Last week we saw who wrote the letter that we are going to look at. The story of Peter, the sinner, turned disciple, turned denier turned apostle is indeed a great role model for us. We also so how the letter of Peter bears Biblical value and is to be treated as scripture.
This week we will be looking at the next few words in the scripture.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
What an amazing title to the recipient. Peter says like we discussed in the last one, that he is an emissary, an ambassador, a heralder for the new King and his Kingdom. This is Peter describing the kingdom to the people. Peter is the representative of the King and the Kingdom. For those who do not know, the embassy, say the Indian embassy in Berlin, is not in Germany. The land it is in and the building and the people in it are under the rule of India. Brothers this is what Peter is saying here. He is the ambassador telling the people of the same country the news that the King want to say. This is why Peter's letter is authoritative. This is why it is not Peter's opinion. This is why we put it a practice to think about what Peter is saying. He is our ambassador, working on our behalf. Writing to us what our King wants us to know. So, this sentence is packed with a lot of meaning. So we shall divide it to give it our attention.
Part 1: To those who are elect exiles
Part 2: of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia
Lets start slow with history. That will give all of us a few minutes to get a picture ready. Ok, why did God create man? Colossians 1:16: All of us were created for Him. So, we know the story, man sinned, God promised a saviour, man sinned again Cain and Abel, god promised a saviour, man sinned again and the story goes on. Then we get to Abraham. And in this book, i believe we need to pay a bigger attention to Abraham. God promised his covenant that "I will be your God and your descendants’ God after you. " Gen 17. They were promised the land and that God will be their God. See where the promise is fulfilled. In Exodus 19:6 God calls this and says, here is your kingdom, I am your King and you shall be my priests - all of you. They sinned, yet God keeps his word. Remember, those who knew Jewish history will say that they are Gods chosen.
So who is Peter writing this to? Jews, no. Some would argue Jewish Christians. There is a possibility of that - Peter later uses some more Jewish sounding references. But where are they? Not one of those names sound Jewish nor are they on the map. May be this letter is to Gentile Christians. Some may believe that. A third may say to churches mixed with Jewish and Gentile believers. Why am I doing this? I am doing this to get your attention. What is the common factor?
They are Christians. They are people who follow Christ.
Brothers, let me assure you that only Christians will inherit the Kingdom That is a fact. Not Jews, not Indians, not Germans, not Gentiles.
But wait you say, God promises a remnant in Romans 11 and Revelations 7 … you would say that there are Jews. Obviously there are Jews. There are also Indians, there are also Germans, Spaniards and the English. The reason the Jews are mentioned separately is to affirm that they will not be utterly destroyed. Does the Jew worship Jesus in heaven? Yes with joyful heart, he does. Brothers that is the role of the Jewish people, to sit at a table with us. No a higher class or lower class, but like us. I am not sure if you get curry in heaven (its a joke) but the Jew will dip his bread into your curry. This is not an either or situation but rather a we are one.
Note: there may be also people in the congregation who are citizens of Rome. Peter still calls them exile because he wants them also to know the truth of their elections.
So now having cleared the air, let us get into the first word.
ELECT: CHOSEN: Favourite : eklektos (strong:1588)
I would love to go the whole Romans 8 route with this one, but I will refrain from doing so. Read Romans 8 in any version to find out how God calls us. So this letter is not just for the Jews, but for us. We should look at this and renew our mind. Peter calls us elected or chosen ones. Brothers, as A.W. Tozer said, “What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” We better be sure we’re thinking rightly about God because it determines how we live. This is the first step. We are chosen. Obviously we all come to the thought on how God can choose us and leave the rest? Brothers, that is not the case. God calling us, saving us is indeed His action, His mercy. Is anyone worthy of being saved? No, not one. No one is righteous. Lets come back to the story of creation, after Adam and Eve were kicked out and the events happening, we come to Noah. See Genesis 6:8 - Noah found favour (election) in God's sight. Why? Because God showed mercy. It is all God's action. God leading forward. Brothers, what did God do when Adam and Eve sinned, he gave them a promise, a saviour would come. Why should God do that? They disobeyed the very maker who made things in their sight, and God showed grace? Why? Because he is merciful. Many people would say only some are chosen and it is not fair, but brothers anyone who wants Jesus can have him. The problem isn’t wanting Jesus and not getting him. That’s not the problem at all. The problem is in the wanting. It’s the fallen human heart that rejects him.
Election does tow things, it crushes our Pride and it glorifies God. It is not a hard doctrine to understand. In my option it is the most simplest. It is ALL GOD's doing.
Now here’s why this matters to us right now. We have a very deep tendency to doubt the love of God, especially in our suffering. When our life begins to fray at the edges and the starts to bottom out and leaves us breathless, doubts creep into our mind that maybe God doesn’t love us as much as we thought. But the doctrine of God’s election tells us exactly the opposite. If he chose us, he must love us. Brothers, you are chosen by God - for what - for His glory. It is Him, Him, Him alone.
