The Chosen Pilgrims
1 Peter 1:1-2; 2:11-12
Verse 1 - “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen…”
The letter writer begins by introducing himself. He simply states that he is “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.” Peter did not feel the need to further introduce himself because he probably realized that every Christian knew who he was. Of the original apostles, Peter always stood out foremost. Whether it be for the good (as when he attempted to walk on water or as when he confessed his belief that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God) or whether it be for the not-so-good (as when he denied His Lord three times), Peter’s personality always seemed to make him stand-out rather than blend into the crowd of apostles. And, even today, Peter continues to be the most famous follower of Jesus.
It is not so well known that Peter’s name really wasn’t Peter. Peter was a nickname given to him by Jesus at their first meeting. John 1:40-42, “One of the two who heard John [the baptist] speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon, and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah‘ (which translated means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, ‘You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which is translated Peter).’” Peter means ‘stone’. The Lord perceived that Simon would one day be an important foundation stone of the Church.
Note that Peter does not claim any superiority over the other apostles of Christ. He does not claim to be the chief of the apostles. He does not claim a title or a position higher than the other apostles because he did not possess a greater title or position. Thus, he introduces himself, here, simply as “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” I am sure that he is embarrassed and disgusted that the Roman Catholic Church has elevated him as being the first pope.
Peter simply says that he was “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” ‘Apostle’ means ‘one sent forth on a mission’. Peter declares that he was just one of those who were specially sent forth by the Lord to reveal His Will to the world and be, as Jesus put it, ‘a fisher of men.’
Peter says this letter is meant for those who are ‘scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.’ These are all provinces of the old Roman Empire which today make-up the western half of Turkey. Sometimes, this whole region was referred to as Asia Minor.
This letter is not meant for every person in that region but for “the elect” or, better translated, “the chosen.” This title, “the chosen”, is a common one for God’s people. The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were chosen by God to be His covenant people. Later, the Israelites were chosen to be His covenant people. Now, with the coming of a new covenant there is another group that carries the designation of God’s chosen - those who are members of the Church.
Verse 2 - “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.”
The fact that the Church is now God’s “chosen” people, says Peter, is “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” This simply means that God the Father knew that the Church would be His chosen before it happened. He foreknew it. It was part of God’s plan from the beginning. There are numerous prophecies in the Old Testament that speaks of the Church centuries before it was established. There are many prophecies that foretold that God, through the Messiah, would bring Jews and Gentiles together into one group - one body - and they would be God’s chosen people. The Church is not an afterthought, it is the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan.
Now, Peter, talks about how a person becomes part of the chosen, the Church. It begins with “the sanctifying work of the Spirit.”
What does “sanctifying” mean? Sanctification means “to be set apart for holy uses.” For one to become part of the chosen, they must be set apart for God by the Holy Spirit. How does the Spirit do this? A major clue is provided by Jesus as found in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.”
God’s word sanctifies or begins the process of setting us apart for God. The truth is, according to Ephesians 6:17, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The Spirit of God works through the Word - the Gospel. The Gospel invites us to separate ourselves from the world and sinfulness and to be joined to God for holy uses.
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Note that Paul mentions that to be chosen requires not just “sanctification by the Spirit” (that is, the declaring of the Gospel of truth) but also, on our part, “faith in the truth.” In other words, we must respond appropriately to the Spirit’s invitation to become separate, to become one of the chosen.
Jesus said, in Matthew 22:14, "For many are called, but few are chosen." The invitation or call to become one of the chosen has reached and is reaching many people. But of all those who are called through the Gospel, few end up becoming part of the chosen because they do not respond properly to the call.
Going back to Peter, he says the sanctifying work of the Spirit is to lead us to “obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.” We cannot become part of the chosen until we respond with faith-motivated obedience to Jesus Christ and, thereby, be sprinkled with His blood.
When Jesus sent-out Peter and the other apostles, this is what He told them - Matthew 28:19-20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”
Peter obeyed His Lord and after he preached the first Gospel sermon, in Acts 2:38-40, Peter declared, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself. And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation!’"
To become one of the chosen, you must be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. We must be sprinkled by His blood to have our sins forgiven and washed away. Matthew 26:28, Jesus says “My blood of the covenant…is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” When we obey the Gospel by being baptized, we are sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ and our sins are forgiven or washed away.
So, Peter begins his letter to the Christians of Asia Minor by reminding them of who they are - God’s chosen - and how they got to be what they now are.
Then he writes a typical 1st Century greeting - “May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.” ‘Grace to you’ was a common greeting used by Gentiles. “Peace” or shalom was a common greeting used by the Jews. Peter uses both expressions - Greek and Hebrew - because the Church was composed of both Gentiles and Jews and he did not want to slight either group.
For the rest of my remarks, I want to return to verse 1 and examine a point that I purposely overlooked in my examination of that verse.
Peter refers to the chosen, according to the KJV, as “strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” That is a pretty good translation.
The NAS use a more modern term in translating it as “aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.”
The Greek word translated “strangers” or “aliens” is Parepidemos and it literally means ‘one who comes from a foreign country into a city or land to reside there by the side of the natives.’ It describes a person who is traveling or living temporarily in a foreign country.
This term is used only three times in the New Testament. Two of those three occasions are found in this letter. Peter uses it again in 1 Peter 2:11-12, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Why is it that Peter calls these Christians aliens and strangers?
