Look to Jesus for the Right Response to Suffering--1 Peter 3:18-22 (1 Peter Series)

            Our neighbors to the east over in Missouri live in what’s called “The Show-Me State.” The idea behind that nickname is that Missourians are not gullible people – if you want to make a point to them, you’ll have to prove it; you’ll have to “Show Me” that what you’re saying is true.

            We all have at least a little bit of that Missouri attitude in us, don’t we? When a claim sounds too good to be true or it’s different than what we expected, we say, “You’re going to have to show me. You’re going to have to prove it!”

            In the previous passage of 1 Peter, the apostle has just called us to continue to do good even to those who have done evil to us. He said that we should even view such times as opportunities to share the Gospel. Now, Peter may have sensed that even though his readers lived in what is now Turkey, they were really Missourians at heart. He knew that the call to do good even to those who do us evil is a tough pill for all of us to swallow. So in our passage for today, he’s going to point us once again to the example of Christ to show us that God truly does honor those who do good despite suffering for it.

1. Jesus was willing to suffer for doing good (v. 18)

            In verse 18, Peter reminds us that Jesus was willing to suffer for doing good. We should be very thankful that he was willing to do so, because his suffering has resulted in our salvation! [READ v. 18]

            Notice how Peter makes it a point to emphasize that when Jesus suffered for our sins, it was the righteous one suffering in behalf of all of us unrighteous people. Jesus had never done a single thing wrong! Remember that back in 2:22, Peter had written of Jesus, “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”

            You’ll recall that after Jesus called Peter to become his disciple, Peter lived with Jesus night and day virtually every day for the next three years, and yet Peter says, “It’s true! He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” Now, my wife and kids live with me night and day, and I can tell you that they won’t have to wait three years to spot me doing something sinful! During that amount of time, my sinfulness will be obvious, yet Peter was able to say of Jesus, “He was a righteous man.” He did not deserve a sentence of death in the least, yet he was willing to accept it and endure it that he might bring us to God. He did it for our well-being! He did it for you and for me.

           

But let us focus again on how Jesus is our example. In the next part of this passage, Peter will reveal how Jesus set an example for proclaiming an offer of forgiveness even to those who were doing evil.

2. Jesus was willing to proclaim good news to those who were doing evil (vv. 19-21)

            As we come into the next part of this passage, we encounter some statements that have proven to be some of the most difficult statements to interpret in all of Scripture. Let me read verses 19 and 20, then I’ll explain a bit of the difficulty and describe for you the two most likely interpretations of these statements [READ vv. 19-20].

            The difficulty of interpreting these verses comes in attempting to answer some basic questions about them. Who are “the spirits in prison,” and what connection do they have to the days of Noah? What did Jesus proclaim to them, and when did he do it? Let me ever-so-briefly lay out for you the two most likely interpretations of this passage.

#1—Between his crucifixion and his resurrection, Jesus spoke to demons who are confined in Hell to announce their ultimate doom.

            Some of you have perhaps worshiped before in a church tradition that frequently recited some of the ancient creeds of the Christian faith. One of those creeds says of Jesus that he “descended into Hell.” If you’ve ever heard that before and you wondered where that statement came from, it comes from this interpretation of this passage, as well as a small handful of other verses.

            Some people believe that this is the best interpretation primarily for three reasons. First, the statement in verse 18 that Jesus was “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” could seem to refer to a time when his flesh was still dead. Obviously, that was only true in the short time between his death and his resurrection, and so those who take this interpretation say that the proclamation must’ve happened during that time.

            Second, the word “spirits” is often used in the New Testament to refer to demons. Furthermore, when Peter is clearly referring to human beings in verse 20, he uses a different word – the word that is translated in the ESV as “persons.”

            Third, the word “prison” is used in the Book of Revelation to describe a place where demons are apparently being kept under arrest – so to speak – until the end times.

This is one possible interpretation. The second is…

#2—Jesus inspired Noah to proclaim an offer of forgiveness to the sinful people of his day while he was building the ark.

            What is the support for this interpretation? First, there’s a possible translation of v. 20 that would place the timing of the proclamation squarely within the days when Noah was building the ark. The word “because” at the beginning of v. 20 could also be translated “when,” which would make this passage read, “he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, when they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah.”

