Route 66: 1 Peter - Exiles, Not Outsiders

Peter, first Peter chapter one, you can turn there if you would for this evening.

We'll start with a reading from First Peter one.

I'm just gonna read the first two verses to start tonight.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those chosen, living as exiles, dispersed abroad in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Lord, we are asking in your kindness you would multiply grace and peace to us.

And you tell us that the ones who read and listen to your word are blessed.

So bless us tonight indeed, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

The Apostle Peter writes this letter.

We'll get to 2 Peter next week, but 1 Peter is all about living as exiles.

So the verses that I just read, notice how Peter starts.

To those chosen, living as, and then my transition here says, exiles yours might say strangers or pilgrims or sojourners, but living as exiles dispersed abroad.

Look down to verse 17 of chapter 1.

If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one's work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time, living as, and then mine says strangers in this particular verse here.

We've got exiles, we've got strangers.

Over to chapter 2, verse 11.

Peter says, Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires.

And then finally turn over to chapter 5, verse 13.

Very end of the letter.

Almost the last verse.

She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, as does Mark, my son.

Who is this person in Babylon?

Well, when Peter's writing this letter, the actual city of Babylon was kind of in shambles, and we're not really aware of a Christian presence in the geographic Babylon at this time.

But what about Babylon and the Old Testament?

Did God's people have to live in Babylon and they get instructions while they're living in Babylon?

Yeah.

And looking at some other sources and evidence, it seems like Peter might have been writing this letter from Rome.

What was the Babylon-like superpower of Peter's day?

Rome.

But he's even in using this language of the ones who are in Babylon, together, chosen by God with you, hey, we're we're living as exiles.

Yeah, we're living in Rome, and they're they're in control right now, but we belong to God's people.

So this letter of 1 Peter is all about living as exiles.

And before we get into how to do that, just to maybe clear the deck a little bit here, what does it not mean to live as an exile?

It doesn't mean we have to live like an Amish person who is sort of in every way sectioned off from life in the world.

So yes, we're exiles, there's a certain mentality there, uh, but it doesn't mean, you know, if everyone at Wall Street's wearing a suit, I'm gonna wear overalls.

If it's not it's not that kind of a separate culture.

It also doesn't mean, and and maybe our word sojourner kind of i has this connotation sometimes.

It doesn't mean that you're called to live a rustic lifestyle.

Like we've got to live off the grid.

You know, that's kind of homesteading or whatever is kind of popular these days.

If you want to give your kids duck liver for breakfast instead of Captain Crunch, go right ahead.

I mean, that that that may well be better for them, probably is.

That's just not what Peter's talking about here.

He he's not talking about a rustic lifestyle.

And then when he says live as exiles, he's also not saying that the the only way that we view ourselves in relation to the world is like we're we're gorilla troops.

This is gonna take a little more explaining.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

I don't wanna if if Kevin Cooney listens to this, I don't want him to just have a seizure.

Well, what do you mean we're not in warfare?

Of course we're in warfare.

We are, we are.

Okay, we are.

So here's what I here's what I mean by that.

You you see these movies where it's like there's a nuclear bomb and there's you know a few survivors, and you wake up and you're in you know the bunker and there's one other guy left, and you're like, Yeah, okay, we're left.

Like, let's get them before they get us.

And you're like, yeah, and you nod, and then you just take off with the bayonet.

And it it's it's Peter's not calling us to live um as as antagonists violently in this world.

I'm gonna explain a little more as we go on, you'll see what I mean by that.

But there is a place in 1 Peter where he talks about waging war.

Anybody know where that is?

I was right on it earlier, but I didn't actually finish the verse.

Look over to chapter 2 again.

The verse I read there that I started to read.

Verse 11.

I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against your soul.

So the first and most violent conflict, if we're going to use that metaphor, is against our own sinful desires.

There's other kinds of ways to relate to the world, and we'll get into that as we go.

So, what does it mean to live as exiles?

I'm pulling out four ways to live as exiles from this book.

And first, exiles find strength in God's eternal purposes.

I already read verse one, where Peter says, to those who are chosen, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God through the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

And then if you go over to chapter 5, verse 13, which we also looked at, she who was in Babylon chosen together with you.

So Peter frames this whole letter by reminding these believers, your chosen people.

God's chosen you.

At the end, God's chosen you.

So to say, well, you know, all this this sometimes this doctrinal language and God's election, just doesn't really interact with my everyday life.

