In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We Christians are not at home in this world. That’s what Saint Peter is getting at in our Epistle lesson today from 1 Peter chapter 2 when he tells us that we are sojourners and exiles. A sojourner is someone who is on a journey away from their home, and an exile is someone who has been temporarily removed from their home. Our true home, of course, is in heaven. It’s not the 2000 square foot ranch we have here in Denver Iowa, nor is it the 4-bedroom farmhouse out in the country. It’s the place in our Father’s house, which Christ prepared for us through His death and resurrection. It’s eternal life with Jesus and all of His saints in glory, an inheritance that we receive through faith alone. That’s where we belong. And that’s where we’re trying to go.

And the point of our reading this morning is how we’re supposed to live on the way there. Given the fact that heaven is our home, and that this earthly life is not all that there is, but only a temporary trip and a momentary journey towards our true destination, what does that mean for us Christians here and now? We get three different things in our reading.

First, Saint Peter reminds us that we should abstain from the passions of our flesh and not indulge our sinful desires. As he writes in verse 11 of our text, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” 

How do most people think about their life here in this world? Even if they don’t say it out loud, they act as if the point of it is simply to enjoy yourself as much as possible. They give little thought to the reality that someday their life will come to an end and that no matter what they’ll have to face God’s judgment. Instead of asking questions like, “what must I do to be saved,” they assume that everyone goes to a better place when they die anyway, so what’s even the point? That’s why they ignore the cries of their conscience and don’t pay any attention to God’s Word. It’s why they don’t make a habit of regularly going to Church to receive God’s forgivness, and barely ever come to receive the Sacrament. It’s why they live in their sin on purpose and do things that the Bible expressly forbids without any remorse at all. They devote themselves to money, work, fame, and pleasure, because, in their mind, that’s what this life is all about. 

But, in the end, that sort of attitude leads to their eternal ruin. And the same would be true for us if we lived in the way that they did too. That’s why Saint Peter tells us in our text this morning that we need to abstain from the passions of our flesh which wage war against our soul. You and I, and every baptized believer in Christ, is engaged in an ongoing spiritual struggle that isn’t over until the day we die. It’s the struggle between what’s called our “Old Adam” and the “New Man.” Our “Old Adam” is the fallen and sinful nature that we’ve inherited from our first parents Adam and Eve. Elsewhere in the Bible, like in this passage from 1 Peter 2, it’s referred to as the “flesh.” Even after we become Christians, and the Holy Spirit enters into our hearts, giving us the gift of faith, our flesh continues to cling to us and refuses to go away entirely. We have to keep on putting it death over and over again so that it doesn’t kill us instead and destroy our faith in the process.

If you remember, that’s exactly what the Catechism teaches us in the fourth part on Baptism. I know that we love to talk about how Baptism forgives us of our sins, and that’s true, but what else is our Baptism for? What does such baptizing with water indicate? “It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” The way that you put your Old Adam to death, so that he doesn’t kill you and destroy your faith, is by repenting of your sins and looking to Christ for forgivness. We don’t just do that one time. We have to do that all of the time. Otherwise, if we give into our passions, and follow them wherever they lead, they’ll lead us away from Jesus and off the narrow path that leads to heaven. If we try to build a permanent residence here in this world by doing whatever feels best to us in the moment, forgetting that everything in this world is ultimately passing away, then we risk the possibility of passing away along with it. 

So, we’re called to conduct ourselves as if we aren’t really at home here, and not lose sight of the real goal. When the cares and pleasures of this life pull our attention away from what actually matters, we listen to God’s Word and let it pull us back of what truly does. We remember that nothing in this life, no matter how enjoyable or satisfying it may seem, lasts forever, but thank God, because none of it can even begin to compare to what He has prepared for us in heaven. 

Next, Saint Peter tells us that beacuse we are not at home in this world we should also be careful give a good witness to unbelievers. As he writes in verse 12 of our text, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” This is almost identical to what Jesus Himself tells us in Matthew chapter 5. “In the same way,” Christ says, “let you light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

One of the primary reasons why God keeps us in this world as long as He does, and doesn’t just take us out of it immediately, is for the sake of our neighbor. It’s so that others, who don’t yet know the Gospel like we do, would be able to hear about it and come to faith as we have. And yet, nothing stops people from wanting to listen to the Gospel more than when false Christians give it a bad name through their sinful behavior. 

This, of course, can happen in a lot of different ways, but think about the example that Saint Peter uses in our text. He singles out as particularly important how we treat those in authority. Peter says, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by Him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good.”

