A Choosen People pt 3

And not just who they are individually. Which is what I think western culture focuses on. Even within the church, we can think in terms of who we are individually, but 1 Peter 2.9-12 wants us to know who “WE” are. Who are we as the People of God? And who are we as the local church? Who are we as New Life Ypsi?

So who are “we”?

We are chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.

Those are some pretty remarkable identities.

You might be poor, uneducated, have done some horrible things in your life, you might feel totally alone. Maybe all of things. And what God is saying none of those things matter. That’s not who you truly are.

You are actually part of something much bigger than you can imagine. This people you are now a part of, the church you belong to, gives you identity that changes everything!

This is all pretty spectacular.

So why on earth would God give us this new identify? Is it because we are so great? Is it because we are so worthy? Is it because we are so valuable? Peter says no, It’s so that we might show and tell of his goodness and power.

That’s what I hope you see tonight.

Let’s pray that God opens our eyes and hearts.

Background

If you were with us last week, Erik shared about how the church has become the new temple of God. And this new temple is built on the foundation of Jesus.

For those who are in Jesus, Peter is now going to tell them who they are more clearly.

Remember that Peter is writing to suffering Christians who are being persecuted. They are low on the social totem pole. These are not the high influence, leaders of society. No doubt many are wondering if following Jesus was worth it. So they need to be reminded of who they are.

Not just who they are individually, but who they are corporately. He is going to describe the new identities the people of God now have.

1 Peter 2:9–10 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Who we are: The necessity to look to the OT.

If we are going to understand who we are, we need to look backwards first.

1 Peter 2.9-12 is filled with Old Testament imagery, language, and references that we are going to need to understand the depth of what Peter is saying about us.

A chosen race

Peter begins by saying we are a chosen race.

In Deuteronomy 7.6-8 God chooses the nation of Israel. He chooses Israel not because they were special, but because he loved them. Why did he love them? Because he loved them.

Look at with me.

6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 7:6–8 ESV

With Peter using this passage to identify Christians, Peter is saying that the same thing that God did first with Israel, he is now doing with all those who love Jesus.

So why did the Lord chose to save you? Because he loved you. Why did he love you? Because he loved you.

Our faith and love for Jesus, is not our own doing. God’s choosing us should bring humility and gratefulness, not pride.

But, we aren’t just chosen. We are a chosen race. We have been set apart as a new race.

So the church is a new race, one made up of many ethnicities which means I think you can say there are only two races in the world.

There is the race of those who are born in the flesh, and the race of those who have been born again.

Do you know what this means? This means that race should not and can not have any essential identity to the Christian.

According to Peter, I have more family connection to black brother and sister in Christ, than to anyone white man or woman who doesn’t love Jesus.

Racism can’t not belong in the church, because all whose who love Jesus are of one chosen race.

I know that our church and many other churches this is difficult. An unhealthy attitude in churches is that “like attracts like”. Meaning churches gather more and more people who are a like, whether that’s economically, ethnically, or culturally. I grieve this attitude, and want to new life Ypsi to be different.

I know that for us we have a lot of college students. We have set out to reach college students, and college students attract college students. We are passionate about bring the gospel to young people. But, if our church continues to be made up primarily of college students in the years to come, I think we will be doing something wrong.

I want to apologize and repent of any unhealthy attitude in me that creates a church that goes against God’s heart. I want us to be a place and a people where everyone belongs, no matter the color of the skin or their age, or where they came from. I want us to be a place that reflects the diversity and unity of the Body of Christ. In Christ, we are one chosen race and we must do better living that out.

God chooses the un-alike to be his new chosen people.

I want to see people who would not have been friends because of differences in their ethnicity, age, or socio-economic backgrounds, worshiping together in this room and being on mission together outside of it. Pastor and author Juan Sanchez I think captures this idea beautifully.

“The glory of God is greatly displayed through the church when the diversity of peoples brought together through the gospel demonstrates the unity of the gospel. When the gospel is the only way to explain the assortment of people gathered in a room and worshiping together, then the local church is showcasing God and living in “sincere brotherly love”” Sanchez, Juan.

