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1 Peter 4:12-14 - Christian Trials and Suffering.

1 Peter 4:12-14 (NKJV) Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 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. 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 He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.

1 Peter 4:12-14 (NLT) Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad - for these trials 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 all the world. 14 So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.

CONTEXT AND OVERVIEW

How Should Christians Respond To Suffering?
   The book of 1 Peter is focused almost exclusively on Christian suffering, especially unjust persecution at the hands of people hostile to the faith. The several themes about suffering that are woven throughout the letter find their climactic expression in 1 Peter 4:12-19. Peter makes the following points about suffering:
   First, we should not be surprised when suffering comes. Christians who live a countercultural lifestyle in obedience to God should expect the culture to respond with hostility. We should expect mockery, discrimination, trumped- up charges, and even violence.
   Second, God has a purpose for us in suffering: It brings us into fellowship with Christ, who suffered before he was glorified (Romans 8:17).
   Third, by suffering in fellowship with Christ, we can be confident of enjoying the glory that he has already won (Romans 8:17).
   Fourth, we need to commit ourselves to doing what is right when we face suffering. Our difficulties can always provide an excuse for sinning, but when difficulties come our way, we must live exemplary Christian lives, characterized by love for others.
   Fifth, loving enemies in the midst of trials can be a powerful opportunity to share our faith. By treating our persecutors with love and kindness, we can make our faith respectable and even attractive to them.
   Finally, we need to remember in our trials that God is both sovereign and faithful. He controls all the circumstances of life, and we don't need to fear that a trial will come our way apart from God's will or control. [One Year NLT SB re 1 Peter 4:12-19]

INTRODUCTION

   Again Peter brings to mind Jesus' words: "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers" (Matthew 5:11). Christ will send his Spirit to strengthen those who are persecuted for their faith. Peter creates no illusions; God's plan for your life may include pain and hardship. When trouble comes, don't be surprised.
   This does not mean that all suffering is the result of good Christian conduct. Peter says to distinguish between suffering for being a believer and suffering for doing wrong things. For example, a Christian may think he is being picked on for his faith when it is obvious to everyone else that his own unpleasant behavior is the cause of his problems. It may take careful thought or wise counsel to determine the real cause of our suffering. We can be assured, however, that whenever we suffer because of our loyalty to Christ, he will be with us all the way. [Life Application SB]

COMMENTARY PEARL

Exceeding Gladness and Joy
   Adults have about 37 miles of nerves in their bodies, which seems like a lot when stuffed into a mere six-foot frame. But relative to the size of the cosmos, which is estimated to be roughly 93 billion light-years wide, that's not much at all.
   When we are experiencing physical pain, however, 37 miles are plenty! Although we all hate pain, if we didn't feel it when our fingers touched a hot stove, only the smell of roasting flesh would tell us that something is wrong - and by then, the damage is far worse than it would have been otherwise.
   Still, human beings tend to assiduously avoid pain, including the emotional and physical pain that comes when trying to break a sinful habit. However, as our text for today says, if we face suffering for Christ's sake, then we should rejoice in it.
   Rejoice? Enduring for Christ's sake is one thing - but to "rejoice" in it?
   The key to success comes in the next two verses, which suggest that if you are going to be "reproached," let it be for "the name of Christ," as opposed to suffering as "an evildoer" (1 Peter 4:14, 15). And you can't forget the promise at the end: "When His glory is revealed, you [will] also be glad with exceeding joy." When Jesus is revealed at the Second Coming, when you will be either translated (1 Thessalonians 4:17) or resurrected (v. 16), that's when you will "be glad with exceeding joy."
   If that promise is not something to rejoice about, even now, even amid suffering for Christ's sake today - what is?
   Lord Jesus, give me the joy that comes from knowing You, even amid today's trials. [The Most Amazing Bible Promises by Amazing Facts]

COMMENTARY

   Looking forward with prophetic vision to the perilous times into which the church of Christ was to enter, the apostle exhorted the believers to steadfastness in the face of trial and suffering. "Beloved," he wrote, "think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you."
   Trial is part of the education given in the school of Christ, to purify God's children from the dross of earthliness. It is because God is leading His children that trying experiences come to them. Trials and obstacles are His chosen methods of discipline, and His appointed conditions of success. He who reads the hearts of men knows their weaknesses better than they themselves can know them. He sees that some have qualifications which, if rightly directed, could be used in the advancement of His work. In His providence He brings these souls into different positions and varied circumstances, that they may discover the defects that are concealed from their own knowledge. He gives them opportunity to overcome these defects and to fit themselves for service. Often He permits the fires of affliction to burn, that they may be purified.
   God's care for His heritage is unceasing. He suffers no affliction to come upon His children but such as is essential for their present and eternal good. He will purify His church, even as Christ purified the temple during His ministry on earth. All that He brings upon His people in test and trial comes that they may gain deeper piety and greater strength to carry forward the triumphs of the cross.
   There had been a time in Peter's experience when he was unwilling to see the cross in the work of Christ. When the Saviour made known to the disciples His impending sufferings and death, Peter exclaimed, "Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee." Matthew 16:22. Self-pity, which shrank from fellowship with Christ in suffering, prompted Peter's remonstrance. It was to the disciple a bitter lesson, and one which he learned but slowly, that the path of Christ on earth lay through agony and humiliation. But in the heat of the furnace fire he was to learn its lesson. Now, when his once active form was bowed with the burden of years and labors, he could write, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." AA523-526

