LIFE Groups Guide

Things Your Pastor Wants You to Know

Strangers in a Strange Land

1 Peter 1:1-12

June 26, 2016

PREPARATION

> Spend the week reading through and studying 1 Peter 1:1-12. Consult the commentary provided and any additional study tools (such as a concordance or Bible dictionary) to enhance your preparation.

Determine which discussion points and questions will work best with your group.

> Pray for our pastors, the upcoming group meeting, your teaching, your group members, and their receptivity to the study.

HIGHLIGHTS

Biblical Emphasis: Peter wrote a letter to the persecuted and scattered churches of Asia minor to encourage them to be faithful to Jesus in a world that is increasingly hostile to their beliefs.

Teaching Aim: By God’s design, we are strangers in this world. When we embrace what it means to live out of place, we live according to the life God has called us to.

Memorize: 6You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials 7so that the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. –1 Peter 1:6-7

INTRODUCTION

As your group time begins, use this section to help get the conversation going.

  • Have you ever traveled to a place where you did not speak the native language? If so, where?
  • What was your experience like as you tried to do even basic things, such as order food and find a desired destination?
  • As we’ll see in our passage, the Bible speaks of Christians as strangers or foreigners in this world. What is one tension you have experienced lately living as a Christian in this world?

Traveling abroad has a way of upsetting our sense of equilibrium. The time changes. The language is different. Currency must be exchanged. Basic tasks we do every day at home are foreign and more complicated. We lose our sense of what it means to be at home.

As Christians, in a sense, we should feel this way all the time. Our true citizenship is in heaven. We are strangers in a strange land. Peter called us strangers and temporary residents (1 Pet. 2:11). John warned about love of the world (1 John 2:15). Paul was deserted by Demas who “loved this present world” (2 Tim. 4:9). The teaching of the New Testament is clear—we must be careful to see the world as a place we are traveling through, not one we are at home in. Our true citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20).

UNDERSTANDING

Unpack the biblical text to discover what Scripture says or means about a particular topic.

> Have a volunteer read 1 Peter 1:1-2.

  • How does Peter introduce himself in verse 1? What is significant about the title Peter uses to describe himself?
  • What do you know about Peter from the Gospels and Acts? What was Peter like? What made him worthy to be an apostle?

Peter was both eager and brash. He was the first person out of the boat to meet Jesus when Jesus walked on water, but he also quickly lost sight of Jesus and began to sink (Matt. 14:23-33). Peter was the first to speak when Jesus asked questions, but often put his foot in his mouth (Matt. 16:13-23). Peter confidently promised that he would never deny Jesus (Matt. 26:35), only to find himself denying Jesus three times. Peter had a humble upbringing as a fisherman. Yet despite this and his personal weaknesses, God’s spirit empowered him to become a fisher of men as he boldly led the charge in preaching the gospel in the face of persecution in the early days of the Christian church (Acts 1–7).

Peter’s unique experiences, failures, triumphs and suffering as a follower of Christ equipped him to speak timely words of encouragement to Christians in Asia Minor who were living under the threat of increased persecution. More important than his past experiences, Peter had been chosen by God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, which gave him authority to deliver God’s truth.

  • How does Peter describe the members of the churches from various communities in Asia Minor in verse 1? Why do you think he describes them this way?
  • Do you think of yourself as a “temporary resident”? Why or why not? How might your perspective and priorities need to change for you to begin seeing yourself this way?

Christians in America (and in the world in general) are strangers in a strange land. We have been chosen by God to live this way. We are no longer our own—He has chosen us and set us apart for His holy purposes. We are exiles—we do not ultimately belong to this world, nor do we “fit” in it. We live in a world that is corrupted by sin, a world that increasingly does not understand us, yet God has appointed us to live in this world as strangers for His glory.

> Have a volunteer read 1 Peter 1:3-9.

  • What was God’s motivation for giving us new birth? What key event does our salvation hinge upon?
  • What does it mean to have received a living hope, and how does Jesus’ resurrection deliver it to us? How does living for this make us strange?

Everyone who believes in Jesus as the resurrected Lord and Savior is born again. This faith secures for us an eternal and unshakable future hope and confirms our purpose in the present. Because of what Christ has done for us, we are free from living for the pleasures of the moment and can focus our lives on glorifying God by advancing Christ’s kingdom. Unlike those around us, our lives are now dependent upon what we receive from Christ rather than what we receive from the world.

