Exile Motivation

17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile...

Fear

The passage before us feels, at first, odd. Peter was a man well acquainted with persecution. He had felt what it was like to become an outcast from his society -- and he had felt the pains of fists and lashes for his allegiance to Jesus. He knew what it was like to live on the fringes for his faith.

And Peter knew the natural feelings of fear his audience -- people who were enduring suffering of their own for Jesus -- would have felt. They were exiled from the mainstream. They were sidelined, pushed aside because of their gospel belief and convictions. And it is likely many of them struggled with feelings of fear and apprehension and worry. Should we fight? Should we flee? Should we conform?

So it might shock us that Peter comes along and tells them to conduct themselves with fear throughout the time of their exile (17). For their fears, Peter prescribes more fear. And this shocks us.

Part of our shock comes from what we know of God and his word. John said:

1 John 4:18 (ESV) — 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

And Paul said:

Romans 8:15 (ESV) — 15 You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear...

But John and Paul are not at odds with Peter. They spoke of a fear that is paranoia, fright, and apprehension. This is the kind of fear God's love and salvation are meant to drive out. Questions like Am I saved? Am I accepted by God? Am I doing enough for God? are all silenced by God's presence, grace, and gospel.

Peter speaks of a different aspect of fear: respect, reverence, and awe. This type of fear is an appreciation of God, and it is alert to the ravaging effects of sin. A person with the kind of fear Peter mentions will say things like: I want to be holy like my Father in heaven. I don't want anything unclean in my life. I am careful with temptation because I know sin could destroy me. This person, to quote Paul, wants to work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).

The story of David and Goliath could illustrate these two contrary versions of fear. The soldiers of Israel feared Goliath. He was an impossible foe, so none of them lifted a finger to his challenge of representative warfare. "Give me a man!" he cried. Everyone acted like they didn't hear him. Fear.

But David had a higher fear. Though he was conscious of the magnitude of the man before him, he was also in tune with God's holiness and reputation. This man was ridiculing God and God's people. So David set his fears higher and broader than the other men of Israel. He respected God and was concerned by what it would say about God's people if they were defeated by this God-mocker. He had an appropriate fear.

What Fear Looks Like

There is an incident in Peter's life that illustrates the importance of this godly version of fear --Peter's assertion that he would never deny Jesus. He swore that even if everyone else left the Lord, he never would. And we know what happened. Before the rooster crowed twice, just as Jesus had said, Peter denied him three times.

Peter had no fear of himself or his limitations that night. He was self-confident, assertive, and sure that he was incapable of failing Christ. This -- as you might remember -- made him prayerless in the Garden of Gethsemane. There was no desperation, no crying out to God for strength, no dependence. Jesus said to him, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation" (Mark 12:38). But Peter didn't pray, and when the temptation to deny Jesus presented itself, he was not as strong as he thought. He had not respected Jesus (or Jesus' exhortations to pray). And he had not feared his own weaknesses and limitations. It cost him dearly.

So Peter wants us to be a people who conduct ourselves with fear throughout the time of our exile (17). We should have a deep respect and admiration for our Holy God. We should cultivate a reverence for him.

Beautiful results unfold when we fear him. The early church in Ephesus provides us with a great example of what the fear of the Lord can do to a collection of believers. When "the fear of the Lord fell upon them all," many of these new believers came together and confessed their sinful practices. Many of them had been embroiled in "magic arts," and they had valuable books which taught them spells and incantations. They took those books and burned them. Someone calculated their total value -- well over a million dollars (Acts 19:19). The result?

Acts 19:20 (ESV) — 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

So the fear of the Lord has the potential to create beautiful dependence, intense worship, and a revived community.

But if we are to be a people driven by the fear of the Lord, if the fear of the Lord (as the Proverbs state) is the beginning of wisdom, how can we attain this fear? Why should it bubble up from our lives? What is the source of a biblical version of the fear of the Lord? Not paranoia or fright, but awe and respect. How can this be cultivated?

In our text, Peter gives us three answers.

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17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile...

1. See God As the Father-Judge (17)

Our Father in Heaven

The first way we can cultivate a healthy fear is to see God as our Father-Judge. Peter referred to his readers as those who call on God as Father (17). Then he described the Father God as the one who judges impartially according to each one's deeds (17).

