Sermon Series 1 Peter. Part 1 To The Elect Exiles

Rev. William J. Shields St. Mark Lutheran Church, Lindenhurst, Illinois The Transfiguration of Our Lord March 2, 2014 1 Sermon Series 1 Peter Part 1 To The Elect Exiles Second Lesson 1 Peter 1:1-12 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 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. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Today we re starting a sermon series on the book of 1 Peter. It will take us all the way through the season of Lent and probably a few weeks beyond. And as I thought about this first sermon in the series, I thought that the best way to begin would be to give a little historical context, so that we can understand what was happening in the life of Peter and in the Christian Church when the book was being written. With that in mind, the best place for us to start is at the end of the book of Acts, which we just finished talking about last week. The book of Acts ends rather abruptly. In the final chapter, chapter 28, Paul finally arrives in Rome. He is placed under house arrest, which means that he is allowed to stay

2 in someone s home, probably the home of one of the Christians in the Roman Church, but he has a guard with him day and night. Luke ends the book by saying that Paul lived like this for two whole years. From there we can piece together the rest of the story, using certain references from the letters of Paul and also from some non-biblical sources, which may or may not be completely reliable. Most scholars believe that, after the two years of house arrest in Rome, Paul was released from his chains, probably because no real charges had ever been made against him. And it seems from his letters that he did go on a fourth missionary journey. He revisited some of the churches that he had established on his earlier journeys. And he may have even gone to Spain, since he mentions in the book of Romans that he intended to go there. Then sometime around 64 A.D., Paul ends up back in Rome. And it turns out that Peter is there as well. It may have been some years since they had seen each other and I can just imagine what their conversations might have been like, as they compared notes about their missionary travels. But then, on the night of July 19 th, in the year 64 A.D., something happened that would change everything for the Christians living in the Roman Empire. That was the night that the great fire began in Rome. The fire burned for six days, killing thousands of people and destroying or severely damaging 10 of the 14 districts in the city. The fire probably started by accident, but in the months that followed, rumors started circulating that Emperor Nero had started the fire himself, so that he could build his new Golden Palace i the burned-out center of the city. Nero was alarmed at the possibility that the people might be blaming him for the terrible tragedy. So he decided to blame someone else for it. He blamed a small group of people who practiced a new religion that was similar to Judaism. He blamed the Christians. And that was the beginning of the first Roman persecution of the Christian Church. It is believed that Peter and Paul were both arrested during this time and that they were executed sometime before the year 68 A.D. Their deaths are not recorded in the Bible, but early Church tradition says that Paul was beheaded during this time and that Peter was crucified. The tradition about Peter says that, as he was being led out to be crucified, he remarked that he was not worthy to die like his Savior had died. So the Roman soldiers obliged him by turning his cross upside-down and suspending him by his feet, rather than by his arms. But there s no way of knowing whether that really happened or not. And that s the context in which the letter of 1 Peter was written. It was written sometime in those years between 64 and 68 A.D., after the fire in Rome and before the death of Peter. It was a time of general suffering and persecution in the Christian Church. It was not a time for weak, whiny faith. It was a time for courage and commitment and hope. It was a time to trust in the promises of God. The title of my sermon this morning is To The Elect Exiles. It s a phrase that Peter uses in the first verse of his letter. In 1 Peter 1:1 he says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. He calls the Christians, who are scattered around the Roman Empire, the Elect Exiles. And that phrase still defines who we are today. This book is addressed to us just as surely as it was addressed to those persecuted Christians, almost 2,000 years ago. So let s begin at the beginning. In order to understand the meaning of this book for us we have to first understand the meaning of that phrase. So that s point number one

