Sermon by Rev. Donald Van Dyken
Trinity Church of Tri-Cities
Faith: Tested, Proved, Refined & Rewarded
Lord’s Day Morning,  May 3, 2009

Scripture: James 1, 1 Peter 1:1-17
Text: 1 Peter 1:7

     Although there are times when the Holy Scriptures hold up the examples of apostasy and disobedience of the children of our fathers as warnings for us, there are also many times when God holds up His faithful children as examples for us in the endurance of persecution and trials.  Hebrews 11 closes with such a list, those who endured a great fight of afflictions.
     One of the points I want to make in this sermon is the encouraging examples of faithfulness and hope in suffering god has given us.  They are our mentors, our teachers, and the Lord has provided them in every age, and for us today too.
     So let me open with a little story from many years ago.  I’m not much given to telling stories in my sermons, but I found this one quite stirring:

     In the days of the Roman Emperor Nero, there lived and served him a band of soldiers known as the “Emperor’s Wrestlers.” Fine, stalwart men they were, picked from the best and the bravest of the land, recruited from the great athletes of the Roman amphitheater.
     In the great amphitheater they upheld the arms of the emperor against all challengers. Before each contest they stood before the emperor’s throne. Then through the courts of Rome rang the cry: “We, the wrestlers, wrestling for thee, O Emperor, to win for thee the victory and from thee, the victor’s crown.”
     When the great Roman army was sent to fight in far-away Gaul, no soldiers were braver or more loyal than this band of wrestlers led by their centurion Vespasian. But news reached Nero that many Roman soldiers had accepted the Christian faith. Therefore, this decree was dispatched to the centurion Vespasian: “If there be any among your soldiers who cling to the faith of the Christian, they must die!”
     The decree was received in the dead of winter. The soldiers were camped on the shore of a frozen inland lake. It was with sinking heart that Vespasian, the centurion, read the emperor’s message.
     Vespasian called the soldiers together and asked the question: “Are there any among you who cling to the faith of the Christian? If so, let him step forward!” Forty wrestlers instantly stepped forward two paces, respectfully saluted, and stood at attention. Vespasian paused. He had not expected so many, nor such select ones. “Until sundown I shall await your answer,” said Vespasian. Sundown came. Again the question was asked. Again the forty wrestlers stepped forward.
     Vespasian pleaded with them long and earnestly without prevailing upon a single man to deny his Lord. Finally he said, “The decree of the emperor must be obeyed, but I am not willing that your comrades should shed your blood. I am going to order that you march out upon the lake of ice, and I shall leave you there to the mercy of the elements.”
The forty wrestlers were stripped and then, falling into columns of four, marched toward the center of the lake of ice. As they marched they broke into the chant of the arena: “Forty wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee, the victor’s crown!” Through the long hours of the night Vespasian stood by his campfire and watched. As he waited through the long night, there came to him fainter and fainter the wrestlers’ song.
     As morning drew near one figure, overcome by exposure, crept quietly toward the fire; in the extremity of his suffering he had renounced his Lord. Faintly but clearly from the darkness came the song: “Thirty-nine wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee, the victor’s crown!”
     Vespasian looked at the figure drawing close to the fire. Perhaps he saw eternal light shining there toward the center of the lake. Who can say? But off came his helmet and clothing, and he sprang upon the ice, crying, “Forty wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee, the victor’s crown!” 

     A test of the genuineness of their faith, a test, not through fire, but through ice, they passed, and they too, on the great day of the revelation of Jesus Christ, will be found to praise, honor, and glory.
     I want to consider then, faith, my faith and yours, as Peter, through the Holy Spirit, explains the role of suffering and trial in our life of faith.  For all of you, through your baptism, are pronounced members of Christ, and if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.  We then, as children of Abraham, are encouraged to walk in that faith of our father Abraham.  Do we have that faith?  Is it real?  What quality is it?  It is testing, going through afflictions and sufferings, through pains and distresses, that the genuineness, and the quality of our faith is established, is revealed and made known both to us, to others, and to our God. 
