Sermon - "REAL CHRISTIANITY"

1. If you have your Bible with you, please turn to the New Testament epistle of First Peter. When you find First Peter chapter one, stand for the reading of God’s Word:

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

²Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

⁴To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

⁵Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

⁷That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

⁸Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

2. There is a mother lode of truth found in this passage we have just read, enough to preach on for six months without ever overlapping comments. But my text for this morning’s sermon is First Peter 1.8: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

3. Verse 8 tells us what the behavior of Peter’s audience was, but verses 1-7 gives us a better idea of who Peter’s audience was.

4. Verse 1 reveals that Peter’s readers were members of the Jewish dispersion: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” This is revealed in the Greek New Testament by the word translated “scattered.” It is the word diaspora, and refers to Jewish people in foreign lands.^[1] And those regions mentioned by Peter encompass what today is the entire northern portion of modern day Turkey.

5. Verse 2 shows us that, among other things, Peter’s intended readers were Christians, making them Jewish Christians: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”

6. Notice, also, that we see the trinity in this verse, with mention made of God the Father’s election and foreknowledge, the sanctifying ministry of the Holy Spirit, and Lord Jesus Christ’s crucifixion (the reference to obedience) and ascension (the reference to the sprinkling of Christ’s blood, which occurred in heaven).

7. Verses 3-5 deal with their present life as believers in Jesus Christ, the security which is guaranteed to every child of God, and the fullness of their salvation that was reserved for them in heaven:

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

⁴To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

⁵Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

8. It is in verse 6 that we see evidence of the terrible suffering Peter’s readers endured: “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.”

9. Please pause to take careful note of what Peter is saying here. The Jewish Christians Peter wrote to greatly rejoiced in the salvation that is described in verses 3-5, but they were also grieving as they experienced many different kinds of trials.^[2]

10. What kinds of trials and temptations are referred to here? We are not directly told, but the trials and temptations most likely resulted in undeserved suffering. Remember, they were not only Jewish people who had to suffer the anti-Semitism that was rampant in those days in Gentile lands, but they were Jewish Christians who suffered persecution from the non-Christian Jewish community, as well.

11. Jumping ahead to First Peter 4.12, Peter disabuses his readers of the notion that Christians are delivered from suffering as a result of their faith in Christ. Contrary to the charlatans who preach a false prosperity gospel on so-called Christian television these days, Peter writes, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.”

12. One of the first things a non-Christian should understand about this life that we believers have been called to is that it almost always involves some degree of suffering. Indeed, the relative peace and tranquility that Christians enjoy here in the United States is an unusual exception to the kind of oppression we have historically been subjected to throughout the last 2,000 years.

13. So, the Jewish Christians Peter was writing to were persecuted strangers in foreign lands, persecuted even by their own ethnic community, in addition to the persecution they received from the majority population. But unlike the meaningless suffering of those who are not Christians, Peter encourages his readers with a message of hope and optimism concerning the meaningful suffering of God’s children.

14. Verse 7: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” This answers the question of “What is happening to me in this suffering?” Jewish Christians in Peter’s day wanted answers, and Christians these days want answers. This verse provides some of the answers.

1B. There are two kinds of suffering that befall people, suffering that comes about as a result of your own stupidity and foolishness and suffering that just happens through no fault of your own.

12B. Everyone suffers when they pull the trigger of a loaded pistol and shoot themselves through the foot. Everyone suffers from the catastrophe of a broken marriage that is brought on by sexual activity before marriage. And I could name a thousand more examples.

3B. But Peter is addressing the suffering that is not self-inflicted, the suffering that comes upon you for no apparent reason or because you are a Christian. He labels it “the trial of your faith.”

1C. The word “trial” translates the Greek word that refers to the testing process by which the nature of ore is evaluated to determine whether it contains real gold or fool’s gold.^[3]

2C. Albert Barnes indicates that this refers to putting your religion to the test, and showing what is its real nature.^[4] I think Albert Barnes was right.

3C. You folks who are not Christians suffer just like Christians do, but it does not mean anything. There is no purpose behind it and no benefit from it. It just happens. For the Christian, however, suffering is the test of the reality and quality of his Christianity.

Verse 7 continues, “. . . being much more precious than of gold that perisheth . . . .”

1B. Some people place great stock in material possessions, as though money makes people happy and as though material prosperity results in contentment. But there is no indication by any study that has ever been done that suggests that the amount of money you have makes you any happier than those who have less.

2B. Quite the contrary. Your faith is more precious than any amount of gold that you will ever have. Why so? Because your faith is the means by which you secure that which no amount of gold can buy, the forgiveness of your sins, a good standing before God, and a place reserved for you in heaven when you die.

1B. The “it” in this phrase is very obviously the faith of the Christian. The fire is also obviously a metaphor for the difficulties that produce suffering and grief in the life of a Christian, though many believers have suffered martyrdom over the centuries from being burned at the stake for their faith in Christ.

