1 Peter 4:12-19
There is a trace of cowardice in most of us mortals. I see it in myself each time I go to the dentist (whom I think is the world's best dentist). Still, I tend to put off going until the pain in my tooth is so bad that I have to go. I try to fool myself into thinking that it really is OK – but, as we all know, if we wait until we feel pain, we've waited too long.
The same is true of the way most people deal with death. Most people try to evade the fact that death comes to us all and live as if there is no end to physical life. But, that shouldn't be true of Jesus-followers. You know, many have tried to say that the Christian faith is all about escapism – people are too weak to deal with their problems on their own so they turn to religion as a crutch, they say. Karl Marx loved to say that religion is the opiate of the people. He said that pastors like me try to create numbness to the injustices of the ruling classes among people – to give promises of a paradise coming in the future so that people don't rise up against exploitation in this world.
And Sigmund Freud charged the Christian faith with being a psychological defense mechanism in his The Future of an Illusion. He said we all have need for security so we project our need of an earthly parent onto an idealized heavenly father and thereby escape dealing with reality.
One way or other, many people around the world have been taken in by this idea of our faith. They may never have read Marx or Freud personally but they still like to think that faith is for the weak -- a crutch for those who want to escape the tough realities of this world. Here in 21st C Southern CA, we're generally more open to spiritual realities than an earlier generation was but I find that people still label the Christian faith as being out of touch with reality. They think, "It's primitive. Out of date. In the academy, the Bible is seen as fiction or myth. Jesus is relegated to a moral teacher, a misunderstood holy man, or a legendary figure like Sir Lancelot or Robin Hood.
And (this won't surprise you), I am convinced that all this is a false understanding of our faith often put forth by people who haven't read books like 1 Peter in the Bible. We're going to see in this sermon a clear example of something that has always been true of genuine followers of Jesus. Those of us who have intentionally made a decision to follow a crucified Lord Jesus have learned to deal with that trace of cowardice we all have and have refused to escape from the tough realities of this world. Now, don't misunderstand me: I'm fully aware that many who have claimed to be Jesus-followers really have turned to religion just to try to have God give them what they want and to get rid of suffering. There are some who seem to run very quickly to the thought that, "Let's not try to make a difference in this world because by and by all will be better." But, that's not true Christian faith. That is a parody of what it means to follow a Lord who chose to go to a cross to save us.
We are going to see today that the Bible does that this physical world is not all there is. But, at the same time, it teaches us to live in this world even when life in this world is tough. We are taught not to deny the suffering or oppression that comes to us often specifically because we believe in Jesus. It teaches us not to panic when tough times come. No, we go into all parts of this world identifying ourselves as Jesus-followers and living according to Jesus' teaching. The Bible says we are to be good citizens, good employees, good husbands and wives, people who seek to show the love and justice of Jesus to our communities and call people to trust Jesus themselves. We seek to live well (as God defines good living) and know that sometimes we will be mocked or even persecuted for this. We long to have people see the truth of our faith by the quality of our lives in this real world!
And that brings us to 1 Peter 4:12-19. The people to whom Peter first wrote were living in what is now Turkey and were being persecuted by their families, work-colleagues, and even the government because of their faith in Jesus. But, notice that the Bible does not call them to withdraw from the world passively. In 4:12, Peter takes up the matter of how to live in the midst of being mocked for their faith in a very direct way for the 2nd time. He did this as he opened the book in 1:6-7: ...for a little while you have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine... This matter of living in this world in the midst of trial affects every part of 1 Peter. But, in ch. 4, Peter comes back to it specifically in 4:12: 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...
Much of 1 Peter 4:12-19 summarizes what I have been preaching about throughout this 1 Peter series. So, today, I want to focus on three things: 1) What trials are -- to understand them as God describes them is a big part of living well in the midst of them. 2) What trials do in our lives. 3) How to respond to them – Peter gives some secrets and lets us know that it is possible not just to survive tough times but even to use tough times intentionally and strategically to bring about what it good.
I. What Trials Are (1:7; 4:12)
The Bible describes trials in one word: fire! That word ("pur" in Greek) occurs both in 1:7 and 4:12. Trials are fiery ordeals that come for a purpose. The purpose is stated clearly in 1:7, i.e., to prove or purify our faith. Let me explain:
*Trials as fire – The metaphor is of a rock that has in it both gold and dross – as all ore in this world has. How does a goldsmith get the dross out so that he has pure gold? He uses fire. The dross is burned up and the gold remains. Ask a goldsmith how he knows when the gold is pure? He will tell you that the gold is ready when he can see his face reflected back in it. (Remember that for later.)
*Fire that proves (1:7) – The Bible uses a word for what fire does that means its purpose is to prove what is real. It's the word that good teachers use for tests in the classroom. How does a teacher discover what a student has really learned? A good test will "prove" the knowledge of a student.
