Keys of The Kingdom 14 - Think It Not Strange

Peter says, "Think it not strange the fiery trial which is to try you." Yet, we all do think it strange as we encounter these things in our lives. So, open with me to First Peter, chapter 4, as we consider trials and suffering together and how we can live in this life without thinking it strange.

Now, would you stand with me again and open your Bibles to First Peter, chapter 4? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. First Peter is near the end of your Bible. Go to the very last book, Revelation, and turn to the left. You'll pass Jude and First, Second, and Third John, and then Second Peter.

We are in First Peter, chapter 4, verse 12. There, Peter writes, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's suffering, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, He is blasphemed, but on your part, He is glorified."

But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet, if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator. Lord, we sang just a moment ago of our need for You. When we face difficulties, when we face trials and suffering, we are pressed into a place where we understand or comprehend the...

Greatness of our need for You in a more full capacity, Lord. I pray, God, that we would see, as we go through the text here this morning, our need for You and the work of Your Spirit. We ask, God, that by Your Word, You would transform our understanding so that we would be able to know, understand, and comprehend what is the reality of the trials that You use in our lives. So, Lord, transform us, as Peter says here, that we would not think it strange when we encounter these things. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

Why do bad things happen? That is one of the difficult questions that all men struggle with. Sometimes we add to the end of it, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" We won't even go there, but why do bad things happen in general? The fact is, if you went and asked 20 people on the street, "Why do you think bad things happen?" you'd get a myriad of ideas from people as to why bad things happen. In fact, if you asked 20 people, you'd probably get more than 20 answers, and there would be all kinds of different personal philosophical views in answering that question.

If you came across someone who comes from a Buddhist or Hindu background, they might tell you that bad things happen because of karma. Karma is your future, your destiny; it really comes down to and is determined by your past. What you've done in the past will determine your future, and not just the past in this life, but for some in this Eastern view, your past in other lives will determine your fate in this life. That is a heavy thing to comprehend. To go through suffering or difficulty and to say, "Well, you must have been really bad in the last life," seems pretty fatalistic and deterministic, if you ask me.

If you came across someone who holds to a Chinese Taoist view and you asked, "Why do bad things happen?" they might say, "Well, you have to understand it's an issue of yin-yang." You know that symbol, yin-yang? What's that all about? Well, there really isn't anything that is good or bad in this world, they might explain. There's just the appearance of what might be good or bad, and in every bad, there is good, and in every good, there is bad.

What starts out bad might end up good, and what starts out good might end up bad. This presents an issue of yin and yang. If you come across someone who is a naturalist or an atheist, they may not hold any sort of faith, although they have great faith to be an atheist. Those who hold this view might say that there are no good or bad things; there are just things in this random universe. You might think that there are good or bad things, but they are just things that randomly happen to all people. If something increases your well-being, you might perceive it to be good, and if something decreases your well-being, you might perceive it to be bad. However, there is no such thing as good or bad.

If you encounter a person who is a Muslim, they might tell you that bad things and good things happen in this world because life is a huge pass-fail test. God, or Allah, is the cosmic proctor of that test, putting you through these experiences to see whether or not you are worthy of Him and worthy of His Heaven, His eternity. There are all kinds of different views on this discussion—the question of why bad things happen. Even within theology, and specifically within the Christian faith, you see this whole discussion of good and bad.

The question of why bad things happen falls into a category of theology called theodicy. This term was coined in the 18th century by a German theologian. There are volumes of books written on this topic from a Christian perspective. If you ask a dozen theologians their views on why bad things happen, you will receive many differing opinions, as many differing views among Christian theologians as you will among people who are not of faith.

Peter has an interesting perspective in 1 Peter 4:12. He says, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial." Here’s the problem: more often than not, especially in 21st-century American culture, we do think it strange when bad things happen. We do find it strange, and that’s why we even ask the question, "Why am I suffering?" Merely asking the question "Why am I suffering?" or "Why am I going through this difficulty, this trial?" acknowledges this struggle.

The whole concept of suffering can seem strange to us. We often find it difficult to understand why trials and difficulties come into our lives. Each one of us has an inordinate affection for ourselves, a great love for our own well-being. When we suffer, we experience a kind of grieving over the pain we are enduring. We grieve because we are suffering, and we might even find ourselves going through the various stages of grief.

