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*“Faith in Trial (F.I.T.)*
*1 Peter 1:3-12*
A lot of popular preaching in North America consists of a materialistic, comfortable, and sometimes fashionable Christianity.
I would argue that this sort of teaching is not just a little “off base”, but rather is not true Christianity at all.
It is pervasive and popular because it appeals to our fleshly nature.
I see a serious distinction between what many preach and what Jesus Christ proclaimed.
I don’t intend to be pessimistic.
But rather I am grieved that many are led astray from the truth.
Christ often used terms of self-denial, self-sacrifice, and forsaking all to follow him.
How much sacrifice is involved in a health and wealth gospel?
Are those in third world countries lacking faith because they are in poverty and illness?
What about trials?
Do they indicate that we are in sin and unbelief?
Or are trials normative for the Christian life?
I would suggest the latter.
In fact, Peter tells us the same.
As you know, we have just begun a new study in the book of 1 Peter.
Surprisingly, I have noticed some similarity between the book of Daniel that we recently concluded and this one.
Daniel, we recall, was a physical exile from the Hebrews into the land of Babylon.
He served under several different pagan rulers who attempted to reprogram his mind and beliefs.
He constantly remained faithful to his God despite the pressures to conform and the persecutions that were threatened.
God continued to bless Daniel and thus confirmed his sovereignty over nations and rulers.
In this letter, Peter refers to believers as “elect exiles” and “sojourners and exiles” in this world.
We are displaced in this culture and are awaiting our final destination which is to be ever present with the Lord.
But, like Daniel, we are not called to merely sit back and survive until that time.
We are on mission with God to be a light to those around us and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
We are called to be faithful disciples despite the surmounting pressures of our society to conform.
I want you to be challenged and encouraged this morning.
I used to think that you could be a “cool” Christian – that somehow you could be accepted by the church /and/ the world.
Perhaps I might have a higher morality, but did not want to be labeled “strange”.
The more I study Scripture, the more prevalent I see the call to “strangeness”.
There is no blending or compromise.
We are called to be distinct because we are strangers, aliens, and sojourners in this world.
In fact, there is a growing trend and temptation for churches to adapt more to our changing culture.
The argument is that the church has “lost touch” with culture and we have ceased to be relevant.
And thus, the church has to change.
I’m not convinced.
The changes that need to be made are driven by our understanding of Scripture, not culture.
In the words of John Piper, “we are called to faithfulness, not fruitfulness”.
The results, as we know, are up to God.
Now I am not suggesting that the church cannot improve.
Our improvements come not from adapting to culture, but living out what we know from Scripture.
You see, we can continue to meet here and learn new truths that we file in our head.
But if we are not applying those truths, we are ineffective and unfaithful.
To talk about impacting our community and culture, I want you to use your imagination for a minute.
And to be clear, I speak to myself in what I am about to say.
Imagine the impact that we could make on our community if we men were to love our wives as Christ loved the church.
Imagine if we were actually the leaders in our families and we trained up our children in the instruction and admonition of the Lord.
Imagine if women submitted to their husbands as to the Lord.
Imagine if we took responsibility for our actions.
Imagine if Christians would abstain from conversations on Facebook that might confuse their beliefs or post pictures that draw attention to the wrong things.
Or imagine if our children would share their love of Christ with the neighborhood kids.
Imagine if we sacrificially met the needs of one another in this body.
Imagine if we proclaimed the good news as if we actually believed it!
To live out what we are called to looks radically different than what the world espouses.
I mentioned just a few things here that we probably already /know.
/Often our failures in this Christian life is not a lack of knowledge, it is a lack of /applying/ what we already know.
We are called to be counter-cultural.
Peter wrote this letter in the context of persecution under the Roman Emperor Nero.
And it was not fashionable to name the name of Christ.
To do so would mean instant persecution.
It is in this light that Peter writes to the dispersed believers in order to encourage them in their trials.
In fact, suffering is a major theme throughout the letter.
You may remember the quote I mentioned a few weeks ago.
“Better Christians tend to produce persecution.”
And I think we see this played out in 1 Peter.
If you have not done so already, please turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter 1.
We will be looking at verses 3-12 this week.
I have entitled the sermon *“Faith in Trial”* or F.I.T., if you will, because Peter shows how our faith is exercised and how trials refine us and shape us.
I see the chapter to be a mini version of the book of Ephesians.
We recall the structure of Paul’s letter where the first three chapters contain the doctrinal section of the letter.
Paul reminds the believers in Ephesus of their position in Christ, their condition before faith, their oneness in Christ etc.
In chapter 4, Paul begins the latter section with a “therefore”.
In light of the truths that he presented to them, they had an obligation to walk in a manner worthy of their calling.
He moves from the indicative to the imperative – what is true, to what must be done, the theological to the practical.
Likewise, Peter in this letter begins the chapter reminding the recipients of their hope of salvation and the reality of trials until Christ returns.
The latter half of the chapter that we will be looking at next week will include the imperatives where Peter will exhort us to respond to those truths.
Let’s read the text.
We’ll look at the text in four points this morning: *Faith to a Living Hope, Faith to an Eternal Inheritance, Faith and Trials, and Faith Proclamation.
*
My first point is *Faith to a Living Hope.
*We are only in verse 3 and Peter breaks out in this doxology or praise to God.
He says that in light of our great salvation and hope, God is to be praised.
We often see this in Paul’s letters where he is writing and the things he mentions seemingly overwhelm him and he digresses in praise to his God.
Here Peter must have already been thinking ahead because he doesn’t get very far before his doxology.
At the outset, Peter wants his readers to recall their great God.
He reminds them of the great mercy that God demonstrated to them in their salvation.
We recall from our study of Ephesians what our spiritual condition is before salvation.
We read from chapter 2 that we are dead in our sins, follow the course of this world and Satan.
We are children of wrath and sons and daughters of disobedience.
Paul indicates that this refers to all of us.
There is not one who is righteous in God’s sight before His work in us.
But do you remember the next words of Paul in verse 4 of Ephesians 2? But God, being rich in mercy and because of His great love for us, even when we were dead in our trespasses GOD made us alive!!
And the same concept is here in our text.
Peter writes that according to His great mercy, he caused us to be born again – from spiritual death to spiritual life.
I love the analogy of rebirth to refer to salvation.
Remember the words of Jesus to Nicodemus in John 3? Keep your finger in 1 Peter.
But turn with me to John 3.
*Read vv.
1-8.
*
Nicodemus is confused and asks how one can be “born again”.
And then to clear it up, Jesus makes the distinction between flesh and Spirit.
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