Invaluable Faith
Notes
Transcript
Intro.
Intro.
It is inevitable that people will always go through hard times in life. Despite what is commonly thought, Christians are not less susceptible to trial and hardship than any average person.
However, there is something special about Christian hardship. There is a special perspective that the Christian should take toward it. Because, dear family, we are not crushed by our trials and hardships in this life. Rather, we are refined thereby at the hand of God through our faith.
My goal for us this is morning is that we would learn the value in our suffering, and the preciousness of our faith, so that we will be strong in the stressful and burdensome trials of life.
The Long-Term Goal
The Long-Term Goal
Last week, we talked about our great inheritance in the Lord. 1 Pet. 1.3-4
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
We studied how God, by His own mercy, gave us a new birth to an eternal inheritance that we confidently expect to receive through faith.
This week, we look at the next few verses: 1 Pet.1.5-9
5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Peter makes it clear to us from the get-go here that we are kept in Christ by the power of God! Remember Jesus’ words in John Chapter 6, that none shall be cast away and He should lose none that the Father gave Him! And remember the words of our dear brother Paul in Romans 8.38-39
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, can steal us out of the grasp of God! Does that mean we can never lose Christ though? No, it doesn’t. See that Peter also states the condition of being guarded by God: that it is “through faith.”
But, we who are faithful are indeed being guarded by God for the inheritance kept by God in heaven! And in this very thing we rejoice! Is it not a joyful thing that we have this wonderful inheritance and this awesome closeness with our Father? Do we not long for the rest and the peace that will come with the eternal crown of glory given to the faithful as we worship our God and Father forever?
However, nothing worth having comes easily. See, just like we mentioned last week, here on earth we labor and toil and suffer in the temporary to gain something even more temporary that we deem worth having! Yet, when trials and even persecutions come, many Christians who have claimed to be faithful to the Lord flake out and their weakness is found out. But so too, in trial, is the strength of faith of the true disciple found out and refined in the fires of trials.
And Peter says this exact thing. We rejoice in the hope and reality of who we are in Christ, what is ours in Christ, and the closeness we have with God in Christ — but those things we rejoice in don’t come without trials. We rejoice in the eternal through the temporary! It is not by accident that Peter shows us how amazing and unfading our heavenly inheritance is, then plainly says we go through trials a “short time.”
For us these trials can be:
emotional
mental health
financial trouble
family trouble
injustice
persecution
For the Gentile Christians in Asia Minor, it was certainly this last. They were rejected by their own culture as we should be by ours, but they would soon also face persecution from Emperor Nero. Nero burned down half of Rome so he could blame the Christians and kill them; this is also the same man who burned Christians alive at the stake just to light up his garden at night. Neronian persecution was severe! Yet, Peter is enforcing to these believers that they ought to rejoice in the eternal through the temporary!
But why?
Character of Faith
Character of Faith
We must suffer through these various trials: 1 Pet. 1.7
7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Don’t miss the metaphor Peter is using here!
Gold, though it will indeed perish with the rest of the created order when the Lord returns, is not destroyed when it is stressed by the flame. Rather, in jeweling or any other work with gold, the metal is placed into the flame to purify it! As it is heated and stressed, all the impurities that don’t belong in it melt away and fall off!
Peter tells us that trial, no matter how severe, is the same for the Christian! When we enter and travel through trial with faith in the Lord, it will be stressed, heated, and it will be uncomfortable. Yet, through faith, the end of that trial culminates to praise, honor, and glory at the coming of Jesus Christ!
Now, It could be that Peter is talking bout praise, glory, and honor received by the faithful at the reception of our inheritance. He does, after all, say we receive the crown of glory (1 Pet. 5.4).
It could also be that Peter is saying that the refining of our faith results in the praise, glory, and honor of God! After all, all these things to inevitably return back to Him.
Either way, it proves that the sufferings we experience are not for nothing! We experience the temporary and rejoice in the eternal! Therefore we can obey James 1.1
2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials,
This praise, honor, and glory will come at the revelation of Jesus Christ (that is, when He comes again), and Peter now takes us again to our joy and great rejoicing! 1 Pet. 1.8
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy,
None of us have seen the Lord at any time, neither physically nor in His heavenly form — yet we through faith believe in Him and we love Him! It is in this love for Christ and this faith in Him that we suffer while enduring faithfully!
Some would say, “How can you have so much joy based on something that you haven’t seen?” And Peter very plainly gives us the answer here: “You are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
When I was a kid, when late November came I started counting down the days until my birthday. I was so excited for it, and with every passing day my excitement grew!
For the Christian, with every passing day and every struggle we face, we come closer and closer to faith becoming sight and receiving that which we have been promised — and we rejoice greatly in that!
Yes, we believe on this through faith. We have no tangible evidence that we will have what we so dearly hope for. Yet, as Hebrews says, we are surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses” of men and women who lived by faith until the very end and kept their eyes on Christ! We look at their faith and are inspired that they loved God though some of them were sawn in half, stoned, or run through with a sword. And you can bet they had joy in God through their faith. If they, then, being Old Testament saints, could walk in such dedication and faithfulness without knowing Jesus the Son and His offering to the Father, how much more should we the Church face trials with joy and hope!
Inventory
Inventory
Our trials are never for no reason! We are refined and strengthened and made purer through them, and our faith will result in praise, honor, and glory as we see Jesus coming again. But only our faith! No one who does not have faith can please God, and without faith we are not guarded by God to receive our inheritance!
Brethren, let us thank God when hardship comes our way, and meet every challenge with faith in the Name of the Son of God who purchased us and sprinkles us with His own blood. He alone is why we have forgiveness, mercy, and grace. He alone is the One who loves us so dearly to die for us though we hated Him. He alone is the One we can truly know, believe, and love without yet ever laying eyes on Him! So love Him and let Him refine you to the end that He desires. Do not let your hope and joy get drowned out in the din of life! Take joy and truly know and live in this inexpressible joy in the Person and promise of Jesus our Lord.