1 Peter 1:6-9: An Inexpressible and Glorious Joy

1 Peter 1:6-9: An Inexpressible and Glorious Joy

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 1 Peter, and today the next passage we come to is 1 Peter 1:6-9. For context, though, I’ll begin reading in verse 3. It says, 

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 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. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, we pray according to Isaiah 55 that as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so would your word be this morning—that it would not return to you empty but would accomplish that which you purpose and succeed in the thing for which you send it. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

A lot of people have a view of Christianity that’s very duty-oriented. They believe being a Christian is mainly about following certain teachings and obeying certain rules regardless of whether we want to or not. After all, the Bible instructs us to live in a certain way, right? So, Christians must be people who set aside their own desires in order to do what God tells them to do. 

You might compare it to the kinds of interactions I sometimes have with my kids. There are times when my kids will tell me that they don’t want to do something I’ve told them to do. Maybe I’ve told them to clean up their toys or do a certain chore or finish their dinner. And they might protest a little bit and tell me that they don’t want to do that. So in response, I’ll sometimes say—half joking but half not joking—“Guys, it’s totally fine that you don’t want to clean up your toys or whatever. You don’t have to want to do it. You just have to do it.” 

However, as convenient as that might be for getting things done around my house and teaching my kids to be responsible, that’s not at all a good picture of the way God interacts with us. If you read the Bible, you discover that that’s not the kind of life God invites us to live. 

I appreciate the way John Newton Expresses it. As some of you may know, John Newton was the author of the famous hymn “Amazing Grace,” and he also wrote these words as the stanza to another hymn back in the 1700’s: 

Our pleasure and our duty,
Though opposite before,
Since we have seen His beauty
Are joined to part no more.

So according to Newton, there was a time when our “pleasure” and our “duty” weren’t at all the same. They were “opposite” of one another. We took pleasure in sin but knew it was our duty to obey God. But after we see “His beauty”—that is, the beauty of Jesus—our pleasure and our duty become one and the same. They’re “joined to part no more.” Jesus captures our heart with the result that we’re so grateful for the way he’s saved us and for the grace he’s shown us that we just want to live for him. It pains us to even think about doing something that would grieve him. We want to live in a way that brings him glory and take great delight in doing so. There’s no separation between pleasure and duty.

So, Christianity isn’t about suppressing your desires and following a bunch of rules that you don’t really want to follow in order to avoid getting on God’s bad side. It’s about seeking the incomparable joy that’s found in God and in a life of close communion with him. 

In reality, the problem with most people isn’t that they’re seeking too much joy but that they’re satisfied with far too little. Perhaps you’ve heard this quote before from C. S. Lewis. He writes, “If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” 

So, our problem isn’t that we seek too much pleasure or too much joy; it’s that we don’t seek nearly enough. We content ourselves with the cheap thrills of this world and the fading pleasures of sin when God offers us infinite joy and infinite pleasure in him. Lewis compares us to “an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea.” Just like that child, “we are far too easily pleased.”

And one of the clearest passages where we see just how central joy is to the Christian life is our main passage of 1 Peter 1:6-9. To remind you again of the context, Peter’s just talked about the “living hope” Christians have of “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for [us].” He then writes in verse 6, “In this you rejoice.” “In this you rejoice.” Peter also writes in verse 8 that “Though you have not seen him [Jesus], you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”

So, notice how matter-of-factly Peter makes these statements. He’s not telling his readers to have joy. Instead, he’s stating it as a simple fact that they already have joy. Even though Peter’s not even with them and is writing from a location over a thousand miles away from his readers, he states with complete confidence that they have joy. Having joy isn’t a command—it’s just a given. So, the main idea of this passage is that joy is an essential component of the Christian life. Again, joy is an essential component of the Christian life. 

Many times, we assume that joy is sort of an optional “extra” for a Christian—what we might call an enhancement for the Christian life. Yet that’s simply not what we find taught in the Bible. In addition to what Peter writes in our main passage, consider Luke 2:10. An angel appears to a group of shepherds in order to announce Jesus’s birth and says to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” That’s what the message of Jesus is. It’s “good news” that brings “great joy”—not burdensome news that brings great demands but “good news” that brings “great joy.” 

In addition, consider what Paul writes in Galatians 5:22-23: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Again, just like in our main passage, what we have here isn’t a command but a simple statement of fact. And that fact is that the Holy Spirit produces certain qualities in a person. That’s what Paul means when he refers to “the fruit of the Spirit.” He’s talking about the results of the Holy Spirit being within a person’s heart. If someone has the Holy Spirit, they’ll have these qualities. And as we can see, one of the qualities Paul lists is joy. So, that’s why we can say with confidence that joy is an essential component of the Christian life. 

