There are many situations that rattle us to the core of our being. If you are a Christian, and bad things happen to you, it can be shocking. If God loves me, and I love Him, then why did I lose my job? Why do I have cancer? Why do I have chronic pain? Why did I lose my child? A few weeks ago a pastor in Decatur died in a motorcycle accident on the Saturday before he was to preach. Our faith is regularly tested. Now, I didn't say God tests our faith. Just that our faith is tested.
In the book of 1 Peter, the Apostle Peter is writing to a group of Christians whose faith is being tested. They are scattered about the cities of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. In fact, Peter describes them as "dispersed exiles."
Do you remember in the Old Testament when the Assyrians, and later the Babylonians, invaded Israel? They desecrated Israel's holy places... plundered people's possessions/wealth... torched people's lifelong homes... brutally slaughtered men, women, children. Those who survived were made into slaves and made slaves in foreign lands where they didn't know the language, customs, or have basic human rights.
Last week I took a friend fishing. As we were sitting in my boat the water, the sky, and my fish finder was churning with activity. The fish finder told the whole story. Underneath the water, clouds of tiny bait fish, known as "Shad," were being savaged by schools of White Bass. When White Bass go on a feeding frenzy, they behave like Piranha. They're vicious.
Now if the Shad stay at the surface, they get eaten. If they go deep, the Large Mouth Bass and Catfish eat them. If they leap out of the water, Sea Gulls swoop down and snatch them up. If they as much as burp and make a bubble in the water, fishermen throw their shad nets at them and use them for bait. The only hope a shad has to survive is to disperse to the four corners of the lake.
By the way, Shad are so neurotic, when I pulled my boat into the dock one jumped out of the water unto the dock and began helplessly flipping about hoping to live. I felt so sorry, I went over and helped it back into the Lake. He's had a rough day.
At times, the chosen nation of Israel became like Shad in the mouth of the Assyrians and Babylonians. They had no alternative but to scatter/disperse. In the same way, these Christians in 1 Peter were like Shad in the mouth of Nero, the Roman emperor. To escape persecution and death, they fled to the Roman cities of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. They were in a kind of spiritual captivity/exile.
A commentator describes what life might have been like for these Christians in Rome. "They were illegal aliens of low social status and of little means... they were disenfranchised workers, laboring in the cracks of a network that largely excluded them... They lived in a place of real injustice, real inequity, real violence and abuse... and they were enduring unjust suffering for their "spiritual orientation."
"They were restricted in regard to whom they could marry, the holding of land, the succession of property, voting... they were subjected to higher taxes, severer forms of civil punishment. .. They were viewed as threats to the established order and well-being of citizens. They were constantly victimized by fear and suspicion, ignorant slander, discrimination and manipulation...
"They had not received the lot in life that they had expected. Their faith in Jesus, their association with his Church, their desire to live holy lives, only exacerbated their social stigma." Yet they had a real God. What would you say to a dispersed exile?
Things might be really hard in your life right now, but I doubt you're in "Exile," at least not in the Old Testament sense of the word. How does an Exile reconcile their faith with their tragic circumstances? How does a Christian, loved by God, and precious to God, reconcile their new found faith in Jesus Christ with their suffering?
Peter mentions five truths, five anchor points, for persevering in hard times...
I'm purposely elected, not unlucky
"Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia"
Peter's first task was to assure these Christians, that despite what they suffered, they were every bit God's elect as the nation Israel. And as God's elect, they could be assured that God was fulfilling His eternal purpose through what they were suffering.
In 1 Peter 2:5, Peter refers to these Christians as living stones, spiritual house, and a holy priesthood. In 1 Peter 2:9-10 he refers to them as God's chosen people, royal priesthood, a holy nation, people belonging to God, once not my people but now they were the people of God! Once they had not received mercy but now they had received mercy. They weren't unlucky. They were God's elect.
