Faith, Salvation, And Suffering Series

Our scripture today comes from 1 Peter, I am reading 1 Peter 1: 3-9 (International Children’s Bible)

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has great mercy, and because of his mercy he gave us a new life.

He gave us a living hope because Jesus Christ rose from death.

4 Now we hope for the blessings God has for his children.

These blessings are kept for you in heaven. They cannot be destroyed or be spoiled or lose their beauty.

5 God’s power protects you through your faith, and it keeps you safe until your salvation comes. That salvation is ready to be given to you at the end of time. 6 This makes you very happy.

But now for a short time different kinds of troubles may make you sad. 7 These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure. This purity of faith is worth more than gold. Gold can be proved to be pure by fire, but gold can be destroyed.

But the purity of your faith will bring you praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ comes again.

8 You have not seen Christ, but still you love him. You cannot see him now, but you believe in him. You are filled with a joy that cannot be explained. And that joy is full of glory. 9 Your faith has a goal, to save your souls. And you are receiving that goal—your salvation.

This is the second Sunday of Easter. During the next few weeks we will be exploring the passages from 1 Peter in the Lectionary. Today, we open with these wonderful words: “Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has given us great mercy, and because of his mercy, he gave us a new life.

It is believed that Peter wrote these words to the churches while he served in Rome. Nero’s persecutions had just begun, and his own life was not yet on the line, although he would eventually be killed for his belief.

He is writing this to encourage fellow Christians in a time of trouble, which makes it especially appropriate for us to hear today. We are going to talk about three things this morning. Faith, Suffering, and Salvation.

The thing that is most notable in this passage is that he uses the word FAITH 7 times. So, what is faith?

Early believers would tell you that faith involved two elements. First of all, you had to have an understanding of who God was. Second, you would have the belief in God’s inherent goodness. You would place your trust in God based on this.

Karl Barth actually turned it around. He said that faith needed to begin with the one in which we have faith. The early Christians assumed God’s truth, in our century, people do not. So, let’s talk a bit about what Karl Barth meant and why it is important.

One of the key things I run across when talking about God is that people tell me things like “Well, the God I believe in would or wouldn’t do this or that.” Or they tell me, well, that is what you believe about God, but what I believe is this or that.

Now, obviously, we will have differing opinions on what God means and says. But there is one inherent thing we must base our belief in. That is the fact that God is, was, and ever will be the same. God does not change just because we do.

Why does that matter? Because if God can be however we define him, then God does not actually exist. If God exists, then we (like the early Christians) can come to know God and God’s truth. We can understand God. We can have faith in that truth.

We come to know and understand who God is by reading what scripture has to say about God’s interactions with humankind. We see who God is. We learn that God created us and loves us.

So, Karl Barth isn’t changing the meaning of faith, he is adding to it and incorporating the factual nature of God into it.

In today’s world, we are faced again and again with the challenge of finding truth. One news station says one thing, a different news station says something different. Social media often spreads lies, wishful thinking, and rumors. We are besieged by political ads that conflict with one another about what the truth is. And we want something solid to go on.

God is that center and is solid. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. God does not change. We might be uncertain about everything else, but we can rest on the truth that God is and always will be.