01-25-09 A View Beyond The Fog

Just before Christmas we completed our study of Peter’s second letter

and for a number of weeks I have been thinking about where we should go next.

Though it is certainly true

that anywhere we went in our study of Scripture

we would find truth and insights that would help us to grow,

still, every book in the Bible was written for a specific purpose,

to meet a specific need,

and built around a specific theme.

And there are times when the things going on in our own society

or our own personal historical setting

can parallel events that existed in the lives of those who first received the New Testament Epistles.

I was in a conversation with a young friend of mine recently

about the striking differences that exist between our world today

and the world in which I grew up.

And the more we talked

the more we recognized the profound differences

between the world I was handed as a young adult 40 years ago

and the one he faces today.

Of course there have been major shifts in the whole moral foundation of our society during the past 40 years,

shifts that have produced a generation today

that does not even think in terms of absolute moral right or wrong,

something we’ve talked about repeatedly in our Sunday morning studies in the past.

But there is a another major theme

that I’ve seen again and again in our world today,

a theme that was not present in years past.

If I were to try to put it into words

I’d call it an inescapable backdrop of anxiety about the future.

There is an underlying feeling

that our world as we know it

is rapidly approaching some sort of massive change,

a sense that things simply cannot keep going on as they have gone on in the past.

Those of us who see world history through the lense of Biblical prophecy

cannot help but see striking parallels between what was prophesied

and what is taking place in our world today.

But even those who utterly reject the authority of Scripture

seem to live with a tremendous anxiety

as they sense changes coming that they cannot alter and cannot escape.

Certainly the world-wide economic turmoil of recent months

has contributed to this anxiety,

but in truth that economic turmoil

is more just a symptom than a cause.

We are beginning to reap the consequences

of a world without moral foundations,

a world driven by greed, clothed in dishonesty,

a world in which all the rules have changed

because no one dares to trust anyone anymore.

Businesses don’t trust banks,

banks don’t trust businesses,

no one trusts the federal government,

and countless millions of individuals

feel like helpless victims of forces that define their lives and their futures,

and yet forces over which they have no control whatsoever.

I do not think it is an exaggeration

to say that we now live in a world

in which, perhaps for the first time in our modern history,

for a great many people the thought of the future

generates a sense of fear rather than sense of hope.

And because of this

I have selected a home base for our studies together during the next few months

that was written specifically to Christians

who were facing very difficult,

very uncertain times.

It was written about thirty years after the Lord’s departure,

at a time when Christians had made a clear break with the Nation of Israel.

They were no longer viewed as simply another Jewish sect.

They were seen both by the Jews

and by the Roman society

as a whole new, distinct religious movement.

But their bold proclamation of an invisible Creator God,

and of His taking on human form,

and of His resurrection from the dead,

and of the rapidly approaching day of judgement

for all those who did not willingly submit to His authority here and now

all went together to make these new “Christians”

a less than welcome addition to the religious world.

As a result, they went through times of intense persecution,

times when their identity with Christ

often brought tremendous added turmoil into their lives,

in some cases even bringing about martyrdom.

Now, it’s true that what they faced then

and what we face now are not directly parallel

in that their turmoil was a direct result of their unity with Christ

while ours is more the natural consequences of the disintegration of the moral foundations of society as a whole,

but we do share two huge things in common with those ancient brothers and sisters -

first, we cannot look to the society around us for the kind of support, protection, and security that we once took for granted,

and second, for us too, our vision of the future is one

that is at best filled with tremendous uncertainty,

and very possibly one filled with turmoil unlike anything any of us have known in our lifetime.

And because of this

I think we can profit tremendously

from what we will find in the Epistle we will be studying together.

And so this morning we are going to begin a study

of the 1^st Epistle of Peter.

Having just finished a study of his second letter,

the background we gained in that study about the author

will serve us well as we study his first letter.

This first letter was written perhaps five years earlier than his second,

sometime around 60 AD.

It was written by Peter as an open letter to all Christians,

but as we’ll see early in the letter,

it was targeted at those Christians who were going through hard times,

those who, if they attempted to understand their God’s love or His faithfulness or His commitment to them

on the basis of their circumstances,

on the basis of what was happening in the world around them,

would face some very hard questions.

And as we move through this letter

we’re going to see Peter do three things for us.

He will, in some cases, provide us with some “answers”,

some responses to the “why” questions that always come to our minds

when the circumstances around us

do not go the way we would like them to go.