2B. The word picture Peter paints is of a crucible containing a precious metal that is held over an intense flame to heat the metal, not only showing true nature of the precious metal, but the intense heat also separating the gold from the dross that contaminates it.

3B. Thus, the fires of affliction are used by God much like a refining process is used to purify gold or silver. Listen to Zechariah 13.9 in this regard: “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.”

That your faith “. . . might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

1C. How wonderful will that be. Amen? Acts 1.11 tells us what the disciples were told when Jesus ascended to His Father’s right hand: “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

2C. But it is in Revelation 19.11-16 that we find John’s account of Christ’s second coming:

¹¹And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

¹²His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

¹³And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

¹⁴And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

¹⁵And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

¹⁶And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

1C. It is about what is going to happen in conjunction with the second coming of Christ. The believer’s faith will be found unto praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ comes again.

2C. In other words, the Christian knows that when Jesus comes again his faith will be such that it is no longer mingled with doubt, no longer contaminated by worldliness, but refined and purified by the process of suffering that God allows Christians to go through.

1. So you see, there is real meaning associated with each Christian’s suffering. There are real accomplishments resulting from each Christian’s suffering. Of course, I am referring to that suffering which you have not brought on yourself through sin or folly or neglect.

2. How very closely and snugly this fits with the apostle Paul’s statements in Romans:

Romans 8.18: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

Romans 8.28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

3. Now brother Isenberger comes to lead us as we stand to sing before this morning’s sermon.

1. My sermon today is directed to you who are here this morning without Jesus Christ. Perhaps you are religious, or maybe you are not. Perhaps you believe the Bible is God’s Word, or maybe you do not. Perhaps you think that God is real, or maybe you do not.

2. My sermon to you today has nothing directly to do with you. My sermon is for you, but it is about people who are real Christians.

3. Look with me at First Peter 1.8, where the apostle Peter rehearses to those wonderful Christians he wrote to their convincing and persuasive behavior. How did those Christians behave themselves, even in the midst of their great trials of affliction? About them and to them Peter wrote, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

4. Keeping in mind what real faith is according to Hebrews 11.1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” we see in our text that Peter is stressing how people with real faith in Christ behave during suffering.

5. So, when Peter writes, “Whom having not seen” and “in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing” he is laying great stress on their faith in Jesus Christ. How, then, do those who have faith in Christ, real faith in Christ, saving faith in Christ, behave when they are suffering?

6. But before we look at the answer Peter gives us we need to make an application of this situation to our own circumstances. How do we do that? We consider the different kinds of suffering Christians here in the United States have to deal with.

7. In other parts of the world there are real Christians who are being physically attacked for their faith in Christ, denied jobs for their testimony, brutally raped and murdered for no other reason than their love for their Lord. It is happening as I speak in Vietnam, in China, in sub-Sahara Africa, and in other places.

8. This girl, whose picture I hold in my hand, is named Saleema. She was arrested in Pakistan, jailed, and then raped by dozens of jail guards at the age of 14. Her crime? She witnessed to a friend about the Lord Jesus Christ. She was originally sentenced to death, since telling people about Christ is a capital offense in moslem Pakistan, but public pressure forced the Pakistani government to release her.

9. What did she do wrong? Nothing. The girl she talked to became a Christian and her parents killed her for it. Saleema’s life has been spared, but she will suffer for the rest of her life because of what they did to her, and because she will never marry. That is the story of her suffering.

10. What kind of suffering do real Christians in the United States find themselves enduring? Some Christians experience great heartache because they are not pretty or handsome by Hollywood’s standards. Other Christians feel despondent because they are not married, either because they have never married or because they have married and have experienced the heartbreak of divorce. Still other believers fight a constant battle against discouragement because they are ill or because they are poor. Some Christians find themselves experiencing great pain because their marriages are difficult and their spouses dishonor them.

11. There are Christians who are persecuted and aggrieved by their neighbors simply because they regularly attend church. Others are scorned and ostracized by their families because they have forsaken the traditional false religion their family has practiced for centuries. Others are passed over for promotions simply because they pray over their noon day meal.

12. The point that I seek to make is that every Christian, every real Christian, falls somewhere on a broad spectrum of suffering, feeling emotional or physical pain as a result of what they are going through. And their suffering is not self-inflicted. It is the result of things entirely beyond their control or because they choose to do right instead of choosing to do wrong.

13. Our text for today will show you non-Christians how Christians respond in the midst of suffering. The verse before us tells us how Saleema deals with her suffering, both when she was in jail awaiting execution immediately after the attacks against her, and now that she is confined to her home as a girl who will never in her culture marry.

14. Our verse also tells us how the single Christian deals with the agony of loneliness, how the divorced Christian deals with his particular heartaches, how the poor and financially overwhelmed Christian reacts, as well as how the believer who is battling disease responds.