  • How does our new birth enable to us to live in any circumstance with joy and hope?
  • What were the present circumstances of the believers Peter was writing to? How is the world changing around us even now?
  • How can we rejoice in the midst of various trials? What would Peter have us focus on the midst of suffering?

Peter referred to his readers as “temporary residents” and “strangers” (1:1; 2:11). They were looked down upon by others in society and were constantly pressured to compromise their faith. In the midst of difficulties, Peter called upon his readers to rejoice in the salvation that is theirs in Christ, a salvation that had secured for them an “imperishable” and “undefiled” inheritance. Suffering would produce two results. First, it would demonstrate the genuineness of these believers’ faith. Secondly, persecution would result in praise, glory, and honor. God will crown His people who are faithful through persecution with all the honor heaven can bestow.

  • In verse 9, what does Peter identify as the goal of our faith? How is this goal achieved?

Followers of the crucified and risen Lord can face any animosity or persecution with confidence. Our security flows from the salvation awaiting us in eternity, a salvation we already experience. This salvation is the goal of our faith. We know all of history and divine revelation are moving toward what we experience now and expect to receive in the future. No matter what suffering Christians face, they know those trials are not their final experience. The trials are temporary, yet they are valuable because they refine and strengthen faith.

> Have a volunteer read 1 Peter 1:10-12.

  • What do we know about this salvation that Peter speaks of in verse 10 (see vv. 3-9)?
  • What does Peter say these prophets searched and inquired carefully for? Why do you think Christians in Asia minor needed this reminder? Why do we need this reminder?
  • How does our devotion to God’s Word make us seem strange to the culture we live in?

Living as a stranger is rooted in a trust in God’s Word, which perhaps is the thing that makes us the most strange. The focus of the prophecies of the Old Testament was the “grace” that is ours in Christ. The fact that the prophets were indwelt with the Spirit of Christ as they foretold the coming, suffering, and glory of Christ tells us something very important about the Old Testament and the Bible as a whole: All of Scripture tells one unified story of salvation by grace through faith in Christ. The Old Testament constantly points us forward to the coming Messiah who would forgive, cleanse, and restore sinners to a right relationship with God. The New Testament demonstrates how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of these promises.

APPLICATION

Help your group identify how the truths from the Scripture passage apply directly to their lives.

  • Do you live as a stranger in this world, or as someone who is far too comfortable? How should our relationship with the world change if it truly isn’t our home?
  • How can we as a LIFE Group keep one another focused on what is most important in this regard?
  • How does the tension of feeling strange and out of place drive us to a sense of mission?

PRAY

Praise God for redeeming you through His Son. Pray that we would be faithful to His calling as we live as strangers in a strange land. Ask that God would protect you from being too comfortable in this world through your increasing dependence on His Word.

COMMENTARY

1 Peter 1:1-12

1:1. The author identifies himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ. He distinguishes himself from the many false apostles who visited the churches in that day. An apostle is “one who is sent out with a message.”

The letter is addressed to God’s elect, and to those who have been chosen (v. 2). These two expressions—mirror images of each other—are inserted early on, to provide comfort. In his greeting Peter’s primary purpose was to strengthen Christian faith in the midst of suffering, not to teach the intricacies of doctrine. In themselves, believers are just ordinary people, but the gracious choice of God makes us what we are—the ones whom God favors and loves.

Peter describes the believers to whom he wrote as being strangers who are scattered. They included both Jewish and Gentile people who had become followers of Jesus Christ. They did not live in the heartland of God’s people Israel. Neither did they live close to the mother church of Christianity, also in Jerusalem. Rather, they formed the Diaspora (which derives from the Greek word for “strangers”). That is, they had been dispersed or scattered to other cities and countries all over the world. Specifically, he wrote to believers living in what is now northern Turkey, some five hundred to eight hundred miles from the hometown of God’s people and God’s church. They could easily have felt isolated and insignificant. Peter says to these people, “Take courage. Wherever you live geographically, in Christ you are part of God’s elect. He chose you.”

1:2. Peter’s initial desire was to give the believers a lift, an encouraging word. His emphasis in these first two verses should most likely be translated: “To the chosen ones who are strangers in the world, scattered. . . according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.”

Peter linked their scattering to the foreknowledge of God. In other words, the difficulties God’s people face do not surprise God. God the Father knows about everything his chosen people face. He works it all out as part of his plan. According to the foreknowledge of God the Father also suggests that all we go through is “according to God’s fatherly care.” God knew our circumstances of pain before the world began and cares for us in accordance with his fatherly care.