     My first point then is that God through difficult providences, tests our faith.  Second, that through testing, through the fires of pain, disappointments, petty frustrations, and collapsing plans, God’s objective is to prove, to demonstrate the reality of our faith.  Third the Lord continues, since, as our text so clearly says, that faith is precious in the eyes of our God, he wants it to shine even more splendidly, and like every jewel, although it has great value when dug out of the earth as a lump of rock, its glory and preciousness is increased when it is cut and polished by the grinding wheel of afflictions.  Finally, the apostle indicates that the final purpose of all this is for our Lord Jesus to display our faith for praise, honor, and glory at his appearing, when he returns.
     This passage began, as we considered earlier, with three great truths on which we build our faith:  First, that our God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, has begotten us to a living hope.  We have been born of God.  Second, that as children of God, we are heirs of grace, we have an inheritance, and that inheritance is inviolate, it cannot be touched by man, it cannot be stolen, it is reserved, set aside particularly for us in heaven, where Christ Jesus guards it.  Third, our God promises that he will infallibly, unfailingly bring us and our inheritance together.  So he not only preserves our inheritance, but he preserves us by his power, the power that raised Christ Jesus our Lord from the dead.
     In the following verse, verse 6, Peter addresses what seems to be a contradiction, that is, that the Christian, filled with hope, filled with joy at the great and precious promises we have in Christ, should also endure heaviness, pain, sorrow and trouble.  It is an anomaly, a paradox, yet the Holy Spirit assures us that joy and grief are intertwined in the Christian walk.  At the same time let us always be assured, and always comfort ourselves with this, that although we sometimes bear the grievous consequences of some of our sins, we never bear the punishment for them.  What we receive from God we receive from a Father who loves us, and a Father who has totally exhausted his judgment against our sins through the d
eath of his own beloved Son on the cross.  He never punishes his children, and we and his children should banish any thought that Jesus left over any punishment for us to bear.
     Those blessed verses in John 15 tell us that our heavenly Father prunes us, and he prunes us because we are branches in the true vine, Jesus Christ.  Vines are pruned to produce more fruit.  When you see the grape vines pruned during the summer, you will never see those who prune wandering off into the sagebrush and pruning those bushes; because they produce nothing.
     So now in our text St. Peter leads us through God’s plan and purpose for our grief, our sufferings and trials, our tests and pains.  “That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
     First then, our faith will be tested.  We are the pilgrims Peter talks about in the first verses of this chapter.  We are going somewhere.  Our life is one of progress.  And that progress is the progress of faith.  From faith to faith.  For the just shall live by faith.
     This is what growth is all about.  The entire life of a child, raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, is periodically subjected to testing.  Have they really learned their English, their history, their science and geography?  We give them tests.  These tests mark their progress.  They are growing up, and both their teachers, and they themselves need to know where they are and how they have grown, intellectually not only, but physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
     So let’s remember that God applies tests to us all.  God began with Adam, for what God said to Adam about eating in the garden and not eating from that one tree was a test of faith.  Would Adam and Eve believe God, would they have faith in what God said?  That first Adam failed, but praise be to the Lord, he wasn’t the last Adam.
     God tested Noah.  Would he believe that a flood was coming?  Would he obey God even though it meant hard labor and listening to the ribald and mocking comments of his neighbors?  By faith, Noah build an ark. . .God tested Abraham.  “To your descendents I will give this land,” said God.  But Abraham had no descendents, and both he and Sarah had to walk through the land for 25 years until their bodies were so dead descendents were out of the question.  But Abraham believed, and so brought forth Isaac.  So Abraham, after passing one test is given a harder one. . .but Abraham passed that test.  I think some of the most stirring words in the Bible are these: “and Abraham rose early in the morning.”  Abraham instantly set out to obey God.
     God tested Gideon, who went out with 32,000 men to fight over 135,000 Midianites.  God reduced his forces to 10,000.  Still too many.  Finally Gideon had only 300 men.  God tested his faith.
     And so we could trace the life of all the men and women God used with great effect, those whom he commissioned to achieve great purposes, and find that all of them were tested.  Look at Joseph, and David, and Daniel.  All of them had to go through times of testing.  Those tests were not easy.  For you see, there is always a false gospel ready at hand to convince you that trials and testing, pains and fears, sicknesses and disappointments should not really be part of the Christian life.  And then these false prophets have the audacity to suggest that you have these simply because you don’t have enough faith.  If you had enough faith, they say, you would be healthy, wealthy and wise.  But one word is sufficient to slay them.  Look to Jesus the first runner and first finisher of the course, the life of faith.  Look what he endured.
