Preached Sunday, January 27, 2013 from 1 Peter 1:6-9
Theme: Trials are used by God to refine our faith—so that our faith will result in glory in the future.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
This morning’s passage tells us about a need that all of us who are followers of Jesus have. But it’s a need that we don’t necessarily like having—and it’s one that we certainly don’t enjoy having met. But praise God that He faithfully meets it for us anyway.
Let me read this morning’s passage to you from the first chapter of 1 Peter. And as I read it, see if you can identify the hint it gives us of that need.
In 1 Peter, the apostle Peter was writing to Christians who were suffering for their faith. In verses 3-5, he described the wonderful glories of the heavenly inheritance God has preserved for them in Christ. And then he writes;
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:6-9).
Do you see it? He was encouraging these Christians to fix their hope on the glories of their heavenly inheritance in Christ and to “greatly rejoice” in it—”though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials . . .” What’s so surprising is how Peter speaks with regard to the experience of trials these persecuted Christians were undergoing—”if need be”. In the New International Version, it’s translated that “you may have had to suffer” them. In the English Standard Version, their experience of trials is stated to them in terms of the condition, “if necessary”.
Are trials really ‘necessary’ in God’s plan for us as followers of His Son Jesus? Do we actually ‘need’ to go through difficulties and struggles? We may not like to hear this; but the answer—from this passage, and from several other places in the Bible—is yes. They are, in fact, very necessary. They fill a need in us that we don’t necessarily like having—and that we certainly don’t enjoy having filled. But God loves us so much, and desires our future glory and eternal happiness enough, that He allows them to come in our lives to fulfill a need—even if we don’t like how it feels when that need is met.
In the mighty plan of our loving Father, trials have a “refining” power in the lives of His children. They get rid of things in our lives—or get rid of elements in our faith in Christ—that don’t belong there. They are like the fire that heats up the crucible of the soul and that burns away the sinful elements of this world that are still in us. They help purify our faith in Christ, and make it stronger.
And that’s what makes this morning’s passage so important and practical. In it, God the Holy Spirit tells us the truth about our need for trials. He also let’s us know what we need to do in order to go through the refining experience of trials productively, why it is that He meets our need for refinement in the way that He does, and what the glorious outcome of the refining of our faith through trials will be.
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Now; perhaps I should have offered a warning at the beginning of this message. Maybe I should have said that, since it’s a sermon about trials, some of you may want to leave. But I have to tell you that—if you are a follower of Jesus—even if you did get up and leave, it wouldn’t ultimately do any good. The Bible tells us the truth about things; and the plain truth is that trials are a normal and necessary part of our Christian growth. It’s a reality that we cannot escape.
But praise God—the Bible doesn’t leave things hanging with the news that trials must come. It also tells us, in several places, what God is doing in us through those trials; and why we should rejoice in what God accomplishing through them. At the very beginning of the New Testament letter of James, for example, James—who also wrote to persecuted Christians—said,
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).
I like it that James doesn’t say that we are to rejoice in the trials themselves. That would be a little bit crazy. Instead, he says to count it all joy when we fall into them—knowing the good news of what God is doing through them—and that we should cooperate with Him in what He’s doing.
In a similar manner, in Romans 5:1-5, the apostle Paul—who, by the way, was himself a seasoned ‘trial sufferer’ from way back!—wrote;
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:1-5).
Because of what we know that God is doing in our tribulations, we can actually learn to “glory” in them! Even our Lord Jesus taught this to us. In John 15:1-2, He said;
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2).
A wise vinedresser always takes care of the fruit-bearing grapevine; and gives it the treatment it needs so that it will become even more productive. And one of the ways he takes care of it is by snipping away and “pruning” the things from it that draw away its strength and hinder its fruit. I can’t imagine how it must feel to be a grapevine. I suspect “pruning” really hurts. It’s the grapevine-version of “experiencing trials”. But the pruning is absolutely necessary for fruitfulness.
You may remember that Jesus once said,
“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
And you may ask, “Well; if He has overcome the world, then why do His followers still undergo ‘tribulations'”? And the obvious reason is that the tribulations are somehow necessary. Our wise, loving and powerful Father would never allow them to come our way unless they were just exactly what we needed for growth. Just like Peter said, we have been grieved by various trials “if need be”. I take a lot of comfort in knowing that they won’t come into our lives in any way except under the sovereign supervision of our loving heavenly Father; and only “if need be”.
This morning, I ask you to think about a trial that the heavenly Father has allowed into your life. If you are a child of His by faith, and if you are undergoing a trial, then the trial there only because He has permitted it. Perhaps it’s something that you’re going through right now. Perhaps it’s something that you’ve already gone through, but that still leaves its painful impact on you today. Perhaps it’s a trial that someone else is going through; and because they are someone you love, you feel the pain of it too.
This passage teaches us that trials—including that one that may be paramount in your mind this morning—are all used by God to refine our faith; so that our faith will result in glory in the future.
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Look with me a little closer at this passage and see what Peter tells us in it about . . .
