Living as Aliens and Strangers
Apr 25, 2010
The story of the Bible is the account of redemption. It is an account told over and over again in many ways and through many people. When we read of the Hebrew children enslaved in Egypt and redeemed from bondage by God’s power, we read the embodiment of redemption that serves as the benchmark of God’s salvation. This is THE account of redemption that all others point to.
The Hebrews had grown prosperous and content in Egypt, but Egypt was not the Promised Land and not in the ultimate will of God for His people. Maybe this is why God allowed them to be enslaved. We will never be open to hear God’s voice nor be obedient to God’s leading as long as we are comfortable, happy and content outside of God’s will.
After 400 years of bondage the Hebrews were not only ready to hear God, but were crying out in desperation for God’s deliverance and redemption. You know the story. Moses was sent by God to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt and back to the Promised Land. God worked many miracles not only to provide for their escape but also to reveal His nature and character to these descendants of Abraham.
Now out of Egypt and on the other side of the Red Sea, they find themselves strangers and aliens in a foreign land. They have been both redeemed out of a horrible life and been redeemed to a life that is unfamiliar, unknown, and filled with all kinds of uncertainties. They were in what might be called “no man’s land” in betwixt and between the ‘what was and the not quite yet.’ How would they live as aliens and strangers in a foreign land?
In the opening verse of his first letter, Peter addresses these early Christians as “strangers in the world.” Some translators use the word “exiles” here. It is interesting that in verse 18-19, Peter makes the point of the similarities between the redemption of these early Christians and that of the ancient Hebrews. Remember last week how we spoke of the Hebrews being saved from death by the blood of the lamb? Peter reminds these early followers of Jesus that they were also “redeemed from the empty way of life…by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
The correlation here is that both the ancient Israelites and these early Christians had left their former way of life—one from slavery to the Egyptians, the other from slavery to sin and the ways of this world. Both the ancient Hebrews and the early Christians are plying uncharted waters uncertain of where this newfound relationship with God and Jesus was leading them. They were feeling like strangers and exiles in a foreign land.
Living in exile can be a frightening place. No security, no comfort, no common bonds, no friends, and nothing that is ‘tried and true.’ This is the experience of new Christians. The old is gone and everything is new. The problem is that the old was secure, familiar and comfortable, even slavery in Egypt. Some of those ancient Hebrews wanted to go back to their former slavery because it was more secure being enslaved compared to the insecurity and the unknown of being free. Making that transition from sinner to saint can be difficult because it means giving up what we are used to. Most of us prefer the familiar and known and therefore many people can’t or won’t make that decision to follow Jesus, or they try to live in both worlds--the old and the new, this world and the Kingdom of God. The reality is that you cannot be free and slave at the same time. You can’t follow Jesus and the world at the same time. Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” It is either one of the other.
Truth be told: there is a price to pay to follow Jesus…and that is your old ways of living and doing things. It may mean giving up some friends, or hangouts, or habits, or attitudes, or practices, whatever. When you do that, you can feel all alone. Who are these Christians? Are they religious freaks? Are they whack-os? What is this being a Christian all about? You can feel like a stranger in a foreign land. The language, the worship, the ways of doing things. You don’t know the praise songs, nor the hymns. You wonder if you sitting in someone’s seat, and sometimes they even tell you! It can be a very awkward and uncomfortable situation.
Many of the early Christians gave up plenty to follow Jesus. Some even faced the gladiators and the lions and lost their lives. Some became outcasts in their families, in their communities and became suspects by the government. Given the uncertainty, the newness, the unfamiliar, the question confronts them: Do they go back to the old ways that are familiar and the secure or continue to move foreword with Jesus even in the uncertainties that lay ahead?
It can also be similar even for us who have followed Jesus for many years. Going to a ‘foreign land’ is unsettling because it is the unknown. For me right now that foreign land is Woolwich. It would be much easier and far more comfortable to simply stay here. I know you. I don’t know them. We’ve lived in our house for over 27 years, traveled these same roads, eat at the diner, have gone to the same doctors, and we know a lot of people. I go to the barbershop and they know my name. I go to the post office and they know my name. I go to the bank and they know my name. Right now the only people we know in Woolwich are the Rusks where Ed is the pastor of the Swedesboro UM Church. If Matt and Brooke Baker get their new house, they will be neighbors. Pretty much everything for me will be totally new, and I wrestled with God over this move, knowing that I would have to leave my comfort zone, the familiar and the known; knowing that I would no longer be a part of your lives and I wanted to make sure this was really God’s idea and not mine, nor anyone else’s. Following Jesus can be uncomfortable, unfamiliar, unknown, and scary.