     For our identity with Christ, our union with him, is proven, is established beyond a doubt through trials and afflictions.  They hated me, said Christ, they will hate you.  They persecuted me, they will persecute you.  I endured hunger, sleeplessness, weariness, and so will you.  A disciple is not greater than his master.  And so when the apostles were beaten, were grimacing with pain as they returned home, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name’s sake.  Suffering, trials, testing were badges of identity, they proclaimed that they were members of Christ, and so we must see our sufferings, tests, and trials.
     I know. . .I know. . .there are times when we want to say to the Lord, “Dear Lord, give me a break.  You seem to pile one thing on top of another, and my hopes are smashed into fears for the next thing you seem to have lined up for me.”  We may feel like the children of Israel when first Moses proclaimed the hope of deliverance from slavery.  What happened?  Things got worse.  But we know the end of the Lord, how he is merciful, and looks with pity on the sufferings of his children, and has wonderful purposes in mind for us.
     For our faith is proven.  The word genuineness means that the result of the testing is to prove that we really are children of God, that God is faithful, who will never test us without providing a means of passing that test, or as the apostle Paul writes, will with the trial, also provide a means of escape.  For God means to show us, to make plain to us, that we really do have faith, and that that gift of faith, he too preserves through testing.
     It is through battles and challenges that the soldier is proven to be capable of great deeds.  It is through struggle and hardship, that our character is proven capable of overcoming.  St. Peter describes the genuineness of our faith as more precious than gold.  Peter is relating not just his own opinion, but the attitude of our heavenly Father towards our faith.  God himself sees our faith as precious.  And he wants us to know that it is precious as well.
     You remember when Abraham offered up Isaac, the Lord said to him, “Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”  But didn’t God know already?  Of course he did, but how wonderful that he should talk that way, and he talks that way about you and me too.  That is why David would say so often, “Try me Lord, and know my thoughts, search me, and see if there is any evil way in me.  And lead me in the way everlasting.”
     David is saying. . .set me in front of your x-ray machine, Lord, and examine me thoroughly.  Give me a CAT scan, an MRI, look into my soul, search out every hidden thought and motive.  Test me.  Try me.  And so the Lord did try David, and what David did is what we perhaps do sometimes.  David failed a couple of times.  And so we too have to say sometimes, “But Lord, I didn’t pass that test.  What now?  What do I do now?  Am I disqualified now?  Is it over?”  No. . .it is not over.  What remains to be done?  Repentance and faith; that is the gospel.  The good news is. . .and the Lord said the David, “No, you shall not die.  But your son will die.”
     So he said to David.  But God didn’t just have the little baby that was born to Bathsheba in mind, God had a later Son of David in mind, our Lord Jesus Christ.  For his faith brought him to the cross, where he paid for the failures of David, and for your failures and mine.  And when we through
and in the midst of our failures, look to the cross as the ultimate foundation of our faith, our faith lives, and our faith is triumphant.
     This same apostle who wrote our text, is the one who thought his faith would never fail.  But Jesus warned him, and at the same time said, “Peter, I have prayed for you that your faith fail not.”  But it seemed that it did, for he denied Christ.  Yet. . .yet. . .he returning to Christ his faith was proved genuine, precious, and being refined in the fires of failure and faith, he was commissioned to strengthen others, and to feed the sheep and lambs of the flock of Christ.  For our Lord Jesus tests and tries us that we may be refined, polished.
     My dear younger brother at one time was a rock-hound.  He looked for agates.  When he found them, they were pretty, but they were dull and to most people they just looked like another stone.  But he would put them in a tumbler, a little barrel filled with water and abrasive compounds, and for days and days that little barrel would turn round and round, with the sharp sand rubbing against those agates.  Finally, when it was all over, the agates would come out all brilliant and beautiful, with all the hidden colors and beauties exposed.  And that is what God is doing for us.  He has placed virtues and beauties in our character that we would never know, nor would those strengths and beauties of character be ever a blessing and joy to others, were it not that the Lord brought them out, exposed them, revealed their depths through pains, heartaches, and suffering.