1. THE EXPERIENCE OF REFINEMENT (v. 6).
He beings by saying, “In this you greatly rejoice . . .” And we need to take a moment to consider what the “this” is that we’re to rejoice in.
You’ll find it described in verses 3-5; where Peter wrote,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:3-5).
That’s our future destiny in Christ. That’s the inheritance that’s preserved for us in heaven—and for which we ourselves are being preserved by God. And it’s in this great, glorious, future inheritance that we are to “greatly rejoice”. Peter uses a remarkable word to describe this joy. It’s not just any ol’ ‘rejoicing’. It’s a rejoicing to an exceeding level. In that future inheritance we are to actually ‘super-rejoice’!
By the way—do you rejoice in that inheritance? That inheritance is only ours by faith in Jesus Christ—that is, by trusting in what He has done on the cross to take away our sins through the shedding of His blood, and by trusting that He obtained our right to that inheritance for us through His resurrection. Have you placed your trust in Him—in His life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension? And do you fix your hopes on the future glory He has obtained for us? I believe that—as Christians—there shouldn’t be a day that goes by that we aren’t thinking about that glorious future inheritance with great joy and thankfulness.
So; Peter says, “In this you greatly rejoice . . .” But he’s realistic. He goes on to say that we rejoice in it “though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials . . .” And that describes our experience right now as we live as Jesus’ believing followers on this earth. We rejoice in the prospect of a glorious eternal inheritance—even though, right now, “if need be”, we must go through difficult trials. We have ‘gladness’ even in ‘sadness’.
But I hope you’ll notice how careful Peter is to put those trials in perspective. He goes out of his way to stress how temporary they are. He says that we go through them “now”—not throughout eternity, but just now; “for a little while”—not forever, but for a very short time from the perspective of eternity; and only “if need be” for the purpose of preparing us for eternal glory.
This reminds me of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. He and his co-missionaries labored hard for the cause of the gospel. They suffered greatly for it. But he wrote;
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal
(2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Paul’s afflictions for the gospel were painful; but compared with eternity, they were “light”, and produced something ‘weighty’. They were only “for a moment” compared to eternity, but they were producing something “far more exceeding and eternal”. They were “afflictions”, but they were leading to “glory”.
And that’s the way it is with us. We need to be realistic about our experience of the refining process. We need to recognize our trials for the painful things that they are. They truly ‘grieve’ us. They ‘distress’ us. But we need to keep them in perspective. They are only “now”, and only “for a little while”, and only “if need be.”
And before we depart from this, please let me point one more thing out to you. It’s not the experience of the trials alone that refine us. A lot of people experience trials; and it doesn’t do them any good. If we only looked at the trials by themselves, we would miss the most important part of our experience of the refinement of our faith. The thing that makes the experience of our trials a truly “refining” thing is what Peter stressed at the beginning of verse 6—that while undergoing them, we habitually, continually keep our eyes on the promise God has given us of eternal glory in Christ; and, in this “greatly rejoice”! No matter what happens, we never lose our confident trust in Jesus, and our joy—by faith—in the prospect of our eternal inheritance.
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Now; that’s our “experience” of the refinement of our faith. You might think to yourself, “I only wish it were my experience! I do real well with the ‘grieving’ part. But I don’t do so well with the ‘rejoicing’ part.” And perhaps this is explaining not only what our experience actually is from God’s perspective, but what it should grow increasingly to be in our own—God helping us.
And He does help us! Let’s move on, then, to see how Peter describes . . .
2. THE PURPOSE OF REFINEMENT (v. 7).
Why does God allow these times of trial in our lives? Why does He allow our faith to be tested—sometimes severely? As Peter says, it’s “that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ . . .” (v. 7).
Did you know that our faith is something very precious to God the Father? He loves those who trust in Him and believe on His Son. He values such faith very much; and He is very protective of it and is eager for its growth. That faith should be precious to us as well. In fact, Peter uses the most precious thing we can think of on earth—gold that has been refined in the fire, removed of all its impurities; tested and proven pure and genuine—and uses it to show that our faith is of even greater value than that! Gold—even the most purified and refined gold—perishes! But our faith leads to that which is eternal.
I think that Peter used the analogy of the refinement of gold very deliberately to help us understand what trials do for our faith. In the refinement of gold, the fire is heated up and the gold is melted. All of the traces of impurity in the gold rise to the surface and are gently and patiently skimmed away. The process is repeated several times, until the impurities are gone—and the gold is pure.
The trials refine our faith in very much the same way. Sometimes the heat come in the form of difficult circumstances that make us learn to trust God more. It may be tight finances. It may be a job loss. It may be a legal challenge. Sometimes, it may be a physical illness that make us call upon God. It may be bad news from the doctor. It may be that a crippling physical condition comes along and impairs our ability to work, or that limits our lives in some way. It may be a time of emotional testing. Some of God’s most powerful and useful servants were strengthened and trained in faith through the trial of deep depression. It may be that the trial comes in the form of persecution—as was the case with the people that Peter was writing to. The ‘heat’ may come in many different forms. That’s why, in the previous verse, Peter called them “various trials”.
