Aliens

We are in a time when the subject of aliens arises in various forms.  There are the space aliens which, we all know, are divided into those who are peaceful and friendly (like ET) and those who are bloodthirsty and destructive (the Klingons).  My son and I mused that many of these aliens are either bloodthirsty or destructive but few manage both in an effective way.  Hope, though, you get the idea.
Then, there are illegal aliens or undocumented workers, named as such based on your political direction.  This type of alien occupies arguments, state legal arguments and news reports.
Then, there are the aliens in 1 Peter.  These are Christians which Peter (probably from Rome) encourages, teaches, leads and warns.  We are also this type of alien.
Why would I identify us with these outcasts?  Because Peter reminds us of the marginal nature of our life as followers of Jesus.  He calls us to holiness ... living in total belief of Jesus and the sufficiency of the cross, the resurrection and the sacrifice He has made.  He calls us to harmony, living in a way that shows our savior by the behavior we exhibit.  And, he calls us to the humility that comes with a life that will see us suffer and persecuted like our savior.
Most of you are down with the idea of holiness, though we don't really get what the believers in the 1st century would have meant.  We also have some understanding of harmony, though we haven't really implemented it in the Church.  And suffering ... we didn't sign up for a faith that calls us to deny ourselves, our pleasures and our creature comforts.
1 Peter Christianity is lived on the edges and at the margins of society.  It is unsafe because of trials (1:6), unjust authority (2:18), suffering for right actions (3:14), persecution (4:12-14), suffering as God's refinement of Christians (4:19) and suffering because of Satan's attacks (5:8).  Read these passages.  Check out where you are and where you ought to be.  Then follow Christ!  Pastor Randy