Even today it is not easy being a Christian, but we must find a way to live our faith without compromise.
Scriptures: 1 Peter 1:3-12
Sermon Focus: Readers will be challenged to place their faith in Jesus. The insecurities of other types of faith will be contrasted by the consistency a faith in Jesus provides.
In case you missed it, click this link to read Part 2.
III. True faith – 1:10-12
In our postmodern word, we often hear the statement that what works for you may not work for me. So Peter had a faith in Christ that was timeless. His faith was valuable, revealing, and full of love. But how does that mean, what worked for Peter will work for me? Almost as if Peter anticipated your question, he writes about the faith of others.
The prophets of the Old Testament found their faith in God to hold. (1:10) God spoke to the prophets and told them that the Messiah was coming. He gave them a hope that the One who could deliver them was on the way. The message of the prophets can be summarized as, “Hang on. God is working and the Messiah is coming. Get ready, your deliverer is coming.” Doesn’t that sound like a message for people at the end of their rope, for people who don’t know where to turn? It is a message of hope and encouragement. It is a promise. How many people do you know that need to be encouraged not to give up. How many people in this room need to be told that there is help on it’s way. May be you need to hear that God’s promises are for you. That is the message of the Old Testament prophets.
Peter points out that the true faith is not only tied to the prophets, but also the fulfillment of those prophecies. There is a faith in the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus. (1:11)
I have recently been taking some classes on preaching. A couple of weeks ago, in one of the lectures, a teacher said an astounding thing. He said that Christianity is the only religion which cannot reinvent itself. All other religions are based upon a philosophical basis. Other religions have been created out of a human mind. The teacher went on to state that if all religions were wiped from the face of the earth, someone could come along, have the same thoughts and ideas, and recreate any of the religions.
But not so with Christianity. Our faith is built upon the prophecies of the Old Testament, prophecies which said a Messiah is coming. Our faith is built upon Jesus. We believe that he is the Messiah, the embodiment of the Old Testament prophecies. We believe that He died on a cross for our sins and that he rose again. We believe that he is coming back.
If all of Christianity were to be destroyed, how could we recreate it in our minds? We could not. Our faith is not built upon philosophy, intellect, or creative speculations. Our faith is built upon the historical fact that Jesus, God’s only Son, died on a Roman cross, in Jerusalem, on a hill called Golgatha, in 30 AD. Our faith cannot be recreated, but thank God it is a faith which has stood the test of time, proven itself faithful when tested, and is the only true faith which holds in the storms of life.
Peter then talks of how the faith of the Old Testament and the Gospels is for these present days. (1:12)
Peter literally says, “Angels desire to look into these things.” Can you imagine what that must be like? Angels are leaning over the rim of heaven and looking down. They have seen what God did with the prophets. They have seen how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies with His birth, life, death and resurrection. The angels have seen Lucifer kicked out of heaven, the resurrection of Christ, the dead raised, the Red Sea parted, and demons exorcized. But what they desire to see, is what God is going to do now. The angels are watching you and me, and they want to see what the next chapter will be like. How will our faith and God’s great actions meet? As Modecia said to Esther, who know but that you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this? Our time to live our faith is now.
Conclusion
All of us have faith, but will your anchor of faith hold in the storms of life? Is your anchor of faith a true anchor? Is your faith built upon the truth of scripture. Is your faith tested? Do you know how valuable, revealing and full of love, a faith in Christ is? Is your faith timeless, or will the newest fad or the latest philosophy cause you to tie to a new anchor? Only a faith in Christ is true, tested, and timeless.
It is not a question of if you have a faith. It is not a question of if the storms of life will come. It is the question, will your anchor of faith, hold through the storms? The time to anchor your hope and faith to Christ is now, before the storms show up.