This is who we are: A chosen race.

A Royal Priesthood, A holy Nation, A people for his own possession.

For sake of time, I want to more quickly walk through 3 these identities together.

In these, Peter is pointing us back to Exodus 19.5-6

5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Exodus 19:5–6 ESV

What Peter is doing here is stunning. He is saying that the church - the people of God - are now what Israel was supposed to be.

The people of Israel were to be kingly priests who to mediate between God and the nations. And now, God is saying the Church is to have this role. We are mediate God’s blessing to the whole world, because we have been blessed.

We represent God to the unbelieving world. Not just pastors! Not just deacons or small group leaders or the worship team! Everyone who has been born again is a royal priest. We are all individually, personally called as God’s priests to speak and tell of the good news of Jesus Christ, calling people to repent and put their trust in him.

Israel was also to be a holy nation. Israel was to be different for the sake of the world. Israel was given specific instructions on what it would look like to be different. They were called to display the character of God to the world around them. And you probably know how that went for them. They failed miserably.... but God promised to raise Israel again and restore them so that the nations would come to God through them.

Through Jesus’ and the new covenant through his blood, the church in many ways is the new Israel, restored and redeemed to be a light in the world. We aren’t a nation like Israel was, but the church is an embassy of the kingdom God here on earth. When we gather together on Sunday’, New Life Ypsi (and every other Jesus loving congregation) are a visible, collective representation of God’s holy nation on earth.

And you might have caught that both Deut 7 and Exodus 19 talks about how Israel was God’s treasured possession.

We all have those things that we treasure. Maybe it’s a favorite sweater, or picture, or a gift from a loved one. Or when you were young, a little a stuffed animal. Maybe it’s your best friend. My treasured possession is my wife Sarah. I want to be with her, I don’t want her to be with anyone else the way she is with me. She is the most important treasure in my life.

God’s treasured possession was Israel. He was jealous for Isreal as a husband would be jealous for his wife. God wanted the Israelites; he loved them, he cared for them. And because of Jesus, the church is now his treasured bride. The church is Jesus’ treasured possession, and we get to be the object of his affection. How good and glorious that is!

A new people

In 1 Peter 2.10

1 Peter 2:10 ESV

10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Peter wants us to know that God giving us a new identify is not a new plan of God. It wasn’t plan B. God had always planned to give his people a new identity.

Peter is specifically using language from the book of Hosea. Hosea, the prophet was looking forward to day when God would restore Israel. Why did Israel need to be restored?

Because Israel persistently pursued other gods... and their punishment was that God was no longer going to show them mercy and they would no longer be his people. Super sad right?

But God said to Hosea, in Hosea 1.10

Hosea 1:10 ESV

10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”

that one day, the children of Isreal will be like the sands of the sea shore. And it would be said of them they are “children of the living God.”

Peter is saying here that Hosea prophesied about the Church. God’s restoration of Isreal is not just for the Jews, but is for all people. For the Christians reading Peter’s letter, who are scattered throughout Asia Minor, who are suffering and facing persecution, Peter is saying “you were not a people, but you have become ‘God’s people’ You once did not have mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Peter’s message to the elect exiles—which now include us—is this: while those around you see you as irrelevant nobodies, and it seems that all you experience is humiliation and shame, you are actually members of a new race, royal servants of the most supreme King, citizens of a divine kingdom.

Church, this is who we are!

All of this....for us to praise him.

If this is who we are, then how are to interact with the (sometimes hostile) world around us.

Again, Peter is writing to Christians who aren’t experiencing the easy life. They are suffering, hurting, and discouraged. If this is who they are, then how must they live?

Our identity given to us by God is so that “we might proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light.”

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Notice it says proclaim. We must be verbal with our praises. It isn’t enough to just live a holy life and hope people see the goodness of God.

This isn’t about proclaiming anything about ourselves. We didn’t bring ourselves out of darkness into the light. God called out us out. This is about making much of God and his glory.

The reason why we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for his possession is so that we might speak of his excellences?

What are his excellencies? They are the good and beautiful things about him. Specifically: the excellencies of his saving work.