And let me tell you right now

that the answers he offers us will help...a little.

They will give us some mental hand-holds,

some truths to hang onto that will help.

But they will help in much the same way

as a hand-hold or a foot-hold helps a rock climber on the side of a mountain.

They will give us greater stability,

and give us something to hold onto so that we can continue to move forward,

but they will not take us off the face of the rock.

But there are two other things Peter will do for us in this letter as well,

two things that will serve us far better.

First, he will give us a strong, bold, clear reaffirmation

of the true nature of our God’s love for us,

and of His absolute adequacy for us

no matter what may be happening in the world around us.

In other words,

he will take our eyes off of the crumbling and uncertain foundation of the society in which we live

and turn them onto the true foundation of our lives,

the foundation of God Himself and His commitment to us.

And second,

he will outline for us

those choices that we can make during times of turmoil,

choices that will make a tremendous difference

in the quality of our lives during the hard times.

In other words,

he will give us practical tools for survival in times of turmoil.

And with that as background

let’s move into this letter.

And to get us started

let me read the first five verses of this powerful little letter.

1PE 1:1-5 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

OK, from the very opening words of this letter

we are introduced to Peter’s foundation for encouragement in our lives.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens...

And before we go any farther with this,

let me state both the underlying truth

and the basic premise upon which this letter is built.

First, let me offer the underlying truth.

It’s not complicated,

it’s not obscure,

it’s simply not where most of us begin our daily reasoning processes.

It is simply this -

because of who we are as Christians,

because of the kind of relationship that now exists between us and our God,

because the death of Christ for our sins has forever removed from us anything that could ever again separate us from His love,

and because our God now holds us absolutely and eternally secure in the palm of His hand,

we alone in all the world

possess a life foundation for eternal hope, optimism, and security in our daily lives here and now.

Nothing touches us without the knowledge of our God,

and nothing touches us that has the power to separate us from His love

or remove us from the security of His protective care in our lives.

That is the underlying truth

upon which everything Peter shares with us is built.

And the basic premise of his letter

is that if we find ourselves churning in anxiety

it is because we have not yet understood this truth,

or we have lost sight of it because we have turned our eyes

and our hopes for security

onto the circumstances around us.

And so Peter begins his letter with a powerful burst of truth

about the way things really are.

And we see that truth beginning with that first phrase

in which he describes us as ... those who reside as aliens...

Don’t you love that?

From the very beginning

he sets our mental stage

with the right backdrop and the right lighting.

He says in effect,

“Before we even begin,

let me remind you who you really are.

Are you really surprised, my friend,

when you find yourself unable to gain the sense of security and hope you long for

from the kingdom of this world?

Don’t you realize that the world you see around you

is not the world, not the kingdom to which you really belong?

You are an alien -

you are an outsider,

a foreigner in a hostile land.

Certainly we have been placed here by our King,

on assignment for a brief time

to accomplish specific missions given to each of us.

But this is not your home

and because it is not your home

do not be surprised when it fails to provide you with the sense of security you long for.”

And this certainly has not changed in the past 2000 years.

By the very nature of who we are,

we will always be to some degree out of step with the culture in which we live,

residing as aliens in a world system that is by design hostile to our very existence.

And the words Peter selects for this opening phrase

communicate our foreign status even more powerfully than is evident in the English text.

That word “reside” where Peter says we reside as aliens

means literally one who sojourns in a strange place.

The author of Hebrews uses the same word in Hebrews 11:13

when he talks about the people of God who came before us.

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.

That word “exiles”

is the same word that Peter uses here,

the word translated as “reside”.

What he’s really saying

is that once we align ourselves with our King Jesus Christ

and claim our place and our portion in His Kingdom,

from that time on we are aliens who live as exiles on this earth.

And not only should we not be surprised when this world system around us

does not give us a sense of comfort our security or belonging,

but in truth if we ever find ourselves

feeling truly at home here

then something has gone terribly wrong.

For several years during my early 20's

I lived on the Carribean Island of Trinidad.

I was working with a mission organization,

helping them to establish local churches on the Island.

I adapted quickly both to the Carribean climate

and to the Trinidadian culture

and I soon found myself filled with a deep love for the people I was working with.

Over the course of several years

I returned to the Island a total of 4 times,

and there was one point at which I gave serious consideration

to remaining there as a career missionary.

But even though I adjusted well to my surroundings,

I always knew that I was an alien in a foreign land.

During the first full year I was there

I came across a small photograph of some college campus in the mid-west,

a campus during the fall

with the leaves in full color and students walking through those leaves to class.

