Our Identity: Elect Exiles

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Today's reading will be from 1 Peter 1, verses 1-2, chapter 2, verses 11-12, and chapter 5, verses 12-14.

1 Peter 1:1–2

Our reading from the first letter of Peter.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to God's elect.

Exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

Who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,

through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong,

they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother,

I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God.

Stand fast in it.

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

Greet one another with a kiss of love.

Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Good morning, Christ Church.

We, over the last few weeks, have been exploring the Apostle Paul

and talking about the nature of the church,

the New Testament vision on the purpose of the church

as the one body of Jesus Christ

and the way in which we are many different parts of that one body,

that we have different gifts from the Holy Spirit,

that we're to exercise for the building up of that body in love.

And we talked about the ways that we can be stewarding our time

and our talents and our treasures

to carry out the mission of God through his church.

And so today we're going to continue in this focus of what it means to be the church,

but we're going to shift from Paul to Peter.

And we are going to begin exploring over the next couple months

this great letter of 1 Peter.

Now you may be wondering, why 1 Peter?

Well, in the last few paragraphs of Martin Luther's preface

to his German translation of the New Testament,

which he did about 500 years ago in 1522,

Martin Luther said this.

He said,

Which are the noblest books of the New Testament?

From all of this translation that I've just given you,

you can now judge for yourselves

all the books and you can decide among them which are the best.

John's Gospel and St. Paul's epistles,

especially that to the Romans,

and St. Peter's first epistle

are the true kernel and marrow of all the books.

They ought properly to be the foremost books,

and it would be advisable for every Christian to read them first and most,

and by daily reading,

to make them as much his own as his daily bread.

For in them you find depicted in masterly fashion

how faith in Christ overcomes sin, death, and hell,

and gives life, righteousness, and salvation.

This is the real nature of the Gospel.

If you haven't read much Martin Luther,

that's kind of how he typically speaks.

Big statements like that.

But something to consider.

Why are we reading 1 Peter?

Well, it truly is a noble letter,

and I hope that you'll come to find that.

Now, who is Peter?

We have a slide here of Rembrandt's depiction of Peter

when he's an old man.

And if you're brand new to the Christian faith,

Jesus Christ made Peter the leader of his 12 disciples,

and he gave him this nickname, Petros,

which means rock or rocky or rock man.

That's what, when Peter says,

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

that's the nickname that Jesus gave him.

And we preach the Gospel of Mark

from Christmas to Easter,

and we said when we were preaching that Gospel

that Mark was the secretary and the translator of Peter.

And one ancient source says that Mark,

quote, wrote accurately all that Peter remembered.

So we spent months basically meditating

on the memoirs of Peter

and all of his memories about Jesus.

And so now Peter's an older man,

and he writes this letter to these Christians,

and he ends the letter summarizing his letter

in chapter 5, verse 12.

He says, stand fast in the true grace of God.

And that's what we're gonna be exploring together

in the coming months.

What does it mean to stand fast

in the true grace of God?

What is the true grace of God?

What does it mean to stand fast

in the true grace of God?

Now as Peter opens this letter today,

I think the message for us

is that our Christian identity

is apostolic, exiled, and elect.

Our Christian identity,

the things that our Christian identity

are based upon,

is that we are apostolic,

exiled, and elect.

And I'd like to just explore

these three themes with you

as we get to know this letter a little bit.

Our Christian identity, first of all,

is apostolic.

Peter opens and he says,

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Now God's grace had made Peter a disciple,

had made him a Christian.

It was by grace that God the Father

revealed to Peter who Jesus really, really is.

And Peter said,

you're the Messiah,

you're the son of the living God.

But it was Peter who was not only called

to be a Christian,

Peter was also called to be an apostle.

And what is an apostle?

An apostle is this special,

unique, particular calling

as a sent one.

That's what an apostle means,

a sent one,

someone who is sent.

And the meaning of this word

is so much bigger and richer than that

because it's one sent with a message

and a mission.

It's one sent to represent another,

one sent to serve as their delegate,

one sent as a trained

and authorized ambassador of the king.

And so Peter and all the apostles

are speaking for the Lord Jesus Christ himself,

speaking on his behalf.

An apostle is someone

who's been entrusted by Jesus

with his message and his mission

as fully authorized representatives

of the sender.

And what are the qualifications

of an apostle?

What are the essential requirements?

