TITLE: ALIENS FROM ANOTHER WORLD
SCRIPTURE: PSALM 69:8 / EPHESIANS 2:12 / I PETER 1:1-2
When I was growing up in the 70's, it seemed like the most popular tv shows and movies involved aliens and UFO’S -- I grew up watching Star Trek - Lost In Space -- and it was as if most shows on TV, from time to time, had an episode about aliens coming to earth -- one of the most popular tv shows in the late 1970's was a SITCOM
• "MORK AND MINDY" -- the show where ROBIN WILLIAMS played an alien who came to earth in a giant egg from the planet ORK and lived with MINDY MCCONNELL, who was played by PAM DAWBER
• And, of course, there was PROJECT BLUE BOOK, which was supposed to be true stories of UFOs from the files of the United States Air Force
• Let’s not forget about the movie STAR WARS that first came out in 1977 which grossed $1.6M opening weekend and $307.3M Domestic Showing
People were fascinated with the idea of aliens existing in the universe and paying visits to earth -- as a kid, I spent a lot of summer nights staring up at the sky and looking for UFOs with my cousins or with neighborhood friends -- all of us had stories about friends of a friend who had seen a UFO in the woods, and we spent hours scanning the skies looking for a UFO our self. The cover of every TABLOID during that time period had a cover a UFO citing somewhere in America.
Our country, during those decades, was caught up in a UFO-CRAZE -- everyone was looking for UFOs and stories of extraterrestrials dotted our newspapers and our nightly news -- the question on everyone's lips during that decade was, "Are We Alone?" -- I believe it was the year 1982, I was a young man of 21 years of age, serving in my first duty assignment at Ft. Hood, TX., when the movie E.T made its debut. Anyone remember that movie? It was an American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie was released on June 11, 1982, by Universal Pictures.
• E.T. was an immediate Blockbuster
• 11.9M Opening Weekend -- $435M Domestic Sales
• It surpassed Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film of all time
• A record it held for eleven years
The 70’s and 80’s were very interesting times indeed, as a society we were caught up in the idea of Aliens from another planet. I also remember watching the re-runs from that show that ran from 1963-1966 called “My Favorite Martian.”
• Who could forget those StarTrek years -- CAPTAIN JAMES KIRK of the USS STARSHIP ENTERPRISE who spent his whole career fighting Aliens….well…in actuality he was not always fighting them, and I had better leave that right there
How many of you have ever lived or visited outside of North America? I have been blessed to have lived in PANAMA for three years – FRANCE for three years - GERMANY for three years – BELGIUM for almost four years. I can recall those uncomfortable times in a foreign country when I could not understand the language and could not effectively communicate, it oftentimes made me feel like an Alien. Oftentimes, I felt uncomfortable and not able to understand the language being spoken to me nor could they understand the language I was communicating. I am sure our Vietnam Veterans can relate to this as well.
Throughout all my travels and though we all may travel far and wide, there is truly nothing like returning home after a trip. Having a place where we always belong is a great blessing indeed, and this remains true whether we live in a castle or just a humble bungalow.
• JOHN HOWARD PAYNE captured well the love people have for their homes in the song “HOME, SWEET HOME” from his OPERETTA CLARI, MAID OF MILAN: “BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE, THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!”
Some of our experiences we have had in foreign countries we can relate to a key word here in our text –the word “strangers,” which is sometimes translated as “aliens” or “sojourners” or even “foreigners.” It describes those who come from another country but now live in this country. They are “Resident Aliens” or “expatriates” or you might even call them “missionaries.” Peter means that Christians are strangers residing on the earth, yet our home is in Heaven. He is suggesting to us as Believers, as Christians, that this world should seem foreign to us.
• You will never know what that is like until you visit a foreign country and there see people who - don’t LOOK LIKE YOU - TALK LIKE YOU - THINK LIKE YOU - OR LIVE LIKE YOU
• They have a set of Values you don’t share
• Speak a language you can’t understand
• Eat food that seems strange to you
• You pick up the paper and you can’t read it
• You turn on the radio and it doesn’t make sense
• You’re standing on a sidewalk and you can’t communicate with anyone
Given the longing we all have for a place to call home, it follows that one of the worst fates that can ever befall us, humanly speaking, is homelessness. This is the plight of countless refugees all around the world, who, due to war and other reasons, cannot return to their homelands. Moreover, all people who do not know the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ suffer this condition, spiritually speaking they too are spiritually homeless.
• Without personal faith in His person and work, we have no home in the one kingdom that will last forever — the Kingdom of God
Peter wrote to the Christians who were scattered throughout what is now the Nation of Turkey and told them they were “aliens.” This Greek Bible word means “ONE WHO COMES FROM A FOREIGN COUNTRY INTO A CITY OR LAND TO RESIDE THERE BY THE SIDE OF THE NATIVES; HENCE, STRANGER; SOJOURNING IN A STRANGE PLACE, A FOREIGNER” (Thayers Greek Lexicon).