Following Jesus can also be very exciting and fresh and new. This is the “new” part of God’s work in our lives. The old is gone, even when that old is good! Sometimes that good ‘old’ can be sin when it keeps us from being obedient to God’s will and from God’s best for our lives and God’s best even for others. Jesus told His disciples, “It is good that I go away.”
So then how do we survive as strangers and aliens in a foreign land? How do we prosper when God takes us out of our comfort zone and takes us into uncharted territory? In this letter Peter gives these early Christians 3 bases for moving forward in faith and launching out into the ‘new’ that God has for us.
The first is based in God’s holiness. Peter encourages these people in verse 16 to be obedient by not conforming to the evil desires of the old life, but be holy in all they did. He told them to “live as strangers here in reverent fear.” In other words don’t buy into the standards, the worldview, the priorities and lifestyle of this present world but be strangers, be different, be unique, be holy, ie set apart for God’s use. We can trust in God because His very nature is holy, eternal love. He will not leave us nor forsake us. He will not give us up or allow us to be swept away in meaninglessness. As God provided manna and quail and water in the Sinai for the ancient Hebrews, God will provide for us. As God parted the Red Sea so God will make a way across, over, under or around anything that obstructs His plan and purpose for our lives. He will not abandon us even when we are afraid. He will lift us up when we stumble and fall. He will comfort us when we feel all alone. God will not give up on us until we are formed into His image and shaped into His character.
Second, Peter reminds these early Christians that they have been changed and can never be the same again. God has touched us, put His Spirit within us, redeemed and purified us, and given us new life. Even if you choose to walk away from Christ, you can never fully go back to what you were. Once you get married, you are a different person. Even if you choose to walk away from that marriage, you can never really be single again.
From time to time it is important for us to reflect on how Jesus has changed our lives and how far we have come. We need to look at those we used to hang out with in our BC (ie Before Christ) days and ask yourself, “Do I really want to go back to that?” Sometimes we need to ask ourselves, “Where would I be today if I had never said yes to Jesus? What would my life be like?” I think if we were honest with ourselves, the life we would have without God’s transforming grace would quickly loose any appeal it might have. “O taste and see that the Lord is good,” declares the Psalmist. Once you have tasted the sweetness of Jesus, you don’t desire the bitterness of this world.
Third, we can trust the work of Christ. Peter is saying that it is the love of God in Jesus that drew us to a new way of living and healed our broken past. When we begin to waver and doubt, we look at Jesus, the Lamb of God and remember His love, grace and mercy.
In ancient Israel God’s primary purpose was to shape a people who would reflect the reality and truth of this Living God. Through them God would reveal Himself to all the people-groups of the world. God’s people were to stand alone, unique, unlike any others. When everyone else worshipped many gods, they stubbornly worshipped one God. When others offered human sacrifices, they declared human life to be holy. When others incorporated sexual promiscuity as a part of their religion, they declared and lived “one man, one woman.” When others exacted retribution of 10 to 1, they said, “an eye for an eye.” When they played games with words and agreements, they said, “Let you yea be yea and your nay be nay.”
When Jesus came, that uniqueness did not go away. Jesus taught that when your enemies hate you, you love them. When people lie about you, you tell the truth no matter what. When others make war, you make peace. When people abuse you, you offer kindness in return. When others cheat, you be honest. When others are arrogant and elitist, you be humble.
When God redeems us He begins to fashion and shape us into the image of Jesus, the Lamb so that we can reflect the nature and character of God Himself. Peter writes in verse 16 “for it is written… ‘be holy for I am holy.’”
Indeed as followers of Jesus Christ we are aliens and strangers in this land. And as this world becomes more secular and pagan, the strangeness and our alienation grow deeper and larger. It is okay to feel like an exile and stranger from our old life and the ways of this world. Following Jesus means constantly moving into areas of newness and challenge that stretch us and cause us to be uncomfortable.
Let me ask you: are you tempted to go back to your old life? Are you too comfortable where you are in your walk with Jesus? Perhaps God is calling you into a new land of faith with Him.