In this world, every metal ore has both the pure and the impure – the gold and the dross are so linked together that our eyes cannot usually not see when one starts and the other stops. Fire is necessary to bring about separation. Fire creates the condition in which the two will not remain in the one ore because the pure gold can handle the fire but the dross cannot. So, if the rock is only dross, it will be incinerated. If it's mostly pure gold, it may not change all that much.
What does this mean to our lives as Jesus-followers in this world? In 1:7, the Bible says that what is refined by fiery trials is our faith which is worth far more than gold. What the Bible is saying is something that most of us don't want to acknowledge but we all know is true; i.e., even after we come to Jesus, we are still a mixture of trusting in Jesus and trusting in other things. We start out as an amalgam of godly commitments and worldly affections. God has promised is that he's going to do something great in us – God is committed to remaking us so that our lives show his reflection to the world. We see that trials are like fire – they are God's way of sorting out the dross from the real in our lives. How long will he allow the fire? Until he sees the reflection of his face in us!
II. What Trials Do in Our Lives
#1: Fire shows whether our hearts are divided.
I want to talk about something here that is rarely discussed in our churches, i.e., many churchgoers wonder if we really belong to God. We know our inner lives and we know how divided we are. Like the metal ore, we are an amalgam of allegiances. We have things that are at the center of our lives that are in competition with God. We may be aware of some of these things – while other things we're blind to. The Bible says that fiery trials reveal our allegiances. They show us what is real in our hearts. As Tim Keller says, "You cannot refine metal without heat and you cannot have undivided faith in God without trials."
I contend that it's almost impossible for us to know what we ultimately trust in without trials. All churchgoers say, "I believe in God. I worship God. Of course, my trust is in him." But, the fact is that most of us trust in many, many other things as well. And, we usually don't know how much we trust in those things until they are threatened – until something in this world take them away.
I've often heard people say, ""I've been believing in God – but what good has it done me? I've never found a marriage partner... I lost my job... I didn't get that promotion..." When those things are threatened, you are in the fire. As long as you can have Jesus AND hold onto those things, you don't know which one you really have as your cornerstone. A fiery trial brings a separation during which you learn where your true allegiance lies. When all is going well, we can think, "Oh, Jesus is the Lord of my life. I honor the first command. I have no "gods" and no things in God's place." In good times, our allegiances can live together inside us. We don't even know how much those allegiances have a hold on our hearts. When the fire comes and when those things are threatened, then we know.
A fire is any situation in which trusting God – living for God first – will cost you something that is very dear to you. You sense God saying to you, "Now we will find out whether you trust me and serve me or whether you claim to believe in me to get me to serve you." Or, "Now we will see if I am the end and all these other things are secondary or whether those things are the end and I am the means to get them!" When it's hard to be at peace in a situation and you find it hard to obey God, you are in the fire. Faith and dross are being separated.
Is allowing fire to come into our lives a mean-spirited act by God? I say, "No." It is necessary for us to become what God created us to be,
#2: Fire incinerates the temporary and unimportant – the dross in our lives.
Trials will eventually show us how bad all other things are as a center of our lives. There is such an insightful passage in Jeremiah 2 about this. It's a whole chapter about this topic. God's people had been going after all sorts of other gods. Other things were at the center of their hearts. God said, "You have as many gods as you have towns!"
You say to wood, 'You are my father,' and to stone, 'You gave me birth.'
You have turned your backs to me ...
yet when you are in trouble, you say, "Come and save us!"
Where then are the gods you made for yourselves?
Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! (Jeremiah 2:27-28)
Now – to us. On one side, we say, "God is my God." But, on the other, we love pleasure, comfort, intellectual respectability... I tell you: Someday you will have to decide which you really trust. You'll be in the fire. You will be tempted to say, "I'm tired of denying myself all the time. I want that pleasure! I don't want everyone to make fun of me. I'm going to keep quiet about my faith. I don't want to keep losing out on those business deals. I'm going to do it the way everyone else does!" You may choose the other affection.
How will you discover if those other things that you've put in God's place are adequate gods? Jeremiah says, "You'll know in times of trouble." Something in this world will show you that those other things are dross.
Let me illustrate this: Some say, "I'm a Christian and I know I should not marry a non-Christian. But, wow, it's hard enough for me to find anyone who'll have me!" Then, you meet a really, really attractive person who insists he/she is not – and will not become -- a follower of Jesus. And that person is attracted to you! What do you do? Follow God or your own dreams? What do you follow – what do you trust in order to find life? Marital dreams? Career success? Personal achievement?