• The contemporary term “ILLEGAL ALIENS” refers to people who are not citizens of the country in which they are currently living
• Peter said Christians are to view themselves this way - as strangers living in a foreign land
This word applies to Christians living today as well. We need to view ourselves as “Aliens,” and not make ourselves too comfortable as citizens of this world. The Apostle Paul wrote in PHILIPPIANS 3:20 that “OUR CITIZENSHIP IS IN HEAVEN.” Now Paul did claim and use his Roman Citizenship to his advantage, modeling for Christians who follow after him that we need not reject the benefits and responsibilities of citizenship of the land in which we live on earth. Rather we should consider our ultimate home is the one we will dwell in forever in heaven, not the one we temporarily inhabit here on earth.
• ST. JOHN 17:16 “THEY ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, EVEN AS I AM NOT OF THE WORLD”
Peter states in our opening text, “there’s been a change in your life.”
• You’ve transferred your allegiance from the world to Jesus
• You didn’t move Physically but you did move Spiritually
• Salvation has now made you a stranger in the world
A Christian businessman explained what it meant this way: “A lot of people cheat and I won’t do it. They want something extra that I can’t give them. Sure, I lose business but that’s the way it is.” Let me clarify.
• It’s not true that in the world everyone Cheats - but in the world we live in, people Cheat
• And it’s not true that in the world everyone Lies - but in the world we live in, people Lie
• I’m not saying that in the world everyone Worships Money - but in the world we live in people Worship Money
• Nor am I saying that in the world everyone lives for Sexual Gratification - but in the world many people do
• That’s the world we live in as RESIDENT ALIENS
We must understand, we as Christians are a chosen people, belonging to God so that we may declare His praises. I PETER 2:9 “BUT YE ARE A CHOSEN GENERATION, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, AN HOLY NATION, A PECULIAR PEOPLE; THAT YE SHOULD SHEW FORTH THE PRAISES OF HIM WHO HATH CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELLOUS LIGHT” To “DECLARE HIS PRAISES,” then, it is essential that we spend time in His Word not just so we can learn how to behave in Christian fashion, but also so we can battle against the schemes of Satan.
• Knowledge alone is not enough
• We are called to do more than to know and believe
• Christians are to be “DOERS OF THE WORD”
Like Israel in the Babylonian exile, we need to make sure we do not forget our real home. We must not compromise our faith or adopt the ungodly practices of the peoples in whose land we temporarily live, no matter what it costs us, or how “unpopular” it might make us here.
• Remember - it won’t last long
• We are here only a brief time
• JAMES 4:14 “…FOR WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? IT IS EVEN A VAPOUR, THAT APPEARETH FOR A LITTLE TIME, AND THEN VANISHETH AWAY”
• We must live like those whose home is in heaven, not like those whose ultimate treasure is found here on earth
• As the old song says --- “This world is not my home; I’m just a passin’ through”
• If you are a Christian, you are not a permanent resident here
• Your ultimate home is in heaven
• You are an Alien
We live in a culture today that is significantly different than it was 200 years ago. Even 50 years ago it was significantly different. Matter of fact in this season of COVID-19 PANDEMIC, our culture is still changing, and every day looks different.
• As disciples of Christ, is the church different?
• Are we as believers, trying to fit in with a culture that is DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED to what we are supposed to be?
Believers in Christ are aliens in this world.
• It is difficult for us to fit into a world that by and large is out of touch with God
• We have different values and priorities than the world
• That is why you have the struggles you have
• That is why most of the time you just feel uncomfortable
• That is why you don’t have many friends
• Because we don’t love this world
• We understand we are just passing through
We are aliens in a strange land.
• We don’t speak the native language
• We don’t understand the culture or participate in the traditions
• We don’t fit in
• As an alien in a strange land we feel awkward and out of touch with the surroundings
We are aliens. And living like aliens is utterly necessary. O, what a tragedy when an alien falls in love with the world.
• In COLOSSIANS and PHILEMON -- PAUL CALLED DEMAS HIS FELLOW WORKER ALONG WITH LUKE AND MARK
• But in the last letter II TIMOTHY, he wrote these terrible words, "DEMAS, HAVING LOVED THIS PRESENT WORLD, HAS DESERTED ME AND GONE TO THESSALONICA"
• This is a great tragedy when a professing believer throws away his faith and hope in the future world, renounces his citizenship there, and lives for "THIS PRESENT WORLD"
When professing Christian aliens are absorbed into the world and give up walking by the constitution of the kingdom and give up loving the King and give up pursuing the cravings of the kingdom, then they have no warrant for thinking they will inherit the kingdom.
