Privileged Pilgrims

It is my turn for morning devotions tomorrow with the faculty and we are working through the theme of "I am the door".  During our orientation session, our principal showed this famous painting based on John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress".

My devotion is based on this imagery.  It comes from a sermon preached by Dr. Nelson Kloosterman.

1 Peter 1:1-2

 "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:May grace and peace be multiplied to you."

These few verses give us a perspective on our life experience.  We have a perspective for every kind of experience that we will undergo as a child of God in the world. We have a context and foundation provided for our faith and it can all be summarized in the word pilgrim. 

A pilgrim is a resident-alien.  Between the two words is a hyphen.  Resident-alien.  The tension of being a pilgrim in this world lies in the hyphen.  If you remove the hyphen, there’s no tension.  If you ignore the hyphen, there’s no tension.  There are Christians who prefer one or the other.  They prefer this notion/identity of being a resident.  They like to feel at home in the habits, the style, the attitudes of the world.  On the other hand, you have Christians who want to be aliens. They want to be so alienated from the world that they tend to live by themselves, talk to themselves and be totally disengaged from the world around them.  A pilgrim, biblically speaking, is both a resident and an alien.  We know that we live in the world, and yet it is not our home.  We know that we are creatures designed by God to live in the world and yet we know that there’s something amiss in the world.  1 Peter is designed to teach us to live like pilgrims among pagans.

The letter begins with how privileged we are - “To those who are elect”  Reread vs. 1 - all the verses talk about our status and our identity. To be elect is to be called out and to be owned by God.  To be an elect pilgrim is also to be a stranger with a program.  You are not put here for aimless wandering until your time expires.  It’s to be busy with God’s plan.

Abraham was called a sojourner.  In Heb. 11:9-11 we read this.   "⁸By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land,living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." 

It talks about Abraham had to move from Heron to Canaan. He is our example par excellence of how to be a sojourner.  You walk according to the way God has set out for you.  You walk according to the promise.  You live by faith.  You have no claims except to lean against the Lord.

What is it like to live in a foreign country?  I’m sure that many of us can associate with that concept having traveled and lived in various countries around the globe. In the Old Testament, there were foreigners who were also called sojourners - people who did not fully identify with the people of God, with the surroundings, with the people, with the culture.  Israel is also called a sojourner in the land of Canaan.  They are in the world, but not identified by the world. 

With election comes antithesis - a friction that arrives and is irradicable.  Conflict is inevitable.  There’s conflict between the old nature and the way of the Spirit.  To be elect of God, means not merely that we are called by God to be different, we’re owned by God so we have a program, we’re busy with conflict that results because we are owned by God, but also we have a unique calling in the world to be a light.  That means that when we go out into the world, we talk differently.  We act differently. We teach differently.  As Christians, our identity as pilgrims means that we live differently. 

We have a power and purpose as pilgrims as well.  Election is not a rocking chair doctrine - it always puts us to work. God won’t leave us the way he found us. He intends to perfect us and has called us to obedience.  

Remember that our pilgrimage is according to a pattern that He has designed since before the foundation of the world and that we are given the power to walk this pilgrimage from the work of the Holy Spirit - his personal activity in our lives.

He closes the greeting with two things that a pilgrim needs if they are going to be living among pagans: grace and peace.  Grace to pick themselves up when they stumble. Grace to help them put one foot in front of the other.  Grace which has brought us safe thus far and grace that will lead us home.  They also need peace - peace of mind.  We need peace so that we band together and protect one another to fight against the animosity of the world.  Peace is not the absence of struggle or fighting.  The kind of peace that the Bible gives us is the peace of knowing the forgiveness of sins, that God loves us in Christ Jesus and the peace of eternal life that is coming.  The peace of a victory guaranteed although not yet fully realized.  That is our pilgrimage.  That is our calling.