Embracing the Identity of a Hopeful Sojourner

1 Peter 1:1-5

August 25, 2013

A time of hopeful anticipation for many of us…

  • “I am excited about this new school year, and I HOPE it goes well.”
  • For yourself
  • For your kids
  • “I am excited about K-State football, and I HOPE they do as well or better than last year.”
  • “I am excited about NH going to 2 CG’s on Sept. 8th, and I HOPE we reach more people with the Gospel, and I HOPE more volunteers step up to serve, and I HOPE all the kinks get ironed out.”
  • “I am excited about LiT, and I HOPE many are able to take the classes, and I HOPE that more equipped & passionate workers are raised up for the harvest here and beyond.”
  • “I am excited about the GH, and I HOPE the necessary funds come in to complete it well, and I HOPE that God uses that tool appropriately to impact our community.”

What do all those statements of HOPEFUL anticipation have in common?

  • They are all really wishful thinking (which is how modern people define HOPE)
  • No real certainty at all to back the “HOPE”
  • You or your kids could face unseen difficulty beyond your control
  • K-State football could have lots of injuries, Snyder could head screaming to the looney bin, and they could finish 2-10 and even lose to KU!
  • NH could totally implode, the GH could burn down, and all NH’s leaders could be scattered…
  • I HOPE those things don’t happen, but I can’t place my HOPE fully in those things happening!

1 Peter series – Living as Hopeful Sojourners

  • Sojourner = temporary resident who is passing through

Today – Embracing the Identity of a Hopeful Sojourner

1 Peter 1:1 -- Peter,an apostle of Jesus Christ:To the temporary residentsdispersedin Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia

Vast area of roughly 129,000 square miles (Kansas is 82,277 square miles)

  • Vast geographical area with small cities few and far between
  • Diversified population (indigenous people, Greek settlers, Roman colonists)
  • Many different religions & languages
  • This untamed region became the CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY!!!

Who is Peter’s audience?

  • “temporary residentsdispersedin Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia”

“temporary residents dispersed”

  • Two primary options:
  • Pilgrims who had been reached during Pentecost
  • Acts 2:9-11 -- Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia
  • Does not seem to account for the idea of being “forcefully dispersed temporary residents”
  • Those pilgrims eventually probably just went back home of their own accord to their permanent earthly residences
  • Christians forcefully dispersed by Roman colonization
  • Roman colonization purpose:
  • “Romanize” a region (language, culture, politics)
  • Provide a strategic military presence, especially on frontiers
  • Foster commerce between distant regions of the empire
  • Emperor Claudius (AD 41-54)
  • Reign characterized by conquest & expansion
  • Established Roman colonies in all 5 of the regions listed in 1 Peter 1:1
  • Only emperor to have done so…
  • Timeframe fits neatly into traditional record of the era when Peter lived in Rome (from which he writes this letter)
  • Also historical record that Claudius expelled people from Rome who were associated with “Chrestus”
  • Choosing colonists
  • Sometimes chose the poor to give them chance to escape poverty
  • Sometimes chose to free slaves
  • Some volunteered for this because as colonists they often got:
  • Land
  • Promise of elite social status in the new colony
  • INHERITANCE HOPES
  • Placed military vets there if area was of strategic military importance
  • Often the colonists were NOT citizens of Rome
  • Foreigners who were transplanted to a new region where they would be viewed as foreigners as well
  • Reaction to colonists
  • Native population often despised them and even tried to hurt them
  • Because they messed with their lives & took some of their stuff
  • Colonists hope was in the distant protection of Rome

So what???

  • Lends great support to the historical reliability of the Bible
  • The more you dig the more you can trust God’s Word!
  • Peter (inspired by the Spirit) does an amazing job of encouraging these displaced believers
  • Ties into their social historical situation & provides spiritual instruction
  • Make no mistake, the encouragement in this letter is INSTRUCTIVE
  • Many here have a lot in common with these temporary residents(sojourners)
  • Like the colonists in 1 Peter, many have been converted to Christ elsewhere
  • Like the colonists, many find themselves in a temporary home (MHK)
  • College
  • Military
  • Limited job market
  • Like the colonists’ temporary home, MHK is not the most populated or most seemingly important location
  • But like the colonists’ home, MHK could become influential for Christ beyond our wildest imagination(Growing & Planting…)
  • Like the colonists, many here need help deciding…
  • How will you live and what will you live for in your land of sojourn?
  • How will you treat each other in this place of sojourn?
  • How will you endure various forms of opposition?
  • Ultimately, ALL OF US are sojourners like these colonists!
  • 1 Peter has much to say to us…

1 Peter 1:2 -- chosen2according to the foreknowledgeof God the Father and set apart by the Spiritfor obedienceand for sprinkling with the bloodof Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Actions rooted in the workings of the Trinity:

