Citizens of the Kingdom. This is the heart and soul of what we’re about to read.
I remember when my family first moved to Ross. It was about two years into White Oak’s launch of the Ross Campus meeting in Ross High School. We were so excited to move and begin living in the community where we were pastoring. Turns out, it was a lot more difficult than we anticipated. It was hard to be the pastor and family moving into town. Ross is a small community. We learned that nearly everyone knew everyone. Many of the residents had grown up in that community and were now raising their children there. It was tough for our kids to form friendships with other kids who had known each other since pre-school! Not to mention the fact that my occupation raised some red flags. Whether this was my own self-consciousness or not, people seemed skeptical. Did they want to get to know me? Were they afraid I was going to try to convert them? Did they think I was going to make them feel guilty about something? Who knows?! Many were asking themselves: Is this guy good for me and my community?
In the mid-to-late first century, this is some of what Christians were experiencing in the Roman world. The Christians brought a very new and different set of ideals and practices into their communities. Among those was that fact that they worshipped only one God. In the Roman world, for a person to offend the pantheon of gods or to upset the god of the local cult worship, was to invite bad luck or worse on the community at large. Christian worship of Jesus did not allow for recognition of the Roman deities. The Christians, therefore, were mistreated, distrusted, pushed out, and in some cases, physically harmed because of their faith. These Christians were largely part of a Jewish diaspora as Jews and Jewish Christians were moving and settling all over the Roman world. Places like Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Asia were their homes, they learned that they were citizens of a vastly different Kingdom.
Beginning this weekend at White Oak, we are launching a new sermon series called Citizens of the Kingdom. In this series we will be studying the book of 1 Peter. You are going to be challenged in this series on a couple of levels. Personally, I’m asking you to read the book of 1 Peter with us through the next few months. Take a slow and steady pace through the book. It has incredible implications for Christians today. We have a reading plan you can follow or take the book at your own pace. Check out the reading plan here. We will also be challenged communally. You’ll be challenged in what you think it means to live as a follower of Jesus in our community amongst your family, coworkers, neighbors, and friends.
Those people around us in our spheres of influence are asking the same question about you (which I projected onto my neighbors in Ross). Are you good for them and their community? Well, are you? It’s a fair question. How are you living among your neighbors as a follower of Jesus? Many in our communities think differently than you, worship other things, prioritize in other ways, vote differently, and embrace lifestyle choices which you may not. Those differences may evoke fear, anger, distrust, or a variety of other feelings and actions. Peter opens with this in chapter one.
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God…
Our new life has come not because of our obedience, but because of our new birth (which is a gift of God’s grace through Jesus). Our obedience to Christ is an outcome of his grace shining in and through our lives. So, like the first century Christians, we often cannot help how others react to us. However, we can live and love in such a way that our neighbors can’t help but to observe that we are, in fact, very good for them and our community!
How will you exemplify the love and grace of Jesus in our community this week? How does your presence work for the good of your coworkers, friends, and neighbors? Can they say about you: Gee, he/she believes some interesting/dumb/odd stuff… but I’m really glad they are here. To God be the glory!
Citizen of a different Kingdom,
Nathan
Nathan Hinkle
Lead Pastor
White Oak Christian Church