[AI translation] As is the ancient Reformed custom, I would like to take out a Bible book again and continue to explain it Sunday by Sunday. So let us now turn to the ordinary first letter of the Apostle Peter, which, according to our Bible reading guide, many of us in this congregation have read in recent weeks. I have now read the opening two verses of this letter as the keynote of this sermon. In it, the apostle shows us the situation of Christians in this world and gives them encouragement to stand their ground in this situation.According to the general form of the letter then in use, the writer first names himself, then the addressees, thus: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the newcomers scattered in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia". (1 Peter 1:1) This already shows the situation in which the Christians of that time lived, and the Christians of today live, in this world: as scattered strangers, that is to say, scattered like salt in a mass of people, alien to the thinking, tastes and customs of the great majority of people. For the word 'stranger' means a foreigner, someone who is passing through, in transit somewhere: a foreign citizen, whose permanent home is somewhere else, who belongs elsewhere. Christians, that is, true Christian people, live in small or large groups, or quite alone, scattered in a non-Christian environment, in a non-Christian world, society, people. This is their situation, that is to say, they are scattered newcomers, heavenly citizens scattered in Pontus, Galicia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, Budapest, Heviz, Tokyo, Berlin, on earth.
Why strangers? Because something happened to them: their hearts were opened to a mysterious voice from heaven, the Word of God. Their lives were placed in the hands of an invisible Lord, the living Jesus Christ. They came to know an unearthly source of power, the power of forgiveness of sins. Their hearts beat to the beat of the new commandment of love. They have learned to hope and look forward to a new world in which God's justice and peace dwell. And in doing so, they have become strangers. Their environment does not understand them. They are doing things that make no sense to others. They long for the Word of God, they pray, they glorify God, they tolerate harm, they love even their enemies. And then they don't do things that are obvious in human life. They do not seek their own gain, they do not get emotional, they do not get offended, they do not put themselves first, they do not fear for their lives even in death. Their lives are not geared to pleasure, entertainment, comfort, material gain - so they are strangers in the world, and often in their own families. They are strangers in the world, but they are not alienated from the world, in fact they love the world, and it is this element in them that is the most alien, the least earthly, the most other, the most incomprehensible.
The alienation of the Christian man from this world does not mean that he, in the consciousness of his heavenly citizenship, despises this world, shuts himself off from it, shuts himself off from it and does not care for it, or shyly retires to the secret enjoyment of his other-worldly treasures - for it is precisely by this alienation from the world that Christians have often discredited the gospel before the world. But so alien is it that the power with which he does his work is alien, the spirit which pervades his thinking, his feeling, and determines his relations with men. It is alien because it is not earthly, not human, but power and Spirit from God. Then, too, Christian men are alien in that they are always and in every way, everywhere, in the minority. There is no Christian state, society, country. There is not and never has been a Christian part of the world. Just as there is no Christian factory, Christian tax office, Christian banking house. But there are Christian men and congregations in the state, in society, among mankind, as scattered strangers, but who, even in their minority, are servants of the supreme Lord of the world, forerunners, messengers and workers of the kingdom of God in the making.
Of course, it is not easy to live in this world as such strangers, as ambassadors of Jesus. That is why the apostle Peter encourages and strengthens the scattered newcomers with this letter. The very fact that it is the apostle Peter who is writing this exhortation to them is a great strength in itself. For when he writes: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ", it is more than just an ordinary introduction - it is his personal testimony. For it is not really self-evident that he, of all people, can be an apostle of Jesus Christ. When he wrote this: "apostle of Jesus Christ", the memory of that dark hour must have come to him. How he vowed to Jesus that he was ready to lay down his life for him! And a few hours later, when all he had to do was to say a simple yes, there in the courtyard of the high priest, by the fire, when he first felt what it meant to be a stranger scattered over the earth: the great resolve, the great faith, the loud confession of faith, the breast-beating courage, had already been undone. It is not really self-evident that he can call himself after all that: an apostle of Jesus Christ. Behold, he is: the apostle of Jesus Christ. In spite of all that has happened so shamefully. But it was not by his own power, or by his faith, or by his power that he became so again. But it was there, in the very depths of his denial and sin, where all his capacity for good had failed, that he knew the power, the power stronger than all human weakness, than all human strength: the renewing power of the forgiveness of sins. This is the miracle, the secret of his life. That is why he is an apostle. He is surrounded and sustained by the grace of God. To this he bears witness here.
And herein is the confirmation for the readers of this letter. For us too. We have fallen short, we have failed in small things, our faith has failed, our courage has been shattered, we may feel that it is over, that we have come to the end: we have brought so much shame to the name of Christ that it is best to leave the ministry quietly. Well, it is in the shame of such a defeat, such a fall, that grace, forgiveness of sins, is closest, so we can start again. Clinging to grace, it is still possible to stand even for cowardly and weak, scattered newcomers like us. God's grace surrounds you, holds you, carries you, renews you - don't be discouraged, don't be intimidated by your own weakness because of your fate as a newcomer!
