The first year that I went to college, I joined the crew team. You know what that is, it is where they have those eight big guys in this thin long boat with a whole bunch of oars. Some people mistakenly call it rowing. Well the first year I was on the team I was the coxswain. You know what that is too. He is the little guy in the back of the boat with the big mouth telling his team what a lousy job they’re doing and they better row faster. Well, he also steers the boat too. It was the steering of this boat that was the most crucial aspect of the coxswain’s job. A race could well be won or lost on good or bad steering since sometimes races can be decided by the 10ths or 100ths of a second even though the course is 1500-2000 meters. The year before I got there our team lost the final heat of the national race to Coast Guard by 1/10 of a second.
When I was taught to steer, I was told to set my sight on a fixed object on the shore beyond the finish line and aim for it. If I was splashed by an oar or lost my balance in the boat I might take my eye off the object beyond the finish line. When that happened we could lose the race because I took my eye off the goal, that on which I ought to have been focused. This is what Peter is trying to tell his readers throughout this passage of Scripture. He wanted them in the midst of trials to maintain an end time focus. They were to fix their hope on the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was to be their anchor point throughout this Christian race. The author of Hebrews said it in a similar way when he said, “Let us run this race with patience that is set before us fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
Peter says that as trials come into our lives we ought to be fixing our sights on the time when the Lord Jesus will return for us. Peter’s main thought from the passage is this: You must maintain an end time focus.
In this passage of Scripture Peter gives us 3 ways in which we can maintain an end times focus:
1. We must keep in mind the purpose of the trials of our faith
The first way that Peter says we can maintain an end time focus is that we must keep in mind the purpose of the trials of our faith. This is found in verses 6 & 7. In these verses, we notice four characteristics about our trials.
A) They are only for a short time.
The first characteristic about our trials that Peter mentions is that they are only for a short time. This is the beginning of verse 6. In your salvation you rejoice, even though now for a “little while” you have been grieved by various trials. Peter wants us to have God’s perspective on our trials. When we look at trials, difficulties, and persecutions in light of the glories of eternity with God, these trials are but a short time. Even the Apostle Paul says that the light affliction that he suffered was not to be compared with the glories for which he waited in heaven. You see, we must have this end time focus. We need to be looking at the goal and not the circumstances that are around us.
When I have gone through persecution caused by those around me or various other difficulties I have learned to focus not on the difficulty (because then I start to become bitter) but on the goal of our faith. I look out to a time when I will see Christ. I have to ask myself, “Who I am really living for anyway? Am I living for Jesus or self?” When you begin to see life in this way as a Christian you begin to see that there really is only a short stretch of time between the present and when we will see Christ. You also begin to see that this short stretch of time is the only time you have to serve God here on earth and if you are bogged down with the trials which come upon you, you cannot go forward from that point. Peter knows that we will experience sorrow. He is not saying that we are not to grieve. This is natural, it is normal when we encounter trials. But he doesn’t want us to become paralyzed by our trials. And he says that if we keep our eyes fixed on the goal of that salvation in the future, we can rejoice. We are not rejoicing in the fact that we are going through the trials, but in the fact that one-day as Christians, all trials will be past and will no longer exist. This is why Peter says that they are for a little while.
B) They are necessary.
The second characteristic about our trials that Peter mentions is that they are necessary. Peter makes it clear that God does not allow trials to come into our lives because he wants to make us miserable. Peter says, that it is only when necessary. God wants to make you like the Lord Jesus Christ and he will do whatever it takes. James says to count it all joy when you encounter trials, because the testing of you faith works patience. Paul says, “That whosoever wishes to be godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Peter wants us to know that we are not needlessly afflicted. What you must ask yourself in the midst of trials is, “Since God does not bring about trials needlessly, how can God use this difficulty in my life to make me more like him?”
C) They show faith’s quality
The third characteristic about our trials that Peter mentions is that they show faith’s quality. The term Peter uses here in verse 7, that is translated, “The proof of your faith” could best be understood as “The genuineness of your faith,” that is, “The genuine quality of your faith.” God uses trials to show who is a believer and who is not. Jesus uses a perfect illustration of that in his parable of the sower in Matt 13. There is the seed that fell upon rocky soil. Jesus said that this seed sprung up immediately, but because it had no deep roots, as soon as the sun rose, the plant was scorched and withered away. Jesus explained that seed to be a person who immediately received the word with joy, but because of persecution or trouble due to the Word of God, he quickly falls away. This person’s faith was not genuine. They came to Christ for the wrong reasons. Perhaps they only sought joy or peace, but they didn’t come to him with a heart of repentance. They came for their own self-seeking reasons. And when it doesn’t turn out the way they thought they become disillusioned and fall away. John in his 1st epistle says the same thing. “They went out from us, because they were not of us.” There are people who come into church and pretend to be a believer for a little while, but then they leave for no apparent reason. If you ask, often it is because they ran into some difficulty and that they feel God left them. What happened was that God was just separating those without real faith.
