Courageous Living: Trials 1 Peter 4:12-19

Charles Taylor---A Secular Age “our highest goal is to…prevent suffering.”

1 Peter 4:12-14 12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

1 Peter 4:15, 16 15 If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

James 1:2-4 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

When trials come: Don’t be surprised

When trials come: Don’t be surprised You will be blessed

When trials come: Don’t be surprised You will be blessed Don’t’ be ashamed

When trials come: Don’t be surprised You will be blessed Don’t’ be ashamed Stay on the trail

When trials come: Don’t be surprised 1 Peter 4:12 12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

What trials do… Tests the authenticity of our faith Humble us to the core Strip us down and reveal what is most important Teach us about love

Paul Brand I have come to see that pain and pleasure come to us not as opposites but as Siamese twins, strangely joined and intertwined. Nearly all my memories of acute happiness, in fact, involve some element of pain or struggle.

“They who dive in the sea of affliction Charles Spurgeon   “They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls.”

1 Peter 4:13 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  

2 Corinthians 4:17 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  

When trials come: Don’t be surprised You will be blessed 1 Peter 4:14  If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

John Piper This means that in the hour of greatest trial there is a great consolation. In great suffering on earth there is great support from heaven. You may think now that you will not be able to bear it. But if you are Christ’s, you will be able to bear it, because he will come to you and rest upon you. As Rutherford said, the Great King keeps his finest wine in the cellar of affliction.

Isaiah 43:2, 3 When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

When trials come: Don’t be surprised You will be blessed Don’t’ be ashamed (vs 16)

1 Peter 4:16 16 However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

2 His disciples asked him, John 9:2 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Guilt focuses on a person’s behavior

Guilt focuses on a person’s behavior Shame on a person’s worth.

Galatians 3:13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

When trials come: Don’t be surprised You will be blessed Don’t’ be ashamed Stay on the trail

1 Peter 4:17-19 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,     what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” 19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Stay on the trail of doing good! Thesis for the Christian life---do all the good you can for all the people you can!

Application We all need to gain God’s perspective on suffering and not live in fantasy land.

Application We all need to gain God’s perspective on suffering and not live in fantasy land. When we are going through a trial-- look for what God wants to do in it and though it.

Malcolm Muggeridge “As an old man, looking back on one’s life, it’s one of the things that strikes you most forcibly—that the only thing that’s taught one anything is suffering. Not success, not happiness, not anything like that. The only thing that really teaches one what life’s about … is suffering.”

Application We all need to gain God’s perspective on suffering and not live in fantasy land. When we are going through a trial-- look for what God wants to do in it and though it. Trials teach us more about love than anything else in the world.

Application We all need to gain God’s perspective on suffering and not live in fantasy land. When we are going through a trial-- look for what God wants to do in it and though it. Trials teach us more about love than anything else in the world. Trials reveal to us who we need more than anyone else---We need Jesus.