You may have heard of the stages of grief before. You start out in the area of shock, thinking, "This can't be happening." From there, you may move into denial, insisting, "This is not happening." Next, you might find yourself in the area of anger, questioning, "Why is this happening to me? Why is it not happening to him?" After that, you may enter the stage of bargaining, thinking, "Maybe if I do this or that, then I won't have to go through this." Eventually, you might come to a place of depression, feeling resigned to the thought, "Of course this is happening to me; these things always happen to me." Finally, after moving through all of this, you may reach a stage of acceptance.

Peter here says, "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial." I want to give a preface, a caveat, to our study of this passage. What Peter speaks of here might offend your sensibilities. I have spent hours this week having my own sensibilities offended by this text, and I'm only going to subject you to 31 minutes, so you're getting off easy in that regard.

How might Peter offend our sensibilities? Point number one, which is on your sermon guide, is that trials are normal. Suffering is normal. In other words, what Peter essentially says in this section of Scripture is: don't think it strange when you suffer; instead, think it strange when you don't suffer. That small movement of the word "don't" is significant. It may seem like a simple shift, but it presents a very complex architecture for understanding our experiences.

Suffering raises the question, "Why am I suffering?" Peter might respond, "Why not?" This response can be difficult for us because none of us want to suffer; none of us welcome trials or suffering. In fact, he might even pose a more challenging question: "Why are you not suffering?"

Peter's key starting point in this passage, found in 1 Peter 4:12-19, is the simple statement: "Don't think it strange when you suffer." It is important to set a framework for understanding suffering. At the outset, I want to contend that there are two forms of suffering in the world: normal suffering and abnormal suffering.

Normal suffering is the suffering that all human beings experience because we live in a fallen and broken world that is cursed through sin. This type of suffering is the experience of every person living in a broken world. There is a sense in which every single one of the 7 billion people on this planet recognizes, upon becoming self-aware and cognizant of their surroundings, that we live in a broken world. Everybody understands this. There is a desire or recognition within us that things are not as they should be.

However, only the Christian faith leads us to an understanding of why things are not as they ought to be. If you have never looked at it before, read Genesis chapters 1, 2, and 3. It won't take you long to find that God created everything good. He intended for us to live in a world without brokenness, suffering, death, or sin. Yet, through the fall of humanity, as described in Genesis chapter 3, we have sin, brokenness, and a curse in this world.

Every one of us becomes aware at some point in life that the world is not as it should be, and we wish that it were different. Only the Christian faith provides the explanation for why things are as they are. Normal suffering encompasses the suffering that all human beings experience while living in a fallen, cursed, and broken world. Examples of this suffering include cancer, disease, natural disasters, and accidents. Some of these events seem random and arbitrary; they just happen. Unfortunately, some of these sufferings are the result of our own decisions or indecisions. At times, we suffer because we chose to do something that perhaps we shouldn't have done.

Probably someone even told us, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." We go, "No, no, no, I got this. I got this." None of you have ever done that. I've done that, but I'm sure none of you have experienced that. Sometimes we suffer because of our own decisions or our own indecisions. These are the things that people experience in a fallen, broken world.

Now, abnormal suffering is suffering that we might experience by or because of supernatural means. The naturalist, the person who does not believe that there are such things as the supernatural, would say, "I totally discount that there is such a thing as abnormal suffering." However, the person of faith acknowledges that this world is not only what we see; there's more to it than meets the eye. Abnormal suffering is that suffering we might experience because of or by supernatural means or forces.

Depending on your view of the sovereignty of God and the directing of God, you may comprehend or look at these abnormal sufferings in different ways. You may classify it as God-ordained suffering, meaning that God is the one who willed it or determined that you would go through this. Alternatively, you might look at it as God-allowed suffering, where He didn't specifically do this but allowed it to happen. You may also see this as suffering because you're a follower of God, living in a world that is under the sway of the one who opposes the glory of God.

The Bible describes an entity, a spiritual being, and we will be introduced to him in chapter 5. There, Peter will talk about our enemy, the adversary, the devil, who goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The Bible describes this supernatural entity who opposes all things that pertain to the glory of God. All of this world is under his sway, as stated in the book of Ephesians.

