One of the biggest financial decisions any of us will ever make is whether to rent or buy where we live. It’s a question that surfaces again and again at different stages of life — and pastor Josh White tackled it head-on this Sunday at Grace Bible Church. But here’s the twist: the real message wasn’t about interest rates or down payments. It was about how we think about this world as our home.
The Pros and Cons We Already Know
On the practical level, most of us understand the renting vs. buying debate pretty well. Renting means your rent can go up, you don’t build equity, and there are limitations on what you can do with the space. Buying means building equity, having a place of your own, and the satisfaction of ownership — but it also means responsibility, commitment, and the risk that the market could turn against you.
Pastor Josh acknowledged all of that. And then he drew a line that stopped me cold: the longer you plan to stay somewhere, the more buying makes sense financially. That’s conventional wisdom. But then he asked the question that changed everything: How long are any of us really staying here?
“We are told that we are ambassadors for Christ — this is not our home. We are here on a temporary assignment, and at some point we’re going to be called back to our Father.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:20 (implied)
Strangers and Exiles
The sermon pivoted to 1 Peter 2:11, where Peter addresses believers as “strangers and exiles” — people who live alongside the house but don’t own it. Pastor Josh explained that the Greek word (paroikos) literally describes someone who lives adjacent to a home but isn’t a citizen of it. They have a temporary standing. They don’t put down permanent roots. They don’t invest as if they’re never leaving.
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
— 1 Peter 2:11–12
That word sojourners is doing heavy lifting. Peter isn’t using soft language here. He’s saying we are fundamentally out-of-place people. This world is not configured for us. We are passing through.
The Renter’s Mentality — And Why It’s a Gift
Here’s where the message became deeply practical. Pastor Josh applied the renting illustration to our spiritual lives. When you rent a place, you don’t repaint the walls, you don’t build permanent structures, and you don’t arrange your life around staying forever. You’re there for a season, and you’re wise enough to know it.
That same mindset, he argued, is exactly how we should approach this world. Not detached — different. Not disengaged — distinct. The danger is what he called the buyer’s mentality: treating worldly success, approval, accumulation, and comfort as if they’re the point of our existence here.
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride of life — is not from the Father but from the world.”
— 1 John 2:15–16
The Day of Visitation
One sobering part of the sermon dealt with what Peter calls “the day of visitation.” At that day, Pastor Josh said, many people who amassed incredible wealth and status will find it completely worthless. Not diminished — worthless. It can’t save them. It can’t buy them a single thing in the life to come. They lived like owners, but they were renters all along.
The alternative, Peter writes in Hebrews 11, is a cloud of witnesses who “acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” — people who lived with their eyes on a permanent city, not a temporary one. And because they did, their testimony endured.
So What Does a Renter’s Life Look Like?
Pastor Josh closed with a challenge. If this world isn’t our home, then our priorities should look different. Our use of time should look different. Our values should look different — not weird for weird’s sake, but genuinely attractive, because the world can see we’re not chained to the same things they’re chasing.
That’s the witness Peter is calling us toward. Not withdrawal, but distinction. Not isolation, but integrity. Living in such a way that when people look at us, they see something different — and it points them to God.
“So, ‘Father, we thank You for these encouraging words that You’ve given to us from First Peter. Help us all to live in a way that people look at us and say, “Your priorities are different. Your expectations are different.”‘”
— Pastor Josh White, closing prayer
Scripture References
- 2 Corinthians 5:7 — We walk by faith, not by sight
- 1 Peter 2:11–12 — Sojourners and exiles, abstaining from fleshly passions
- 1 John 2:15–17 — Do not love the world
- Hebrews 11:13–16 — Strangers and exiles seeking a better country
- 1 Peter 2:12 — Honorable conduct that glorifies God on the day of visitation