“Seeing Beyond Troubles” -- “Who We Are” -- 1 Peter 1:1-2

There are always troubling times in each generation. There have always been wars and rumors of wars. There have been famines, floods, and other natural disasters. Plagues and diseases have ravaged the world periodically, and people have always been persecuted by those in power.

In such times, it’s not easy to keep a healthy outlook. It takes something beyond us to give us a sense of hope and peace. To find peace and hope in a troubled world, we need a higher power, something we have to be able to believe in.

For some, this hope is in humanity. There are those who believe that people have an innate goodness to them, and that this goodness can eventually overcome the most evil of humanity. Some hope in nature, believing that the power of nature can thwart the best efforts of humanity to destroy our world.

Peter has a hope in troubled times, and this letter is a message to the Church that hope is found in Christ. It’s when we look beyond the circumstances of life and look into the eyes of Christ that we find security, hope and peace. It is our faith in God and His control of all things that gives us an ability to see beyond our troubles and gives us hope, peace and strength.

Background

In the Gospels, Jesus was walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee when He spotted four men cleaning their nets from fishing. To these four men—Simon, Andrew, James and John—Jesus called them to follow Him and become fishers of men. Immediately, these men left their nets and began a journey that would take them to places they probably never imagined.

Among these men, the one who became a spokesman for the disciples was Simon. When Jesus asked the question, “Who do you say that I am?” it was Simon who responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (cf. Matthew 16:15-18). As a result of Simon’s confession, Jesus gave him a new name: Cephas in Aramaic, Peter in the Greek. The name meant “rock.”

As he followed Jesus, Peter witnessed numerous miracles and signs from Jesus. It was Peter along with James and John who witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration, and it was Peter who walked on water toward Jesus. It was Peter who stood up on the day of Pentecost and proclaimed the power of God’s salvation through Christ. It was Peter who led the early church, and it was Peter God sent to speak with Cornelius, a Roman centurion (cf. Acts 10). As a result of this encounter, Peter witnessed the Spirit entering into Gentiles who believed in Christ. This affected this faithful Jewish man, who came to understand that God’s salvation was available to all people.

Peter eventually wound up in Rome, becoming the leader of the church there. It was there that Peter probably witnessed the execution of the apostle Paul for his faith in Christ.

As the persecution of the Church began to become more and more likely, Peter wrote this letter to the churches found primarily in northern and western modern-day Turkey.

As long as there had been a church, there had been those who opposed the church. Herod had James beheaded for the apostle’s commitment to Christ. Saul of Tarsus persecuted the church, only ending his crusade against the Church when God confronted Saul on the road to Damascus. Saul, who became the apostle Paul, met persecution and opposition throughout his mission journeys throughout the eastern Mediterranean region.

Knowing that the churches in that area were beginning to experience persecution, Peter wrote this letter. His purpose in writing the letter was to encourage the believers to stand firm in their faith. He wrote to remind them that they are chosen of God and citizens of His kingdom. He wrote them to remind them that God does not expect us to yield to life’s circumstances but to stay true to our faith in Him.

As we begin our look into this letter, we begin where the letter begins. In these two short verses, we learn the following truth:

Central Truth: The identity of the elect is tied up in the work of God in our lives.

Peter tells us that the elect are:

1. Strangers (1a)

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. To God’s elect, strangers in the world,

When my children were in history fair in school, they were told that the best source for historical reference were first person accounts of an event. To learn about Pearl Harbor, it was better to speak to the men and women who had been there on December 7, 1941. One of the appeals of the “Little House on a Prairie” stories is that Laura Ingalls Wilder actually lived during those times and her tales are based on her life experiences.

To know what Jesus said and did, who could be a better source than one of the apostles? Peter states from the outset who he is. He is Peter and he is an apostle. Anyone who knew the Gospel story knew who Peter was, so there was no need to define himself further. There are those in more modern times who tried to question whether Peter was the actual author of the letter, but most Bible scholars are convinced that the letter was written by Simon who was named Peter.

He was an apostle. The term “apostle” has several meanings behind it. An apostle was one who had been an original follower of Jesus. This person had been personally trained by Jesus Himself. An apostle was not only a witness of Jesus’ life and ministry, but an apostle was also someone who was called by Jesus to a specific task. This calling of the apostle came after Jesus’ resurrection, and the calling was to share the Gospel with those in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. To be an apostle, then, was to have the authority of personal knowledge and personal calling.

Peter wrote to the elect. The elect are the chosen people of God. There are several references in these two verses that have references to the Jewish nation. One of the terms is elect. The Old Testament clearly showed that God chose the nation of Israel to be His people in the world. They were the elect of God, and their task was to be a light in the world of God and His glory.

