The Suffering of God's People

When we follow Christ, we can make no excuses. An excuse is a reason offered for why we cannot do something that we should normally do. As followers of Christ, we should not make excuses to avoid doing what Christ has called us to do - and that includes suffering. Here’s an example of an excuse which - if true - sounds like a good one!

Proverbs 22:13 NKJV

The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”

This is no excuse, though, but a reason to go out - to slay the lion :)

Here’s another excuse, this one offered directly to Jesus by someone who initially wanted to follow Christ:

Matthew 8:21–22 NKJV

Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

This is a stunning example because burying a person’s parents was considered a - if not the - highest responsibility of a Hebrew son, a matter of highest honor and respect for one’s parents. In this case, the man was probably asking for approx. 1 yr. reprieve before following Christ. Yet, Christ disregarded the most noble of cultural expectations and elevated following him as more important.

Look closely at this section of Peter’s letter. The thoughts Peter shares from God are arranged in a helpful way that helps us think carefully and clearly about what he is saying. We’ll see some reasons why we could excuse our refusal to suffer.

This section begins and ends with the same focus – rejoicing in the hope of our future salvation from this broken, fallen world and our entrance into God’s eternal kingdom.

These two thoughts act like two brackets with three intriguing clarifications between them marked by though. We’ll follow this thought process as we consider what Peter says.

We should experience extraordinary gladness even as we suffer.

In this you greatly rejoice … you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

Just before these words, Peter encouraged followers of Christ to have confidence that no matter how difficult their suffering now may be, their future place in God’s kingdom is secure. Now Peter also encourages followers of Christ to be not only confident in the future but glad in the present.

Peter does not use the more usual word for joy and rejoice here, which emphasizes a personal mindset of happiness and gladness. He uses a less frequent word which envisions something more noticeably intense and expressed outwardly, “to experience a state of great joy and gladness, often involving verbal expression and appropriate body movement” (Louw and Nida). That’s why the NKJV doesn’t translate this word as merely as “rejoice” but as “greatly rejoice,” because it means some

Peter further describes this personal expression of deep happiness in two ways. It is (a) inexpressible and (b) full of glory. Inexpressible means a gladness so profound that it cannot be adequately described with words. Full of glory means to be wonderful and exceptional in value. So, as we suffer in this life, we should not permit our suffering to produce despondency, discouragement, or disillusionment. We should enjoy indescribable gladness as we suffer.

So, what can or should motivate us to be so glad when we’re suffering? The same thing that he’s already explained in the previous verses and which he repeats again at the end of v.9. It is the end – the consummation and completion – of our faith. This end is our final and ultimate salvation when God delivers once and for all from the sin and suffering of this present world and brings us into his perfect kingdom forever. Are you excited by this prospect and does that excitement motivate you to persevere through suffering now?

Does such genuine gladness describe your life today? No matter how difficult your situation in life may be, such gladness is possible for every follower of Christ.

That said, Peter acknowledges some potential roadblocks to such gladness by what he says between both encouragements to rejoice. By acknowledging these things, he clarifies that such potential difficulties should not prevent us from being glad about our future.

We should be glad no matter what kind of suffering we face.

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

Peter tells us that we should be glad no matter what kind of suffering we face by saying “various” trials, which means “diverse” as in the many kinds of cereal at the grocery store or the many colors and shades of paint samples at the hardware store. Though there are so many ways to suffer, there is no kind of suffering through which we should not be deeply gladdened by knowing we have a place in God’s future kingdom.

You may feel that your suffering is an exception, a special case in which God will excuse your lack of confidence and gladness – but you’re mistaken. Our future, certain place in God’s forever kingdom is so inspiring that if properly understood and genuinely focused upon, you will experience the very gladness of God in any trial.

Another NT letter, James – the stepbrother of Christ, says the same thing, using the same words for “various trials”:

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (Jam 1:6).

As one Bible commentator rightly explains:

The “rejoice” is not a continual feeling of hilarity nor a denial of the reality of pain and suffering, but an anticipatory joy experienced even now, despite the outward circumstances, because the believers know that their sufferings are only “for a little while” and their inheritance is sure and eternal. (Peter Davids)

Peter recognizes that we are genuinely grieved, burdened, and distressed when we suffer in various ways. He is not discounting that nor is he insisting that we should be laughing and giggling as we suffer. Gladness is deeper than giggling – and though it may not make you laugh, it should at least make you smile, knowing the good that’s ahead from God.

Peter also recognizes, with “if need be” (or “if it is necessary”), that not every believer suffers – or at least, not every believer suffers to the same degree. So, we should not grade the genuineness of our faith by whether or in what way we suffer. But if we suffer, we should evaluate the genuineness of our faith when God allows.

