Easter 3
I Peter 1:17-21
I’M BUT
A STRANGER HERE
I.
I’ll want to live in reverent fear
II.
I’ll want to wear proper clothes
III.
I’ll want to share resurrection hope
Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, lives your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Dear fellow aliens and strangers on this earth,
There is an old adage known well by every traveler:
Pack Lightly. Three friends
and I took a six week vacation to
Kristin has a video game called The
Easter is a perfect time to remind ourselves of the capital truth that we are on a journey in this life. That is why St. Peter calls us aliens and strangers in his letter. Such a concept is found throughout Scripture. Abraham lived in tents all his life. The writer to the Hebrews says that he was looking forward to a city with foundations. It is not without detailed planning that the Lord sees fit to say that we are simply “tenters” on this earth, and that our permanent dwelling - our mansion - awaits us on the other side of Judgment Day. As for this life, we are simply passing through.
It is therefore important how we conduct ourselves as we live in the land of “foreigners.” Our Lord doesn’t want us to get bogged down by all the so-called necessities of this life - the things that you see the natives packing in their homes and hearts. Instead, he calls on us to take only the bare essentials on this journey. Some people say that you can tell a lot about a person at an airport by what kinds of bags they pick up at the baggage claim. To a much greater degree, people can get a good idea what Christ means to you by the baggage you carry in this life.
Peter began this letter by setting our hearts on eternal issues.
He declares that our life receives purpose because of the resurrection of
Jesus. Today he continues by defining
what effect the resurrection has upon us as we live as aliens and strangers. We can summarize his thoughts with the
title of a very familiar hymn tune: I’M BUT
A STRANGER HERE. Because that’s
true, I) I’ll want to live in reverent fear;
II) I’ll want to wear proper clothes; and
III) I’ll want to share resurrection hope.
I
Seasoned air travelers know how frustrating it is to fly to say,
What are the bare essentials that the Christian carries in this world? St. Peter says it’s a proper attitude. That’s taught us in these words: Live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. Why this is important, he goes on to say, is this: Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially.
In the verse preceding our text, the Spirit led the sainted Apostle to write, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”
We know that our God is holy. To be holy means to be separated, or set apart. God is set apart from everyone and everything because he is absolute holiness and sinlessness. You know, we call the angels “holy” because they are; but even their holiness cannot outshine the brightness of our God of Light. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of heavenly hosts! was the song Isaiah heard the holy angels sing to their holy God.
But here’s the catch for us: This holy God demands that we be holy, too. “Do not sin...ever” is what he means. His standard is not that we try, not that we compare ourselves to others, or not that we lower the bar so that we don’t lose our self-esteem. His bar is and always will remain at perfection. If we have a problem with that demand, then we have an attitude problem with God. The Father to whom you call for help is a God who is evaluating each of us impartially according to our deeds. That statement stands as absolute Truth.
The Father plays no favorites by choosing one race over the other or deciding some sins are worse than others. Our fate-filled thought is as murderous in his eyes as the act of the man who now is on death row. Our lust of the eyes and heart is as revolting to him as anything dreamed up by Hugh Hefner and his Playboy Club. Our pride is just as damning as the pride exhibited by the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. They all receive the same stern sentence from the Judge: damnation!
That’s why the first emotion that flashes before the eyes when you hear the word fear is terror and dread. We are well aware of the spiteful, rebellious nature within us. We are aware of our cravings for recognition, our fascination with filth, our desires for things that do not belong to us. When you are dragged before the Judge, you realize there is no place to hide. You realize that he does not kid around when he says, “The soul that sins is the one who will die.” God’s Law is a thunderclap that rattles us and drives us to our knees in despair. That fear of damnation is necessary and healthy.
But that fear is overcome by the gospel - the proclamation that those sins in that big book are smeared with the blood of Jesus. With his suffering and death and blood he erased them from the record. We are confronted with a wonderful truth here: We have a judge who is our Father. That creates a new fear in us: not a fear of horrible judgment, but a fear of ever wanting to offend the Father who has shown such wonderful love to us. It’s what Luther teaches us in the Catechism when he says, “We should fear and love God...” Fear and love go hand in hand. Joseph teaches us the meaning of fear when he rejected the sexual favors of Potiphar’s wife and said, “How can I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”
We live in a world that shows no respect for reverence. Nothing is sacred anymore. A president who willfully lies into a camera several years ago is rewarded with rising approval numbers. People who develop pills that kill little human beings in the womb are called “pioneers.” Movies and music that glorify filth and sleaze are rewarded with revenue in the billions of dollars.
And how are Christians - are you - responding to all of this as they pass through this life? Are they carrying the baggage of the world with them? Do you blend in with the world, and then try to justify it, or make an excuse for it, or look for an easy angle for your own lack of reverent fear? I remember a pastor telling us at a conference once that he finally figured out why 58% of those who call themselves Christian don’t attend church regularly. All of us sat up on the edge of our seats to learn his profound answer (he is a servant very much blessed by God, after all). Can you guess the answer? It’s profound; it’s deep: Because they don’t want to. And why not? Sleep is more important than God, or soccer is more important, or fishing is more important, or work is more important, or recreation is more important. It’s a simple lack of reverent fear.
