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When I started high school, I really wanted to fit in. My only problems were that I was intensely shy, I was self-conscious about my acne, and I felt embarrassed every time my mom dropped me off at school because she drove a loud, Ford F-250. These problems only increased when Winter 2010 rolled around: it was basketball team tryouts. For 2 weeks, I practiced every day after school with 25 other boys but only 15 of us would make the cut. I thought I was doing great but by the time the team was selected, my name wasn’t on the list.

I silently packed up my stuff and hopped into my dad’s car. I cried the whole way home because I wasn’t chosen. I felt embarrassed that I didn’t make the cut. I felt shame because I had worked hard but it wasn’t enough. Did I learn some valuable lessons through that experience? Sure but I’d be lying to you if I said it didn’t hurt in the moment.

I share this story because I think all of us have a moment or moments like this in our lives. We all have this deep desire to feel special and to feel chosen And yet, we know the crushing weight when we’re not picked for a team or that promotion or doesn’t invite us to a friend gathering/party.

The recipients of Peter’s letter knew this feeling well: they were women, slaves, and others who were the lower class of society. They weren’t special nor were they chosen by the world. They had no value in the Greco-Roman world. Scot McKnight describes 1 Peter’s audience as people who are homeless in the world. Here’s the cool thing though: these group of nobodies who have been rejected by the world have been chosen by the God of the universe. They have found their home in God and In his church.

But since they’re nobodies who have been chosen by God, they live life as exiles. What is an exile?

An exile is someone who lives in a country that is not their own, their true home or country is someplace else. Peter is being intentional with his word choice here because by using the word exile, he’s setting up the idea that the church (or God’s elect) are the New Israel. Israel had a deep history of exile which led to its people being scattered across Babylon and Assyria. People of Israel didn’t truly belong in Babylon or Assyria, they belonged in Israel. And so it is with 1 Peter’s audience. They don’t belong in Turkey, they belong in Heaven with God and that’s where they’re heading. But for now, they’re exiles – they don’t fit in with the culture and they’re not supposed to. Why?

Because they have something better. SLIDE Verse 2 shows us that the Triune God accomplished their salvation in three ways:

1.      God the Father chose them before the foundations of the world

2.    The Spirit worked in their hearts to set them apart and bring them to faith in Christ so that they may be obedient to him.

3.    Jesus cleansed his people from their sin and offered them forgiveness.

Peter's not writing a philosophy textbook here, and he's not trying to settle every question about how God's choosing and your believing fit together. But notice what he does say: you weren't chosen because you had something to offer God. You were nobodies to Rome and nobodies is exactly who God set his love on — not because of your track record or how special you are, but because of his purpose, sealed in blood before you had a vote in the matter.

But when you’ve been chosen, it also means you have a certain responsibility to the person who did choose you. If I was chosen for my basketball team in ninth grade, I would have had the responsibility to play ball. In the same way, that’s what we do – 1 Peter 2 tells us to be obedient to Christ. But, does obedience come naturally or is it hard for us?

Here’s what we must do

1 Peter is written to a group of exiles who are facing unjust treatment because of their faith. At this time in the church, there isn’t widespread and systemic persecution – that comes later. It’s more sporadic but what’s more regular is: unjust treatment like exclusions, slander, or insults. They’re low and they follow a ‘soft god’

So, they’re facing this pressure of obeying Christ in a culture that is hostile to him. According to verse 2, they’ve been set apart by the Spirit to look different from a culture that doesn’t have Christ in it. They’re called to covenant level loyalty like Israel was called to – to remain distinct from the crushing oppression of Babylon. They’re called to this even when it costs them something like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to a golden idol. Peter isn’t just saying this to his audience, he’s saying it to all of us too. You and I are called to true allegiance to Christ and to remain distinct from our culture – no matter the cost. So, are you set apart or do you look like the culture?

Because my friends, we are past the days where it’s a normal and socially cool thing to be a Christian. Youth group is no longer the cool place it was in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. Sunday is no longer a day to go to church, it’s just a second Saturday for the majority of Americans. In 1 Peter, you won’t see Peter wishing for easier circumstances – you’ll see him embedded in a hostile culture, resisting the cultural forces of Rome and proclaiming Christ. So, the question is: do we fold into cultural pressures or do we stay faithful to Jesus no matter the cost?

Why We Can’t Do It

Left to our own power, we can’t do this. When we are born, our desires are all out of whack. Here’s the thing: Katlyn and I spend a lot of time training our kids to make good and responsible choices. But, do you know what we’ve never trained them on? We’ve never trained them to hit others when things don’t go their way and we’ve never trained them to lie to avoid punishment. But, guess what they do sometimes? They hit and they lie.

Our heart’s desires are messed up. Even for us as adults who follow Jesus, our hearts are messed up. That can be bad news though because it means we fold into the cultural pressures of our day. Because we have a strong desire to belong, to be picked, to fit in — it doesn't disappear when you become a Christian. If anything, it's the very craving our flesh uses to keep us quiet, keep us blending in, keep us compromising exactly when Christ is calling us to be distinct.

And so, ask yourself:

1.      Are you afraid of telling other people that you’re a follower of Jesus?

2.    Have you compromised your faith to keep a relationship intact?

3.    Do you stay silent and ignore that burning in your chest when you know you should say something about your faith to someone but you don’t?

On the flip side, you don’t need to believe what Peter believes for you to feel this failure – it’s burned into every person’s conscience. We fail to meet the standards of obedience required by God and expected of ourselves. For instance: have you ever stayed quiet when you know that speaking out would have cost you something? Have you ever gone along with something you knew was wrong but you did it anyways?