But this is the negative side of the picture that Peter is trying to paint here. What he wants to emphasize is the results of the genuine quality of your faith. He is speaking to those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ. Your genuineness of faith in Christ expressed in the midst of various trials will shine like a star in the blackest of nights. Others will see your faith and marvel. Those without Christ will want to know how you can go through it. We can go through trials and difficulties only because of a faith that maintains an end time focus.
D) They result in reward.
The fourth characteristic about our trials that Peter mentions is that they result in rewards. This is what he says at the end of verse 7, “They will be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Please forgive my own ignorance in completely understanding this matter of reward. But I still don’t fully comprehend why God, who gives us this free gift of salvation and everything we have from Him through grace, (why) does he in turn reward us? Perhaps I find an answer in this: God gives out rewards because many of the things that a believer does for God are hidden. Attitudes of the heart, prayers offered up in behalf of others, and actions which are not seen by anyone except God. The rewards that God gives are simply a testimony to God’s grace in our lives and to how much he has actually done in our lives. When all is said and done and people see the rewards they will praise our great God because of His amazing work.
The concept of receiving crowns as a reward is common in the NT. In Revelation we, see the elders throwing their crowns before the throne of God. Perhaps this is showing how God does ultimately receive all the glory and honor and praise for all we do in faith. Perhaps only when we get to heaven will we realize how much God has really done for us. Regardless, we can focus on the rewards that God will give to us on that day. Peter says it will happen in the day of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Again he is pushing our minds to focus on that glorious event when Christ returns for his saints.
II. We must keep in mind the central point of our faith.
The second way that Peter says we can maintain an end time focus is that we must keep in mind the central point of our faith. What is the central point of our faith? It is Jesus Christ.. And in verse 8, Peter gives us three results of having Jesus Christ as the central point of our faith.
A. You love Him
The first result of having Jesus Christ as the central point of your faith is that you love Him. Peter, says first of all, “whom having not seen you love.” Though these believers had not seen Jesus when he was here on earth, they still loved Him. How was it that they could love one whom they had never seen? The source of their love was God himself. John says, “We love God because he first loved us.” It is God who took the initiative in restoring our broken relationship to Him. The Bible makes it clear that from the very beginning we were enemies against God. This is because we are all sinners. We desire to go our own way and do our own thing. But God in his great love provided a way that we could be brought together with him again. This was what Jesus did on the cross. He alone paid the penalty for sin which none of us could do. Paul said if righteousness (being made right with God) could have come from obeying the law (if it could have been attained by our own effort), then Christ died for nothing. Our love has its source in God’s love for us. This is why we love Him.
And it is our faith in Christ that awakens this love. Only when someone has come to faith in Christ can he truly understand God’s love and love Him in return. When we see our sin to be as awful as God sees it we begin to see how much God really does love us. We have to scratch our heads and ask, “Though I am so self-centered and ungodly yet God still died for my sins?” And it is not until we realize how much Christ suffered in dying on the cross for our sin that we can really begin to love Him.
Peter says that Jesus Christ is the central point of your faith. And you must keep him centered in your life, if you are to keep an end time focus. Peter writes to each of us, who have a love for Christ even though we did not see him while He was on earth.
B. You trust Him
The second result of having Jesus Christ as the central point of your faith is that you trust Him. Then Peter says, “though you do not see Him now, but you believe in Him.” What Peter is saying here is that though you are now in the midst of your trials and you still do not see Him, you continue to trust in Him. Some without faith may doubt God’s concern when they experience difficulties. But those with biblical faith in Christ understand that God uses trials for our good. As a believer in Christ we know that God has a plan for us. Jeremiah 29:11 speaks to God’s people who are experiencing immense suffering. In it God says, “I know the plans that I have for you. Plans of peace not of evil that you may have hope in your last days.” We can trust that what God is bringing us through is part of His plan to bring glory to Himself and He only wants us to completely rely on Him. Throw yourself before Him that He might lift you up.