Now, you might wonder at this point, what about the times when our lives are difficult? What about when life isn’t going well? Are we still supposed to be joyful then? Fortunately, we find the answer to that question as we continue on in our main passage. In verse 6, Peter writes, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.” The beautiful thing about the joy found in Jesus is that it’s incredibly durable. As Peter says, we still have this joy even when we’re “grieved by various trials.” So, there are times when joy is mingled with grief. It’s possible to experience both joy and grief at the same time. 

And that might sound a little strange at first, but there are actually plenty of situations in which people experience two vastly different emotions at the same time. For example, on my wedding day, I was both nervous and excited. Also, as I watch my children get older, I’m very happy at how they’re learning and progressing and developing, but I’m also kind of sad that some of the cuteness of their younger years is gone. So, there are plenty of circumstances in which we experience two conflicting emotions at the same time. And that’s what Peter’s describing here. Joy is an essential component of the Christian life, but there are times when that joy is mingled with the grief we experience in the midst of various earthly trials. 

Yet we understand that those earthly trials are only temporary. Look at what Peter says in the verse. He states that it’s only for “a little while” that we’re “grieved by various trials.” When you compare the trials we experience in this life to the glories we’ll experience in the next, there really is no comparison. Even if we suffer the effects of something for 50 years during our earthly lives, what’s 50 years in light of eternity? That’s the point Peter’s making. 

Peter then reminds his readers that, not only are their trials temporary, they also have a purpose. He states, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.” “If necessary,” Peter says. That means God only allows trials into our lives when they’re necessary. He only lets us suffer when that suffering serves a purpose. There’s no such thing as wasted suffering. 

Kind of like when a child gets a splinter in their finger and their parent has to get a pair of tweezers and remove that splinter. Removing a splinter in that way can be a rather painful process. It requires some poking and prodding and maybe even a little digging. It’s not a particularly enjoyable experience. It might even cause a younger child to cry. However, it’s necessary. And, of course, the parent doesn’t poke or prod the child’s finger with the tweezers any more than is needed. It’s not like they get the splinter out and then continue poking and prodding just for the fun of it. Instead, they do the bare minimum of poking and prodding—only what’s necessary to get the splinter out. Likewise, God doesn’t enjoy seeing us suffer. So, like any loving parent, he only allows the suffering into our lives that’s absolutely necessary in order to accomplish his perfect purposes. And that’s one of the reasons we’re able to have joy even in the midst of suffering. It’s because we understand that suffering is not only temporary but also that it has a purpose.

However, even apart from that, we’re still able to rejoice because the joy found in Jesus—the joy Peter’s speaking of in verse 6—is rooted not in the transient circumstances of our lives but in the eternal glories of heaven. It’s therefore what we might call a “transcendent joy”—a joy that transcends whatever earthly circumstances we might be facing. That makes it strikingly different than the situational happiness that most people are more familiar with—such as the kind of happiness you might feel when you purchase a new car or graduate from college or something like that. 

In fact, I’d like to highlight a few of the key differences between the transcendent joy spoken of in this passage and the situational happiness that people often experience. Whereas situational happiness is fleeting and momentary, transcendent joy is constant and enduring. Whereas situational happiness is rooted in our constantly changing circumstances, transcendent joy is rooted in the unchanging realities of the gospel. Whereas situational happiness is incredibly fragile, transcendent joy is wonderfully durable. Whereas situational happiness is shallow and superficial, transcendent joy is deep and satisfying. And whereas situational happiness evaporates in the midst of suffering, transcendent joy is present in the midst of suffering. 

A great illustration of this transcendent joy is the joy David writes about in Psalm 4. David wrote this psalm when he was experiencing some type of difficulty in his life and compares himself to those who aren’t devoted to God. And he says to God in Psalm 4:7: “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.” Again, “You have put more joy in my heart than they [the ungodly] have when their grain and wine abound.” David had more joy in the midst of his suffering than the ungodly had in the midst of their prosperity. We might say, because of the joy Jesus imparts, a Christian’s lowest point in life is still higher than a non-Christian’s highest point. So, if you’re searching for a joy that’s rich and real and durable, that joy is found in Jesus. 

