Elect Exiles of the Triune God

So we're starting a new sermon series today in the book of 1 Peter, and that's page 953 in the Pew Bible.

Let me invite you to turn there.

If you're new to Trinity, what we typically do on Sundays is we walk sequentially through an entire book of the Bible,

or at least an entire section of a book if it's a longer one.

And we do it this way because we want to make sure that we're hearing all of what God wants us to hear through his word and the scriptures.

If we were to simply kind of pick or choose or just go here or there, the danger is that we would miss the fullness of God's word to us and all that he wants to do in and through us.

So for the next few months, we're going to do that with the book of 1 Peter.

Let me read the opening verses.

We're just going to look at the first two verses this morning, and then I'll pray for us.

So 1 Peter 1, verses 1 and 2.

1 Peter 1:1

Peter starts his letter this way.

Let's pray together.

Father, we ask as we come now to your word, we pray for your grace and for your peace.

Lord, would you grant us the grace to understand what this word is saying to us today?

God, we thank you for the word of the apostles preserved for us in scriptures and mightily used by your spirit to impart your grace and to bring us into your peace.

So Jesus, do that today, we ask for your namesake.

Amen.

Amen.

Okay, so 1 Peter.

1 Peter is a pretty relevant book for us because it was written to Christians who were having this experience.

They were finding that their conversion to Christianity had made them increasingly out of step and at times unwelcome in their surrounding community.

In other words, their newfound identity was creating all sorts of difficulties.

Again and again in this letter, Peter will talk about how they're being grieved by various trials.

That's chapter 1, verse 6.

That's chapter 2, verse 19.

But then we want to ask, what specifically does Peter have in mind?

What kind of trials?

What kind of difficulties?

Well, he actually goes on to say, in chapter 3, for example, he says, I see how you're being slandered and reviled for your good godly behavior.

And then in chapter 4, he'll say, I see how your neighbors are surprised when you don't join in the same things they're doing and then they malign you for it.

That's chapter 4, verse 4.

Or a little later in chapter 4, he says, I see how they're insulting you at times for the name of Christ.

So Peter sees how their newfound identity in Christ is creating all sorts of painful newfound difficulties in their workplace, in their neighborhoods, even in their own families.

Now, I don't think it's hard for us to relate to Peter's audience, is it?

But the question is, how do we live in light of this?

How do we respond?

You know, on the one hand, do we deconstruct our faith and winnow it down to something that maybe won't cause offense to our neighbors or our fellow workers or our families?

Do we kind of get rid of the parts that are countercultural and only keep the bits that are socially acceptable?

Well, that can't be the answer, can it?

That can't be the way to respond.

I mean, after all, Christianity, right?

Christianity is supposed to be good news.

Christianity is meant to be like a window that gets thrown open and lets a fresh breeze into the stuffy house, right?

But if we just kind of deconstruct the faith and only keep the socially acceptable bits and get rid of the countercultural parts, then we don't have any good news anymore, do we?

Maybe we just have an echo of what people already think.

You know, we kind of keep the window closed and we just keep breathing the same old stuffy air.

So that can't be the way, right?

So how then do we live when our newfound identity is creating all sorts of newfound difficulties?

Well, okay, maybe we don't kind of deconstruct our faith.

Maybe we just withdraw from our surroundings altogether.

Maybe we just have less and less interaction with our neighbors.

Well, you know, that looks and feels easier at first.

You know, you will certainly hear less criticism if you're not around to listen to it, right?

But again, as we know, Christianity is good news.

It's something we're meant to make known.

We want people to see it and hear it.

And if we withdraw, well, maybe we become more comfortable in the short term that we don't become more faithful.

So how do we live?

Maybe we don't withdraw, but, well, maybe we just fire back.

If we receive ridicule, maybe we give some ridicule in return.

If we face opposition, maybe we give some opposition back.

Now, of course, there's nothing wrong with standing courageously for our faith, but you can see that ridiculing or maligning in return,

it doesn't take long to realize that that can't be the way either.

Peter will say in chapter three of this letter,

So this is what Peter's going to tell us in this book.

In the midst of increasing social alienation and opposition, he says, stay present.