According to Paul (2 Tim 3:21), every believer who desires to live a godly life will suffer to some degree. So, the question is not if we will suffer but when, how much, in what way, and to what degree we will suffer, and these dynamics will necessarily differ from one believer to the next.

“The New Testament regularly sees sufferings as the road believers must travel to enter into God’s kingdom (cf. Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3–5; Jas 1:2–4). We should not deduce from this that sufferings are somehow enjoyable or that a specific reason should be assigned to each suffering.” (Thomas Schreiner)

Peter further acknowledges that no matter how long we suffer in this life, it is only for a “little while.” To be sure, we may suffer for what seems to be a long time – months, years, or even decades. Some believers suffer for an entire lifetime. Peter does not diminish the difficult of long-term, drawn-out trials. Instead, he reminds us that no matter how long we suffer in this life, it is a short, slight, and small period of time when compared to our future life in God’s eternal kingdom.

Before moving on to the next clarification, Peter reminds us about why we suffer. Why is it necessary for us to suffer to one degree or another? Because the genuineness of our faith in Christ (and of our faithfulness to Christ – for the latter is evidence of the former) is far more valuable and precious than accumulating temporary wealth.

As we’ve already observed, the believers to whom Peter wrote had been forced to abandon their homesteads and family-inherited real estate, their primary source of security in this world. The alternative form of wealth and security, then, is gold because of its tradeable monetary value.

Why does Peter bring up gold? When we suffer, our suffering often affects our gold, doesn’t it? Perhaps our suffering involves a financial downturn, debt, or expense. As a result of our suffering, we can end up with less gold (or wealth) and therefore less security. When this occurs, we need to keep firmly in mind that God values the genuineness of our faith over our accumulation of wealth.

If our suffering cause financial difficulties or loss, we should accept such an expense or tradeoff because genuine faith is what guides us into eternity, not our material wealth. After all, Peter points out the obvious, that gold “perishes” and does not last forever. But you last forever and for that reason alone, your faith is far important than your wealth.

We should be glad even if we suffer intensely.

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.

Having acknowledged the precious need for all kinds of trials to prove and refine the genuineness of our faith, Peter then uses the way that we acquire gold to illustrate the way God reveals and refines the genuineness of our faith – through fire.

Just as gold is refined from a mixture of stone, dirt, and sand, rendering it unusable and uncertain, so our faith remains uncertain apart from suffering. To be “tested” means to be “examined, proved, approved, or put to the test.” Just as a goldsmith refines and purifies gold from the natural elements through a heated, multiphase process, so God refines the faith of his people through the fires – series of difficult trials that right for them.

By referring to approval by fire, Peter envisions the intensity of this process. To purify gold, a person must heat the gold to the insane temperature of 1947.52 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s bringing the heat!

“Fire was a common symbol for affliction, adversity, and judgment in both Jewish and Greek thought quite apart from Nero’s actions. Seneca, the most important literary and public figure in Rome in the mid- to late-first century, uses the same metaphor in his proverb Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros(Fire tests gold, affliction tests strong men; Ep., On Providence 5.10).” (Karen Jobes)

We prefer mild trials, the kind that don’t hurt too much, break our hearts, cost much money to resolve, aren’t very public, don’t embarrass us, don’t last very long, and so on. Yet this is not how gold is refined, and if this is true for something like gold which will eventually perish, how much more intense should we expect our own refining process to be? Our faith is so much more important than gold.

How has your most recent trial, your most recent suffering – even the suffering you’re enduring right now – tested your faith in Christ. Has it proven that your faith is genuine? Has it demonstrated that no matter what life sends your way, you will stand and persevere in hope and joy?

“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.” (Warren W. Wiersbe)

Not only does fire reveal whether gold dust is genuine gold or not, it also purifies that which is genuine by removing whatever impurities may be mixed in. Even those who have placed genuine faith in Christ as God and Savior and are committed to following him faithfully through life – even they have mixed motives, faulty perspectives, and misplaced values.

The good news is this – that can change! Whatever wrong, selfish, and sinful habits, motives, and tendencies remain in you can be purged. The “bad” news (if you will) is that such change may happen through the ever-hottening fires of suffering. But genuine faith will persevere through this refining process, knowing that such purification and Christlike change is eternally worthwhile.

Regardless of how excruciating our suffering may be in this life, we will find out the truth worth and value of our suffering when we stand before Christ at his coming, when he returns from his heavenly throne to establish his earthly kingdom. When Christ is finally revealed to us all, we will find out the true value of our suffering. We’ll discover that our suffering has not gone unnoticed but will result in “praise, honor, and glory.”

