3 Marks of Authentic Christianity: Love, Faith, and Joy - I Peter 1:8,9

 

PILGRIM LIVING IN A FALLEN WORLD

3 Marks of Authentic Christianity: Love, Faith, and Joy

I Peter 1:8,9

Introduction: One of the jobs I had after high school occasionally put me in the office, collecting cash payments from truck drivers. When the boss came in at the end of the day, he would quickly count through the bills in the cash box, and take the deposit to the bank. I recall on one occasion he was zipping through the bills and as soon as his fingers touched a particular $20 bill he stopped, felt it between his fingers, looked at it closely and said, “This bill is counterfeit!”  Whether intentionally or not, someone had paid with “funny money!” My boss used to be a bank manager, and he had extensive experience handling cash – I was a 20 something part-time college student working at a garbage dump– I didn’t have very much experience with cash at all. He tried to show me how the bill was clearly false. To me, it looked the same as the real thing, I couldn’t tell the difference. If you know the real thing well, you will more easily recognize a counterfeit.  In recent years the US Mint has produced currency with features that make it increasingly difficult to counterfeit.  One of the best ways to detect a fake is to put it alongside the real thing... As Peter is greeting the believers scattered in Asia Minor, he speaks of their relationship with Jesus, and reminds them that their new life has the marks of authenticity, including 1) love for Christ; 2) trust in Christ; and 3) joy in Christ.

The BIG Idea: Our new life in Christ will be marked by love for Him, trust in His Word, and abounding joy in our salvation.

I. Love for Christ – “Though you have not seen him you love Him...” The first mark of an authentic Christian is sincere, unfeigned love for Christ.

       This verse gives us a little information about the scattered “pilgrims” to whom Peter is writing. Have you ever read the Bible and thought, “If only I could have been there and seen Him and heard Him, then...” Most of those to whom Peter wrote were not among the eyewitnesses of the resurrection. In fact, most of them apparently did not see the earthly ministry of Jesus, including his miracles and his teaching.  They had not seen Him. Even so, they loved him. How can that be?  Well Pilgrim, we are in the same boat! We have not seen Him, yet if we know Him, we love Him! How is that possible? 

       I remember when we were going through the adoption process we worked with an agency that matched orphans in Korea with adoptive parents in the US.  When we were “matched,” we received a photo that we put on our kitchen table.  Even before that, we had begun to pray for the child that God would bring to us. When we got the photo, we put it on the table. We would look at it. We would study it. We would talk about Sarah and we would pray for her. For two months, all we had was that picture. We anticipated her arrival, and you know, before we ever met her face-to-face, still, we loved her. So, at one level, love is a choice. The scattered exiles to whom Peter wrote did not even have a photograph. But they had words. They had the teaching of the apostles and by then the first of the gospels had been written and was circulating.  They talked about the things Jesus did and the things that He taught.  And they loved Him, even though they had never seen Him! 

       Remember also that this is Peter who is writing. One of the twelve. One of the inner circle who spent time with Jesus, who was privileged to witnesses revelation like the transfiguration. Despite that, he had denied Christ. Jesus asked him after the resurrection, not once, but three times, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (John 21:15-17).  Despite all the time that Peter had spent with Jesus, in the process of restoring Him Jesus asked the question, three times, causing Peter to examine his heart.  Assuming that story of Peter and Jesus was known to the exiles to whom he wrote, it makes Peter’s commendation here even more emphatic. “I saw Him, I heard Him, and I walked with Him. Even so, as you know, my love for Him was not always that evident. You brethren, have not seen Him, even so, even in times of trial, you love Him!” For Peter, everything changed after the resurrection, and especially after Pentecost. The Spirit indwelt believers. He is with us and in us. And the fruit of the Spirit is… love!  

       Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? To know Him is to love Him! He has shown us His love (Rom 5:8; I Jn 4:9). God’s Spirit in us will bear fruit. If we have believed in Him, we will love Him. Do we? Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” So, obedience to Him is one evidence that we love him.   If you love Him, you will spend time with Him, in prayer, in worship, in the Word.  If we love Him we’ll want to spread His fame to our neighbors and family and friends.

       By the way, we can’t claim that we love God who we have not seen, if we don’t love our brother. In fact, if you read through the first letter of John, in almost every chapter, he has something to say about love, and love for our brother is one of the evidences that we truly love God.  For example read 1 John 4:7-12,   

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  ⁸ Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  ⁹ In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  ¹² No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

God abiding in us, is perfecting his love in us. Remember, the fruit of the Spirit is, first of all, love… Our love for Him is revealed in our love for others. So, our new life in Christ is marked by love for Him, and also trust in His Word and abounding joy in our salvation.