            Second, Jewish tradition outside of the Bible states that as Noah was building the ark, he called others to repent and join him inside of it. Now, in 2 Peter 2:5, Peter calls Noah a “herald of righteousness,” which indicates that Peter may have had those stories about Noah in mind as he writes about him.

            Third, the picture of Jesus inspiring Noah to proclaim hope and forgiveness fits much better with the previous passage, because that’s precisely what Peter called us to do in vv. 16-17.

            All in all, I think this second interpretation is best. This means, then, that Peter is calling us to reflect on Christ’s willingness to proclaim an offer of forgiveness even to wicked people. Even after God had announced to Noah that judgment was on the way—that it was going to wipe out mankind—even still he apparently moved Noah to call people to repentance and offer them room on the ark. God desires for us to proclaim the Gospel far and wide, even to people whom we think may not deserve it, because no one lies beyond the reach of God’s forgiveness—if they will only accept it.

            Recently, I read a biography of one of the Army chaplains who served in Nuremberg, Germany after World War II as captured Nazi war criminals were being tried for war crimes.¹ Many people don’t realize this, but the United States provided chaplains to minister not only to our own soldiers who were stationed there, but also to the Nazis who were on trial for war crimes. This book recounts how several of these Nazi officers repented of their sins and asked God for forgiveness. The man who wrote this biography had some of his theology a bit mixed up, but the story does remind us how all people can find forgiveness through Christ. If Jesus led Noah to preach forgiveness even to the people who mocked him for his faith, then the Lord would want us to do the same thing.

            Now notice that in verse 21, this mention of Noah and his family being brought safely through water brought the subject of baptism to Peter’s mind. I believe he may have thought of baptism because of the possibility that some people in his audience were shying away from being baptized in order to minimize the opposition they were facing. Remember that most of the people in the churches that first received this letter were apparently from a Jewish background. For their Jewish friends and family, baptism would have been the clear declaration that these believers were leaving behind Judaism to embrace Christianity.

            Some of these believers, then, may have been dragging their feet on baptism. But Peter has something important to say about this step of obedience [READ v. 21]. Let’s clarify what Peter is telling us when he says “baptism…saves you.” Is he saying that being baptized is what brings us forgiveness of sins and a home in heaven? Would Peter say, then, that we will not go to heaven unless we are baptized?

            In the context, Peter doesn’t seem to have the thought of going to heaven in mind at all. Recall that when we studied James 2, I told you that when we see words like “saves” or “saved” in the Bible, we have to ask ourselves the question, “Saved from what?” The word “saved” simply means “delivered from danger,” so we have to allow the immediate context of the passage to tell us what the danger is in that case.

            In this passage, the danger that Peter has in mind is losing out on the blessings that we will receive if we respond properly when evil is done to us. If we respond in a sinful way in those moments, we could lose the blessing of living at peace with the people around us, we will lose the reward in heaven that comes from suffering for righteousness sake, and we will lose out on the opportunity to have a bold witness for Christ. Now if those don’t sound like things that we really don’t want to miss out on, then we need to reassess what we cherish and value in our hearts.

            The act of baptism puts us in the right frame of mind to receive the blessings that come from responding properly to suffering. When you choose to be baptized, you are making a public declaration that you are a follower of Christ, come what may! You are declaring that your confidence is in him, and that you want to obey all that he commands his followers to do. And notice that just like with all of the spiritual benefits and blessings that we have, the benefits of baptism are based on what Jesus has accomplished, not on anything that we accomplish. Notice that Peter says that baptism saves us from these dangers “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” All of the glory goes to him, whether we’re talking about baptism or anything else. It is his power that accomplishes good in our lives, whether we’re talking about the good of becoming a child of God or growing in maturity as children of God. It all comes through his resurrection power.

Christ’s destiny after his resurrection also reminds us of the honor that we stand to receive for responding to suffering and evil in a godly way.

3. Jesus was honored for His willingness to suffer (v. 22)

            In verse 22, Peter writes of Jesus [READ v. 22]. The fact that Jesus is at the right hand of God means that he is in a position of great honor and authority. We may sometimes talk about a person being “my right hand man,” and this means that we highly value that person; we trust them and rely upon them greatly. So Jesus is in a position of great honor and glory ruling at the right hand of God.