This calling, this selection, this election, this favouritism does something very normal. What happens when someone is the favourite? The rest are not for them. What happens when you are chosen? You see things the way they are and not the way the rest want to see it as. John 15:19 - If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.- Who loves you if you in the world? - Yes, the world loves you. Who loves you even more than the world? Your Lord. Brothers, you calling is a calling with love. The Love that the father had for the son before the world began, the love that the father and son had for the Spirit before time began, that was the love that was shed on the cross. Remember who is writing this, Peter - did he see Jesus glorified? yes, Did he see Jesus cry out? yes. This is our calling. This is our election. It is not just a perfect doctrine - it is there for the world to see. What happened when Jacob choose to love Joseph? He made him a colourful coat. What colour is your coat? Is it not stained by the blood of the lamb who was sold, betrayed and killed instead of you? Brothers, this is what Peter means by election.
Ephesians 1:3-6 puts it this way, talking about Christians: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace.
Spurgeon "When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself. Though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young Christian is first aware of this. I can recall the very day and hour when first I received the truth of election in my own soul and I can recollect how I felt. I had grown all of a sudden from a babe into a man. But I made progress in Scriptural knowledge, through having found once for all the clue to the truth of God. One week night, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher’s sermon, and the thought struck me, “How did you come to be a Christian?” I sought the Lord, I thought. “But how did you come to seek the Lord?” The truth flashed across my mind in a moment: I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him. I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, “How came I to pray?” Well, I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. “How came I to read the Scriptures?” I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, that He was the Author of my faith. So the doctrine of grace opened up to me and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day. I desire to make this my constant confession: I ascribe my change wholly to God."
Remember when Jesus asked Peter the third time "do you love me" - what did Peter say - "O Lord you know me" -- Brothers this is lection. He knows you!
The next word will ensure us that Peter does not use the word elect casually. He wants us to know that we belong to God. We are His. We wear his robe of righteousness. This is who we are.
EXILES: ALIENS: SOJOURNER : parepidémos (Strong: 3927)
Who is an exile? A refugee, a temporary resident. Wait did Peter not just say we are loved and cared for ? Why does Peter call us an exile, a sojourner? Peter knew what the election does. We are chosen by God * for what? To live, work and enjoy and find Him joyful. Where are we now? We are not fully with God. Our lives are tainted, our kids are sick, our loved ones are far away, our backs and feet hurts. This is not something a special one get. This is something an un-special one get. We feel this because we are no of this world. CS Lewis compares this to a fish. Imagine a fish who is constantly surprised that the water is wet, the fish finds water not comfortable. Lewis says maybe it is to be a land animal. It may not be a water animal. So too, we find the world not home because the world is not our home. We can make it homely, but it would be the equivalent of two teens writing on the beach sands "Jack and Mary Forever", it will be washed even before they are home. It is not permeant. Look at the places they were in - Galatia, Asia etc. They are not Jewish. There is no apostle there. There is no ambassador there. There is no way to talk to anyone about home. They like us are alone. They have their tiny church, gathered in someone's home - but apart from that they are not in that culture.
Do you know that they were heavily oppressed? We went through it last time, they lived in parts of modern day Turkey, in a land conquered by Romans, who worshipped idols and spoke a variant of Arabic and Roman. Their liturgy was Greek, their leaders wrote about Jesus in Greek. Romans did not like that, the Arabs did not like that, the Syrians did not like that. No one liked it. They were alone. How does it fell to the elect? Did they feel powerful or powerless? This was why NEro decided to kill Christians. No one cared for them. No one spoke for them. There was a fire in Rome. Maybe a roman boy forgot to kill the fire on his torch. May be an angry Sicillian tried to burn a roman office. But, the blame was on the Christian.
Remember, this is where the election comes in. Paul talks about some one who walked with them but fell in love with the world. Demas (2 Tim 4:10) - he fell in love with the world. Said enough to Paul and the way of the exile in Rome and went to Greece (Thessalonica). We are aliens - strangers, on this planet. How sad is it when we fall in love with the world and forget the home? 1 John 2:19 - They went away because they were not from us.
Remember the words of the Lord - the world does not and cannot love you -- Why brothers: for you have given your heart to the Lord. You are called by Him. It is His that you are. Remember who you belong to. Does this sound hard? Peter does not want you to loose heart. That is why he said first ELECT, then ELIXES. It was the order in the way it happened. God choose you before the foundation of the world. This caused the world to reject you. This is our joy brothers. The King is on our side. His ambassador is writing to us - He is coming to take back what is his.
Abraham Kuyper looking at that day says - There is not a square inch in the whole of creation over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: “Mine!” There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: “Mine!
Brother this is our blessed hope. We have to be hopeful. Paul reminds us this very sober statement. 1 Cor 15:19 that our hope is not just for this life but also for the next. That means we can hope even for today and tomorrow. Do not forget that Paul does not say that we have hope for tomorrow only, but both today and tomorrow.
What does it lead us to? See 1 Peter 2:11 -- Peter tells about keeping away from the world. Why- because of this calling. This is what Peter is intentional about. We will dive into the calling deeper the next week. Here is a short summary.
What do we have?
- We have a new Identity. We wear his robe.
- We have new cravings- We are not living for this world
- We have new hope , not just for today, but also for tomorrow.
- How have you felt as an elect? When? What did you feel?
- How have you felt as an exile? When? What did you do?
Comments