Chosen Exiles - 1 Peter 1:1-2

In this episode of "The Long Obedience," Pastor Santosh begins his study of 1st Peter by examining chapter 1, verses 1-2. He explores what it means to be a "chosen exile" whose primary identity is firmly rooted in Jesus, especially when navigating a culture that opposes Christian values. Santosh encourages his listeners to find deep comfort in the saving work of the Triune God, standing firmly in His true grace when life feels overwhelming and exhausting. 

Transcript

Speaker 0:01

Hello, friends. Welcome to the Long Obedience Podcast. This is a teaching podcast where we study scripture together and explore the connections between the words of the Bible and the world we find ourselves living in today. My name is Santosh Nen and I am your host. Today we begin our journey through the book of First Peter. And I honestly cannot think of a more relevant book for our time. 1 Peter is written to people who feel out of place. It's written to people who are trying to follow Jesus in a culture that does not share their values, people who are wrestling with things like pressure, discouragement, fear, confusion, suffering. And Peter is writing to encourage them. And he's going to encourage them not with shallow optimism. He's going to encourage them not with trendy self-help slogans. Peter is going to encourage these people with the truth. Truth that is sturdy enough to stand on. So today we're going to be looking at 1 Peter chapter 1, just the first two verses. 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 1 to 2. And I'd encourage you as we do these studies to uh use a Bible, use a real physical Bible and follow along with me, take some notes, and I think you'll get more out of it that way. But let's look at our passage. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those chosen living as exiles, dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. So I want to start by asking, doing a little bit of contextual work as we get into this into this letter. First of all, what's the purpose of this letter? Why did Peter write this letter? In 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 12, Peter writes, I have written to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. I have written to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. Peter writes this letter to encourage believers. We need encouragement when we are weary. We need encouragement when we are struggling. We need encouragement when following Jesus becomes costly because encouragement is the oxygen our soul needs to breathe. Encouragement is the oxygen our soul needs to breathe. And Peter says, I want to remind you that what you believe is true. This is the true grace of God. I think it was the novelist Frederick Biekner who uh, when he was talking about preaching, he said, people gather Sunday after Sunday wanting the preacher to tell them that this is true. This is really true. Our faith is true. And that's what Peter is doing here. This is the true grace of God. This is truth. This is reality. This is something solid enough to stand on. And then Peter says, stand firm in it. Stand in it, stand in the grace of God, stand in the truth of God, stand in what God says is real. Not in public opinion, not in cultural trends, not even in your own fluctuating emotions. Stand in the true grace of God. That is why he has written this letter. That's the purpose of this letter. And that is my hope for this podcast, too, as we start this podcast journey. This is really the first one. Well, I guess the first one was sort of an intro to the whole thing, but this is the first one that kind of models what this podcast is going to look like going forward. So my hope for this podcast is that you will be encouraged, that you will see the beauty and the truth of God's grace. And most importantly, that you will learn how to stand firmly in it, to stand firmly in the truth of God's grace. So let's take a look at the opening of the letter. And I, as I studied this, I saw three things kind of jump out to me. The first was identity, the second was chosen exiles, and finally the work of the triune God in our lives. So those three kind of points: identity, chosen exiles, and then the work of the triune God in our lives. First of all, identity. Peter opens the letter with these words Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now, those six brief words hold a wealth of meaning behind them. Peter is sharing his primary identity with us. Peter belongs to Jesus. Peter is sent by Jesus. Peter is an apostle of Jesus Christ. And what's fascinating is how much Peter's self-understanding has changed over time. If you study the Gospels, if you read through the Gospels, you start to see this character, Peter. Peter is impulsive, he's emotional, he's passionate, and he's inconsistent. He never does anything halfway. There are times he he shows incredible faith. And then there are times where he shows incredible fear. Matthew chapter 14, Peter steps out of the boat and walks on water towards Jesus. In that story, the disciples are in a boat. Jesus is actually walking on the water towards them. And out of all the disciples, Peter is the only one with enough faith or belief to trust that he can walk on the water just like Jesus. He does what is impossible because his eyes are on Christ. But then the text says he noticed the wind and the waves. Now, no doubt he was aware of the wind and the waves before, right? He knew that was there. But he noticed, he he pays more attention. He focuses on his context, on his surroundings. The focus is taken off of Christ and onto the surrounding context. And what happens? Fear takes over and he begins to sink. Peter is a man that has faith, but it's a faith that's mixed in with fear. He has courage that is mixed in with insecurity. In Matthew chapter 16, Peter makes this astonishing confession. He says, You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Jesus has sort of been quizzing the disciples. He wants to know what others are thinking of him, and they give all kinds of replies, like, you are the prophet who is to come. And it's only Peter who makes this confession: you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. And it's this incredibly poignant moment of revelation and faith where Jesus commends him for it. But it's only a few verses later, when Jesus is speaking about suffering and death, that Peter takes him aside and starts to rebuke him and says, that stuff is never going to happen. You are