Genuine Faith
1 Peter 1:6-9
“These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith…” vs. 7a
Notable Epitaphs
I am going to give you the epitaph of a famous person and their initials and you tell me on whose gravestone these words are written.
The Entertainer. He did it all. – S.D. Jr. (Sammy Davis Jr.)
The best is yet to come – F.S. (Frank Sinatra)
And away we go – J.G. (Jackie Gleason)
That’s all folks – M.B. Mel Blanc
Everybody loves somebody sometime – D.M. (Dean Martin)
Workers of all lands unite – K.M. Karl Marx
Mother of the modern day civil rights movement – R.P. (Rosa Parks)
61/61. Against all odds – R.M. (Roger Maris)
Ever wonder what motto or saying might sum up your life? Would it be your work? Your family life? Some achievement or accomplishment? How about your faith or relationship with God? Today we are going ot look at what it takes to live a genuine life of faith. We will be looking at 1 Peter 1:6-9. If you are able, please stand as we read God’s Word.
Read Passage – 1 Peter 1:6-9
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
In This…
Notice that our passage today starts with the words “In all this.” You might be think in all what? The reference goes back to what we looked at last week in the first few verses of this book and more specifically what we read in verse 3:
“In his great mercy he has given us new birth…” vs. 3b
Peter wants to make sure that people understand new birth and salvation that comes through Jesus Christ. Peter knows that they will face persecution and resistance but that the most important thing in life is to realize what Jesus Christ has done for each of us and we have the chance to accept that free gift of God. Along with that is the basic understand that just because you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior your life isn’t spared from trials and suffering.
There is a false teaching out there that a lot of people buy into, and that many people have the expectation of, that if you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior you will not have any problems or tough times after that. We need to be clear that accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior is the best thing for your life and that in God we have a peace and inner joy that the world cannot understand or know. We also need to be clear that giving your life to God does not take away or fix all your problems or make you exempt from trials. In many parts of the world becoming a Christian puts your well-being and life in jeopardy.
The Ups and Downs of Daily Life
Here is the truth about life; we all go through ups and downs. And those ups and downs can come at any time. Peter is very clear in this passage that we need to prepare ourselves for those trials that come. He says in verse 6:
“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” vs. 6
Notice that there is rejoicing, the good times, but there is also the suffering and grief he mentions, the difficult times. Here is a good rule of thumb to follow; if it is too good to be true, it probably isn’t very accurate. We deal with promises all the time that mislead us in believing that we can have it all and that a certain thing will give it to us. A good example of this is some of the marketing tactics we see on TV and in advertisements.
Ex. Internet emails
So how do we handle the ups and downs of daily life? Let’s turn to the word s of Jesus from John 16:33 to guide us.
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
We turn to Jesus because whatever we are going through, whatever obstacle and difficulty we face, Jesus has already taken care of it, he has overcome any struggle or difficulty that we face. Notice the verb in the verse. It’s not “I can” but “I have.” The victory has already been won.
A Living Genuine Faith Includes
But be careful here, don’t lose focus on what Peter is saying here; he is not focusing on suffering. That is a part of living and we need to be aware of it. What Peter is focusing on is faithful living. In fact, in this passage Peter gives us three practices that we can incorporate into our life so that we are living genuinely in the faith that we claim.
• Continual Refinement
The first practice that we need to not only be aware of but also realize that this is a continual thing in our life is refinement. Notice the words in verse 7:
“…the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire…” vs. 7
The refining process is use in metals. It is the process of heating the metal to high temperatures so that the impurities rise to the top. The impurities are then taken off and you are left with a more pure metal. The more you do this the more impurities are removed and the more pure the metal is.
Ex. Silver – Here is an ounce of silver I bought on line. It is valued by it’s purity and this ounce has a purity of .999. That is about as close to pure pure as you can get.
We in a sense go through a similar process. The trials of life and the difficulties are the testing ground or refinement process for us. Isaiah mentions this in Isaiah 48:10:
“See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” Isaiah 48:10
The more of the impurities we get out of our life, the more pure our faith can be. Here is the problem; we sin. We are different from the metal in that we can be refined by trials and draw closer to God but sin continually creeps in. That is why I say this is a continual process. It’s not a bad thing, it’s difficult, hard, not fun, but a necessary process for us.
• Believing in the Unseen
Another practice that is important for us is understanding that what we believe in is not always what is seen but many times is unseen. Peter says in verse 8:
“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him…” vs. 8
Part of the mystery of our faith is that we believe in what is not seen. Peter was an eyewitness to Jesus. He had seen Jesus but he realized that not everyone did see Jesus and there was a new generation of believers who had not seen Jesus. He is making the argument for us that Jesus is no less real because we have not seen him. If you recall when Thomas doubted and need to see Jesus in order to believe Jesus said that it was good that Thomas believed but he said blessed are those who have not seen and believed. Paul adds some understanding to this in 2 Cor. 4:18:
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Cor. 4:18
Look around for a moment. What do you see? We see temporary things; our bodies, the structures, the instruments, etc. We tend to put worth into things we can see because they are right her present with us. But…what is of real value is what is unseen. For example, I live confidently in the love of my wife but it’s not something that I can see with my eyes. I feel it and know it in my heart. The same is true in our relationship with God. There is nothing tangible for us to see his love, his care, his protection, but we have to know it, feel it, and believe it in our heart until the day when we do see him and it all becomes visible to us.
Ex. The first time a groom sees his bride at the wedding.
• A Visible Faith
The final practice that Peter relates to us in this passage is that though our faith is invisible, it can be visible to others. Notice his words in verse 8:
“…even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy…” vs. 8b
So to unravel this a bit, we believe and have faith in what is invisible and unseen but the way we live makes our faith visible to others. This is actually a really neat play on words that Peter gives to us. Our invisible faith is visible to others because God fills us with…inexpressible and glorious joy. Here is the concept Peter is relating to us, this joy is so great that there are not words that are able to describe it. This is no ordinary joy. This is not just being really happy. This is far beyond description. Peter does give us a glimpse of how this joy expresses itself in our daily lives in verse 7:
“These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith…may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” vs. 7
This joy comes out in our
-Praises – the things we say, we sing, and we write.
-Glory – when we hold God in high esteem
-Honor – Respect and admiration, and by living with high moral standards of behavior
Ex. the people we know in our lives who live this out: Mike, Doug, Margie, etc.
The End Result
So let’s wrap this up by understanding what the end result of all this is, it is told to us in verse 9:
“…for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” vs. 9
The result is the promise of salvation and the kingdom of God come to us. We did not understand the idea of the kingdom of God until Christ came; he brought it to us. The great news is that you don’t have to wait til you die to experience it. It happens now. You can start now. Jesus promised that if we seek him and his kingdom we can experience this inexpressible joy now. Matthew 6:33:
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matt. 6:33
Don’t wait to have this joy. Experience it now. Start now. You will have trials, set- backs, difficulties but you can also have a inexpressible joy from your faith.
