The Writer and the Readers

Introduction: The Timeless Courtesy of Peter's Greeting

0:00 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, January 25, 1998, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:14 Now let us turn together to the opening words of the first epistle of Peter, that portion of the Word of God that we call 1 Peter chapter 1, and follow please as I read the opening greeting bounded by verses 1 and 2. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 1.

0:42 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace be multiplied. Now one of the many tragic indications of the disintegration of Western civilization is the widespread ignorance of, indifference to, and even contentious disdain for any previously accepted categories of courtesy and of common decency.

1:42 When the stuff of courtesy and common decency goes out of any society, that society is a crumbling society. And I say the absence of those elements in Western civilization is one of the many tragic indications of the disintegration of what we have known as Western civilization. However, when we open our Bibles to that portion of the Word of God that we have just read and that we identify as 1 Peter, we're confronted with the fact that the Spirit of God has placed His timeless approval upon the common courtesies which form a part of God's common grace in an otherwise harsh, cruel, and discordant world.

2:45 and if you ask how is that evident to you Pastor Martin it's not so evident to me well when Peter begins to write his letter under the peculiar supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit experienced by the biblical writers he follows the basic pattern that any decent cultivated first century person would follow in writing a letter.

3:19 If you were writing a letter in the first century and you were respecting the current canons of courtesy and common decency, you would always begin your letter as Peter does. The writer would identify himself at the beginning of the letter, not at the end as we do. He would then identify his readers who are the recipients of this letter and then he would always give a brief word of greeting expressing some aspect of goodwill. Notice in Acts chapter 23 and verse 26 how this Roman authority does that.

4:00 The chief captain who was in charge of protecting the apostle Paul, he composes a letter and he follows that accepted framework of letter writing. Acts chapter 23 and verse 26. Verse 25 says, and he wrote a letter after this form. Claudius Lysias, he identifies himself as the writer.

4:26 Unto the most excellent governor Felix, he identifies the recipient greeting. He gives the most brief form expressing his good will. You find that when the apostles and the elders and the church was gathered at Jerusalem and had wrestled with this whole question of whether or not Gentiles needed to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses in order to be full-blown Christians. And they come to oneness of mind concerning that great issue, and they're going to compose a letter and send it to the churches.

4:59 Notice how they follow the same pattern in Acts chapter 15 and in verse 23. Acts chapter 15 and verse 23. We back up to verse 22. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men out of their company and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas called Barsabbas and Silas chief men among the brethren.

5:27 Now notice how they begin their letter. The apostles and the elders' brethren. Who is sending the letter? Apostles and elders.

5:37 To whom is it being sent? unto the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, and then the third part, greeting. So you see, this was a common form. And so when Peter, though under the direct and unique influence of the Spirit of God, connected with those who become penmen of the Holy Spirit, He takes that form of an accepted canon of courtesy and common decency and uses it as the framework within which to bring us the very word of the living God.

6:19 And we see that this is indeed Peter's pattern. He begins by identifying himself as the writer, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. But then, as any first century letter writer was free to do, you might expand any part of that threefold structure according to your own literary purpose and design. And so Peter expands his description of the recipients of the letter, and it goes all the way from 1b down to 2b, beginning with the words, to the elect, to our sojourners, all the way down to the prepositional phrase, and or in sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

7:00 And then you have the greeting, grace to you and peace be multiplied. And so within that ordinary framework of sending a letter, Peter sits down either to write himself or to dictate to Silas these words and in so doing adopts that ordinary framework of any first century letter writer in composing this letter. Now this morning we're going to look at the first part of that opening section of the letter, the identity of the writer, and then begin to take up what we have set before us with respect to the identity of the recipients of this letter.

The Identity of the Writer: Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ

7:48 First of all then, the identity of the writer. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. And in identifying himself, Peter points first of all to his person, and then to his position. Or his personal identity, and then his official identity.

8:10 For example, someone might introduce himself to you and say, I am John Smith, principal of the Washington Elementary School. I am John Smith. That is my personal identity. My official capacity, I am principal of the Washington Elementary School.

8:30 We do this all the time in introducing ourselves or in introducing others or in describing people to others. Well, that's precisely what Peter does as he begins his letter and, according to first century fashion, is identifying the writer. First of all, notice he identifies himself with respect to his person simply as Peter. He doesn't say Simon Peter using his name given to him at his birth, but he simply says Peter.

