Lesson 1—I Peter 1:1-12—Learning to Be a Stranger

Introduction

Have you found yourself a stranger in a strange place?

Twenty years ago, I was in Vilnius, Lithuania. I decided to take a walk, counting on my ability to navigate where I wanted to go. I had been there for several days, so I felt comfortable.

I walked around but soon begin to wander where I was. And a sense of anxiety arose. I could not ask for directions because I did not know the language. Streets signs were all in Lithuanian. All I could do is wander around until I found something familiar.

Eventually, I wandered to the right spot.

That’s the feeling and sensation that Peter describes in his first letter. How do you live as a stranger in a strange land?

In the introduction to the book, Peter sounds the themes that contribute to living for Christ in an alien culture.

Discussion

About the Book

But first, lets zoom out and get an overview of 1 Peter.

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,” (1 Peter 1:1,)

By the title, Peter, the apostle of Pentecost is the author. This is disputed by a few but their theories have proven lacking. Peter brings his background to describe what following Jesus looks like. He has lived his life and is probably in the twilight of his life.

Peter writes his letter to “elect exiles” in the provinces of Asia Minor. It is a region that Paul and Barnabas seeded the gospel in their lives. From Acts, it tells us that this is where Paul took a more assertive stance toward Gentiles becoming Christians only through the blood of Christ without compliance with Jewish customs. As he made more converts, Jews ramped up their persecution.

Therefore, this letter appeals to the Gentiles. It lacks the Jewish flavor of James and applies to people who had been on the outside looking in for so long.

Peter was the perfect spokesman. He is the one who crossed the Gentile threshold in the church for the first time when he went to Cornelius’ house, sent by God.

He told of how hard it was and the lesson God taught him.

“He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.” (Acts 10:28)

It was then (with some slips in the future) that sealed Peter’s desire that the Gentiles be saved. They were not unclean or impure. Jesus died for them as well.

The background of the book is a spreading persecution of Christians. In 64 AD, Nero attempted to clear the slums of Rome by having henchmen set fire to them. However, the wind shifted and the fires spread to the wealthier parts of town.

Heads would roll and like any good politician, he shifted the blame. The Christians were mysterious so they were the perfect fall guys for the fire. From that moment, the growing wave of persecution began to roll through the empire.

It appears that it has not reached Asia Minor…yet. But we know within a generation it would become widespread.

This is a good hint that the letter probably came from around 67 AD.

Strangers in a Strange Land

Peter uses a term which would become the thread through the book—exile

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,” (1 Peter 1:1, NIV)

The word means to “live alongside” and denotes living in a place where you have an allegiance for home. They are exiles scattered from Rome by Claudius but also, in the larger sense, exiles living in a foreign world that does not share their values or hope.

We are exiles living in this world. We live alongside others but our allegiance is to the Lord and our hope is found somewhere else.

It is what marks people of faith. The Hebrew writer captures the heart of the exile.

These all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13)

During the Second World War, a group of German refugees came to the Boston area to escape Hitler’s oppression. On Sundays, they would meet in the chapel at Harvard. Students walking across campus on sunny afternoons could hear German voices singing lustily Martin Luther’s hymn, A Mighty Fortress is our God. They were singing songs both of faith and of home. Isn’t that what we do as well?

How do you live as a stranger in a strange land? How do we maintain faith in a world that acts antagonistic to it?

Peter, in this preface to his letter, does four things to bolster their ability to live the exilic life.

He Reminds Them of Their Identity

Who are you? That’s not an idle question. The truth is who we see ourselves to be will determine how we live our lives.

If you have the identity of someone who cares for their health, you will eat healthier and get exercise. You will see your doctor on a regular basis. The actions create the identity and the identity promotes the actions.

Think about what the Gentiles have always heard. For the Jews (out of which Christianity flowed) they were the mongrel dogs of the world, not worthy of attention or care. Jews believed (as Jonah showed) God had no use for them because the Jews were God’s chosen people. As one Jewish writer of the first century put it, the Gentiles “fueled the fires of hell.”

