Rejoicing in Trials

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Amen. Well, good morning, everyone. It is good to be here with you all. If you have a Bible with you, let me invite you to open to the book of First Peter. We are continuing on with a series we began last week here in First Peter, and we're gonna dive in a little bit more this morning.

As you find your way there, I want to start by asking you a question. How many of you would say your life is perfect? Yeah, about that many hands is what I expected. The truth is, none of us have a perfect life, right? Sometimes we like to pretend that we do, we try and make it seem like we do, but none of us do. But here's my question, if that's true, why doesn't God make our life perfect? If God wanted to show that he was real to everyone, why doesn't he just make every Christian's life perfect? Anyone who trusts in him, no more problems. All of your debts are instantly paid for. You don't have a mortgage anymore. It's all done. I mean, he's God. Couldn't he get rid of all of that? Couldn't God just make everything work out perfectly? No more sickness, no more problems, no more aching back.

Sometimes as Christians, we almost begin to talk that way. We hear these testimonies of people and they'll say something along the lines of, before I became a Christian, I was on the streets, I was pushing drugs, I was doing all kinds of horrific things. But now that I'm a Christian, I have no more problems in my life. Everything is perfect. And what happens is we hear that and then the moment something happens to us — some trial, some struggle, some pain, whatever it is — suddenly we are thrown for a loop because we think, well, what just happened? I thought I wasn't supposed to have any more problems after I trust in Jesus. Isn't my life supposed to be perfect now? As if Jesus was some kind of magic spell to make all our dreams come true. We end up almost trying to convince people we don't have any problems. We put on a mask, we pretend we're doing well. Maybe if I believed in Jesus just a little bit harder, then all my problems will go away, so I'll just fake it until I make it.

The truth is Jesus doesn't promise that. Jesus didn't promise to take away all of the problems in our life. In John 16:33, Jesus promises you will have tribulation in this world. Jesus promises the very opposite. But here's the question then — why doesn't he? Why doesn't God just get rid of all of these things? And even more than that, what good is trusting in Jesus if I don't have all of my problems taken away? If I'm not promised a perfect life, why should I bother?

It's into all of this confusion around what the Christian life looks like, why God allows these trials into our lives, that Peter begins to write. Peter is going to write to these churches that not only is there a good reason for why God is allowing these things, but actually he will be with us through that and we can have joy in it. So this morning, this is what I want us to see — not only this beautiful reminder that we have hope, but that we have joy through it all.

If you have your Bibles open, let me invite you to follow along with me. We're gonna start in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 3. It's our tradition here to stand as we read God's word. If you're able to, would you stand with me?

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 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.

Thus by the reading of God's word, you may be seated.

This morning we are continuing on with this letter, and if you are familiar with any of the New Testament letters, this might sound a little bit familiar to you. Oftentimes, even in ancient Greek letter writing, this would be a very common way of starting — on a very positive note, something to praise, something to exalt in. That's really what Peter is doing for us. He's calling us to praise God right at the beginning. But even as he does that, he's giving us a reason, a reason for our rejoicing and setting up a foundation for what he's going to talk about in the rest of the letter.

You remember last week when we began this, we noticed that Peter is writing to a group of Christians all throughout what is now modern day Turkey, and he's writing to them because they are undergoing all kinds of persecution. There's opposition because they are believers, and they are facing pushback for that. So Peter is going to write to them in order to encourage them. He starts a letter to a persecuted people by calling them first and foremost to worship God. As he does so, he's setting the stage for why they are able to rejoice even in their trials. This is more than just trying to start off on some good vibes. This is: here is your foundation for why you can rejoice.

So this morning, Peter is going to remind us first and foremost of the sure salvation that we have in Jesus, call us to understand the purpose of our trials — that God has a reason for the things we face — and finally draw us to understand that we can rejoice in what is unseen. We can rejoice in God's sure salvation, knowing that all our trials will serve to glorify God.

