Sojourners and Exiles

1 Peter 2:11-12

Immanuel – 6/13/21

Today we will continue our journey through Peter’s letter to the elect exiles of what today is north-central Turkey. Peter was offering hope and encouragement in the faith to churches that were suffering a multitude of local persecutions. Peter was offering them hope in a hostile world. It is a hope that we desperately need as our world grows increasingly hostile to Christ, His word, and His people.

Today, in our passage, we come to a major transition in 1 Peter. Peter begins to take all of the theological truths and hopes that he has been proclaiming, and begins applying them to the world in which we live. Peter is answering the question: Now that we have received mercy, how shall we now live? He starts by showing us that ours is a world at war, and we are set within it.

Purpose

What does it mean to be an exile?

A war is being waged over your desires.

Read 1 Peter 2:9-12

Verse 11 marks a dramatic shift in Peter’s letter; so much so that you can think of everything that comes before verse 11 as part 1, and everything that follows as part 2. In part 1, Peter focuses on theological statements, with short applications for life. That pattern reverses in part 2. Here we have lengthy applications for life with brief theological statements.

Peter initiates this transition with a word he has not yet used for his readers: beloved. All the theology leading up to this point deeply endears Peter to the churches to which he writes. God has elected them, caused them to be born again to a living hope, they are fellow priests, living stones, worshippers of the risen Christ; likewise grieved by various trials. How Peter loves the people of these churches!

And he moves these fellow elect exiles into an urgent application of the theological teachings he has now completed. See the urgency? “Beloved, I urge you.” That could also read, “I beg you, as those whom I love.”

Home

It has the urgent sense of do not linger, do not become comfortable, do not become indifferent. Why is Peter applying such urgency to the opening of this second part of his letter? Because you are not at home. You are sojourners and exiles; strangers and aliens in a foreign land.

We are like Abraham, wandering in a land God promised to him, yet it was occupied by pagans. All of it was his, but none of it was his home. We are like Israel wandering in the wilderness, struggling as we journey to that same Promised Land. We are like Nehemiah, an exile far from home, yearning to see the City of God.

You are a holy nation, scattered throughout earthly nations. You are a royal priesthood, distinct and set apart for a greater purpose: to worship the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Soon Peter will tell us exiles to submit to the governing authorities of men, but our allegiance is first to our homeland.

For when God caused us to be born again to a living hope, when He opened our eyes of faith to see Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our greatest treasure, He also transferred us into a new kingdom.

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteousness made perfect, and to Jesus. -Hebrews 12:22-24

America is not your home. New York is not your home. The Mohawk Valley is not your home. How at home are you here?

I am not saying that we should not make for ourselves homes. We should. But they are temporary. We should desire to build a safe environment for our families, we should strive to live in peace, we should work for the improvement of our communities, we should love our neighbors, we should enjoy the good gifts that God has given us; and we should never allow our hearts to be tricked into thinking that this is our truest home.

We should be in the world, but not of the world. Live in your earthly home, but long for a better one.

And Peter is saying that this is a matter of great urgency! How the world and the devil and our own desires are all working to lull us into comfortability with our surroundings, and indifference towards heavenly things!

Look again at what Peter is urgently exhorting the reader to do.

Read vs 11

This is not the second time in Peter’s letter that he warns us about our passions.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, so also be holy in all your conduct. -1 Peter 1:14-15

But here in chapter 2, Peter is ramping up the urgency. And what must we urgently do? Abstain from the passions of the flesh! Peter is pleading with us to reject sinful ways of satisfying our passions. That is what those who are home in this world do: satisfy their flesh.

But do not forget that this urgency is bathed in affection. This is out of love, not law.

Desires

The essence of every desire that we possess comes from God, for He created them. And if God created our desires, then He created them to be satisfied in a particular way. Every desire finds its greatest fulfillment when we are living in right relationship with Him. And every desire, once rightly enjoyed, is meant to cause thanksgiving to erupt within you, offered to God who has created a world with such ecstasy of pleasure!

