1 Peter 1:17-23
When Susan and I are in Munich Germany visiting our family…we try to live like a local…by buying pastry and coffee each morning…
- But early on we nearly bankrupted the bakery by paying with a 50-euro note for cinnamon rolls that cost less than two euros.
- My Canadian friend…while in Tokyo…on business…wanted to show respect with a polite bow…and ended up in a slow-motion bowing contest with a senior executive…until a secretary stepped in.
- My friend from the UK…while in Rome…asked for a penna (pen)…but accidentally requested penne…and got a plate of pasta which she did not need…and not the writing utensil which she did need.
- OK then…when you live in a foreign country…you quickly learn that what’s obvious to everyone else may not be obvious to you.
It’s not easy to live in a country not your own…surrounded by languages you do not speak…customs you do not understand and value systems that do not quite align with your own.
- What is really irritating is that you must pay twice as much for Captain Crunch than you would were you shopping in the US at Winn-Dixie.
- And yet managing this friction of being foreign…the apostle Peter says…is precisely how exiles ought to live.
- The Lord be with you.
Some expats embrace their foreigner status with curiosity and humility.
- But others can never shake the feeling that they do not fit in.
- This sense of alien-ness renders them unable or unwilling to adjust…and so…
- If they are American…for example… they may insulate themselves inside little bubbles of American culture…
- English-speaking restaurants…satellite TV…social clubs and gated communities.
However…Peter writes…exiles live as foreigners here…in reverent fear.
- Exiles do not retreat into comfort or insist on control.
- They learn to dwell attentively in the tension between who they are and where they are…
- Dealing with the unsettling sense of cultural dislocation with humility and hope.
First Peter was written for people who understood this feeling of exile…
- People living out of sync with the dominant culture.
- They were not tourists passing through.
- They were resident aliens marginalized for their faith…scattered across Asia Minor…
- Clinging to a strange hope in a resurrected Jesus.
- Peter is speaking to Christians scattered across Asia Minor…modern-day Turkey.
- Many of them were literal foreigners:
- Jews living outside Israel.
- Or Gentiles newly converted to a faith their neighbors did not understand.
Peter opens by calling them exiles of the dispersion in Pontus…Galatia…Cappadocia…Asia and Bithynia…who have been chosen and destined by God.
- The word exiles or strangers is a reminder of their status:
- Not fully at home in the culture around them.
- Not fully understood by neighbors.
- Living under the rule of Rome but belonging to the kingdom of God.
- Ever feel like this?
- Well…Peter does…so…he explains how his readers can live and thrive in this tension.
When you live in a foreign country…you learn not to hand over large bills for small purchases in Germany.
- You figure out the right way to bow in Tokyo.
- You memorize polite phrases in the local language because you respect the culture you are living in.
And so…Peter says…remember you are living in God’s world now.
- God’s culture is the culture you honor.
- God’s language is the dialect you speak.
- God’s way is your way.
- And that means some things will feel strange…even awkward…to the people around you…
- Because…you are a person who:
- Chooses forgiveness when revenge would seem more appropriate.
- Practices generosity in a world obsessed with getting more.
- Lives with integrity when cutting corners would be easier.
- Holds on to hope when many people are cynical.
Foreigners usually stand out…and so should God’s people.
- And they do it (we do it) in fear…Peter says.
- That is not fear as in terror.
- It is rather a deep respect for the One who has called us to live in this earthly sphere.
And Peter says it’s to be practiced…during the time of your exile…
- Evoking the imagery of the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews in the fourth century BCE.
- Peter is reimaging the Exile in which Christians live out their faith while living under the thumb of Nero of Rome…rather than Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
- For example…if the world says:
- Assert yourself…we say…Deny yourself.
- If the world says: Climb higher…we say…be servants of all.
- If the world says: Build your brand…we say…Bear his name.
- If the world says: Seek comfort…we say…Take up your cross.
- If the world says: Fit in…we say…stand apart.
Think again of being an expat.
- You are careful to learn the customs…not because you are afraid of being arrested…
- But because you respect the people and the place you have come to call home.
- In the same way…to live in fear means we live with the awareness that every choice we make…
- Reflects on our Lord…whose kingdom we represent.
- It is a holy mindfulness in which we honor the Lord Jesus who gave up his life for us.
- We are mastering the art of not fitting in…
- Even though we are living and working and setting up a household in a foreign place.
Talk to an expat and he or she will tell you that the expatriate life is never static!
- You are always learning…adjusting and frequently longing for home.
- This mirrors our experience as Christians in the world.
- There will be trouble as we journey toward our true home.
- There will be missteps and adjustments that take time.
- But the pilgrim has one asset that Peter says will surely assist us in this in between time…
- Through him you have come to trust in God…so that your trust and hope are in God.
- Living between here and home requires hope.
If you have ever been lost in a foreign city…you know the relief of having someone step in to guide you…
- To point you in the right direction…to make sure you get home safely.
- Peter’s message is that Jesus has done exactly that for us.
So…live as a foreigner here.
- Stand out…do not worry about not fitting in.
- Rather…embrace it.
- Practice the customs of the kingdom.
- Let our lives be a living translation of the gospel in a land that does not yet speak its language.
- Because one day…we will walk through the gates of our true homeland…
- And the awkwardness will be over.
- We will be home…fluent in the language of love…and welcomed by our heavenly Father.