Chosen to be Exiled

The Lord Has a Plan

Do you remember seeing the movie Apollo 13?

Yeah, for a few of us, it wasn’t a movie.

The trip was supposed to be the third moon landing.

NASA leaned in to the 13 thing and launched the rocket at 13:13 on April 11th, 1970.

I was in the eighth grade at Lindley Junior High School when the launch took place.

For those of you who might have no clue why this is significant, Apollo 13 was one of the very few space disasters we’ve had.

Long story short, there was an explosion in the service module of the spacecraft where all of the important stuff was located

Interestingly enough, it exploded on April 13.

And our astronauts came real close to dying in space.

But, with some good ole’ American know how, some derring-do on the part of the crew and the providence of God, these three astronauts lived to tell their tale.

Now, here’s what I want us to consider.

They were chosen for this task and were honored to be chosen.

Only 12 people in history has orbited the moon before them.

Only 4 had walked on the moon’s surface.

It was a huge privilege and they were excited to be chosen.

A little over 2 days into the trip, just about 210,000 miles from home, everything went haywire.

And there was no way to turn around.

There only choice was to continue towards the moon, slingshot around it and head back to the earth.

For three days, these three guys drifted through space having no real clue if they would ever see anyone they loved ever again.

How alone do you think they felt?

How hard do you think it would have been to believe it was all going to be ok?

What questions did they have of God right that moment?

You know the crazy thing - many of us have felt those same feelings at different points in our lives.

All kinds of crazy things happen

Life is hard sometimes.

And here we are - starting a new year and we have no clue how that’s going to turn out?

In every arena of life, last year was a hard year.

Will this year be easier?

Or will this year be difficult?

1 Peter is written to people who are living in uncertain times.

It’s written to folks who don’t know if today is going to be a great day

Or if today is going to be the worst day ever.

Peter wrote it for us.

Turn with me if you will to 1 Peter 1. It’s way back in the New Testament so it might take you a second to find it.

While you are looking, kids, I hope you find some things that really, really fascinate you.

I loved and still love, space travel.

It is adventurous, daring, we learn a lot when we do it.

Microwave ovens came from space research.

So did the calculator.

And it all reminds us of God.

Just stop sometimes and think about what you are doing

And think about how what you are doing shows you things about God.

Because everything we do, DOES show us things about God.

Jesus has a plan for you.

Listen closely today

You are going to hear how much Jesus thinks about YOU.

Alright everyone, with your Bibles open to 1 Peter, hear now the word of the Lord from 1 Peter 1:1-2

1 Peter 1:1–2 ESV

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Pray with me:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Please Lord, peel back everything we have covered you up with in our hearts

So we can see you - and for a few moments at the very least, we can revel in the fact that

You have chosen us to be on the greatest adventure of all time with you.

In Jesus Name, Amen

You are not an apostle

Just a quick time and place.

Most scholars think 1 Peter was written around 64 AD from Rome.

Now you might be thinking, Hey, Paul was in Rome - I wonder if they saw each other.

But more than likely not.

Most people believe Paul was executed for his faith in 62 AD - just before Peter got there.

Of course, this is scholars piecing together history from things that weren’t written as history, so it might be off a bit.

But the people to whom it is written in not in question.

And for them to listen to this stranger, well, he’s got to have some street cred.

So he starts his letter with, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ…”

To be an apostle, you’ve got to meet one very specific qualification.

You must have walked with Jesus face to face.

And of course, Peter did that.

So that’s the qualification, but what is the job description.

An apostle had the same power and authority as Old Testament prophets.

They healed people, right? Like Elijah did.

They wrote letters that were divinely inspired and were canonized as scripture - like Isaiah did.

They literally spoke for God.

Their words were inspired by the Holy Spirit so that we accept them as the Word of God.

You and I aren’t apostles.

If you see a church that has “Apostle so and so” on their sign, avoid them.

If they miss on that, what else will they miss on?

Peter has street cred because he walked, talked, ate, slept, denied, was forgiven by Jesus.

Peter was an apostle.

And this apostle wrote a letter to the “chosen exiles” in what is now the nation of Turkey.

The phrase chosen exile sounds like an oxymoron to me.

I’m chosen to be someplace I don’t want to be.

I’m chosen to do something I don’t want to do.

And yet, here I am.

Sometimes the Lord choses us to go where we might think we’d not like to be

An exile is someone who is forced out of where they want to be to go somewhere else that isn’t home.

It might not be that the place they go is horrible - in fact, when some of the Israelites were carried off to Babylon back in the Old Testament, they ended up liking it there.

Life wasn’t horrible.

It just wasn’t home.

It’s not where they expected to be, but the Lord had other plans.

Now, chosen here has a couple of applications.

Chosen means you were “selected deliberately out of others for a specific purpose or role.”

You and I were chosen by the Lord to be Christ followers.

A lot of people have trouble with that concept, that the Lord chose us or to use the dirty word, “predestined” us, but think about it like this.

A bunch of guys get together after church to play football.

They have no organization - no teams have been selected.

So, two team captains are selected - usually the most athletic or charismatic of the group.

And they start the process.

“I want you,” and they point to someone “to be on my team.”

You were chosen.

Now, you could say no.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that but it could happen.

You could say, “No, I don’t want to be on your team.”

But why would you?

If a round of choosing had already happened, it’s obvious you weren’t the other guys choice

Why would you say no?

When the Lord resurrects our dead spirits and gives us the ability to see Him

And to know His goodness, and to know that He is calling us to salvation

What kind of sense does it make for us to say no?

“Come to me and have an eternal adventure with me.”

“Nah, I think I would be better off if I just went to Hell.”

That would be the epitome of dumb.