I. What Does It Mean To Be The Elect Exiles 3 Let s look at those two words separately. First, what does Peter mean when he uses the word A. Elect The Greek word that is translated here is eklektos, and it means those who are chosen by God. Peter decides to open his letter to the Churches with one of the most controversial doctrines in all of Christian history the doctrine of election. The doctrine of election, put very simply, is that you and I who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior did not come to that saving faith by our own decision. We did not choose to believe in God. God chose us! Martin Luther sums it up in his explanation to the Third Article of the Apostles Creed when he says, I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. I remember when our kids were little, and we would be driving through the countryside, past the farm fields. Some of the fields had barbed wire fences with fence posts. And once in a while, you would see a pretty good-sized rock sitting on top of one of those fence posts. The farmers would sometimes put a rock on a fence post to mark the spot where they had left off working in that field. And I would say to my kids, You see that rock on that fence post? And they would say, Yeah And I would say, It takes almost a hundred years for that rock to work its way up to the top of that post. And when they were really little, they would say, Wow, that s really cool! Of course, when they got older they realized that I was pulling their leg. There is no way that a rock can work its way up to the top of a post. And there is no way that a puny little human being, with a mind that is warped by sin, can work his or her way up to God. We don t go to God. God comes to us. Luther says, The Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith. And that is exactly what Peter says in verse 2. He says that the believers have been chosen 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. And in case you think that it s only Peter who says this, Paul also says in Ephesians 1:4 that [God] chose us in him before the foundation of the world. And in verse 5 he says, [God] predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. And Jesus says in John 6:44, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And again in John 15:16 Jesus says, You did not choose me, but I chose you. And there are dozens of other passages like this in both the Old and New Testaments. Your salvation is not dependent upon anything as fickle and unreliable as your feelings and your desires. The only choice that you as a human being can make, in regard to the call of God, is that you can choose to reject that call. But those who have accepted the call, those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ, have done so only because God made it happen. Peter says in verse 3, According to his great mercy, [God] has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That s what it means to be Elect. You have been chosen by God. And then the second word that Peter uses to identify the Christian believers is the word

4 B. Exiles The Greek word here is parepidemois. It refers to someone who is a temporary resident. In the opening words of the book, Peter had referred to his readers as exiles of the dispersion. The dispersion was a technical term that was used to describe the Jews who were spread out around the world, away from their homeland of Israel. But Peter wasn t talking to the Jews here. He was talking to the Christians. And what he was saying to them was, Just as the Jews of the dispersion are separated from their homeland, you Christians are also separated from your homeland. And what is the homeland of every Christian? Peter says in verse 4 that Christians have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. We are exiles in this world because our true home is in heaven. So we shouldn t get ourselves too invested in the stuff of this world. I remember a few years ago, when my good old Uncle Ole and his good buddy Sven went to the annual Sons of Norway convention that was being held in Las Vegas that year. Neither one of them had ever been to Vegas, so as soon as they got checked into their hotel, they decided to go and check out one of the casinos. They both got some coins and sat down at the slot machines and started playing. But about a half hour later, Sven noticed that Ole wasn t with him anymore. So he went looking for him. It took him awhile, but he finally found Ole in a back corner of the casino. Ole was standing in front of a pop machine and he had about 50 bottles of pop piled up around his feet. Sven said, Ole, what in da world are you doin? Ole said, Quitcher talkin and go get me some more quarters. I m on a winning streak! Well, you know, there are a lot of people in this world who are just like Ole. They are piling up stuff around them, thinking that they are getting ahead, thinking that they are winning. But guess what? When we leave this world, we can t take any of it with us! The stuff of this world stays in this world. But don t worry about that. Because those of us who believe in Jesus have something much greater waiting for us in heaven. Heaven is our home. Heaven is our inheritance. Heaven is where our focus should be. And Peter talks about this in order to set us up for what is coming in the rest of the book. As Peter writes this letter to the believers, he knows that they are suffering persecution and oppression. He knows that they are worrying about their lives in this world. They are worried about what is going to happen to them. But Peter says, You don t have to be afraid if you just remember that you are exiles. This earth is not your home. Peter says in verse 5 that, by God s power, [We] are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. So that s how Peter begins his book. He addresses the believers around the Roman Empire, and all believers down through history, as the elect exiles. We are chosen by God for salvation and our true home is not in this world. Our true home is in heaven. And that way of thinking should have some implications for how we live our lives in this world. There are two implications, in particular, that I want to talk about in the remaining verses that we re going to cover this morning. I m going to call these II. Two Attitudes Of An Elect Exile Attitude number one is this: If you are an elect exile, then you should

