Holy Exiles

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Promontory Community Church exists to make disciples of Jesus who know, live, and share the gospel for the glory of God.

Well, good morning, everyone. It is good to be here. It's good to be back. I have been gone for the past number of weeks as we have celebrated the birth of our son, and I think I have a picture here for you. There he is. So this is James Isaac William Neufeldt. We're very excited. It is a joy, and it has been a good time just to be with family, to spend some time, and so I just want to say thank you all to everyone who stepped in, allowed us to take that break, who has been so caring and supportive over these last number of weeks. It is such a joy, it is such a privilege. I'm just so grateful for our church family.

You'll notice my wife and son are not here with us. They are both doing well, but labor was long and difficult, and so recovery is going to take some time. I do covet your prayers over these next weeks as my wife continues to recover. I'm so grateful for your prayer and support as we navigate now a family of five.

I invite you to open your Bibles now. If you have a Bible with you, please open to the book of First Peter. We are going to be starting off a new sermon series that will take us through the fall and actually into the new year as well, and I'm excited to be digging into this book together.

I want to start by making a very broad statement. One of the biggest problems of the North American church — and we are part of that — is that we are very comfortable. It is very easy for us in North America, and I might even say specifically here in Chilliwack, it is very easy to be a Christian. We have all kinds of laws that protect us. If you give to the church, you get a tax receipt. That is a blessing — let's not take it for granted — but it certainly makes it very easy. We can be very comfortable at times, and the challenge is that comfortability can lead into all kinds of problems.

But let me suggest that is also changing. I don't know the future, I don't know what's all going to happen, but certainly things have changed. A few decades ago, if you told someone you were going to church, they would consider that a generally positive thing to do. Today, if you tell someone you're going to church, you're probably going to be met with a lot more suspicion. Why? What do you actually think? What do you believe? That's just how things are going, and so for the first time here in North America, we're starting to have to ask slightly different questions than we have asked before. We're starting to ask questions like, what does it mean to live as a Christian when it is uncomfortable to do so? It's no longer quite as comfortable, and it may yet get more uncomfortable.

But that is exactly what First Peter is all about. First Peter is really trying to answer the question: what does it look like to live as a Christian when it is not comfortable to do so, even when there is hostility against us? If you're familiar with what all went on in the early church, you'll know it was not easy to be a Christian in the first century. Read through the book of Acts and you will see Peter and Paul as they go out and travel and share the good news — what do they find? Opposition, persecution. They get thrown in jail, beaten, tortured, all manner of things. All of the apostles ended up either in jail or put to death for their faith. The church was born when it was not comfortable to be a Christian.

Now sometimes we look at that and we say, well, they faced real opposition — it doesn't really have to do with anything we deal with. And while it's true that there were moments of strong opposition in the early church, a lot of what the church would deal with on a day to day basis is far closer to what we might encounter as well. So often they were made fun of, mocked for their faith. People would call them names, all manner of rumors had spread about the church. Sometimes they were denied opportunities — they couldn't get a job or even couldn't go to certain markets because of what they believed. Oftentimes the guilds or the unions of the day took place in idol temples, and so Christians were either shunned or unable to even join in with what they did. They suffered rejection from family and friends. And in many ways that is what Peter is going to teach us: what does it look like to follow Jesus even when things are uncomfortable?

Living as a Christian in a world where it is not easy is what this book is all about, and let me suggest that we need to learn that lesson too. Whether or not things get worse here in Canada, I don't know. I don't know what the future holds, but the call as Christians is to be prepared to suffer well. Because here is what First Peter is not about. First Peter is not about how to attack everyone. It's not about how to take over the country or the culture. It's simply: no matter where you are, no matter what is happening, how can we as followers of Jesus show the glory of God? Because that's what we want. Our neighbor is not our enemy, but rather the mission field that we get to share this good news of Jesus Christ with. And so for these next couple of months, I want us to understand what that looks like. How do we live as Christians? How can we show what Jesus is like through his example?