If you're a follower of Jesus today and you're living to promote the glory of God, you can anticipate that you will come in contact with this one who opposes the will and glory of God. This is what the scriptures describe as spiritual warfare. Paul speaks about it in Ephesians 6:12, where he says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this age." Therefore, since we do, we need to be thoroughly equipped, and we need to put on the whole armor of God.

As a follower of Jesus, you may encounter what I term "abnormal suffering." This abnormal suffering arises from supernatural means in this world, and I would say it is a form of suffering that only Christians experience. Peter is primarily speaking about this type of suffering in Ephesians chapter 4. When he says, "Do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial," he is not referring to the normal suffering that all people experience. We can acknowledge that we suffer these things because we live in a broken, fallen world, as Genesis 3 tells us. However, Peter focuses on the abnormal suffering that may occur because you are seeking to promote the glory of God in a world that is opposed to it. Therefore, Peter advises us not to think it strange when we suffer these things.

Notice that he begins verse 12 by saying "beloved." This is incredibly important, as I have prayed with many Christians over the years who are going through trials and experiencing difficulties, the fiery trial. In the midst of these trials, we can be seduced or tempted by our flesh, the world, or even the devil to adopt a perspective that suggests God is against us. We may think that the reason we are going through this suffering is that God is angry with us. Have you ever met someone who feels this way? Many of us have, or perhaps we have even found ourselves falling into that temptation and trap.

Peter begins by reminding us with this simple word that, as a follower of God, you are beloved by Him. God is not doing this to you because He is mad at you, and this is an important truth for us to grasp. If God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son when we were against Him, in opposition to Him as His enemies, and demonstrated His love towards us while we were yet sinners, then He loves you even more now that you are His child. God is no more doing this to you than you, as a father or mother, would do something harmful to your child if they were suffering or going through something difficult.

However, as we go through the Scriptures, we find that God allows us to experience trials. If you're a parent, you know there have been times when you have not intervened in a situation with your kids. You allow them to go through it because there is something you want to result from that experience.

Peter starts by saying, "Beloved, remember this: you are loved by God." When you go through various trials, don't think it's strange. Don't think, "God is doing this to me," or "He always does this to me." We are tempted to think like that, aren't we? Peter says, "Do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, as though some strange thing happened to you."

I know I skipped something in the middle of verse 12; we'll get to that in just a second. But don't think it strange, this fiery trial, as though some strange thing were happening to you. Christian, follower of Jesus, if you've put your trust in Jesus today, don't be shocked by trials as though some strange or shocking thing were happening to you. This is the normal Christian life. Trials are normal.

I will say it over and over again because we need to put this in our minds. We live in a culture that says, "You're a Christian? No trials!" The Bible doesn't teach that. Jesus didn't teach that. Peter does not teach that, and Paul never taught that. Go through the Scriptures; the Bible never teaches that trials do not come upon the follower of God. Living as a follower of God does not put a shelter over you that shields you from any sort of trial. That's not the case. Trials are normal.

The question should be asked: If we're never suffering any trial for the name of Christ, have we become too much like the world and not of the kingdom of God? Peter says, "Do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial."

Now, this word "fiery" in "fiery trial" is one Greek word: pyrosis. That's right, pyro, pyrosis. It literally speaks of a figure of the Refiner's Fire. What is the Refiner's Fire? Well, of course, you would take some sort of metal, maybe gold, out of the ground, and it needs to be refined. It's filled with all kinds of impurities, and the way to refine it is to heat it to its boiling point and continue to heat it to its boiling point.

God is able to bring all those impurities to the surface or burn them off and remove them to purify us. The trials that you face as a follower of God, supernatural and abnormal suffering, are, according to the Scriptures, a refining work that God is doing in your life and in my life.

Now, none of us like the refiner's fire. We used to sing a song called "Refiner's Fire," and while it expresses a desire for purification, I often found it hard to relate to. Every time I sang it, I felt like I was lying. My heart's one desire was not to be refined; I hated that song. I don't think we sing it very much anymore, but I remember feeling uncomfortable singing those words.

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the refining trial that is meant to test you. Peter says it is brought into your life for the purpose of trying and testing. The phrase "to try you" is used by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:13. You can jot it down; I'll read it: "No trial or 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 trial, the temptation will also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it."

Yes, God does allow trials into my life and into your life as a proving test, as a refining fire. It is a test. You remember that sound that comes over: "It's a test; it's only a test." Sometimes we need to be reminded in the midst of it all that this is a test; it's only a test.

