The Passport of Saint Who
1 Peter 2:4-12
I Peter 2:
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
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. 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.
A passport provides:
1. IDENTITY both individually and as a people.
• As aliens in a foreign land we feel insecure, because we have no sense of belonging and limited ability to communicate.
• Identity Amnesia leads to replacement Identity.
• We have been given a Vertical Identity, don’t replace it with a horizontal one
2. ACCESS to all the resources of your nation.
• As aliens in a foreign land we have no access to authority and often even fear it.
A passport provides:
3. RIGHTS as a citizen.
• You belong to your nation and have the backing of its government and power.
4. RESPONISBILITIES as a citizen.
• As a citizen you are accountable to live by the law of both the foreign land and your homeland.
5. REPRESENTATION of your nation.
• As a citizen you represent your nation to others. Their impression of “America” is built on your life.
As a Citizen of Heaven you have
1. Divine ADOPTION – “A Chosen Race”
o Salvation comes because of these 4 words – Jesus took my place! Because of that everything about me changes.
o You are Chosen, God chose you. Before the foundation of the world He chose you to know Him and to be a Saint. He also chose every other believer in the same way.
o Connected – We belong to each other. We are being built together into the body of Christ Jesus.
o Changed – You are not who you were. Therefore your life should reflect your adoption. Before you were born a sinner. Now you are adopted by God through Jesus Christ, If you have trusted Him as Savior and Lord.
o Race – we are one people. One of the greatest proclamations of praise in al the world is that Jesus has rescued people of every race, tribe and tongue. There is absolutely no room for predjudice for a Christian.
Listen to this description of the Lamb of God and why He is worthy of praise from God’s standpoint.
Revelation of John 5:5: And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Revelation of John 5:6: And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
Revelation of John 5:7: And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.
Revelation of John 5:8: And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Revelation of John 5:9: And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
Revelation of John 5:10: and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
When we come unto Christ, we automatically come unto each other. That is why I have never been able to understand this monkish eremite attitude-the idea of going off by yourself to be a Christian to the exclusion of everyone else. There are people like that. They are antisocial or rather unsocial in disposition, so they do not like the fellowship of the saints. If you are where Jesus is, you are surrounded by Jesus people; therefore, we ought to make the fellowship of the church the biggest thing in our lives. I would like to say right here, at the risk of hurting someone, that the important thing in the world today is the presence of an invisible spiritual entity called the Church, and the Holy Ghost never works outside that entity. He works through that entity in some manner or other. A.W. Tozer. Living as a Christian: Teachings from First Peter (p. 96). Kindle Edition.
The church made up of a diverse body gives praise to Christ.
There is a unity of God’s people that transcends all local and individual assemblies and fellowships. We belong to each other because we belong to Christ. This does not mean that doctrinal and denominational distinctives are wrong, because each local church must be fully persuaded by the Spirit. But it does mean that we must not permit our differences to destroy the spiritual unity we have in Christ. We ought to be mature enough to disagree without in any sense becoming disagreeable.
A contractor in Michigan was building a house and the construction of the first floor went smoothly. But when they started on the second floor, they had nothing but trouble. None of the materials from the lumberyard would fit properly. Then they discovered the reason: they were working with two different sets of blueprints! Once they got rid of the old set, everything went well and they built a lovely house.
Too often, Christians hinder the building of the church because they are following the wrong plans. If all of us would follow God’s blueprints given in His Word, we would be able to work together without discord and build His church for His glory.
God calls us to be one Race, One People, One Body – HIS!
2. Divine ACCESS – “A Royal Priesthood”
o Your Rights -- You can go not only to the embassy of His church but to the very throne room of Christ Jesus, without an appointment.
This means that our lives should be lived as though we were priests in a temple. It is indeed a privilege to serve as a priest. No man in Israel could serve at the altar, or enter the tabernacle or temple holy places, except those born into the tribe of Levi and consecrated to God for service. Each priest and Levite had different ministries to perform, yet they were together under the high priest, serving to glorify God. As God’s priests today, we must work together at the direction of our Great High Priest. Each ministry that we perform for His glory is a service to God.
We should expect God to do great things because we have access through Jesus Christ to His very throne.
EX. US Embassy in Jakarta after Ambon. Many people had gone to Ambon but because my coworker and I were American we had access to the US Embassy that God used as a component to bring an end to the violence in Ambon.
3. Divine ACTS – “A Royal Priesthood”
o Your responsibilities are SERVE and SACRAMENTAL Living.
o Sacramental Living = Doing everything for the glory of God.
Matthew 5:
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Colossians 3:
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
I Corinthians 10:
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
As a saint God calls all of your life for His Own, not just a part of it.
There should be no secular and sacred for the Christian –all should be sacred.
One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace which the Christian encounters is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas, the sacred and the secular. As these areas are conceived to exist apart from each other and to be morally and spiritually incompatible, and as we are compelled by the necessities of living to be always crossing back and forth from the one to the other, our inner lives tend to break up so that we live a divided instead of a unified life. A. W. Tozer. The Pursuit of God (Kindle Locations 1127-1130).
This is the old sacred-secular antithesis. Most Christians are caught in its trap. They cannot get a satisfactory adjustment between the claims of the two worlds. They try to walk the tight rope between two kingdoms and they find no peace in either. Their strength is reduced, their outlook confused and their joy taken from them.
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our perfect example, and He knew no divided life. In the Presence of His Father He lived on earth without strain from babyhood to His death on the cross. God accepted the offering of His total life, and made no distinction between act and act. "I do always the things that please him," was His brief summary of His own life as it related to the Father. As He moved among men He was poised and restful. What pressure and suffering He endured grew out of His position as the world's sin bearer; they were never the result of moral uncertainty or spiritual maladjustment. A. W. Tozer. The Pursuit of God (Kindle Locations 1150-1154).
As a Citizen of Heaven you have
4. Divine ACCOUNTABILITY – “A Holy Nation”
o There can be no CH _ _ CH unless U. R. in it!
o Accountability is to make your life count for all eternity, not to wait for you to mess up. It begins with a belief in one another because Christ lives in you, not because you are a nice guy or gal, but because you belong or at least claim to belong to Christ. We want the Christ life to shine through each of us!
I Peter 2:
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.
We are a chosen generation, which immediately speaks of the grace of God. God did not choose Israel because they were a great people, but because He loved them (Deut. 7:7–8). God has chosen us purely because of His love and grace. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16, NIV).
We are a holy nation. We have been set apart to belong exclusively to God. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20), so we obey heaven’s laws and seek to please heaven’s Lord. Israel forgot that she was a holy nation and began to break down the walls of separation that made her special and distinct.
I Peter 2:
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.
Notice this is a urging and not a command. There are things in the scripture which are commanded and then there are promptings. God commands us not to murder. That command is enforced by law. But there are some things which appeal to a higher call – a choice to love. And out of that love to live in a way that reflects the character and desires of the one we love.
I can command my wife to have supper on the table at 6:00PM. That is a command. But if instead she chooses to seek to know what I desire and tries to fulfill those desires – that is love. It is a higher call.
Here Peter urges us to a higher call to live like who and whose we are.
When we do so other take notice.
5. Divine AMBASSADORS – “A People For His Own Possession”
o God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light to shine our lives on others in such a way that they see our sacramental living and glorify God.
I Peter 2:
16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Are You a Citizen of Heaven and part of: The Chosen Race, The Royal Priesthood, The Holy Nation, A people of His own possession?
II Peter 1:
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If so your entrance to God’s Kingdom is guaranteed. If not it is prohibited.
Where is your citizenship?