Don't withdraw.

Don't deconstruct.

Stay present and do what might be the most countercultural thing of all.

Live holy lives.

Love one another and bless.

But to be able to do that, to be able to live that way, we're going to need to reach more deeply into the resources of the gospel than ever before.

If you're going to live that way, a surface nominal faith won't get you there.

A just casual acquaintance with the things of Christ aren't going to do it.

We need to behold the reality of God in Christ and who we are in Christ and the story of God that we're a part of.

We need to hold and internalize those things more deeply, perhaps, than ever before.

And that's why Peter starts his letter the way he does in verses one and two.

Most ancient letters began by simply sort of stating the sender and then stating the recipient and then giving a real brief, like, I hope you're doing okay.

And you see some of that pattern here.

But what you also see is that Peter has kind of packed his opening with such rich theological content that you have to pause and slow down just to take it in.

And what Peter is doing here is he's reminding these Christians who are facing trials, he's reminding them right off the bat who they are.

If you want to understand your newfound identity and the newfound difficulties, if you want to begin to understand how to live in light of that, then you have to start by knowing who you are.

And you are, Peter says, you are the elect exiles of the triune God.

Now, I want to take the rest of our time unpacking these first two verses, and hopefully we can see who we are as the church and how we can live lives of blessing and holiness, even in the midst of trial.

And we're going to consider first, then, what it means to be the elect of the triune God.

And then second, we'll consider what it means to be the exiles of the triune God.

Okay, so first, if we're going to live rightly in the face of trials, if we're going to bless instead of curse, we have to know ourselves as the elect of the triune God.

Look again at verse one.

After introducing himself as the sender of the letter and as an apostle of Jesus Christ, now when Peter says, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ, what we should hear in that is, okay, well, this just isn't some guy giving us good advice, right?

This is someone that Jesus himself appointed to teach in his name for the church for the rest of the church age.

So we have to slow down and listen to what Peter says, because these are the words that Jesus gave him for the church.

And then Peter writes to those who are, he says, to those who are elect.

And the word elect simply means chosen.

They're chosen.

Now, in the rest of verse one, we see that Peter is writing to Christians in what was then called Asia Minor, in what is today basically the country of Turkey.

These five provinces or regions were located kind of in the north-central part of modern-day Turkey.

And these areas, you know, this area, they probably had some Jewish presence.

So some of the Christians Peter's writing to were possibly from a Jewish background.

But it's most likely that these churches were predominantly Gentile.

As we read through first Peter, you'll see that when Peter starts to talk about their lives before coming to Christ, it sounds a lot more like a Gentile background than a Jewish background.

So Peter isn't writing to people.

He's not writing to Christians who had a nice moral religious upbringing.

He's writing to former pagans, polytheists, pragmatists, prostitutes, you name it.

Just like a lot of us.

But now he says, you are God's chosen.

God has set his saving love on you and made you his own.

Now the Old Testament pictures this choosing love of God in many ways.

Pictures it like the love between a parent and child.

It pictures it like the love between husband and wife.

Like the love between a benevolent king and his beloved people.

Peter's saying, you are God's prize.

You're God's treasure.

I wonder if you've ever had the experience of having kind of a prized possession.

You know, the sort of like stereotypical guy who has the like vintage Mustang in his garage that he like doesn't even let his kids like breathe on.

You know, that kind of thing.

Or maybe if you're a book lover, you've got like a first edition signed by the author of some favorite book of yours.

Some prized possession.

You know, how do you feel around that thing?

That thing that you chose and you love and maybe you even had to sacrifice for.

Sometimes you just like beholding it, don't you?

Kind of seeing it there on the shelf or taking a look at it in the garage.

Sometimes you get joy showing it off to your friends, right?

Letting them go for a ride with you or letting them page through it and see the signature on the title page.

Friends, that's how God feels about his people, about his chosen, about his elect.

And if that's true of us, then we can face trials both with great dignity and with great humility.

Now consider the dignity that comes from knowing ourselves as God's chosen, loved people.

With this word elect, Peter is actually connecting the New Testament church to Old Testament Israel.

In the Old Testament, Israel was God's chosen people.