Every so often I would take out that picture and stare at it

and imagine what it would be like to be there.

And in the strangest way

that small photograph came to symbolize HOME.

It was some place I’d never been,

and yet the place where I knew that, if I could ever get there,

I would finally be absolutely at peace, at home forever.

Though I didn’t realize it at the time,

what I was experiencing was a kind of homesickness of the spirit

that is a part of every Christian’s life when we see things correctly.

No matter how skillfully we may build and furnish our dwelling places here on this earth,

there is something deep within us that recognizes

that even at its best what we have here is only temporary.

We have become citizens of a foreign land

and there is within our spirits

a deep longing for that place where we truly belong,

a place we have not yet seen

yet we know it’s there,

and we know that when we do see it

we will recognize it as our home, our place as nothing in this world can ever be.

Peter writes to those who reside as aliens...,

exiles in a foreign land.

Now this is certainly not where he stops.

If it was it would give us some encouragement,

but it would certainly not give us the depth of hope we long for.

But before we move on

let me just take what we’ve seen so far

and apply it to this current world in which we live.

And the application, I think, is obvious.

If we have been looking at the instability of the world system in which we live

and have found it difficult to gain a real sense of security from what we see,

we should not be surprised at what’s happening inside us.

Certainly we each have been given the calling

of exercising wise and careful stewardship

over whatever resources have been entrusted into our care

during the brief time we remain on this planet.

But wise stewardship will never make us feel truly at home in this world.

We are not simply observers to what’s happening around us.

We are, in fact, called to a very active involvement in it,

knowing that our choices, our actions will make a profound difference

both in our own life and in the lives of those we touch.

We are not observers, but we are always outsiders

and the more we attempt to learn the rules of this society in which we live

and then play by those rules in a way that allows us to win by the world’s standards,

the more it will grieve something deep within our spirits,

because it simply is not who we really are,

who we have become through the redemptive work of Christ in our lives.

And then I want to point out one more carefully chosen word

used by Peter in his opening remarks.

He describes us as those who reside as aliens,

and then he tells us that we have been scattered throughout the world.

In the context of his writing

he names a number of nations throughout the Roman Empire of his time,

those areas where the news of Christ had already been spread.

But by extension he’s talking about the whole body of Christ.

And the word he uses here

is one that communicates a conscious, willful act on the part of our Lord.

It isn’t just that we happen to live in a number of different places,

but rather that we have been intentionally scattered throughout the world.

And I point this out here

simply because I see it as such a crucial part

of God’s design for the Body of Christ on this earth here and now.

And it is a design element

that is so radically different from the way in which our world systems

attempt to bring about great changes.

The world system in which we live

tells us that great changes,

great impact will come from great leaders,

and great movements,

and great programs,

and great powers.

When our world cries out for change

it says, “Give us a Man! Give us a great cause to rally behind! Give us group to join!”

Our world system assumes

that great change can only come from some sort of great visible force being exerted on society.

But God’s design for change

is exactly the opposite.

Not only does He not attempt to unite all of His people

under one massive movement

with one clearly visible and highly exalted leader,

but He takes His people

and scatters them throughout the world,

often isolating us from one another

at a level that even makes it difficult for us to communicate effectively with one another.

Certainly He seeks to bring us together in local fellowships on a regular basis

for encouragement and support and learning,

but even these local fellowships have little regular communication with one another.

It is a plan that should never work,

could never work by human standards

because there would seem to be no way to co-ordinate the efforts of literally millions of lives lived in isolation from one another.

And yet it does work

and it works for one miraculous reason,

it works because ROM 8:11 ...the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you...and you...and you...

It works because each one of us lives daily in the presence of Christ Himself,

and He personally orchestrates our lives, our actions in a perfect unity for His purposes.

And just so you don’t miss the most important part of this,

let me just say that God’s design for the transformation of this world

is one in which countless individual lives

touch countless other individual lives,

one day, one person, one conversation, one act of kindness at a time.

Do you really think that

because the society around you barely acknowledges your existence,

it therefore means that your life has no purpose, no significance?

Do you not realize

that your Creator has carefully, willfully placed you exactly where you are,

and given you contact with people that no one else will ever be able to touch?

And all He asks of you

is that you learn how to love them

because when you do

you give them the clearest window they will ever have

into the living reality of their God,

and in the process

you fulfill a crucial part

of a Divinely planned program for the redemption of the human race.