Faith That Is Focused

November 17, 2019 Background Scripture: Galatians 5:22, 23; 1 Peter 1 Lesson Passage: 1 Peter 1:13 – 25 Our lesson passage begins with the preposition “therefore”. Because of this, we understand that our lesson passage is a conclusion drawn from the evidence of the background scripture that precede the lesson passage. In the background scripture, Peter addressed this letter to the believers who had been scattered. This is descriptive of the Jewish believers who were scattered as a result of the persecution of the church that was in Jerusalem. They were pilgrims because they were away from their homeland. Peter reminded them that their salvation was according to God’s foreknowledge, and therefore, they were the elect of God. The finished work of faith that God had wrought in and through Jesus Christ was the foundation of their salvation. Their salvation was not to be seen as a present or temporary status, but rather as an eternal inheritance in Christ. God had previously given His plan of salvation through the Old Testament prophets who gave explicit details about the suffering savior. The angels desired to know what God was going to do about the spiritual condition of mankind. The first-century apostles, who laid the foundation of the church, were eyewitnesses of the unfolding revelation of God’s plan. It was through their proclamation of this “good news” of God’s salvation that so many first century saints came to receive Jesus as their personal savior. It was because of this that Peter exhorted the recipients of his letter to be vigilant in their spiritual walk in this world. They were admonished to be holy in their living rather than imitating others who had not received Christ as savior. The assurance of their salvation should rest totally on the grace of God. The salvation God offers can only be received as an unmerited gift from God. In essence, there is nothing anyone can do to earn God's salvation or become deserving of it. We must simply trust God—which is to say, we must focus our faith in God and God alone. Our lives should reflect our faith in God. As we understand more and more about our eternal salvation in Christ, then we should all begin to see ourselves as pilgrims in this world. We have not been saved so that we can enjoy the sins of the world. We should no longer live life as though this temporary life is all there is. God has revealed to us the hope that is to come because of Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection from the grave. The sufferings of this world are all temporary. Christians are admonished to show fervent love for fellow Christians. With all that Christians endure in this life, being assembled with fellow Christians should be a time of great joy because of the common faith. No one is perfect, but Christians do share a common faith and that should cause us to care about each other differently. This message would have come across totally different to the recipients of Peter’s letter. They were dispersed because of an unrelenting persecution against the church. Christians only experience this in isolated situations around the world today. Today, we sometimes appear to embrace ecumenical fellowship just as much—if not more than Christian fellowship. This was not the case for the first century saints. They understood that Christianity was the exclusive way to salvation. Perhaps if our faith was similarly focused, then evangelism would never be seen as an option—especially for our family and friends. Robert C. Hudson October 30, 2019