C. You Rejoice
The third result of having Jesus Christ as the central point of your faith is that you rejoice. At the end of verse 8, Peter says, “But you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” The point of what Peter is saying here is that though Christ is not physically present now, your faith in Him will allow you to rejoice with a joy which is beyond what words can express. This joy and rejoicing is decidedly a Christian’s joy. This word that Peter uses here for rejoice is not found in any secular Greek literature. It is a joy that the world cannot know. Truly it is a joy that is heavensent (from God). We are heavenward in our outlook and heaven bound in our final destination. It is a joy in the midst of trials that can only be produced by a deep conviction of faith in the Lord Jesus. As I said last week faith is seeing the invisible, not the non-existent. That is the difference between faith and a fable. When one sees a fable, he is looking at the non-existent. Some say that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe. But that will never turn what is unreal into something real. However, when you see the glorious riches of heaven that await us as spoken of in the Scripture, through the eyes of faith, you see the invisible, which will one day be revealed. And this is what Peter speaks about next.
3. We must keep in mind the outcome of our faith.
The third way that Peter says we can maintain an end time focus is that we must keep in mind the outcome of our faith. Verse 9 says, “Receiving as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” This is the goal, or the target of our faith. When Christ returns he will finally put all in place and complete our salvation. This is the time to which we are to look forward. Peter continually pushes our focus to that future event of Christ’s coming. It is that glorious event that cannot be prevented from occurring. It will take place and it will be a joyous time being united with the Lord who bought us. Some may be asking, “Why did you say that Jesus will complete our salvation? Isn’t our salvation complete already? I thought we were already saved.” Well yes and no. There are three aspects to our salvation. The first aspect of salvation is when we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are saved from the penalty of sin. God declares us not guilty once and for all because we have trusted Christ’s death on the cross as the payment of our sin. Paul speaks about this in Rom. 8:1, “Therefore, now there is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus.” A substitution has taken place and we are given the perfect righteousness of Christ. 2 Cor. 5:21 says, “God made Christ who knew no sin to become sin for us so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” This is salvation from the penalty of sin. God sees us as completely righteous, as if we had never sinned because of Christ’s work on the cross. That is the only way that we can approach him, or not at all.
If you have never called upon Christ to save you, you are still in your sins. You may have grown up knowing about Christ, but if you have not personally applied His sacrifice for you, you are unsaved. For example, for 19 years I knew about Jesus Christ. I knew He was God. I knew He died on the cross for our sins. I knew He rose from the dead. I learned all that. But what I had never been taught is that Jesus died to pay for all of my sin. I thought I had to somehow make up for what lacked in Jesus’ sacrifice. No one had ever told me that all I had to do was to trust that Jesus paid the penalty for all my sin on the cross and to call out to Him to save me. And that God would give me the forgiveness of my sins and eternal life. I had to make a personal application of Jesus’ sacrifice for me. I had to receive the gift of eternal life that God was offering to me. Maybe you are here today and saying, “I’ve known all these facts about Christ but I’ve never personally received Him as my Savior. I’ve never called out to have Him deliver me from hell.” If that is the case, you have never been saved from the penalty of sin. And you must recognize that you need to receive Christ as your Savior.
Receiving the forgiveness of our sins (salvation from the penalty of sin) is the first aspect of salvation. But not only are we saved from the penalty of sin, we are also saved from the power of sin. This is the second aspect of salvation sometimes known as sanctification. As we progress in the Christian life, we ought to become more and more like the Lord Jesus. We should be conformed to his image more each day. Paul says in Romans 6:14, “Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under law but under grace.” We were saved by faith from the penalty of sin and we are to overcome sin in the same way. When you became a Christian you put your trust in the Lord as the only one who can forgive your sin, in the same way in order to grow as a Christian you must place your trust in Him as the only one who can make you holy. John says, “Everyone that has this hope in himself purifies himself even as He is pure.” That is the ongoing process of sanctifcation.
The third aspect of our salvation is called glorification. This is about what Peter is speaking here. He is describing that time when Christ will return for us. That is when we are delivered from the presence of sin. This is the time when we will become like Christ, when He will make our bodies like His. There will be no more temptation. No desire to sin. There will no longer be any battle between our spirit and our flesh. We will be like Christ and we will share in the glories of heaven for all eternity. There will be no more trials or sickness or death. We will be like Christ. This is the completion or the goal of our faith. It is to what our faith is leading us, “receiving as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.” And Peter says that this should cause us to rejoice will great inexpressible joy.
Peter tells us that we should maintain an end time focus. In this passage he tells us three ways in which we can maintain an end time focus. First we must keep in mind the purpose in the trials of our faith. Second, we must keep in mind the central point of our faith and Third, we must keep in mind the outcome of our faith.
Is this some pie in the sky philosophy? No it is sound biblical truth from Peter who experienced suffering in his own life. It is practical day by day truth that gives us the hope to press on through in the midst of difficulty. It can give us the strength to keep our eyes fixed on the goal of our faith. Keep your mind focused on Jesus Christ and His coming each day. If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior it will bring you great and inexpressible joy.