Out of This World: Strangers NOT Citizens

One of the strangest experiences I have ever had was in college.  I played basketball and studied most of my free time so I didn’t have an abundant social life.  In an effort to loosen me up a bit, my college roommate and another friend “kidnapped” me, blindfolded me, and drove 45 minutes to a dance club.  I’ll be honest, I felt about as strange and out of place as any moment in my life.  The noise, the atmosphere, the overall everything were not the environment that I would have chosen to participate in.  Nobody likes to feel strange, and yet, sometimes feeling strange and out of place is an appropriate response to our surroundings.

READ:  1 Peter 1:1; 2:11-12

In writing to Christians, Peter tells His brothers and sisters in Christ that being STRANGE is good! According to Peter, we will not feel at home on this earth because we are SOJOURNERS and EXILES in this world!  A SOJOURNER is a person who lives in a land where they have no citizenship.  An EXILE is a person who temporarily lives in a place that is not their normal place of residence.

Being a sojourner and an exile is hard.  If you’ve ever traveled to a foreign country you know what it is like to be a stranger.  The COMMUNICATION is strange, the citizens speak a different language.  The CULTURE is strange, the citizens have different values and priorities.  The CONDUCT is strange, the citizens have different behavior and habits.  Living in this world as believers will be strange.  Why do we feel strange and what are we supposed to do as sojourners and exiles in this world?

We have been ELECTED by God to be EXILES in the world (1 Pet. 1:1-3) – As a result of Marianne and I electing to adopt a little girl named Sarah from Guatemala into our family, she is no longer a resident of her home country.  By becoming a member of our family she moved to a “foreign land” and has accepted a different language, different culture, and a different way of living.  In a similar way, our salvation changes our resident status in the world from citizen to stranger.  As God’s “elect” we are no longer citizens of this world, but we are “exiles” who have accepted a completely different way of living!  We are now citizens of God’s kingdom who are living in a foreign and very strange land (Eph. 1:3-6).

As sojourners and exiles in this world, we are to ABSTAIN from sinful behavior (1 Pet. 2:11) – War is a battle waged against an enemy whose goal is to destroy.  As sojourners and exiles in this world, there is an enemy who is waging war against us, but unlike what we might think, it is not an enemy who is outside of us.  We are at war with ourselves!  Our enemy is our own earthly passions, our own desire and attraction to return to our old sinful way of living (James 1:14:15).  How do we defeat this enemy?  God’s battle plan to fight against the “passions of our flesh” is to “abstain”.  The word “abstain” means to, “be a distance away from”.  We can defeat our passions by staying away from those things that entice us back to our old sinful ways of living.  If we don’t, we will be defeated.

As sojourners and exiles in this world, we are to keep our CONDUCT HONORABLE and do GOOD DEEDS (1 Pet. 2:12) – It’s easy to spot someone who stands out in a crowd.  A Chicago Cub’s fan stands out at a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium.  What is it that makes a Christian stand out in the crowd of the world?  “Honorable conduct” and “good deeds” are what make our lives’ stand out and captures the attention of an unbelieving world.  We declare our heavenly citizenship by the holy and upright manner in which we conduct our lives.  Such “foreign” behavior is what will give God the attention and glory He deserves (Matthew 5:16).

CONCLUSION
This world is not our home!  We should feel strange and out of place on this earth.  If we don’t, we should ask ourselves, “am I a citizen of the Kingdom of God?”  The good news is that transferring our citizenship from the world to God’s Kingdom is easy, confess your sin and believe in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10)!