Let's start off here with this basis, this introduction to his praise and worship of God — our sure salvation. Look back at verse three with me. It says:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is how so many New Testament letters start. It is a blessing on God, but more than just declaring that, it is an invitation for us to participate — even a command — for us to worship God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Peter is about to fill us in on why that is the case.

Verse 3, he continues:

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again.

Here is Peter's reason for worship. It is the greatness of God's mercy to us. God could have looked on us as sinful people and rightly said, I'm just going to bring down judgment. That is not how God looked on us. He could have said, I don't care about what happens to you, figure it out on your own — and that's not how he looked on us either. God looked on us and in the greatness of his mercy, God began to act on our behalf.

He says he has caused us to be born again. Peter uses this analogy of birth to describe the Christian life, and Peter really is not coming up with that on his own. He's repeating what he heard Jesus talk about. In John chapter 3, when Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, he says:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Jesus tells Nicodemus, in this nighttime meeting that they're having, that for someone to enter God's kingdom, first he must be born again. So Peter is picking up this language to now talk about the Christian life and he's saying, God is the one who has done this. He has caused us to be born again. Just like with our natural birth, we had nothing to do with that — it was not our work that caused us to be born — and so Peter is saying, so it is with our spiritual new birth. It is not our work that has caused us to be born again. In fact, this is God's work in his great mercy, who begins this work in our hearts and causes us to be born again.

Paul in Ephesians 2 will say we have gone from death to life. In one sense, Peter here is using a very similar analogy of being born again. In both analogies, we are the helpless ones and God is the one in his mercy who has done this work to bring us to spiritual life. Hear me — this is the story of every believer. The reason that you or I or anyone else believes in Jesus is because God has first done a work in our hearts that has drawn us to him. This is why we say no one's testimony is boring. Every testimony of what God has done is a work of God to bring life out of death. Our story of coming to faith is always a miracle of God.

In fact, that's why Peter then continues. He says:

He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

The new spiritual birth that we have been given is because of the work of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection. Here is our ground floor for why we have been born again. It's because of the work of Jesus. He went to the cross and he bore on himself the punishment for our sins that we rightfully deserve. We should have faced the wrath of God, but Jesus has stepped in our place. He has borne that wrath in our place, died, and paid for our sins fully and completely. But he did not stay there. Jesus died for our sins and then rose to new life. That is our hope of a new spiritual life in Christ.

So everyone who trusts in Jesus, this is our story. God has done a work in Jesus Christ, brought us to understand what Jesus has done and trust in him, so that our hope would be living. It's not a dead hope. Our hope does not lie in a grave somewhere some 2000 years ago. No, our hope is very much alive still today because of the resurrection. This hope is for us that God has brought us to new life. We have a hope for the future.

In fact, this is where Peter is going. Verse 4, look at it:

To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

Peter does not simply remind us of what God has done in the past, but he's actually now calling us to think about what God is doing in the future — his work now to prepare it for us. We have this hope in Christ that we will actually spend eternity with him. He says we have this inheritance. We shall inherit the riches of God in his glory and it shall be imperishable — there's no expiry date on heaven. It doesn't go bad. It's not as if we, some 2000 years later, are going, "Oh, I don't know if it's still good." No, it is imperishable. This hope we have in front of us shall be eternal for all time. There is no termination of our hope in Christ.

And not only is it imperishable, he says it is undefiled — it does not suffer the corruption of sin. This is almost beyond our experience to even understand. Everything we have in this life slowly degrades. You get a new phone, it's soon outdated. The car you bought will eventually break down. The food you buy will rot. Everything suffers under this slow defilement and degradation. And yet what Peter is telling us is that's not the case with what God has prepared for us. It is untouched by sin. There is no curse of sin upon it. Though we face pain and problems in this life, that is not what heaven is to be like. It is incorruptible, undefiled, pristine and waiting for us.

Imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. So often we assume the joy of heaven will one day fade. Maybe it's gonna take a long time, maybe it'll take a million years, but eventually it's going to fade. Again, we take this from our own experience of life because everything around us fades after a while. The excitement of a new hobby begins to fade. Relationships drift apart and fade. Even compassion over time begins to dip. It's not that way in heaven. We shall spend all of eternity in the fullness of the joy of God, yet always growing greater and greater. The joy of heaven does not fade. The perfect incorruptible hope we have in Christ is kept in heaven for us.

Peter is calling us to worship because of what God has done for us in the past, what God is doing for us in the future, and then here he calls us in verse 5:

Who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Here's the final reason Peter has for us to worship — not only because he began our spiritual life, but he himself is keeping us. Peter says we are guarded by God's power. Paul writes in Philippians chapter one:

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Our confidence in the Christian life is not about us being strong enough to keep ourselves following after Jesus. Our confidence is in the infinite power of God to hold and keep us. Though my strength may waver and fail, it is God's power I can depend on every day of my life. It's like being dropped out into the middle of the ocean — do you want a life jacket on or not? We can swim, and in fact we're called to work at our faith, and yet it is God's unsinkable power working in us that keeps us afloat. We are to continue on in the faith depending on God's power. He began our spiritual life, he keeps us, and he is keeping us unto heaven, preparing it for us.

All of this is from God. All of this is the reason that Peter is drawing us to understand what Jesus has done so that we might worship him. From beginning to end, all of our salvation depends on him, and so from beginning to the end of life, all of life can be to worship him. Hear me — this is true of all believers. We have this confidence not that we came to faith by our own cleverness, but by the power of God. Here is where we can rest. Peter calls us to bless God. Why? Our foundation is sure, fixed in the immovable power of God.

What Peter is going to show us here is that this is not just a reason to rejoice or to worship. In fact, it is how we can now face the trials of this life. Peter shows them this foundation we have in Christ and then turns their attention to the trials that they are yet going to face, and he's going to remind them and show them the purpose of our trials.

Look back at verse 6. He says:

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.

Again, we said last week that a lot of these churches are facing opposition for their faith. In fact, Peter is going to write to them very specifically about how they are to take on that persecution, that opposition they are facing, and do so in such a way to show what Jesus is like. But here Peter doesn't just have in mind persecution. If you notice, he keeps his language much more open. He says, you have been afflicted by various trials. This is not just talking about persecution or martyrdom. He's talking about all the challenges of life that we may face — sickness, disease, pain, death, struggles in our relationships, struggles with family, struggles at work, all the things of life that try us, that cause us pain and affliction.

Peter starts his letter this way because he intentionally wants to show us that God has a purpose for all of these troubles. And notice he says, if necessary — meaning God is not flippantly allowing these things to happen. He's not blase about allowing hardships in our lives. It's not just chalked up to bad luck. But actually the various trials that we face are only those that are deemed necessary by God for his purposes. That should be a comfort to us. God does not allow us to go into any kind of trial or suffering accidentally. It's not meaningless. Every trial that you shall deal with, every bit of grief you face has been measured by the hand of God to only go as far as is necessary for his purposes.

In verse 7 he begins to unfold for us what that is:

So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it's tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Here is God's purpose for our trials. It is so that our faith might be shown to be genuine and reflect the glory of God. That's what Peter is saying the purpose of God is for our trials. He uses this analogy of gold — if you were to go and mine gold straight out of the earth, you'd get this rock, and what you'd find is that it's filled with all kinds of impurities. There's dirt, there's other metals, there's all kinds of stuff all mixed together into this clump of gold. So what do you do? You take it and you melt it down, you get off all the extra junk that's not supposed to be in there, and what you're left with is now pure, or hopefully more pure, gold.

Peter's not the first biblical writer to use this analogy. Proverbs says:

The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.

This is how God is dealing with us. This is his purpose in allowing us to go through these trials. It is like a furnace refining and purifying our faith, so that the sin — all the extra stuff that is not needed in our life — might be taken out. Just as a refined bar of gold is more valuable than a clump you took out of the ground, so also our faith is more valuable as God refines it. It is more precious, more beautiful, and can reflect God more accurately. In fact, that same bar of gold, then shaped and crafted into jewelry, into a crown, becomes even more precious. God, through our trials and through all these things in life, is shaping us and crafting us more and more into the image of Christ.

