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Author Archives: Giles


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5 Truth in the Trials – Part 2

1 Peter 1:6-12

6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. 10 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. 11 They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward. 12 They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

As tough as trials are they can actually fortify our faith, you see not only are trials temporary but second:

  1. Trials are Timely

This might be difficult to swallow, but suffering is something we have to go through. Verse 6 says we “must endure many trials” this can be translated as “necessary, or inevitable. 2 Timothy 3:12 reminds us that as followers of Jesus Christ we will go through challenges “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” But remember trials never take God by surprise and if we have a proper perspective on pain and persecution they shouldn’t take us by surprise either. The problem is that many Christians have a twisted theology when it comes to trials. We want to believe that because God is good that His goal will be our happiness. Look God’s goal is our holiness not our happiness, and as I have said many times before, holy people are happy people. The problem is that many of us are pursuing pleasure not purity. So when things go bad we get bitter and blame God, often our response when things don’t go well is to walk away from God. Look at the 12 disciples, look at the crowds, when there was food they followed, when there was difficulty they deserted. Many of us are fickle followers instead of faithful followers because we are chasing happiness not Him. How many people have you heard say, Well I’ve tried that God thing but it didn’t work, look it’s not about trying God it’s about trust Him. When we reject God we end up running from relationship. God didn’t promise us a problem-free life He promised us His presence no matter where happens in this life. What if we were to stop perusing a problem free life and start pursuing the provider of life?  Later in His letter Peter reminds us and reinforces the truth that trials are part of this life when he says in 4:12: “Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.” Third:

  1. Trials are Trying

Trials are temporary and they are timely but it doesn’t mean we have to like them, look trials can be terrible. I love how honest the Bible is The NKJV says “you have been grieved by various trials” We don’t have to act like we are not in pain, or like trials are treats. Grieved means to be sad and sorrowful, when Jesus heard that Lazarus died, John 11:35 says: “Jesus wept.” In Gethsemane, Jesus was deeply “grieved to the point of death” Matthew 26:37-38. Peter also reminds us that there are many trials, that they come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes we have a tendency to discount and even dismiss others difficulties because compared to ours they may seem small. Yes there is a difference between a skinned knee and a broken heart, and we may be tempted to tell them to just get over it because it’s a skinned knee and it’s not that big a deal, but when the one with the skinned knee is a child it is a big deal. We need to be sensitive not only to the type of trial but to the maturity of the one going through it. Don’t chide a child in the faith because you think their trial isn’t tough, instead come alongside and help carry them through. Fourth:

  1. Trials are Transforming.

There is a story told about two brothers who were trying to cash in on a bounty of $5,000 for capturing wolves alive. Day and night they scoured the mountains looking for their valuable prey. Exhausted one night after they had fallen asleep one of the brothers woke up to find that they were surrounded by about fifty wolves growling with their teeth bared. He nudged his brother and said, “Wake up, we’re rich!” Some of you right now are facing a pack of problems, and the wolves of worry are nipping at your heels but you don’t feel very rich. But contrary to what one might expect, as I look back on my experiences, especially the painful and problematic ones I have actually found them to be the most profitable. The greatest times of growth have come not through the good times but through the groaning times. More often than not hardship not happiness has had its hand in matured and molding our lives for the better. There is a purpose behind the problems; trials can fortify your faith. Do you believe that God’s plan is perfect even in the problems, that He has a plan to use your pain for His purposes? I love what Joseph said to his brothers who had wronged him in Genesis 50:20: “What you intended as harm God intended for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” Only God can use your pain for gain. It is in the trials that the power and the presence of God are often seen, it was in the midst of a fiery trial when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were thrown into the furnace heated seven times hotter than normal that they experienced the Son of God. Because Jesus was in the fire with them, they were protected. Peter also knew what it was to face the storm, and as long as he looked to the Lord he walked on the waves, but when he focused on the storm and not on the Savior he sank. Peter continued to face trials throughout his life. He discovered that what may seem bad can actually be a blessing, that God can use trials to bring benefits into our lives. And so he shares with a suffering church the truth that when we responded to rightly, trials can be transforming. What about you, what is your attitude to affliction, are you letting the trials transform or tear you apart?