II. Trust in Christ - “Though you do not now see Him, you believe...”

        “Believing without seeing” is a theme that we see quite a bit in the Gospel of John.  The Jews kept asking for “signs,” yet even when they saw indisputable miracles, they would not believe.  Finally, after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples, all but one that is...

²⁴ Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.  ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe..." (John 20:24, 25).  

The disciples testified, but Thomas doubted. In fact, he was determined in his unbelief, “Unless I see... I will never believe...” And in God’s mercy, a week later he did see...

²⁶ Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."  ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe."  ²⁸ Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"  ²⁹ Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Part of what Jesus is teaching is that “faith” is not simply being convinced by our senses that something is true. It means we take God at His word. Kevin DeYoung said,

“Our teachers, our friends, our science, our studies, even our eyes can deceive us. But the Word of God is entirely true and always true. God’s Word is firmly fixed in the heavens; it doesn’t change. There is no limit to its perfection.”

As the title of DeYoung’s book says, faith is “Taking God at His Word.”  A lot of people who saw Jesus didn’t believe. Jesus told Thomas, “You have seen and believe... [good] ...blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Jesus said “my sheep hear my voice...” Where do we hear his voice? Ultimately it is in His word.

      I would urge you to commit to spending time, every day, in the Word. It is a precious time for me in the early morning to be in the Word. Whether you read it or listen to it, you can meditate on it and let the Word of Christ dwell richly within you!  When we hear a sermon, ask yourself if it brings out what the Bible text really says. We need to be discerning about any teaching, like the Bereans... But don’t think we can “decide” if we want to believe what the Bible does say! Faith includes a decision, in advance, to obey God’s Word. We can't pick and choose. The Bible is always good, and always true.  So, Jesus is who he claimed to be, he did what the Bible tells us he did; therefore we live how the Bible tells us to live. God said it, and that settles it!  That is normal, healthy Christianity. Our new life in Christ is marked by love for Him, trust in His Word, and abounding joy in our salvation.

III. Joy in Christ - “...and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory...”

       In this phrase Peter returns to the subject that seemed so surprising in verse 6, joy that transcends the moment, that overrules the suffering that we experience now,

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials...” (1:6).

The rejoicing there is in the sure hope of our promised inheritance spoken of in vv.3-5. Here he says that as they love and believe the One whom they have not seen, they rejoice with indescribable joy, joy we that can’t be put into words (cf. “a shout of joy” Ps 30:5b, NASB). That joy is “full of glory.” The word used has the idea of “glorified” joy, the idea seems to be joy that can only come from God.  God’s fingerprints are all over it.  Consider the scene in Acts 3:1-10 when Peter and John encounter the man lame from birth, begging at the entrance to the Temple. Let’s pick up the scene at verse 4…

 ⁴ And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, "Look at us."  ⁵ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.  ⁶ But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"  ⁷ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.  ⁸ And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.  ⁹ And all the people saw him walking and praising God,  ¹⁰ and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Notice first the healed man’s response: Pure joy, walking and leaping and praising God! That was joy uncontainable: joy indescribable and full of glory!  He was literally leaping with joy, praising God! God’s fingerprints were all over it, and you didn’t need to be a CSI investigator to figure it out. He was rejoicing in the Lord. To God be the glory!

       It is worth noting what the outcome of that miracle was. Yes, some believed. However, it also initiated a period of persecution and trials that the church would face over the next four chapters of Acts, trials from outside and tests from within. The disciples are arrested, and threatened, and beaten. Finally in chapter 7 Stephen is martyred. And it continues through the book of Acts, which ends with Paul a prisoner.

       As Peter writes this letter, he knows he is writing to pilgrims, exiles and foreigners, kingdom citizens living in a fallen world. He does not minimize the grievous trials that they will pass through in this life. But since the heart of a pilgrim is always looking homeward, even in the Valley of Baca, the valley of tears, we can make a well (see Ps 84).  It’s a matter of the heart. Remember the Proverb that says “Above all else, guard your heart, for from it are the well springs of life...” (Proverbs 4:23).  

       What is needed for joy? The man was healed in Acts 3 and filled with joy. But what if circumstances are different, and healing doesn’t come? 

