God's Pop Quizzes

For some reason, the education process is met with reluctance. Perhaps it is because the process has built-in accountability along the way. That accountability is also known as testing. Testing ensures students are driven to learn. No testing, no pressure. No pressure, no tangible, immediate reason to learn. 

God gives believers tests all the time! Think of them as “God’s Pop Quizzes.”

Should we moan and complain like we did when we were in school when we had to take a pop quiz? No, We should embrace testing because we know that God’s Pop Quizzes are for our good!

There are 5 things you need to know about God’s Pop Quizzes…

1. Expect God’s Pop Quizzes

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:12

We shouldn’t be shocked by trials for the simple reason that we live in a sin-cursed world. When we become a follower of Christ, our perspective changes. We start to live for Jesus. And when we live for Jesus, the world cannot understand it and is willing to persecute us for it. 

Church tradition holds that after Paul's death, Timothy served as bishop of the church at Ephesus, a seaport on the west coast of Asia Minor, until A.D. 97. At that time a group of pagans were celebrating the feast of Catagogion, a festival in which they carried images of their gods about the streets. Timothy met and scolded them for their idolatry. They beat him with clubs, and he died two days later.

This is the reality the churches faced in Peter’s day and it is becoming more and more of a reality for us today. Christians around the world are being persecuted and killed for their beliefs daily. While we haven’t experienced this yet in America, no doubt that day will eventually come.

What should we do?

Be bold and be prepared!

2. Rejoice in God’s Pop Quizzes

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 1 Peter 4:13-14

Two times Peter uses the word REJOICE. First, believers are to rejoice when we share in the sufferings of Jesus. We know sufferings will come, and we dare not shrink away from them. In fact, simply enduring suffering isn’t sufficient. No, we are to rejoice in them. To be glad for them! To celebrate them! 

Why? Well, he answers it with the second REJOICE. We rejoice in the midst of the test because we have faith in our future rejoicing! Christ’s glory will be revealed at the second coming where everyone will see Him for who He is! 

The believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit because of Christ and as a result should be fully satisfied no matter the circumstances. Why are you blessed? Because the Spirit of Glory and of God rests upon you. 

In the Old Testament, after the Exodus, God manifested Himself to the children of Israel in the form of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. This was referred to as the shekinah glory cloud. Later when the tabernacle was built and then the temple, the cloud would fill the holy of holies again representing the presence of Yahweh.

Because Jesus’ death tore the temple curtain in two and allows us to be in relationship with God, Christians have this same Spirit of Glory and of God resting on us. When a believer suffers, God’s presence specially rests and lifts him to strength and endurance beyond the physical dimension.

Don’t fret about future persecution. God’s future grace will get you through when you need it. 

3. Don’t Be Ashamed During God’s Pop Quizzes

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 1 Peter 4:15-16

As Peter has said before, if we as Christians break human laws, we ought to be punished accordingly. 

For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 1 Peter 2:20

Here again Peter challenges us with the fact that as Christians we no longer live like the unbelieving. If we are to suffer it should only be for righteousness. As Christians we are not to resort to murder, thievery or any kind of evil. 

As a Christian, we are to return good for evil!

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:14-21

Look back at verse 16 and see what Peter is saying here. If you suffer as a Christian, don’t be ashamed! Don’t be embarrassed! Don’t feel humiliated! Instead, glorify God!

4. Witness While Taking God’s Pop Quizzes

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” 1 Peter 4:17-18

There is this idea in some Christian circles that once a person becomes a Christian, their life is filled with love, joy and peace without the faintest hint of trial and tribulation. And if you do come into contact with trial and tribulation there is something wrong with your faith. Well, that simply isn’t true! Consider the Apostle Paul who had a thorn in his flesh.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

God tests His people for the purpose of purification. He uses it to refine us and grow us into the image of His son. Nothing is ever wasted and some of the best things I have learned are from the hardest trials God has brought me through. 

If God isn’t afraid to use hard and difficult means to purify, cleanse, and make Himself a holy people, how will he treat those that reject the Gospel?

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. John 3:36

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” . . . Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46

When you are enduring the pain of God’s testing just remember two things…

1. God is using this test to help you be more holy and to grow in the grace and knowledge of his truth. 

2. This is as bad as it gets for you. This is as good as it gets for the unbeliever. Allow the trial to cultivate compassion in your soul for those that are lost!

It was the suffering of Christ on the cross that caused the guard to say, “surely this man was the Son of God!” 

It was the suffering of Paul and Silas in jail that caused the Philippian jailer to take the faith seriously.

It was the suffering of the church in Thessalonica that caused the Macedonian world to take notice and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ! 

People want to know if what we believe is worth dying for. And when they see what we are willing to endure for our Savior, then our faith becomes compelling for them to consider. And so, in the midst of our own trial, as hard as it may be, we must turn our focus to the needs of those around us who have a far greater need...an eternal one!

Pray that God will help you to have a heart for those who are heading toward a Christ-less eternity...no matter what trial you are enduring at the moment.

If we do not have the correct perspective, suffering can derail us into a mire of despair and hopelessness. We might start to ask, “Why is God doing this to me?” 

And with the wrong perspective, we can come to some very wrong conclusions. This is why it is crucial for us to be people of the Book! It is in the Bible we learn that God is molding and making us into His people. And trial and tribulation are his main crafting tools to accomplish such a task!

This is the secret, folks! If you are a Christian, you have already trusted Christ for your eternal life...Now, how about trusting him with every detail of your life?

Though He slay me, I will trust in him. Job 13:15

That is exactly what Jesus did…

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2:21-25

Christian, What is your attitude toward God’s Pop Quizzes? Ask Jesus to help you trust him more and more! 

Remember the words of Job.

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. Job 23:10