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1 Peter 2:11-20

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. ¹² Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

¹³ Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. ¹⁶ Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. ¹⁷ Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

¹⁸ Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. ¹⁹ For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. ²⁰For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

In this text, God is calling you to something that is difficult. You are called to be a citizen of heaven while living here on earth. And the difficulty lies in the fact that you are a sojourner and exile. Christian, you are not at home here even though this world, this planet, this existence, this country, and (for some of you) this town is the only place you have called ever called “home.” And yet, because you are a Christian, this world full of sin and vice and virus and pandemic is just the place you are passing through.

Hebrews 13:[14] puts it about as plainly as possible, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” As a Christian, you are a citizen of the eternal, lasting city of heaven, but for now, you are a citizen of East Grand Forks (or Grand Forks or Fisher or Crookston or Thompson or Olso or Warren or Drayton or any other town you dear saints live in that I forgot to mention). Seriously, I never figured that I would serve a congregation in a decent-sized city that would draw people from as far away as many of you live. But that’s beside the point.

Christian, you are a citizen of heaven, and yet, here you are. Minnesotans, North Dakotans, Americans, and yet citizens of the kingdom of heaven. The fact that you are a citizen of the kingdom of God means you have great hope and expectation. But God has seen it fit for you to be a sojourner and exile – for now.

So, how are you to live right now as an exiled citizen of an eternal city and kingdom while you are in this world that is very much proving itself to be extremely temporary?

Well, this text has the answer, but again it isn’t an easy answer. As God’s people, you occupy a middle ground, and you are called to stand in that middle ground. You are not to be like the people of this world; you are not to be like unbelievers who think that the only good is to enjoy earthly delights. But neither are you to be such sublime, euphoric citizens of heaven that you are of no earthly good.

As a Christian, you live in a suspended state. You are heading toward your eternal habitation, your lasting city that is to come. But you are not to live separated from your neighbor who isn’t a citizen of heaven. Instead, you are to live a life of service, honor, and love because what is good for your neighbor and your land is good for you.

When God sent His people into exile in Babylon, God had Jeremiah write against false prophets who were telling God’s people that they would return home soon. Because of these false prophets, God’s people weren’t working or trying to earn a livelihood. So God sent this word through Jeremiah, “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29:5-7).

God wanted His people to pray for the welfare and well-being of the city and empire that had destroyed their home and held them captive. So how much more for you, Christian, should you pray for and seek the well-being of the nation where God has blessed you? No, we don’t live in a perfect country – Lord knows we don’t live in a perfect country. But the welfare of our country, our state, our city means our own welfare. But at the same time, we long and yearn for our eternal city and habitation. So we live this exiled life.

Christian, you are to live as free citizens of the kingdom of heaven. You have been bought and freed from sin, death, and the devil. Christians are, as Luther once said, “perfectly free and lord of all, subject to none.” Yet at the same time you are, “perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”

Instead of indulging in your self-centered, fleshly lusts you are to consider what will help and benefit your neighbor. This starts with your family, your brothers and sisters in Christ, the people on your block, your coworkers, and it keeps extending from there. And how you love your neighbor is informed and directed by the Commandments and also by the laws and rules of the community you live in.

Because we are sinful and self-centered, these laws and rules often feel like they constrain our freedom, but most of the time they don’t. Law and order is the road to freedom. If there are no laws to protect you and keep you safe, if you cannot buy something and reasonably expect that it will be yours until you sell it or give it away, if you cannot know that people will be punished when they wrong you, you cannot live free. And this is why God has given us the gift – yes, the gift – of rulers, government, and police.

Here, in our text, and in Romans 13, Scripture tells us that God has given us a good gift in government to keep order in this world where are sojourners and exiles through the rules and laws of the land. Romans 13:1–4, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

Don’t forget when these verses of Scripture were written (both that passage from Romans and this text from 1 Peter), the ruler of the day was the evil, wicked, godless emperor Nero. The apostles Peter and Paul would be put to death by his order. The very guy who brutally persecuted Christians and would burn them alive to light his evening garden parties is called God’s servant for your good.

Too often, we see the resident in the White House or governor’s mansion as our enemy. And the only excuse we have for our despising of the rulers is our selfish pride – which is no excuse at all. It doesn’t matter if that leader’s party is represented by an elephant or a donkey, we Christians are to willingly submit to their authority because that authority has been given to them by God. Trying to assert our freedom from earthly rulers simply points to the fact that we are hypocrites who think we can pick and choose which verses of God’s Word are relevant or not. Repent.

Jesus said (Lk. 14:11), “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Christian freedom does not come from self-assertion. Christian freedom comes only from what Christ has done for you on the cross.

Now, of course, none of this guarantees that the rulers that God places over us will rule and govern fairly according to the law – either God’s or man’s. And when and if that is the case, we write, we petition, we vote. But their bad behavior as rulers is never an excuse to get out of our God-given duty to honor those authorities. Instead, we remember that God has established the authorities above us. And God will hold those authorities that He has put in place accountable for their actions. And we remember and trust what the Scripture says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will” (Pro. 21:1).

By submitting to the rulers and authorities – whether they are just or unjust – we are living lives that show our love for God. And living that way is going to attract the attention of children of the world, of unbelievers, so that when they look at us they say, “Boy, those Christians live as they believe. They have conviction. Maybe there is something about them that is honorable and worthy of praise.”

Dear saints, we live a life that shows that we do not need to earn our salvation because Jesus has won it for us. Instead, we live as sojourners and exiles for the glory of Christ. We can live this way because we know that it doesn’t matter if the world continues to grow worse. We know that it doesn’t matter if we are mocked and reviled as holding to ideas that the world finds “old-fashioned” and “backwards.” We know that it doesn’t matter if our candidate loses or if the world ends tomorrow. We are sojourners and exiles who have and are waiting for a city that endures for all eternity.

So, live as a servant of all. Pay your taxes. Pray for your leaders. Social distance. Wear your mask. Give to Caesar and Trump and Pelosi what is Caesar’s, Trump’s, and Pelosi’s. And give to God what is God’s (Mt. 22:21).

And when you fail – not if – but when you fail, remember that Jesus picks you up. He forgives you of your sins. And He calls you to walk with Him through this pilgrim land living the exiled life and waiting for the life of the world to come. And whenever you grow weary, don’t forget to pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.”

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

I’ll invite you to stand for our closing hymn Lord, as a Pilgrim.