So, Peter wants to flip that. When Christ came, the “chosenness” was not through ancestery but through the grace of God displayed on the cross.

So he tells them:

“who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” (1 Peter 1:2)

The words stand as monuments of God’s action toward humanity, but don’t read ideas into them.

The foreknowledge of God is the term “prognosis.” In medical terms, a prognosis is the probable course of a disease. It is not determinate. God did not run a lottery where certain people were selected at random. That kind of thinking is an affront to a powerful God who has a plan.

The words echo with the Old Testament. God used them to describe Israel.

They were holy, or set aside people.

“for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 14:2)

He has chosen them, in spite of themselves.

“For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me.” (Isaiah 45:4)

Peter says they were “sprinkled.” Again, this is an Old Testament allusion, not a sacral one that came many years after Peter wrote.

The Old Testament describes only three times when someone is sprinkled.

When a leper receives cleansing (Leviticus 14)

When a covenant is sealed (Exodus 24)

When a priest is consecrated. (Exodus 29:20)

These are holy moments, ones of cleansing, sacred importance, and relationship. In short, Peter says, you are consecrated to God through the blood of Jesus.

Their identity is God’s chosen people based on his grace, not their standing. Their obedience is a testament to God’s grace shown in their lives.

He Reminds Them of Their Destiny

If they are God’s chosen people, what is in store for them?

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3–5, NIV)

Based on God’s mercy they have been born into a “living hope.” What kind of hope is “living?”

People can hope in empty things. They can buy houses they believe will provide them joy and comfort. Then, a late-night fire steals it. Hope that circumstances can destroy is not true hope.

Living hope is a hope that no man can extinguish.

For people who have houses confiscated due to their faith and lives put in peril, they need to remember that whatever the lose, they still have what is most important. If you can maintain your perspective in the midst of the trials of life, you can remain firm.

He also tells them they that are shielded by God’s power through faith. Their constancy of the faith in the face of the tyranny they face in their daily lives posts a guard in their lives. God will protect and keep them. Their future hope and life is behind God’s lock and key.

He Tells Them About Their Test

For the last year, the term “vaccine” has become common place. It has become a political football and a misunderstood concept.

Most vaccines give a small dose of a disease to let your body’s immune system build defenses against it. When I was in elementary school, they lined us up and shot us with a vaccination gun. In the vile was a minuscule dose of polio, a scourge that killed millions. The one dose kept me and others from getting the dreaded disease. It kept us alive.

Peter gives them a vaccine, a frank discussion about what is coming.

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6–7, NIV)

It seems apparent that they had not faced the brunt of persecution yet. They had not felt the fire but they could smell the smoke.

Like James that we examined, Peter tells them of “trials,” those experiences in life that act as a crucible. The fires of persecution reveals both their genuineness of their faith and also strengthens their faith.

It is worth more than silver and gold. The Gentiles would understand the reference. Perhaps many were slaves who had to use silver and gold to buy their freedom. Here, their faith is more valuable than even their earthly freedom.

A songwriter named Gungor wrote a song called Beautiful Things which captures Peter’s thought:

All this pain

I wonder if I'll ever find my way

I wonder if my life could really change, at all

All this earth

Could all that is lost ever be found?

Could a garden come out from this ground, at all?

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

We are right to want to avoid suffering for faith. But we need to remember that suffering is not a scourge, a punishment sent from God, but a purifying experience to make our faith even purer.

Keep that thought in mind, and you can stand the pressure.

Peter continues:

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8–9, NIV)

As an eyewitness who walked with Jesus, he elevates his audience to a higher level. It is easy to love someone you have experienced in the flesh. We love our mothers in a different way that we love an ancestor of a century ago that we have not met.

Their faith was not based on the human notion of acquaintance but the deeper sense of trusting a Christ because he is the Christ. That kind of endurance will bring a harvest of life for them in the end.

It is this salvation, he wants them to stand in awe.