            We can see this honor as well from the end of the verse. Angels, authorities, powers – these are all terms that refer to various ranks of angelic beings, and Peter says that Jesus has been placed in authority over them all. That has always been true of Jesus as God, but now it is also true of him as the God-man. Through his life and death and resurrection as a man, Jesus has now restored humanity to an honored and exalted position among all created things.

            Just as Jesus was honored for his willingness to do good despite suffering evil, we too will be honored if we choose to have the same response. The story of Jesus teaches us this important lesson, that choosing to do good in the face of injustice will bring us glory and honor down the road. Yes, we may experience injustice from other people right now. We can’t control how other people might treat us, but we can control how we choose to respond, and if we will choose to respond with continued obedience to God, we will inherit blessing and honor – perhaps even the blessing of peaceful living with others right now, but certainly the honor of eternal reward from our God when we get to heaven.

Notes:

1. The book is “Mission at Nuremberg,” by Tim Townsend.

Living a Blessed Life Through Every Situation--1 Peter 3:8-17 (1 Peter Series)

            What comes to your mind when you think about the idea of being blessed? What sort of events or circumstances might make you think, “Wow! I really feel blessed!” I wanted to get a bit of a sense of what our culture thinks about this idea, so I decided to go to the most accurate source of information about our culture – which is Facebook, of course. I did a search on posts that used the hashtag “blessed,” and by and large, the posts confirmed my suspicion that in our culture, we tend to think of ourselves as being blessed when we have nice stuff.

            On one post, I found a world-class athlete posting that he felt blessed as he was traveling in his private jet. I also found a celebrity who used that hashtag for a selfie as she was laying on a beautiful beach somewhere. But the post that really took the cake was a picture of a man literally lying in a pile of cash!

            But what does it mean to be blessed according to the Bible? How do we pursue a blessed life? In our study of 1 Peter today, the Apostle is going to turn our culture’s idea of being blessed on its head and show us that as Christians, we should measure the blessed life by very different standards, and we pursue it by pursuing godliness at all times and in all situations.

1. Cultivate a culture of blessedness in the Church through connected hearts

            In the first part of our passage for today, Peter once again addresses the entire congregation of the churches who received this letter. He had just given some individual instruction to servants, wives, and husbands, but now he addresses all believers once again in v. 8, where he gives us a summary of how to cultivate a family atmosphere within the Church—which is especially important in light of the opposition to our faith that we encounter from society at large [READ v. 8].

            Please note that when Peter calls us to have “unity of mind,” he’s not talking so much about our opinions – as in, we all have to have the same opinions about absolutely everything – but rather, he’s talking more so about our attitude toward one another. When another believer is involved, my default attitude should be one of pursuing unity. Our common faith in Christ places us on very significant common ground, and so I should seek to live in unity and harmony with my fellow believers.

            Notice also the emphasis that Peter places upon our internal faculties in this verse. We see words like “mind,” “heart,” and “mind” again, and of course sympathy and brotherly love involve our affections and emotions. We might say that Peter is calling for heartfelt connections with each other that form deep bonds.

            It’s not very difficult in a church setting to learn how to exchange small talk with each other or even pal around with each other and share a few laughs when we’re together. But Peter is clearly calling for our bonds to go much deeper. We should have an emotional connection with each other that unites us and leads us to feel each other’s joys and sorrows.

            One key for building these kinds of bonds is to remember that our love for each other really and truly is brotherly (or, we could say sisterly as well!). We really are spiritual siblings because of our shared adoption in the family of God. We are more than just neighbors, more than even just friends. We have a true family bond through Christ, and remembering that is one key for building relationships that touch our hearts.

2. Seek blessedness with others by acting in godly ways at all times

            In verse nine, Peter seems to turn his attention from the church toward society at large. What he’s about to say certainly applies to our relationships with other believers, but it seems that his focus is on our relationships with unbelievers. He gives us the basic command to bless them – even if they don’t do the same to us! [READ v. 9a, through “called”].

            a. “Bless others…” (v. 9a)

            In this verse, we see again the basic principle of Christian ethics that I am not supposed to allow your behavior toward me to dictate my behavior toward you. Peter states that even if someone does evil to us or insults us, we are not supposed to respond in kind. Rather, we are supposed to bless others, and Peter reminds us that God has called us to have this kind of response. It is not just Peter’s own opinion; rather, it is a calling from God.