So regardless of our beliefs, we can’t do this. We look for things like great vacations, well-paying jobs, or belonging in a group to fulfill us but they come up short. If we convince ourselves that once we get that special vacation, we’ll be happy. So, what happens? We go on that vacation, it’s great, and then it ends. We share a photo of it on social media but then get jealous because a friend of ours just posted about their cooler vacation. So, we plan a new vacation – this will be the one! But, it just repeats the cycle. Or if we convince ourselves that once we’re in a certain friend group, we’ll find that belonging we’ve been craving. We finally feel accepted but at some point, conflict arises and we feel misunderstood and rejected.

Those things like great vacations, well-paying jobs, or belonging in a group will eventually perish, spoil, or fade. And in our quest for those things to fill us, we sin against the God who loves us, who made us, and who knows what we need for our lives to flourish.

What is that? We need to be reborn through Jesus Christ.

How Jesus did it

1 Peter 1:3 opens with the phrase: “Praise be” – that means to speak well of. Why would we speak well of God? Well, the rest of our text tells us: Praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Put a different way, we no longer have to put our hopes in vacations, our jobs, or our friend groups, we can put our hope in Christ because he’s alive. This is not a distant or fools hope, it’s a confident expectation that Jesus will satisfy our deepest longings because his love has conquered death.

Jesus didn’t cave to the cultural pressures of his day. When pressured to hate, Jesus chose love. When pressured to avoid “unholy” people, Jesus chose love. When pressured to demonstrate his power and leave the cross, Jesus chose love. And here’s the thing: you and I couldn’t do that. We feel the pressure to stay quiet and to blend in to avoid the cost of sticking out. Jesus faced that pressure at the cross himself – where we fold under pressure, Jesus didn’t. He didn’t just succeed where we all fail, he did this all for you.

When Jesus saw your sin and how your heart was all out of whack, he didn’t turn away. He turned to the Cross – paying the punishment of sin but also conquering sin’s effects through his self-giving love.

And our new birth is only possible because of Jesus’ resurrection. Death couldn’t hold him and it won’t hold what God’s promised you.

That means we don’t look for an inheritance that will spoil, fade, or perish – we look to what Christ has promised and know that it’s guaranteed. Israel was promised the land as their inheritance. We get something even better: we get God and we have the certainty that Jesus will give us everything we truly need.

Jesus’ resurrection guarantees it. God’s power is so great that he conquered death. But, what does verse five say? Our future inheritance is made secure by God himself. God’s power keeps us in his hand. Our salvation is shielded by him so that we’ll arrive to our inheritance. If God beat death, he’s not going to lose us now. You may say: Anthony, I’ve really messed up this time – there’s no way God will forgive me. To which I say, Philippians 1:6 – he who began a good work will carry it into completion on the day of Christ Jesus.

And how do we get all this? Verse 5 tells us: by our faith or our trust in God.

So, have you trusted in God who alone can give you new life? Do you trust him like a person jumping out of an airplane trusts their parachute? If so, this glorious inheritance is yours. And when you mess up, what do you do? You trust again in the living hope that God has chosen you, the Spirit has set you apart, and Jesus has cleansed you.

Now that you have it, how do you live your life?

How we should live now

But, this rebirth means the old us has to die. You have to stop looking at others or other things for your sense of belonging and acceptance. Instead, you look to God – he chose you, he set you apart, and he cleanses you from sin. That’s who makes you belong and accepts you on account of what Christ has done. You no longer fear sticking out because you’re chosen by God and his view of you is more important than how others view you.

And when you belong to Christ, you also belong to his people: the church. Remember, 1 Peter is written to a group of believers – to God’s elect. God’s elect was Israel. But now, in Christ, the New Israel is everyone united to him whether you’re Jewish or Gentile – this is the church. And so we live with confidence because we have a living hope and future inheritance protected by God himself. Like Israel, we are meant to be a blessing to the nations.

That means we don’t exist to stay comfortable inside these four walls. It means every single one of us is sent out to see others join with us in praising God for what he’s done. Is it scary? Sure. Will we face rejection for sharing Jesus with others? Yep. But, it doesn’t matter – we’ve been chosen by God, we have an inheritance, and we have a living hope that matters more to us than worldy acceptance. And God wants more people for himself- will you join him In that work or stay on the sidelines?

So, my friends – let us be bold. Please don’t confuse saying something like “I go to the church” as the same thing as sharing the Gospel with them. Please don’t feel content to keep this glorious inheritance to yourself. Please don’t feel satisfied that we baptized three people a few weeks ago. Let’s be people who are sent out and resist the cultural pressures like Peter and his churches in Turkey. We live In the world but we don’t look like the world.

And I know that can be hard too, rejection still stings. Fear of man is still a real fear for many of us. You can’t resist these cultural pressures on your own so I’d encourage you to belong to God’s people through this church as well as joining a community group like we talked about last week.

Community groups are a unique space where people can remind you of God’s grace but also remind you of his invitation to obey him – no matter the cost. It’s a group of friends who want to live in a distinct way and a group of people who keep you accountable on that journey. It’s a group of believers who have been chosen by God to strengthen each other and resist the pressures of our culture.

To sign up, you just need to fill out a connect card in front of you. You can scan the QR code or fill it out with a pen and drop it in the offering box. You have this week and next week to sign up. Don’t wait.

As we prepare to pray and sing together once more, I want to encourage you to reflect. If you’re carrying the weight of not being picked or seen by others, talk to God about and thank him that he did choose you and he does see you – even when others don’t.

So this week friends, I want you to remember this: the world may not pick you. Like me, you may not make the cut for your basketball team. But, those things don’t matter. You have been picked and your name is on the list that truly matters because you’ve been chosen by God, you’ve been set apart by the Spirit, and you’ve been made clean through Christ. Amen? Let us pray.