It is not easy being a newcomer, but there is something else here, the knowledge of which can be a further strengthening, which the apostle writes: "...to the lost newcomers, chosen according to the predestination of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit..." (1Pt 1,2) This means that it is not their own faith and decision that made them Christians. God did something in their lives. God initiated something before they were even aware of it. God opened their hearts. He preached His Word to them in a way they could understand. He gave them the vision to understand the mystery of the cross. He began a new life in them. This is what it means to be chosen according to God the Father's predestination. This predestination does not mean that God has predestined one man from eternity to salvation and another to damnation. If that were so, we could never decide the awkward question: where do I belong, among the elect or the reprobate? It means that God is the initiator. My coming to faith began with His love and mercy on me first. Before I could choose, He already chose, He decided for me on Calvary. There our election was made, there provision was made for us. And this electing grace of God is for all who are willing to accept it.
Our belonging to Christ, our coming into this world, goes back further than our coming to faith, has a deeper foundation than our decision: the beginning and the foundation are there, in the grace that God has revealed to us in the cross of Jesus Christ. Thus we are the chosen newcomers according to God the Father's predestination. The apostle does not say this to frighten us, to give us an opportunity to speculate whether we are chosen or not, but to strengthen us, to encourage us: do not be discouraged there, in that lonely post where you stand a stranger as an ambassador of Christ, even if you are so alone as to represent there the cause of the Lordship of Jesus: behind you, with you, is the greatest power, the living God! But the apostle does not linger long on this eternal perspective of our faith, but immediately tells us what it means in practice: obedience. According to God the Father's predestination, those who are chosen are chosen to obey Him. Not for pious feelings, moods, not for religious contemplation, not for meditating on the beauty of things to come in the hereafter, but for concrete obedience in this world. It is to translate what they have heard in their communion with God into action in their communion with men. That which they have learnt from God in Jesus Christ, to live it out with men.This is the weakest point of our newcomer destiny, our condition: obedience. And yet this is the goal of the whole Christian life!
Obedience means submitting one's will to the will of another. I want to say, do, feel, think what Jesus wants. In this one can exercise oneself. If I first try to conform myself to the will of Christ in a general way, I will then be able to discern His actual will in the more and more concrete details of my life. Often a believer will say: I do not know what God wants of me in this particular situation. Well, it is like looking at the stars in the sky: the longer I look, the more stars I discover. At first only the brightest ones, then my eyes get used to it, more and more, even the smaller ones. We see only the broad outlines of God's will at first, but as our eyes and ears become accustomed to listening to His Word and His Holy Spirit speaking through our conscience, we come to know His will more and more precisely, more and more clearly. And each step in obedience makes the next step easier. Each concrete act of obedience makes the ear more attentive to God's word, the heart, the hand, the foot more ready for further obedience. Begin to practice obedience, and the ever more vivid reality of personal communion with God will be revealed to you. The only way we can contribute to sharing in the power and authority God has given us, to the unfolding of the riches of the life of Christ, is by obedience.
But even this obedience is beyond our capacity. That is why the apostle immediately adds: you are "the chosen ones... chosen to obedience and to sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." (1Pt 1,2) It is astonishing when someone is splashed with the blood of another. Dostoyevsky's Raskolnikov, for the rest of his life, cannot escape the irredeemable fact that the blood of two old women has been splashed on his hands and clothes. Even János Arany's wife Agnes sees the blood spilled on the rag-washed sheets with eyes that go mad. Why can we so easily escape the effects of the blood of the Son of God shed on us? Is it because this blood does not accuse?! Of course it does! It only accuses! More than any other blood! But only until I accept in great humility that I too have had a part in its shedding, that it was shed on the cross for me, in my place, for me! Then he will no longer accuse, but will cover, protect, lift up, raise up, strengthen, set free - to obedience! We cannot obey God except under the empowering protection of this blood.
Here we are together, in church fellowship, but when we are again scattered, dispersed to offices, workshops, machines, households, the world, let us remember there the encouragement which the Lord has sent to us today through the letter of the Apostle Peter, to us, the scattered newcomers, who have been "chosen according to the predestination of God the Father, by the sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and to sprinkling by the blood of Jesus Christ." May this "grace and peace" be "abundantly given" to us!
Let us sing together:
My invincible rock,
My protector and my stone,
On the cross at a dear price
I look to you for protection.
For the greatness of your Sebeid,
For your kind sacrifice,
For thy dear red blood,
That you have poured out for this world.
(Canto 346, verse 1-2)
Amen
Date: 22 August 1954.
Lesson
Lk 22,54-62