Priorities for a Pilgrim People: Overview

I can’t think of a Christian I’ve talked to recently who isn’t feeling in some way disoriented. We are missing something real. There’s a pain I feel in not gathering right now. I know you hurt too.

I want to let you know that we’re thinking through all kinds of options. Can we use our land? Can we use our parking lot? Can we do radio? When will we be able to meet in homes? Because meeting really does matter. And we feel the pain of going without it.

I think during this season there’s an important mindset we need to have. Our current moment is highlighting the necessity of this mindset. We’re going to call it the pilgrim mindset.

The pilgrim mindset grasps deeply the reality that this world is not our home, and lives accordingly. Much of our frustration these days is because we’re trying to put down roots here.

But we can’t, not really We’ve decided this series: Priorities for a Pilgrim People. “This World is Not Our Home.” Next week, Lord willing: “Under God and Government,” trying to understand what God’s word says about how we relate to our government. After that: “Unity in the Church,” and lastly, “Fellowship with People You Disagree With.” Much of what we’re looking at will come from 1 Peter.

It’s written in the 60s AD, the cruel emperor Nero is ruling in Rome (where Peter is writing from), and the people Peter is writing to are in need of encouragement in the face of suffering.

1 Peter is a book written to pilgrim people. Wherever Christians are an opposed minority, the message of 1 Peter takes on renewed relevance. Even historically, scholars have noted that the popularity of 1 Peter is markedly higher in places where Christians are marginalized.

From the outset of the letter, Peter wants to arm his readers with a mindset that’s prepared to face trials. He doesn’t back away from it. The very first hint that Peter wants his readers to understand their role in the world as those who are misunderstood is by what he calls them in the very first verse: “To those who are elect exiles.” 

Those two words are the essence of the whole book. If you’re elect, you’re an exile. These two ideas are inseparable. To be elect of God is to be exiled on earth. Election means alienation.

Vs 17 he encourages them to conduct themselves with fear “throughout the time of their exile.” It’s one of Peter’s favorite metaphors. Look at chapter 2:11 “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh.” Again—Peter pounds away at this idea: “You’re an exile here. You’re a pilgrim. You’re a sojourner. You’re just passing through.”

How to adopt the pilgrim mindset:

1) Calibrate Your Expectations.

False expectations can hurt us. Have you ever had the experience where expectations ruined something? This happens sometimes with my kids. We’ve got a movie night on the calendar, and I find an old movie that I loved as a kid. So I hype it up, I tell them it’s hilarious, I build their expectations - and then they watch it and say, “Seriously, dad?” They’re disappointed.

If you have wrong expectations for life, you’ll end up disappointed. How do you expect this walk through life to go? Are you expecting God to make life easier? Are you expecting God to adopt your timetable? Do you think your faith should make things easier? Calibrate expectations.

There is a kind of incipient prosperity gospel that creeps into our thinking and causes us to think God is obligated to make our lives easy.

The church is better off when we understand that we are pilgrims, exiles here. Comfort makes us forget. But we must think of ourselves as exiles. It calibrates our expectations.

1 Peter 2:21”For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” 

4:1 “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.” 

4:12 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.”  (This is not strange! What’s strange is a church that never faces cultural opposition!)

5:8 “Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” 

Arm yourselves to think like a suffering Christ. Don’t be surprised at fiery trials. The devil is afoot. And listen, when you suffer for Christ, you join in that great cloud of witnesses who have stood their ground for Jesus. 

We must not be obsessed with the pipe-dream that since we’re Christians everything ought to go well for us. This is not true. We are exiles here, let’s calibrate our expectations accordingly.

2) Think about Heaven A Lot

A second priority for a pilgrim people is this: think about heaven a lot. How often do you think about heaven? How often do you think about your salvation? When the trial comes, don’t fixate on the trial. Peter, instead, is constantly calling his readers to “look up” from the trials. 

Like Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress, keep your eyes on the Celestial City - off in the distance, yes, but sure, real, and my destiny. We are people who put an arm around and say, “Look.”

3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” 

There was a day that the NT writers, Peter included, dreamed about. Look at 1:7 “may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 

Peter envisions a final day in the future when the fullness of the glory of Jesus Christ is revealed. And there’s a reason why Peter brings up the idea of the revelation of Jesus Christ: he saw a glimpse of it. You remember the Mount of Transfiguration, right? Peter was there. He was brought up with James and John. Matthew writes that his face shone like the sun. And Peter writes about the day when the glory of Jesus Christ is totally revealed. Oh, how he longed for it! He had a taste, an experience, but how badly did he long to behold God’s glory. 

Our Savior will come, in glory, in majesty, and it will be called the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Peter wants us to fixate on this future day of salvation.

Verse 13: “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 

4:13 “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”

5:1 “So I exhort the elders among you, as fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.” 

5:4 “And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory."

5:10 “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

Peter, in this letter repeatedly and unashamedly calls us to fix our minds on our future salvation, a future glory, a future day when the fullness of the glory of Jesus Christ is ours to enjoy. This is why Jonathan Edwards prayed: “O God, stamp my eyeballs with eternity!”

Here is our hope. Not in government, not in policies, not in legislation, not in educational systems or anything. Our hope is fixed on Jesus Christ, our salvation, and the future reward for everyone in Christ. 

What do you do with your own soul when it’s cast down? You rehearse the wonders of salvation. You tell yourself, “Every day is one day nearer.” You follow the example of G. Campbell Morgan who said, "To me the second coming is the perpetual light on the path which makes the present bearable. I never lay my head on the pillow without thinking that perhaps before the morning breaks, the final morning may have dawned. I never begin my work without thinking that He may interrupt my work and begin His own. This is now His word to all believing souls, 'Till I come.' We are not looking for death, we are looking for Him."