And now Peter is saying, through faith in Jesus, you too, Gentiles, you're included in that chosen people.

The renewed people of God around Jesus the Messiah.

Imagine what that must have meant to these first century Christians.

It was showing them that being a member of the church, being a member of that group of followers of Jesus,

this wasn't just some passing novel fad.

Their conversion to Christianity wasn't like joining some social club that would be here today and gone tomorrow.

No, they were part of a people, a movement that was as ancient and enduring as the one true God's promises to Abraham.

When God chose Abraham and said that he would bless all the nations through him.

So they could hold their heads high with dignity, even when their neighbors ridiculed them or excluded them.

They didn't need to respond with anger or fear.

And friends, neither do we.

Knowing ourselves is chosen by God, loved by him, included in his ancient and forever people.

That brings us dignity in the face of trials.

But it also brings humility.

Now, I don't know about you, but maybe all this talk about being elect or being chosen,

maybe it kind of makes you a little uncomfortable, right?

I mean, talk about something that could go to your head in all the wrong ways, right?

It sounds incredibly pompous to say that you're the chosen, right?

How could that not make you insufferably proud?

But here's the thing.

A biblical understanding of election does just the opposite.

It is the thing that creates deep and true humility.

Why?

There's a great scene in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy.

In Deuteronomy, Moses is reminding the people of their story before they enter the promised land.

And he's talking about how God chose them and liberated them from slavery in Egypt.

And he says in chapter 7, verse 6 of Deuteronomy, Moses says,

The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you.

For you were the fewest of all peoples.

But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers.

You see, election, it can only produce pride if we think that God chooses people based on something in them.

But what does God say to Israel?

Does he say, I chose you because you were so numerous, so great, so strong, so faithful?

No!

God says, I didn't choose you because of anything in you.

I chose you because I love you.

And I'm keeping my promise to love you.

You see, God doesn't choose us because of the abundance of our merits.

He chooses us because of the abundance of his mercy.

Consider verse 2 of our text here in 1 Peter.

If you look down at verse 2, you see a bunch of clauses kind of stacked up.

And the clauses in verse 2 modify this idea of election in verse 1.

And they speak of the Father, the Spirit, and the Son.

Peter here, this is Peter speaking of the reality of God in ways that would eventually be articulated in the doctrine of the Trinity.

That the one God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Spirit, Son.

And notice, notice what Peter says.

First, he says, our election isn't because of anything in us.

Our election is according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.

Now, when the Bible says that God knows someone, it means more than God simply observes certain facts about someone.

Right?

Rather, biblical knowing is intimate relational love of another person.

So when Peter says our election is according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,

Peter's saying that the source of our election, the plan behind it, the cause of it, is God's eternal love.

God the Father set his knowing love on us from eternity past before we had done anything good to deserve it.

In eternity past, God the Father saw us when we were dead in sin, fallen and condemned in Adam,

without God and without hope in the world, and he knew us.

And he set a saving love on us.

But how did this eternal love that caused our election become real in time, in history?

How did we come to experience it?

Well, let's keep reading verse 2.

Peter says, in the sanctification of the Spirit.

Now, in the New Testament, the word in can often mean the instrument whereby something happens.

So our election comes in or by or through the sanctification of the Spirit.

Now, the word sanctification can sometimes mean, you know, when we use the word sanctification,

we can sometimes refer to the kind of ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life,

whereby he makes us more and more holy, more and more like Jesus.

But in the New Testament, sanctification can also mean not just this progressive work,

but our position before God, sort of a one-time act whereby the Holy Spirit sets us apart for God.

That's literally what sanctify means.

It means to set something apart as holy.

And it's that kind of sanctification that Peter's talking about here,

not our progressive sanctification after belief,

but our positional sanctification that happens when we become believers.

The sovereign act of the Holy Spirit setting us apart, cleansing us as holy,

translating us from death to life,

calling us out of darkness into God's marvelous light,

as Peter will later say in chapter 2.

So you see, what God the Father planned before the creation of the world,

the Holy Spirit has now actualized in history.

The Spirit applies what the Father has planned.

So you can begin to see how our election,

how our identity as God's beloved chosen people,

isn't something that creates selfish pride.