Peter refers to these elect as “strangers in the world.” The implication of Peter’s words is that these elect to whom the apostle wrote were men and women who didn’t belong in the world. Their citizenship is in the kingdom of God. What Peter is reminding the elect, these followers of Christ, is that while they were living in the world, they knew their home was with the Father and the Son and the Spirit. They may be actively engaged in the world, but their hearts and thoughts were always on the things of God and the will of God.

Being the elect who are strangers in the world is a reminder that we are not yet home, but one day we will go home and be with God and our brothers and sisters in Him.

2. Scattered (1b)

. . . scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,

Another phrase associated with the Jewish people was the word translated in the NIV as scattered. The Greek word is diasporus, and it was traditionally used to refer to Jewish people who lived away from Palestine. Such Jews were part of the Diaspora, the scattering of Israel.

Peter’s use of the word here is to remind us that we are exiles and aliens, strangers not just in the world, but scattered throughout this world. We know that God wishes us all to be joined together in Him and His kingdom. One day, we know that such will be the case.

But for now, the elect are scattered. Peter references a specific geographic area found in northern and western Asia Minor, what is now Turkey. The order of the regions Peter means are the geographic areas where a traveler would reach as he or she entered first Pontus from Greece. Such a person would leave this area and go to the eastern provinces of Galatia and Cappadocia, then travel southwesterly to Asia and back north to Pontus/Bithynia. It was here that God sent Paul to begin the churches in his first missionary journey. It was to some of the churches in this region that God addressed in Revelation 2-3.

Today, there are men and women all over the world who follow Christ. We are members of one body, the Church, but we are scattered over all the earth. There will come a time when Christ will return and we will be brought together in eternal fellowship.

For now, though, we are scattered like the original recipients of Peter’s first letter.

3. Identify with God (2)

. . . who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood. Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

The whole point of Peter’s letter is found in this verse. Even in the most troubling of times, we are secure in the knowledge that we are where God wants us to be. The apostle, bringing to bear the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, assured the readers and us that God is greater than our circumstances, and our hope is based upon this truth.

a. Chosen by the Father

Peter continues the description of God’s elect, the strangers in the world. Not only are we who believe God’s elect, we are also chosen by God. This choosing was all a part of God’s plan that was developed before the creation of the world (cf. Ephesians 1:4, 11). We who are called of God, who have our faith in Him through Christ the Savior, we were chosen by Him to become His children. Being the children of God allows us to know the mind of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:9-14), and it gives us the privileges of sonhood (cf. Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 3:23-4:7). None of this was by our own doing or our own choosing—it is God’s gift to us (cf. Ephesians 2:8-10). God chose us to work in and through us for His glory and honor and praise.

b. Sanctified by the Holy Spirit

Being God’s elect also enables us to become sanctified by the Spirit. Being sanctified means that God is at work in us to make us more like Him, making us holy and becoming a fit vessel in which God can work His will through us (cf. Philippians 2:13; Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:10). The act of sanctification is an on-going event. It began the moment we accepted Christ as Savior, and will continue in us until that day we see Christ face-to-face. The act of sanctification is creating in us a mindset that turns our eyes away from the world and toward Christ (cf. Romans 8:5-11; Colossians 3:1-4). We find our minds and our hearts turning to Him, and we find ourselves seeking the kingdom first (Matthew 6:33).

c. To walk in obedience to Christ

The purpose of our sanctification is to make us more capable of walking in obedience to Christ. To be sanctified is to be set apart by God, no longer of this world but of His kingdom. We are no longer slaves to sin and this world but are instead set free to become servants of Christ. Toward that end, we gladly give ourselves over to His working in and through us. As we are sanctified, we are able to obey Christ and do His will in our lives.

As the Spirit works in us and lives in us, He reminds us of Jesus’ words and leads us into the truth (cf. John 14:16-17, 26; 15:13). The whole reason God chose us and sanctifies us is so that we can become able to seek and do Jesus’ will in our lives.

The blood of Christ has a two-fold purpose. First, it cleanses us of our sin, freeing us from death and the fear of failure. Second, it seals us, marking us as belonging to God by Christ’s redemption of us at Calvary. We were bought with a price that is more precious than anything we can imagine. By the blood of Christ, we are able to enter into the new covenant, a covenant that God had prepared before the beginning of time.

Conclusion

Before God had a creation, He had a plan to redeem the creation, and He knew that this plan would be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He knew that the work of the Holy Spirit would bring us into conformity with His purpose. It was part of God’s plan that He would choose those who believed to become His children, and that as God’s children we are protected, secure in our relationship and free to love as Christ loves us.

Even in troubling times, we have the assurance that God has us in His more than capable hands, and that He will not allow anything to separate us from His love and His calling (cf. John 10:27-30).