5 A. Rejoice In Your Suffering Now, notice that I did not say that we should rejoice about our suffering or that we should rejoice because of our suffering. Suffering in this world whether it is physical or emotional or relational or financial is a very real thing. It really hurts when you suffer. And it really wears you down. And those of you who have gone through a lot of suffering know what I m talking about. No one should wish for more suffering. Peter didn t wish for more suffering. Paul didn t wish for more suffering. Even Jesus didn t wish for more suffering. But what Peter is saying here is that Christians must learn to rejoice in the midst of our suffering. We must learn to rejoice in spite of our suffering. In verse 5 he tells us that our home is in heaven and our spiritual inheritance waits for us there. Then in verse 6 he says, In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. And then in verse 7 he gives us two reasons why we should rejoice. First, he says that suffering is a test of the genuineness of your faith. And he compares it to putting gold into a fire, to burn off the impurities and to prove the genuineness of the metal. In other words, when you are able to rejoice in the midst of your suffering, it proves that you have faith. But who does it prove it to? Does it prove it to God? No, it doesn t prove it to God. God already knows whether or not you have faith. But when you rejoice in the midst of your suffering, you prove to the world that you have faith. That s the first reason that you should rejoice in your suffering. It is to prove to the world that your faith is genuine. And then the second reason that Peter says you should rejoice in your suffering is to bring glory to Jesus! Peter says that when you prove the genuineness of your faith to the world, it results in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Back in the summer of 2000, I lost a good friend, and a pastoral mentor, to cancer. His name was Ehme Osterbur. Ehme was the Bishop of the old Illinois District of the ALC when I came out of seminary in 1987. He was the one who matched me up with my first call. Then a couple of years later he retired and bought a home in the area of my first church. I began to see him weekly at a Bible study for local pastors. I also began to meet with him frequently for private conversations, when I had questions or concerns about pastoral ministry. He truly was the most important mentor that I had during those early years of my ministry. In a conversation with him shortly before he died, he was talking with me about the part that he wanted me to do at his funeral. And he was in such an awesome mood in the midst of all that pain and suffering, and in the knowledge that he was going to die soon. And I made a remark about it. I said something like, I don t know if I could be as joyful as you are if I were in your situation. And I ll never forget what he said. He said, Bill, it is our duty to be joyful in the midst of our suffering and death. It is our greatest opportunity to bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Peter says in verses 8-9 that, when you rejoice in your suffering, you bring glory to Jesus. You show the world that, Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul. That is the first attitude of an elect exile. And then a second attitude that Peter talks about is that, if you are one of God s elect exiles, you should

6 B. Put Your Trust In The Word Of God There is a reason why we here at St. Mark put so much emphasis on reading your Bible, and studying your Bible, and knowing your Bible. It s because in this huge world, with all of this competing and conflicting information flying at us from so many media outlets and from so many electronic devices, there is only one source of information that comes directly from the hand of God. There is only one source of information that is always completely reliable. That one source is the Bible. The Bible is God s revelation about himself. And the Bible is God s revelation about his plan for the salvation of the world. Peter says that, in Old Testament times, the prophets and the people had only a partial understanding of God s plan of salvation. In verses 10-11 he says, The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. The Old Testament prophets were having these revelations from God that God was going to do something great. They couldn t see what it was, but they knew that it was coming. And they trusted that God was going to do it. They trusted that God was going to save them somehow. But we are now on the other side of God s plan of salvation. We can look back and see exactly how God saved us. He saved us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter says in verse 12 that the things the prophets predicted have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. The Bible gives us a look into the mind of God. It shows us how much he loves us. He loves us so much that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. If you are one of the elect exiles, you look at that Holy Bible and you just stand in awe of what God has done for you. That Bible is precious to you. It is precious because it proves to you that you have been chosen by God. It proves to you that you are just a visitor here. Your real home is in Heaven. It proves to you that your suffering is only temporary, so that you can rejoice in the midst of your suffering and bear witness to the power of Jesus Christ. It proves to you that Jesus really did die on the cross and that he really did rise from the dead, just as the prophets predicted. And the Bible is precious to you because it proves to you that God did all of these things for one simple reason. He did it because he loves you. If you believe this, then you truly are one of the elect exiles, waiting for the day when you will go home and see him face to face. Amen and Amen.