never going to be uh, you are never going to be abused. You are never going to be persecuted. And most of all, you're not going to die, Jesus. You see, Peter can't imagine a suffering Messiah. Peter's understanding is still shaped by human ideas of power and success. And Jesus' response is incredible. He says, Peter, you're not thinking about God's concerns, but human concerns. You are not thinking about God's concerns, but human concerns. When I read that as I was studying, I was so convicted because I realized how much of my own life is concerned with my immediate needs. How much am I concerned more about human concerns and not God's concerns? You see, Peter still has a lot to learn, and this leads up to perhaps the most painful moment in Peter's life, the night where Jesus is arrested. You remember, Peter has promised loyalty. He says, I'm the one out of all these guys, I'm going to be there right to the end. But under pressure, what happens? He cracks. He denies Jesus three times. And at that moment, he is confronted with the reality that his identity is actually rooted more in self-preservation than in surrender to Christ. Peter's denial exposes the reality of his own soul, that he is concerned more about himself than he is about following Jesus. What I love about Scripture, what I love about the Bible, what I love about the Gospels is the worst thing we do does not have to be the last thing that we do. And that's what happens with Peter. Because in John chapter 21, after the resurrection, we have this beautiful story of the restoration of Peter, where three times Jesus asks him, Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? And all three times Peter answers in the affirmative. And I believe this is the moment where Peter finally begins to understand who he truly is, where Peter finally enters into his true identity. He is not just a fisherman. He is not just a failed disciple. Peter is a human being transformed by the love and the grace of God. And it is this Peter, Peter, a servant, a messenger of Jesus Christ, who now years later can write with clarity and confidence. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. His identity is anchored in reality and in truth. And now this raises an important question for you. Who are you? What defines you most deeply? Your career, your success, your past failures, your political affiliation, your relationships, approval from others, achievements. Peter teaches us that our deepest identity must be rooted in our relationship with Jesus Christ. And sadly or honestly, that identity often gets clarified through failure, through suffering, and then ultimately through restoration. And we don't like that. I don't like that. Who likes suffering? Who likes pain? You know, my own family, we've gone through a season of suffering. I don't like the suffering. I don't like the pain. I don't like the loss. But you know what I do like? I like the results. I like the renewed intimacy with Jesus that I have experienced through the challenges we've gone through. I like the closer family bonds that I have with my wife and my children that we probably would not have had if we hadn't gone through these challenging things. Peter became Peter through grace. And so do we. The next phrase in the letter is fascinating, and this is my second point. Peter writes, To those chosen living as exiles, chosen to be exiles. At first glance, those words appear contradictory. Chosen and exiled, privileged and displaced, secure and uncomfortable. The word chosen means selected by God, the elect, the beloved, people upon whom God has set his love. But then Peter immediately follows that with exile, foreigner, stranger, sojourner, people living away from their true home. You may even use the word refugee. Peter is describing Christians as people who will never fully belong to the surrounding culture. Let's uh do a little bit of work here and remember the context that we're talking about. Peter is writing to believers who are scattered throughout the regions controlled by Rome. He calls it the diaspora. He calls them the scattered. These are people living in places shaped by Roman power, Roman religion, and Roman values. And consequently, Christians often found themselves at odds with the culture around them. They found themselves in contradiction to the culture around them. The Christians would not worship Roman gods or emperors. There was this new social reality called churches that brought together slaves and masters, rich and poor, Jews and Gentiles. I need to do a little bit more of work on this, but as far as I know, there were no other social structures existing at that time that were so egalitarian, where people from all kinds of social classes would gather together in one social community, as the Christian church did in the first century. That reality, the mere existence of the church, was socially disruptive in that world. Christians would also reject the public feasts and the rituals that were connected to idolatry and immorality. I think, and again, I have to do a little bit more work on this, is an understanding of how the Christian faith completely redefined greatness. I think Tom Holland has done some good work on this in his book Dominion and on some other articles about how radically counter-cultural Christianity was to the dominant ethos and culture of the time. So Roman society prized power, dominance, status, military strength, and public honor. Again, power, dominance, status, military strength, and public honor. But Christianity elevated and prized humility, servanthood, suffering, holiness, and care for the weak. You see how that's in diametric opposition to the ruling ethos or the ruling zeitgeist at the time? On the one hand, you have Rome, which was all about power and honor. And then all of a sudden, this new movement comes up that says what's important is humility, is servanthood, is suffering, is holiness, is caring for the weak. Fundamental contradiction here. That's why Peter says to them, Don't be surprised when you feel out of place. You are chosen exiles. I think that resonates deeply today with the church today in the West. Because if you follow Jesus seriously today, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you will be living in tension with the dominant culture. There will be moments when your convictions, your values will clash with the cultural values. This tension becomes especially sharp or focused around issues of sexuality, identity, ethics, truth, or the meaning of freedom itself. And to be honest, it can be exhausting. I remember talking with a pastor during a season when his church was wrestling with issues around LGBTQ inclusion. And he just made this comment about how exhausting it was to have those conversations. Living in contradiction to the surrounding culture can make you feel isolated. It can make you feel misunderstood. I know this is a big thing for folks in the marketplace or in the academy where you're the only Christian in your department. And you just feel different. You know you are different from everyone else. You start to feel like you don't fit comfortably anywhere. But Peter reminds us that we are not abandoned. We are not abandoned foreigners. We are chosen strangers. And there's a deep comfort in that. Peter keeps going. Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. And this is the final point. This is the triune reality or the Trinitarian reality taking place in our lives. Peter is showing us that the work of the entire Trinity is at work in our salvation. He lists off the Father, the Spirit, and the Son. First, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, before you ever sought God, God had set his love on you. In Ephesians 1, Paul writes, He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. This line, which I've probably read dozens of times, stops me in my tracks every single time. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. That means before there was anything, before there was the universe, before there was creation, you were in God's mind. He was thinking of you and he was planning for you. Your life is not random. You are not forgotten. You are not overlooked. God sees you. God knows you. God loves you. Then Peter says, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit awakens us spiritually. We're chosen by God the Father, and then the Holy Spirit awakens us spiritually. The Spirit convicts us of our sin. The Spirit draws us towards Christ. The Spirit transforms our character. The Spirit strengthens us in weakness. The Christian life is not self-improvement through human effort alone. I've been recently reading a number of popular self-help books by some of the top podcasters out there. And to be honest, the biggest problem in these self-help books is the first word, self. Because as I read them, I realize, oh, this is good stuff. But it's leaving out our incredible need for divine help, for mercy. We need the Spirit of God to activate within us the ability to become the true authentic selves he's created us to be. Then Peter says, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. The phrase sprinkled with blood points back to Exodus chapter 24, where there's this scene where Moses sprinkles blood on the people as a sign of covenant relationship with God. And Peter is saying a new covenant has been established through Jesus Christ. We are cleansed and we are forgiven. We are brought into relationship with God through the sacrifice of Christ. This is something really, really beautiful here. And this is something that if you really grasp a hold on, if you meditate on it, if you take this truth and integrate it into your life, it can give you so much hope and peace and power. And it's this truth: it's that the whole Trinity is involved in your salvation. The Father chooses, the Spirit sanctifies, and the Son redeems. The triune God is on your side. And this truth is so important when life becomes difficult. There are all moments in life when we battle fear, insecurity, doubt, temptation, and discouragement. There are moments when we wonder whether we are all alone, when we wonder whether we are failing, when we wonder whether we are going to make it. And it is in those moments Peter says, remember who you are. More importantly, remember whose you are. You were chosen by the Father. You are being transformed by the Holy Spirit. And you have been cleansed by Jesus Christ. Stand in that truth. Stand in the true grace of God. Those of you who know me know I'm a huge U2 fan, been a U2 fan my whole life. On their third album, War, the last track is just called 40. And it's Psalm 40. They sing the first three verses of Psalm 40. And in that, uh in Psalm 40, there's this line. I love that imagery. Being lifted out of a pit, being lifted out of miry clay. You can't stand on miry clay. It's always moving. He sets our feet on a rock, a picture of stability. And then he makes our steps secure. God takes us from instability to stability. He takes us from insecurity to security. He takes us from fear to confidence. And it's a confidence not in ourselves, in our gifting. It's a confidence in God. Peter is helping weary believers stand on solid ground. And maybe that's what you need today. I don't know where you're at. You know, one of the fun things about this podcast is we can have a two-way conversation. You can reach out to me and you can you can message me about where you're at or how this uh podcast is helping you. Because there might be some of you out there who are just plain exhausted. You are emotionally spent. You're at the end of your rope. You feel caught between cultures, you're trying to live for God, and yet the the forces of this world, the pressures of our culture are just pounding down on you or your family. You're feeling this pressure from outside and this turmoil on the inside. Peter's message to you in this season is stand firm in the true grace of God. Stand firm in the true grace of God. Not because you're strong, but because God is strong. Peter's final words in these verses are, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. What a stunning blessing. It's not may grace and peace be added to you, it's may grace and peace be multiplied to you. More grace, more peace, more strength, more assurance, more awareness of God's presence. And as I close this uh episode out this today, that's my prayer for you. That grace and peace would be multiplied to you, that you would know deeply in your soul that you are loved by the Father, you are transformed by the Spirit, you are cleansed by Jesus Christ. Whatever season you are walking through right now, my prayer and hope is that you would stand firmly in the true grace of God. Amen. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. Uh, and this is the way these things work. But if you can like, if you can subscribe, if you can share, it gets the word out, it helps me out a lot. That's it for now. I'll see you next time as we continue through 1 Peter together.