Then, continuing on in our main passage, Peter mentions several things that fuel our joy. He’s just stated in verse 6 that we have joy even in the midst of suffering. And now, in verses 7-8, he mentions several things that fuel this joy. If you picture our joy as a campfire, the fire’s already pretty hot as a result of everything Peter’s written so far, especially in verses 3-5, where he’s discussed our “living hope” of a heavenly “inheritance.” But Peter now throws even more logs on the fire.

He begins verse 7 by talking about the fact that the trials we face in life have a silver lining in that they show our faith to be genuine. He says to his readers that they’ve been grieved by various trials, “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.” So, just like fire tests the genuineness and purity of gold, trials test the genuineness of our faith. The trials we face in life put our faith to the test. That’s actually what the word “trials” refers to. When someone’s put on trial in a court of law, the point of that trial is to determine something and get to the bottom of something. Is there enough evidence to convict this person of a crime or not? Likewise, Peter says that the “trials” he just referenced in verse 6 have a similar function in our lives. They bring to light the true nature of something and enable us to reach a verdict, so to speak, about our faith. Is our faith genuine or not genuine? 

And the reason that’s such an important question is because the genuineness of our faith determines where we’ll spend eternity. The Bible’s very clear that it’s through faith in Jesus that we’re saved from the penalty our sins deserve. As Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. We’re saved not by any good works we do but rather by trusting in what Jesus has already done—how he came to this earth, lived a perfectly sinless life, died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins, and then resurrected from the dead three days later. Jesus has already accomplished everything necessary to secure our salvation. And it’s as we put our trust in who he is and what he’s done that we experience that salvation and enter into a relationship with him and have the hope of eternal life. So, the genuineness of our faith means everything. Only those whose faith is genuine will spend eternity with God. 

And there are a number of ways the genuineness of our faith can be tested. But one of them is through suffering. If your faith doesn’t withstand the trials you face in life, then it’s not genuine faith. By contrast, though, if we go through something difficult and our faith remains intact, that’s a very good indication that it is genuine faith and therefore provides us with a wonderful occasion to rejoice. 

Then another log Peter throws on the fire of our joy is what he says at the end of verse 7. He talks about the genuineness of our faith “be[ing] found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The “revelation of Jesus Christ” refers to the time when Jesus is revealed—the time when he returns to judge his enemies and deliver his people. And if we have genuine faith, Peter says, we’ll actually receive “praise and glory and honor” at that time. Jesus will return and commend us for the faith we’ve shown and the life we’ve lived. 

Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 25 in what’s often called the parable of the talents. He tells the story of a master who had three servants and went away for a period of time. When the master returned, he found that two of the servants had been faithful in doing what he expected them to do. So, the master said to each of those two, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” And it’s that same kind of thing that Peter’s referring to here in verse 7 of our main passage. We can rejoice in our anticipation of receiving praise and glory and honor when Jesus returns. 

Yet, of course, no matter how much praise and glory and honor we receive from Jesus, none of it comes close to the ultimate joy of our future, and that is seeing Jesus face to face and beholding his glory. So, adding one more log to the fire, Peter goes on to talk about that. Having just mentioned the “revelation of Jesus Christ” in verse 7, Peter goes on in verse 8 to talk about the joy we have as we anticipate that revelation. He says, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”

So, even though we don’t yet see Jesus, we nevertheless love him. We delight in him and desire to be with him. His blessings are great, but being with him is even better. And because we love Jesus so much, the thought of being in his presence for all eternity causes us to, as Peter says, “rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.” This joy is “inexpressible” in that it’s so great that it’s beyond what words can express. It’s also “filled with glory.” This is no ordinary joy but a glorious joy! And according to Peter, this joy comes from “believing in him”—that is believing that Jesus is coming back and that we’ll see him face-to-face.

So, notice how love and faith and joy in this verse are all connected. We love Jesus and believe in him and everything he teaches and are therefore filled with joy as we think about seeing him one day. Kind of like a soldier who’s deployed to some far-away nation loving his family and therefore rejoicing at the thought of seeing them at the end of his deployment. He loves them and believes he’ll see them again and therefore has joy. That’s the joy we have as we think about Jesus—a joy that’s “inexpressible and filled with glory,” Peter says. 

So, going back to the main idea, joy is an essential component of the Christian life. Yet the joy we possess as Christians isn’t just a joy in our anticipation of the future. It’s a joy in what we experience in the here and now. Verse 9 makes that clear. Peter’s just said in verse 8 that we “rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” and then writes in verse 9, “obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Now, like I explained a few weeks ago, that word “salvation” in this context refers not to our conversion when we became a Christian but to our final salvation—or the consummation of our salvation—when we enter heaven. And yet, Peter says, we’re actually already obtaining a foretaste of that final salvation right now. He tells his readers that they’re “obtaining [present tense, right now] the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

So, what does that mean? Well, there are several ways in which we get a foretaste of heaven in our present lives, but undoubtedly the greatest way is in our enjoyment of God. Even though we don’t currently see God with our physical eyes, we nevertheless do see him with the eyes of faith—and we experience his presence in our hearts and actually have a relationship with him.

