1 Peter 4:12-19

12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. 14 If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God[a] rests upon you.15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. 16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name! 17 For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? 18 And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?” 19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.

 3. Evaluate your suffering.

Peter calls us to ponder why we’re going through the problems. Our suffering might simply be the result of living in a fallen world but verses 15-16 provide two other possibilities to our problems.

• The result of my failures.

When we go through trying times we need to evaluate our experiences and see if we are suffering as a result of sin or some stupidity in our lives. Sometimes our suffering is self-inflicted and Peter provides us with a  partial list of sins that lead to suffering. Its interesting to note that Peter puts being a busy body in the same list as murder. Because meddles in the lives of others often involved character assassination. The point is don’t whine and complain if what you are doing what is wicked and you have to wake up and face the consequences.

• The result of my faith.

Peter says we can suffer as a result of sin or service, and that there is no shame when we suffer for our faith. For Peter this passage was personal because early on he was ashamed of Christ and denied Him three times. But he didn’t live in his shame he faced his sin and was forgiven and Acts 5:41 says that Peter and the apostles: “departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” For the believer what we suffer for the Savior is a privilege, not a penalty. We need to evaluate our suffering and see if it is a result of sin and we need to repent or a result of being faithful and we need to rejoice. When hard times come you can either be a student or a victim. A victim asks “Why did this happen to me?” A student asks “want is God teaching me that I need to learn?” today we live in a “victim culture” where we have become experts at playing the blame game and toddlers when it comes to taking responsibility. But Peter reminds us that because God cares He is willing to chastise His church and clean house. Purification starts with God’s people, we don’t like punishment but pain can be purifying because it can purge the puss. Lastly and maybe most importantly we must 

4. Entrust your suffering to the Savior

When we suffer we should rely and rest on the Redeemer. We really have two choices, we can complain against God or we can commit ourselves to Him. You can turn to Him or turn on Him. The word “commit” is a banking term that means to deposit for safekeeping. Paul practiced this in 2 Timothy 1:12: “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” Jesus used the same exact word when He cried out in a loud voice from the cross: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” What about you have you deposited your life into His hands? How do you find solace in the suffering, trust in God’s sovereignty. Rest in the character of your creator, He made you and He made challenges for you. Only God can use sorrowful tragedy to set the stage for surprising triumph. You will never handle the suffering in your life if you don’t settle the sovereignty issue. God is in charge and because he is concerned more with our character than our comfort he is willing to transform us through trials. But remember nothing comes to us that is not first filtered through the Father’s loving hands.

Conclusion:

Trials are designed to teach us so that our character and our conduct change. So what’s your response to trials, how do you handle the hard times?