     The same is true for the refining process, isn’t it?  This land, it seems to me, is filled with rocks.  They are interesting, but there is really no reason to put them into a furnace and melt them, is there.  What would come out?  Melted rock.  So what?
     But, when you have reason to believe some rocks have gold in them, then you should set up a furnace, and put those rocks in that furnace.  Heat it up, and when the rock melts, all that is worthless can be skimmed off, leaving the gold.  In order for the gold to be pure, without any mixture of other materials, it is often put back again and again into the furnace.  The Bible speaks of gold being refined seven times.
     So let’s remember again, that just as when we talk about testing, God’s purpose is not our failure, but our success.  He gives us tests to pass them.  His desire is to say, “Now I know, and I want you to know too, that you have faith.”  “Be faithful to death and I will give you the crown of life.”
     Refining. . .the burning away, the blessed presence of our God who, as Hebrews tells us is a consuming fire, but a fire that does not consume us, but consumes our sins, our faults, our failures, and brings to the light the blessed fruits of the Spirit, joy, peace, longsuffering, courage, forgiveness, patience, and love.  But when is it enough?  When will the refining fires be over?  Malachi said that Jesus would come as a refining fire and sit as a refiner of the sons of Levi until they would be able to offer to God a sacrifice of righteousness.  What is righteousness?  Righteousness is defined by Jesus Christ himself, for he is our righteousness.  So how does this fit?  If I may continue that picture of refining gold a little farther, let me tell you that ancient refiners kept at the process with their gold.  Every so often they would look into that molten gold.  Perhaps they would still see streaks of impurities, or brown scum.  That they would still skim off.  Then they would heat up the furnace again.  Finally, if they could look at that pool of molten gold and see their own face reflected perfectly in that pure surface, they would be finished.
     That beloved, is what Jesus is looking for.  He is looking for the reflection of his own face, his own righteousness in you.  Do you remember that gospel song, “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, all his wonderful passion and purity, O thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine, till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.”
     For finally, the gold that is you, the reflection of Christ in you, will be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  What does that mean?  That God will have himself, will have his Son admired by all the world by the faith of his saints.  A faith that sometimes faltered, and even a faith that sometimes even seemed to fail, for we do not think of ourselves as great heroes of faith, but a faith that always came back to Jesus Christ, who instead of condemning us, says, “when you have come back to me, go and strengthen your brothers.”  For what an example, what an encouragement to us is the endurance of so many even in this congregation, who endure such pains and suffering, and yet through it, and because of it, give such wonderful testimony of the mercy and grace of our heavenly Father.
     Praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  To that you may look forward.  That is the joy that lies before you too.  For the final design of God in our distress, is the ultimate joy of sharing in the very glory, praise, and honor of God himself.  Praise suggests your relation to the Lord on that day.  He will praise you, “Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of your Lord.”  Honor suggests the esteem in which you will be held by your fellow citizens.  “Here,” says the Lord, “you have been faithful in a few things, I will place you over many things.”  Glory suggests that we will be transfigured into and share in the glory and splendor of the glorified body of Jesus Christ, when this mortal will put on immortality, and this corruptible will put on incorruption, and death will be swallowed up in victory.  Then, as Christ said in Matthew 13, the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
     Let’s wrap it up. . .you may have faith without present trial, but no man ever had faith and was all his life without trial.  Expect trial.  Children.  St. Paul says to you what he says to us all, “We must by much tribulation enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Trial is the very element of faith.  What a fish would be without water, and a bird without air, would be faith without trial.
     Adam the first failed, Adam the last triumphed, and his triumph is ours.  In all our testing, in the trials God sends to prove the genuineness of our faith, we hold dear to ourselves, we hug tightly, that Jesus Christ is in us, triumphant in all his trials, in all his sufferings, in all his obedience, for, as Scripture says, even he learned obedience through suffering.  And that faith of Christ, that triumphant, winning faith is your faith.  For where we are now, the point in our service of covenant renewal, is where Christ gives himself to you, his body, his blood, his all.  He finally is the genuineness of your faith, he is your praise, honor, and glory.  And so, beloved, through all the trials and tribulations, through all the grief and sorrow, the pain and disappointment, the weariness and suffering, you have him in you, and you may hug, not just the thought, but the reality, for by faith what you will receive is Jesus Christ.
Amen.