Well, no one could be an apostle

unless they had seen the risen Lord.

You had to be a witness

to the resurrection of Jesus.

And in the gospel of John,

John chapter 20,

John 20 · chapter mention

we see Peter running to the tomb of Jesus

on that Easter Sunday morning

and it says that Peter saw

the linen cloths lying there,

this tight burial cocoon

that Jesus had been put in,

undisturbed, uncut,

and yet somehow empty

with Jesus' body no longer in it.

It's in the shape of Jesus' body,

but Jesus' body is not there.

And Peter,

later on on that Easter Sunday night,

he was there in the room

where Jesus showed up

in Luke chapter 24,

Luke 24 · chapter mention

and it says this,

Jesus himself stood among them

and said to them,

Peace be with you.

And they were startled and frightened,

thinking they had seen a ghost.

And he said to them,

Why are you troubled,

and why do doubts rise in your minds?

Look at my hands and my feet.

It is I myself.

Touch me and see.

A ghost does not have flesh and bones

as you see that I have.

And when he had said this,

he showed them his hands and feet,

and while they still did not believe

because of joy and amazement,

he asked them,

Do you have anything here to eat?

And they gave him a piece of broiled fish,

and he took it,

and he ate it in their presence.

And then he opened their minds

so they could understand the Scriptures.

Peter, the apostle, was there.

He saw Jesus.

He heard Jesus.

He touched Jesus.

He learned from Jesus

that most extraordinary Bible study

on Easter Sunday night

with the risen Jesus.

Peter was there in Matthew chapter 28

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

when the resurrected Jesus said,

All authority in heaven and on earth

has been given to me.

Now go and make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit,

and teaching them to obey

everything I've commanded you.

Peter is a trustworthy eyewitness

to the resurrected Jesus

from that first Easter day

all the way,

those 40 days,

to Jesus' ascension into heaven

at the right hand of the Father.

And the resurrected Jesus

gave his own authority

to his apostles

so that they would go out

and speak with the authority

of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

Jesus gave them revelation and knowledge.

He gave them the authority

to preach and teach.

He gave them the authority

to lay down doctrine and ethics.

He gave them the authority

to establish people in the truth

that was not merely a human word

but was the very word of God.

And the resurrected Jesus

gave his apostles the authority

to write this uniquely

and divinely inspired New Testament

and all the letters of the New Testament.

Now why is this important?

It's important because

you cannot follow Jesus Christ

without following his apostles.

We cannot follow Jesus Christ

without following his apostles.

Many people say,

I love Jesus

but I'm not so sure about his apostles.

People say, you know,

there's parts of the letters

of Peter and John and Paul and James

that I have a hard time with.

I have a hard time

with their doctrinal truth

and their ethical demands.

And what I want to make clear today

is that that is not you

disliking and having a hard time

merely with the apostles.

That's you disliking

and having a hard time

with the resurrected Jesus.

They are the special chosen mouthpieces

of the resurrected Christ.

And he said in John chapter 16,

John 16 · chapter mention

he said,

I have much more to say to you apostles,

more than you can now bear,

but when he,

the spirit of truth comes,

he will guide you into all the truth.

The Holy Spirit is going to come

and guide my apostles

into the deeper truth

they need to preach

and teach

and write the scriptures

and the New Testament.

And friends,

being a Christian

means that we are devoted

to the apostles' teaching.

So that when we want to find

the truth of Jesus,

we turn to what the apostles

have written down.

We are,

let me put it this way,

we are not being led

by the Holy Spirit

into Jesus-inspired

and Jesus-authorized truth

unless it is apostolic truth.

The truth of the resurrected Jesus

has spoken through his apostles.

And the reason I'm belaboring this

is because if we are not apostolic,

then what are we?

If we are not apostolic

as Christians and as churches,

then we are at the whim

of the worst idiosyncrasies

of strong personalities

and faddish social trends.

And if we are not apostolic,

then we are shaped

by powerful institutions

and ideologies

and influencers

with agendas

that curiously align

almost perfectly

with the political left

or the political right.

If we are not apostolic,

we are being formed

by the internet

and algorithms

and God forbid,

impersonal robots.

thoughts?

Yeah!

I mean,

if that's what you're going for,

I guess that's what you ought

to be excited about

being formed by.

But what I'm saying is

we need the objective standard

of the truth

that the resurrected Jesus

has given to us

through his apostles.

