Are We Still Exiles?

Reflections from 1 Peter and Life in the West

After a few weeks’ break, I finally sat back down with

Joel McMaster

to record another Shock Absorber episode — this one ranging from recent family life and the simple joy of walking, to some quiet but significant theological questions that have been simmering beneath the surface of our preaching and pastoring lately.

Why the idea of “exile” matters again

Both Joel and I were preparing to preach at Soul Revival Church from 1 Peter on the same weekend, so we took the opportunity to compare notes not just on exegesis, but on how the text is reading us. Peter calls his audience “God’s elect exiles”, which raises a confronting question for modern Christians: are we still exiles?

Should believers in 21st-century Australia expect to feel out of step with the broader culture? Or have we become so at home in the West — so culturally settled, insured, protected, and comfortable — that we no longer even recognise what it means to be strangers and sojourners?

Wrestling with the cultural moment

During the conversation, we dipped briefly into a recent flare-up around book banning and whether Christians should shield themselves from opposing worldviews. Joel’s instinct — which he unpacks more in the episode — is that reading behind enemy lines isn’t dangerous if Scripture is our anchor. In fact, it’s often how discernment is formed: through testing, thinking, comparing, and growing in wisdom.

Sheltering ourselves doesn’t make disciples. Wrestling well does.

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You can watch Joel’s sermon on YouTube.

You can read the text of my sermon in the SubStack link below.

And as always, listen along to The Shock Absorber podcast on your regular podcasting platform, or click through on one of the links below.

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