8/03/25 - Chosen Strangers: Living Hope in a Foreign World - 1 Peter 1:1-5 - Pastor Jason Fritz

It is so good to be back with you after a time away. These past three months on sabbatical have been deeply refreshing for my soul, but I have missed you: your faces, your love, and your faith. Absence has made this heart grow very fond. I’ve returned with a full tank and I’m ready to boldly speak God’s truth, and I can't think of a better way to rejoin you than by starting a new study together in the book of 1 Peter. This letter was written to Christians who were feeling like outsiders in the world, and I think that speaks to where many of us find ourselves today.Peter begins not by comforting the early believers with shallow platitudes but by grounding them in a greater truth. They are elect exiles. Chosen by God, set apart by the Spirit, and called to obey Jesus. Though they’re misunderstood, rejected, and even persecuted by the world around them, their identity is secure. That tension between being loved by God and rejected by culture isn’t something to run from. It’s a calling to live differently. Peter doesn’t want us to blend in; he wants us to stand out, not with arrogance, but with holiness, humility, and courage.If you’ve ever felt out of place because of your faith, this letter is for you. The Christian life will create tension in a world that doesn’t share our hope. But our hope is living and rooted in the resurrection of Jesus, who has given us an eternal inheritance that cannot be touched by suffering. So wherever God has placed you, whether in a family that doesn’t understand your faith, a job where values collide, or a world that increasingly sees Christians as strange, know this: you are not forgotten. You are chosen, you are sent, and you are held by a God who is writing a far bigger story than what we can see.