Imagine you were caught in a house fire and because of the smoke you can’t escape. A brave man sees the fire and rushes in and saves you at the risk of his own life. What do you want to do? You want to tell everyone what this person did for you.

The reality is all of humanity is caught in a fire, and we need to be rescued. We know the one who can do it. We have been rescued from the darkness and brought into the light.

Being a Christian and making the greatness of God known are pretty much the same thing. We can proclaim his excellencies in church services with preaching and singing and praying and reading. We can do it in our small groups as we tell each other what God has been for us, or what we need him to be for us. We can do it at work as we tell people what we love about God and why we need Him. And we can do it in a thousand different ways of love that suit our situation and personality.

He chose Israel so they would speak of his praise to all people.

God made us who we are so that we might proclaim the excellency of his choosing us. The excellency of his grace in having mercy on us. The excellencies of his authority and power in possessing us. The excellencies of his worth and purity in making us holy.

When we forsake proclaiming his excellencies, and substitute his praise with only good works, or only acts of social justice, we are missing out on what we were designed to do. We must make known the excellence of our King.

But, there is danger if we share and tell of his excellencies without living a life the shows his excellencies.

This is where our passage goes next.

Not our home

Peter needs us to know the truth about who we are before he can tell us how to live.

(Skip reading the verses to below)

1 Peter 2:11–12 ESV

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 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.

“Beloved”

Peter begins by saying “beloved”. This is like when we say, friend, or brother, or sister. He is expressing love and concern.

Then he says, “I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”

What are sojourners and exiles? They are people who are in place that is not their home. They are passing through.

You might remember Peter addressed the letters to the elect exiles in chapter 1.

Our new identity in Christ means this is world is not our home.

So if this world is not our home, what are we to do? Are we to disengage from the world?

What’s interesting to me is that Peter doesn’t say as sojourners and exiles, abstain from the world.

He says to abstain from what? The passions of the flesh that wage war against you. Our war is not with the world around but with what’s within us!

So what are those passions at war with us? I think it’s anything that causes you to stop marveling at the excellences of God. Or to say it in a different way, he says stay away from the things that distract you or take your passion for God.

Think about the struggle with lust. The temptation to go online and look at things that you shouldn’t is there because at the moment those pictures seem more beautiful and excellent than God.

And then when you fall into the sin of lust, your ability to do the thing you were created to do - proclaim the excellency of God - is gone.

Church, we must not fight against the world, we must fight against the sin within us. By doing so we show and tell the excellencies of Jesus above all else.

Our behavior & actions make a difference.

“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.”

The world is not our enemy, but it is also is not going to be a kind place to us. Peter’s readers lived in a world that was hostile to Christians. I see our society moving in the same way towards Christians. It is going to be increasingly difficult to be a Christian in our culture.

So if we shouldn’t disengage, should we just blend in?

Peter’s answer isn’t to blend in, but to put into action who we are. We have our identity, now let’s live in light of it.

Because of who you already are, be who you are. What we do shows who we are.

So what does it look like for God’s people to live in a hostile world? It means to live honorably and to do good others.

The rest of 1 Peter is concerned with showing us how we to live lives that are honorable. It’s about how are we to live in the world without separating from it, and without blending in with it.

But, Peter shares one last motivation for why we are to do good when evil is done to us.

God uses our lives to bring others to glorify him. (vs. 12)

they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

Your conduct, your life, has the ability to make someone glorify God.

Maybe your coworker is slandering you. Instead of getting angry and getting even, you love your coworker and buy them lunch. Maybe they see your goodness towards them and repent.

Perhaps God uses that to start a conversation about him, and that person eventually trusts in Christ. There’s lots of ways God could choose to do it, but the point is when you live out of who you are, God can use that to help others glorify him.

Conclusion

In this world, it will always be easier to disengage from the world or to blend in to it than to proclaim God’s excellencies. It will always be easier to fight with the world rather than fighting the sin with us. But we are here to help others glorify God. That is why we are here. That is our mission as a church. And so we must show and tell of the goodness and power of God!