  • “chosen2according to the foreknowledgeof God the Father”
  • Far greater than the wisdom of the emperor in choosing colonists for his colonizing efforts
  • God the Father has chosen His followers
  • Romans 8:29 -- For those He foreknew He also predestinedto be conformed to the image of His Son
  • Matthew 23:37 -- “Jerusalem, Jerusalem!She who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicksunder her wings, yet you were not willing!
  • We must hold these two ideas in a seemingly mysterious tension
  • “set apart by the Spirit”
  • Far greater than being set apart for the emperor’s special purpose
  • The Spirit of God has called us out & marked us for His special purpose
  • What is the special purpose?
  • “for obedienceand for sprinkling with the bloodof Jesus Christ”
  • Far greater than being marked as a loyal subject marked with Roman citizenship
  • We have been set apart for loyal obedience to Jesus Christ who gave His life for us

Rooting our identity in these realities causes “grace and peace to be multiplied to us” and it prompts us to “3Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 1:3b -- According to His great mercy,He has given us a new birthinto a living hopethrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

  • “According to His great mercy,He has given us a new birth“
  • Just as the emperor offered colonists a new identity, in a much more stable and lasting way God has offered us a new identity through belief in Christ
  • Ephesians 2:4-5 -- God, who is rich in mercy,because of His great lovethat He had for us,5made us alivewith the Messiah even though we were deadin trespasses. You are saved by grace!
  • John 1:12-13 -- 12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believedin his name,he gave the right to become children of God—13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
  • Have you received this free gift?
  • “into a living hope”
  • Roman colonists were dispersed to live as sojourners with the hope of a better life.
  • Followers of Christ also live as sojourners, but with a living and real hope.
  • The philosophies of this world system are dead…
  • Eph. 2:12 -- At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise,without hopeand without God in the world.
  • 1 Thess.4:13 -- We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
  • The philosophies of the world system are dead because they have no foundation beyond themselves…
  • “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”
  • Roman colonists based their hopes in the ability of the emperor to deliver on his promises…far away…could die at any time or be taken out through rebellion
  • Followers of Christ have a living and reliable hope because it is rooted in the resurrection of Christ from the dead
  • Our hope is based upon a past historical event that ushered in an ongoing and unchanging reality – JESUS CONQUERED DEATH!!!
  • Peter was an eyewitness to this (died for it)
  • Over 500 others witnessed this
  • OT prophets predicted this event hundreds of years before it occurred (NEXT WEEK!)
  • Many world-class historians today argue that Jesus’ resurrection is the best-attested event in ancient history
  • This is not wishful thinking!

1 Peter 1:4 -- He has given us a new birth . . . into an inheritance that is imperishable,uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heavenfor you.

  • “He has given us a new birth . . . into an inheritance”
  • “Since wealth and inheritance were most often vested in land in the first-century world, a displacement from one’s homeland meant that whatever property one stood to inherit would be of uncertain benefit, if any. Thus, the loss of inheritance and family rights could lead directly to feelings of hopelessness.” (Karen Jobes, 1 Peter)
  • Romans fought to secure and protect inheritances…
  • Kind of like we kill ourselves to build up a nest egg for ourselves or for future generations…and freak out when it is depleted by economic downturns…
  • “an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heavenfor you.”
  • Our inheritance in Christ is completely secure…we can confidently anticipate it!
  • “imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heavenfor you”
  • So what?
  • Whether or not we buy into this impacts our time and money investment…
  • Luke 12:31-34 -- 31“But seek His kingdom,and these things will be provided for you.32Don’t be afraid,little flock,because your Father delightsto give you the kingdom.33Sellyour possessions and give to the poor.Make money-bagsfor yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasurein heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

1 Peter 1:5 -- 5You are being protected by God’s powerthrough faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

  • “You are being protected by God’s powerthrough faith”
  • Not only is your inheritance in Christ protected for you, but God is protecting you for your inheritance in Christ!
  • “for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
  • We get some down payments of our inheritance now, but the full inheritance is yet to come!

This leads me to some application thoughts…

  • We would be wise to practice the discipline of anticipation
  • This is not as hard or weird as we might think…
  • Me & RMNP:
  • A month or so before my mind starts to realize it is coming soon
  • I sometimes break out the hiking book and read up about some hikes
  • I start talking with my wife, kids, and others about ideas of what we will do out there this year
  • Sometimes I get online and look at the live webcam
  • I always have the potential to glance at the RMNP poster that is hanging in my office
  • Ideas:
  • Start to gather a reservoir of verses on our inheritance in Christ
  • Read Heaven by Alcorn
  • We would also be wise to regularly ponder our adoption in Christ
  • Ava’s constant interest in discussing the topic…amazed by it…
  • “I am a child of God. God is my Father & heaven is my home. Each day can be an investment in my true & lasting homeland. Every day my true home is one day nearer.
  • Become a child of God by receiving Christ!