A lot of people thing "elect" means "exempt." I know the Christian air ways are filled with promises of health & wealth to all who believe. But just because you're elect doesn't mean you'll never suffer. Apostle John was boiled in oil. Peter was crucified. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul chronicles the extreme suffering he endured for the sake of the gospel. Or what about Abraham, King David, Job, and virtually all of the OT prophets? Have you ever read Hebrews 11? And what about Christ himself? He suffered too.
Elect doesn't mean were "exempt" from suffering. It simply means God's purpose cannot be thwarted despite what you suffer. It's Romans 8:28--knowing that all things are working for the good of those who love God, and called by his purpose. It's John 16:33--"In this world have trouble, but take heart, I've overcome world"
Elect doesn't mean "exclusive" either--that God has decreed some to be the lucky ones and others to be the unlucky ones. Israel was the Elect nation of God... but the Israelites weren't the only people God saved. God chose to save the nations--he saved the evil Ninevites. The gospel isn't that only the Elect get saved, it's that God grafted the Gentiles into his plan, and made them Elect too! It's that God calls all people to faith in the gospel, it's that whosoever believes can inherit eternal life!
I'm eternally known, not forgotten.
We are elect... "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father"
1 Peter 1:19-20 and Acts 2:23 tell us that everything that happened to Jesus was "foreknown" before the foundation of the world. How he'd be born, live, suffer, die, and resurrected. Romans 8:29-30 tells us God knows everything that will happen to us from start to finish: "Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son... and those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."
The Father knows all your needs (Mt 6:32). Before a word is even on your lips he knows it completely (Ps 139:4). He knows your name (Isa 43:1). He knows the # hairs on your head (Lk 12:7). [My manuscript says ‘Insert predictable joke here']. Do you pray confidently, knowing God see you?
I'm being sanctified, not ruined.
"in the sanctification of the Spirit"
God doesn't just work through the good things in our lives, he works through the bad things too. Some would argue that Gods work was accelerated through the bad things that happened in their life! In all that happens, the Spirit of God is living and active. First, He sets us free from the power of sin. But then, He refines us like a fire as we grow throughout life (1:14-16, 22; 2:1-2, 9-10, 11-12; 4:3-4). Ultimately, at the end of the age, He makes us perfect.
Even in the midst of pain, the Holy Spirit is busy molding, shaping, growing us. Remember, "those God foreknew is predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son Jesus!" The Holy Spirit is turning every circumstance, every sorrow, every hardship into a tool of spiritual maturing. What's happening isn't ruining you, its refining you.
I'm faithfully obedient, not desperate
"for obedience to Jesus Christ"
The more fearful we become, the more erratic, desperate, or reactive our behavior becomes. For many (in the words of 1 Peter 4:3), pain becomes an occasion for "debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry." For others. We turn to sin to anesthetize ourselves from the pain. But pain isn't to be a license for sin--it's to be an occasion for renewed, steady obedience.
Hebrews 5:8 says that even Jesus "learned obedience by what he suffered!" Pain is an occasion to choose, and to enter into God's very best for your life.
When you face hard times, God's invitation is "trust and obey." Proverbs 3:5-8 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to you bones."
I'm upheld by grace, not mere circumstances.
"and for sprinkling by his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you."
In all that happens, God's grace is sufficient to sustain us. In 1 Peter 2:18-19 Peter reminds us that "we have been bought, not with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Our circumstances don't convey our value to God. Circumstances may change, they may become more favorable, or less favorable, but God's love for us is unchanging. What conveys our value is that God shed his blood for us. Peter prayer is that in all that happens, a sense of "God's grace and peace will be multiplied in our lives."
So let's recap...
(1) We're not unlucky, were Elect! God's purpose cannot be thwarted.
(2) We're not unknown, were fully known by God!
(3) We're not being ruined, we're in the midst of being sanctified and made holy!
(4) We don't need to be desperate and reactive and fearful, we can trust God and fully obey Him, and even find healing.
(5) Finally, we're not upheld by good fortune and good circumstances... we're upheld by God's grace.