But Peter is saying, if you really want to have a mindset as an exile, you need to be armed with this truth.

You need to know that if you're chosen by God, that that changes your whole outlook on life.

That changes the way that you can go out into the world and even encounter suffering that we'll get to.

So God's eternal purposes are right here.

Chapter 1, if you go back to chapter 1, looking down at verse 20, look at how Christ is brought into the center of this purpose of God.

So God chose us according to his own foreknowledge.

He set his loving gaze on us.

And then look what he says about Christ.

After just saying that we've been purchased with the blood of Christ, verse 20, he was foreknown before the foundation of the world.

So God had a purpose to bring Jesus in and redeem sinful people like us, even before there was sin in the world.

That's how wise and astounding and masterful his plan is that it would accompass the beginning and the end, and we'd be centered all on Jesus Christ.

The same mercy that brought Christ to the world and that saved us is still at work.

So if you go back to chapter 1, verse number 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because of his great mercy, he's given us new birth.

He's creating a whole new people, and that mercy is gonna hold us.

So, verse number five of chapter one.

You're being guarded by God's power through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

So arm yourself.

I'm an exile, but God's got his grip on me.

And I'm gonna keep believing because he's got his hand on me to keep me believing.

And I can rest in that.

Scriptures.

I mean, we're having this whole study through the through the Bible because we have access to it because God is a speaking God.

And you see that, verse number 10, chapter 1, concerning the salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated.

Then he goes on to talk about their word of Christ's sufferings and the glory that would follow.

If you go down to verse 23 of chapter 1, you've been born again.

There it is again, God's purpose in us to redeem us.

Not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of God.

So God's purposes that we can understand and know and enjoy are anchored in Scripture.

And part of that means that we have to have our gaze set not just on what's present, but in light of what God is doing across eternity, we've got to look forward towards the future.

And Peter does a lot of emphasis on looking towards the future.

Verse number seven of chapter one.

So that the proven character of your faith, more valuable than gold, may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In other words, when Christ comes back the second time, there's going to be where the difference makes between suffering and humility now and glory then.

Or look down to verse number 13 of chapter 1.

Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded.

And then this is this is a mysterious thing still to me, and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you.

But we hope in what Christ has done for us, but here Peter is saying, launch into you're going to get even more grace when Jesus comes back.

But you need to think about that now.

Don't just sleep on it and wait for it.

Think about it right now, and that'll affect the way that you live as alert people.

And then chapter 4, verse 7, I'll give you one more example of that.

The end of all things is near.

Future.

Therefore, scan the newspapers and interpret every sentence in light of what you see.

No, that's not what he says.

Wrong.

Be alert and sober-minded for prayer.

As exiles, we get to enjoy and even be part of God's eternal purposes.

The second way that we live as exiles is by expecting suffering.

I didn't say go around looking for suffering, but not to be surprised by suffering.

Back to chapter 1, verse number 6.

You rejoice in this, you rejoice in God's work, even if now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials.

And one of the things that does is prove the character of our faith.

And we're suffering, but notice we're not focused on our suffering.

Verse number 8 of chapter 1.

Though you have not seen him, we haven't seen the Lord Jesus with our physical eyes.

You love him.

And though not seeing him now, you believe in him and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy.

The suffering around us doesn't keep us from the Savior that we love and who's transformed us and changed us.

But suffering we must take on.

It's a silly example, I know.

But you know in the Princess Bride, when Wesley's on the rack, and it's like he's getting stretched out, but for his love, he's gotta just stick in there and do it.

Christ should be so meaningful to us that it allows us to endure anything because we care about him.

Chapter 3, verse 13, another example here.

Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good?

Aha! I'll just devote myself to good and no suffering.

But look at verse 14.

But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you're blessed.

Don't fear them or be intimidated.

Look down to chapter 4, starting at verse number 12.

And he said, if necessary, a couple times in his life.

If necessary, you'll suffer.

And now he just goes ahead and says it right out in chapter 4, verse 12.

Dear friends, don't be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you.

So he's preparing them and preparing them, and just to so they get the realization, don't be surprised because it's coming.

Fiery ordeals have been there for Christians in the past, fiery ordeals will be for Christians in the future, fiery ordeals will be for us at times in our lives.

And it's gonna be different amounts of different people.

And that's a mystery of God's providence.

I I why did Job have to go through this much and others have to go through this much?

Um, why for some people is there such turmoil within their own heart and soul and and body, and others seem to have such equilibrium?