Yes, every desire is consummated with praise. Some see the possibility of terrible boredom in heaven, eternally sitting around and worshipping. Never! God designed worship to be channeled through our pleasures.

And did He not create a gloriously vast array of pleasures? Moral pleasures, intellectual pleasures, physical pleasures, social pleasures, aesthetic pleasures, emotional pleasures, and even more than we cannot currently grasp. God intends to be worshiped through your pleasures, praised as He brings satisfaction to your desires. That’s the reality of heaven: that God would be glorified as you are satisfied in Him.

But wickedness takes good desires, divorces them from their Creator; corrupts them, distorts them, forms them into abominations before the Lord. About these Paul writes:

The works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissentions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

-Galatians 5:19-21

Our society would wash us in the sewers of fleshly pleasure: the bodies in your phone, another beckoning bag of chips, celebrations of self-righteous virtue signaling, another compulsive purchase on Amazon, the swelling immorality of Netflix. They all sound so entertaining, so justifying, so satisfying.

Fight against such fleshly pleasures! Wage war against them! Brothers and sisters, I need to hear this as much as anyone else. We stand ankle deep in the overflowing sewage of the world. All around, the enemy is bombarding us with shells of temptation. And it should strike fear into every one of us that the deceptiveness of sin paints such soul-destroying terrors as desirable pleasures.

Today, in the battlefield of this world, a vast war is being waged for your souls! Does anyone build for themselves a home in the battlefield of war? It would be stupid. The only ones at home in the battlefield are the corpses.

Urgently live like you are at war, like this is not your home. Your flesh is a liar, the world would poison you, and the Devil would destroy you; and all of them are attacking your desires! You were born with desires corrupted and a heart desperately sick; you cannot trust yourself! Your desires are under assault!

The urgency in Peter’s words is just a reflection of the urgency he once heard in the Lord’s words.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

-Mark 8:34-38

The principles that govern our homeland are that of selflessness and worship; worship of King Jesus. The principles that govern our fallen world are that of self-indulgence and self-worship. So just as our King did when He took up His cross, let us take up our crosses and deny ourselves. The cross is not made to be pleasant, but one can only reach the homeland by following Jesus there.

In 2003, the wicked reign of Saddam Hussein was overthrown. It took another three years to bring him to justice. A great evil was expelled from the land of Iraq. But a political void was created, and there was no one powerful enough to sit on that empty throne and lead. In less than 10 years a new power arose in that region, a power far more evil: The Islamic State/ISIS. And all they brought was bondage and death.

I say this because our souls are subject to similar patterns. We must realize that the war does not end when we have abstained from a particular passion of the flesh. Something worse is always lingering in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to charge the throne. There might be a time of relative peace, but that void will not stay empty; for your desires were created to thirst for satisfaction. They must be satisfied.

We do not simply abstain from the passions of the flesh by saying no. We find a greater pleasure, and to that we say yes. We find One worthy to sit on the throne of our desires.

Again, we were born thirsty. We ache for our desires to be satisfied. How foolishly we rummage in the fires and filth of this world to sate our thirsts! But when God calls us out of the darkness and into His marvelous light, we have a new and living hope: every desire fulfilled in our great and glorious God!

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. -Psalm 42:1-2

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures have said, ‘out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

-John 7:37-38

The great work of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to make you thirsty for Jesus. Every drop will leave you deeply, joyfully satisfied; and every drop will leave you wanting more – and more you will have.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fulness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. -Psalm 16:11

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” -C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Oh, won’t we turn to the ocean of living water that is Jesus! Abandon the mudpies and slums and run to a greater satisfaction! This is why Peter spent the whole first part of his letter giving us the greatest drink in the cosmos: a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now, if Christ is our great treasure, our living water, then we are most certainly going to look like we do not belong here. We will be continually reminded that we are exiles in a war-torn land, longing for our heavenly home; living unashamedly with all our loyalties and affections given wholly to Christ and His kingdom. These allegiances, these affections, should be so obvious that we are like a light in a dark land.

Lights in the Darkness

That’s how we are to live, and that is where Peter takes us next.

