True Survivor

October 15, 2008
I Peter 2:11-12
“Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourself cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.”
It has been years since I tuned into the television show but maybe you still watch it. I remember those early days of intrigue that I had with it. People, previously unknown to each other, from around the United States gathered on an island somewhere on the world’s distant shores. They could bring very little with them and were given an item or two that would be their luxuries during a long competition that answered the question. Who would be THE survivor? The show, Survivor, as it is called, divides contestants into teams and requires them to compete in physical challenges. These challenges open doors for them to have surprises during their lengthy competition such as seeing family members from whom they’ve been alienated or having a special meal that they would otherwise not be able to enjoy. It gives them a break from this alien lifestyle. The attitudes that you witness among the participants are less than ideal. They are in a fight to win a million dollars and the viewer watches as they practice deception and conniving. They form alliances with each other and gang up in order to vote the person who may be the greatest threat to winning off of the island. And so it goes until there is one left standing.
In the world of Peter, Christians were like the survivor contestants. They had all manner of “bad things” being said about them though we are not told what those ‘bad things’ are. Cicero tells us that the people considered aliens at that time were expected to keep to themselves and stay out of the business of others. What enabled them to survive in any city was the goodwill that they cultivated among the locals and this was what enabled them to stay in the cities. Most likely Christians were viewed as a foreign cult and they may have had some anti-Jewish perspectives being demonstrated in their efforts at evangelizing. What Peter wants the Christians to understand is that they needed to be on the best behavior being certain to live the principles that they desired to teach. Only when their action was consonant with their word would they be able to represent Christianity for what it really was and truly make a case by their living for others to convert. Contrary to the television show the goal was to be the true survivor by living an exemplary life.
It is a tall order for any human but it is the order to which we signed on when we chose to call ourselves Christians. So, are we more like the survivors of the television show or more like the true survivors that Peter was calling the Christians to be? What will it take for us as individuals to be true survivors? What will it take for the church to stand in exemplary living? Lots of questions, I know! But I also know that the answers are within us! Amen!