Listen very closely…. Those Christians may have been living in those five provinces of Asia Minor but they were aliens there just as you and I are aliens living in the United States, today. When we became Christians, our true Country became Heaven where our Father lives. This world is not our home. We are just passing through. As Paul says, in Philippians 3:20, “our citizenship is in heaven.” No matter where we live on this earth, we Christians are always aliens or strangers because our homeland is Heaven above. That is the thought behind Jesus’ statement that His true followers are in this world but not of this world.
Peter is, no doubt, trying to get us to think of the Jewish patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Read with me Hebrews 11:8-10, 13-16, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God…..All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
When Abraham arrived in Canaan, it was given to him and his descendants as an inheritance. Strangely, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived their entire lives in their new land of promise in tents. They could have built houses. With their finances, they could have built huge, luxurious homes. They could have lived very comfortably. Why did they not do this?
The reason is that they did not regard, not only Canaan but also this world as their home. They sought temporary shelter because they knew that their stay in this world was only temporary. They were looking forward to living in a better country, a heavenly one.
They could have lived in the cities, as did Lot and his family, and enjoyed the comforts and conveniences of city life. They chose not to live in the cities or establish one of their own because they were “looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
The Patriarchs, “having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth,” lived lives shaped by that perspective. It shaped their attitudes, values, priorities and lifestyles.
Peter is reminding his fellow Christians - and us - that we must regard ourselves as aliens and strangers in this world and live lives that demonstrate that conviction. We live in this world but we are not to be of this world. We must not let the allurements of this country impede our journey home. We make the most rapid progress in our journey to our final home when we are least encumbered with the things of this world.
Note the important statement made in Hebrews 11:15, concerning the Patriarchs, “if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one.”
Did you get the thought, here. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did not think much about the Country that they left behind. They were not mindful of it. They were focused heavenward.
We are to imitate them. We Christians must not be mindful of this world and the things of this world and the unprofitable lifestyles we are to have left behind. Our thoughts and affections are to be spiritual and heavenly oriented.
Philippians 3:18-19, “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,….who set their minds on earthly things.” Colossians 3:2, “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
Paul is exhorting us to not have a worldly mindset. He does not want us to get bogged-down with earthly matters. He is saying that we ought not think, talk and act as those of the world.
You know, when a stranger, a foreigner comes into your country they stand out. Their clothing may be different. They talk different. Their manners are different. Their customs are different. Many times, their temperament and values are different.
When people in this world view you and I, can they tell we are strangers and aliens? Or, do we blend right in?
Do we dress differently?
Do we talk differently?
Is our temperaments different in how we interact with people or react to circumstances and situations?
Do our activities show that our focus is more on spiritual matters as opposed to fleshly matters?
Is it evident to others that we are working to prepare ourselves and others for eternity or to make ourselves more at home, comfortable and satisfied here on earth?
Are we accumulating more earthly goods and gadgets or investing in the kingdom of God?
Are we seeking to acquire bigger houses and more property or just content with the necessities to get us by until its time to go home?
Do we “fit in” with everybody else or are we truly alien to those in the world and strangers to their ways?
Paul commands us, in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world.”
There are two primary reasons why we are not to conform ourselves to the world and its ways.
1. Worldliness is Spiritual Adultery.
James 4:4, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
You see, we are spiritually married to the Lord. He and His ways are to be our delight. We are to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. Our chief aim is to, out of our love for Him, please Him in every way.
The world and its ways are opposed to God. To flirt with the world. To embrace the world or to seek to be embraced by the world is committing spiritual adultery. We hurt God deeply when we choose to delight in the world and its lifestyle. God wants us to separate ourselves from the world and to draw closer to Him.
1 John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
2. Worldliness Chokes Our Spirituality to Death.
One of the reasons why many Christians do not grow spiritually and bear fruit for God is that they are still too attached to this world and its ways.
That is what Jesus taught in the Parable of the Sower - Mark 4:18-19, "And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” Luke 8:14, "And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”
Satisfying our fleshly lusts or desires with what the world has to offer is fighting against our soul’s best interests. If we give the world our thoughts, time and energy we are not able to give that thought and time and energy to things that promote dynamic spiritual growth and maturity. That is why Peter says, 1 Peter 2:11, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.” Fulfilling our fleshly and worldly desires saps our spirituality. It weakens our soul and hinders our progress.
Also, involving ourselves in worldly pursuits ruins our testimony before the world and prevents us from performing good deeds. Peter says, in verse 12, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to… Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
We are to be spiritual examples to those in the world. We are to be a light to show them the way. If we think like they think, talk like they talk, pursue what they pursue, seek what they seek, spend like they spend, act like they act…. Of what benefit are we to them? How can the Lord use us?
Consider how you spend your time, talents, and even your money -
How much time to we devote to worldly pursuits as opposed to building up and enlarging the kingdom of God?
How often do we dedicate our abilities to earthly projects and ventures rather than Gospel-related projects or works of mercy?
How much money do we spend on worldly goods or entertainment instead of funding the spread of the Gospel and meeting people’s real needs thereby laying up treasures in Heaven?
We Christians are “the called.” The calling is an upward calling. We, as aliens and strangers, should be able to say as Paul said in Philippians 3:14, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
We conclude with a passage penned by Paul that summarizes our points - Titus 2:11-14, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