I'm excited to walk through this book together. If you have a Bible open, we're going to start off just looking at the first couple of verses, but they also give us a bit of a trajectory of where this book is going. It's our tradition to stand as we read God's word. If you're able to, would you stand with me? First Peter, chapter one, verse one. This is God's word.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: may grace and peace be multiplied to you.

You may be seated.

In many ways this is a very standard introduction. If you've read some of the other New Testament letters, you'll recognize what's going on. In fact, this is a standard greeting for most ancient letters of the time. It would always start with who is writing the letter, and then where the letter is going. Oftentimes letters at the time were rolled up into scrolls, and so if you needed to see where a letter was going, all you'd have to do is unroll the first little bit and you could see who it was from and where it was going. That's what we get here. However, all throughout the New Testament, these are hardly throwaway lines. What Peter is doing is, yes, addressing it to his audience, but he's also giving almost a foreshadowing of what he is going to talk about in the letter.

We see in verse one it says "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ" — again, seeming simple, and yet to receive a letter from Peter himself, one of the twelve disciples who followed Jesus and watched his life. Remember, even Peter was not the name he was born with. He was born with the name Simon. It was Jesus who called him Peter — this rock on which Jesus would build his church. So to get a letter from Peter already carries weight, and then he adds to it "an apostle of Jesus Christ." If you were here with us last week, we actually looked at what it meant to be an apostle — a chosen messenger of Jesus Christ, empowered to write scripture. Peter, later on in the book, will remind us:

I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ.

Peter actually walked with Jesus. He saw him, he saw his suffering. He knew what it was like to follow Jesus, and so he is writing this letter to the church to help them now follow Jesus.

What we learn by the end of this letter is that Peter at this time was actually in Rome. Right at the very end, chapter 5, verse 13, he writes:

She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings.

Here, Babylon was not literal Babylon. At that point, Babylon was a tiny desert city in the middle of nowhere. Rome had often been referred to as Babylon — the new Babylon, as it were — and Peter is sending greetings from the church in Rome. If you know anything about church history, you know that Peter actually was put to death in Rome under the emperor Nero. So the letter we're getting is probably from the early 60s AD, before Peter is put to death for his faith. Again, this is not a letter of rebellion against the authorities, but rather a letter to call us to take on the sufferings of Christ.

Peter begins by reminding the church of their identity in Jesus. If you are a Christian, you have a new identity. And in that we are called to live a holy life, which will include how we face suffering. So First Peter — hear me — is not written to tell us or show us how to live if we face suffering, but to prepare us for it. It's not a question of if we will face suffering, but are we prepared to handle it well. Our critique may be a little on point: we have sometimes been a little too comfortable and not quite prepared.

As we look at these first two verses, I want us to see these themes played out. He calls the church elect exiles who are to live holy lives, facing suffering like Jesus. We are called to live holy lives as chosen exiles, ready to face suffering in the grace of God.

Starting back in verse one, he calls the church "elect exiles." Verse one says:

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

Unlike some of the other letters in the New Testament, this was not written to just one church. In fact, it was written to many all throughout what is now modern day Turkey. Most likely the order in which we are given these is actually the order in which the letter traveled. They would have started up at the top in Pontus, then come down to the province of Galatia, to Cappadocia, to Asia — that's the province, not the continent — and then up to Bithynia, and then presumably back to Rome or wherever. This actually followed a Roman trade route through the region, and so Peter is sending this letter to all of these churches.

Most importantly, what he calls them here are "elect exiles." Peter wraps several layers of meaning into that one little term. The first thing they are is "elect," which simply means chosen. He's addressing his letter to the chosen people, and as we'll see in just a moment, it's God doing the choosing. So these are God's chosen people. Now if you know your Bible, you'll know that is very much language often used in the Old Testament to refer to the people of Israel. But here Peter is not just writing to a Jewish audience — in fact, he's writing to all of these people scattered throughout the Roman Empire, containing both Jewish and Gentile believers. Peter, all throughout this letter, is going to take these Old Testament terms and language — even promises — and apply them to the church. The church, those who have trusted in Jesus, are God's chosen people. God has chosen them to be his.