I'm sure you can even look back over your own life and see this at work. We grow in the Christian life in a lot of ways, and yet so often it's when we're put to the test that we actually learn that lesson well, that it begins to cement into our lives. Trials bring out so many things we didn't even realize were in there.

Over these past number of weeks, many of you know, we had the birth of my son, and we haven't slept much. Honestly, I have found way more in my heart than I liked. It's amazing how just a few hours of missing sleep suddenly my heart thinks it's fine to grumble, to complain, to speak harshly to others. All it took was missing just a bit of comfort for all kinds of problems to come tumbling out I never would have known about had God not taken some small comfort from me. God teaches us in our trials. So watch — what is God teaching you? What sin is he refining out of your life? How is he shaping you to reflect and show his goodness even more?

James will write:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

God uses every trial, every stumble, every hard moment to shape us. None of it is wasted. None of it was unnecessary, and he is producing in you the character of Christ. God's not wasting his time with you. He has a purpose for what he is allowing and has deemed necessary in your life. Peter says that our faith might result in praise and glory and honor of God when Jesus returns.

Peter here is very much looking towards the future. He is looking forward to the inheritance that God is keeping for us, and he's saying that's where he wants our attention to be. It's not as if we cannot learn things throughout our life — certainly we do — but here's what I want to suggest: when we stand before God, we will come to realize just how much God has been doing throughout our life that we had never noticed until we come to that day. We need to understand God is a master craftsman with many tools in his belt that he will use to shape us. He will use his word, he will use prayer, the encouragement of others, the Holy Spirit in our lives, and he will use trials as a knife to cut through and shape us in such a way that will bring honor and glory to God. It is God who will be praised. God is preparing you for the day that you will stand before Christ and you will shine with his glory.

God has a purpose for every one of our trials. Do not lose sight of what God is doing. How do you face these trials? Remember, God is the one who has brought them in for a reason, and remember our foundation is secure in Christ. From that, now we can rejoice. In fact, this is exactly what Peter calls us to do — as believers, we can be rejoicing in the unseen.

Look back at verse 6. Peter says:

In this you rejoice.

He's talking about all of salvation. We can rejoice in our salvation no matter what is going on. We need to recognize there is still real pain that is involved. In fact, verse 6 he says, you have been grieved by various trials. He does not say the trials will not hurt. There is real grief in the trial. There is real pain that we will face. Even as he calls them to rejoice in what God has done, he does not say that there is no more sorrow to face. We live in a broken sin-filled world. Let's not pretend as Christians that it's okay to simply cover it all up and put on a fake smile because we think that's what a Christian should do.

Sometimes we even use what we've just talked about in order to close other people down — "Don't worry, God's gonna use it," or "Don't worry, God has a good purpose for it." Those are true words, but if you use them to cover up and push away real hurt, we're not doing what the Bible has called us to do. The Bible tells us weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn. The Christian life does not cover up suffering but recognizes the pain we go through while at the same time holding on to a living hope.

Hear me — he says for just a little while we will face these trials. Please remember these don't last forever. Our inheritance in heaven does. Our pain shall be for a moment. The trials, as bad as they are, are still only for the moment. But our joy lasts forever. It is not a joy that is meant to mask pain. But it is a joy that will not be overcome by pain. It's a joy we have in Christ that actually endures the trials and does not lose sight. The joy we have in God, kept by his power, will not be overcome even in the darkest night of the soul. This is why Peter can say rejoice — not because there is no suffering.

In fact, Peter picks this up in verse 8. He says:

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.

Peter here is repeating a blessing he's heard from Jesus. Jesus, when he's speaking to Thomas after the resurrection, said:

Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

Jesus has given us a blessing that even the apostle Peter himself did not have, and in that, hear me, we have a joy that is inexpressible — beyond our words to properly describe. Joy is ultimately felt, not dissected or analyzed. It is filled with glory. In the same way that Moses' face shone with the glory of God, so our joy in God can radiate his glory. It lasts through our life and brings us to the outcome when we shall see Jesus. The promise is for all believers. This is the joy we have because of God's salvation, that he will bring us through all of our trials for our good.