If you're exploring Christianity,

my question for you is

what or who

is your ultimate authority

for truth and life

other than yourself?

And if you're a Christian,

what is your daily intake

of the apostles' teaching?

And how literate

have you become

regarding the contents

of their letters?

And how much

of your thinking

and your priorities

in your life

is aligned

with the apostles' teaching?

I want to invite us today

as we begin

to explore this letter

and challenge us

to build our lives

on apostolic truth,

which is the one

sure foundation

that Jesus has given

for his church.

You with me so far?

Our Christian identity

is apostolic,

but more than that,

our Christian identity

is exiled.

Our identity

as Christians

is fundamentally

an identity

of being

an exiled people.

Here's what he says.

He says,

Peter,

an apostle of Jesus Christ

to God's elect,

exiles scattered

throughout the provinces

of Pontus,

Galatia,

Cappadocia,

Asia,

and Bithynia.

How does he identify

these Christians?

He says,

you are exiles

who are scattered,

or the Greek word

for scattered there

is the diaspora.

You're exiles

of the diaspora.

And then in chapter 2,

verse 11,

he says,

Dear friends,

I urge you

as foreigners

and exiles

to abstain

from sinful desires

which war against

your soul.

Live such good lives

among the pagans

that though they accuse

you of doing wrong,

they may see

your good deeds

and glorify God

on the day

he visits us.

What does he call

these Christians?

He calls them foreigners.

Sojourners.

Sojourners.

Strangers.

Resident aliens.

Exiles.

Why is he using

this language of exile?

Why does he make this

the controlling metaphor

of his entire letter?

Well, Peter is revealing

to us

the nature

of Christian community

and our relationship

with surrounding cultures.

With this language

of exiles

and foreigners,

he's revealing

to us

the nature

of Christian community

and our relationship

with surrounding cultures.

We have a map

if we can bring

that slide up.

It's a map

of the ancient world

which is modern Turkey.

It's a vast area

the size of California

which the Apostle Paul

did not evangelize.

He evangelized

the southern part

and went along

the Mediterranean there.

But Peter is writing

to this central

and northern Turkey

which is known

for diversity

of ethnic groups

and diversity

of languages

and cultures

and a vast diversity

of religions.

And what you need

to know is that

Roman emperors

would basically

go on conquest.

They would annex

a region

like the ones

you see here

and they would

displace peoples there

to strengthen

the rule

of the empire

through a process

of colonization.

So Claudius

the Roman emperor

who ruled

from 41 to 54 AD

he established

colonial cities

in all five

of the provinces

that Peter names

and it was not

uncommon for Claudius

to deport groups

like Jews

and like Christians.

He would deport

groups to colonies

who were viewed

as troublemakers

back in Rome

and he would

basically send them away

and so these Christians

who Peter is writing to

were most likely

converted in Rome

and then they were

deported

because they were

being troublemakers

they were deported

to Asia Minor

and there they're now

living as displaced

foreigners

and dislocated

outsiders.

These are the exiles

of the diaspora

to whom Peter

is writing his letter

and these Christians

were not citizens

of the dominant power.

The cause

of their alienation

from society

is their faith

in Jesus Christ

and their refusal

to give allegiance

to the gods

of the empire.

And so the questions

these exiles

and foreigners

are asking themselves

is how do we relate

to these surrounding

cultures

that we're in now?

How do we live

in this society

that sees us

as incomprehensible,

that sees us

and our faith

as perhaps even

offensive and dangerous?

And now that we're

suffering because

of the ways of Jesus

how are we to

endure this disfavor

and this rejection

because of Jesus?

And Peter is writing

to show them

how to live

as exiles

and as foreigners

and he's basically

saying in this letter

let's get together

and let's think about

the story

of the Bible

and let's think about

how in much

of the Old Testament

the people of God

are living in places

other than their

native land.

Abraham and Sarah

were called by God

to leave their country

and leave their people

and leave their household

and Abraham,

Isaac,

and Jacob

lived as foreigners

in Canaan.

And then Joseph

we remember

and all of Jacob's

children

and eventually

his grandchildren

all the way down

to the generation

of Moses

they lived as aliens

and sojourners

in Egypt.

And then later on

the whole nation

of Israel

would be exiled

from the promised land

to live as strangers

in Babylon.