And because of this choosing, they are now exiles. Peter says, "you are elect exiles." An exile was a stranger, a foreigner, a resident alien — someone who is simply passing through, someone who does not actually belong. That's an exile. Someone whose home is not there. That's the description Peter is going to give to the church: because of God's choosing, they no longer belong to these cities. Despite the fact that they're from Pontus, Galatia, etc., that's not really where they belong anymore. It's not really their home. They might be living there, but that's not where they are from.

Similarly, the writer of Hebrews will say, speaking of some of these Old Testament saints:

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

The reality of our identity as Christians means we no longer belong to this earth. We are citizens of heaven; we are just passing through. In one sense, don't get too comfortable. Peter is addressing his readers and saying, you are already feeling this, you are experiencing this, you no longer fit in where you once did. Why is that? Because this is not your home. This is not where you ultimately belong anymore. You are now a stranger.

Hear me: if we understand this as our identity as Christians, it will change how we act. My wife and I actually lived down in the States for about a year and a half while I was doing school. It's an interesting thing because we knew we were coming back, and so we moved down there — it's longer than just a vacation, we actually lived there, we got a bank account and everything — but we weren't staying there. And we noticed it began to dominate almost every conversation that we had. Every conversation, when I lived in the States, people would say, oh you live up there, it's so cold — all that kind of stuff. It even changed how we would spend our money. I remember we'd buy things and we would always have a discussion: are we actually going to take this back with us? We had driven down just in a van, and everything had to fit in that van to go back home. So we bought all kinds of things and then just sold them or gave them away at the end, because we're not keeping any of this stuff.

Hear me — we need to actually think the same way as Christians. This is not ultimately our home. How we talk, how we use our time, our money, our resources should all be affected by this one reality: that this is not ultimately our home, this is not where we belong, and this is not where we are going. We are exiles here.

And as Peter points out, this is part of the plan of God. Look back at our passage:

...to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.

Peter says this is part of God's foreknowledge, God's plan. And hear me, he doesn't simply mean that God knew about it beforehand, but actually that he knew you. In the same way Jesus speaks about knowing his people, listen to the Gospel of John:

I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Jesus knows his people just as the Father knows his people — more than just a factual knowledge, but a deep personal relational knowledge. The Father knows his people. And notice here that Peter is not simply saying, well, part of you was known. No. What is known by the Father is your identity, your choosing, and even where you live. All of those are according to the plan of God the Father, by God's design and for God's glory.

In fact, in chapter two, Peter is going to write:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

Again, this is lots of Old Testament language being given to the church, but notice what the purpose is for God's choosing them — that we might proclaim his excellency, that we might show the goodness and the glory of God. We are meant to bring physical, tangible expression to the intangible glory of God, bringing focus and clarity to what was obscure to those around us so that people can understand and behold the beauty of God. This is the purpose of God's choosing.

Hear me — that is good news. Because it means that the struggles you will face, the challenges of not belonging, of existing somewhere where you say this is not my home — all of that is still part of what God has in store for us, and we are called to glorify him in it. We're going to see this all throughout this book. The reason why we can face this life with both confidence and joy is knowing that God himself is the one in control. God has called us to himself as elect exiles and placed us here that we may live holy lives.

Peter continues on his introduction in verse two:

...according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.

Here we get this beautiful Trinitarian framework. Each — the Father, Spirit, and Son — is active in our salvation and life, calling us to glorify God through all of this. Here is the Father planning and ordaining; here is the Spirit now at work to sanctify us. Sanctification is just a fancy word for growing in holiness. Sometimes we talk about growing in our faith or growing to be more like Jesus — what we mean is this idea that we actually have a purpose to our lives as Christians, a goal in mind, that we are to grow in holiness. Holiness is this moral perfection and purity that is ultimately found in God himself — a separatedness from sin. And so sanctification involves both rejecting and turning away from sin, and actually turning to God and pursuing what God is like, displaying him in our lives, showing his perfect characteristics in all that we do. As Christians, our call is to grow in that.