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4 Truth in the Trials – Part 1

1 Peter 1:6-12

6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. 10 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. 11 They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward. 12 They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

Peter begins this section with these words: “So be truly glad” “So” here refers to what Peter has already communicated in the first five verses, where he reminds us that as believers we are scattered strangers strategically positioned in a strange land to sow the seed of the gospel. Second, he tells us that we have a God who guards what He gives, which means we can praise Him for His provision, His promise, and His protection. Now the word glad here means to rejoice, and we can rejoice even in the midst of persecution because we are a people with purpose, we get to sow the seed of the gospel. We don’t just have a message we have a mission, we are not just milling around wasting our lives, we have the joy of sharing Jesus. You are not a waste of skin, you are significant because you are a servant of the Savior. Why do we rejoice because we have been called and commissioned by Christ the King. Now as we are growing up and as we go thru school people repeatedly ask us: “what are you going to do when you grow up?” “What are your plans for the future?” and we intuitively know that they are talking about jobs, work, and careers. Our world points and positions us to find our purpose in our jobs. Is it any wonder that many of us make the focus of our lives our jobs instead of Jesus, that we make it more about our career than we do Christ. Is it any wonder that while we become proficient at work we are pathetic in our witness? Yes, we have jobs to do but the goal is not our work it is our witness. Are you making the purpose of your life a paycheck or proclaiming Jesus, because there is more to life than money. Real meaning is found in magnifying the Messiah not in making money, it’s not about what you have but who we have. When we make it solely about the money we lose focus on the mission. Is it any wonder that many of us are miserable because we have missed the mission. Peter reminds us that our joy is found in Jesus, not in our jobs, yet many sons and daughters of the King are trying to find their worth in their work instead of in the One they are called to worship. Now Peter reminds us that not only can we rejoice in the rubbish of life but we can “greatly rejoice.” This is what I call jumping joy, ecstatic joy. Joy is different than happiness; happiness is related to what’s happening while joy is rooted in Jesus and what He has done for us. That’s why Jesus could say in Matthew 5:12 that even when we’re persecuted, reviled and hated we can: “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad.” Our joy is tied to our trust in Jesus, not our trials. Unfortunately, many believers are trying to tie their joy to their journey instead of to Jesus, they are making it about their circumstances instead of making it about Christ. It’s here that as Peter teaches us about trials he reminds us of several truths, first:

  1. Trials are temporary.

Verse 6 says: “There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while” While we rejoice about what is ahead, our hope in heaven we come to the words, “even though.” It’s in the midst of the glory that we face the groaning. Right now things may not be going so well for you, and you may feel mired down in the mud and the misery of your trials. You may feel like they will never end but Peter wants to bring us back to the truth that while we may be trudging through the trial it is temporary. One of the pitfalls of pain is that we can turn our focus from the truth to our feelings. As I have said many times before problems have a way of poisoning our perspective. And when we turn from the truth we start to build and base our foundation more on our feelings than our Father. Having a proper perspective on our problems means letting truth trump your trial. The words “little while” mean “for a season” right now you may be in a season of suffering and if you are going through a trial right now I want you to turn and tell your trial, the trial you are temporary. The reason Peter called our trials temporary is because in light of eternity our suffering is short. Our problem is that we tend to view our trials from an earthly perspective instead of an eternal perspective. Thomas Watson said, “Afflictions may be lasting but they are not everlasting.” Paul, who was persecuted greatly and went through all sorts of suffering, wrote this in 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Peter hits this again in the last chapter of his letter: “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you” 1 Peter 5:10. So let me ask you are you standing on the truth that your trials are temporary or believing the lie that they will last forever?