Sojourners and exiles

1 Pe 2:11-12

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.

• How much do you feel at home in this world?
  - How strong is your desire to get back to your homeland?
  - How does your desire to fit in here compare with your desire for heaven?
  
• Why did Peter use such strong terms when describing problems with the flesh?
  - What imagery comes to mind when you read "wage war"?
  - How do passions of the flesh wage war against the soul?
  
• Why are you to have good behavior?
  - How do you feel when you realize that it is important what non-Christians see in you?
  - How do non-Christians slander Christians as evildoers today?
  - When will your good deeds before non-Christians produce their results?
  - How does doing things for God's glory compare with doing things for yours?
  

Harold's Musings
Sojourner is a word that I seldom use. The dictionary states it means "to stay as a temporary resident". Exile means "the state or a period of forced (or voluntary) absence from one's country or home". So we are to consider ourselves to be only temporary residents who are living a forced absence from our home. We might even be considered migrant workers, people who left their home to travel somewhere to work. I don't think of myself this way often enough. How about you?

Chosen Aliens

1 Peter 1:1-2

1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according 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.

• When do you feel like aliens, scattered throughout the world?
  - How comfortable are you living in the world?
  - How often do you feel out of place in the world because you are a Christian?
  
• What was involved in being chosen/elected?
  - Is this choosing of individuals or a group (like the nation of Israel)?
  - How can God choose/elect individuals and also say He wants all to be saved?
  - Why would God choose a group?
  - How did God's foreknowledge play a role in the choice?
  
• What role did the Spirit have the choice?
  - What does it mean to be sanctified?
  - What were you set apart to do?
  
• What was the intended outcome of your being chosen/elected?
  - How well do you like commands and rules that you must obey?
  - How comfortable are you with the idea of obeying Jesus Christ?
  - How well do you obey Jesus Christ?
  
• What is the significance of being sprinkled by his blood?
  - How was blood used in the sanctification of the tabernacle and its objects?
  - How was blood used in the sanctification of the priests?
  
• How do you feel knowing you were chosen and sanctified to obey Christ?
  - How does this passage help you understand your identity in Christ?
  - How would realizing you are chosen and sanctified make you an alien?
  

Harold's Musings:
I generally feel uncomfortable in a group of new people, but feel excited in a new place. Perhaps I am more concerned about my emotional well-being (e.g. being rejected by the new group) than my physical well-being (e.g. walking the streets of New York). I know that I don't like to be an outsider. The word that the ESV translates as exiles has been translated as aliens, strangers, pilgrims, or sojourners. One scholar states that it presents Christians as men who have no country of their own on this earth; they are simply temporary residents. When I'm in a new place for a couple of days on a trip, I know that I'm going home soon and do not look for ways to settle in. In our moves to various places, I want to settle in quickly and feel at home. Perhaps as Christians we have forgotten our transient nature and have settled into the world around us. What do you think? Are you more comfortable in your community that you are with God?