Now, the immediate question would be: does that mean that the God of the Bible is just like Allah of the Quran, whom Muslims say brings these things into our lives as a pass-fail test? Are you telling me that the God of the Bible is just like Allah? No, here’s the difference. Whereas Allah in the Quran brings trials into the life of the Muslim as a pass-fail test to see...

If they are worthy of Him and of His glory, God brings trials into my life and your life as a test in which He reveals His faithfulness and refines ours. The test is not to bring us to the point of failing; rather, it is to bring us to the point of seeing His faithfulness and strengthening our faith.

Is that really true, you ask? Well, again, let me read 1 Corinthians 10:13 and let's look at it a little more closely. It says, "No trial has overtaken you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful." What's happening in the midst of the trial? We are discovering, in this trial, in this temptation, in this suffering—call it whatever you will—that God is allowing in your life. You are coming into the experience of the faithfulness of God.

God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. He is not doing this in your life to see, "Oh, well, you couldn't make that one, could you?" He is faithful and will not allow us to be tempted, tested, or tried beyond what we are able. But with the temptation, the test, the trial, He, in His faithfulness, will also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

So, point number two on your outline: trials prove God's faithfulness and refine ours. Why does God allow these things in my life? Because trials prove God's faithfulness and refine ours.

Peter says in 1 Peter 4:13, "But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy." Beloved Christian, follower of Jesus, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing were happening to you. Don't be shocked by it; instead, rejoice in it. Why? Because in it, you are a partaker of Christ's sufferings, and when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. So, Peter basically says this: don't be shocked; do rejoice.

Really, I'm working on this one: rejoicing in trials. I haven't quite got it; I'm almost there. Don't be shocked; do rejoice. The reason we're so shocked is that our culture tends to lead us in the direction of asking, "Why is this happening to me? This shouldn't be happening to me." Peter says, "No, this is normal."

It's normal. We've already considered this concept of the normalcy of trials and the work of trials in our lives, as well as our rejoicing in trials previously in First Peter. If you're in 1 Peter chapter 4 with me, turn to the left to 1 Peter chapter 1 and look at verse 6.

Peter says, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials." Why? "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."

Now, Peter, as well as Paul, James, and other New Testament writers, speaks about this rejoicing and joy in the midst of trials—not because the trial is so enjoyable, not because we want the trial in our lives, but because of the outcome of the trial and what God brings through the trial.

What do we see that He brings through this? Well, one of the things we learn is His faithfulness. We are refined in our faithfulness, and we rejoice in this. This is point number three on your outline: trials forge our partnership with Christ in His suffering and His glory.

Trials in the life of the Christian forge our partnership with Christ in His suffering, just as He suffered 2,000 years ago here on the earth on the cross. They forge our partnership with Him in His suffering, but also our partnership with Him in His glory. The New Living Translation translates verse 13 like this: "Instead, be very glad for these trials, because they make you partners with Christ in His suffering so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing His glory when it is revealed to the world."

So, what Peter is saying here is that being in the midst of suffering for the name and sake of Christ makes you a partner with Christ in His sufferings.

But it also partners you with Him in the glory that He reveals. It’s not just Peter who says this; Paul also writes about it. In Romans 8:15, Paul states, "For you, Christian, did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom you cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if we are children of God, then we are heirs of God, heirs and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him."

Grasp with me, if you will, what both Peter and Paul are telling us here. If you're a Christian and you suffer because of being a Christian—abnormal suffering, supernatural trials because you're a follower of God—you're suffering with Christ, and you will also receive His glory. You are partnered with Him in suffering, and you will be partnered with Him in glory as well.

Now, I think that's something to rejoice in. Yes, you suffer, but the reward of the suffering is to be glorified with Christ. Jesus was glorified before His disciples in Matthew chapter 17 on what is called the Mount of Transfiguration. It was so awesome, the glory of Christ, that they couldn't even fully behold Him, and that was just a sneak peek of the glory that would come. We can't even begin to comprehend the glory that shall be revealed in us. Paul says in his writings in Romans chapter 8, "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the mind of man the things that God has prepared for those that love Him." The sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.

So, if you're a Christian and you partner with Christ in His suffering, you'll be a partner with Him in His glory. Peter continues in verse 14, "If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, those who are not believers, He is blasphemed, but on your part, He is glorified." I love the New Living Translation of this verse; it says, "So be happy when you're insulted for being a Christian." Be happy when you're insulted.

