Christians Are Being Prepared for Glory (1Peter 1:6-7)

We must keep in mind that all God plans and performs here is preparation for what He has in store for us in heaven. He is preparing us for the life and service yet to come. Nobody yet knows all that is in store for us in heaven; but this we do know: life today is a school in which God trains us for our future ministry in eternity. This explains the presence of trials in our lives: they are some of God’s tools and textbooks in the school of Christian experience.

I. Believers rejoice despite suffering because they know that it will not persist forever.

6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,

A. Trials meet needs.

The phrase “if need be” indicates that there are special times when God knows that we need to go through trials. Sometimes trials discipline us when we have disobeyed God’s will.

At other times, trials prepare us for spiritual growth, or even help to prevent us from sinning (2 Cor. 12:1–9). We do not always know the need being met, but we can trust God to know and to do what is best.

B. Trials are varied.

The diverse nature of the suffering is conveyed in the phrase “various trials”. The idea is that the sufferings believers experience are not the result of fate or impersonal forces of nature. They are the will of God for believers.

We must not think that because we have overcome one kind of trial that we will automatically “win them all.” Trials are varied, and God has grace sufficient to meet the need.

II. Why is it God’s plan for Christians to suffer?

7 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,

A. Sufferings function as the crucible for faith.

Faith is being proved genuine through the trials. One purpose of trials is to sift out what is genuine in a person’s faith. Followers of God, in both the Old and New Testaments, know that God uses trying circumstances to test the hearts and lives of his people in order to mature them spiritually. Through difficulties God often tests whether our faith is genuine.

To form a useful object, raw gold must be cast into a mold. For that to occur, the solid ore must be melted, requiring a temperature of 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit. When the gold is melted, the impurities rise to the surface, where they are skimmed off or burned off. A goldsmith knows the gold is ready to cast when the liquid gold becomes mirror-like and he can see his face reflected in the surface.

B. Approved faith is more valuable than gold because the latter is temporary and perishes.

Through the refining heat of trials, we as followers of Jesus Christ grow spiritually and thus reflect more of Christ’s character in our lives.

The trials of life test our faith to prove its sincerity. A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted. A person who abandons his/her faith when the going gets tough is only proving that he/she really had no faith at all

III. Trials are controlled by God.

A. They do not last forever.

When God permits His children to go through the furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat. If we rebel, He may have to reset the clock; but if we submit, He will not permit us to suffer one minute too long. The important thing is that we learn the lesson He wants to teach us and that we bring glory to Him alone.

Our Lord keeps us in the furnace of suffering until we reflect the glory and beauty of Jesus Christ. The fact that our faith in Jesus is tested and has been proven genuine results in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

B. His glory is not fully revealed until Jesus returns for His church.

Our trying experiences today are preparing us for glory tomorrow. When we see Jesus Christ, we will bring “praise and honor and glory” to Him if we have been faithful in the sufferings of this life

This explains why Peter associated rejoicing with suffering. While we may not be able to rejoice as we look around in our trials, we can rejoice as we look ahead.