9:03 Now in the light of our five introductory messages on Peter the man, I trust you can immediately see why he needed no other verbal handles when giving his personal identity. It was Peter using the name given to him by the Lord Jesus in his first encounter. It is Peter using the name that was underscored afresh when Peter, on behalf of all the disciples, makes his great confession in Matthew chapter 16. It was that name which to Peter became, as it were, the constant reminder of what he had become by the grace of his Savior.

9:52 The one who in his first meeting with him said, you are the one who is to become Cephas or Peter the Rock. And now the Lord Jesus, by His grace, has made Him what His new name indicated He would be. Through all of the trauma of His ups and downs, His rebukes by the Lord, His falls, and all of the things that we considered in those introductory messages, His place in the Christian community is unmistakably one in which to say, Peter, in conjunction with leadership in the work of God, is immediately to identify this man.

10:39 And so with respect to his person, he simply says Peter. But now with respect to his position, he describes himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now why does he do that? Is he, as it were, polishing his brass?

10:57 Is he strutting his stuff saying, Peter, apostle? No. When the letter is received and a group of Christians in these various places receive that letter as it's carried from place to place by a delegated messenger, or when copies of that letter are made and distributed among the people, on what basis and within what sphere of reference ought they to read that letter? In what sphere of reference ought they to consider the things that are conveyed in that letter from this man, Peter?

11:34 Well, he clearly indicates that they are to reckon it as that which comes from an apostle of Jesus Christ, or perhaps more literally rendered, Jesus Christ's apostle. And here he is underscoring the unique authority which apostles have in speaking to and in communicating with the community of the people of God. Does he write as Peter, a sinner, saved by grace? Yes.

12:09 He never, never forgot that initial discovery of his own sinfulness, which caused him to throw himself down at the feet of the Lord Jesus, saying, Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man. Yes, he does right as Peter, a sinner saved by grace. And is he, Peter, a brother in the family of God? Yes.

12:34 And he never forgets that he is part of the brotherhood, Those whom Jesus identifies as His brothers and sisters and mother and father. Those who hear the word of God and who keep it. And does He write as a fellow overseer with the other pastors in the churches in this area? Yes, He identifies Himself as such in chapter 5 as a fellow elder.

13:02 Yes, He does write as Peter the sinner saved by grace. Peter, the brother within the family of God. Peter, a fellow office bearer in shepherding the flock of God. But what he is writing in this letter, he is conscious that he writes as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

13:25 And as we saw in our introductory studies, this means that he had been chosen immediately by Christ to this office. You remember when we looked at Luke chapter 12, it says Jesus called to Himself those whom He would, and He appointed twelve to be His apostles. He had been a companion of the Lord Jesus from the baptism of John right through to His ascension. And as Peter himself indicated in Acts 1, 21 and 22, these were very restrictive requirements for an apostle to have accompanied with the Lord Jesus from the baptism of John until the ascension of the Lord Jesus.

14:11 Further, he had been given the unique miracle working power by Christ. And you remember in 2 Corinthians 12, in verse 12, Paul says, the signs of an apostle were evidently wrought in me. And he had been given that promised, peculiar ministry of the Holy Spirit, both to understand and to communicate the truth of Christ infallibly. So when we pick up our Bibles and read, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, that's not like you or like me saying, John, a bricklayer for such and such a company.

14:50 To say Jesus Christ Apostle means that this Peter is actually one of those whom God has sovereignly appointed to be part of the foundation of His new covenant temple. In Ephesians chapter 2 we read that the church that is the fruition of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus and the expression of His redemptive work is a church built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone And the church is not built upon the persons of the apostles, but upon the doctrine of the apostles.

15:39 And Peter is one of those foundation stones, and he is conscious of that unique position in which Jesus Christ has placed him. And so without embarrassment, without carnal pride, and without false humility, he identifies himself as Peter, Apostle of Jesus Christ. Now note, he says that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. And again, those are not just words that somehow identify someone in some loose and ill-defined way.

16:21 When he says an apostle of Jesus, bound up in that word is everything pertaining to all that we now have in the gospel records concerning that one who was given that name at his conception. You shall call his name Jesus, for he it is that shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1 and verse 21. And throughout the gospel records we read, Jesus went about doing good, healing the sick, raising the dead.

16:57 Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. And Peter has been with him. Peter has spent several years in his immediate presence. And when he says Peter, Apostle of Jesus Christ, he is setting forth the great reality that all that he communicates, he communicates out of the orbit and within the matrix of that living relationship with the historical Jesus.

