A Disciple's Journeyنموونە

Sojourners and Exiles

We’ve called this 5-week study A Disciple’s Journey. The image of being on a journey comes from Peter’s own words, which we find here in 1 Peter chapter 2. The image of being on a journey to a destination is something Peter used to help the church understand what it is to be a Christian. He says, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11). Sojourners are those who are in the middle of a long journey. They haven’t found their home yet. But they are on the way there, making progress each day.

That’s exactly what we’re trying to do together through this five-week study. We’re trying to make small daily progress as sojourners, as travelers in this world, inching closer each day to our eternal destination, toward eternal life with God. As exiles, we know that this world is not our home. There’s no place in this world where every need will be satisfied. Our joy can never be full here. We can never escape the threat of suffering and trials in this life.

But when we go too long without reading God’s Word, or when we give in to sin, we become more attached to this world and its way of thinking. We get too comfortable here. We subtly begin to think this world is our home. We believe the lie that this world can make us happy. But when we look at the world the way Scripture does, the way Peter does, everything appears in an entirely different light.

God wants us to think of this world, of this life, not as the destination but as part of the journey. God is the destination. He is what we are longing for and working toward. Being with him, seeing him—that’s what the disciple’s journey is all about. Being with him will bring fullness of joy and give us a true and lasting home where we can belong forever. And when we have that straight, when that is clear, so many things follow from it. Everything finds its proper place.

We can make our faith credible and attractive by living honorable lives among non-Christians (1 Peter 2:12). We can be submissive to human institutions, doing what is good even when others aren’t. We can be a good citizens, loving one another, fearing God, honoring others and those in authority (1 Peter 2:13–17). We can do all these things because we don’t view our nation or our leaders as permanent or all-important; we know they are temporary. We are subject to human authorities not for their sake but “for the Lord’s sake,” doing our best to represent Christ and his kingdom rather than trying to build our own kingdoms. We can even endure being slandered and misunderstood, if it comes to that, because we are following the example of Christ. We are entrusting ourselves to a just God who will judge rightly in the end (1 Peter 2:23). We know that everyone “will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5). So we allow God to sort it out, rather than trying to do it ourselves.