Last week, in the previous paragraph of 1 Peter, Peter told us to be holy as God is holy. He hinted that we God's children, called by God (1:14-16). So it makes sense that we would call on God as our Father. But Peter wants us to consider him a righteous and fair father who judges without partiality.

Many of us are thrown at this point. Fatherhood is a complete mess these days, and many of us have to work hard to reorient ourselves to the concept of a child-father relationship with God. But now Peter comes along and tells us not to forget that our Father is also the Judge. How in the world is this helpful, Peter?

Remember, though, this is part of healthy reverence and respect for God. This is part of healthy fear. We must not be so preoccupied with God as Father that we forget he is God the judge.

Jesus hinted at this when he taught us to pray:

Matthew 6:9 (ESV) — 9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

We approach God as Father. But our first request and desire is that he would be hallowed -- respected, feared, honored, esteemed, adored, considered awesome.

Part of considering God as your Father-Judge is merely the desire to live pleasing to God. You will want to live a holy life because you love God and want to bless the Father's heart.

Perhaps the analogy of marriage will help convey this sentiment. I love and appreciate my bride so much. And in my love for her, there is a fear. I do not want to do anything that would hurt her heart. I want to bless her heart. I want to please her.

So the child of God has a similar heart. God is our Father, but he has made the holy life abundantly clear to us in his word, so we want to live in a way that is pleasing to him. He has done so much for us. He has first loved us. We want to love him in return.

But there is more to it. Our earthly relationships -- spouses or parents or friends -- are never our ultimate judges. But God is the ultimate judge.

For the Christian, covered by the blood of Christ, he is not the judge of our eternal destiny. Our works cannot get us into heaven. But God does judge our lives in two significant ways. First, each of us is responsible for how we lived our lives after we received the gospel.

Paul said:

2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV) — 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

And this knowledge that we will all stand before God to give an account for our lives should stir up respect and reverence for him. I know some people say, "I won't care. As long as I get in, I'm good." But how can you say you love God with such an attitude? He wants more for your life!

And this leads us to the second form of God's judgment. Right now, in life today, God will discipline us. When we need it, God disciplines us for our good. He will not let his children skate through life without his corrective hand. He is a good Father, and good fathers know how to lovingly yet consistently discipline their children. He is not angry. He is not sinning. He corrects his children because he loves his children.

So we should be people who know we will stand responsible before God for the way we've lived, but also receive his discipline in the here and now. This should cause us to respect our Father-Judge.

Handkerchief Man

Jesus told the story of three men. They shared a master who went away on a long journey. He gave each of them a sum of money to invest. The first two doubled the master's investment, but the last didn't. He wrapped up the money in a handkerchief and buried it in the ground. When the master returned, all he got from this man was the return of the exact same amount he had given the servant before he left. The master was displeased, took the money from the unfaithful servant, and gave it to the others (Luke 19:11-27).

Jesus seems to be saying that he has given each of us a life to live. We are meant to invest these lives the best we can. He is looking for a return on his investment. He wants us to impact our world with his kingdom. So let's not be handkerchief man; let's instead see God as the Father-Judge whom we want to please.

But another way to cultivate a healthy fear is found in our next verse:

18 ...knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers...

2. Understand the Futility of Other Options (18a)

Forefathers' Ways

The second way Peter tells us to cultivate healthy fear is to understand the futility of other options. He told us we were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from our forefathers (18).

This ransom language was well understood by Peter's first readers. Many people throughout the Roman empire were enslaved. Every church in their region was filled with slaves (people currently working for a master), freemen (people who'd never been enslaved), and freedmen (people who'd been enslaved but were now free). People became slaves through war or bankruptcy or the sale of themselves, sale by their parents, or by birth. The reason there were freedmen is that it was common for someone to buy their way out of slavery or to have their slavery expire after their debts were paid.

And after the terms of their slavery had ended, they would often go to the temple of a local god or goddess and pay money into the treasury. The slave was now free from their human master -- and they were free people from that point on -- but they were technically considered the slaves of that deity.

So Peter tells us we used to be slaves who were set free. Before he tells us what the price of our freedom was, he tells us what we were set free from -- the futile ways inherited from your forefathers (18).

When Jesus comes into your life, he rescues you from whatever practices and philosophies you had embraced beforehand. It is always encouraging to hear the stories of someone who left a radical idealogy handed down from their "forefathers" when Jesus grabbed ahold of them.