How will those realities hold up under the trials of life? How will living for your career or pleasure hold up if a heart attack or stroke comes? How will they hold up under the reality of old age? Under the death of that person that you've made your god? I declare to you that all other gods will eventually be seen to be dross when the fires of this world come. They may be wonderful things – wonderful people – but they are terrible gods.
#3: Fire demonstrates that God – and God alone -- is truly the eternal God.
In the opening of the Bible, Genesis 1, God declares himself to be real and to be eternal. That means that there is nothing in this world that can put an end to God. When God is our trust then it won't matter if we fail, if we get sick, or if we grow old. If the eternal God is our trust, we will not be shaken by anything in this world.
So, when the fiery trials come into our loves, God is "blowing his trumpet" and proclaiming, I am here. I am ready to be your refuge and strength. The only safe place in this world is to place your trust in me!" So I'll ask you, "How do the most important things in your life hold up to the fact that death will come to you? Do you remember that the Apostle Paul, a man who experienced fiery trials his whole time of following Jesus, rejoiced in Romans 8 when he said, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him... Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword...? I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (from Romans 8:28-39).
Last weekend, I spoke at the memorial service for Jean Hedley, a part of our family who experienced all the realities of aging and sickness but who was always filled with a living hope. I quoted the famous words of D.L. Moody at her service:
Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. When you do, don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I ever have been; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal- a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body... I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh will die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.
I then changed that into the words I knew Jean would have wanted at the service:
On July 31, 2010 you are having have a service in which some have come thinking that Jean Hedley of Pasadena, is dead. If you hear that, don't you believe a word of it! At this moment I am more alive than I ever have been...
The fires in her life had simply brought out the reality of her faith and the beauty of one whose trust was in God. And, it was beautiful, wasn't it? Fire, under the control of a loving God, is a mercy that refines us toproduce a lasting beauty – like that of Jesus himself.
III. How We Are to Respond to Trials (4:12,19).
Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you... Those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
I don't want to leave you without some thoughts about how all this will affect your daily life so let me simply show you Peter's three words of application:
#1: Don't be surprised at fiery trials (4:12) – The rest of the world may be shocked that life is tough but not us. And, the specific thing Peter is talking about is experiencing trials because we're following Jesus. Jesus experienced fire – that revealed him to be God's son as he lived perfectly and overcame sin and death. We will too. When we're surprised, we often become panicky. We're confused because we don't understand.
No, we're like runners training for a race. When we get really weary after 10 miles of running, we're not shocked. We know we must keep going if good will come out of this training. So, when we are in a fiery trial, we are simply living life in the pattern of Jesus. It's not outside his control. He'll accomplish wonderful things through these trials. We are to learn to wait until we see the goodness of the Lord. So, don't be surprised if you leave church today and run into some fire for your faith.
#2: Engage in an intentional act of faith – Commit yourself to your faithful Creator. You may need to say out loud, "Lord, I don't understand what you are doing but I will trust you. It's what Chris and I have talked about learning when our second child died in her infancy. We came to a point at which we just had to say, "Lord, we don't understand – but we know you are good. We choose to trust you." When you first came to faith in Jesus, you said, "Here is my life. I entrust it to you." I find we must do this again and again in a world filled with fire. I'm quite sure that right now, many of you need to pray, "Lord, I will trust you." Faith always goes before understanding.
#3: Obey God -- Continue to do good. I'm quite sure Peter ends with this instruction because, when fire comes, we often use it as an excuse to be short-tempered with those we love, to steal from those employers who are giving us a hard time, to complain, to be unfaithful, to stop giving to church – even to stop going to church at all. "Don't do it," the Bible says. Continue to obey God when the fire comes. Suffering can make us more godly people – but sinning in the midst of suffering can do great damage.
Pastor Colin Smith used to tell a story he called The Parable of the Pit to illustrate that there are wonderful things that can only happen in situations of fiery ordeals.
You are poor and in debt and told that you must live in a pit for a period of time and then, after you get out, you will never return there. You are told that you have access to everything there – but that must grow there and become ready for your future. Then you are lowered into the pit. It is dark, damp and it smells terrible. You feel around; the walls are slick, yet sharp, like glass. You find you cut your finger. You are shocked and angry and think, "What can I do here to make a life and a future?
Depression comes over you in this darkness. You only want to get out. You never want to return there again. So, you count the hours and the days as best you can. Finally, the day of relief comes and you are lifted out of the pit. You think, "The ordeal is over. I never want to go through that again. You flee in frustration and disgust about the time wasted there, but as you look back, you stop and stare at a sign. You are shocked. You cannot believe what you are reading. You discover you have just spent time in a diamond mine!
There are some things about becoming what God would have you be that can only be mined in the darkness. God's gems are to be found at unexpected times and in unexpected places. I say to you: If you are going through a time of darkness – what Peter calls a fiery trial – do not come out with your hands empty.