Why, with some people does it seem like everyone in their family attacks them in their faith, and for others, their family embraces Christianity?

Why for some, when they go out into the park or the or the or the streets, people seem eager to get into an argument, and others it seems like they want to hear the gospel more.

I I I don't know.

I don't.

But the Lord does say to some extent, and he uses categories here, social categories, it's not just about losing our life or being physically persecuted.

There's mocking that we all face on some level as Christians, and we can expect that.

As we suffer, we can look to Christ who suffered.

Now, we're quick to say Christ is not merely an example.

He's a redeemer.

But he is an example, according to Peter.

So he's not merely an example, and and he's not mainly an example in that sense, that he came to redeem, but he did come to give us an example.

So look again at chapter four.

Look at verse number fourteen.

If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler.

But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God.

Why is it that we can suffer so as Christians?

Look back to chapter 2.

Peter's already given us the why of the suffering because we're doing it as a Christian in that name.

Chapter 2, verse 21.

You were called to this because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.

Not that we could follow his steps and vicariously suffer as a substitute for someone else's sins, but seeing his example of suffering, that should inspire us that that's my Lord, and I'll do whatever it takes to be to be with him.

So when he was insulted, verse 23, he didn't insult in return.

He didn't launch out at the enemy with personal kind of attacks.

He entrusted himself to the Lord.

Exiles find strength in God's eternal purposes.

Exiles can expect suffering.

Exiles should live lives devoted to God.

Why do I say that?

Go back to chapter 2.

Peter gives us this beautiful image.

Verse 4 of chapter 2 As you come to Him, the Lord, a living stone, rejected by people, but chosen by God, chosen and honored by God, you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built up to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices.

Verse 6, for it stands in Scripture, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.

Peter borrows so much language from the Old Testament, so many themes and images.

And he borrows this language of a temple.

And he says, but you're living stones.

What is that?

Well, you're you're a temple, but you're not just rocks.

You're you're people who have uh ideas and emotions and actions, but you're meant to be a holy priesthood in an even greater way than that Old Testament temple and priesthood.

That holy temple was devoted to the Lord.

That's what holiness is, to be consecrated, set apart, devoted for a particular purpose.

And Peter is telling his readers, you're exiles, but you're to live as devoted people.

You're to live as this beautiful new temple.

Paul says something very similar in Corinthians, his letter there.

Don't you know that you're the temple of God and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

Well, then shouldn't you want to live a devoted, holy life to the Lord?

Yes, you'd you'd want that.

So what does that look like?

Verse number 12 of chapter 2.

Right after painting this beautiful portrait, he goes on to say, conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.

So living a devoted life is, at least in part, living a life of good works before a watching world.

Well, what does that look like?

Great question.

Peter gives some specific examples.

Submit and love.

Those are two of the main categories that Peter uses.

So now we're kind of getting into why I said in 1 Peter, the main lens is not that I am in a battle with the people that are out there, because he doesn't say to battle them, battle the sin that's that's there, and the sin that is out there, but most importantly in you.

But he says, submit in love.

Those are his two main exhortations here.

Look at verse 13 of 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority or to governors, and he goes on to talk about governors.

And then look at verse number 18 of chapter 2.

Household slaves, submit to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to the cruel.

And he goes on to talk about those relationships.

Look at chapter 3, verse number 1.

In the same way, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, so that even if some disobey the word, they may be won over without a word by the way their wives live.

So you hear that repeated refrain there.

Submit, submit, submit.

Micah, you're saying that all those relationships are the same.

No, they're different relationships, but there's this common thread of submission.

Micah, you're saying there's never any exception to that?

No, I'm not saying that.

But our basic default mode is submit.

That's what Peter says to do right here.

But he also goes on to talk about the wonderful priority of love.

So look at what he says, starting up in verse number seven.

And he he starts now not with wives, but switches to husbands.

Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way as with the weaker partner, showing them honor as co-heirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

And there's a lot of serious stuff here.

Wives live in this way so that your husbands might be won over by the word.

That sounds powerful.

Husbands, if you don't love your wives in an understanding way, God won't listen to your prayers.

That sounds pretty serious, right?

And then he goes on in chapter three to highlight verse number eight.

All of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another.

Verse number nine.

Not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult.

Verse number 11, now he's quoting from the Old Testament, let him turn away from evil and do what is good.

Let him seek peace and pursue it.

