This past Sunday, I preached on 1 Peter 1:3-9 at my home church.  We’ve just started an expositional series through the book of 1 Peter.  Don’t you love the Bible?!!  In it, we see Jesus!  We see the mind-blowing truth and grace and power of the Gospel to save a sinner like me, and sustain the saints, old and new.

But it also raises HUGE questions.  Questions that have been wrestled with for ages.  I often hear Christians shy away from deep doctrinal discussions and make statements like “If it’s never been solved before, who am I to think I can figure it out?”

This often ends up being a discussion killer.  Since they think there’s no point in going any further down the road - they make a comment that casts doubt or even condemnation on any serious theological study or debate.

Now, don’t misunderstand me, I’m not advocating “solving” all theological mysteries, or even thinking one can.  And I’m not interested in drawing swords on each other in battle.  But I am advocating “wrestling” with those very same questions of the ages.  And I am advocating drawing swords - to sharpen one another - to be more effective in the battle of “contending for the faith” and preaching the Gospel and living God-centered lives.

The generation that gives up on these discussions is the generation that wimps out and is in danger of allowing the Gospel flame to be hidden under a basket.

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God is one of those discussions.

Peter was writing to Christians, who were scattered due to persecution.  Rome had been destroyed by Nero.  False accusations, misunderstandings, and hatred were being aimed at the followers of Jesus.  These were real times of uncertainty and fear for many.  Martyrdom was breathing down their neck.

Peter took up his apostolic pen and wrote to encourage these dispersed “elect exiles”.  He reminded them of God’s mercy in causing them to be born again to a “living hope” through salvation.  He wanted them to be assured of God’s secure promises to them, in the midst of painful, uncertain times.

Concerning salvation and the living hope it guarantees, Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:6:

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials“

If necessary?  If necessary??  Who decides that?!

The text is clear.  God does.  He’s the one in charge.  And He is “blessed”. [v.3].  Not worried, weak, scared, or caught off guard.  All this is playing out and God is “happy”.  Not a care-less, string-pulling, disinterested “happy”.  But a deep, rugged, serious, blood-stained “happy.”  He knows what He’s doing and He knows what it is for.

Trials always have Divine Design.  There is unique purpose, good & wise purpose, in the suffering of Christians.

Without going into all the issues surrounding the matter, I see at least two specific reasons for the “various trials” in the following verse. [v.7]

“so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

1. Suffering refines faith, proving the presence of the actual valuable substance of it.

2. Which in turn, will result in the praise, glory, and honor of God.  Suffering affords the Gospel and the value of Jesus Christ a unique opportunity to shine, through the faith of one who is suffering.

We have to be careful not to fall into a ditch of thinking God’s power can only be displayed in the removal of suffering, instantly (like Peter experienced himself  - dramatic immediate deliverance from prison…Acts 12.)

Or in thinking God’s power can only be displayed in the sustaining of faith through suffering that continues.

The reality is that God’s power is displayed in both ways.

But they are not equally weighted in Peter’s mind. 

The power that sustains faith is greatest.

Which is why he encourages the saints with the guarantee of their inheritance that is “kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” [v.5]

Eternal comfort always trumps temporal comfort in the Scriptures.

Suffering has unique design in the past, present, and future magnifying of Jesus Christ.  Put your hope in God.  Find inexpressible joy in the invisible Christ.  And pursue a faith that endures to the end, even through trials, for the glory of God.  Knowing that it is God who promises His born again children the guarantee of these things.

For more on the topic of “Suffering and the Sovereignty of God” we recommend the following resources as an excellent starting point:

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor

2005 Desiring God National Conference messages

Last week I took Ella Mae to Children’s Hospital in Seattle for an appointment with her Orthopedic surgeon.

She was SO excited (because we’d pumped her up) to get her “new braces”.
Braces to fit over toes that will never wiggle, ankles that will never work, legs that will never run.

It’s still hard on this daddy’s heart.

So, for three hours in the car, this daddy and his little 3-yr. old girl sang every song in the book.  He because his soul needed it, she because she’s been taught to love it.  And after every song, from the back seat, came the exuberant exclamation, “Let’s sing another one dad!”

Now we’re not talking cheesy little nursery rhymes here.  While there’s certainly nothing wrong with them, “I’m A Little Tea-Pot” as yet been credited with lifting the gaze and carrying a soul through the dark night.
And that’s what I want to prepare my daughter for.  So we don’t sing it much.