17:28 But He is Jesus Christ. Jesus Messiah. Jesus God's anointed one. Jesus Messiah.

17:40 The one promised in the prophets. The one to whom all of previous redemptive revelation points. In whom all of the promises and purposes of God find their ultimate expression. And Peter says, the one who writes to you is Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ.

18:04 But note also that he says not the apostle of Jesus Christ, nor does he say chief of the apostles of Jesus Christ. When he refers to the Lord Jesus as shepherd in chapter 5, he calls him the archipoimen, the chief shepherd. But he does not call himself archi apostolos. It's simply Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ.

18:37 in spite of all that the Scripture reveals, and we looked at some of the data, of his special prominence and his special privileges even among the apostles. Peter never reflected an iota of notion that he was the prototype Pope, that he was the beginning of the continuity of the authority of the apostolate to be conveyed through the Roman church unto the end of the ages. No hint of it whatsoever. There is no hint that in any given gathering he would automatically be recognized as the ultimate authoritative spokesman.

19:26 Though the scripture does record it again and again, He is the official spokesman. He does speak on behalf of the Twelve. Yet there is no assumption in the first century Christian community that he was anything other than Peter, Apostle of Jesus Christ. That's the sender of the letter.

The Authority of Peter's Apostolic Word

19:47 Now, what in the world does all of that say to them and to us? Well, as the letter would be read and eventually copied, as it would be circulated among the churches of Asia Minor, what would their attitude be when someone would stand on a given Lord's Day and begin to read, Peter, Apostle of Jesus Christ? Would they sit there and say, oh, we're going to get some pious thoughts from a spiritually minded man who has been caught up in a recently floated religious movement that has been elevating one who was killed on a Roman cross and some have some silly notion has been raised from the dead.

20:36 It will be interesting to see. No, no. When they would hear the words, Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, they would immediately know that what they are going to hear, what the reader is going to read, what the copier would copy when he copied those words, was not the pious thoughts of some spiritually minded man who had been caught up in some theories and good wishes about someone called Jesus of Nazareth. No, they were confronting one who had been in His presence, who had heard His voice, who had seen His mighty works, who with His own person had raised the dead,

21:22 who had seen His own shadow, that is, Peter's shadow, be instrumental to the healing of others, and all of it in connection with His faith in and relationship to, and the authority received from a real person called Jesus of Nazareth, who was Christ, the Son of the living God. And furthermore, those first century Christians would know that they were not receiving some good counsel from a common follower of Jesus, who would somehow bridge the gap between those who had never seen Him. They've not been in Palestine when Jesus lived and labored and performed His miracles. And now when they receive a letter, they can say, Oh, here's a bridge of a humble follower of Jesus.

22:10 No, no. They would understand that what they were receiving was the very authoritative word of the very Christ, whose apostle He was. They would understand that they were confronting the authoritative, objectively true words of a duly appointed divinely mandated representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, are you sure the apostles knew that?

22:38 Yes, I am. For Paul in writing on very mundane issues sorting out the structure of worship and ministry in the church at Corinth says in 1 Corinthians 14.37 if any there in the church purports to be one who is spiritual, or to be a prophet, let him take knowledge of the things that I write unto you, that they are the entole, the commandment of the Lord. The apostle was conscious of that unique authority conferred, not usurped and taken in arrogance, but conferred in sovereign grace.

23:21 And so, when Peter writes, he is conscious that he writes, Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, and those who receive it, receive it as the word of an authoritative and duly appointed messenger of the Lord Jesus. And you see, that's the way we must approach our study of this letter. insofar as God gives us help to understand accurately the words of Peter apostle of Jesus Christ we're confronting nothing less than Christ himself ministering to us as our great prophet here in 1998 in this assembly

24:10 Christ ministry is not some distant ethereal concept Christ ministers as prophet in the midst of His people, when His Word is expounded and applied, when by the Spirit we are given to understand the mind of Christ in the Word of Christ, we are having vital, immediate, present dealings with Christ Himself. So that when we open up this book and we are pointed to the magnitude of our blessings in Christ, verses 3 to 9 of the opening chapter. These are not the wild, exaggerated thoughts of Peter. This is Christ Himself telling us what He's done for us.