       Max Lucado told the story of man named Robert Reid (You can check out his story on https://robertreidministries.com/)…

Robert lives with a debilitating disability [cerebral palsy]. His hands are twisted and his feet useless. He can’t bath himself. He can’t brush his own teeth or put on his own underwear. Strips of Velcro hold his shirts together. His speech drags like a worn out audiocassette. The disease he lives with keeps him from driving a car, riding a bike and going for a walk. But it didn’t keep him from graduating from high school or attending Abilene Christian University where he graduated with a degree in Latin. His disability didn’t keep him from teaching at St. Louis Junior College or from venturing overseas on five missions trips. And Robert’s disease didn’t keep him from becoming a missionary in Portugal. He moved to Lisbon, alone, in 1972. There he rented a hotel room and began studying Portuguese. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him after the rush hour and a tutor who would instruct him in the language. Then he stationed himself in a park, where he would hand out gospel tracts. Within six years he had led seventy people to the Lord, one of whom became his wife, Rosa.

Lucado said that he had heard Robert speak recently. He said,

I watched other men carry him in his wheelchair onto the platform. I watched them lay a Bible in his lap. I watch his stiff fingers force open the pages. And I watched people in the audience wipe away tears of admiration from their faces. Robert could have asked for sympathy or pity, but he did just the opposite. He held his bent hand into the air and boasted, “I have everything I need for joy.” His shirts are held together by Velcro, but his life is held together by joy.”

I am still no expert on distinguishing counterfeit money from the real thing, but that is authentic Christianity. Robert Reid has what he needs for joy - he has Jesus! We are not defined by our circumstances, but by Christ. Our new life is marked by love for Him, trust in His Word, and abounding joy in our salvation.

 IV. Life with Christ- Now and forever- “receiving the end of your faith...”

“...receiving the end [telos] of your faith, the salvation of your souls...”

       Love, faith, and joy accompany God’s work in us and for us. There is an interesting juxtaposition of the “already” and the “not yet” in this phrase. The term “telos” is future looking, pointing ahead to the result or final outcome of believing in Jesus.  It is a word that speaks to the completion of God’s plan, the culmination of His work in history.  Peter knows that we are pilgrims, passing through this fallen world, but we are citizens of heaven and our sure hope is in the return of Christ and in a new heaven and new earth.  That is not yet here, but it motivates us and encourages us.  Remember Jesus’ words in John 14:2,3...

² In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

       We have a home to look forward to, and our inheritance is secure in heaven! And it is also true that as we receive new life through faith in Christ we are now citizens of heaven, some of the blessings of the kingdom are ours now, and we have a new life that will carry into the new Creation. It is true that “If any man be in Christ, a new creation!” As Paul told the Colossians, “You have been translated out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God’s Son...” We are already part of and a participant in the future!  Peter here uses the present tense, “...receiving...” indicating that it is a present reality and not only a future hope. Put another way, you were saved when you believed, you are saved as you live the Christian life, and you will be saved when you receive a new glorified body and are delivered once for all from the presence and influence of sin. Somehow, when we see Him, we will be like Him.  Oh what a glorious day that will be!

What is God saying to me in this passage? Our new life in Christ is marked by love for Him, trust in His Word, and abounding joy in our salvation.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? You have not seen Jesus (more than likely). But do you love Him?  How can that be?  Could it be that you realize that He loved you first, that He loved you to the point of laying down His life for you? Do you believe Him? That is, do you take Him at His word? If God said it, does that settle it? Does the reality of his presence and his grace bring joy to your heart?

       To believe Him, we need to be in the Word. That means listening and learning at every opportunity. It means picking up your Bible… and reading the Word carefully, prayerfully, for yourself. Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me...” As we hear Him, our faith grows. We are imperfect people – forgiven, but not yet glorified. The good news is that we are not slaves to sin, because Christ has set us free! And so, God is with us and in us. We can grow, and become more like Jesus.

       We are aliens, for a little while, as necessary, pilgrims living in a fallen world. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation…” But He has overcome the world! Are we willing to allow God to help us grow, even through the hard things, the “grievous trials” of life in a fallen world? If we believe what He says, we will trust Him. If we believe what He did for us, we will love Him. We have all that we need for joy, indescribable, full of glory! If we can let God teach us, in the end, we’ll be more like Jesus. That is authentic Christianity. And along the way, people will begin to see a difference in us, not perfect people, but forgiven people, light in the darkness, because we know THE Light of the world! Let us strive together to be faithful in the mission He has entrusted to us.   AMEN.