He Has Them Wonder at Their Anticipated Salvation

In one of the most sublime passages from the New Testament, you hear of the glories of the salvation that was the centerpiece of God’s plan.

“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” (1 Peter 1:10–12, NIV)

Throughout the centuries, the prophets preached God’s message. They knew of something coming but did not know it precisely. It was like looking through a gauze curtain to make out the face of a visitor. You can see the form but not identify the figure.

They spoke in “some day” terms. They longed to know dates and times. It is like a man standing at a train station knowing a train will come but not having a train schedule. The certainty is there without the details.

Peter reminds them that the Isaiahs and Micahs and Hoseas preached God’s message for which they are the benefactors. They gave it up so they could enjoy the salvation of God.

Then, Peter raises the stakes. Even the angels with they had known what the Christians knew. They yearned for a glimpse of the plan of God that his audience now experienced.

We are truly blessed. We have access to things unknown for centuries. The secrets of God’s treasury are available to us. Why would you want to throw those away?

Conclusion

We are wanderers on Planet Earth. We live in houses and eat the food. We enjoy the place we live. But our hearts are in a place far away. We long for the day when we go home.

And our lives reflect that reality. Our values are not the same. Others oppose us and don’t understand us. Don’t judge too quickly. It is simply because they are not citizens of the kingdom.

In 1942, Louis Zamperini was in a B-24 liberator that went down in the Pacific. They drifted for days but then were picked up by the Japanese navy. He was sent to Japan and sent to a work camp unknown to the Americans. He received harsh treatment. He had run in the 1936 Olympics and almost won. When one of the guards learned of it, he told him to run as fast as he could. But as he stood up, the guard smashed his leg with a stick and he still had to run on broken legs.

His camp was close to a place in Japan called Nagasaki. One day a lone bomber made a lazy circle over the distant city and it evaporated in an atomic bomb blast.

After so many years, Louis Zamperini was on a plane that touched down in Bakersfield, California. There his mother hugged him and his sweetheart wept.

After all the pain of living in a foreign land he was home.

And one day, we will be, too.

Introduction

Have you found yourself a stranger in a strange place?

Twenty years ago, I was in Vilnius, Lithuania. I decided to take a walk, counting on my ability to navigate where I wanted to go. I had been there for several days, so I felt comfortable.

I walked around but soon begin to wonder where I was. And a sense of anxiety arose. I could not ask for directions because I did not know the language. The streets signs were all in Lithuanian. All I could do is wander around until I found something familiar.

Eventually, I wandered to the right spot.

That's the feeling and sensation that Peter describes in his first letter. How do you live as a stranger in a strange land?

In the introduction to the book, Peter sounds the themes that contribute to living for Christ in an alien culture.

Discussion

About the Book

But first, let us zoom out and get an overview of 1 Peter.

"trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow." (1 Peter 1:11, NIV)

By the title, Peter, the apostle of Pentecost, is the author. This is disputed by a few, but their theories have proven lacking. Peter brings his background to describe what following Jesus looks like. He has lived his life and is probably in the twilight of his life.

Peter writes his letter to "elect exiles" in the provinces of Asia Minor. It is a region that Paul and Barnabas seeded the gospel in their lives. From Acts, it tells us that this is where Paul took a more assertive stance toward Gentiles becoming Christians only through the blood of Christ without compliance with Jewish customs. As he made more converts, Jews ramped up their persecution.

Therefore, this letter appeals to the Gentiles. It lacks the Jewish flavor of James and applies to people who had been on the outside looking in for so long.

Peter was the perfect spokesman. He is the one who crossed the Gentile threshold in the church for the first time when he went to Cornelius' house, sent by God.

He told of how hard it was and the lesson God taught him.

"He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean." (Acts 10:28)

It was then (with some slips in the future) that sealed Peter's desire that the Gentiles be saved. They were not unclean or impure. Jesus died for them as well.

The background of the book is a spreading persecution of Christians. In 64 AD, Nero attempted to clear the slums of Rome by having henchmen set fire to them. However, the wind shifted and the fires spread to the wealthier parts of town.