This glory, honor, and praise first applies to you – the person who is following Christ through suffering. Though your suffering results in hardship and oppression now, it will result in honor and acknowledgment in the end. You will be rewarded for your suffering, acknowledge for your suffering, and blessed for your suffering by God!

Though we should not discount this, for it is a proper motivation of its own so long as we do not look forward to this for selfish, prideful reasons, Peter has more than your own glory in mind. As he explains multiple times later in this letter, our glory will bring about greater awareness and praise for the goodness and greatness of God who saved us, preserved us, and will bring us into his kingdom forever (1 Pet 2:9).

Nevertheless, be encouraged and motivated to know that God will himself praise those followers of Christ who persevered faithfully through suffering and service for him in this life, as Paul makes clear elsewhere (1 Cor 4:5).

So, as you go endure intense suffering in this life – no matter how difficult and how long it may be – you will be praised in the end for you eventual triumph and your triumph will bring about even greater praise and glory for the God who brought you through. Your success is his greater glory.

Now, Peter inserts one more detail here, one which leads nicely into the third and final clarification he will make while also reaching back into his own personal, past experience with Christ on Earth. He acknowledges that the believers to whom he wrote had not met Christ in person. Unlike Peter, they had not walked with Christ, ate with Christ, witnessed Christ’s miracles, or heard Christ teaching.

So, for Peter to say that they loved Christ is fascinating for at least two reasons. First, it is fascinating because they loved someone whom they had never personally seen. Has it every really occurred to you that those who follow Christ are doing the same? We’re loving someone whom we have never seen.

This scenario is fascinating for a second reason, too – it reminds us of a crucial conversation that Christ had with Peter after Peter had publicly denied and abandoned Christ during Christ’s trial and after Christ had died and rose again.

In John 21, Christ revisited Peter and asked him the uncomfortable question not just once but three times, “Peter, do you love me?” To this question, Peter reluctantly said yes. Ironically, decades later, Peter is teaching people who had never met Christ in person to do the same – to remain true to their love for Christ despite their intense suffering and despite the fact that they had never actually seen him.

So, not only should confidence and joy motivate us to persevere through suffering as we follow Christ, but we should also be motivated by love. No matter how difficult and prolonged your trial may be, you should persevere in following Christ because you love him no matter the cost. This transitions nicely, then, to Peter’s third and final clarification.

We should be glad even though we cannot see Christ yet.

Though now you do not see Him, yet believing,

Here, it seems as though Peter is repeating himself. Why does he mention “not seeing Christ” twice? Is this not redundant? But it’s not, because he’s actually saying two separate (though related) things. Notice that his first mention describes not having seen Christ in the past, but this second mention describes not seeing Christ in the present.

Though we haven’t seen Christ in the past, we can’t see Christ in the present, either. Though he’s present with us, he’s still not visible to us. Yet, even so, our faith is not resting upon being an eyewitness of Christ in the past nor having an experiential encounter with Christ in the present. Our faith rests upon a coming appearance of Christ in the future.

As followers of Christ, we believe on Christ even though we have not yet seen him. Are you okay with this? This faith or belief is more than a feeling or sentiment of trust. It is full-orbed trust, the kind of trust that doesn’t just say you trust boats to float and planes to fly, but the kind that actually rides them.

Remember how Peter previously described our decision to follow Christ “obedience”? That idea continues. Faith is a faith that follows, as Christ himself taught (Luke 6:46-49):

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

So, as we follow in Christ’s steps, we are committing ourselves to follow him though we cannot see him and obey him though we cannot hear him. As Christ himself said in the presence of Peter to another disciple named Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

We should experience extraordinary gladness even as we suffer.

In this you greatly rejoice … you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

So, we’re back where we started. Does this describe the countenance on your face and the condition of your heart today? Are you enjoying and expressing the extraordinary gladness that comes from fixing your eyes on your place in Christ’s coming kingdom?

Consider carefully what challenges or trials you are facing right now. Are their relationship complications which are causing your heartache? Financial pressures which are weighing you down? Health problems with are discouraging your spirit? Conflicting forces which are pulling you in two directions? Serious choices or questions which are proving difficult to resolve? Whatever the case:

“Do not resist or resent the trials of your life but view them as God-designed instruments of spiritual growth.” (David Walls, Max Anders)

Rather than resist or resent the suffering God has allowed into your life today as you follow Christ, focus your heart and mind on what’s to come. You have a safe and certain place in God’s future kingdom. You will be praised by God for persevering. Your faith will be purified, matured, and strengthened so that it’s even better prepared for when you finally meet Christ face to face, the one you love and believe today.

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