This occurs through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Even in the midst of pain, the Holy Spirit is molding, shaping, and growing believers. The Holy Spirit is turning every circumstance, every sorrow, every hardship into a tool of spiritual maturing.

In the same sentence Peter spoke of being obedient to Jesus Christ. Obedience conveys the idea of listening and submitting to what is heard. It involves a change of attitude in the believer. In the midst of pain, it is difficult to listen to God, let alone obey him. Yet, since we are chosen of God and are objects of his fatherly care, we are never out of his plan. He is designing our sanctification, our spiritual growth. Knowing that, we can continue, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, to obey the commands of Jesus Christ. That obedience begins with accepting Jesus as personal Lord and Savior and continues by living life each day just as Jesus told us and leads us to live it. We obey the call of Jesus to salvation, the word of Jesus in the Bible, and the encouragement of Jesus found in personal relationship with him each day.

Sprinkling by his blood reflects the language of Numbers 19 and the red heifer purification rites (cf. Exod. 24:4-8; Heb. 9:13-21; 10:22,29). For Christians, the blood of Christ on the cross covers our sins and brings us salvation.

To people sprinkled with Christ’s blood and obedient to Christ, Peter gave the typical Christian greeting. Peace reflects the Hebrew greeting shalom, wishing wholeness and meaningful life. Grace is the explicitly Christian greeting, placing believers under the blood of Christ to receive God’s free, undeserved grace and hope for living each day.

1:3. Peter piled up expressions in verses 3-5 to talk about a believer’s relationship with God through salvation. His opening words are those of worship and praise, reminding us that salvation did not come because of who we are or because of what we have accomplished. Salvation came as a gift of mercy. Salvation represents a new birth (see John 1:13), a changing of who we are. Salvation makes us dead to sin and alive to righteousness in Christ.

Peter linked our salvation relationship to what he termed “a living hope.” Peter is without question the apostle of hope. The hope that he had in mind is the eager, confident expectation of life to come in eternity. Hope in the New Testament always relates to a future good! Amid present and difficult dangers we are justified in viewing the future with optimism because we are securely attached to the God who deals in futures. Furthermore, our hope is a living hope because it finds its focus in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Our living hope comes from a living, resurrected Christ.

1:4. Peter used the word inheritance to describe our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Inheritance emphasizes the believer’s eternal home in heaven. Peter used a triple word picture to describe this inheritance. Our inheritance can never perish, spoil or fade. These three verbal adjectives indicate that the inheritance is untouched by death, unstained by evil, and unimpaired by time. Our inheritance is death-proof, sin-proof, and time-proof. This inheritance is kept in heaven, for believers. Kept means “to guard or reserve.” The tense of the verb emphasizes the state or condition and underlines the fact that the inheritance already exists and is being preserved. God himself has reserved this inheritance in heaven for believers, and it continues to be there, still reserved for us. The difficulties we experience cannot undermine the certainty of our coming inheritance.

1:5. The salvation that is ready to be revealed is synonymous with the inheritance described in verse 4. Believers are cared for by God the Father. We are shielded by God’s power. Shielded means “to guard” or to “watch over.” This military term describes how soldiers guard someone. The present tense emphasizes the continual nature of this shielding. It does not suggest that believers are shielded from pain, difficulty or anguish. It means that God himself guards and watches over our salvation, our inheritance. Our relationship with God now as we grow more like Christ is a foretaste of that salvation which will be revealed when Christ returns.

1:6. This kind of care from God the Father suggests a response of great rejoicing. Verse 8 repeats this emphasis on joy, calling it an inexpressible and glorious joy. Such joy springs from the contemplation of God and of the salvation that comes to us from God.

This joyous response occurs even in the midst of grief caused by suffering through all kinds of trials. Suffer grief forms a metaphor derived from a military expression for being harassed. It includes the inner mental distress or sadness that comes because of painful circumstances. All kinds of trials literally means “varied, multicolored, or diversified” trials. This takes on a depth of meaning against the background of the ghastly persecution led by the Roman emperor Nero. In that persecution, Christians were wrapped in freshly slaughtered animal skins and fed to dogs and wild animals. They were dipped in pitch or tar and set on fire as torches to light Nero’s gardens at night. This persecution was the first of nine that took place under the Roman Empire during the next 250 years. Peter himself very likely died during this first persecution.

All of this sheds some light on the expression Peter used to describe these varied trials: a little while. Suffering here is brief in light of our inheritance that lasts for eternity. Regardless of how long our trials last, that length of time is nothing in light of eternity.