Sometimes we think of living as exiles as some kind of like exciting mission impossible sort of adventure where we're like, you know, you know, like submit to authorities, love other people, that sounds kind of boring.

It's not boring for the people of God.

And it's not easy either.

That takes supernatural power and grace to be able to live that way.

It's a lot harder to do those things than to fill in the blank whatever you think this this glorious thing God might call you to do.

Even just living that life of quiet godliness, Peter says that's so honorable in the Lord's eyes.

Last thing to highlight for tonight how do we live as exiles?

Well, exiles worship as an ordered family.

Why do I say that?

You're here in chapter 4, verse number eight.

Above all, maintain constant love.

So there's the theme we just hit.

And Peter himself says, I'm highlighting this above everything else.

Gotta maintain that love.

He says, for one another.

Verse 9, be hospitable to one another.

Who's the one another that he's talking about?

Certainly, we should maintain a love towards our unbelieving friends and neighbors.

Certainly, we want to maintain love towards all Christians everywhere as much as we can.

But these letters were read aloud in churches, in assemblies.

So the most immediate application here is love the people in your church.

Love the people that you assemble with and worship with.

Love and care for them.

And I think we can see that even more confirmed by the next verses, verse number 10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others as good stewards of the very grace of God.

Now we're in the language of gifts and body life.

And doesn't God give gifts to build up churches?

Yes, he does.

If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.

If anyone serves in the strength that God supplies.

So we're living as exiles, but we're not guerrilla renegades like Elijah.

I'm the only one left, Lord.

No, God's given us these outposts of heaven on earth in our churches that we can love and adore and worship.

And yes, that's the way that we shine as exiles in the world, not by so withdrawing that we never talk to the world, but our churches want to be such a city on a hill, such a light, that people would say, What's going on over there?

I need to hear more about this exile life and more about this crucified Christ.

Chapter 5.

He gets even more specific here with this kind of ordered life of the family of God.

I exhort the elders among you.

Not the elders of all time everywhere, the elders among you.

There's a specific group of people here that have specific elders.

Shepherd, this is verse 2 of chapter 5.

Shepherd God's flock among you, not overseen out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not out of greed for money, but eagerly, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

So elders, shepherds, overseers, it's all language of the same office and type.

But these are men who are supposed to model what it means to love, what it means to live as an exile, what it means to speak God's word, not in a harsh way or as it says here, lording over, but in a way that's serving up the word for others.

So pray for us as elders that we would do that, just as we pray for each other and pray for all of you.

I'm going right to chapter 5 right now, so I'm glad that chimed in perfectly.

Chapter 5.

Look, look, just the last two verses to bring out tonight.

This hope that Peter has that though we're exiles, God's grace is behind our activities, and Christ's glory is ahead of us.

Verse number 11 to him be dominion forever and ever.

Amidst this letter of very tangible calls of suffering and what that could look like with insults and life in the home, and what that looks like with husbands and wives, and relating to emperors and kings, all those very earthly types of concerns that are legitimate, he's able to still set in the place that God's reigning in all of this.

And he reigns, verse number 10 of chapter 5, as a God of all grace, God's not looking to judge his exiles, he's looking to strengthen them and build them up and say, keep going.

As we say to one another, keep going as exiles.

A little while.

Eternal glory and dominion.

Let's pray.

Lord, we we so find ourselves acclimated to comfort and ease that when we have just a little bit of suffering, we are quicker to gripe than to pray.

We don't want to be surprised, Lord.

We we want to have in mind that the work you're doing from beginning to end, we want to live devoted lives that we're so in love with Christ, some insulte.

Some suffering there, what is that compared to eternal glory?

What is that compared with knowing Jesus Christ the Son?

So, God, we call on you that by your grace you would equip us for every good work.

The good works in our places of work, the good works in our public sphere as citizens, the good works in our homes, that in every way you give us holiness and holy lives.

Lord, that you would, by your grace, more and more bind us to your people, bind us to an intense and sincere love for one another, and that you would yet help us to set our fully on, help set our set our hope fully on grace that's still coming.

A grace that'll come to us tomorrow and this week and this month and keep our faith.

But even the grace that comes when Jesus Christ is revealed from heaven, when we receive an internal inheritance that can't fade or spoil in any way, Lord, give us that heart that recognizes we're just strangers here.

We are exiles, we we are citizens of another place, and we're looking forward to that heavenly country.

In Jesus' name, amen.