For being a Christian, the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. We are not happy because of the suffering; we are not sadistically enjoying the trial. However, we understand—or at least all the writers of the New Testament are trying to get us to understand—that this is merely a blip on the radar of eternity. There is so much more that is great and beyond all of this in glory. This abnormal suffering, which only the Christian experiences, is ultimately going to produce glory in our lives.

So much so that Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, said in Matthew 5:1, "Blessed are you; oh, how happy are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven."

Now, there is a group of people within the church called ethicists. They write books on biblical ethics and say things like you should never serve God for the reward that you're going to get from Him. Yet, constantly in the Bible, it says to serve God for the reward that you're going to get from Him. So, I am going to believe the Bible.

We go through trials with joy, not because we are weird and twisted and like trials, but because we know that the testing of our faith produces patience. Patience will have its perfect work in us, so that we will be perfect, complete, lacking nothing. We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance produces hope. Hope does not disappoint.

What is our hope? Our hope is of eternity, where there is no suffering, no death, no trials, no sin, and no curse. That is where our joy and rejoicing come from. That is where we can actually fulfill the exhortation of Peter to be happy when we are insulted for being a Christian.

Point number four on your outline: trials can produce joy in this life and will be rewarded in the next. I purposefully said "can" because the fact is that the same trial can equally produce bitterness in the life of the person who professes to know God. Maybe you've met that person.

A person who encounters a trial or suffers for the name of Christ and then gives up is likely the one described in what is called the Parable of the Sower. In this parable, the seed fell upon shallow ground, sprang up quickly, but then the sun came and burned it out. Later on, Jesus tells His disciples what this picture means. He explains that the seed is the Word of God, and the soil represents the heart of man. The shallow ground that sprang up quickly symbolizes those who received the gospel with joy, but when trials came, they became bitter instead of better.

What is the only difference between better and bitter? It is when I get inordinately focused on myself. I didn’t make that up; I know some of you might think that’s really profound, but it’s true. By nature, I am always inordinately focused on myself. Who is the first person you look at in a family picture? It’s you. The picture is good or bad based on how you look. Everyone else can look perfect, but if you don’t look good, you might have that half-smile, thinking, "This is a bad picture." Thank God for Photoshop! Have you seen that app where people are replacing faces? That is so creepy.

We can become so focused on ourselves that we fail to see God and Christ in the work He wants to do. In the trial, we can find joy, but more often than not, because we are focused on ourselves, we become angry and bitter. This offends our sensibilities. What Peter is teaching here offends the sensibilities of our carnal nature, which does not want to suffer, does not want any discomfort, and does not want to go through any sort of trial.

That is the very thing that God needs to purge from me because it will not go into eternity. This corruption will put on incorruption; this mortality will put on immortality. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we shall be changed. We shall be like Him, and this fallen flesh that abhors any sort of discomfort will go away, leaving only the soul to continue. If it is true, as Peter presents here, that trials produce...

Reward. Then, shouldn't we just seek to experience trials? Should we try to induce trials? Should we do things to make us suffer? No. Look at verse 15, 1 Peter 4:15: "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, as a thief, as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if—circle the word 'if'—anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter."

Let no one suffer in things that even non-Christians see as evil: murder, theft, evil works. Let no one suffer in these things because these dishonor the name of God; they bring shame against the name of God. So, don't suffer in these things. It seems like a given: Christ is to be glorified in the life of the Christian. He is to be honored and lifted up over the life of the person who follows Jesus. These things dishonor and shame the name of Christ. He says, "Don't do these things that are going to shame the name of Christ," things that even evildoers, even people who don't believe in the Bible, find as wrong, wicked, and evil.

Now, interestingly, he says in this verse, "Let no one suffer as a busybody in other people's matters." I get murder; I get theft; I get evildoer. But what is a busybody in other people's matters? Let me read to you from Thayer's Greek Lexicon dictionary, because there's only one Greek word that is translated as "busybody" in other people's matters. Here's the definition from Thayer's Greek Lexicon: he writes that this refers to those who, with holy zeal, meddle in other unbelievers' lives and affairs in order to make them conform to the standard of Christ.