24:57 Explaining to us, His people, the significance and the great prospects of our inheritance in Him. And when we come to the sobering demands of holiness that begin to be enunciated, starting with verse 13 and following of chapter 1, we are confronting the very Christ who died for us. The Christ who died that we might be the holy counterculture in the midst of a corrupt society. It is this Jesus who lays upon us the demands of His grace.

25:33 And when we come to the sections in which we are called to patient suffering, suffering in the face of injustice, servants who have to serve unreasonable and cruel masters and they are called not to retaliate but to follow in the steps of Him who when He was reviled reviled not again when He suffered He threatened not these are not to be regarded as the irritating words of an overly idealistic Peter who is about to go to heaven what does he know about living for another 15 years with a cruel master? it is Christ Himself through His appointed representative marking out the path of patient suffering. When we come to chapter 3

26:19 and marital duties and roles are laid out, this is not Peter, a first century male chauvinist who is imposing his dominant views upon poor pathetic women. This is Christ Himself standing in our midst laying before us the way of blessedness in the marital relationship. And whatever we encounter in handling with responsibility the words of Peter, this is never to be regarded. Well, that's the emphasis of Trinity Baptist Church.

26:56 No, it isn't. It is the emphasis of the Son of God, the Lord of His Church, speaking through His servant Peter. Now, am I saying that every interpretation of mine will be an infallible representation of the mind of Christ? No.

27:15 I have never claimed that. I make no such claim. But what I am saying is that the Spirit of God enables us rightly to understand the Word of Christ, and it was given not to confuse us, but His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. wherever that word takes us, that's not the peculiar emphases of Trinity Baptist Church.

27:39 It is not a mere parroting of classical evangelical and reformed theology. It is Christ Himself speaking through His Apostle to us in the livingness of His presence by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the identity of the writer. Now then, we move secondly to the identity of the readers.

The Identity of the Readers: Elect Sojourners of the Dispersion

28:01 To whom is Peter writing?

28:05 Well, if you have the old American standard, it reads, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. But some of you have the new King James, and it doesn't read that way. You may have an NIV, and it doesn't read that way. You may have a New English Bible, and it doesn't read that way.

28:33 You see, we immediately encounter a problem. And the problem arises not from any question as to what Peter originally wrote. That's what you call a textual problem. And there are times when some of us who are laboring to responsibly expound the word, we have to wade through a bunch of little footnotes and little squiggly marks to try to find out, well, what did Peter actually write?

28:55 There is a question at times in terms of the manuscript evidence. What did Peter actually write? That's a textual problem. And sometimes you'll hear us say, it's not absolutely certain what Peter originally wrote.

29:08 It could well be this. It is most likely this. That's a textual problem. But here there's no textual problem.

29:14 No bunches of numbers and brackets and little squigglies. There's no question that Peter wrote the words. But the problem is, how do you bring the words of the original into some kind of smooth, discernible English? That's a translational problem.

29:29 See the difference between the textual problem and the translational problem. And the moment you go to translate, the translator then at times must make a judgment in terms of what we would call expounding the word. It is a problem of interpreting the word. for a mere wooden translation would make no sense in English.

29:52 A wooden rendering of this passage would be Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect ones, or to elect sojourners of dispersion, of Pontus, of Galatia, of Cappadocia, of Asia, of Bithynia, according to foreknowledge. That's very poor English. So judgments have to be made, and the translators have made judgments with respect to this section of the text, and because of that, you get the differing translations. None of them is trying to twist the Word of God.

30:29 But they are wrestling with how can we bring what is there in the original into a smooth English that reflects integrity with that original. And the old American standard, in my judgment, comes closest to reflecting the original in some kind of discernible English When Peter goes to identify the readers he identifies them as the elect who are sojourners of the dispersion

31:01 Now, I'm going to call this part of the text the essential designations given to the readers. And then we're going to look at their present geographical location, God willing, next week and also next week. Their foundational spiritual privileges. And that will bring us through the section in which he identifies the readers.

31:24 But the first thing he does in identifying the readers is set before us their essential designations. A designation is a distinguishing name or title. And he gives them three. He designates them as elect sojourners of the dispersion.

Designation 1: Elect

31:45 And there we're going to park on those three words. They are first of all designated as elect. And now we face another problem. Is he using the word elect as a separate category of description, so we should translate it, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to such as are the elect ones, category one, who are sojourners of the dispersion, category two.

32:15 And some commentators say, yes, that's the proper way to understand it. So elect is used as a verbal noun. They are the elect ones, such as are the elect ones. Others say, no, no.