Heads would roll, and like any good politician, he shifted the blame. The Christians were mysterious, so they were the perfect fall guys for the fire. From that moment, the growing wave of persecution began to roll through the empire.

It appears that it has not reached Asia Minor…yet. But we know it would become widespread within a generation.

This is a good hint that the letter probably came from around 67 AD.

Strangers in a Strange Land

Peter uses a term that would become the thread through the book—exile

"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia," (1 Peter 1:1, NIV)

The word means to "live alongside" and denotes living in a place where you have allegiance for home. They are exiles scattered from Rome by Claudius and, in the larger sense, exiles living in an alien world that does not share their values or hope.

We are exiles living in this world. We live alongside others, but our allegiance is to the Lord, and our hope is found somewhere else.

It is what marks people of faith. The Hebrew writer captures the heart of the exile.

These all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13)

During the Second World War, a group of German refugees came to the Boston area to escape Hitler's oppression. On Sundays, they would meet in the chapel at Harvard. Students walking across campus on sunny afternoons could hear German voices singing Martin Luther's hymn, A Mighty Fortress is our God. They were singing songs both of faith and of home. Isn't that what we do as well?

How do you live as a stranger in a strange land? How do we maintain faith in a world that acts antagonistically to it?

In this preface to his letter, Peter does four things to bolster their ability to live an exilic life.

He Reminds Them of Their Identity

Who are you? That's not an idle question. The truth is who we see ourselves to be will determine how we live our lives.

If you have the identity of someone who cares for their health, you will eat healthier and get exercise. You will see your doctor regularly. The actions create the identity and the identity promotes the actions.

Think about what the Gentiles have always heard. For the Jews (out of which Christianity flowed), they were the mongrel dogs of the world, not worthy of attention or care. Jews believed (as Jonah showed) God had no use for them because the Jews were God's chosen people. As one Jewish writer of the first century put it, the Gentiles "fueled the fires of hell."

So, Peter wants to flip that. When Christ came, the "chosenness" was not through ancestry but through the grace of God displayed on the cross.

So he tells them:

"who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance." (1 Peter 1:2)

The words stand as monuments of God's action toward humanity, but don't read ideas into them.

The foreknowledge of God is the term "prognosis." In medical terms, a prognosis is the probable course of a disease. It is not determinate. God did not run a lottery where certain people were selected at random. That kind of thinking is an insult to a powerful God who has a plan.

The words echo with the Old Testament. God used them to describe Israel.

They were holy or set aside people.

"for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession." (Deuteronomy 14:2)

He has chosen them, despite themselves.

"For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me." (Isaiah 45:4)

Peter says they were "sprinkled." Again, this is an Old Testament allusion, not a sacral one that came many years after Peter wrote.

The Old Testament describes only three times when someone is sprinkled.

When a leper receives cleansing (Leviticus 14)

When a covenant is sealed (Exodus 24)

When a priest is consecrated. (Exodus 29:20)

These are holy moments, ones of cleansing, sacred importance, and relationship. In short, Peter says, you are consecrated to God through the blood of Jesus.

Their identity is God's chosen people based on his grace, not their standing. Their obedience is a testament to God's grace shown in their lives.

He Reminds Them of Their Destiny

If they are God's chosen people, what is in store for them?

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3–5, NIV)

Based on God's mercy, they have been born into a "living hope." What kind of hope is "living?"

People can hope in empty things. They can buy houses they believe will provide them joy and comfort. Then, a late-night fire steals it. Hope that circumstances can destroy is not true hope.

Living hope is a hope that no man can extinguish.

People who have houses confiscated due to their faith and lives put in peril need to remember that whatever they lose, they still have what is most important. If you can maintain your perspective amid the trials of life, you can remain firm.

He also tells them they that are shielded by God's power through faith. Their constancy of the faith in the face of the tyranny they face in their daily lives posts a guard in their lives. God will protect and keep them. Their future hope and life are behind God's lock and key.

