This Is A Test

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:6-9; Hebrews 11:32-39

Title: This is a Test

Tests and trials are a part of life – Simon Peter shares with us how to deal with those tests.

INTRO:

How many of you remember that interruption/message of the Test of the Emergency Broadcast System. Suddenly, you would hear this strange noise and then the following words:

"This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters of your area in voluntary cooperation with the Federal, State and local authorities have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, the Attention Signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news or instructions. This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System."

How many of you while you were in elementary school had what was called: Test Friday?

You would study all week on your spelling words, your math equations, or the section of history that you were reading and then on Friday you would take a test to see if you could spell all the words correctly, understand how to do the different equations and remember certain historical facts and dates.

That is how it was in the elementary school where I grew up. We would study all week or even a couple of weeks and then it would be time to take a test. About 90% of the time those tests would take place on Friday.

Tests and trials are what Simon Peter shares in his next section of his letter to the house churches in Asia Minor. Tests and trials that I am sure had different meanings to different people just like they do today.

What could be called a test by one person was no big deal to another. And what could be called a life transforming trial by one person may be considered of little consequence by another.

This morning before we share Holy Communion, let’s take a moment and lean into this idea of tests and trials that Simon Peter is alluding to in verses 6-9.

1. Simon Peter doesn’t provide us a ranking order of tests and trials.

Have you ever been around a group of people that began to talk about all their operations, their mishaps and their life tests and trials?

I am sure that you have, and I am also sure that at some time or the other you have joined in that type of conversation.

People start sharing about all their operations and some even want to show their scars. Look here where they cut me from here to there. I just had my 10th surgery on my back or leg.

People sharing about the times that they were treated unfairly at work or at home. Perhaps even being dismissed for something that they did not do.

We all know people who have suffered all kinds of tragedies – death, disease, physical disabilities, financial ruin, loss of a family member, marriage, persecution etc…

It’s easy to listen to people and then to think:

“Wow, I don’t know if I could survive that.”

Or:

“Listen to that poor baby, (bless their hearts – Southern style) if they had to endure what I have had to endure then they would have something to complain about.”

It’s important for us to see that Simon Peter doesn’t start a list of tests and trials saying that this one or that one is the easiest or the hardest. He doesn’t talk about the pecking order of tests and trials.

I mean he could have – he could have taken the time to mention some of the most difficult ones we find in the Bible.

+Eve losing her first two sons – Abel because his brother Cain killed him and then Cain because he had to live the life of a cursed fugitive.

+Joseph for being sold into slavery at the age of 17 and then unlawfully being put into prison for the rest of his life.

+Bathsheba for being molested by King David, having her husband murdered and losing her newborn son.

+Elijah, Job and Naomi having to deal with seasons of intense depression and despair.

We could spend all morning sharing all kinds of Bible stories that deal with the tests and trials that came to people like Abraham, Sarah, Daniel, Esther, Moses, Hannah, Samuel and Mary.

The Bible is full of such stories of tests and trials. Life is full of such tests and trials.

And I think that is what Simon Peter wanted us to remember and focus on.

It doesn’t take long in this life before we are faced with some type of test and/or trial. While they may not all be of the same depth or duration, they are very real.

+We may never face being burned in a pot of oil or nailed to a cross but when we are dealing with pain, be that pain physical, emotional or mental we are still in pain.