DISPLACED!

Last week I preached at the Baptist Church in Elgin, about 65 miles northeast of Aberdeen. Elgin (57°N 3°W; pop. 21,000) is a quaint town in Morayshire, not too far from the North Sea, with a history (and the ruins to prove it) dating back to the 11th century.

Sunday morning, one of the good folks at Elgin Baptist had the name of my hometown pasted prominently on a bulletin board in the Sunday School hall, with a map of India showing the location of Thiruvananthapuram (8°N 76°W; pop. 1,000,000).

There I was in Elgin, about 7000 miles away from Thiruvananthapuram. And I got there via Dallas, TX, and Aberdeen! Along the way I also managed to hit Houston, TX, and Boston, MA, for a few years. Oh, and Charleston, SC (that’s another story). And did I mention I was born in Kuwait?

Talk about displacement. Someone asked me the other day where “home” was. On a plane, I said. In between continents. 36000 feet above terra firma. Eating airline food. (Don’t they serve any peanut butter?)

I kinda know what the original recipients of Peter’s First Letter must have felt.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to those who reside
as aliens,
scattered throughout
Dallas, Aberdeen,
Thiruvananthapuram,
Elgin, and Kuwait …
Abe’s exceedingly unrestrained paraphrase

And then those glorious words …

… who are chosen …
1 Peter 1:1

Alien I might be, but I’m chosen. Displaced? Perhaps. But I’m chosen. Disoriented? Disquieted? To be sure. (And oft the suggestion has been made that I add “Disturbed” to the list!) No matter. I’m ...

… chosen
according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father,
by the sanctifying work of the Spirit,
that you may obey Jesus Christ
and be sprinkled with His blood….
1 Peter 1:2

And, therefore, I am no longer “alien-ated”; I am no longer landless; I am no longer displaced.

For our citizenship
is in heaven ….
Philippians 3:20

What a remarkable truth! Believers in Jesus Christ of all stripes, makes, and brands, from every tribe and tongue and nation, in every era, age, and day, united as one body by virtue of the One whose name they bear and by whose Spirit they are indwelt.

So then you are
no longer strangers and aliens,
but you are fellow citizens
with the saints,
and are of God's household.
Ephesians 2:18–19

And so, like my namesake, we believers exist in these intervening moments between the “already” and the “not yet,” awaiting our restoration to the polis where we truly belong.

By faith [Abraham] lived as an alien
in the land of promise,
as in a foreign land …
for he was looking
for a city
which has foundations
whose architect
and builder is God.
Hebrews 11:9–10

May those days soon be here! But until then, Peter continues, we have a responsibility, as those bearing “alien” status here on earth.

Beloved, I urge you
as aliens and strangers
to abstain from fleshly lusts
which wage war against the soul.
Keep your behavior excellent
among the Gentiles,
so that … they may
because of your good deeds,
as they observe them,
glorify God ….
1 Peter 2:11

An ambassadorial, testimonial, witnessing responsibility. May our lives speak for the land from which we hail, to which we are headed, for which we hope. For the glory of God, may we be faithful in doing so, till He call us HOME.

We are not Home yet
Keep on looking ahead
Let your heart not forget
We are not Home yet.
Steven Curtis Chapman, 1997