Is it something we planned?

No, God the Father planned it.

Is it something that we sort of actualized in our own life?

No, the Holy Spirit did that.

It's holy God's work, not our own.

And that ought to humble us.

But Peter actually then saves the best for last.

The Father planned it.

The Spirit applied it.

But what did the Father foreknow us for, we might say?

What did the Spirit sanctify us for?

Peter says,

For obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.

The purpose of God's sovereign, loving election is that we would bow to Jesus

and know the full forgiveness of our sins through his blood.

When Peter mentions obedience here,

you know, it's pretty obvious he's not saying that our obedience in any way contributes to our salvation or our election, right?

Notice, any obedience that we render to Jesus is a result of God's prior work.

Through the Father's eternal love, through the Spirit's renewal of our hearts,

our rebellious hearts are softened, and we gladly bow to Jesus as our Lord, and we live for him.

In other words, we aren't saved by our good works.

We're saved for good works.

But then again, Peter comes to the very best part.

He's saving the best for last.

And he says, we've been planned and set apart for, for what?

For the sprinkling with his blood.

Now, obviously, this is a reference to the cross, right?

But the metaphor of sprinkling comes from Exodus 24.

Remember, in Exodus 24, we read about how Moses sprinkled blood on the, on the, on the altar and on all these sorts of things.

When the people were gathered at Mount Sinai, when God made his covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai,

the people there, remember, they pledged their obedience to the Lord.

But God knew that they were a sinful people.

He knew that they wouldn't be able to keep their end of the covenant.

So in that, that decisive moment in Exodus 24,

when the people are being constituted as God's people,

and they said, yes, we'll follow you, Lord.

God knows they're sinful.

So what does he do when he knows they aren't going to be able to keep their end of the covenant?

He makes a sacrifice.

Rather than make the people bear the penalty for their inevitable sin,

God offers a substitute.

The wages of sin is death.

But God allows another to die in their place.

And in Exodus 24, the blood is sprinkled around to show that this sacrifice is for them and for their forgiveness.

But of course, the animal sacrifices were just a sign.

They were just a picture pointing ahead to the real sacrifice that God would make.

Because after all, animals can't really pay for human sin, can they?

And that's why God takes human nature into himself in the incarnation.

That's why he comes to earth in the person of Jesus,

so that after living the perfect life that we ought to have lived,

he might die in our place as the perfect substitute for our sins.

And because Jesus was fully God,

that sacrifice was perfect and complete for absolutely everyone

who would turn from sin and place their trust in him.

And God actually raised Jesus on the third day

to show that that sacrifice,

that perfect sacrifice was complete,

that it was finished,

that sin and death had been utterly defeated,

and that now new life could be had through the risen Lord Jesus.

So you see,

this is what God's election is all about.

It's about gathering a people from every tribe and tongue and nation

who would know the unbelievable grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,

bow before him and worship him in love for all eternity,

knowing that all of their sins have been forgiven forever.

Now here's the good news.

If you sense your need for a savior,

if you see that your sins separate you from a holy God,

and if you see that God has lovingly set forth Jesus

as the perfect sacrifice for you,

that you might be reconciled to God and included in his people,

if you see those things,

if your heart's drawn out to those things,

then friends,

you don't need to worry about whether God has elected you or not.

You don't need to wring your hands wondering

if you're part of the chosen people.

If the spirit's already doing that work in your heart,

place your trust in the risen Jesus

and know that God promises to receive all who come to him

and will never cast them out.

You see,

above the family of God,

it's as if there's this great sign

that reads to everyone,

come to me,

all you who labor and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

That is the banner above the family of God,

the banner above the kingdom of God.

Come to me,

everyone,

and I will give you rest.

Everyone is welcome to come.

But here's the wonder.

As you step through

and you turn around

and you read what the sign says on the back,

it says,

I've known you before the foundation of the world.

So friends,

don't let the mystery

and wonder of election

keep you from trusting in Christ.

Let it be one more incentive

to step into this love

that God has prepared before time

for those who believe.

So Peter wants us to see then

that our election,

being God's chosen people,

is the work from beginning to end

of Father and Spirit and Son.

