Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

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The situation looked very bleak to the disciples on Friday night. They had been following Jesus for three years. Jesus was their teacher, their master, their friend. But on Friday morning, what we now call Good Friday, around 9 am, Jesus was nailed to a cross, where later that afternoon, He died.

But then Sunday came.

It must have been a whirlwind of emotions. Three women went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus with burial spices. They heard the report from the angel that Jesus had risen, and they fled from the tomb speechless. And Jesus appeared to them, and they worshiped Him. They told the disciples, but they didn’t believe the women. But by the end of the day, Jesus had appeared to all of the disciples except Thomas, and then Thomas saw Jesus about a week later, and they were in awe of their risen Savior. Though they had been scattered because of the crucifixion, they were united because of the resurrection. Though they had been scared because of Jesus’s death, they were inspired by His rising from the dead. They saw that they now had purpose. That they now had salvation.

In fact, you could say, they came alive.

If the death and resurrection teaches us anything about our own lives it’s this: through the sorrow may last for the night, joy comes with the morning.

But sometimes our trials seem insurmountable. We get stuck in a situation, and we don’t know how to get out of it. We feel trapped, and stuck, and hopeless. I’m talking about this guy.

This guy got stuck, well, I don’t even know what that thing is called. It’s a part of some playground equipment made of metal that swirls around and you’re supposed to climb up it, or down it, but probably not through it, especially not if you’re a grown man! But it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. And it probably looked a lot of fun. But then he got stuck. And he was trapped. And it was no longer any fun.

In life, we’re going to experience a lot of trials. And they won’t always be fun. And you might feel trapped. And stuck. In fact, while we’re going through some of them, you’re going to want to just give up.

I don’t know the whole story about this man, but I’d venture to say that he did not just give up. I highly doubt that this man is still stuck in that playground equipment. He got out. Maybe with the help of his friends, or maybe just with the help of God, he got out.

And that’s what it will take for us. Because of our sin, we are trapped, and we need God to help us out. It won’t always be fun, but Jesus is worth it, and because He rose from the grace, we, too, can rise from our broken lives, because He’s going to be with us through every trial.

Read 1 Peter 1:3-7

This passage starts out by pointing out how awesome it is to be a Christian. We have a relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ! We certainly don’t deserve it, because we’re sinners. But Jesus died for our sin so that if we have faith in Him, we’re part of God’s family. We’re born again! We have a living hope! We have Heaven to look forward to, and our faith is going to be guarded until then, because it’s not based on our work, but on God’s power, who will keep us in the faith until He takes us home.

And this is all possible because Jesus rose from the dead! It says in verse 3, “He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ!” Because Jesus rose, we rise. Because Jesus lives, we live! And we don’t just have some bland life, we have an exciting life full of adventure, and purpose, and we have an awesome future in heaven that’s kept just for us! That’s a lot to rejoice about!

But we all know that life is not all happy moments. Sometimes life just downright stinks. Sometimes we have to do things that we hate. Sometimes I have to fold socks.

I hate folding socks.

There are 6 people in my family now, and we each wear different socks. So folding them takes a lot of time and patience! But God calls me to rejoice in Him even while folding socks.

Life is not always fun. Friends sometimes move away. Parents sometimes get divorced. We get hurt emotionally and sometimes even physically by people that we love. Sometimes, or to be more precise, exactly once in history, the Son of God died. And going through these kinds of difficult times is not fun! We feel trapped. Stuck.

Like the guy at the playground. Unable to free himself from his bondage.

In fact, we’re exactly like that man before we know Christ. Our sin entangles us. We thought it would be fun, and it might have been at first, but then we get overwhelmed by sin, and trapped. And we stay trapped until we allow God to help us out. Jesus died to free us from sin! Even at the darkest moment in all of history, the best thing imaginable happened: we received salvation. And then Jesus rose to show that He really did it.

You see, the Bible tells us that we can have joy in God even in the bad times. To be honest, I don’t completely get it. Nobody likes pain. Does anyone here enjoy pain? Hit him. No I’m just kidding. Nobody likes pain!

I’m going to show you one of the most painful torture devices ever invented. I’m warning you so that you can brace yourself for what you’re about to see. This is it. Have you ever stepped on one of these? Now that’s pain! I wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on anyone!