And Peter knows these old ways are inherited -- passed down from generation to generation (18). They might be bad habits or customs you received from your parents. Or they might be philosophies that an entire society has absorbed so completely that you don't even know you've embraced them. For instance, most people don't read Freud or Darwin or Marx or Nietzsche but are swimming in the views they advanced.

But Jesus set us free from the futile ways we inherited from our forefathers. Now we can present ourselves to him that he might rewire our minds (Romans 12:1-2).

Futile Ways

We should fear that old life. It is not worth going back to, and its ways, according to Peter, are futile (18). Its ideas are not original. And it leads nowhere.

If the gas tank in your car is near empty, you go to the gas station to fill it up. You would never unroll your garden hose, turn on the faucet, and fill up your gas tank with water! The results would be catastrophic!

But humanity has been trying to run on the wrong fuel since the beginning of time. We try to fuel our lives with materialism, passions, or power.

Solomon is a case study in this brand of life. He had unlimited wealth. He had unrestricted passions. And he had unfettered power. But all that cost him his relationship with God, and he was miserable. His conclusion?

Ecclesiastes 12:13 (ESV) — 13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Like Solomon, we often believe that if we have enough or feel enough or become enough, we will be satisfied (1 John 2:17). But the satisfaction never comes. Instead, God's kids must recognize the futility of other options.

But our text gives us one last way to cultivate healthy fear...

18 ...not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

3. Appreciate the Blood of Christ (18b-21)

The Cost of You

If you want to cultivate a healthy fear, you must appreciate the blood of Christ. It was the blood Peter wrote about here. He went off by describing the blood Jesus shed for us while he was on the cross.

But why was Peter so enamored with Jesus' blood? Because it was the price he paid for you and me. He said we were not redeemed with perishable things such as silver or gold (18). Even the most valuable materials on earth cannot compare with Jesus' blood.

Peter's talk of Jesus' blood reminds us of his incarnation. He became one of us; flesh and bones and blood. He fulfilled the law we could not fulfill and sacrificed himself in our place.

Peter's talk of Jesus' blood reminds us that he died. His blood was spilled when he suffered and died for us.

Peter's talk of Jesus' blood being like that of a lamb without blemish reminds us Jesus never sinned throughout his life (19).

Peter's talk of Jesus' blood being like that of a lamb without spot reminds us Jesus was not born in sin like you and me (19).

Peter's statement that Jesus and his death was foreknown before the foundation of the world is Peter's way of celebrating that the cross was the plan of God from eternity past (20).

And Peter's conviction that it's through Jesus that we become believers in God, so that our faith and hope are in God is Peter's way of reminding us that we could not make our way to the Father without the blood of the Son (21).

Peter is about the blood of Jesus! In his mind, it is valuable, perfect, and substitutionary. It was shed for you according to the plan of God and is the substance that makes it possible for people to know God. It is all about the blood.

The Cost of You

And if you appreciate the blood of Christ like Peter did, you won't mess around. You'll have a healthy fear of the Lord and a fear of sin. You will want to live a holy life because the price God paid to obtain you is so high.

Brothers and sisters, we are worth so much more than our favorite sins. God looks at you and sees someone he values enough to die for -- bloodshed. Let us not "profane the blood of the covenant" (Hebrews 10:29).

In a few weeks, we will read Peter tell us we are a "holy" and "royal priesthood" that belongs to God (2:5, 9). In the Old Testament, the priests began their service with various sacrifices. The blood was taken and applied to their ears, hands, and feet (Exodus 29). It was God's way of saying, "I have purchased you. You belong to me. I have paid the price of blood. Your ears, your hands, and your feet belong to me. What you hear, what you do, and where you go dedicated to me."

What about us? We are now God's priesthood. Every Christian has a right to God's presence. But do we recognize that what we consume, what we do, and where we go must be governed by the blood? Jesus' blood bought us. We were redeemed, not for self-freedom and expression, but to Jesus.

God does not set free for freedom's sake. He sets free so that we can belong to him. You see this when you read Exodus. God did not liberate them just so they'd be liberated. He set them free from Pharaoh's clutches so they could serve God instead. He bought them with the blood of the Passover lamb. Compared to Pharaoh -- or any of the futile ways handed down from our forefathers -- service to God is a dream.

So do we fight? Do we flee? Do we conform? No. We fear.