Scripture: 1 Peter 2:1-12 (cf. verses 9-12)
Theme: Sojourners
How are we to live today in an ever-changing world? Simon Peter helps us find some answers to that question.
INTRO:
Grace and peace this morning in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Home.
That very simple little word can mean so many different things to so many different people.
Family. Safety. Comfort. Rest. Stability. Nest. Sanctuary.
We all know that a home is more than a physical structure. It’s more than just someplace that has four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. It’s more than this place that we own, we are still paying for or we are renting.
There is something very wonderful about having a place that we can call home.
In our passage this morning, the majority of those who were reading Simon Peter’s letter had recently moved from one part of the Roman Empire to another part of the Roman Empire.
+Some had been released from military service and were finding a new home.
+Some had been bought as slaves and of course had to adjust to new living conditions.
+Some had moved to find a better place to live for their families.
+Some had been forced to move because of their faith in Christ Jesus.
Bible Scholars tell us that Simon Peter wrote this letter around 65 – 68 AD. That would have been around the time of Rome’s Great Fire. We now konw that it was Emperor Nero that initiated that fire with the intention of clearing out an area of the city where he wanted to build his new palace and gardens.
What he hadn’t planned to do was to cause so much carnage. Of the 14 districts that existed at the time in Rome, three districts were destroyed with another seven districts severely scorched.
Nero desperately needed to do some damage control. He needed to shift the blame of the fire onto someone else before people began to realize that he had been the cause of the inferno.
Nero chose the Early Church. He promoted the idea that the fire had been started by the Christians. After all, they had talked about bringing the fire of the Holy Spirit to Rome to transform Rome, so it wasn’t a big stretch to blame the Christians for the all the devastation.
A lot of the people Simon Peter was writing to were those that had been forced to leave or willingly chose to leave Rome because of their faith. After all, who would want to live near a group of people that could bring that kind of fire down on a community. Plus, many of those who had decided to stay behind had been arrested, tortured and some had even been burned to death (see Fox’s Book of Martyrs).
Simon Peter himself was arrested and put in prison. He had lost his home and in the end was put to death by Emperor Nero for believing in Jesus and preaching that Jesus was the true Son of God, the Savior of the World and the King of Kings.
So, what we read this morning is a letter from a man who was being persecuted to different groups of people who had been forced to relocate and were living under an impending threat of persecution.
Simon wanted to share some words of comfort and encouragement. He wanted to remind his readers that it really didn’t matter where they had to make their new home. One place would be just as good as another.
Now, why would he say that – why would Simon say that one place was just as good as another?
Simon Peter wanted them to focus on their true identity and their true home. They were as he says in our passage this morning:
‘You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation – a people of light – God’s people.’
At the same time, he tells them while you are here on this earth – you will be exiles, foreigners or as some translations put it sojourners.
Now, what does he mean when he says all that in verse 11?
Let’s take a moment and rest there and see what we can discover.
I. As Christians – as followers of Jesus - we are exiles, foreigners, and sojourners.
How?
Why should we see ourselves as exiles, foreigners, and sojourners?
Because Jesus tells us that this world is not our permanent home.
+Yes, we were born here.
+Yes, this earth is where we have lived.
+Yes, we will die here unless of course the option to live on Mars ever becomes a reality, then it will be possible that some humans will live and die on Mars or perhaps even on Jupiter’s moon Titan. But as of right now and for the foreseeable future we can all plan on being born, living, and dying here on this Earth.
However, for those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and LORD this earth is not their final resting place, their permanent home; it is only their temporary home.
We read about our permanent home in Revelation chapters 21 and 22.
+Our Real Home is on the New Heaven and New Earth.
+Our real home is a place that is full of beauty and grace.
+It is a place where the streets are made of gold and the gates are made of pearls.
+It is a place where the water is crystal clear and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit share space with humanity.
+It is a place where there is no sin, death, sorrow or pain.
It is a place that Jesus tells us about in John 14:1-3
14 1-3 “Don’t let this rattle you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. (The Message)
This morning, we don’t live in that place right now. That is the place that we will be living one day.
But today, we live here on this earth. An earth that has been damaged and is still being damaged by sin. An earth where there is a great deal of spiritual warfare going on. An earth that sadly seems to be going in the wrong direction. An earth that many of us no longer recognize. An earth where it seems like things have been turned upside down and no longer make any common sense.
It is a world like the one that the Apostle Paul wrote about in Romans chapter one. It is a world that does not honor God nor desires God. A world that embraces impurity; emotionally, mentally and spiritually. It is a world in which some of the people dishonored their very own bodies by practicing what Paul calls dishonorable passions.
It is a world in which there is no longer any shame or embarrassment. It is a world that increasingly leans into things like envy, murder, strife, deceit, gossip, slander, foolishness, hatred, and violence.
It sounds very much like Paul’s world of some 2,000 years ago is much like the world that we see developing around us today.
How do we live today in a world that seems bent on destroying itself?
How do we live in a world that is becoming more and more dystopian (dys·to·pi·an [dis'tope?n] (dehumanized)?
How do we live in such a world and stay true to who we are in Christ Jesus?
1. Don’t adopt a “Lot” lifestyle – that is to say, the lifestyle of a man named Lot.
In the Old Testament we encounter this man by the name of Lot. He was the nephew of Abraham and Sarah. He tagged along with them as they left Ur of the Chaldees and headed towards the Promise Land.
Over the years Lot became rich. The Bible says that Lot had large herds of livestock. He had a large workforce and a great many families that were living under his leadership.
The time came when the land couldn’t support both Abraham’s livestock, workforce and families and Lot’s livestock, workforce and families. They came to understand that they were going to have to separate.