• "THEY WENT OUT FROM US,"BUT THEY WERE NOT OF US. FOR IF THEY HAD BEEN OF US, THEY WOULD HAVE REMAINED WITH US" -- I JOHN 2:19
• Living as aliens in the world is the only pathway to heaven
• If you choose to be at home in the world and love the things of the world, you will perish with the world
• John said - "THE WORLD IS PASSING AWAY AND ITS DESIRES, BUT THE ONE WHO DOES THE WILL OF GOD ABIDES FOR EVER" -- I JOHN 2:17
Hear me clearly what I am about to say next -- aliens are not perfect. And the stress of living in a foreign land can cause us to say things and do things that we regret. We go through some things that hurt and can even destroy the precious relationships that we need so badly as aliens. These things need to be covered and forgiven if life is to be livable together as aliens because this world is already hostile enough.
Peter calls us to love each other. And to let love cover the offense that can ruin the brother and sisterhood that holds the alien, that is to say, the Christian Community together. I PETER 4:8 “AND ABOVE ALL THINGS HAVE FERVENT CHARITY AMONG YOURSELVES: FOR CHARITY (LOVE) COVER THE MULTITUDE OF SINS.”
• Now, it's true we are to love our enemies, and all the people of the world
• It's true we are to love in a special way all the fellow-aliens
• But there is a special love we aught to have for one another as Kingdom Citizens
• We should be closely knit together as pilgrims in this foreign land
This is why it is so important we as Aliens --
• Stay connected
• Stay connected with one another
• Stay connected with the body of Christ as a whole
• Help God's people and help God's work by supporting them with our offerings and our prayers and our thoughts
This is why we are called Aliens in this strange land. God freely determined to offer salvation to the ungodly.
• He freely determined to offer his Son for the sins of the world
• He freely determined that whosoever will, may come
• And He freely determined that whoever believes in Jesus has eternal life
But it also means God knew you and me before we were born and he loved us.
• He chose me for Himself
• He determined to save me, and He did it
• And if you are saved, it is because He determined to save you
• And He did it
An older gospel song has a chorus, I believe we all know it and it goes like this --
--Oh, how I love Jesus,
--Oh, how I love Jesus,
--Oh, how I love Jesus,
--Because he first loved me
That’s excellent theology and PETER would say “AMEN.”
• The “BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED ME” part is the great truth of Foreknowledge
• While I was still a sinner, He loved me and chose me and sent his Son that I might be saved
• Yes, I am an – ALIEN IN A FOREIGN WORLD
As I try to close this morning, on the basis of this passage, we can summarize four key truths about our relationship to god and the world –
1. What God says about us matters much more than what the world says about us
2. Our salvation rests on God’s choice
3. We are not just accepted by God; we are chosen by God
4. Our condition in the world is tenuous, but our position with God could not be better
--If you are a businessperson and have decided as a Christian not to CHEAT - LIE - OR DOUBLE-CROSS -- if you’ve decided to deliver what you promise -- you are an ALIEN FROM ANOTHER WORLD
--If you are a husband and you have decided to be faithful to your wife because you are a Christian -- you are an ALIEN FROM ANOTHER WORLD
--If you are a Christian teenager, and you have decided to live for Jesus in the halls of your high school -- you are an ALIEN FROM ANOTHER WORLD
--If you are a worker on a JOB, BIG OR SMALL -- FULL- OR PART-TIME - BLUE OR WHITE COLLAR — and you have decided to do your work AS UNTO THE LORD, not as pleasing men but in order to please God — if you have decided money will not be the determining factor in your life -- then you are an ALIEN FROM ANOTHER WORLD
--If you are depressed and discouraged and you have said, “No, I won’t turn to drugs or alcohol to handle my problems,” you are swimming against the tide -- and you are an ALIEN FROM ANOTHER WORLD
--If you are working in an office where COARSE LANGUAGE – PROFANITY - AND LOOSE TALK are the accepted norm and you have decided not to join in, God bless you, my brothers and sisters -- You are an ALIEN FROM ANOTHER WORLD
--If you come to a place where in order to get ahead, you have to compromise some of your Christian values, and you decide not to do it, get ready for trouble. And let me be the first to welcome you to the FRATERNAL ORDER OF CHRISTIAN STRANGERS
--It’s not a question of isolation from the world. That’s impossible and fruitless. It’s a question of BEING IN THE WORLD AND NOT OF THE WORLD
--It’s not an easy Walk
--It’s not an easy way of Life
--But, I am glad today to be an ALIEN FROM ANOTHER WORLD
