First Presbyterian Church      Rev. Michael J. Imperiale

Salt Lake City, UtahFebruary 12, 2006

“Everyday Faith – What God Wants from Me”

I Peter 1:22 – 2:12

Introduction

I saw a beautifully framed quote with important phrases like “doctrine not of the tongue but of life… possesses the whole soul” and “the inmost affection of the heart… transforms us.” For me they capture the answer to rhetorical questions. “What good is faith in God if you don’t live it? What good is forgiveness in Jesus Christ if you don’t extend it? What good is it to see someone in need, wish them well, even pray for them, but don’t do anything to help?”

Then I discovered the quotes were from John Calvin, the theologian/pastor of the Presbyterian approach to being a Christian and being a church. Drawing from Bible passages like the one we just read (in I Peter), Calvin along with Jesus, Peter, James and John, articulates the “if… then” common sense of Christian life and faith. “If you believe in God, then live like you really do believe. If you know and have experienced the gracious forgiveness of Jesus, then offer it to others in your life and world. If you see someone in need, then bless them with your help.

(Here is where several members of our congregation who spent a week in New Orleans, January 14-21, come forward show photos and comment on their experience. Each day they joined with other Presbyterian Christians from Utah gutting the interior of homes. They tore out walls of plaster and wall board right down to the studs. They ripped out kitchen cabinets, floor coverings, and junk of all imaginable kinds. All this while wearing protective suits, gloves, masks, hats, and shoes.

Equally important or even more so, in the midst of the vast destruction caused by Katrina and the deluge of floods, they spoke with individuals and family members of these homes offering some kindness, hope, and help, setting the stage to rebuild a simple house and faith-filled life.)

I. Love One Another (vs. 22-25)

The Bible says, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers and sisters, love one another deeply, from the heart.” Here’s the cause and effect. Once the truth of Christ takes hold in our lives, we will then love one another. Did our friends go to New Orleans to earn God’s respect by doing a good work? I hope not. They went because they know God’s love and grace in their own lives and are moved to respond, putting their faith into action.

The apostle Paul put it this way in Ephesians 2: “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith… it is the gift of God… And then we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.” Grace brings about works (not the other way around). Faith is the foundation of action. God’s life in us through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is seen in life outside ourselves in loving service and in the way we express life.

Throughout this one passage in I Peter, you can see this dependent, conditional dynamic of faith and life. In verse 22 “now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another deeply,” cause and effect. In verses 23 and 25, “For you have been born again. This is the word that was preached to you. Therefore rid yourselves of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk,” faith first, action second. In verses 4 and 11 of chapter 2, “as a spiritual house and holy priesthood, chosen people, abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul.”

But don’t try to do the work without the grace, the result without the cause. Don’t try to live and do the good without the power and grace of God in Christ. Grace, forgiveness, the new life in Christ must come first if the effective life of faith is to be experienced and enjoyed.

That’s why our current mission statement for First Presbyterian Church follows Jesus’ summary of the Law, the great command together with the great commission: “Love God, Love Neighbor, Make Disciples.” Without the love of God the others will fall short.

Sincere love involves selfless giving. God’s love and forgiveness free you and me to take our eyes off ourselves and to meet one another’s needs. Our Savior did exactly this. By offering his life, Jesus showed how he truly loves you and me. Now we can love others by following his example, by drawing on the power of his Spirit, using the fruit and gifts of God to love and serve one another. But first each of us must recognize and accept Lord’s love. It is the love of God that enables us to love one another.

II. Motives for the Christian Life (vs. 9-12)

John Calvin wrote how “we are not to consider that people merit of themselves but to look upon the image of God in all people, to which we owe all honor and love… that our salvation must enter our heart and pass into our daily living.” Gathering on Sunday morning like this, going to church, is good. But how sad and what a waste if “church” doesn’t carry over into everyday life. Calvin says, “It is among members of the household of faith that this same image of God is more carefully to be noted.”

Peter calls us, the church, “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” not for our own sake, not our own exclusive possession, but “that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Out of response to God’s grace and goodness in Christ, we immediately share what we know and what we have with others that they too may come to know Christ and the freedom of his love.

Conclusion

Whether a two-week trip to New Orleans, feeding the hungry month after month or year after year, or a lifelong ministry of helping, our Lord wants each of us to experience and live out an every day faith that loves God and loves neighbor. First Presbyterian Church is meant to help each of us discover, embrace and live in that faith, a faith in action. Love God first. Love Neighbor. And Make Disciples.

Let us pray together.