Sermon - Lent Midweek 1 2023 - 1 Peter 1

The Mourning Jews in Exile, Eduard Bendemmann, circa 1832

Encouragement to steadfastness amidst trials

1. We are like exiles in Babylon on earth

1. Yet God guards us through faith in His promises of salvation

2. We face various trials

1. Yet God uses them to strengthen our faith

3. We must be prepared for action and be holy

1. God makes us holy through the holy blood of Jesus

During the Babylonian captivity the nation of Israel was effectively destroyed. The temple in Jerusalem was razed, but what’s more significant is that the brightest and most prominent young Israelites were taken captive into Babylon, so as to be educated by and conformed into Babylonians. This is, for example, how Daniel and the three young men arrived in Babylon. Thousands of Israelites were dispersed across the pagan nations, living as exiles in foreign lands. Remaining faithful while living among pagans, who are teaching you to become a pagan, would be quite challenging. After 70 years of living as exiles in Babylon the Israelites were permitted to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. But not all of the Israelites wanted to leave Babylon, after 70 years some of them felt more at home among the pagans than among their own people.

When St. Peter refers to the “elect exiles of the Dispersion” he is alluding to the Babylonian Captivity, and saying that Christians are like those Israelites and are living as exiles in Babylon. So Peter’s letter is written as encouragement to steadfastness amidst trials. We are indeed like exiles in Babylon on earth. We do not live in Christendom today, we live in Babylon. {Now America has never been a Christian nation, it was never like almost every nation in Europe which for a time were officially Christian nations. America was founded on the premise of religious freedom, and anyone is free to choose their own religion. But up until just recently, America was mostly filled with Christian citizens, so it made America feel like a Christian nation. But not anymore, today we live in Babylon.}

Living as exiles is a helpful way to think about how we relate to our world. Thinking of Daniel and the three young men, they had to live notably differently than the pagans around them. They had to be cautious and on guard against what Babylon taught them. They couldn’t embrace the surrounding culture, instead they had to do what was right, they had to live as God’s people and remain faithful to Him. They had to do this even if it cost them their lives. We must do the same as we live in our own Babylon.

As frightening as it may be to think of us as living as exiles in Babylon, it’s actually a rather refreshing view of our situation. Afterall, if we are exiles in Babylon, then we have hope still in the Lord! “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” We have a living hope in the Lord! We have an imperishable inheritance waiting for us in heaven! Through faith God is guarding us so that we may receive that inheritance of salvation on the last day!

What’s more, if we’re exiles in Babylon, then we already know how that story ends. In the book of Revelation, the angel cries out with a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” We may be exiles here, we may have to put up with a lot for an entire lifetime, but in the end Babylon shall fall and God will guard us through it all.

In fact, these trials that we must endure while being exiled actually are beneficial for us in the end. “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  In the very midst of life many trials and tribulations afflict us on all sides. These trials, though they may in fact be quite miserable, are necessary. Just as gold needs to be tested by fire in order to rid it of its impurities, so too must we endure various trials so that our faith may be purified, such that we may “obtain the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls.” 

Therefore, seeing as we are exiles in a foreign land, and that it is necessary for us to endure various trials, we must be prepared for action by living as God’s holy people. “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” The actual Greek phrase for preparing your minds for action is to “gird up the loins of your mind.” This is an action which men would do before they went into battle: they lifted up their loose flowing robes and tied them so that they would be ready for a fight. Let us also gird up the metaphorical loins of our minds and live as God’s holy and obedient children.

Remember that we have been “ransomed from the futile ways inherited from our forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” We have been made holy and washed in the blood of the Lamb of God through the waters of baptism and the blood of Christ in the sacrament. We have been born again, through Jesus’ blood, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. Babylon shall pass away, but the Word of God shall endure forever. That Word has been planted into our hearts, so we too shall endure throughout all the days of our exile in this foreign land. At the last our Lord Christ shall return and bring us with Him into the inheritance kept in heaven for us.