            Now, what does it mean to bless someone else? In verse 11, will see that it certainly does involve our actions, but the term “bless” itself focuses on what we say. When someone does evil to you or insults you, you can easily cause that conflict to escalate by what you choose to say in response. Peter tells us not to respond with insults of our own, but with language that is still respectful and kind – language that reflects goodwill toward that person rather than hatred or evil.

            As Peter reminded us back in chapter 2, that is exactly how Jesus responded. Verses 22-23 say, “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” Since we are called to imitate Jesus, we should choose to respond like he did when we are insulted or slandered.

            b. “…that you may obtain a blessing” (v. 9b-13)

            Notice that part of the purpose behind this kind of response is mentioned here in the last part of verse nine: “that you may obtain a blessing.” Apparently, this kind of response sets us up to receive a blessing. And what is that blessing? We get a sense of it in this quotation from Psalm 34 that Peter includes in the next few verses [READ vv. 10-13].

            What is the blessing according to these verses? It is a lovable (or pleasant or enjoyable) life that is characterized by a sense of approval from God and peaceful living with others. Peter sums up this blessing with his rhetorical question in verse 13: “who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?”             Generally speaking, people will respond well if you pursue peace with them through the way that you act. This principle seems to be especially true in your personal relationships, like your relationships with your neighbors, coworkers, friends, and family members. Again, generally speaking, you can enjoy the blessing of a living at peace with others if you will treat them in godly ways. Peter may have had a verse like Proverbs 16:7 in the back of his mind here: “When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

            Obviously, if you treat people in evil ways, you are just asking for trouble – you are bringing it upon yourself. And that’s not just because other people will turn against you, but because the Lord himself will be against your behavior, as it says at the end of verse 12. It’s important for us to remember that just because we are children of God through our faith in Jesus Christ, we don’t get some kind of free pass on sin.

            As with your own children, their tantrums are not somehow less offensive to you just because they’re coming from your own children. In fact, they’re probably more upsetting and embarrassing to you because they are coming from your own children! In the same way that you would oppose that kind of behavior in your kids, God opposes evil behavior in us when we choose to go that route.

            So once again, in general, when we treat other people in godly ways, they will likely respond well to that. At the very least, our behavior is laying the foundation on which peaceful relationships can be built, and those relationships obviously lead to a more lovable or enjoyable life and days that are characterized by good rather than evil coming at us from every side.

Now Peter is also a realist, so he recognizes that there may be times when people do evil to you despite the fact that you are living in a godly way. So he goes on now to deal with that reality and remind us that even in that situation, we can and will find blessing.

            c. “even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed” (vv. 14-17)

            In the first part of verse 14, Peter writes [READ v. 14a]. As Peter wrote this, I imagine that he had the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount ringing in his ears: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-12).”

            Notice in this scenario of suffering for righteousness’ sake that the fullness of the blessing only comes in the future. Jesus said, “your reward is great in heaven.” The persecution itself might be very unpleasant and difficult, and even though you could find satisfaction in your soul from knowing that God was pleased with you, the fullness of the blessing in store for you would come later.

            Peter himself had already experienced persecution for his faith, and in Acts chapters 4-5, he gives us an example of the kind of response he now calls for here – not to be afraid in those moments, but to view them as an opportunity to share your faith in Christ.

            [READ v. 14b-15a] What Peter means here is that in our hearts and minds, we have to continue to keep Jesus in a class by himself. In our thinking, we have to keep Jesus exalted above those who are persecuting us so that we won’t allow fear of our persecutors to lead us to be unfaithful to Christ. So, for example, we have to remember that disappointing Jesus is far worse than disappointing other people. If they want us to walk away from our faith in Christ, we have to remember that such betrayal would be far worse than letting them down.

            Also, we have to remember that Jesus is still truly the one in charge of our lives even if our persecutors may seem to be in control of the situation. So we can’t let any fear of other people force our opinion of them to grow out of proportion. Christ is still the Lord over all, and we must honor him as such with our obedience.