What does this mean? Simply this: if you suffer because you're a Christian and you're trying to force your Christian standards, values, and faith on a Christ-rejecting culture, and you're forcing that on them, trying to make them live under these standards, and you suffer because they reject that—if they say, "No, we're going to reject you, and now we're going to get you and kill you"—if you suffer that, he says, "No, don't suffer for that." Sadly, the church in its history has blights upon its history wherein they, through political or military means, have tried.

To force people to live a converted life that is not the Gospel as God intends it is misguided. The Gospel is the call to fallen, sinful people to turn from their sin and to turn to Christ for grace, forgiveness, and salvation. However, when the church has moved through military, power, or political means to try and impose the standards of the Gospel and the kingdom of God upon society, and society rejects that, Peter says that is not the way of the Gospel. This is what it means to be a meddler in the affairs of other people. This is not the church and the Gospel as Christ intends it.

If you suffer for doing that, Peter basically says that is deserved suffering. However, he emphasizes that it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God! The New Living Translation says, "Praise God for the privilege of being called by His name."

Point number five on your outline: trials are the unashamed privilege of the Christian. Though a world that lives in opposition to God may shame, ridicule, and insult the Christian, and they suffer shame for His name, do not be ashamed. It is a privilege to suffer shame for the name of Christ. We do not glory in suffering, but we glory in suffering, and we glorify Him for what He will accomplish in us and through us because of that suffering.

Peter continues in verse 17 of 1 Peter chapter 4. He says, "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the Gospel? Now, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?"

Here, Peter makes an interesting and complex shift in what he is speaking of, but it needs to be understood in the context of the abnormal suffering that a Christian experiences while living for the glory of God in a world that is opposed to the glory of God. Peter seems to indicate that the suffering you may experience as a follower of God in a world that is opposed to God is like a form of judgment. Here’s the thing: if God will allow His people, whom...

He loves those who are living for His glory to experience the judgment of those trials and not take them out of it, like Jesus prayed in John chapter 17: "I do not pray that you take them out of the world." If God, who loves you, will let you go through that and experience it, it should be incredibly sobering to think of what will actually happen when He judges those who are unbelievers.

Peter says here, "If the righteous one is scarcely saved," does he mean that salvation is really hard to earn? Notice he puts "righteous" before "saved." So, what is he speaking of here? A lot of times, when we hear the word "saved," we think of it in the context of when we were saved—when we put our faith in Christ. You became a believer in Jesus at a Billy Graham Crusade, a Harvest Crusade, at this church, or another church, and you're saved.

However, ultimate salvation doesn't happen until God redeems us out of this world. We are looking forward to the salvation of our souls. Peter already spoke of this in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 5. He says that we Christians are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. A few verses later, in verse 9 of 1 Peter chapter 1, he says, "Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

So, Peter says here, if the righteous one—one who is made righteous by the grace and gift of God—is scarcely saved, or they are saved through much hardship in this world, what will become of those who do not obey the gospel? If God allows you to go through trials and difficulty here in this life, what does that mean about what He will accomplish in His judgment upon those who refuse to obey the gospel? It's a sobering thought.

But here's the point: the suffering of trials is as bad as it will ever be for the Christian. As one preacher put it, "This is as close to hell as the Christian will ever get." The sobering reality is that the hardness of this life is as close to Heaven as the unbeliever will ever get.

Peter 4:19 states, "Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator." God is allowing it; God is ordaining it. Trials are normal; they are the refining tool of God used in our lives as we partner with Him for His glory. Yes, we may be partnered with Him in suffering, but He will one day reward us as we follow Him by faith, faithfully enduring the trials that we face in this life.

Do not be ashamed of the trial that you go through, and do not think it strange as though some unusual thing were happening to you. Rejoice, knowing that this suffering is the worst it will ever be, and God in eternity has a great reward for us. Amen.

Let us stand and close in prayer. Father God, help us to comprehend these things that are difficult and that our fallen nature struggles with. We do not like to suffer; we do not like discomfort. I pray, God, that You would help us to recognize that these things we might endure in this life are a momentary light affliction, and they are working for us a far greater weight, an eternal weight of glory.

God, transform our understanding and help us to rejoice in whatever we face in this life, knowing that this life is not all there is. Help us to have a proper view, to see You seated high and lifted up, and to understand that this life is merely a shadow of what is to come. Work in us this week, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.