Presence Weekly 9/16/2024, "The Paradox of Our Identity"

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. 1 Peter 1:1–2 (ESV)

A Paradox Revealed

The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup has always been one of my favorite candy bars because, as their old ad says, it combines two great tastes that taste great together – chocolate and peanut butter. There are many things that just seem to make sense together: ice cream and hot fudge, movies and popcorn, baseball and hot dogs. When you often experience two things that go great together, everything in the world seems right. 

But, consider your reaction to experiencing two things that don’t go well together, like Crunch Berries and sardines. No matter how much you might like them individually, there is just no way to get to a place where you can say they go together. As a result, experiencing them together is just confusing and frustrating!

In this passage, Peter attempts to move people to a place where they appreciate how two things that seem not to go together at all are, in fact, ideally suited together. We typically call this, a paradox. In this case, it is the two realities that the Christians of the first century and all Christians throughout history must experience together: the fact that we are elect exiles.

Peter’s audience is “the elect exiles of the dispersion,” a people who were trying to figure out how these two realities went together. If they were the elect, then how could they be exiled? 

To understand the letter, we must understand the audience. I think it is right to take this as a letter written by the Apostle Peter, who we know was martyred around 64AD. Since that is the case, he cannot write to the “elect exiles of the dispersion” from Jerusalem, because that did not happen until 70 AD when Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans. However, we know that in the early 60s, there was a persecution in Rome that drove the Christians out of the city. Also, the cities that are listed in the opening of the letter are a list of cities in what is now modern-day Turkey. With those facts in hand, it is most likely that this letter is written to a predominantly Gentile audience that has been driven from their homes in Rome and into exile in Turkey. 

Even though the letter has a specific audience, its message is timeless. It is timeless because, for us as Western Christians, we are beginning to experience our Christianity much more as cultural aliens in exile than has been the case for quite some time. While that results in us feeling increasingly uncomfortable, it reminds us that we are indeed aliens, not just culturally, but as people living in two kingdoms.

Although the initial question to this paradox might be, “How can this be?” the better question is perhaps, “Why must this be?” This question is critical to our lives as Christians because until we understand why we are elect exiles and why these two realities go together (the purpose of the paradox), we will spend most of our lives living in confusion and frustration rather than grace and peace.

A Transformed Identity

To start, as elect exiles, we have been given a transformed identity. When Peter uses the word elect to address his audience, he is making an earth-shattering statement because he is addressing both Jews AND Gentiles. Peter is calling the Gentile converts from Rome the elect. He is putting them on the same footing as the historic covenant people of God. Then, Peter brings the total weight of the Trinity to bear to make his point. 

Their new identity comes “according to the foreknowledge of the Father.” When we talk about the foreknowledge of God, we are not talking about God looking out and knowing what will happen; instead, we are talking about God appointing it to occur. These people are elect because God intended it. This exact phrase is used in Acts 2:23, where Luke records Peter’s sermon explaining how Jesus Christ ended up being crucified. ^“this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

Peter continues his letter highlighting that it is not just the Father who has a role in establishing this new identity; the Holy Spirit also plays a part. He writes that they are elect “by the sanctification of the Spirit.” This mirrors what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:11: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Peter wants them to understand that the Holy Spirit of God has set them apart and made them the Holy People of God. That is their new identity! 

More than just the Father and the Holy Spirit that have established their new identity, it is also established by the Son. Peter writes that they are elect “for obedience to Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of his blood.” This is strong Covenant language that comes out of Exodus 24:

⁶ And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” ⁸ And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 

Jesus Christ has sprinkled all of them with his blood. Therefore, they are all his Covenant people because these are the people for whom Jesus gave his life as an offering to set them free from their sins. 

This framework of the Trinity shows that the way that we move from confusion and frustration and towards grace and peace in our lives as elect exiles is to embrace the new identity that has been given to us (1) according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, (2) in the sanctification of the Spirit, (3) for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. 

Peter is saying, “Now hear this: You are chosen. The Father wants you, the Spirit has made you a holy people, and the Son has sprinkled you with his blood.” This means that we can live in our current cultural moment and every other moment as people who are valued, loved, and forgiven. When a culture, your colleagues, or your friends tell you that you are not loved, they are wrong. When the voice inside your head tells you that you are dirty and unworthy and cannot be forgiven, that is a lie. When the election results appear to say no one cares about you and that you are unwanted, that is false. No matter what anyone communicates to you, your identity is that of an elect exile, loved by every member of the Trinity. 

Public Square Implications

The implications for the public square are as weighty as they are widespread.

Peter’s words expose our temptation to place secondary identities, such as Congressman, Secretary, Chief of Staff, Legislative Director, and Program Manager, above our primary identity. Through Peter’s opening words, we are reminded that elections and appointments are merit-based and subject to dismissal based on shifting demographics or administrations.

Elected officials are reminded that they won because of who they marketed themselves as and what they promised to deliver. In ironic similarity to Exodus 24, elected officials promise “to do all that I have said I will do,” rather than “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” Here, they find themselves briefly on the God-side of the covenant-making ceremony. However, their fate is the same as it was on the other side - failure to deliver. As an elected official, exile can mean losing their office or being relegated to a powerless committee position. 

Appointed officials are reminded that they were chosen because of their resume and who they knew. Yet, as soon as the administration changes, they will be summarily exiled back from where they came. Even career workers know what it is like to be exiled to some position where you are simply being “kept around.” 