We think of the prophets

Daniel

and Jeremiah

and Ezekiel

and then later on

they were resident aliens

in Persia.

We think of Esther

and Peter saying

look the people of God

have been scattered

to surrounding cultures

with different beliefs

and different values

and different ideals

and different customs

and different mores

and different practices

and he's saying

to these Christians

your identity

and your experience

as displaced people

of God

the disliked people

of God

it's nothing new.

It's nothing new.

And so here I am

as an apostle

of Jesus Christ

to help you navigate

what it means

to be exiles

for Jesus' sake.

So let's think together

about these exilic communities

of the people of God

in Canaan

and in Egypt

in Babylon

and in Persia.

How did they live out

their differences

with all the other peoples

around them?

How were they

a counterculture

of non-conformists?

How did they

bear witness

to an alternative

way of life?

And how did they

in the words of Jesus

in John chapter 17

John 17 · chapter mention

how did they live

as in the world

but not of the world?

Now the reason

we're preaching

this letter

is because

I think it has

incredible relevance

to Christians

and to churches

in North America

in election year 2024

among other things

that are happening

in this season.

We could probably

think of many examples

of unbalanced

and extreme relationships

that churches have

established

with the cultures

around them

can we not?

Because some churches

say you know

what we need to do

we need to transform

our culture.

Our culture is

clearly in decline

and so we need

to seek political power

and we need to

rectify the situation

by imposing

Christian beliefs

and Christian standards

on an unwilling

populace.

Let's transform

the culture.

And other people

come along and say

no, no, no, no

let's not transform

the culture

let's assimilate

to the culture

let's accommodate

ourselves

and let's embrace

these various

justice movements

and movements

of liberation

so that we can be

seen to be

on the right side

of history.

And then other churches

say no, no, no

let's not transform

the culture

let's not assimilate

to the culture

let's just withdraw

from the culture.

Let's retreat

into these strong

tight-knit

sheltered communities

with little connection

to the rest of society

so that we can avoid

being polluted by it.

And then people say

no, no, no

let's not transform

the culture

or assimilate

to the culture

or withdraw

from the culture

let's just ignore

the culture altogether.

We just need to build

up the church

and win people

to Jesus

and leave the culture

to take care

of itself.

And what we're going

to find in this letter

is that this apostle

of Jesus Christ

is encouraging us

to avoid

all of these

unbalanced excesses

of being defensive

against culture

of being relevant

to culture

of being purified

from culture

of being unconcerned

about culture

and instead of all

these things

he's saying

you as Christian exiles

you as Christian foreigners

should be distinctively

and faithfully

present within culture.

not defensive against

not relevant to

not purified from

not unconcerned about

but distinctively

and faithfully

present within.

Just as God

and Jesus Christ

became fully

and faithfully

present among us

and pursued us

and identified with us

and offered

his life to us

through his sacrificial love

despite the fact

that we were

other in his eyes

so this apostle

of Jesus

expects these

Christian exiles

to maintain

their distinctive

identity

as those who've been

chosen by God

to be an alternative

community

while also

provocatively

connecting with

and serving

their neighbors

rather than

coercing them

or disparaging them

or avoiding them

all without

assimilating

to the culture's ways

or compromising

the values

of the gospel.

And as you see

even when

what we've read today

he expects some

aspects of Christian

practices

some aspects

of the Christian

social project

will be both

highly offensive

and highly

attractive

to any

pagan culture

in which we reside

as exiles

and foreigners.

And he shows us

in this letter

how to be

for the city

which is part

of our mission.

how are we

to be

for the city

how are we

to seek

the peace

and the blessing

of the city

as exiles

and as foreigners.

And over the

coming months

we're going to

explore how

the Christian

community

is to be

distinctively

and faithfully

present

within our culture

so that we might

be the salt

of the earth

and the light

of the world

that Jesus

called us

to be.

Does that make sense?

So our Christian

identity

must be

apostolic

but it also

must be

exiled

and finally

our Christian

identity

is to be

elect.

And I'll close

with this

our Christian

identity

is to be

elect.

Peter

an apostle

of Jesus Christ

to God's

elect

who've been

chosen

according to

the foreknowledge

of God

the Father

through the

sanctifying work

of the Spirit

to be obedient

to Jesus Christ

and sprinkled

with His blood

grace and peace

be yours

in abundance.

Peter wants

them to know

that the reason

you're suffering

trials

as exiles

and as foreigners

is because

you're God's

elect.