I have grown to appreciate how God knows the best type of trial to use to refine us personally. We who are in Christ are—each one—His unique project of love. He knows us perfectly; and we can rest assured that He will never allow any trial to come into our lives that is more than we can endure if we will trust Him in the midst of it. As it says in 1 Corinthians 10:13;
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it
(1 Corinthians 10:13).
And I see two things that God seeks to do in our trials from what Peter has written. First, He seeks to show that our faith is “genuine”. The word that Peter uses is the one that would refer to precious metal that had been put through the refinement process and ‘proven’ pure. If I may say it frankly, there are a lot of ‘religious fakes’ out there in the world—people who say they are followers of Jesus, but really aren’t. The refining fire of trials reveals the truth of who’s faith is “genuine”—the ones who, though imperfectly at times, still nevertheless cling tightly to Jesus when the times are tough, who still seek to obey Him, and who still rejoice greatly in the inheritance that is ours in Christ. And I don’t think that it’s so that God Himself will know if our faith is genuine or not; do you? He already knows. Rather, it’s so that we will know that our faith is genuine—and that the watching world will know it as well. It will have been proven by experience.
And I see a second thing that God does through our trials. Once our faith is proven to be genuine, He further purifies it so that, on the day of Jesus’ return, it will be found “to praise, honor, and glory”. Sometimes, our faith is tested in such a way that we do not have “praise” or “honor” or “glory” in this world. But there will be nothing in this world that could possibly be greater than to hear the Lord Jesus—on the Day of His glory—turn to us and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
Let the world have it’s short-lived ‘praise’ and ‘honor’ and ‘glory’! Let me hear those words from the lips of the Lord of glory instead! And if my faith must be refined by the hardship of trials in order for that to happen, then it will be a refinement that I will never regret! The trials are only temporary. The results of the refinement of my faith are eternally pure, honorable and glorious!
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And that leads us, finally, to . . .
3. THE OUTCOME OF REFINEMENT (vv. 8-9).
Peter says that our refined faith will result in praise, honor and glory in the day of the revealing of Jesus, “whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls” (vv. 8-9).
I suggest you can see the outcome in two respects. First, you can see it in respect to our present walk with the Lord Jesus. Every trial of your faith that you faithfully undergo—while keeping your eyes fixed on the eternal inheritance Jesus Christ has purchased for us—makes you love Jesus even more. Have you ever met an older, seasoned Christian who surprises you with the greatness of their love for Jesus?—someone who, over many years, has become completely set free from any doubt about Him, and who is completely given over in love to Him? Well; that didn’t happen by accident. That happens by a long process of having their faith in Him refined through many, many trials.
Look at what Peter said; “whom having not seen you love” (v. 8). The suffering Christians that Peter wrote to had never laid eyes on Jesus when He walked on this earth. But they nevertheless loved Him. And even in the trials that they were right then undergoing, they only saw Him by the eyes of faith. And yet, they believed and rejoiced “with joy inexpressible and full of glory”.
Do you remember what Jesus said to the disciple Thomas after He rose from the dead? The other disciples told Thomas that they had seen the Lord; but Thomas wouldn’t believe them. He felt that he needed to touch Jesus for Himself. We’re told that they were all gathered together—with Thomas among them; and that Jesus appeared to them.
Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:27-29).
You and I are, in that respect, more blessed than Thomas—if we learn to love the Lord Jesus and believe on Him whom we have not yet seen. That love and belief becomes strengthened in us through the refinement of our faith by means of trials.
And second, that outcome is seen in respect to the full completion of our salvation in the future. Peter writes, “receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls” (v. 9). The “end” of our faith simply means the “goal” or “outcome” of it; and the goal or outcome of our faith is our full salvation. As Paul put it at the end of his long life of faith;
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
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Now; let’s go back and think again about that trial that you may be undergoing right now. I hope you can now see that it’s not there by accident. If it’s there at all, it’s because it “needs be” there. Count it all joy that it is there. Our sovereign heavenly Father is at work in you through it—perfecting in you the faith that He values so highly.
Let’s lock arms together as brothers and sisters in Christ; and let’s encourage one another do to what Peter says. Let’s make very sure to rejoice in the eternal inheritance that Christ has secured for us while we are in the midst of our trials. The glory of that inheritance is where all our trials is leading to; and we will never regret anything that God used to get us there. Let’s remind each other why it is that God has allowed that trial into our lives—so that it will refine our faith and make it pure; and so that on the Day we stand before Jesus Christ, we will have the joy together of hearing Him say, “Well done!” And let’s learn together to embrace the intended outcome of that refinement! Let’s not let one another slip into bitterness and complaining. Let’s encourage one another to love the Lord Jesus more and more; and look ahead to the end of our faith—the salvation of our souls.
These trials may meet a need that we don’t necessarily like having—nor like having met! But we will praise God eternally that He loved us enough to refine us through them.