Living With an Eternal Perspective: A Guided Reading of Peter's Letter to the Persecuted ChurchSample

Have you ever felt like an exile? Like you’re a stranger in a strange land? Everyone looks different, speaks a different language, and seems to understand everything at a deeper level than you. Peter knew what this felt like. He came from a people of exiles.

God is building His kingdom on earth out of exiles.. This process began with Abraham in the book of Genesis. God called him to leave his home and promised to make a nation through him. The nation of Israel was God’s fulfillment of that promise. This nation was to live amongst the people of the world, while being utterly distinct. Everything about their lives and conduct was to be… HOLY!

But the nation of Israel was not the end of the plan, nor did they meet the terms of God’s covenant with them. However, from this holy nation, God fulfilled another part of His promise to Abraham, that through Abraham's descendants, all the world would be blessed. This promised blessing came in the form of Jesus Christ! Through Jesus, God would continue to build, but now the invitation to be part of this house extends not only to the descendants of Abraham, but to all mankind (Galatians 3:6-9). This kingdom is the Church, also called the Body of Christ.

Throughout this letter, Peter reminds the Church that it is spiritually set apart, each member being chosen and no longer an exile. We belong to a “holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9). Because of this fact, our lives and actions should reflect that of Jesus. Peter directs the church to “rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, and like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2 NASB). A new citizenship means a new way of life. Remember, “once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:10 NASB).

Questions to Ponder:

Is there anything you need to rid yourself of so that you may grow?

How is the Body of Christ part of your spiritual growth and regular rhythms?

To what extent do you see yourself as a part of a spiritual house?