Sunday, January 13, 2008

1 Peter – How to Live as Christians in a Non-Christian Culture
1 Peter 2:9-12

I. Introduction

Ask people what their favorite book is in the Bible.

So, why am I going to preach through 1 Peter?

First, I think it is important from time to time to veer away from looking at our favorite passages and to study those sections of the Scriptures that we may find more challenging or unfamiliar.

Second and I think more importantly, Peter is one of the earliest sources we have that wrestles with the question, “How
do Christians live in the midst of a non-Christian culture?” Or “How do Christians interact with the culture around them?”

The difficulty of 1 Peter for us today is the huge cultural differences that exist between Peter’s social/cultural
context and ours.

For example, how do we relate to the significant sections on persecution when we really are not experiencing the kind of persecution they were in their day?

Or how does Peter’s encouragement to slaves, that they should accept the authority of their masters (2:18ff) relate to anything in our culture today? Does Peter condone slavery?

Should wives obey their husbands and address them as lords? That is how Sarah addressed Abraham! (3:6)

As you can see there will be some challenges along the way and we will strive to understand the passages in Peter’s
social context and then, with God helping us, bridge the cultural gap so that we can understand how to apply the truth
of God’s Word today.

So, why 1 Peter? I guess, I just felt led to, but I also see the value of wrestling with how we as Christians are to
interact with society.

Ever since the church was established, there have been a variety of responses to this question. While this is an over-simplification, I have broken the responses into two main categories:

1. Christianity as a counterculture of separatism

The more well-known advocates of this would be the Amish. You completely pull out of society and consider the church
to be free of any governmental interference. Most who espouse this view would also consider themselves pacifists.

2. Christianity being extended into secular society

This has a wide range of expressions from the sometimes violent efforts of the church to throw off the shackles
of governmental tyranny, to active political involvement, to major efforts in evangelism, to actively addressing issues
of social justice.

Most churches today probably fall somewhere in this second category.

However, the majority of us do not tend towards radical ideologies of either separatism or activism.

At best, we are simply trying to live for God with a clear conscience, exist in the midst of our society in the best way we know how to, and give some kind of testimony to others as to who Jesus is in our lives.

At worst, we don’t really care or give any thought to how we as Christians should live in the midst of society.

However, this is important and Peter will give us some great insight into this question throughout his letter.

What is Peter’s answer to this question? We will look more closely at this later, but Peter states that they were to:

  1. Live honorable and holy lives
  2. Endure suffering
  3. Love each other and be a place of community
  4. Live within established societal structures
  5. Faithfully testify to the work of Christ

We will take a closer look at how this applies to us as we study this book together.

II. The Basics

  A. Who wrote the letter?

While some have tried to argue that the Apostle Peter did not write this letter because of the excellent Greek used, the majority of the evidence seems to indicate that Peter is the author.

In chapter five verse twelve, the author states, “Through Silvanus, whom I consider a faithful brother, I have written this short letter to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God.” (NRSV)

Silvanus is probably why the letter is written so well as Peter himself was considered an “uneducated and ordinary” man (Acts 4:13).

The strongest argument for Peter being the author, however, is simply that this is what the letter says, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the exiles…” (1 Peter 1:1, NRSV)

  B. When was it written?

Due to the fact that Peter was martyred in AD 64 or 65 (a little more than thirty after Jesus’ death and resurrection), the letter was probably written during the persecution of Emperor Nero somewhere between 62 and 65 AD.

The date of the writing has some serious ramifications as we get into the letter. This is an issue we will discuss further
as we study the book together.

  C. Who was it written to?

First of all the letter itself says that Peter is writing “To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia…” (1 Peter 1:1, NIV)

These were various Roman provinces in what is now Turkey.

So, he is writing to the elect – the chosen of God and strangers – that includes most of us!

Not just strangers, but strangers in the world – or you could say pilgrims. He is writing to people who have come to
know God through Christ and understand that this world is not fully their home.

Again in 1 Peter 2:11-12 he calls his listeners “aliens and strangers.” What is interesting to me is that the context of the passage seems to indicate that this has more to do with the social status of the people than their spiritual status (the idea that this world is not my home).

In other words, Peter is writing to a socially marginalized people – a working class (slave and free) who were on the outside of the privileges experienced by the more social elite.

These are people who are not considered citizens of the empire and who have to struggle from day to day
just trying to survive.

This is why the idea of community is so prominent in 1 Peter.

The church is a place for the “misfits” – the socially and spiritually homeless of our culture. It is to be a place where the aliens and strangers can find a home – where they can rest from all their wanderings and the sense of being outside of everything.

I think this is why so many churches remain small.

People who are disempowered and marginalized are empowered and considered important in the church. Sometimes, however, there is a downside – once some experience that empowerment they believe that the only way to maintain it is
to be the primary leader.

If everybody wants to be the primary leader that does not leave much room for many followers and therefore you have
lots of small churches.

To be more positive, we as the church have a few things to learn from 1 Peter in the sense of being that home for the “homeless” and a family for the “alien and the stranger.”

  D. What is Peter’s message?

Primarily, Peter is speaking to the following issues:

   1. Our salvation and how Christ has made salvation possible
   2. The church – not so much as an institution, but as a household/community
   3. The Christian life – living holy lives in the midst of suffering, persecution and a culture that is not oriented
       towards Christ

III. Application – What is the Relevance of Peter for Us Today?

Primarily, I would say it is to know who we are before God, so we can be who are called to be in our culture.

But Peter also speaks clearly about how that life should be lived. We should be holy, endure suffering graciously, love others and build the church (meaning people, not buildings).

I believe God would have us look at 1 Peter in order to grow in our understanding of how we are to live for Christ in
our modern/postmodern culture.

To accomplish this we will:

   A. Study the ancient text and seek to understand it as it was presented in its original context.
   B. Try to bridge the cultural differences in order to understand how the principles of 1 Peter apply to us today.