Hear me: the Christian life doesn't end when you trust in Jesus for the first time. So often we have this idea in our minds — well, I said the sinner's prayer, I confessed my sins, I trusted in Jesus, I'm done, I guess that's it. Actually, no — that's the beginning of the Christian life. The beautiful part is that it's open to all who would turn away from sin and trust in Jesus, that our sins would be forgiven, that we are brought into relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ. Praise God. That is what we can do, but that is not the end. We don't just now sit stagnant. Actually we grow into that — not away from the gospel, we grow into it. More and more we begin to see how our lives are called to reflect him again and again and again, and so we strive. And what we are told here is that the Spirit himself helps us in that. It's not just us. It's not just you by your own willpower trying to pull up your socks, but actually a deep reliance on the Holy Spirit who can help us to grow to be more like Christ.

As Peter says, "in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ" — the Holy Spirit's role points us to see Jesus and to follow him. The call is: we come to Jesus first, and then we follow him. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2:

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.

Notice the identity comes first. We are made exiles, believers, and then we take up the fight against sin in the power of the Holy Spirit. And Peter is going to call us seriously and intently to pursue this holiness. It is not sort of an eventual byproduct of just kind of going about your daily life and ignoring it. No, holiness is a serious call, but hear me — it is not our effort alone, it is the Holy Spirit who helps us. First Peter chapter one:

But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written: you shall be holy, for I am holy.

That is our calling. The standard is the perfection of God himself. That is what God is calling us to put on display in our lives. That's why we need the Holy Spirit's help. We can't do it on our own, and the reality is that we are yet going to fail.

But here I think is why Peter has not left us in a hopeless state. He adds in there, "for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood." Again, Peter is grabbing Old Testament images to talk about Jesus. In the Old Testament, when a sin was to be atoned for, a sacrifice would have to be given. But in Jesus, he has died — he is our sacrifice, paid once for all for our sins — so that when we trust in Jesus, his death and resurrection has dealt with all of our sins completely. That doesn't mean all Jesus did was give us a clean slate and a do-over. Jesus did not just say, well, I wiped the slate clean, and now you better figure out this next one on your own. Actually, here he talks about sprinkling — present, continual. The blood of Jesus is not just a one-time forgiveness, but actually it is ongoing. Even as we sin, even as we fail, we can return back to the gospel, to Jesus Christ, and we will find that our sins are forgiven again and again and again.

As we are called to live lives of holiness, to uphold that perfect standard of God, we find that God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us and the Son himself to cleanse us, to forgive our sins. What good news for those who are called to live this holy life — transformed by the Holy Spirit, forgiven by the sacrifice of Jesus. Because we are exiles on this earth, we are called to live holy lives during the time of our journey, washed and cleansed by Jesus. And it's as exiles, as holy exiles, we are then to take up suffering like Jesus.

I think this is probably why Peter ends his introduction with this phrase: "may grace and peace be multiplied to you." This is once again a very common New Testament greeting for the church, but don't let the importance of it slip by. These are two of the greatest blessings of the Christian life — that we have been given what we did not deserve: grace, forgiveness. And because of that grace, we now have peace with God, rest in his presence. And Peter says these are multiplied to you. Jesus was not skint or even modest with his grace, but lavishly poured out grace upon grace, forgiveness upon forgiveness, love upon love, peace upon peace. We have so much to be thankful for, that even when we face suffering, we will never come to the end of God's grace.

And here is really the final part of what Peter is going to encourage us to understand all throughout this book. When we face suffering, we are called to do so following the example of Christ. If our identity is found in Christ, if our pursuit is that he is our example, and if we live in a fallen world, we are going to face suffering. We are following a Savior who was rejected, hated, crucified. Should we not expect the same treatment if we live in the same way? In fact, chapter 4, Peter says:

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourself with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.