32:27 Because in Scripture, this very word, in this very form, is used not only as a verbal noun, but as a verbal adjective. And the way we ought to render it is, to the elect sojourners of the dispersion. They are sojourners of the dispersion, but they are fundamentally elect sojourners of the dispersion. You want to be a preacher?

32:52 That represents, I don't know how many hours of just wading through all of the technicalities and trying not to turn this into a grammar lesson and a textual lesson and a syntactical lesson, but responsibly expound the word. In my judgment, in my judgment, it makes little difference whether we regard them as such as are the elect ones, sojourners of the dispersion or as I prefer to render it elect sojourners of the dispersion because at the end of the day the word that we render elect there's no question as to its fundamental meaning he as he writes his letter and thinks of the communities of the people of God remember Peter most likely is in Rome in the southwestern reaches of the Roman Empire

33:39 writing to those all the way across in the eastern section of the Roman Empire. And as he thinks of them, the first word that comes to his mind by which to designate them is elect ones. Elect sojourners. And the moment they would hear that word, it would register in their ears and in their minds and in their hearts.

34:05 We are those selected, chosen, marked out by God for the peculiar blessings of His saving grace and of His mercy. This is one of the favorite ways by which God's people are designated in the New Testament. They are most often called saints, holy ones, those set apart unto God. They are called brethren. They have been adopted into the same family of grace, but no fewer than 20 plus times they are described as elect. It is one of the most frequently used terms.

34:48 And it's interesting, isn't it, that Peter does not introduce it in order to open up a vast theological debate and discussion. He's writing to suffering communities of the people of God scattered throughout Asia Minor. And when he thinks of them, he thinks of them as God's chosen ones. God's people upon whom He set His love and free, sovereign choice and marked them out and in the language of Ephesians 1 gave them to Christ before the foundation of the world.

35:27 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Paul says who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ unto Himself. And so as He writes to these people, think what it would mean to them. Some of the servants are having to hack it with unreasonable masters. As he says in chapter 4, they're feeling the pressure of their former companions in sin, who say, you guys are out of your tree.

36:13 He says they think it's strange that you do not run with them to the same excessive riot. They think you belong in the loony bin, because you no longer are seeking to find something to satisfy your soul in the flesh pots of Egypt. And in the midst of all of that, unconverted husbands making life difficult for their converted wives, chapter 3. All of the practical issues dealt with.

36:40 Peter says at the outset, I want you to know how I think of you. When I think of you who constitute the communities of the people of God there in these various parts. And I want you to think of yourself in terms of what you are. Simon Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect sojourners.

Designation 2: Sojourners

37:04 To those chosen, loved, and marked out for redemptive grace. But then he uses the term sojourners. And this word is found only here. And in chapter 2 and verse 11 of 1 Peter, Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lust that war against the soul.

37:28 And then in Hebrews 11, 13, concerning the patriarchs, they are described in this language as well. Hebrews 11 and verse 13. These all died in faith, not having received the promise, having seen them from afar, greeted them from afar, having confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Now sojourner.

37:52 What in the world is a sojourner? Well, the construction of the word and its usage indicates a resident alien, one who is living for a time among a people to whom he does not belong.

38:10 Now, when Peter was sitting down to write his epistle, whether he was quoting from memory or actually had some scrolls with him, his working Bible was what is called the Septuagint. It was a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, and that was the working Bible in what we would call the early church.

38:34 Now, that's the Bible with which Peter was familiar. And it's very interesting that this combination of terms, strangers and sojourners, found in these two passages that I've read, is an exact replication of what we find in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in Genesis chapter 23. And I want you to turn there with me, and I think the meaning of the term will become clear.

39:02 Genesis chapter 23. And the life of Sarah was 107 and 20 years. These were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kiriath Arba, the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan.

39:17 And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. And Abraham rose up from before his dead and spoke unto the children of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you. Give me a possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight. Abraham identifies himself as a stranger and a sojourner.

39:46 The exact combination of words that we find in 1 Peter 2.11 and we find in Hebrews chapter 11. I am a sojourner. A sojourner.

40:00 Put it into current terms. Abraham saying, I carry a green card while I'm among you fellas. but my passport is from another country. We have people here who have a green card.

40:13 You are not illegal aliens. You are resident aliens. You're here legally but this is not your homeland. This is not the land of your birth or your citizenship.