Read vs 12

There is a way in which we are to conduct ourselves, day in and day out; an honorable way of service. Peter will spend the rest of his letter speaking of serving those in authority over us, of serving within marriage, serving one another, ultimately serving God; and he will encourage us to serve in all of these capacities even as we suffer for it. Because there is a far greater hope that is set before us.

Verse 12 is a foreshadowing of all these things.

When Peter writes of the Gentiles in verse 12, we must remember the context of the chapter. He is not merely referring to non-Jewish people. Remember verse 9. Peter is referring to all those not of God’s chosen race, who are not a part of the holy nation, who have not been counted among God’s own possession. Peter is referring to those living in disobedience to the word of Christ.

And isn’t the underlying assumption in verse 12 that the world is watching us? They are looking to see if our lives match our words. They are looking for authenticity, sincerity. They are looking to see if we truly do represent another kingdom.

How many have caught Christians in dishonorable conduct, and turned their back to Jesus because of the hypocrisy of His followers? Some I dearly love have done so.

For most though, this is just an excuse to turn their back on Jesus. They have no intention of removing themselves from the throne of their lives. Their bias against God is so great that they will not hesitate to speak of God’s elect as evildoers.

In Peter’s day, Tacitus wrote that Christians were “loathed because of their abominations.” Seutonius praised Nero’s persecution of Christians, saying Christians were “a class of people animated by a novel and mischievous superstition.” In our day it is easy to see language against Christians rising to these levels. We are certainly called superstitious. We are called regressive, oppressive, backwards and close-minded, intolerant, hateful, hypocritical, and a whole host of other things that would paint us as evildoers. As in Peter’s day, so in ours.

Notice also how the argument in verse 12 is working. You may be conducting yourself honorably, following Christ in word and in deed, and despite all that Peter is nearly guaranteeing that people will speak evil against you.

Just as Jesus said it would be:

“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

-John 15:19

Brothers and sisters, elect exiles, plan on being reviled even as you conduct yourselves honorably. But for some, as they watch you, as they see your good works, as it appears that you represent a whole different kingdom; their unbelief will turn to belief, and they will glorify God.

The day of visitation, the last phrase of verse 12, is synonymous with “the day of the Lord;” for on the day of the Lord, the lord visits humanity. There is a final day of the Lord, there is a final day of visitation, and that is also referred to as Judgement Day. But all throughout the Old and New Testaments there are days of visitation where God visits His people with great blessing, and He visits His enemies with terrible judgements. We saw this when I preached through Joel last year.

It is unlikely that Peter is talking about Judgement Day in this verse, because he seems to be arguing for the repentance of unbelievers after they have seen your good deeds. Peter is saying that this could happen: as you are conducting yourself honorably – with good deeds – the unbeliever will be watching you. Then according to God’s own will, as they stand there watching you, He will visit them; calling them out of darkness and into His marvelous light, and their lips will be filled with praises for the excellencies of God. Another worshipper added to the royal priesthood.

Again, Peter is harkening to His Lord’s words.

“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” -Matthew 5:16

How amazing that as hostile as this world is, acts of love and service have the power to transform an enemy of the cross into a lover of Christ!

But let me say one more thing, and Peter will get to this later in his letter. Observing good deeds does not communicate the gospel. Good deeds authenticate the gospel. We must speak about the hope living within us. As we love with our actions, perhaps some will be drawn to understand why, and then we must not hesitate to proclaim the excellencies of God; that you are a joyful recipient of the grace of God, purchased with the most precious blood of Jesus!

We live in a world that is at war, fervently trying to eliminate sincere, active worship of God. Our good deeds, done in the name of Jesus, are our spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. Regardless if anyone sees or not, we do good to worship Christ! And if our good deeds are seen, then let us hope and pray that those who once reviled would worship, that those who once stumbled over the Cornerstone would taste and see that the Lord is good!

How happy it is when others join us in our exile, citizens of another country, subjects of a greater King. And let us urgently desire a better home as we wander through this hostile land together.