We all know that life is full of good times as well as bad. So how should we take the bad times? How can we get through the pain? This passage in 1 Peter gives us at least two reasons to rejoice even when we experience pain (v. 6-7).

First, we can rejoice because trials can strengthen our faith so that our faith is worth more than gold! James tells us to consider it all joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Trials strengthen our faith!

You might be thinking, though, “What does the pain I’m going through have to do with my faith?” Here’s the thing: everything in your life has to do with your faith. Every circumstance you face, every tv show you watch, every joke you laugh at, in every choice you make, you can choose to exercise faith in Christ or turn your back on God.

You know, when we think about the disciples seeing the resurrected Christ, we don’t think too much about their exercise of faith. After all, they saw Him! They saw Jesus alive, even after He had died! But you have to remember that they also saw Him die. So they could have said, “Who is this imposter?” And they could have went their own way. They could have decided to remain trapped at the playground.

So in the midst of some struggle, you have the choice to put your hope in God, or be upset at your circumstances. To stay trapped. You have the choice to bottle it all up and choose to be angry, or you can give it all over to God, and trust Him with it, and rest in His grace.

It’s like learning to play the guitar. I started playing the guitar when I was a teenager so that I could lead worship songs in my youth group. And, at first, the worship music that came from my guitar didn’t sound very much like music or like worship. Because I had to practice. You might not know this, but it actually hurts at first when beginning to learn the guitar! You struggle to push the strings hard enough. The strings seem to dig into your fingers, and you don’t know if you’ll ever be able to play this thing, because it just hurts so much. But the more you practice, the more you get used to how the strings feel on your finger tips, and your fingers get stronger, and you’re able to endure through the pain. And even though it used to hurt, now you can play for hours, with no struggle at all, and just enjoy the music that’s flowing from your soul as you worship the Lord in song.

The more we face hard times, the more our faith in Christ grows, so that future trials don’t even seem like trials anymore, but just seem like worship coming from your soul. Trials strengthen our faith like that, so we can rejoice in God because of those trials.

Second, we can rejoice because as we practice our faith during trials, God is praised (v. 7b). That’s the whole point of your lives! You’re here to glorify God. You’re not here to have as much fun as you can. You’re not here to be successful and make a lot of money. If you make your life about those things, you’re doing it wrong. You’re here to know God, and reflect God, and to share Christ, and to rest in Christ, so that your whole life points to Jesus Christ as the only one worthy of all glory and honor and praise.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting hungry. We’re going to have breakfast at 9 am, but I just don’t know if I can wait that long. So would you just excuse me a second? This is the greatest cake in the world! It’s chocolate mousse cake from Costco, and it is absolutely delicious. It’s moist, unbelievably chocolatey, and the icing is sweet, creamy perfection. You know, I can tell you all about this cake, but you can’t fully appreciate it unless you try it. So feel free to get a piece for breakfast. The Bible never says you can’t have cake for breakfast.

Listen, God wants to give you all kinds of joy in your life. But not by letting you do whatever you what, and living however you want. God wants you to have all kinds of joy in Jesus Christ. He’s better than the best cake in the world. He’s more precious than gold. Sweeter than honey. And he’ll help you through every trial, and even help you to rejoice in the trials, because if Jesus can rise from the dead, we can have hope even when life feels hopeless.

Draw a line dividing your paper into a top and a bottom. In the bottom half, write down your biggest struggle in life. Just one or two words. Don’t put your name on it. In the top half, write down your greatest joy in life. Be honest. Don’t put Jesus unless He really is your greatest joy. Now ask yourself, is your greatest joy big enough to help you through your biggest struggle. If your greatest joy in life is cake, that’s not going to help you if your parents fight all the time. That’s not going to help you when your best friend ignores you. And even if your greatest joy is your family, they won’t always be there. They can’t ultimately save you.

But Jesus promises to be with you during every trial. He’ll carry your burdens. He’ll pick you up and put you on solid ground. And when you seem to have no hope in life, Jesus Himself will be your hope. But your joy has to be in Him. Choose to find your joy not in your circumstances, not in the possibilities of your future, but in Jesus Christ: your Savior and Lord.

If Jesus is not your greatest joy, He can be. You simply need to trust Him. I’m not talking about walking down an aisle and saying a prayer. I’m talking about really trusting Jesus. Place your faith in Jesus Christ, and He will give you hope and joy as you follow Him.