40:25 And in that sense, you are a resident alien. You are a sojourner. And this is the term that Peter uses. He says as he thinks of these to whom his letter is going, they are elect sojourners. Yes, they are resident aliens, but they are resident aliens upon whom God has set his love and toward whom he is disposed to show his mercy. And it is that very electing love and mercy that has made them sojourners.

40:59 For remember, this is a spiritual identity. No doubt many of these to whom the letter came, were bona fide citizens and residents of these various places, these districts or provinces named in Asia Minor. They were not literal sojourners. They were citizens of those areas. There's no indication that they were just people who were there carrying a green card. But he's speaking spiritually and metaphorically. He's identifying with distinguishing words who these people are, and he identifies them as elect sojourners.

41:40 They were once resident cities of Mansoul. They were once residents of a world system governed by lust and by greed and by pride, but they had been transformed by the grace of God. They now had their citizenship in heaven. They were now under a new authority.

42:03 They were living by a new set of rules with a whole differing set of perspectives. They carry within their breast their true citizenship and identity as sons and daughters of the living God. As those who had come within the orbit of His grace. And Peter wants them to know that he perceives them as sojourners.

42:27 And he wants them to know and understand that that's their identity, but because it has all kinds of practical implications. That's why in chapter 2 he says, I beseech you as strangers and sojourners. That's what you are. Think of yourself in terms of who you are.

42:46 Abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul. Understand who and what you are that you might be enabled to do what you ought to do. That is always the structure of biblical ethics. Understand what you are and by grace be what you are.

43:05 Know your identity and in the strength of Christ live consistent with that identity. So they are then elect sojourners. One commentator has called the book of 1 Peter a traveler's guide for Christian pilgrims. That's what it is.

43:26 It's a traveler's guide. We don't take our standards from the country in which we are resident aliens. That's the world. It lies in the evil one.

43:38 It is slated for destruction. It will do its best to conform you to its standards, its ways, and its perspectives. But we say, no! God has made us in His electing grace and mercy. He has made us sojourners. We are elect sojourners. And then we come to this third designation, sojourners of the dispersion.

Designation 3: Of the Dispersion

44:04 Now, what in the world does that mean? Well, the term dispersion is found only three times in the New Testament. John 7 and verse 35. John 7 and verse 35.

44:19 Perhaps it would be helpful just to read this text.

44:25 The Lord Jesus has said, You're going to seek me. You can't find me. Where I'm going, you can't come. The Jews don't understand what he's saying, so verse 35 records their response.

44:36 The Jews therefore said among themselves, Where will this man go that we shall not find him? Will he go unto the dispersion, the diaspora, the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? He's saying, where I'm going you can't come. Well, is he going out into one of those areas where some of our fellow countrymen have been dispersed among the nations and there, teach the Greeks, and it's used in this way in James 1, where James identifies the recipients of his letter, the twelve tribes scattered abroad or of the dispersion where the article is used.

45:20 Well, what are we to understand? Well, I found amidst all of my reading and wrestling with this, a very helpful distillation of the biblical materials and those things that we can be sure about from secular history. The Jewish dispersion or diaspora came about through deportation, through voluntary moving to a foreign land. So two ways the Jews became the Jews of the dispersion.

45:48 Some of it occurred in conjunction with the captivity, the two stages of the captivity of the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. And some never were brought back to the land of Palestine. They became the dispersion. others would disperse from their homeland for economic reasons. The people generally lived in their own settlement or quarters in a foreign land but were still vitally joined to the land of Palestine and the city of Jerusalem with her temple There was always the hope that in terms of the promises of the prophets what God would do in the latter days, that those of the dispersion might be privileged to be part of a return to Palestine.

46:32 Peter then uses the term for believers scattered throughout the world, yet who have a heavenly fatherland and a hope of being gathered eventually to that land by the grace of God. Now some have suggested, well, because he uses this term dispersion that's so Jewish, it must be that the churches in these areas that he described, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, must have been comprised primarily of converted Jews. They were Jews of the dispersion who've now become elect sojourners. They've become true Christians. But I reject that suggestion for a number of reasons, not the least of which, when you read through 1 Peter, the description given of the overall complexion of these people

47:21 before they were converted does not point to Jews. It points to pagans and to Gentiles. For example, in chapter 1 and verse 14, as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your formal lust in the time of your ignorance. That's terminology used of the Gentiles who were ignorant of God's previous revelatory data in the Old Testament scriptures. In chapter 2 and verse 10 he says, who in time past were no people. That's taken from the prophet and that points to God's ingathering of the Gentiles.

