Loving the unseen Christ
Scripture: 1 Pet 1:8, 9
Context: “Fiery trials”
We are strangers and pilgrims whose real home is heaven. Deep down we are fundamentally different from the people of the world. We are what we are, and we do what we do because of Christ. Christianity is an eternal relationship.
1. WE LOVE HIM: 8a
“Though you have not seen Him, you love Him”
Peter had seen Christ, not his readers. For His readers Christ is a history or mystery.
We are raised on media and live in a sensual world. For us experiencing through five senses is believing. The fact is seeing is not believing. In Christ time many who saw Him refused to believe Him. Only few recognized Him for who He was.
Isaiah 53:2, Appearance of Jesus. He lives in our hearts by faith. That s the only thing that matters.
He is unseen but He is not unloved. Love knows no distance.
2. WE TRUST HIM: 8b
“and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him.”
Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:28-29 (NIV)
We have not seen, yet we have believed and therefore we are blessed.
We know the living and we know the dead. The dead lives through the living. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus lives in me.
Fanny Crosby, born 1820 lived upto 95 years and wrote 9000 hymns. When asked if she regretted her blindness, she said “No. thanks to my blindness, the first thing I ll see is the face of my beloved savior welcoming me to His heaven.”
Through we have not seen Him, we love Him and trust Him. And one day we will see Him face to face.
3. WE ARE FILLED WITH JOY: 8c
“and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” .
“joy unspeakable and full of glory” (KJV)
Unspeakable means above words. In other words joy so great and so words cannot express it.
Peter s point is not simply we are filled with this kind of amazing joy. It is that we are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy in the midst of our fiery trials.
They go together: fiery trials and inexpressible joy. The harder the trial the greater the joy seems to be. Example: 3 devout Jewish boys in Babylonian fire. Dan 3:17
Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. 2 Cor 8:2 (MSG)
4. WE ARE TRANSFORMED INTO HIS LIKENESS: vs. 9
“for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
We become what we crave. We are shaped by what we enjoy.
Receiving is an athletic term that speaks of an award at the end of a long struggle. You receive the gold medal when the battle is over and the victory is won. The reward challenge sour faith.
We are even now receiving our salvation, and one day we will possess it fully. Keep your eyes on the prize – Jesus. That will give you hope in the midst of the fiery trials.
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. 2 Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. Heb 12:1-2 (MSG)
But friends, that s exactly who we are: children of God. And that s only the beginning. Who knows how we ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. 1 John 3:2 (MSG)
One day our joy will be complete as we reflect Him fully.
God Bless You
