“Seeing Beyond Troubles” – “Reason to Rejoice” – 1 Peter 1:3-9

There are all sorts of people in our world. These people are complex, and no two are exactly alike. Despite this, we have tried time and again to put people into groups or lists, trying to define each of us as being this or that. With that in mind, let’s try it one more time.

There are two types of people in our world. There are those who believe the statement, “The darkest cloud has a silver lining.” That is, they always see the possibilities that can turn positive even in the direst of circumstances.

Then there are those who believe the opposite. While others may see a silver lining, these people look for the darkest clouds. They cannot truly handle happiness because they are convinced that happiness only presages the troubles that are surely over the horizon.

The Bible teaches us many things. One of the greatest lessons we can take from the Bible is that there is always hope, there is always reason to rejoice, even in the darkest of times.

Today’s passage reminds us why we always have a reason to rejoice.

Background

Peter is writing this letter in the early 60’s. By the time the letter is written, Jesus ascended to heaven about 30 years before. Since that time, the apostle has experienced many things done by the Holy Spirit. Peter was present when the Spirit descended and filled the lives of those in the room praying at Pentecost. He saw the church explode from just over 100 people to more than 3000, with more joining the fellowship each day.

Peter was present when the Spirit healed a man crippled from birth. He learned of James’ execution at the hands of Herod, and he had been personally delivered from a similar fate by the Spirit. He had witnessed the baptism of the Holy Spirit for Samaritans and Gentiles, and had testified strongly for salvation by grace without works.

Tradition has Peter in Rome at the time of the writing. The letter was written around the time Nero had Paul martyred for Paul’s faith. Whether the letter was written before or after Paul’s death, we cannot be sure. Probably, since Peter is writing about the possibility of persecution coming, it was written just before Paul’s execution.

Regardless of the timing, the message is clear: God gives us every reason to hope and to be strong in our faith. Regardless of circumstances, we will always have a reason to rejoice.

Central Truth: We rejoice even in times of trouble because God working in us to strengthen our faith.

How God sees us through troubles:

1. Through a new birth (3-5)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

There is something wondrous in welcoming a new child into the world, particularly if that child is yours. For most of us, the birth is the climax of nine months of anticipation. During that time, there has been discussion of names and gender, dreams of what will come and fears of what the future may hold for the child and the parents. Then to hold that precious child in your arms and to know that God has blessed you with a new life and tasked you with the responsibility to raise this child in a way that is pleasing to Him can be joyous and overwhelming at the same time. New birth means new possibilities. Holding that new child is to hold hopes and dreams for a glowing future.

Peter begins this text with a call to praise God. The call is similar to what Peter must have heard each Sabbath at synagogue, but he adds a new reason to praise God. We praise God because He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We recognize in this praise our relationship to Him through His Son, and we recognize that everything we have through Christ is worthy of praise.

Not content to let it end there, Peter tells us the reason we praise God through Christ is this: God has shown us mercy, and that mercy is revealed through the new birth we experience through the resurrection of Christ. As Paul writes, this new birth results in a new creation (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17) and that this new life destroys barriers that separate us and brings peace (cf. Ephesians 2:14-18). John told us this new life makes us God’s children (cf John 1:12-13). Because of God’s wondrous mercy, He reconciles us to Him and gives us a living hope.

The idea of a “living hope” is that it is a hope that is always flowing. The Bible uses a term for living water that suggests a stream that is always flowing, welling up from an aquifer beneath the surface, even in drought conditions. The hope that we have wells up from the resurrection of Christ. The risen Savior is our assurance that the promise of eternal life is real and that this gift of new life in Him extends to us the joys of eternal life.

Not only does the hope flows in us continually in Christ, but we have our hope in the promise of our inheritance that comes through our relationship with God through Christ. Keeping with the idea that the Church is the new Israel, the idea of inheritance travels from the Old Testament to us today. In the Old Testament, the inheritance was Canaan, the Promised Land. For the Church, the inheritance is the glorification and eternal fellowship with God through Christ.

The inheritance is the promises that will be ultimately fulfilled when Christ returns. Peter tells us that the inheritance has characteristics that are different from other inheritances. For one thing, our inheritance is a promise that is already fulfilled. The gift of eternal life was given to us the moment we accepted Christ. But this inheritance is always greater because it has never perished, spoilt or faded. The words used in the original language can also be interpreted as never ravaged, never morally desecrated or rotted. In the Old Testament, the inheritance—Canaan—was fought over and ravaged by invading armies. These invading armies desecrated the land by inserting foreign gods and idols into the land, and the things of Canaan eventually gave way to age and wear and tear. Not so the inheritance that awaits us. We have an inheritance that has never been and never will be ravaged, desecrated or rotted.

We know this because it is kept for us in heaven for us, and the fact that it is in heaven means that God Himself protects and secures this promise. His power fulfills the promise and will do so until Christ returns.

We can rejoice in times of troubles because God, the Father of the Savior Christ Jesus, shows us mercy and gives us a new life of hope and assured promises.

2. Trials that refine our faith (6-7)

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had 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 and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

One of the Bible’s illustrations of judgment and trial is the refinement process. Malachi refers to the Day of the Lord as being a refiner’s fire (cf. Malachi 3:2-5). Paul references a cleansing fire when he speaks of Jesus being the foundation of our salvation (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). The idea is that a refiner’s fire removes the dross and the impurities from precious metals in order to purify them.

Peter has this in mind with these two verses. He understood that times of trouble are opportunities for our faith to be tested and purified. The trials you and I endure are designed to make us stronger in our faith. God knows this and allows us to be tempted (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13). God knows what you and I can endure and will allow us to be tested through difficult times and through temptations. It is important to know that God never tempts us, but neither does He prevent Satan from tempting us. We know from Job’s example that Satan’s efforts can result in greater awareness of God and His might. We know that Peter himself was strengthened because of the fire he underwent when Jesus was betrayed. Even though Peter yielded to temptation and denied Jesus, he also experienced a depth of Christ’s grace when Jesus restored the apostle.

When our faith is strengthened, when we stand firm in times of trouble, it is proven genuine and we can give praise, glory and honor to the Son and to the Father.

3. The salvation of our souls (8-9)

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

After Jesus had appeared to Thomas, He told the doubting apostle, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

Peter and the other apostles had experienced the joy of actually knowing Jesus in the flesh. They knew what He actually sounded like, what He looked like. They knew what he enjoyed eating and what kind of sense of humor He had. When Peter told us about Jesus, he wrote about things very few could know. Even so, his faith continued to grow as he experienced the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life. Part of his understanding that came from the Spirit was the awareness of how important it was for those of us who never experienced Jesus in the flesh to continue in our faith. In these two verses, he applauded our relationship with Christ. Our relationship with Christ is one wholly built upon faith. We can’t look back and say that we remember something about Him. All of our knowledge of Jesus comes from what the Spirit has revealed to us. The blessing Jesus spoke of in John 20 is coming true each day as you and I grow in our faith.

That faith is the assurance of our salvation, and that salvation is the end result of what Peter began writing about in v. 3—the new birth in Christ, with living hope in a protected and undefiled inheritance that is the fullest realization of our salvation when Christ returns to bring us into His glory.

Conclusion

The cause and effect of things can be amazing. Peter uses cause and effect to show us why we can rejoice even in times of trouble. God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ, gives us so many reasons to see beyond the dark clouds of troubles to grasp the promise of the silver lining. We know that this silver lining is the fulfillment of God’s promise to save those who stay firm in the faith. Because of Him, we have hope, we have assurance, and we can endure hardship.