            When we keep Jesus in a class by himself, then we are prepared to respond as Peter calls us to in the rest of verse 15 [READ v. 15b]. We should look at these moments as opportunities to share our faith! When people treat you poorly and cause you to suffer, it can be shocking to them when you don’t respond the same way. When you respond to them with kindness and love and confidence in your faith, it can lead them to say, “Why are you doing this?”

            Notice that Peter calls us to explain our hope in Christ “with gentleness and respect.” Apparently we’re not supposed to say, “I’m doing this because one of these days, God is going to crush you under his feet, you filthy pagan!” No – rather we should speak with kindness, even with compassion for this person who obviously needs to hear and understand the gospel.

            Even the next part of Peter’s instructions is not motivated by a sense of personal triumph, but the notion that guilt and shame might bring our persecutors to repentance and faith in God [READ v. 16]. Like the Philippian jailer or the thief on the cross, godly behavior in the midst of suffering can be a powerful tool that God can use to bring people under the conviction of the Holy Spirit to lead them to repent of their sins. That should be our desire even for those who cause us to suffer for our godly behavior! If God was merciful and gracious enough to forgive us, how can we not forgive those who do us wrong and show them compassion by sharing the Gospel with them so they can find the same hope in Christ that we have?

            Peter sums up his teaching in verse 17 by saying [READ v. 17]. If we are going to suffer because of our own personal conduct, it’s far better than our conduct was good rather than evil. If we suffer because of evil that we had done, we’ve brought that suffering on ourselves. There won’t be a blessing that comes from it, and it certainly won’t create an opportunity for us to have a powerful testimony to other people. But if we suffer for doing good, we will be blessed by God, and what’s more, we could be used by God in a mighty way to bring other people to faith in him.

            So no matter our situation, we can obtain a blessing through godly behavior. Most of the time, that blessing will be the peace that we enjoy with other people in the pleasant enjoyment that comes from a life that’s characterized by peace rather than turmoil. And even if it should come about that our godly behavior leads to persecution, we can gain the blessing of a reward from God in Heaven, and the opportunity to shine as a bright light for Christ in the midst of darkness.

Every Grief God Sends Can Give You a Golden Faith--1 Peter 1:6-9 (1 Peter Series)

            During my senior year of college, I had a fairly light load of classes, so I decided to join the soccer team. I had played on a soccer team all throughout elementary school and I really enjoyed it, so I thought I’d take it up again. I quickly discovered that elementary school soccer is a much different game than college-level soccer.

            In elementary school, you basically play what some people have called “herd ball” – all of the players gather around the ball like a big herd, and the herd kind of moves back and forth from one place to another. But college-level soccer is much more like what you see on TV, with grown men or women colliding into each other with elbows and knees, and cleats digging into your calf muscles.

            So, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, and since it had been many years since I had played on a team, I didn’t really have the skill to dribble the ball with my feet and look up and around the field at the same time. Consequently, my eyes were always directed downward toward the ball, and all I could see in my peripheral vision were defenders coming at me to take the ball away. And so, I was often kind of panicked when I got the ball, because it was hard for me to look up and see the big picture of the field.

            When we face trying and difficult times in life, our natural inclination is to do what I did on the soccer field – to look down and thus lose the helpful perspective that comes when you can lift your eyes and look at the big picture. Our tendency is to become fixated on our present circumstances, and in the same way that I couldn’t see anything but threats coming at me as I looked down at the ball, we can’t see anything but our threatening circumstances and the pain and fear that they bring.

            The solution for us, then, is to look up, beyond the circumstances of the moment. We must look at God’s promises and purposes for us, and that is precisely what Peter encourages his readers to do in 1 Peter 1:6-9.

Central Idea: In trying times, lift your eyes to see God’s promises and His purposes.

1. God's salvation promises offer joy in the midst of grief (v. 6)

            Let’s remember what Peter reminded his readers about in verses three through five. He reminded them that they had been born again into a new setting in life. This setting involved a living hope that pointed them forward toward a glorious destiny with the risen Lord. It also involved an inheritance in the family of God and protection from God himself so that his plans for them would never be thwarted.

