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“The Fiery Ordeal”
Categories: Bulletin Articles, M. W. Bassford
Of all of the multitude of false doctrines that have arisen since the resurrection, one of the most bizarre is the prosperity gospel. Though it has found a home in the hearts of Mammon-worshipers throughout our country and indeed across the world, the gospel of health and wealth bears little resemblance to the gospel of Christ. Indeed, rather than promising disciples of Jesus prosperity and earthly happiness, the Scriptures promise them the opposite.
One such promise appears in 1 Peter 4:12-13. There, Peter warns his readers that a fiery ordeal is coming upon them to test them, so that they can share in the sufferings of Christ. Contextually, this particular fiery ordeal is persecution. Hostility toward their faith was a major problem for Christians in the first century, and it may prove to be similarly significant for brethren in the near future.
Whether this happens or not, though, some fiery ordeal in a larger sense is in store for all of us. Christ suffered because He lived in a fallen world irremediably marred by sin, and because we live in the same world, we can expect a similar experience somewhere along the way. God offers us compassion and healing in our trials, but He never tells us that He is going to make our lives as comfortable as possible, and we need to pay attention both to what He has promised and to what He hasn’t.
Sometimes the fiery ordeal will be persecution. At others, it will be the death of a loved one, the failure of a cherished business, betrayal by a spouse, or hatefulness from brethren. The list of possibilities here is as endless as the variations in human misery.
When this trial comes, it will shake us to our core. It will force us to re-evaluate everything we had believed was true. Depending on how we react to it, it can lift us to heights of awe-inspiring nobility or plunge us to depths of shame and spiritual failure.
Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4:16 that when we suffer, we must suffer as a Christian. This refers in part to suffering because we are Christians, as opposed to suffering because we are evildoers. However, I believe that it also means that we ought to suffer in a way befitting Christians instead of one befitting evildoers.
In particular, Peter says that we ought to glorify God in our suffering. There are few better examples of this than Job. Job famously says in Job 1:21, “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In this, his determination to glorify God is obvious.
Less obviously, the same is true through the rest of the book. Job’s words often make us uncomfortable as he accuses God of being unfair, expresses his anger with Him, and demands an explanation. However, Job never curses God, turns away from Him, or sins with his lips. Indeed, in Job 42:7, God commends Job for having spoken rightly about Him. Even in his anger and his anguish, Job did not cease to honor God.
In our suffering, we can be honest with God. He’s big enough to take it, and He knows what we’re thinking anyway! What we must not do, though, is reject Him because of our suffering. When we struggle in our faith but keep struggling onward, the ultimate result will be that God will be glorified, and that we will be glorified along with Him.