Through trials and persecution, the glory - character - of God is revealed in His chosen ones. The church of God, hated and persecuted by the world, are educated and disciplined in the school of Christ. They walk in narrow paths on earth; they are purified in the furnace of affliction. They follow Christ through sore conflicts; they endure self-denial and experience bitter disappointments; but their painful experience teaches them the guilt and woe of sin, and they look upon it with abhorrence. Being partakers of Christ's sufferings, they are destined to be partakers of His glory. MB31-32

God permits trials to assail His people, that by their constancy and obedience they themselves may be spiritually enriched, and that their example may be a source of strength to others. "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil." Jeremiah 29:11. The very trials that task our faith most severely and make it seem that God has forsaken us, are to lead us closer to Christ, that we may lay all our burdens at His feet and experience the peace which He will give us in exchange.  PP129

   Jesus warned us that we'd have problems in life. No one is immune from pain or insulated from suffering, and no one gets to skate through life problem-free.
   But the apostle Peter assures us that problems are normal, saying, "Don't be bewildered or surprised when you go through the fiery trials ahead, for this is no strange, unusual thing that is going to happen to you" (1 Peter 4:12 TLB). God uses these problems to draw you closer to himself. The Bible says, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit"(Psalm 34:18 NLT).
   Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship likely will be in your darkest days: when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you're out of options, when the pain is great -- and when you turn to God alone. It is during suffering that we learn to pray our most authentic, heart-felt, honest-to-God prayers. When in pain, we don't have the energy for superficial prayers.
   Joni Eareckson Tada notes, "When life is rosy, we may slide by with knowing about Jesus, with imitating him and quoting him and speaking of him. But only in suffering will we know Jesus." We learn things about God in suffering that we can't learn any other way.
   God could have kept Joseph out of jail, kept Daniel out of the lion's den, kept Jeremiah from being tossed into a slimy pit, kept Paul from being shipwrecked three times, and kept the three Hebrew young men from being thrown into the blazing furnace, but he didn't. He let those problems happen, and each of those people was drawn closer to God as a result.
   Problems force us to look to God and depend on him instead of ourselves. Paul testified to this benefit: "We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us" (2 Corinthians 1:9 TLB). You'll never know that God is all you need until God is all you've got. [Daily Devotional by Rick Warren: https://pastorrick.com/devotional/]

CLOSING THOUGHT

   When I was a boy, I was a bit of a pyromaniac. I liked to set things on fire, especially those little green army men made of plastic.
   One day I was home alone, busy lighting those plastic army men on fire. I was doing all this on top of a newspaper, which caught fire. Then I threw everything into a bamboo wastebasket, which also caught fire. Thankfully I was able to get it under control.
   Interestingly, the Bible uses the term "fiery trial" to describe certain hardships that come into the lives of Christians. We read in 1 Peter, "Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad - for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering" (4:12-13 NLT).
   Maybe you're going through a fiery trial right now. God allows different kinds of trials in our lives. He tests us to develop our faith. The Devil, on the other hand, tempts us to destroy your faith.
   I bring this up because sometimes people will have something bad happen in their lives and then say, "You know what? I just lost my faith."
   Good. Get rid of that faith, because a faith that can't be tested is a faith that can't be trusted. Real faith in a real God doesn't grow weaker through difficulty; it only gets stronger. That is the kind of faith we need.
   There are times in our lives when our faith will be tested. We'll be tempted to do the wrong thing. And we might wonder whether we'll have the strength to stand spiritually when that day comes.
   That's entirely up to you. It will come down to the choices you make. [Greg Laurie from Harvest Ministries; https://www.harvestdaily.com]

ILLUSTRATIONS

It's In The Valleys I Grow
https://www.allworship.com/valleys-grow/

The Refiner's Fire
   Some time ago, a few ladies met to study the scriptures.  While reading the third chapter of Malachi, they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse:
   "And He [God] shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver" Mal.3:3.
   One lady decided to visit a silversmith to learn about the process of refining silver.  After the smith had described it to her, she asked, "But Sir, do you sit while the work of refining is going on?"
   "Oh yes, Madam," replied the silversmith; "I must sit with my eye steadily fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured."
   The lady at once saw the beauty, and comfort too, of the expression, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
   God sees it needful to put His children into a furnace; His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and His wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for us.  Our trials do not come at random, and He will not let us be tested beyond what we can endure.
   Before she left, the lady asked one final question, "When do you know the process is complete?"
   "Why that is quite simple," replied the silversmith.  "When I can see my own image in the silver, the refining process is finished." [source unknown]

"The Cocoon"
   A man found a cocoon of a butterfly and one day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. The man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining tip of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily, but it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly. brenda.jean.williams@us.pwcglobal.com

LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY

Matthew 5:10-12 - There Is Blessing In Persecution For Righteousness.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2022/20220305-0907.html

Isaiah 48:10 - The Furnace of Affliction.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2020/20200516-1023.html

Proverbs 3:11, 12 - Trials and Troubles.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2021/20210204-0843.html

James 1:2-4 - Let Trials Make You More Like Jesus.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2024/20240516-0911.html

LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT

https://abible.com/links/