So when trials come,

when opposition or slander

or malice are cast our way,

we respond actually

with deep humility

because we know

our sins are great.

We know we don't deserve

this wonderful grace

in which we stand.

For we ourselves,

we were once foolish

and disobedient

and led astray

and slaves to various passions

and pleasures.

We passed our days

in malice and envy,

being hated by others

and hating one another.

But when the goodness

and loving kindness

of God our Savior appeared,

He saved us.

Not because of works

done by us in righteousness,

but according to His own mercy,

by the washing of regeneration

and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

whom He poured out on us richly

through Jesus Christ our Savior,

so that being justified

by His grace,

we might become heirs

according to the hope

of eternal life.

That's the book of Titus.

So this is what Peter

wants us to know first.

When you face opposition,

when you face trials,

remember that you're God's chosen,

beloved,

is elect.

But there's more.

Peter goes on to say

that we aren't just elect,

but we're also exiles.

So if we're going to live rightly

in the face of trials,

if we're going to bless

instead of curse,

we have to know ourselves,

yes,

as the elect of the triune God,

but also as the exiles

of the triune God.

Look again at verse 1.

Peter says this pretty clearly.

To those who are elect,

exiles of the dispersion

in Pontus, Galatia,

Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

Okay,

so now this word dispersion

was literally used

in the first century

to talk about how

the Jewish people

had been dispersed

throughout the Roman Empire.

So the Jews who lived

outside of Palestine

were often called

the dispersion

or the diaspora.

But Peter here

is using the term metaphorically.

He's using it spiritually.

You see,

the New Testament people of God,

because we're at home with God

through his loving election,

we are now often strangers

in the world.

We're exiles,

living far from home

in what feels like

a foreign land.

You know,

I think half of our difficulty

when facing trials

is that we don't expect it.

We expect life

to be comfortable

or easy.

We expect things

to go our way.

But that's not

the New Testament picture.

You know,

we get upset

when we're misunderstood

for our faith

or we get discouraged

or we get tempted

to quit

when maybe our friends

are ridiculous

or our co-workers

say mean things about us

or whatever it is.

But Peter will say

in this letter,

look,

don't be surprised

when these things happen.

After all,

you're not home yet.

You are strangers.

You're exiles.

You're pilgrims

of the heavenly city.

Now imagine,

imagine if you,

if you moved

to a foreign country

and in that country

you,

you,

you would,

you spoke a different language,

you ate different foods,

you wore different clothes

and all of the people

of that place.

You know,

of course you wouldn't

be surprised

if the people

of that new country

looked at you

a little funny,

right?

And maybe even

at times teased you

or even ridiculed you.

You'd probably expect

that to happen

from time to time.

And you see,

Peter is saying,

that's going to be

somewhat true

of Christians

no matter where we live.

Whether you're

from Pontus

or Galatia

or Cappadocia

or Asia

or Bithynia

or New Haven,

you're always

going to be

a bit of a stranger

in this fallen world.

So expect it.

Don't try to live

for the approval

of your neighbors

or your friends

or your coworkers

because you'll never

ultimately get it.

We're always going

to be a little strange

and a little different.

Why?

Well,

because we know

the saving love

of God,

the Father,

Spirit,

and Son.

The same reality

that makes us

God's beloved

chosen people

is the same reality

that makes us

exiles in the world

because now we live

not for the things

of this world

but for the triune God.

And that means

we simply can't live

like the world

any longer.

So the way

that we approach things

like how we spend

our money

or sex

or how we use

our privilege

or how we approach

marriage

or how we think

about justice,

it's all going

to be shaped

by the reality

of the triune God

and his word.

So there's always

going to be a bit

of an exile quality

to our life

in this world.

But

that doesn't mean

that we simply

reject the world.

The world

may reject us

at times

but that's not

how we're meant

to live in return.

You see this language

of exile

that Peter is using

it's also an Old Testament

idea

just like

the idea of election.

God's people

in the Old Testament

you remember

ended up in exile.

For them

it was because

of their sin.

Because of their sin

God scattered them

among the nations

carried them off

to captivity

in Babylon.

