5/8/11 - Easter 3 - 1 Peter 1:17-21

YOU DON'T BELONG HERE

Home

I had a conference in Omaha this past week and I took my family with me. And since I grew up in the southeast part of Nebraska it was nice to get back and see some of things I hadn’t seen in a while and to resurrect some of those memories that hadn’t crossed my mind in a couple of years. My family and I even drove by the house that I grew up in as a kid. But it’s not my house anymore. And that part of the country isn’t my home any longer either. We certainly had a good time: the conference was worthwhile and we had an opportunity to see the new church building that my childhood congregation just built and we were even able to get together with Jessica’s side of the family for a few days at her sister’s house - but it still wasn’t “home.” And so the whole time we were there we were looking forward to getting back here and sleeping on our own pillows again and relaxing in our own house again and functioning as a family in this town again because this is “home.” This is where we live; this is where we are comfortable; and no matter how nice things can be in other places at other times, we just don’t belong in other places right now; we belong here - at home. And so it was nice to get back to the place where we belong.
As the apostle Peter writes to us about Christian living in his first letter, he wants us to have that same kind of attitude as we live on this earth: He wants us to remember that we don’t quite belong here. This life might be nice at certain times and enjoyable in certain places, but it’s not quite “home.” This isn’t where our permanent residence is; we’re just here for the time being until we can go to the place where we really belong.
“Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear."

“Sojourning”

Peter says that we are to act as if we are strangers in this world, foreigners, sojourners. And if you’re not familiar with that word, “sojourners” are people who live in a place only temporarily or people who are traveling through areas that are not their home. They aren’t wanderers exactly - it’s not as if they don’t know where to go - it’s just that the place they are in at the moment isn’t where they came from and it isn’t where they will end up either. They haven’t permanently settled down because they are just passing through.
But this isn’t the only time that Peter mentions this. At the beginning of his letter Peter addresses this writing to “God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (v.1). These Christians had been scattered from Jerusalem all over the world because of the persecution that happened after the stoning of Stephen. But no matter where they currently lived, Peter calls them “strangers in the world” as if they didn’t truly belong where they happened to be. And later on in chapter two Peter again calls his readers “aliens and strangers in the world” (2:11). And so along with the portion of Scripture we are looking at today, Peter makes mention of the fact that Christians are foreigners in this world and don’t really belong on this earth three separate times in the first couple chapters. Why would he do that? Why would Peter emphasize this point so often to his fellow Christians? Probably because it’s easy to forget that we’re strangers here, isn’t it?

Don’t Get Too Attached

It’s easy to forget that this world is a foreign country to Christians. And it’s easy to forget that no matter how comfortable we may be in this life, this life isn’t what we’re living for! Because we enjoy spending time with some of the people here and we like to get the new and the better things that make our lives more pleasant and we appreciate the different blessing we have as we live here. But we can get so absorbed in the hectic nature of our day to day living and the multitude of options that this world offers that we start acting like we’re actually going to stay here, that we almost belong here - as if this is our permanent home!
Don’t get too attached. Don’t get too attached to the things that you have and the things that you can get and the things that you do in this world. Because they aren’t going to last. And they don’t much matter anyway, do they? The house that you have? Just a pile of sticks and bricks. The relatives that you love and the friends that you’ve made and the people that you care about? Just other foreigners in a foreign place. The vacation you’re planning and the activities you are involved with? Just things that will soon pass away places through which you will only be passing through. The “stuff” here can be nice of course; the “stuff” can be enjoyable at times; but the “stuff” doesn’t matter. It is passing; it is simply provisional. It’s not meant to last. It’s not meant to be what you live for.
When we were coming back from Omaha this past week, we brought along plenty of snacks for the kids, but those snacks weren’t supposed to serve as their main meals. We gave them their blankets and their pillows from home so that they could take naps in the car, but their car seats were not going to be their actual beds each night. We stopped on occasion to let them run around in the grass at rest areas or to spend some time on the playgrounds along the way, but those small breaks in the trip and those hiatus’ from the monotony of travel were not our final destination. And so when they asked for even more snacks we would remind them that we were going to eat supper soon. And when they wanted to get out of their car seats we would tell them to be patient because they would be able to stretch out once we arrived. And when they wanted to stay and play a little longer at the rest areas we would have to direct their minds back to where we were ultimately headed. We were headed home; they just forgot that fact every once in a while. Kids in general have a hard time focusing on what is to come. Instead, what is in front of their faces at the moment is what they want and what they crave and what they care about.
We can be spiritual children sometimes like that as well. We want and we crave and we care about what is right in front of our faces at the moment… and we forget about what is to come. And so we get a little selfish because we want a lot of things for ourselves and we get a little greedy because we want more and we get a little frustrated and disappointed when we don’t get the things we want right now. We would like to gorge ourselves on the snacks while forgetting the feast that awaits us in the future. And we desperately cling to the passing playgrounds we have a chance to visit while forgetting that we’re going home - longing for those temporary joys that are empty and pointless and futile, trying to hold on to those things that won’t make us truly happy anyway and that won’t be able come along with us in the end.

The Blood of the Lamb

It’s a good thing that this life isn’t all there is. Think about all of the disappointment and the despair that would come from losing the things that you like the most and failing to get whatever you wanted. What a sad life that would be! How unfulfilling and hopeless! Think about what a blessing it is that you don’t really belong here and that you don’t have to stay. “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
In the worship life of the Old Testament, every male - both man and animal - was to be “redeemed” or “bought back” when they were one month old. The ransom price was five shekels of silver. This was the price set to dedicate them to the Lord in remembrance of the firstborn sons that he had saved at the Passover in Egypt when the angel of the Lord “passed over” the houses with blood on their door frames. And even though the Jewish Christians had stopped that practice by the time Peter wrote this letter, they were certainly aware of the command that their forefathers had received and carried out in the past. And so Peter’s words here in his first letter meant something very important to them: “It was not with gold or silver that you were redeemed from this empty way of life… but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” Peter wanted them and us to understand: This life means nothing in the end. It can offer nothing. It can gain nothing. Even if you do good things and lead a good life and be a good person, it is “empty” because your “good” won’t get you through. But Christ’s blood will. Christ’s blood will take you from this life into the next. Our Lamb’s blood dedicates us to the Lord and makes this unstable world just the countryside we are passing through to get to our final destination. As that precious blood of the pure unblemished lamb saved the people of Israel in the land of Egypt at the first Passover celebration, so the precious blood of the pure unblemished Lamb of God saves us. It redeems us. It buys us back. It guarantees us that we don’t have to live for this life, that there is something more, that there is something better.

There’s Something Better

And there is something better that awaits us, isn’t there? What awaits us after this life is another life, a life without loss and a family without fights and a body without pain and a day without night. What awaits us is a home. A real home. A place we belong even though it’s a place we have yet to see. And it’s kind of exciting, isn’t it? Aren’t you looking forward to this Paradise in which the Lord himself lives? Aren’t you anticipating a place that you will not only enjoy, but a place that you will never have to leave? The trip there may be long and the road may be bumpy. This world may offer appealing detours and the scenes that pass outside your window can be a distraction at times. But the Lord will keep turning your gaze back to the road ahead. He will keep reminding you about his blood. He will keep comforting you with his forgiveness. And he will keep calling you home. Because you don’t belong here. This is not where you live; this is where you are staying for the time being. You belong up there. And Jesus is already preparing for your arrival.
Amen.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.” - Psalm 33:12