Again, while they’re probably “harmless”, we simply haven’t had the luxury, nor has it seemed prudent in light of our daughter’s life circumstances, to fill the limited (but growing) space of her memory bank with “harmless” (i.e.”mindless”) rhymes and rhythms.  We need substance.

Because very soon she will start asking hard questions about why she can’t run outside and play with her little buddies, why Levi can bound up the stairs and she can’t, why she still wears diapers when none of her friends do, why her feet are different sizes, why she can’t feel sores on her feet or anything below her waist, why she can’t jump on the bed with her brother, and on and on and on.

And pretty soon after that, the conversation will turn to God.  Because, if you ask her now, “Who made Ella Mae?” she fires back without hesitation, “God did!”  It won’t take long for her to put two and two together, and the next question that comes will be, “Why did God make me this way?”

If I don’t have an answer in that moment, I could shipwreck my daughter’s growing faith in God.

And in that moment, we will need to draw on something more than what “I’m a Little Tea-pot” has to offer.  We can’t afford to get caught flat-footed.

Rather, we want to tap into and build on the God-centered and hope-sustaining truths and assumptions that we have already stowed in her little head and heart.

That’s why “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” didn’t get sung in our car on the way to Children’s Hospital.  But “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing” got belted a few times.  And “In Christ alone, my hope is found, He is my light my strength, my song” received more than one moving rendition.

Does she comprehend the truth of the words “This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm” as she sings them at the top of her lungs?  Probably not like she will in 5 years.  Or in 10 years.  But we aren’t going to wait that long to put these hope-sustaing and God-exalting truths in her heart. We’re putting them in now, so they’ll be there when she needs it.

So here’s the point of this little story:  Are you preparing to be sustained through suffering with an unshakable hope in Jesus Christ?

Because that is God’s call to Christians.  And if you don’t think you will suffer in your lifetime, you are simply naive.

While there are many ways to do this, one way is with music.  Sing good songs, full of good theology.  Songs full of Scripture.  Songs full of the greatness of God.  And each one will become like ballast in your ship.

Make sure your Ipod is full of God-exalting music.

These are the songs I want stamped on my daughter’s mind, the ones that her brain put’s on “play” even when she’s not thinking about it.

As I write this, Levi, who is sitting on my lap, just started singing “Oli Oli Oli, lor gah oh i eeee” (”Holy Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty”).  And “It Is Well With My Soul” continues to drift from Ella’s room where she’s supposed to be taking a nap.

Good stuff.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty the King of Creation,

josh

ps…here’s a link to a few albums that are on our family ipod and sung around the house all day (specifically, “Psalms“, “Come Weary Saints” and “Valley of Vision“) You can buy them there or on itunes. This is from the church that Josh Harris is pastoring in Maryland.

I’m sure most of you seen it or have read much surrounding the loss of the Chapman-family’s daughter. But if you haven’t yet watched the Larry King interview, you need to. It’s full of really good theology.

If you’re a husband and/or father, watch it to see the fruit of a man who’s shepherding his family well.

If you’re a wife/mother, watch it to see how a godly women grieves well and deals with a mother’s worst nightmare.

If you have siblings, watch and see how Christian brothers and sisters come around each other to defend, support, and love them through immeasurable guilt.

And if you’re a Christian, watch it to see what Paul meant when he said we are “full of sorrow, yet always rejoicing.”

I found myself deeply challenged…how would my family, under my leadership, respond to such a trial? And it reminded me again of the necessity to be, right now, today, pursuing the intensification and deepening of my joy in Christ so hard that no pain could shake it.

I don’t typically forward this type of stuff, but I think it’s well worth 30 minutes it will take. You’ll have to watch it in 6 parts on YouTube, but again, I think it will be time well spent. Your heart will be encouraged, your faith strengthened, and your eternal perspective restored.

And I hope you don’t take this wrong, but I often pray that God would be preparing you and I to suffer well. That in our leading and teaching and living and encouraging, we would be putting ballast in the bough of your boat. So that when the waves come (and they will), your faith would not be capsized and your ship sink. That the Church would be full of men and women who’s roots go deep into Christ, and who, in seasons of trial, would stand as “oaks of righteousness, for the the display of His splendor” (Is.62)

May God grant us the vision to prepare for making Christ look good in our hour of suffering by pursuing our satisfaction in Him now. And may He grant each of us such grace in our hour of trial, that in the midst of our pain Christ would be seen as enough, and in the moments of our deepest trial, the world would hear us say, “Christ is deeper still.”

May God continue strengthening the Chapman family. And may God be your portion today as well.

“God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
(Ps.46)

Humbled, Preparing,

josh

The rest of the interview clips can be seen here.