Now today

we aren't living

in this sort of

spiritual exile

because of our sin

but still

there's a parallel.

When God's Old Testament

people were in exile

how did he tell them

to live?

We read some

of those instructions

earlier in our service

from Jeremiah 29.

The temptation

would have been

to just reject

their surroundings

and look out

for themselves.

But what does God say?

He says

put down roots

buy homes

raise families

and try to bless

the city

in which you live.

Seek the peace

of the people

around you.

They won't

understand you.

They might ridicule you.

They might persecute you.

But this is your mission

in exile.

Be a new people

in the midst

of the old.

Be a counterculture

of grace

in the midst

of a culture

obsessed with performance.

Be a people

of the triune God

in the midst

of a world

captivated by idols.

This is how Peter

puts it in chapter 2

verses 11-12.

He says

Beloved,

I urge you

as sojourners

and exiles

abstain from the passions

of the flesh

which wage war

against your soul

and keep your conduct

among the Gentiles

honorable

so that even

if they speak

against you

as evildoers

they may see

your good deeds

and glorify God

on the day

Christ returns.

So remembering

our identity

as exiles

is very important.

First,

so we're not surprised

when we experience trials

and second,

so we remember

our mission

but third,

it's important

because in the biblical story

as Peter just alluded to

in that verse

I just read

in the biblical story

the exile

is not forever.

We're not always

going to be

strangers

and sojourners.

Remember the story.

In the Old Testament

God made a promise

that after 70 years

of exile

he would act

powerfully

and miraculously

to bring them home

and indeed

that's exactly

what God did.

The exile ends

and God's Old Testament

people,

they go home

and that's true

for us.

God's New Testament

people as well

except this time

he's going to make

his glory

cover the earth

like the waters

cover the sea.

When the exile

ends the second time

around

God's bringing

home

down to us

when Christ

returns

and he will

judge evil

and injustice

once and for all

and he will

remake this

broken creation

and make it

new again.

You see

to know yourself

as an exile

as a sojourner

as a pilgrim

is to live

in hope.

The trials

won't last

forever

the sufferings

won't endure

the ridicule

and slander

they're not

the last

word.

This is what

Peter will

say in verse

three and

he'll say it

over and over

again throughout

this book.

This book

that just

resounds

with hope.

Look down

at verse

three.

Blessed be

the God

and Father

of our

Lord Jesus

Christ.

According

to his

great mercy

he's caused

us to be

born again

to a living

hope.

Through the

resurrection

of Jesus

Christ

from the

dead

to an

inheritance

that is

imperishable

undefiled

unfading

kept in

heaven

for you

who by

God's

power

are being

guarded

through

faith

for a

salvation

ready to

be revealed

in the

last time.

So you

see as

elect

exiles

of the

triune

God

we are

people

above

all

not

just

of

dignity

and

humility

not

just

of

purpose

and

mission

but

we're

a

people

of

hope.

No

matter

what

trials

come

we have

this

unshakable

hope.

Why?

Because

of

God

Father

Spirit

Son

the

Father

who

knew

us

before

the

worlds

were

made

the

Spirit

who

set

us

apart

by

his

sanctifying

work

the

Son

who

shed

his

own

blood

and

won

our

glad

obedience

this

is

the

God

who

keeps

and

guards

not

just

our

inheritance

but

us

remember

who

you

are

Peter

says

this

is

who

you

are

God's

beloved

chosen

elect

people

yes

exiles

in the

world

but

my

beloved

remember

who

you

are

so

that

even

when

the

world

gives

you

its

worst

you

can

turn

and

bless

you

can

turn

and

seek

their

peace

you

turn

and

offer

them

the

same

good

news

that

we

have

received

the

good

news

of

the

God

who

loves

them

and

who

died

and

rose

again

so

that

they

too

might

live

let's

pray

together

our

father

in

heaven

help

us

in

the

coming

weeks

to

listen

to

the

apostles

words

in

this

book

to

believe

and

internalize

them

by

your

spirit

and

to

live

renewed

lives

of

resilient

hope

and

love

and

holiness

through

Jesus

Christ

our

Lord

we

ask

this

in

his

name

amen

...

...

...