"A Portrait Of The Church"

The word translated as “chosen” from the original language means “to elect or select”. Isn‘t it amazing for us to be of the “chosen”, we have to choose or select to have a relationship with Jesus Christ? Eph. 1:3-5 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every

spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in

his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his

pleasure and will.” God’s chosen people are those who have chosen His Son whom He gave as a sacrifice for our sins! God decided before creation that His chosen ones would be those who would choose His Son.

We are called to behave as people belonging to God. The KJV uses the term “a peculiar people”. Not peculiar as in “strange” but “peculiar” as in the “habits of a certain group.” The root word in the original language means to “acquire, preserve, obtain, purchase.” It’s a term that refers to sole ownership. Before we are saved, we belong to Satan and the world. Eph. 2:1-2 – “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” But when we come to the Living Stone, we belong to Christ. 1 Cor. 6:19-20 – “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

Peter tells us that we are now possessions of Christ. 1 Pet. 2:10– “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” He follows statement with this one. 1 Pet. 2:11 – “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” We are not citizens of earth. We are citizens of heaven and should so live as to live a life that no longer glorifies us but glorifies God.

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How do we at the Martinsville First Christian Church look compared to the portrait that Peter paints in our passage? Do we resemble it or do we have a ways to go?

Picasso was the Spanish cubist artist who sketched, sculpted, and painted his way into prominence in the early twentieth century. On the rare occasion, he painted live portraits. One such instance was his painting of Gertrude Stein, one of America’s foremost authors of a bygone era.

Stein was born in Oakland, California. She was educated at Radcliffe College and also studied at John Hopkins University. For most of her life she lived in Paris and there she would write. To many, Gertrude’s prose was unintelligible. To the elite, her words were sublime. “A rose is a rose is a rose.” Or, “When they are alone, they want to be with others, and when they are with others, they want to be alone. After all human beings are like that.”