            Peter seems to have all of this in mind when he says in verse six, “In this you rejoice.” But whereas he had previously been talking mostly about their future, which was glorious, he now talks about their present circumstances, which were quite difficult and painful. Let me read all of verse six, and notice the contrast with their joy [READ].

            Notice a couple of important thoughts in this verse. First, notice how joy and grief are not mutually exclusive. They are certainly contrasting emotions and experiences, but they can both be present in your life in the same general period of time.

            I fear that many Christians have a misunderstanding about grief or sorrow. Many of us seem to think that these are emotions that we should never have, and if we do have them, they reveal some kind of flaw in our lives. We have an old hymn in the church by the title of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” There’s a line in that hymn that says, “we should never be discouraged.”

            In my opinion, it’s more accurate to say we never need to remain discouraged. That would mess up the rhythm of that song, but I think it’s more accurate! Grief is a natural – and, I think, acceptable – reaction to difficult news or circumstances. Feeling sad when you receive bad news is nothing to be ashamed of; feeling a sense of fear when you face an unknown future is no weakness. Yet even in those times, there is joy to be found in God’s salvation promises – and many of you can probably testify to that fact in your own lives right now.

            I think the Psalms give us an excellent perspective on processing our emotions and finding joy even in the midst of grief. In many of the Psalms, the author expresses feelings of despair in very clear terms. And remember – those words are just as inspired by God as John 3:16! Yet by the end of those Psalms, the author always finds reason to celebrate by reflecting on God’s mighty works in the past and his promises of a glorious future for his people. I wonder if Peter, as a Jewish man, had that embedded pattern in his mind influencing him as he wrote this section of his letter.

            Notice a second thought now in verse six – Peter states that these various trials faced by his readers may be necessary. Now that seems like a strange thing to say, but remember who it is who decides whether such things are necessary. It is none other than God himself, the one who chose us for himself according to verses 1-2, the one who has great mercy according to verse 3, the one who has a heavenly inheritance under safekeeping for us according to verse 4, and the one who guards us by his own power according to verse 5.

            Though it still isn’t easy to understand why God might feel that certain trials are necessary for us, at least we know that the one who is in charge is someone we can trust. Like the child who has to get a shot at the doctor’s office, we may ask, “What was that for?” While it could be that God has not revealed all of his purposes to us, he has certainly revealed some of the purposes that he has for trials, and we see one such purpose clearly explained in verse seven.

2. God's purposes for trials offer joy even as we wait to see their full benefit (v. 7-9)

            Here’s a little Bible study tip for you to tuck away in your minds. Words like “so that” announce the purpose that lies behind any action that you may have just read about. So verse seven tells us the purpose for which God may deem it necessary for us to face trials. Notice what it says [READ].

            You likely know that when gold is mined out of the earth it doesn’t come out looking like a beautiful piece of jewelry. It comes out as what we call ore, and it has to be melted down so you can filter out anything that’s attached to it in order to get pure gold – which is then quite valuable.

            But Peter’s bold assertion in this verse is that a tested, refined faith is even more valuable than pure gold. And why is that? Because even gold can become tarnished over time, and in particular, when the Lord returns, he’s not going to be interested in your jewelry box or even how much wealth you have. He is going to assess your life – the quality of your obedience and faithfulness to him. A tested, refined faith that has been purified through trials will lead us to receive praise and glory and honor from Christ, and the lasting value of praise from Christ is worth far more than even the lasting value of gold.

            It is vital that we take the Bible at its word with a claim like this, otherwise we will not be in a good position to endure trials of our faith. Certain trials may cause us to lose our gold or our wealth, so if we don’t believe that a refined faith is more valuable than such things, we will be easy targets for Satan because we will be prime candidates for bitterness, anger, and even apostasy.

            Now, it can be a little bit difficult for us to believe that the reward of praise from Christ is more precious than gold because we haven’t seen that reward yet, have we? I think we can feel God’s approval through the Holy Spirit within us when we obey, but Peter noted that this praise and glory and honor in particular will come at the revelation of Jesus Christ. We haven’t seen that event yet, but Peter reminds his readers and us in verse eight that a lack of sight shouldn’t bother us because our faith right now is placed in someone whom we have never seen with our own eyes.