48:01 Chapter 2 and verse 18. Where there's no address to masters, but only to servants. Very, very unlikely that Jews would be found in that position of servitude. And again in chapter 4, verses 3 and 4, he speaks of their former life, fulfilling the desire of the Gentiles, marked by abominable idolatries.

48:25 God cured the Jews of open idolatry after the captivity. So that the complexion of the churches certainly seems to be primarily that of converted Gentiles, though there may well have been a core of converted Jews. We pointed out that some of these districts are mentioned in Acts chapter 2 with people who came to Jerusalem at the feast times and were most likely converted and could have gone back and been some of the original evangelists. Those things cannot be established either from Scripture or from what we would call reliable secular history.

49:01 But you see, Peter is thinking of these people in their new spiritual identity. And he identifies them as elect sojourners of the dispersion. That is, those who are not in their fatherland. Those who are scattered among the nations.

49:24 They are there in Asia Minor. But their homeland is not Jerusalem in Palestine, but what Paul calls the Jerusalem that is above. And again and again in his letter, Peter is constantly pointing them to what awaits them at the coming of the Lord Jesus, when His own people shall be gathered from east and west and north and south and brought home to the place of their deepest desire. And so while they are dispersed and while they are sojourners, they are those who are making their way to the place of their deepest heart's desire.

50:03 Now do you see the relevance of this for first century Christians? While dispersed, they and we are to reflect the laws and the goals and the standards of our true citizenship. That's why he can say in chapter 2 in verse 9, after telling them what they are, as God's elect nation, as God's royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession. Why?

50:31 In order that you may show forth the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. They are there in the dispersion, not to gather together in little insulated enclaves in a protectist mentality, but they are there to show forth the excellencies of the gracious God who in His sovereign electing grace has marked them out to be the recipients of His salvation, who has wrenched them loose from their slavery to this world and its systems and standards, and made them sojourners who are now sojourners of that dispersion that will mark the people of God until the final gathering to the Lord Jesus.

51:19 So then, they are not to retreat into isolated communities in order to escape the world. No, as the Jews of the dispersion lived and worked among the nations in which they were scattered, but strictly maintained their identity, they did not allow themselves to be absorbed. They never forgot we are Jews of the dispersion. Our homeland is back in Palestine, centered in Jerusalem and the temple.

51:50 So these believers are to recognize they're in the midst of paganism. They're in the midst of suffering and opposition. We are not to blend in and become part of this present world system. We are not to be those who have settled in to Cappadocia and to all of these other areas and simply become ordinary Cappadocians and ordinary Asians.

52:18 We are to live as resident aliens who are those that are sojourners of the dispersion. If you and I are God's people, and we believe that this is our essential designation, elect sojourners of the dispersion, like Abraham, we should be clear and unashamed with respect to our identity. Abraham wasn't being nasty. He wasn't being socially boorish.

52:48 He was stating reality when he said in that context, I am a stranger and a sojourner. You know who you are. I know who I am. I'm asking the favor of you.

53:01 I'd like to purchase a piece of land in order to give my wife a decent burial. But I'm not asking you how can I blend in with your culture. I'm not asking you how can I dance to the tune of your drum or to the beat of your drum. I know my identity.

53:17 The voice of my God rings in the memory of my mind and heart. When he called me out of Ur of the Chaldees. And made me a sojourner and a pilgrim in the earth. And I refuse to think of myself in any other way.

53:34 And Peter is desirous that at the very threshold of his letter. Those who are going to follow out all that he writes as apostle of Jesus Christ. Remember who they are in their distinguishing identity. They are elect sojourners of the dispersion.

The Hymn of the Sojourner

53:56 And as I was seeking to reflect upon these things and asked myself, Lord, there surely must be a hymn that captures these biblical concepts. They are so foundational. So my mind was drawn to the familiar words of number 605 in our hymn book. I'm but a stranger here.

54:15 Heaven is my home. Earth is a desert drear. Heaven is my home. Danger and sorrow stand round me on every hand.

54:28 Heaven is my fatherland. Heaven is my home. What though the tempest rage. Heaven is my home.

