Facing
the Flame of Suffering
Beloved,
do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for
your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you. (1 Peter
4:12).
I love Tony Campollo’s little book entitled, “The Kingdom of
God is a Party.” He reminds us that
Christians have great cause for rejoicing.
Peter does the same thing in his first epistle. That in itself is rather astounding because
the situation in which his readers found themselves did not appear to be a
cause for rejoicing. They were going
through some difficult times.
Furthermore, Peter does not tell them to rejoice in spite of the
circumstances. Instead he tells them to
rejoice BECAUSE OF their circumstances.
In
this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you
have been distressed by various trials (1 Peter 1:6).
Though the translators of the New American Standard Version
have done a good job of translating this passage, it can appear at first glance
as though they are indicating that suffering is optional. That isn’t the case. Peter uses a conditional clause in the tiny
word “if” that makes it sound as though this suffering is merely
hypothetical. But the Greek text is
worded in such a way to indicate that the condition is actual (“if it is
necessary and it is!”).
The recipients of Peter’s epistle were going through some
difficult times. There was an emperor
on the throne of the Roman Empire by the name of Nero. He had set his mind on persecuting the growing
ranks of Christians. You’ve heard the
old adage, “When in Rome, do as the Romans.”
It also applied in this situation: “When in the Roman Empire, do as the
Roman Emperor.” Others were starting to
jump on the persecution bandwagon so that it was no longer confined to Rome or
even the Italian peninsula.
This passage tells me something about trials. They are necessary. They will take place. They are unavoidable. Jesus said that in this life you will have
tribulation (John 16:33). Yet in this
middle of such trials, there is a place of rejoicing.
1. You can Rejoice because Trials are
Temporary.
This passage tells me that I can
rejoice because trials are temporary.
Peter says that it is only now for a little while that we are
distressed by various trials. There is
coming a day when the time of trials will be over. There is an end in sight.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it isn’t an oncoming
locomotive.
Every career fire fighter knows
what it is like to be a rookie. We all
started that way. The first year in a
fire fighter’s life is spent getting through his probationary period. There is material to be learned and skills
to be honed and there is usually a certain amount of hazing that comes with the
territory. The good news is that it is
only temporary. The time of probation
eventually comes to an end and the one who has “stuck it out” soon finds that
he has overcome and passed to the next stage of his career.
There is a sense in which the
trials of this life are like that first year of a fire fighter. Our time on earth is limited and eternity
awaits. We live today in what C. S.
Lewis called the Shadowlands. The
trials of this life will one day fall behind us and then our real life will
begin.
2. You can Rejoice because Trials are
Productive.
Another reason I am able to rejoice
in the midst of trials is as I realize that such trials produce a positive
result in my life. One of those results
is a tested faith.
...that
the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable,
even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and
honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ
(1 Peter 1:7).
There comes a time in the life of
every fire fighter when he faces the flames.
That baptism of fire becomes his first test. Will he do the job for which he was trained? Will the faith of his team be affirmed? It is only after coming through the fire
that a fire fighter can be known for what he is.
There is a sense in which we, as
Christians, are also called to “face the flame.” There comes a time when our faith comes under fire and when it is
tested by either difficulty or uncertainty or even by doubt. How we handle such adversities test our
faith. If our faith is genuine, it will
be proven when “the heat is on.”
The result of a tested faith is
that you can rejoice. You can rejoice
because of the secure knowledge that it has seen you through the times of
crisis and that it will continue to see you to the end.
3. You can Rejoice because what you see is
not what you get.
...and
though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now,
but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of
glory, 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. (1
Peter 1:8-9).
We have a saying that is close to
becoming a truism in our culture: “What you see is what you get.” It is reflective of the material-minded
society in which we live. Fortunately
it is a truism that is not true. Peter
teaches us that what you see is not necessarily what you get.
That is a good thing because there
are a number of things we don’t see today.
I have been a Christian for a very long time, but I have yet to lay eyes
upon Jesus. I believe in Him without
ever having seen Him.
Jesus spoke about that kind of
faith. It was on the instance when He
appeared to Thomas. The first time that
Jesus appeared in the Upper Room following His resurrection, Thomas had been
out buying hamburgers. He came back to
find ten disciples in an uproar. They
claimed that they had seen Jesus. But
he wasn’t buying it. He knew that dead
people do not normally make post-death appearances and he determined that he
would not believe the report without personal, measurable, experiential evidence. It was a week later when that evidence
appeared before him. Suddenly Jesus was
there and Doubting Thomas became Believing Thomas.
Jesus
said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who
did not see, and yet believed.” (John 20:29).
Do you see it? Jesus was talking about US! He was talking about all those Christians
who would come later and who would believe without ever having laid eyes on the
risen Lord.
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