As the electorate, we can become over-allied with our own party affiliation to the point that we come to think that our candidate losing is a referendum on us and what people think of us, and perceive that we have been exiled to the margins of society. Even though voting results are a referendum on the preferences of the American people for particular political policy positions, which we may hold, they are never a referendum on our value in Christ. 

Thankfully, we are predestined by the Father, out of his love for us, not because of what we have done or how we can make him look. 

This transformed identity is only the first aspect of the paradox of our identity. More next week.

Application Questions

What is the difference, specifically for you, between being exiled in your current position versus being an exile "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?"

How does reflecting upon election in the public square versus election by God shape how you think about yourself? Where does this expose places for growth in your spiritual formation?

H0w does understanding that the paradox of living as an elect-exile is superintended by the Trinty impact the way you think about the implications of the upcoming election?

• Monday: Morning: Job 40:1-24, Acts 15:36-16:5, Psalm 56, 57, 58 // Evening: Job 40:1-24, John 11:55-12:8, Psalm 64, 65
• Tuesday: Morning: Job 40:1, Job 41:1-11, Psalm 61, 62 // Evening:Acts 16:5-15, John 12:9-19, Psalm 68:1-35
• Wednesday: Morning: Job 42:1-17, Acts 16:16-24, Psalm 72 // Evening:Job 42:1-17, John 12:20-26, Psalm 119:73-96
• Thursday: Morning: Job 28:1-28, Acts 16:25-40, Psalm 70, 71// Evening: Job 28:1-28, John 12:27-36a, Psalm 74
• Friday: Morning: Esther 1:1-4, Acts 17:1-15, Psalm 69:1-36// Evening: Esther 1:10-19 , John 12:36b-43, Psalm 73
• Saturday: Morning: Isaiah 8:11-20, Romans 10:1-15, Psalm 119:41-64 // Evening: Job 28:12-28, Matthew 13:44-52, Psalm 19, 112
• Sunday: Morning: Esther 3:1-4:3, James 1:19-27, Psalm 93, 96 // Evening: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18, Psalm 34

• Cabinet Agency: The Office of Community Planning and Development (part of the Department of Urban Housing and Development – HUD) which “seeks to develop viable communities by promoting integrated approaches that provide decent housing, a suitable living environment, and expand economic opportunities for low and moderate-income persons.”
• Think Tank, Lobby group, NGO: For American Enterprise Institute and Center for American Progress, who are both hosting events this week on the housing shortage issue, as well as for those who will be attending. * See below.
• Weekly delegation: For the Congressional delegation of Nevada.
• News events: Those at HUD who will work for the implementation of the most extensive updates in more than three decades to modernize manufactured home standards to improve home features, increase consumer demand, and expand America’s affordable housing supply. For those at the Department of Energy responsible for awarding and overseeing the progress of 91 early career scientists from across the country who will receive a combined $138 million in funding for research covering a wide range of topics including artificial intelligence, fusion energy, and quantum. 
• Personal requests: For a couple enduring extended time apart. For someone starting a new job in a new office. For someone dealing with the aftermath of a significant error at work. For a family suffering from financial burdens and the associated anxiety. For someone who gives a major presentation this week.

• Go here first →  The Ideos Institute’s (Re)Union Project will launch 31 Days of Unity. For the 31 days of October, you can receive daily texts — each with a prayer for unity, scripture reference, and a link to a short video reflection. Faithful Presence is participating in this initiative. 
• Read this first → As promised, here is part two of four on workplace evangelism from the Lausanne Congress in advance of their upcoming global conference in Seoul. 
• The Barna Group released the third volume of their longitudinal study on the motivations and beliefs of Gen Z with some good and some sobering news.
• Christianity Today has a splendid essay by Timothy Dalrymple, “Against the Culture of Demonization.” 
• ByFaith has a quick but solid read on “The Crisis of Christian Immaturity.”
• The New York Times has David Brooks’s opinion piece explaining why the shift in culture could favor Harris.
• Pew Research has the results of a poll on both candidates’ perceived strengths and weaknesses.

• Wednesday, September 18, 2024, 2:30 - 5:30 pm ET, AEI hosts America at 250: Religion and the American Revolution. 
• * Thursday, September 19, 2024, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm ET, Center for American Progress is hosting a summit on, Building the Future: Innovative Solutions to the U.S. Housing Crisis.” 
• * Thursday, September 19, 2024, 5:00 - 5:45 pm ET. Interested parties should then head over to AEI for The Forgotten Solution to the Housing Crunch: A Premiere of the AEI Housing Center’s Documentary on Light-Touch Density.
• Weekdays 12:00 - 1:00 pm, LIVE! CONCERT SERIES ON THE PLAZA at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center’s Wilson Plaza. On stage this week,
• • Mon. 9/16 - String Along Pop Trio, Classical
  • Tues. 9/17 - The 19th Street Band, Irish
  • Wed. 9/18 - Brencore Earth, Wind and Fire Tribute, R&B
  • Thurs. 9/19 - Michelle Hannon & One Blue Night, Americana/Country
  • Fri. 9/20 - Junkyard Band, Go-Go
• Friday, September 20, Faith & Law’s Friday Forum presents “Caring for Creation as a Matter of Life: Christian Environmental Stewardship” with Rev. Dr. Jessica Moerman. 
• NEXT Friday, September 27, The Ilona Foundation is hosting its second annual Sunflower Benefit Concert featuring Wendell Kimbrough at Grace Church in Fredericksburg, VA.

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