54:36 Short is my pilgrimage, heaven is my home, and time's wild wintry blast soon shall be overpassed. I shall reach home at last. Heaven is my home. There at my Savior's side, heaven is my home. I shall be glorified, heaven is my home. There are the good and blessed, those I love most and best.

55:05 and there I too shall rest. Heaven is my home. Therefore, I murmur not, Heaven is my home. Whate'er my earthly lot, Heaven is my home.

55:17 And I shall surely stand there at my Lord's right hand. Heaven is my fatherland. Heaven is my home.

Application to the Unconverted: Embrace the Sojourner's Identity

55:29 Now for you who are not converted, you see, this is radical stuff. There are churches by the dozens that are telling people today that all of your basic desires shaped by the perspectives of the world, Christ can give you all that and more. No, my friend. That would be no blessing.

55:53 To be glutted with that which can never fill the soul and will ultimately damn you.

55:59 What God offers you in Christ in His salvation is to make you a sojourner of the dispersion. So to free you from the tyranny of what people think that you can know the luxury of walking in the liberty of pleasing God. That is the most liberating thing in all the world. To know that the God of heaven and earth who made me and who in the last day in the person of His Son will judge me, that that God is the one whose smile means all to me.

56:36 To be liberated from the tyranny of the recent fads in speech and clothes and norms of right and wrong. To know that you are rooted in the deepest recesses of your soul. To a standard of life and purpose and direction and destiny that have lifted you above the tyranny of this world slated for the fires of judgment at the coming of Christ. To be made by grace a sojourner of the dispersion.

57:10 My unconverted friend, that's what it means to be a Christian. That's what it means. Not to alter the services on the Lord's Day when the world worships at the god of four pieces of leather and all the commercialism and structure and evening service so we can all sit around and watch the football game and have, quote, fellowship? What in the name of all rationality does any hungering soul want to find in a place where the Dagon before which the world worship is dragged into the sanctuary of God?

57:44 I want to be amongst the people who love an unseen but real Christ and whose hearts are set upon a standard and purpose and goal and direction of life that transcend the trinkets that will be consumed in fire. Don't you want something more than trinkets that will be consumed with fire? Then come and join this happy band of elect sojourners of the dispersion. and by throwing yourself upon Christ, asking Him to deliver you from the tyranny of the love of this world and living for things and that you might begin to live for the purpose for which God made you, that you might know Him,

58:30 that you might glorify Him, have communion with Him. And it's all bound up in the great mercies that Peter will yet describe beginning in verse 3. that God who according to His great mercy begets men again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead unto an inheritance incorruptible undefiled reserved in heaven for all of these elect sojourners of the dispersion. You see the world looks at them and pities them.

59:01 But when they understand who they are they hold their heads high with noble dignity while clothed with a gracious humility. When I know by grace I'm one of those elect sojourners, what does that knowledge do? It gives me a sense of gratitude, a sense of certainty, suffused with humility. Who made me to differ?

59:26 It is God's free, sovereign choice that has marked me out and made me part of this company of sojourners of the dispersion. And when I know I'm a sojourner, then I can sit loosely to what this world may or may not give to me or do to me. I need not fear those who kill the body, and after this have no more that they can do. I shall never forget the inscription on one of the martyrs in a graveyard over in the north of Scotland, one of the covenanters.

59:54 Had some lovely poetry as they were persecuted, and then this phrase is stuck in my brain, and the years have not scrubbed it out. Prelitz rage did chase them up to heaven. I love the terminology the rage of a corrupt religious system all it could do was chase them up to heaven all it could do was chase the sojourners the resident aliens home to their fatherland what a wonderful thing to have such a hope and it is yours in Christ if you will have Christ may God grant that you will become jealous to become one of those sojourners of the dispersion as we look forward to being gathered home in our Fatherland

Conclusion: Gratitude, Certainty, and Humility for the Elect Sojourner

60:40 into the presence of the Lord Jesus. Let's pray.

60:50 Our Father, we thank You for the richness of Your Holy Word and we pray that Your Spirit would so write its truth upon our hearts that we as Your people may increasingly understand our distinguishing identity and that by Your grace we may live in a manner consistent with that identity. We pray for those who know You not that You would cause them to see the emptiness, the vanity, the hollowness, the futility of life lived for the standards and the goals and the trinkets of this present world. May You graciously prevail upon them to become sojourners of the dispersion. Bless your word then to the hearts of your people

61:37 and to those who know you not. We commit ourselves to you for the remainder of this day, asking that in all things you will be glorified. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.