Because you

bear this

special status

as His chosen

people.

And Peter

wants

he says

I want to

help you

know who

you are

before God

so that

you can be

who you are

in society.

If you know

who you are

before God

in this vertical

dimension

then you will

know how to

live in the

horizontal

dimension.

And what he

says is that

each of the

three persons

in the

blessed

holy trinity

were involved

in electing

you.

and this

means that

what most

fundamentally

defines your

identity

is not what

Caesar

Claudius

does to you

or not what

Caesar has

done yesterday

and we're

gawking about

on the front

page today.

What most

fundamentally

identifies you

is not how

your pagan

neighbors are

relating to you

or what they're

saying to you

in real life

or about you

in the media.

None of that

really matters.

What really

matters and

what fundamentally

defines your

identity is

that you are

in a relationship

with the

triune God.

And what's

most important

about you is

the fact that

you are objects

of his loving

concern from

all eternity.

He says you've

been chosen

according to the

foreknowledge of

God the Father.

That means that

you've been

intentionally,

deliberately,

and actively

chosen.

That he chose

you according

to and

consistent with

his plan

and purpose

of salvation.

And so

you are

in a relationship

with God

and with the

people of God

not because

of what you

are

or what you

have

or what you've

done

or what you

have decided

but simply

because God

before you

were aware

of him

decided

in his

purposeful

plan

to bring

you into

a relationship

with him

as your

Abba

Father.

Friends,

there's no

identity that's

deeper or

stronger than

that.

No matter

what your

present circumstances

are,

no matter how

people are

treating you,

no matter how

dislocated and

disoriented you

feel,

God took the

initiative to

draw you into

an intimate,

loving,

redemptive

relationship with

him to save

you and to

give you

access,

24-7 access

to his

fatherly

goodness

and grace.

You,

the people of

God,

have been

chosen according

to the foreknowledge

of God the

Father.

And he says

you've been

chosen also

through or by

the sanctifying

work of the

Spirit.

The Holy Spirit

is the means.

The Holy Spirit

is the instrumental

agency and

power by which

God the Father

takes hold of

us and

regenerates our

heart and

convicts us of

sin and

quickens our

grasp of the

gospel and

gives us faith.

The Holy Spirit

is the one who

makes the

electing foreknowledge

of the Father

operative in

our lives.

And the

question for us

is has the

Holy Spirit

acted on you

in this way?

And is the

Holy Spirit

dwelling in

you now?

Has he

sanctified you?

Has he set

you apart

to the

Father and

to the

eternal plan

that the

Father has

for your

salvation?

If the

Holy Spirit

has done

that,

what then

is the

goal and

the purpose

of the

Father's

plan carried

out by the

Holy Spirit?

He says

you've been

chosen according

to the

foreknowledge of

God the

Father,

you've been

chosen through

the sanctifying

work of the

Spirit,

and you've been

chosen for

obedience to

Jesus Christ who

sprinkled you with

His blood.

If your sins

have been

cleansed by the

blood of Jesus

that was shed on

the cross,

if you are now

part of the

new covenant

covenant because

of that great

sacrifice of

Jesus on your

behalf, then

Peter says the

only logical

deduction, the

only necessary

consequence is

that we must

obey.

We must be

obedient to

all that has

been commanded

of us by our

risen and

living Lord

Jesus.

Because if we

have this great

privilege of

being elected,

then we bear

that great

responsibility to

live in

accordance with

the character of

the one who

elected us.

So friends, do

you think of

yourself this way?

Do you think of

yourself as God's

elect, foreknown

by the Father in

all eternity, set

apart by the

power of the

Holy Spirit,

cleansed by the

precious blood of

Jesus Christ, and

chosen to be

obedient?

To obey, chosen to

be obedient.

Peter ends his

letter and he

says, stand fast in

the true grace of

God.

If you take your

stand in this

grace, this grace

of the triune God,

the Father, Son, and

Holy Spirit, if you

stand in that grace,

then you will know

how to live as

exiles and

foreigners, and you

will be the salt of

the earth and the

light of the world.

So stand fast.

Stand fast as God's

elect people, chosen

by him, foreknown by

the Father, sanctified by

the Spirit, sprinkled

with the blood of

Jesus, chosen to be

obedient.

it.

In the name of the

Father, Son, and Holy

Spirit, amen.