3) Be Holy

The message of 1 Peter is that Christians must live holy lives. The clearest place this is described is in verse 14-16 “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” 

Because God is holy, he requires that we be holy. What is holiness? It means separation—from sin, from impurity, and from the world. The idea is separation for consecration. I am not wrapped up in the sins of the world, so that I can be fully absorbed in my devotion to Christ.

If you do not care about being holy, you are not a Christian. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness is a mark of authentic Christianity.

Before a holy God, all humanity is guilty and deserving of righteous judgment. But God, in his amazing love, sent his Son Jesus to take upon himself the sins of everyone who trusts in him. If you’re not a Christian, you don’t hunger and thirst for righteousness, you must repent.

And then, the joyful pursuit of holiness ensues - not to earn anything, but to please God.

You may be successful as a politician without holiness. You may become successful as an athlete without holiness. You may be successful as a student or an actress or an artist without holiness. But you cannot be successful as a Christian without holiness. Holiness is a requirement for every Christian.

 If we’re already promised to be opposed for our beliefs, let’s not give the world more fuel to oppose us—by living in hypocrisy and sin and scandal. We want to be free from scandal and sin, so that the only thing about us that is offensive is the offense of the cross.

1 Peter 2:11-12 “Beloved, I urged you as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” 

Here’s how it happens. The culture is going to broad-brush Christians—calling us bigots, hate-mongers, intolerant and divisive people. And that’s how you’ll be thought of. And then one day you’re neighbors are going to get to know you and they’re going to hear that you’re a Christian. And the hope is that when they see your holy, honorable lifestyle, they say, “Where’s the bigotry? There’s no hate here.”  Your holy life is the platform for the good news.

And sometimes holy lives draws negative attention. 1 Peter 4:4 “With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.”

In that case: 4:14 “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed.” Friends, it is better to suffer than to sin.

Church, I’m thankful for your gifts, but I’ll always choose holiness over giftedness.

4) Be Prepared to be a Witness

A final imperative Peter calls us to is to “be prepared”—and specifically—be prepared to speak up. There’s a couple verses in chapter 3 that weave together all the themes we’ve been talking about this morning: proper expectations, rejoicing in the hope of salvation, walking in holiness:

Verses 14-15 say, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” 

He warns us about suffering for righteousness sake—that calibrates our expectations. He reminds us to honor Christ the Lord as holy—that’s walking in holiness. He implies that we have a hope in us that demands people’s attention. And what’s the call here? Be prepared to “make a defense to anyone who asks you.” 

Be prepared to “make a defense.” The greek word for defense is apologia, it’s where we get the word apology and apologetics. The call here is that every single Christian ought to be in a position to explain the reason they have for their hope.

Now, I don’t think this means every believer must master Kalaam’s cosmological argument. I think his call is for every Christian to be able to answer the question: “Why are you different? Why do you believe that way? Why do you act that way?” In other words, I think this is a clear call for every believer to know clearly the content of the gospel, to be able to articulate what Christ has done to save sinners. I think more and more we must be prepared to explain the gospel, and defend our hope in it, especially as the tides of culture shift.

Can you do that? Perhaps that’s a discussion you can have around the lunch table. What would you say if someone asked about the hope that was in you? What explanation could you give? 

Pilgrim people must never forget the reason why we’ve been left here, as a church, in the world. 1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 

DId you hear that? You are a people for God’s own possession. Why? So that you may proclaim excellencies! Beauties! Wonders! Glories! This is what the gospel is—not freeze-dried facts that lullaby our neighbors. This is the  gospel—the wondrous story of the Son of God living and dying and rising for sinners, offering forgiveness of sins, offering the gift of righteousness, offering access into the eternal joys of heaven. Be prepared to speak about excellencies, because that’s what we’ve been called to do.

Are you prepared? Maybe this is a good lunch conversation: If you were asked: “Why are you different?” Could you answer? Could you tell them about the hope you have?

We must be prepared to speak. To proclaim excellencies.

Some time in the 2nd century, in the middle of increasing persecution in the Roman Empire a man named Diognetus received a letter attempting to explain the Christian’s relationship to the world. This letter, now almost two thousand years old, though anonymous, remains one of the most beautiful and poetic descriptions of the pilgrim mentality.

For Christians are not differentiated from other people by country, language, or customs; you see, they do not live in cities of their own, or speak some strange dialect, or have some peculiar lifestyle…

…They live in both Greek and foreign cities, wherever chance has put them. They follow local customs in clothing, food, and other aspects of life. But at the same time, they demonstrate to us the wonderful and certainly unusual form of the own citizenship.

They live in their own native lands, but as aliens; as citizens, they share all things with others; but like aliens, suffer all things. Every foreign country is to them as their native country, and every native land as a foreign country. They marry and have children just like everyone else; but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are at present ‘in the flesh’ but they do not live 'according to the flesh.’ They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven…

They love everyone, but are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and gain life. They are poor and yet make many rich. They are short of everything and yet have plenty of all things. They are dishonored and yet gain glory through dishonor. 

Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life. They are attacked by Jews as aliens, and are persecuted by Greeks; yet those who hate them cannot give any reason for their hostility.

To put it simply—the soul is to the body as Christians are to the world…The soul is in the body but it is not of the body; Christians are in the world but not of the world.

I don’t think Christians are under persecution right now. But we certainly are pilgrims. Let’s never forget that the Christ we follow is a crucified, cross-bearing savior, the apostles we read were executed and exiled men, the prophets we’ve learned from were stoned and beaten and sawn in two, that our brothers and sisters around the globe face the pain of fierce opposition, and that we, in America, will soon catch up and join them. Let us embrace our destiny with joy, with hope, and with our eyes fixed on heaven. Let’s walk the Calvary Road together.