In Genesis chapter 13, we read where Lot chooses to go towards the cities of the plains, the cities near the Jordan River which included Sodom, Gomorrah and Zoar. He camps out on the outskirts of those cities and continues to raise his sheep, cattle, camels and donkeys. He continues to live in tents. Everything remains the same.
However, over the next 15 – 20 years Lot changes. He trades in his tent for a home. He gives up the livestock business and becomes a man of influence in the city of Sodom even though he knows that Sodom was an exceeding wicked, depraved, and violent place. Some believe that Lot even became mayor of Sodom.
We all probably know the story of what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah along with Lot and his two daughters. It is not a pleasant story. Because of the city’s evilness and it was an evilness that was beyond what any of us could imagine the Lord God Almighty brought judgment upon the area.
Lot and his two daughters escaped only with the clothes on their backs. From the time Lot had separated from Abraham to the day the angels rescued them, he had lost nearly everything. He had lost his wealth, his home and as we read even his wife.
What Lot didn’t learn is what the Bible wants us to learn.
+While we must live in this world, we do not have to adopt the values of this world.
+We don’t have to get caught up in its evilness.
+We don’t have to adopt either the world’s language, its mindset, its culture or its values.
Instead, we can live like a man by the name of Daniel.
II. Live like Daniel – A Righteous Exile, Foreigner and Sojourner
Unlike Lot, Daniel wasn’t given the privilege of deciding where he would live. Daniel had been taken captive by the Babylonian army around 605 BC.
Daniel had become a slave. A slave that no longer owned his own clothes or even his own body. He was the property of King Nebuchadnezzar.
In Daniel chapter one, King Nebuchadnezzar decided that Daniel along with others that had been captured would be coerced to adopt the language, the lifestyle and mindset of the Babylonians. They may physically be Jewish but over the next few years they would learn to look like, smell like and be like Babylonians. They would learn the language, the culture, the customs and even accept the Babylonian gods and goddesses.
From Daniel chapter one all the way to Daniel chapter 12 we read about this man who was able to make his home in Babylon but at the same time retain his identity – spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically. We read about this man who successfully worked for King Nebuchadnezzar, his son King Belshazzar and then later for King Darius all while staying true to his faith in the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
I think one of the things I love about Daniel’s story is his name. If you remember his friends went by the names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
But that was not their real names. Their real names were –
+Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah – all names that speak of God’s favor, identity, and assistance – all names dedicated to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, the Good God of Creation.
As you read the book of Daniel over time those three men were associated with their new Babylonian names.
However, for Daniel that didn’t happen. Each time someone tried to call him by his new name – Belteshazzar it just didn’t take. His new name was designed to focus on either Nebuchadnezzar or the Babylonian god – Marduk.
But with Daniel – his lifestyle, his language, his mindset was always so focused on God that people just could not call him Belteshazzar very long. They saw him as that faithful Jewish man named Daniel. They saw him as the one whom the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY spoke to and the man who was willing to die in the lion’s den rather than give up his prayer life.
Daniel shows us how to live as exiles, foreigners and as sojourners in a world that is opposed to God, to holiness and righteousness.
+Daniel shows us that we can stay true even as we work around and even for a government that is opposed to God.
+Daniel shows us that we can even be friends with those who oppose God while at the same time continue to be true to our faith.
+Daniel shows us that it will not always be easy to stay on the path of righteousness and walk with God in this present world. It will take great strength, great discipline and will take us daily going to the LORD in prayer, trusting and having faith in God.
Daniel lived in Babylon, but he never allowed Babylon to live in him. He was always just a resident never a native.
He lived a fixed heart and mind on God.
He lived as God’s steward always understanding that where he was, he could still pray, he could still walk in righteousness, and he could still make the world a better place.
This morning, we live in strange and difficult times.
No longer do we live in a place where the Church is always viewed positively.
In many places the exact opposite is true. Christianity is seen in a negative light and as something to be avoided at all costs.
Across social media, movies, TV programs the values of righteousness and holiness are trashed.
We no longer live in the world that we did 50 to 60 years ago when over 70% of the nation was in Church at least three out of every four Sundays. Where to run for an office in America you had to declare your faith in Jesus and where certain words and actions were not even thought about being said or done in public.
That is not our world today. Today less than 35% of people are faithful to Church more than two Sundays a month. Many are starting to believe the Bible is not important, that Jesus was not born of a Virgin and that the Resurrection never happened. Many are using the name of Jesus more as a swear word than as a word that speaks of the One who died for them.
We are in a different world.
But that is okay.
It just means that we must remind ourselves:
+This is not our home – most of us will only be here less than 100 years. 100 years sounds like a long time but when we think of eternity it is only the blink of an eye.
+Heaven is our home – that is where we will spend eternity. We will live on the New Heaven and New Earth.
As we close this morning let’s support one another, encourage one another and challenge one another:
+Not to live like Lot – not to give up what God has given us and adopt the lifestyle of sin. To not trade the land of Promise for the gates of sin and debauchery. To not accept raising our children and grandchildren in an environment that is evil to the core.
Let us pray for one another to stay faithful and true – to be able to one day “eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7)
+Live like Daniel – live a life of faithfulness. Live a life that God can use to influence the ones around them that at first did not believe in God. Live a life that leaves behind a faithful witness. Live a life that is pleasing to God, that brings honor and glory to God. Live a life that as the Bible says – “The one who conquer will be clothed in white garments, and I will never blot out their name in the book of life. I (Jesus) will confess their name before my Father and His angels.” – Rev. 3:5 adapted
Invitation to Holy Communion
