these people, we will experience suffering.
A few years ago there was a
woman named Hazel who came always to our services.
Before she died she had to
go to a nursing home.
We visited her there. She
told us that she knew she wouldn’t get better.
I said, “And then you’ll be
in glory with Jesus.”
Her face lit up and she
pumped her fist and said, “Yess!”
Hazel proved the reality of
her faith.
She was a witness to the
reality of God in a life.