We'll talk about what that last part means later, but notice what he is calling believers to understand. You need to be ready, be equipped, armed — get ready to suffer. Why? Because Jesus did, and he's who we're following. Again, chapter 4, Peter writes:

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you also may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

Peter says, don't be surprised. Don't be shocked when people dislike what you are saying — that's how they treated Jesus. Don't be surprised, don't be worried, don't get angry. Rather, rejoice. You have the honor of being treated like Jesus, and you have the privilege to show what Jesus is like when he was suffering.

Suffering, opposition, mockery, name-calling, being denied opportunities — these are all part of what it means to live for Christ, just as we join our brothers and sisters around the world who are facing sometimes brutal persecution. To follow Jesus is to follow his example, and so the call for us is to be prepared for that. How did Jesus suffer? Did he get angry? Did he attack them back? No. What Jesus did is he trusted God in all of this.

Hear me. By and large, we have had it easy in Chilliwack. We've had a pretty easy time of it. But the reality is we will still face opposition. Don't be surprised when it happens to you — it is something we should expect. Our calling is not to avoid all pain or all trials; rather, our calling is to face suffering and to glorify God in it. Over and over again, this is what Peter is going to point us to: look at Jesus, do what he has done. And we can actually take that on with boldness, with joy even, because we know that the suffering we face is not going to destroy but rather build up our faith and put on display the goodness of God.

Here's why I want us to get that right. Let me suggest that how we face suffering will show the excellencies of God more than anything else we do. I'll never forget sitting in the hospital room with my mum. She had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She went to work on Friday, was doing totally fine; that evening, she was diagnosed with cancer. The following Monday, she was a nurse, and her co-workers came in and were shocked to find her as the patient. At that time, my mom's feet were quite badly swollen and she couldn't walk very easily, and so I sat beside her and helped her stand up — she wanted to go to the bathroom. As she walked over to the bathroom, one of her co-workers came in and began talking. I just watched her — my mom's in pain, I know she's in pain, I know she can't walk or stand that long — and they talked for a long time, fifteen or twenty minutes going by, and I'm thinking, Mom, you've got to sit down. Finally the co-worker leaves, she goes to the bathroom, comes back, and I said, "Mom, why didn't you tell her to go? You need to sit down." And my mom said, "No! I've been trying to share the gospel with her for years, and I finally had the opportunity."

Here's the truth: how you respond to the pain and suffering in your life will show what you trust more than anything else. Peter wants us to suffer well because it will declare in the loudest voice the value and the glory of God above all else. Why should we be prepared for it? We may not face harsh suffering as many of our brothers and sisters do, and yet the reality is that the joy and confidence we have — when everything else is taken away — will shine more brightly for the glory of God than anything else in our lives. Perhaps we actually need a bit more suffering so that we can show the goodness of God. Besides, all our suffering will ever do is prepare us for the glory that's ahead. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians:

We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient; the things that are unseen are eternal.

Peter and Paul agree fully. And Peter is writing to help us prepare, to keep ourselves fixed on what is eternal. We are holy exiles in transit through this life, holding onto what is eternal. So be prepared. Follow the example of Jesus.

This fall we're going to walk through this incredible book, reminding ourselves that our true identity is not found in anything here but is found in the calling of God in Jesus Christ. That our lives are called to reflect his holiness and his goodness, his excellencies above all things. And that as we follow his example, even in our suffering we shall show the greatest value of God above all.

Remember, we are exiles here. Our home, our identity is not here, but as the chosen people of God, we live as holy exiles for his glory.

Let's pray together. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for the goodness and the grace that has been multiplied to us in Jesus Christ. Though we have not earned nor deserved your favor, in Jesus you have given it, that our sins might be forgiven in full. Though you call us to live holy lives that we cannot do on our own, you have given us the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts, to lead us and to equip us with all we need to follow you. Father, I pray — prepare us, Lord. Prepare us that we might take on the suffering that you have for us in such a way that you would be glorified, that you would be honored above all things, that we would be ready, that we would be mature and growing to be more and more like our Savior Jesus Christ. We ask all these things in your name. Amen.