But here's my question — what happens if we don't feel that? What happens when we don't actually feel all that joyful, and the grief eclipses any joy that we have felt? Here's where I want you to notice something. Peter doesn't actually give us a command here. It's not a command to rejoice — make it happen. No, actually it's descriptive. He's describing the joy we have as believers, meaning that there is joy there whether or not we can feel it at the moment. Just like the clouds on a rainy day do not actually remove the sun nor darken its shine, nor does our temporary inability to feel his joy diminish its reality. The joy remains real whether or not our hearts can feel it even in that moment. Our feelings do not dictate reality.

So then what do we do when we cannot feel this joy? Look back at verse 8. He says:

Though you have not seen him, you love him.

Though everything around you looks one way, keep your focus on what is true. Our joy is rooted not in our circumstances, not in what we can see, but in our relationship with Christ. So when we cannot feel the joy that God has for us, what do we do? Return back to that simple relationship with Christ. Return back to the message of the gospel. Remind yourself who Jesus is. What has he done for us? Confess your sins and repent. Remember the greatness of his forgiveness. Remember his mercy towards you. Remember his love towards you when you had not done anything to deserve it, yet God had looked on you with grace. Go back to Jesus Christ again and again.

We live in a time when we are distracted constantly. The phones around us draw our attention in a thousand different ways. Spend your time reminding yourself of the mercy of God and his love for us. When you cannot feel the joy of God, spend time in his word. Spend time in prayer. Lean on him who will keep you. Surround yourself with believers who can encourage you and build you up.

Joy is more like a campfire than a light bulb. You can't switch joy on like a lamp. Rather, it's something you actually have to build, nurture, and feed. And yet when a campfire is properly built, it will outshine even rain that cannot put it out. That is the joy we have in Christ. No matter the rain, no matter the deluge of life, we have a joy that is not extinguished because it is kept by God. Even if we cannot feel its heat for a time, we can depend that God's power will not let it go out. Place your trust in the joy that God has given you, lean on it in your darkest moments, and trust he will not abandon you.

When we do that, not only do we actually begin to experience the joy of God that he has promised us, it begins to show in our life. It begins to radiate out. Other people begin to see and wonder and question, how is it that you can rejoice when everything that I can see is going wrong? It points us to the joy we have in Jesus Christ. It reveals a heart that genuinely trusts in him. So fan the flame that would burn brightly, giving glory to God.

Jesus is our example of this. Hebrews 12 reminds us that we are to be:

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter 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.

Jesus went through pain, sorrow, and shame. It's not that he did not feel those things — it is that the joy brought him through. It's not that you need to ignore your pain, but do not ignore the joy God has given to us. Let us take up his example in our lives as we face our trials, holding on to the joy God has given us.

We're not promised that this life will always go easy. We are promised that joy will last through it. It's not that we'll never feel pain — it's that no amount of grief in this life will ever overcome that joy. Because of what God has done for us in our salvation, he has not only saved us but kept us and prepared our inheritance in heaven for us, refining us through these trials that we might bring him glory. Why doesn't God just make our life perfect right now? It's because God has a greater plan in mind, and one day he will. We have a living hope of heaven that sits before us — imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven by God himself.

Let's pray together. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for the joy that you have given to us. Lord, we thank you that we have a joy that is unmatched by all the circumstance of life. Lord, we thank you that we can have a joy in the salvation that you have accomplished in Jesus Christ, that you have brought us to understand who you are and caused us to be born again to this living hope. Father, set our lives on that hope that stands before us in the sure salvation of Jesus Christ, that we might rejoice in all the trials of life. Lord, we trust that you will bring us through. We trust that you will use each and every one of them for your good purpose, and Father, we ask, would you be glorified in our lives? We ask this in your name. Amen.