The Parish Map

Find and gather others who are lovers of the truth

Parish Map of Surrey, 1837.

I.

I got into a discussion over coffee the other day about the “state of the world,” which, we agreed, is grim.

In particular, my conversation partner used the word “demoralizing.” This was in specific reference to “all the shootings,” but later we got on to how civil and political discourse in general just seems to have collapsed.

“What do we do?” she asked.

I was reminded of Peter’s words in today’s reading from Acts, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

But how?

I’ll try to answer that here.

II.

In today’s reading from 1 Peter, Peter is talking about a different way of living, a different way of responding to the world.

The whole point of Peter’s first letter is to help Christians respond in the right way when they are attacked for what they believe.

He says, “love one another deeply from the heart.”

Now, the “one another” here means other Christians and Peter’s thinking goes something like this: You’ve had to suffer various trials at the hands of the world (1 Pet. 1:6), you are now experiencing a kind of exile from the world (1:17), you are obedient to the truth (1:22), therefore, now “you have genuine mutual affection” and can “love one another deeply from the heart.”

In other words, when Peter says, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation,” he means find others who are fellow lovers of the truth and gather with them.

It’s no accident that the Greek word for gathering or assembly, ekklesia, gets translated as church.

When the world gets to be too much, it is time to gather the church together. This is the biblical way to overcome demoralization.

III.

I want to speak now to a verse that gets to the heart of Peter’s message, verse 18:

“You know that you were ransomed from the futile conduct inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold.”

“Futile conduct” is behavior that gets us nowhere. Peter probably had the pagan idolatry of false worship in mind, but I think “futile conduct” is any behavior that gets us nowhere: arguments that devolve into shouting matches, conversations that do not matter because the participants talk past each other.

Moreover, Peter says this kind of futility is actually inherited. Think about that. Institutions, families, even churches inherit ways of doing things are ineffective, and so the demoralization is handed down as a kind of inheritance from one generation to the next.

IV.

It’s from this generational futility that Peter says we’ve been ransomed. In verse 19, he writes:

“You know that you were ransomed… with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.”

In pagan Rome, a slave would typically receive his freedom after money was deposited in the temple of a god or goddess and then paid to the slave’s owner. The sum paid for the redemption or ransom was referred to the as the “price,” and the slave was considered to have been redeemed by the deity.¹

This is echoed in Mark’s Gospel, when Jesus says:

“For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”²

Peter is warning against failing to properly value what Christ has done. He is saying, “Do not conduct yourself as though the ransom was not precious. The blood of Christ has redeemed you from a useless and meaningless and futile way of life.”³

A sure sign that we do not understand the price that has been paid for us, let alone value it as we should, is our continued demoralization.

V.

Do I value the price Christ paid for me?

If so, then I will strive to act accordingly, not bringing shame to the name “Christian.”

At the same time, if I treat my faith much as I would a consumer choice, as one among many, or as a weekend hobby (again, among many), I am showing that I do not yet fully comprehend the price that was paid for my redemption.

Because of the price paid for us by Jesus, Peter emphasizes that the difference between unbelievers and Christian believers ought to be observable.

I say “Christian believers” with an emphasis on the word believer here to make the point that the day of cultural Christianity is setting fast, and that the night of trials (and perhaps outright persecution) is coming.

We see how civil discourse has collapsed. We see how senseless violence is on the increase. We can expect an increase in the frustration that always comes with futility.

But there is a solution. As I said before, the solution is to gather the church. A place where from “genuine mutual affection,” we are to “love one another deeply from the heart.”

Peter is not speaking of some general feeling of goodwill towards your fellow man or the community at large. Peter knows that the world hates the church and those who believe.

Jesus said:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”⁴

Peter’s solution to demoralization, the means by which we can counter this hatred, is right here, in our very midst, this morning. I mean, we are looking at each other.

This becomes clearer if you take a look at the Greek. What gets translated in the NRSV as “genuine mutual affection” is eis philadelphian anypokriton or “sincere brotherly love.”

We can have this familial love for each other because we are the Father’s children. That’s part of what the price Jesus paid for us bought, adoption into God’s family.

Christ paid the price for my salvation and yours with His own blood.

Therefore, we should seek out our fellow blood-redeemed brothers and sisters.

We should “church” (assemble, fellowship) with each other.

The solution to demoralization is to truly build each other up, as members of one family.

We think of outreach as almsgiving, as charity for the world “out there” and that is correct, because within the church we should be doing much more than charity.

What do I mean by that?

Well, imagine for a moment, a congregation knit together from many different walks of life, different age groups, and that reflects the community around it.

Now, imagine that our good works are not measured (merely) with alms, but in finding and creating work for the family breadwinners, in finding suitable spouses for our children, in contributions to our mutual support, so our brothers and sisters do not need to rely on government assistance in time of need, health problems, or old age.

Again, since this is a vision of a multi-generational assembly, of both single and married people, of old and young, “genuine mutual affection” will become all sorts of things: help with child rearing and in the education of children, the gift of time and companionship to those who are alone, and even (if this time ever comes) mutual aid for self-defense.

This is “sincere brotherly love,” and the Church of Christ would be observably different from the rest of the world if we adopted this for our standard. I also think this is the only way for the church to survive. I admit it would be different from the way I’ve lived up until now or from any church I’ve served or been a member of.

The “futile conduct inherited from [our] ancestors” is two-fold. The first is the atomization of society down to the individual or, at least, to the nuclear family. The second is a reliance on the government to do what we Christian believers should be doing for each other.

If you ask me, the parish church could be the basic unit of a restored society. At the very least it should be the place of refuge against this corrupt generation. Amen.

Preached on April 23, 2023 at St. Peter’s Lithgow, Millbrook, New York.

Easter 3, Year A

Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35

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Questions for reflection and discussion

1.      Peter is talking about a ____________way of living.

2.      The whole point of Peter’s letter is to help Christians respond in the right way when they are ____________ for what they ____________.

3.      Christians are to ____________ one another deeply from the ____________.

4.      The Greek word ekklesia means gathering, assembly, or ____________.

5.      What is the biblical way to overcome demoralization?

6.      “____________” is behavior that gets us nowhere.

7.      When Peter says, “futile conduct inherited from your ancestors” he is referring to ____________.

8.      The sum paid for the redemption or ransom of a slave was referred to the as the ____________.

9.      How do we fail to value the price Christ has paid to ransom us?

10.  The difference between unbelievers and Christian believers ought to be ____________.

11.  How are we adopted into God’s family?

12.  The ____________ could be the basic unit of a restored society.

(1) different; (2) attacked / believe; (3) love / heart; (4) church; (6) Futile conduct; (7) pagan idolatry; (8) price; (10) observable (12) parish church

1. Iain M. Duguid et al., Hebrews-Revelation, vol. 12 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 311.

2. Mark 10:45.

3. Duguid, 311.

4. John 15:18.