            [READ v. 8] I think Peter’s point in this verse is that if we can love someone right now whom we’ve never even seen, and if we can trust him and celebrate over him, then it’s not much more to ask for Peter to ask us to believe that Christ’s rewards will be even more valuable than gold. So then, if God deems it necessary to put us through trials so that he can one day give us something that’s even more valuable than one of the most valuable things on earth, we can trust him through that process. Even when it hurts, even when we are grieved by our trials, we can trust that God has good purposes and intentions in mind for us. Indeed – he is at work to give us something that is more valuable than we will probably ever realize in this life.

            We can rejoice in this, according to verse nine, “because we are obtaining the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls.” I think including the word “because” here gives us a slightly more complete translation of verse nine. We rejoice because, even though we have not yet received the full blessings of our salvation, we have foretastes of them, and those foretastes become that much sweeter during times of trial and testing.

            Perhaps you were struck as I was by Peter’s description of Christian joy in verse eight. He says that his readers were able to rejoice “with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.” He’s talking about that radiant kind of joy that makes your face glow, and that you struggle even to put into words.

            When I read those words earlier this week, I found myself thinking, “Wow! I wish I could experience that kind of joy all the time.” I certainly do experience it at times, but I’d like to experience it more often. That observation led me to ask the obvious question – why don’t I seem to experience that kind of joy over my salvation more often? Bear with me for a moment as I take you through my thinking from the last week.

            I want to make a point here by drawing a comparison between the KU basketball program in the KU football program. Don’t worry – you’ll see where I’m going in just a moment! At KU basketball games, it has basically become the expectation that the fans will never ever storm the court. No matter who we’re playing, no matter how big the game is, no matter how close the game is in the final possession, the fans will never ever storm the court. And the reason is very simple – KU basketball fans are spoiled brats! We win so often, especially at home, that we now just take it for granted, and so KU fans don’t celebrate with that same kind of exuberance that other teams do when they win a big game.

            Now contrast that with KU football. I’ve been at a few KU football games when we won very unexpectedly, and I will neither confirm nor deny that I was down on the field as the goalposts were being torn down. When the KU football team wins, it’s a big cause for celebration because it’s so rare! No one takes those wins for granted because there might only be a handful of them over the course of five years!

            The point I want to make is this – I think my joy over my salvation is not what it should be at times because I am taking it for granted. In those moments when I lack joy over my salvation, I think in my mind I am allowing my salvation to become simply one more good thing in a long list of good things that surround me in life.

            In our country, and particularly in our community, we enjoy so many good things. We enjoy such peace! We barely have to worry about crime, and there’s certainly no army sitting just over the horizon that’s waiting to come in and conquer us. We enjoy all sorts of comforts in life, like clean drinking water that’s piped right into our homes. We enjoy an overall prosperity that is the envy of the world and totally unique in history.

            And when we have so many good things, how often do we really celebrate any one of them – celebrate them with the joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory? When’s the last time you turned on your faucet and said, “Yes! Here comes that clean drinking water again!”

            My question is this – have we mentally reduced our salvation to the same level as all of the good things that we simply come to expect in our country? For the believers who received this letter from Peter, their joy was passionate and radiant because the foretaste of their salvation was made all the more sweet by the sting of the trials that they were facing at that time. For the moment in our community, we don’t have very many of the external factors that make life unpleasant and difficult. We may not get too excited about the thought of being saved from this world because our world is a pretty pleasant place to live.

            Our blessings are not bad things in and of themselves. But if they lull us into a spiritual condition in which we take even our salvation for granted, then we’ve not responded to them the way that we should. And if our environment doesn’t often lead us to crave the return of Christ and long for the total fulfillment of our salvation, then we have a lot of work to do in our hearts to keep ourselves sensitive to those things, so that when we reflect on the glories of our salvation and all that we have to look forward to, our hearts will leap with joy and burst with celebration, rather than respond with the spiritual lethargy that comes when we take our salvation for granted.

            May we allow the Lord to refine us as he sees fit by taking us through trials. And if he should choose that our trials would increase in their frequency or their intensity, may we remember that as we keep our eyes on his promises and purposes, our joy will multiply all the same in its frequency and intensity. The depths of any trial that we face will be overwhelmed by the new heights to which our joy will soar as we become more like Christ and anticipate his return like never before!