And as every true Christian understands, there’s no joy in this world like the joy of knowing God and being close to him. I appreciate the way David expresses it in Psalm 16:11, where he says to God, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” And in Psalm 73:25-26, the psalmist writes, 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. So, God is more glorious, more lovely, more desirable, and more satisfying that anything else in this entire universe. 

And we don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to enjoy him! We can enjoy him right now. We can know him through the Bible and commune with him in prayer and have our relationship with him enriched through our fellowship and interactions with other Christians. The incomparable joy of knowing God is a joy we’re meant to experience presently in our earthly lives. In fact, as we’ve said, it’s an essential component of the Christian life. 

Yet, at the same time, it’s also true that we often find ourselves having to fight for this joy. It’s something we always possess in some measure, but it’s also something we have to pursue. We’ve got to stoke the fire of our joy in Christ. Otherwise, there may be times when we find ourselves lacking in joy—sometimes even severely lacking in joy. And that’s not a good place to be. It’s actually a somewhat dangerous place to be. 

It reminds me of a method that coal miners used to use in order to detect carbon monoxide in the mines. Of course, nowadays, they have all kinds of technological equipment that performs that function, but back in the early days of coal mining, they actually relied on canaries to alert them to the presence of carbon monoxide. You see, a canary is a very small bird and therefore very sensitive to air quality. So, the coal miners would bring canaries into the mines with them, and as long as the canaries were singing and chirping away, the miners knew that the air of the mine was safe. However, if the canaries were to stop singing and perhaps get a little wobbly and eventually fall to the floor of their cage, the miners would know what something was wrong. 

Similarly, one of the earliest warning signs that we’re not in a good place spiritually is that we have trouble detecting joy in our hearts. Now, obviously, the joy we have in Christ is aways in a state of waxing and waning. It’s sometimes present in greater measure than it is at other times. So, I’m not saying we need to be alarmed if we have a few days where we’re just not feeling it. But the longer that period of diminished joyfulness continues and the less joy we’re able to discern in our hearts, the more concerned we should be. 

So, very briefly, let me suggest some questions that might be good to ask yourself whenever you find your joy in Christ diminished for a substantial period of time. Kind of like you might troubleshoot your computer if something on your computer wasn’t working correctly, here are some questions that help us troubleshoot a joyless heart. The first question to ask yourself is, “Have I been living in any unrepentant sin?”—that is, a pattern of sin in my life that I’m not making much of an effort to repent of. I don’t know of anything that’ll steal our joy faster than deliberately disobeying Jesus. Second, ask yourself, “How substantial has my Bible intake been lately?” The joy we have in Christ is a joy that’s fueled by the truths of the Bible—especially truths about who God is and what he’s done for us in Christ. As we’ve already said, those truths are like logs on a fire. Without the logs, the fire dies down. 

Third, “How meaningful has my prayer life been lately?” If God is the source of our joy and prayer is the way we commune with God, then it shouldn’t surprise us when prayerlessness leads to joylessness. Then fourth, “Is there a situation in which I’m not trusting in God’s sovereignty?” The anxiety we experience from forgetting that God’s in control of a certain situation and is working in that situation to accomplish his perfect purposes can very easily suck the air out of the room, so to speak, and severely diminish our joy in Christ. 

Number five, “Have I shared the gospel with anyone lately?” It’s amazing how sharing the gospel with someone else often has a profound effect on our own hearts as well. As we’re describing to someone else the wonders of God’s grace, we often find ourselves being captivated all over again by the wonders of his grace. It’s almost like jump-starting a car. Having a good gospel conversation with someone can jump-start our joy in Christ. 

Then, finally, a sixth question to ask yourself is, “Has my life become too much about me and not enough about others?” In Acts 20:35, we learn a very insightful principle that Jesus taught. He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” So, have you been giving to others? Have you been generous with your time, generous with your money, and generous with the level of emotional care and concern you exhibit toward others? Or…have you been stingy and lived a life that revolves almost exclusively around yourself and your own cares and comforts and convenience? So, hopefully those are some helpful questions for diagnosing joylessness in your life.