Yes, the ultimate authority in our life is God. We are citizens of heaven above, and our first allegiance always belongs to Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Therefore, when earthly authorities try and get us to disobey God’s Word, we don’t not have to obey them in that specific matter. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to listen to them at all. It doesn’t mean that we can disrespect them, and just do whatever we want instead. In every matter that is not sinful, even if we don’t like it, or think its dumb, we’re called upon to obey it. Even though we are free in Christ, as Saint Peter says, we don’t use our freedom as an excuse to do evil things, but live as servants of God.

When those who bear the name of Christ act as if this privilege entitles them to ignore those in authority, they end up teaching others to despise all authority, even the authority of God. This exact thing has happened in our time with words like “submission.” Because of certain ideologies, like the feminist movement, which taught people to hate that word and think it’s always bad, nowadays many people don’t even like it when they hear it in the Bible. And yet, submitting to Jesus, and letting Him be in charge is the most wonderful thing that there is. It literally means allowing Him to serve you with the forgivness of your sins and lead you to heaven. 

So, we lead others to Christ, and prepare them for the day of His visitation, when we show respect to those in authority, and give the word “authority” a good name. We do it when we obey our earthly leaders, even the ones we don’t like, and willingly submit to them, as long as they don’t ask us to violate our allegiance to God. Then we give a good witness to the world, and don’t put a stumbling in front of them believing the Gospel. In fact, we get them ready to listen to the Gospel, and give ourselves more opportunities to preach it. We represent our homeland well and serve as good ambassadors of our true King.

And, finally, the fact that we are sojourners and exiles here on earth, and that heaven is our true home, also teaches us to patiently bear our cross, and willing accept any suffering that we might experience along on the way. As Saint Peter also writes in our text this morning, “For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.”

Just like any trip you go on, as we journey through this life towards our eternal dwelling with Christ, we can expect to face certain things before we get there. That’s what happens every time that you travel. Who has ever been away from their home for a long period of time and not run into something difficult or challenging on the road? We should expect nothing different while we’re traveling through this fallen and sinful world.

And yet, we can also use that truth to comfort ourselves along the way. If we have to deal with difficult or unpleasant people who makes our life bitter and hard, we can remember that that’s how it goes sometimes when you travel. Sometimes you have to put up with an unfriendly host, who doesn’t always treat you very kindly. But we have a kind Father waiting for us above, who’s mercies are new every morning, and who’s steadfast love never comes to an end. Yes, right now, it’s like we’re staying at a cheap hotel in a dangerous part of town. But soon, we’ll be with Christ in paradise, and the former things will be forgotten.

If we see other people living securly in the world, having what look like a good time in life, while nothing seems to be going our way, then we can encourage ourselves with the truth that not every trip is the same. Sometimes you coast down the road at 70 miles an hour, and at other times you have to wait in traffic at a dead stop. But eventually the cars start moving again, and you don’t have to sit there forever. Regardless of how long we have to wait, our wait will be worth it. Eternal life in heaven isn’t that far away, and we’ll have plenty of time to rest once we get there.  

And if we experience so much temptation in this world that we think we can’t bear it any longer, we can take heart that we are not on this journey alone. Just as Christ was with His disciples in the boat during the raging storm, He is with us in the boat of His Church too. Our Great Captain is still at the helm, and He promises never leave us or forsake us. In His holy Word and blessed Sacraments, He gives us forgivness for all of our sins, and makes a sure and certain pledge of our salvation. No matter what we suffer with, or who we suffer from, we know that Jesus suffered the true price for our sins on the cross already, so we can suffer anything that we need to. God wont forsake us in our suffering, but will even use it to bring us closer to Him.

We Christians are not at home in the world. We are sojourners and exiles on our way to heaven. That simple truth should change the way that we live and act here and now. For one, it should compel us to abstain from the passions of the flesh and not indulge our sinful nature. Since Jesus has prepared for us a place in our Father’s house, we should put everything in our life in the right place too. We shouldn’t live in the moment, as so many people do, but we should live for that one moment when we see Christ face to face in glory. Likewise, we should give a good witness to our neighbor. God has allowed us to stay in this world a little while longer not for the sake of serving ourselves, but for serving others and bringing them to Christ. One of the ways that we do that is by obeying those in authority over us and teaching them that authority is a good gift that comes from God. It’s not degrading to submit to someone else, that’s exactly what we do as Christians with Jesus, because He gives us everlasting life. And no matter how hard our life is at times, it won’t last that way forever. If we cling to the Lord and His promises, forsaking our own righteousness, and trusting in His alone, then regardless of how our journey went, and the end of it we will hear, “Welcome home, though good and faithful servant.” In Jesus’ Name.