But, and some of you are thinking

Chosen means some are not chosen

And that is true - look at Verse 2, “according to the foreknowledge of God.”

Boy this is packed full.

I’m certain you all remember our brilliant messages on the book of Romans.

And when we got to Romans 8:29 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

And I’m certain you remember what we said about foreknowledge.

Foreknowledge doesn’t simply mean that the Lord knows how everything is going to turn out

Which He does

But foreknowledge of a person means that the Lord made up His mind before the beginning of time, that He was going to love you.

Foreknowing is fore-loving.

Now, you can get hung up here if you want to - lots of folks do.

“How does a loving God not love everyone?”

Well, He does - go no further than John 3:16.

But for some reason only God knows, there are many in the world He will not chose - for His reasons.

I don’t know why - but I know this - the Lord is good and loving and just and merciful

And if He says He’s not choosing someone, then I trust that his judgement is true.

And I also know that I don’t get to say who He has chosen and who He hasn’t.

The thief of the cross would not have gotten my vote, but literally with just seconds left on the clock, the thief threw a Hail Mary to Jesus - “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Not - take me with you.

Not - save me from this.

Simply, remember me.

It’s like he was saying - “I know who I am, I know what I’ve done, if you would simply remember me, that would be enough.”

And what did Jesus say, “Truly, this day you will be with me in paradise.”

By the way, Jesus wasn’t surprised by the thief’s words.

The thief was on that cross - with the foreknowledge of God that he would be there and already loved by God

No “just as I am without one plea” at some cozy church altar somewhere.

No, this guy had to have nails driven in his wrists and in his ankles to get to the point where he realized just how sinful, just how bad he was.

Hanging by the son of God, comparing himself to no one else but Jesus, he knew he was wrecked.

So with no demand, he simply requested, remember me.

Listen guys, we are a reasonably affluent church.

We have more type A individuals in this place - we are the LinkedIn paradise for folks looking for leaders in business and schools and hospitals.

It’s so easy for us to look around ourselves at the rest of the rabble and be self-congratulatory.

We are good people by any person’s definition.

Until we turn our heads to the man on the cross in the middle and we realize

Had he not loved me before time began and had He not called me from death to life

I’d be nothing.

Look again at verse 2 - 1 Peter 1:2 “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit…”

Who made you what you are?

Sanctification is a really big word that simply means “making holy.”

You are where you are - you control the things you control - you have the success you have

Because the Lord chose you and then started training you.

Started making you holy.

Started making you like him - started making you different from everybody else

And that process of HIM making YOU

Don’t miss that - He made you.

You aren’t all of that and a bag of chips because you chose this Bible study

Or this Bible conference or whatever it is you are doing

Because the Holy Spirit of God is the one mentoring you.

He’s the one “who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way,” as John Maxwell said.

We could get into a wild discussion about winning football players giving the glory to God

And folks saying, as I have heard them do, “God don’t care about football games.”

And I don’t know if he does or not, but this much I do know.

Every player on every team that God had foreknowledge of

And every player on every team that God chose for His own

The Holy Spirit of God is working in each one of those every hour of every day making them holy

I think it’s a good thing when a player shows some humility by giving God the glory for the talents they have.

We sing “praise God from whom all blessings flow”

All means all - all the time.

Arrogance has no place in a Christian’s heart.

What does Jesus say in John 15:5

John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

So, if that’s the case

I’d best be paying attention to Jesus

1 Peter 1:2 “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

To me this is an interesting turn of a phrase.

Obedience to Christ and sprinkling with his blood - let’s keep this in context.

God knew you before time began and that very moment chose to love you.

From the moment He chose to resurrect your dead soul and call you to salvation, His Holy Spirit has been working to make you holy.

Making you holy means that you hang close to Jesus - “for obedience to Jesus Christ.”

He’s teaching you like a good Father what your good choices look like and what your bad choices feel like.

Good choices are when you keep your eye on the man on the middle cross.

Bad choices are when you look away and do your own thing.

And that is why this is worded this way.

His sanctification is working to make you holy.

Your fleshly desires lure you to do unholy things.

And the only way for unholy things to be washed away

Is for us to be sprinkled by the blood of Christ.

This is an allusion to an Old Testament where the blood of sacrificed animals was sprinkled on lepers to show that they were healed and clean.

We laugh at sin - we brag about some of the things we’ve done - our little angels say their first cuss word and we giggle.

But when we stop and look back at the man on the middle cross,

We have to shut our mouths.

It is His blood that is sprinkled on us when we get crazy.

The good news is - He knew we’d go crazy and even after we were chosen, He knew we’d need the blood of Jesus.

Can you hear the hope?

Peter ends verse two with, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

Essentially, may all of those things which we just talked about

That you didn’t deserve but that the Lord chose for you before time began

May you see that more and more and more and more

And may it give you peace more and more and more and more.

Because, let’s go back to the first words - elect exiles.

We are people who are someplace that is not home.

See, hidden in the word exile is a history lesson.

All of the exiles that God every chose - whether it was to Egypt or Assyria or Babylon

Every single time, what did God say?

“I will bring you home.”

Nothing has changed with God has it?

What he told Israel He is telling us now.

Learning how to be holy.

Striving to follow Jesus.

Repenting when we fail.

Learning more and more and more about the wonder of the grace the Lord is giving us.

Resting more and more and more in the peace that we are going home.

No matter how hard it is right now.

What will 2026 hold?

The Lord only knows,

But this much we know - whatever happens, we’re still going home.

Some of you are here this morning to hear how Jesus saves us.

If you understand it now - but you’ve never made your commitment to follow him

Do it now.

He wants you on the team or you wouldn’t be hearing this.

We’ll pray and sing.

I’ll be down front if you want to talk about Jesus.

And I really hope you do.

Let us pray.