15. My unsaved friend, let me read the verse to you once again: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

16. Two things the real Christian does, even in the midst of the grief and heartache produced by suffering:

1B. Notice that Peter’s readers were not numbered among those early disciples who had witnessed the Lord Jesus Christ’s miracles and healings. And you might think that someone who had laid eyes on the Savior would love Him more than someone who had never seen Him face to face, but you would be wrong.

2B. It was the Lord Jesus Christ Who responded to Thomas’ demand to see with his own eyes before he would believe when He said, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”^[5]

3B. So, if you are one who thinks you cannot love a Savior you have never seen, think again. This is not some natural love, like some girl friend you say you love when she is nearby but forget about when someone else is nearby. Such as that is not love, but lust. The love Peter speaks of for Jesus Christ is a God-given love, a supernatural love, an enduring love, and an obedient love.

4B. You see, First Corinthians 13.8 shows us that real love never fails, and Second John 6 shows that real love is obedient. So you see, those Christians Peter was writing to did not only say they loved Jesus Christ, they showed their love for Jesus Christ by their manner of life . . . even when they were passing through the discouragements associated with suffering.

5B. There will be times when God providentially exposes you to a genuine Christian who is really suffering. Keep in mind that most who say they are Christians are blowing smoke. But from time to time God will give you the privilege of seeing a real Christian deal with real issues.

6B. Do you know what you will see evidence of in that Christian’s life? No matter what afflictions that Christian faces, he will show you by his actions that he loves the Lord Jesus Christ. “Whom having not seen, ye love.”

1B. “With joy unspeakable and full of glory” is how Peter phrased it. But what does “with joy unspeakable and full of glory” mean? It means that the joy that is expressed by the Christian is quite beyond his capacity to fully express. He can’t really put his joy into words. He is unable to fully express his delight, his joy, his bounty, his fullness.

2B. The apostle Paul may have been writing about the same limitations with these words: “Rejoice evermore.”^[6] “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”^[7]

3B. This means that the lonely Christian will rejoice. This means that the ailing Christian will rejoice. This means that the hurting Christian will rejoice. This means that the oppressed Christian will rejoice. This means that the defeated, discouraged, and deflated Christian will rejoice.

4B. How can this be? Paul and Silas were heard by the other prisoners in the Philippian jail to pray and sing praises to God after being severely beaten, Acts 16.25. And when Hugh Latimer was burned at the stake in England for his faith in Christ, he said to his friend Nicholas Ridley (who was burned at the stake at the same time), “Be of good comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man! We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace, in England, as I trust never shall be put out.”^[8]

5B. There are thousands of other testimonies such as these, but how can such responses to suffering be explained? It is really quite simple: These are not responses to suffering. It is just that real Christians continue to do in the midst of suffering what they typically do the rest of the time. Real Christians, you see, know that God is real, know that God is in control, and know that God is doing such a work in their lives that no suffering is for nothing. All suffering, whether it be martyrdom or quiet discouragement, is used by God to purify the Christian’s faith.

1. So, how do you spot a Christian, a real Christian? You may not always be able to tell the genuine from the counterfeit. But when you spot someone suffering it is easier to discern the real Christian from the fake one.

2. The real Christian, you see, will always love the Lord Jesus Christ, and will not become angry with Him or bitter toward Him for the suffering brought upon him. Oh, perhaps for a short time he will be overcome with bad feelings, but when his mind is clear the Christian loves (and by that I mean obeys) his Lord always, even during suffering.

3. And along with that love there will be rejoicing. And not just rejoicing, but joy unspeakable and full of glory. Rejoicing drawn from the deep well of gratitude and appreciation for the reason behind the suffering, knowing that the trial of affliction that produces the suffering is a means by which God purifies the Christian’s faith in preparation for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

4. The real Christian would be horrified to think that his response to suffering would reflect badly upon his God, would cast doubt upon the sufficiency of his Savior. She would never want anyone to think God’s grace is not sufficient for the darkest hour, or that she doubted her God’s goodness and mercy toward her. So, unable to lean upon the arm of flesh because the cause of suffering is beyond his control, the genuine Christian rejoices in hope of the glory of God.^[9]

5. My lost friend, when you see that kind of love, and when you see that kind of rejoicing, all your arguments against the Christian faith will take flight and flutter way. Then and there you will know that God is real, that Jesus Christ truly does save sinners, and that you have found a sample of real Christianity.

^[1] Fritz Rienecker & Cleon Rogers, Linguistic Key To The Greek New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Regency Reference Library, 1980), page 743.

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] Ibid., page 745.

^[4] Albert Barnes, Albert Barnes’ NT Commentary, (Bronson, MI: Online Publishing, Inc., 2002), bible@mail.com

^[5] John 20.29

^[6] 1 Thessalonians 5.16

^[7] Philippians 4.4

^[8] http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2003/10/daily-10-16-2003.shtml 5/14/05

^[9] Romans 5.2