HoHum:
Children playing at school began to tease an adopted child. “You don’t have any real parents,” one boy stated. Another chimed in, “You don’t know who your parents are.” The adopted child simply stated, “Your parents are stuck with you, but my parents chose me.”
Speaking of the family this morning and continuing tonight with our chosenness.
Jesus said to his disciples: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.” John 15:16, NIV.
Paul says this: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--” Ephesians 1:4, 5, NIV.
“But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.” 2 Thessalonians 2:13, NIV.
Not getting into deep theological understandings for tonight just accepting that we are chosen.
Thesis: We can persevere in tough times because we know that we were chosen by God.
For instances:
Aliens and Strangers
Peter wrote his letters to an audience similar to John’s- those beginning to feel the pressure of Roman persecution. C.S. Lewis spoke of faith as “the power to go on believing not in the teeth of reason but in the teeth of lust and terror and jealousy and boredom and indifference.” If faith is not able to help us through trials and temptations then it is not biblical faith. Faith enables God’s children to persevere through every trial and trouble, until we reach the Promised Land.
Peter reminded these Christians that they were “aliens and strangers” (2:11) in this world- not because of their geographical location, but because their true identity rested in their citizenship in God’s kingdom, and not in their Roman citizenship. They lived as God’s people in the midst of a pagan culture that grew increasingly suspicious of their countercultural lifestyles.
These aliens and strangers experienced social alienation and hostility because of their faith in Jesus Christ. These Christians no longer felt at home in their culture, since their way of life no longer resembled their neighbors. They experienced a variety of forms of discrimination and accusation from their pagan neighbors because now they were so different from them.
“They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.” 1 Peter 4:4, NIV.
Christians who feel increasingly less at home in contemporary culture can find closeness with Peter’s readers. The teenage girl who stands for purity, the salesperson who stands for integrity, and the church who stands for biblical truth recognizes the feeling of alienness. Through its films, television programs, and books, contemporary culture often depicts Jesus’ followers as a group to be ignored as irrelevant, pitied as naive, shunned as suspicious, or attacked as dangerous. The question, “Are you a Christian?” today is not asked to inspire admiration but asked to show scorn and as a put down. Like Peter’s readers, today’s church lives like strangers and aliens in a foreign land.
This past Tuesday I was given a voters guide for Indiana. In that voters guide one of the questions asked the candidates seeking office is if they support protecting women and children from male cross dressers having access to women’s restrooms. I thought how ridiculous. The next day a news story from Houston, TX came to my attention. In Houston, TX they have made it legal for men to go into women’s restrooms and for women to go into men’s restrooms. Evidently some preachers have spoken out about this so the mayor of Houston has ordered preachers to submit their sermons for review that discuss this issue and homosexuality. On Friday she changed her tune somewhat and just wanted communications from the preachers to others that discuss this matter, not sermons. The differences and distance between us and our culture is getting wider every day.
Chosen by God
Peter’s encouragements in his letters hold great hope for Christians today. Though we live as strangers here we have received a “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” 1 Peter 1:3-6, NIV.
Though shunned by our culture, we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9 NIV. 2 things here:
1. A chosen people- Remember when they chose captains and then the captains chose teams. Chosen early then knew that we were wanted. Chosen late then know that we were not that wanted. Think about it as God chose us early and he sees amazing potential in us.
2. At “people belonging to God,” KJV translates it as “a peculiar people.” Now nobody likes to stand out in the crowd for being weird or odd. But think about this for a moment: if we love our spouses as Jesus commands us to in Ephesians 5; if we are slaves to righteousness as Paul describes in Romans 6; and if we look forward to the second coming more than people look forward to the BCS Championship Game or the Super Bowl; then we will be pretty peculiar.
Furthermore, God builds us into a “spiritual house” (2:5), a “brotherhood of believers” (2:17), the “family of God” (4:17) called to “love one another deeply, from the heart.” 1 Peter 1:22. Though we live as strangers here, God chose us and gave us birth into His family- His church, which provides a present home and future hope.
Peter’s words bring to mind what God told the Israelites through Moses many years before: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus 19:5, 6, NIV. The church is shunned by the world, but chosen by God- blackballed by culture, but treasured by the Father.
Rubel Shelly tells of his friends Rich and Patty White, who traveled to a 3rd world country to adopt a little girl named Olona. After 2 years of effort and paperwork, the Whites stood before a judge who read words from an official document: “Inasmuch as Olona Morgan is orphaned and unwanted by any family in this country... Inasmuch as no citizen of this country wishes to have Olona Morgan...” When this recitation concluded, which gave the Whites custody of Olona, the loving couple dropped to their knees, hugged their new daughter, and promised, “You will never have to hear the word ‘unwanted’ spoken of you again.” When they arrived back home in Tennessee, they changed their daughter’s name from Olona Morgan to Hope White. “You and I are unwanted orphans in a hostile universe,” Shelly writes. “Dearly loved, sought after, and claimed, we are God’s children. We have been given Christ’s name as our own. We are secure because of him. On the authority of Jesus, we rest in confidence that we are more precious than we dared dream.”
Peter reminds all of us as Christians that even though we are shunned by our culture, God has chosen us as His treasured family.
Choosiness and Evangelism
Peter challenged his readers to use their distinctiveness as means to evangelize the culture. “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.” 1 Peter 2:12, NIV.
While the church may feel tempted to huddle with one another in the safety and comfort of togetherness- the NT consistently calls Christians to assertively reach out to the culture for Christ. Now by doing so, we expose ourselves to the culture and risk suffering. “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” 1 Peter 3:14-16
God has us throughout the world, even in hostile places, that we might influence these places for His kingdom. God placed us here for a purpose. He does not intend us to remain detached, but to engage those around us that they might see Him through us. While our interaction with the culture will, at times, provoke hostility, Jesus calls us to have an impact on our environment. "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16, NIV.
The Christlike integrity, character, excellence, and joy that Christians display in their marriages, friendships, and careers can cause unbelievers to take notice, and to seek the fulfillment, hope, and peace that their own lives lack. Peter wrote to a church facing circumstances that made perseverance difficult. He encouraged them to endure by reminding them that God had chosen and commissioned them.