Maybe unbelievers have no reverence because Christians give them too much ammunition. Reverence for God can only begin when we are ready to repent of our sins and come before God on our knees. Reverence shows itself, teenagers, when you think twice before spending all that money on movies and CD’s that show no respect for your Savior. Parents, maybe we ought to set a better example by teaching children that sometimes we much say “no” to earthly pursuits that interfere with spiritual growth. God never compromised when he won our salvation. Let us follow that path ourselves. Let us let the refrain, HEAVEN IS MY HOME, float through our minds more often so that the reverence and respect that I claim for my God and Savior is legitimate. Let us say each day, “I’ll want to live in reverent fear.” We are only here a short time, and our influence on others is so vital. God deserves our upmost respect and fear. We can only be thankful, satisfied and filled with joy when we pack light, but pack with this attitude.
II
As much as we have learned about living in reverent fear, it’s amazing how our sinful nature can pound at our hearts into believing that by doing so we are giving up something valuable. The flesh listens to this sermon and says inside the head, “How depressing to do what he says!”
But nothing can be further from the truth for God’s people. And Peter stirs up the proper motivation for reverent fear when he says, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
I have had the opportunity to do foreign travel, and to tour some of our nation’s national parks. You can always pick out the foreign tourist. It’s not just the camera around the neck; it’s the clothes that they are wearing.
I’m but a stranger here. HEAVEN IS MY HOME. I’ll want to wear proper clothes while I travel through a land not my own, even if it means that I’ll stick out among the crowds. Christ has given us clothes that are more costly than gold or silver. They are perfectly clean and they are perfect fitting. They are made that way because they were washed in blood.
God instituted the whole sacrificial system to teach his chosen people, by sheer force and bloody spectacle, that sin brings guilt, and guilt is only removed by blood. The blood of Jesus is not only precious because he was without blemish or defect, but also because it bought people who were inexplicably precious to him. He redeemed us, bought us with the ransom price, with blood.
Peter uses great words to explain our redemption - our rescue from all that is evil and hopeless: chosen, raised, glorified, revealed. The clothes you and I wear were prepared, he says, before the world was created. God planned in eternity to send his Son to save us. He planned his death, his rising, his return to glory and his rule over us. And finally, the Spirit broke through our stony heart and revealed God’s love to us through the Word and your Baptism. Your faith was set on fire, just like the Emmaus disciples’ faith was kindled when they learned about the risen Lord.
Wear these clothes proudly that Jesus made for you, and the Spirit put on you. If you stand out like a tourist in this world, so be it. If you stain them or tear them with sin, return to the Lord in Word and Sacrament for his cleansing and mending. While we are traveling, the irreverent world will invite us to wallow in the mud of sin. It will show you earthly styles that seem to fit so well. God help us stay the course with Christ, and proudly wear those costly clothes.
III
God, without apology, doesn’t want us to get comfortable with the world. But he wants us to live among them for a special purpose. When I remember that HEAVEN IS MY HOME, then I’ll want to share resurrection hope.
It’s easy for me to share my resurrection faith and hope with you every time I preach or teach. It’s easy for all of us to share resurrection hope with each other by our participation in worship services - singing, praying, and speaking. But it’s different for you out in the real world. There not everyone is happy with this “Christian faith” stuff. Yet, our purpose in life is to invite others to walk the road to heaven with us. The world will not end until every one of God’s people are brought to faith. Could the Lord be waiting for your colleague in the office? Or a family member who has fallen away from the Lord? Or a person in a far off land who needs your willing offering? You have a precious gift: resurrection hope. Don’t hesitate to share it!
The story is told of Edith Burns, a wonderful Christian woman from
Two days later, on Easter, Phyllis bought a bouquet of flowers for Edith. When she brought them into the room, Edith lay silently in bed, her Bible open to Revelation 21, which says that heaven will be a place where there will be not more sorrow or weeping. Edith was gone. But something wonderful happened because she shared her Easter hope. For whenever Phyllis introduced herself to people, she would say, “I’m Phyllis Cross. Do you believe in Easter?”
The first readers of this letter were experiencing horrible trials. It would have been so easy to give up the faith and blend into the crowd. But not for those early Christians. This was the time to share their resurrection hope. How can it be any different for us?
Satan tries to cleanse this world of Christians. His tactic isn’t to have others kill us as much as it is to have us kill ourselves by forgetting what we have. Thank God that his grace will never fail us, fellow stranger in this world. All the more reason to pack lightly, don the proper clothes and share Christ along the way. After all, I’m but a stranger here. HEAVEN IS MY HOME.
Rev. Thomas E. Bauer