He Tells Them About Their Test

For the last year, the term "vaccine" has become commonplace. It has become a political football and a misunderstood concept.

Most vaccines give a small dose of disease to let your body's immune system build defenses against it. When I was in elementary school, they lined us up and shot us with a vaccination gun. In the vile was a minuscule dose of polio, a scourge that killed millions. The one dose kept me and others from getting the dreaded disease. It kept us alive.

Peter gives them a vaccine, a frank discussion about what is coming.

"In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:6–7, NIV)

It seems apparent that they had not faced the brunt of persecution yet. Christians had not felt the fire, but they could smell the smoke.

Like James that we examined, Peter tells them of "trials," those experiences in life that act as a crucible. The fires of persecution reveal both the genuineness of their faith and also strengthens their faith.

It is worth more than silver and gold. The Gentiles would understand the reference. Perhaps many were slaves who had to use silver and gold to buy their freedom. Here, their faith is more valuable than even their earthly freedom.

A songwriter named Gungor wrote a song called Beautiful Things which captures Peter's thought:

All this pain

I wonder if I'll ever find my way

I wonder if my life could really change, at all

All this earth

Could all that is lost ever be found?

Could a garden come out from this ground, at all?

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

We are right to want to avoid suffering for faith. But we need to remember that suffering is not a scourge, a punishment sent from God, but a purifying experience to make our faith even purer.

Keep that thought in mind, and you can stand the pressure.

Peter continues:

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:8–9, NIV)

As an eyewitness who walked with Jesus, he elevates his audience to a higher level. It is easy to love someone you have experienced in the flesh. We love our mothers differently than we love an ancestor of a century ago that we have not met.

Their faith was not based on the human notion of acquaintance but the more profound sense of trusting a Christ because he is the Christ. That kind of endurance will bring a harvest of life for them in the end.

It is this salvation he wants them to stand in awe.

He Has Them Look at Their Anticipated Salvation

In one of the most sublime passages from the New Testament, you hear of the glories of the salvation that was the centerpiece of God's plan.

"Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things." (1 Peter 1:10–12, NIV)

Throughout the centuries, the prophets preached God's message. They knew of something coming but did not know it precisely. It was like looking through a gauze curtain to make out the face of a visitor. You can see the form but not identify the figure.

They spoke in "someday" terms. They longed to know dates and times. It is like a man standing at a train station, knowing a train will come but not having a train schedule. The certainty is there without the details.

Peter reminds them that the Isaiahs and Micahs and Hoseas preached God's message for the benefactors. They gave it up so they could enjoy the salvation of God.

Then, Peter raises the stakes. Even the angels with they had known what the Christians knew. They yearned for a glimpse of the plan of God that his audience now experienced.

We are truly blessed. We have had access to things unknown for centuries. The secrets of God's treasury are available to us. Why would you want to throw those away?

Conclusion

We are wanderers on Planet Earth. We live in houses and eat the food. We enjoy the place we live. But our hearts are in a place far away. We long for the day when we go home.

And our lives reflect that reality. Our values are not the same. Others oppose us and don't understand us. Don't judge too quickly. It is because they are not citizens of the kingdom.

In 1942, Louis Zamperini was in a B-24 liberator that went down in the Pacific. They drifted for days but then were picked up by the Japanese navy. He was sent to Japan and sent to a work camp unknown to the Americans. He received harsh treatment. He had run in the 1936 Olympics and almost won. When one of the guards learned of it, he told him to run as fast as possible. But as he stood up, the guard smashed his leg with a stick, and he still had to run on broken legs.

His camp was close to a place in Japan called Nagasaki. One day a lone bomber made a lazy circle over the distant city. It evaporated in an atomic bomb blast.

After so many years, Louis Zamperini was on a plane that touched down in Bakersfield, California. There, his mother hugged him, and his sweetheart wept.

After all the pain of living in a foreign land, he was home.

And one day, we will be, too.