Focus on your identity

Scene 1/ Introduction - We complain about the difficulties of living for Christ today but consider the situation of the disciples to whom 1 Peter was written. 1:1-2

We are fairly sure that Peter’s first letter was written between AD 62 and AD 64 from Rome.

It was a time when Christianity wasn’t illegal, nor was it yet the target of state sponsored persecution.

State sponsored persecution began in a formalised way late in AD 64 when the Christians were used as a scapegoat by Nero after the great fire of Rome.

Even then the persecution was limited to the localised area of Rome; it wasn’t until the Emperor Domitian who ruled from a.d. 81–96 that widespread systematic persecution occurred.

Instead this was a time when Christians were seen as somewhat antisocial.

They didn’t worship in the pagan temples.

As a result they were immediately viewed with suspicion whenever some natural calamity such as a damaging storm, drought, flood or other event occurred which might indicate the gods were unhappy.

Christians were also seen as an extreme sect on the edge of Judaism and while the Jews had a level of official protection, it was known that they were hostile to the Christians.

And even then there was a growing suspicion of the worship practices of the Christians.

Their references to each other as brother and sister.

What we know as communion being referred to as the body & blood of Christ.

All these things had connotations which caused the Christians to be viewed with suspicion.

So the Christians that Peter is writing to are having a difficult time.

And they are scattered in small groups across what is now part of Turkey.

1 Peter 1:1 tells us that they are living in the provinces of “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (1 Pet 1:1).

Scholars have worked out that this list probably represents the circular route that Silvanus, who is mentioned at the end of the letter was to take on his journey to the churches in this region.

As Silvanus travelled through this area he would have arrived at the port of Amisus (modern Samsun), then travelling through Amasia in eastern Galatia, Zela, Caesarea in Cappadocia, Iconium, Pisidian Antioch, and Laodicea, and then perhaps, if time allowed, into other churches of Asia (Colossae?, even Ephesus?), then finally to Nicea, Nicomedia and Chalcedon. From there the messenger could board a ship in nearby Byzantium and return to Rome. (See map on p. 19.)

This circular route means that all the major centres of Christian influence in Asia Minor would be reached by the letter.

Copies would have been made at each stop and distributed to the smaller churches in neighbouring cities.[1]

Some of these churches had been founded by Paul and the fact that Peter doesn’t mention that Paul is with him in Rome helps us to narrow the time of this letter down to just before Nero’s persecution.

We know that Peter was in Rome by this time and that Paul was probably released from prison in Rome about AD 61 and went on another missionary journey during which he wrote his letter to Titus & 1 Timothy.

Later on Paul probably came back to Rome as a prisoner; wrote 2 Timothy and then both Paul & Peter died sometime between AD 65 to AD 67 during Nero’s persecution.

So things are difficult for these believers and Peter writes to them as an Apostle to encourage them in their difficult time.

In verse 1 Peter writes that they are foreigners, they do not belong where they are.

He is using the same concept that is applied in Hebrews 11:13 to all the heroes of the faith from Abel to Abraham who acknowledged that they were ‘aliens and sojourners on the earth’[2]

The believers in 1 Peter are the new people of God, but as God’s people they are disenfranchised, discriminated against, and mistreated. Their home is not earth but heaven.[3]

But how were they to deal with this?

How were they to live when they had become aliens in a strange and foreign land, a land which was actually their own, but where they no longer belonged?

Scene 2/ They were instructed to keep an eternal perspective, to realise where they had come from and where they were going. 1:2-5

They had not come from their home cities, nor where they going to their home cities.

These were now merely the places where they had been physically born.

Yes for most of them, their human culture, their ethnicity, their childhood, their friendships and family were all in these places.

But this was no longer their reality; it was simply where they resided now that they had been born again.

Have a look at verse 2.

This is the eternal perspective.

God knew us from before time began, he chose us.

And in Christ we have been made clean.

These three wonderful realities change everything.

Firstly God the Father knew us.

Here we encounter God’s omniscience.

And while you can tie yourself up in all sorts of theological and philosophical knots trying to understand how God knows everything that has, will & could happen and how that interacts with the idea of free will we won’t get sidetracked.

Instead let’s focus on what it means for us personally that God knew us and chose us.

This is more than simple knowledge that we would respond to the Gospel message.

This is knowing people with a personal, loving, fatherly knowledge (Rom. 8:29; 11:2; 1 Pet. 1:20; cf. ‘know’ in John 10:14; 1 Cor. 8:3; 2 Tim. 2:19).

And it suggests that God’s fatherly care for you existed before the world was made’.[4]

Quite simply God is personally interested in each one who is living as an alien in a strange and foreign land.

That is all who trust in Christ.

You & I.

A part of this knowing is God’s choosing us.

And this choice is part of our being made clean by the blood of Christ.

Here we see symbolism.

Washing something with blood doesn’t literally physically make something clean.

Actually it makes a big mess.

Whether it be slaughtering an animal or simply getting the meat ready for the BBQ.

Blood makes a mess.

But the symbolism is what is important.

In the Old Testament blood signified life.

The penalty for sin is death and to atone or pay for the sin a life is required.

The blood of sacrificed animals symbolized that atonement, that payment.

It was an acted out expression of a spiritual truth.

Sin must be paid for.

But in this case in verse 2 of 1 Peter there is a secondary meaning.

