The Church: Beauty in Exile
Do you see her? Cast out, maligned, mistreated, and unimpressive by any worldly standard, yet to eyes of faith beautiful, magnificent, and glorious. She is the church, in exile in this world yet chosen and precious in the sight of God. She endures hardship and remains faithful to her Lord. She suers false accusations yet stands approved in him. She is holy in an unholy culture. She is pure despite her past of impurity. She is a warrior, resisting the roar of the satanic lion yet living in weakness under the pagan authorities of this age. She finds honor in reflecting her Savior who bore her sins and cares nothing for the reproach of this age. She is an assembly of living stones, a magnificent temple, standing tall in the sin apocalypse of this age. She is birthed by the Word of God, lives by the grace of God, and hopes in the inheritance of Christ. She is a sojourner with no place to lay her head yet destined for a heavenly inheritance that will never fade. She preaches revolution but not of political power or social control. She holds out the message of a crucified Savior and an eternal invitation.
She is the church of Jesus Christ. Do you see her? And do you love what you see?
How Peter Saw the Church
We must see the church as Peter saw her, as God sees her, lest we fall prey to the false expectations and delusions of phony modern descriptions of the church or become seduced by alternative visions of her mission and identity. Most importantly, this vision must shape how we engage in our own local church. Peter is not writing for philosophical speculation or academic theory, but for real Christians in the real world. He is writing for you and me. And God has sent Peter’s letter through the ages to countless Christians who need this vision to be restored to their soul and to shape their lives.
Peter establishes the ironic definition of the church in his opening greeting. By writing to elect exiles (:), he crafts a phrase that communicates both the church’s value and her vulnerability. To be an exile is to be cast out, in the way that Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden, or Israel out of the promised land. An exile has no refuge, no protector, no prestige. Yet here there is a change.
We are “elect exiles ... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.” We are cast out, but we are known. We are counted as unworthy in the world, but cleansed before God. And far from our exile revealing God’s judgment, Peter believes that “grace and peace” will be multiplied to these dear saints.
The irony of the church is that she is at once outside of the power and prestige of this world, yet chosen and precious in God’s sight. She has no present claim to earthly glory, but she has unparalleled honor as those chosen in Christ. She is at once priceless and powerless. She is in and out at the same time. This irony establishes the main vision of God’s people that will carry through the book and ought to rearrange our view of the church.
Jon Payne, Senior Pastor, Redemption Hill Church (Round Rock, TX)
Reposted from the Sovereign Grace Journal, March 2023.