The idea of cleansing by blood carries with it the idea of the ceremony required for someone healed of a serious skin disease.

The sort of sickness that would require a person to be quarantined and excluded from the society.

Where they would have to call out “unclean, unclean” as they walked along so that others could stay clear of them.

The ceremony which was required to demonstrate that they were in fact cleansed of this disease required two birds.

One would be sacrificed and its blood mixed with water and then sprinkled on the person declared clean.

The other bird would be freed, symbolizing that the sin had gone away.

When you couple this with the reference to the work of the Holy Spirit also in verse 2 we get the whole picture.

This is the initial saving work of Christ, where we are made right and acceptable in the sight of God and it is the ongoing work of being made more and more like Christ as we are forgiven of the sin that keeps pulling us back.[5]

The people living as aliens in a strange and foreign land faced many temptations; but their new reality was Christ.

This is why verses 3 to 5 speak of the inheritance of eternal life.

It is ours because of the truth that we are made new in Christ by his sacrifice and our ongoing sanctification, the transformation which makes us more like him.

The inheritance is free of any corruption and as verse 5 tells us, even though we live in a time and place of corruption, we are being kept or preserved for the time when we will be in that place that is free of decay.

Just as a sealed container keeps the food inside it free of contamination from the outside world; so the grace of God protects us ready for the perfection of heaven.

Scene 3/ This eternal perspective is the key to coping with difficult times because it helps us to focus on the eternal rather than the temporary pain. 1 Peter 1:6-7

Sometimes it is really difficult when you come across a person who has a bright outlook on everything.

They might have broken a leg, but they say, “Hey I didn’t break my neck!”

They might have broken their neck and be in a wheelchair, but they say, “Hey I am still alive!”

I guess it does depend a little on personality.

But difficult times in the Christian life shouldn’t be dealt with by a positive outlook built upon a positive personality.

Yes who we are does of course impact how we deal with life.

However whose we are is what determines the eternal and must be our focus if we are to deal with both the physical and spiritual realities of living as aliens and strangers in a foreign land because we are now citizens of heaven.

The believers who received Peter’s letter all those years ago really were confronted with serious trials because of their faith.

It would have been so much easier to simply return to the pagan temples.

To go through the motions of what was socially expected.

To live in the way of the land which they had always occupied.

The Gentile Christians in these churches had known nothing else.

This was the life they had departed, even though they had not physically left the city.

They had to make a choice; the eternal perspective which, as verse 7 says had eternal rewards; or the temporary perspective of this life, which would relieve the suffering of persecution and exclusion.

They didn’t have the benefit of 2000 years of Christianity.

The world view of their time was very different from today; it wasn’t built upon a Christian understanding of things.

It was built upon paganism and the social standing of honouring those above you and avoiding being shamed.

There were very strong expectations of what one must do.

And these Christians no longer belonged in that society.

The only way they could deal with being aliens in a strange and foreign land was to focus on the eternal perspective of Christ.

Scene 4/ This is why Peter encouraged them to remember that while we do not see Christ now, we experience him in a way which the prophets of old did not. 1 Peter 1:8-12

Have a look at verse 8.

The verb translated ‘believe’ (pisteuō) or trust is used in a new and unique way in the New Testament.

Here it is joined with a preposition and given a new and richer meaning.

Instead of simply believing someone or having confidence in them it now carries an even more intimate meaning of believing ‘into’.

This personal faith is going ‘into’ the Lord Jesus Christ and resting or remaining there.

There is a strong personal involvement in the act of believing, and it carries a sense of resting oneself in Christ.[6]

So we believe into, we rest into Christ and then we will have inexpressible joy which is another unique word found only here in the New Testament and describes a joy so profound that it is beyond the power of words to express.[7]

Christians today do not understand the incredible privilege of our situation.

Verses 10 to 12 tell us that the prophets of the Old Testament longed to know more about this.

More than that we read at the end of verse 12 that even the angels watch what is happening.

We are in an incredible situation.

We are saved through Christ, purified by his blood, being sanctified or transformed to be more like Christ each day.

Because of this we have the sure expectation of a priceless inheritance, eternity with God.

Something which can never be taken away!

In the mean time Christ is keeping us secure in relationship with him through difficulties and trials so that our faith may endure and we will be rewarded in heaven.

This is our hope, this is our inheritance.

Surely we are in fact aliens, sojourners in this place, people whose home is in a different realm; so let’s live in the reality of this truth through the indwelling power of Christ.

For there is love and hope and inexpressible joy.

Something which only those who rest into Christ can obtain.

[1] Grudem, W. A. (1988). 1 Peter: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 17, pp. 38–39). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. [2] Grudem, W. A. (1988). 1 Peter: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 17, p. 52). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. [3] Schreiner, T. R. (2003). 1, 2 Peter, Jude (Vol. 37, p. 41). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. [4] Grudem, W. A. (1988). 1 Peter: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 17, p. 54). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. [5] Grudem, W. A. (1988). 1 Peter: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 17, p. 55). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. 10 See E. D. Burton, Galatians, ICC (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1920), pp. 480–481; MHT 1, pp. 67–68. [6] Grudem, W. A. (1988). 1 Peter: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 17, pp. 70–71). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. [7] Grudem, W. A. (1988). 1 Peter: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 17, p. 71). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.