Who and Why: Our identity in Christ - -1 Peter 2:9-12 - 3/22/15
Turn with me this morning to the end of your bibles, to the book of 1 Peter. It’s the 7th book from the end, so if you can find Revelation, the last book, turn to the left a few pages until you find 1 Peter. We’ll be looking today in 1 Peter chapter 2.
Peter writes to the Christians who were scattered throughout Asia Minor, the area that is today called Turkey. And he knows problems are going to come to them, just like they come into our lives today. Peter encourages them in chapter 1 that because God is with us, and because he loves us and protects us, God wants to use the trials we face to be a source of joy and growth in our lives. We need to choose to respond to trials with hope!
And then in chapter 2, Peter goes on to remind us of who we are. He starts chapter 2 by reminding us that we are all children in the same family. And as such, we need to all get along. Too many families face “sibling rivalry” - brothers and sisters who need to get along. I’ve done funerals before where two brothers have walked in, shook hands, and then walked to separate corners of the funeral home, not talking to each other the whole time there. But far too often in the church, we need to be reminded that we all need to get along. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul even had to write to the church at Philippi and encourage them to get involved in promoting reconciliation between some members who had difficulty getting along. He says, I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel. One of the ways we show our identity with Christ is by loving one another. Psalm 133 - How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! As Jesus met with his disciples the last night before the crucifixion, he tells them, By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Then Peter goes on to tell us that we are all stones in the same building in 2:5. When you look at an old stone house or church - I grew up in PA and they were all over the place - each stone is different from the stone beside it, but each works together with all the other stones to makes the walls. Our goal in the church is not uniformity - we don’t need to try to be just like every other Christian in the church - rather our goal is unity - to agree on the essentials. Paul writes in Ephesians 3 - Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Then Paul goes on to mention the different gifts given to Christians. We each have differing gifts, but we all use them to build up the body of Christ. And in that same passage Paul goes on to explain their purpose - so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ.
So, that brings us to 1 Peter 2:9. We don’t allow ourselves to get discouraged by circumstances, instead we draw strength from God and from one another. Now Peter goes on to explain who we are as Christians. Look with me in verse 9.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 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. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Today, as we look at these verses, Peter reminds us who we are in Christ Jesus. Sometimes, as we focus on all the sin and temptation we face on a daily basis, Satan gets us to see ourselves as miserable failures. But Peter reminds us of how God sees us, of who we really are. Let’s remember that today.
I. Who We Are - The first thing Peter reminds us is that
A. We are a chosen people -
Think back to elementary school, and how traumatic it was when you picked sides for kickball. Two captains are chosen by the teacher, and then they begin picking the best athletes and the most popular kids. As more and more kids go to their sides, you stand there in line, feeling like a loser, just hoping, praying, that someone will choose you, hoping that you’re not the last one to be chosen.
God tells us that God “chose” us from the start. God made us his "very first pick!"
Eph 1:4 - For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Before God created the world, before the sun or moon or stars were created, before God said “let there be light, and there was light” - in eternity past, God CHOSE you! You are special to Him, you are valued and loved.
We’ve talked before about Jesus choosing his disciples. In the Jewish system, a student who did well in school would advance on to choose a rabbi to follow and learn from and emulate. Those who didn’t pass the test ended up becoming fishermen, builders, tax collectors, taking up a trade. Who does Jesus pick as his disciples? Those who never made it to be rabbis. In Jn. 15:16 Jesus tells them - You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit. Jesus saw value in them, when no one else did. And the gospel was taken into all the world by these men who others saw as “second string.”
But WHY did God choose us? Was there anything special about us? No. Instead, He chose us because of His love for us. God tells the Jews in Deuteronomy 7 - The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you.
We are a chosen people today, specially loved by the Lord. The second thing Peter reminds us about who we are - verse 9 goes on to say:
B. We are a royal priesthood - to understand this we need to go back to the OT and review what a priest was. With the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - God would speak directly. But with Moses and the Jews when they came out of Egypt, God set apart the tribe of Levi to have a special relationship in the nation of Israel. They were the tribe of priests. It was their job to come to God on behalf of the people and to come to the people on behalf of God. Hebrews tells us that the priests would first offer sacrifice for their own sins, and then they would conduct the business of offering sacrifice for the sins of the people.
But today, WE have been given the position of being priests. Revelation 1 says, To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever!
What does that mean for us? It means we have direct access to God. We no longer need to go through a mediator. 1 Timothy 2:5 says, For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. We do not need a system of priests and confessionals, but we can come directly before the God of all creation and present our requests to Him. Hebrews 4:15 tells us this: Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. As a royal priesthood we can present our prayers directly to God. Any time of day or night, when we have a need, we come directly to God in prayer.
It says we are a royal priesthood. For the Jews, they might think back to their royal line: descendants of King David. One of the important things for Jesus was to be born into the royal line. For a Jew who did not have that heritage, they felt less important than someone from the royal family.
But think about royalty. What does Queen Elizabeth have to do in the morning to be Queen of England? Nothing - she just is. It's not what you do, but who you are. God has made us to be royalty! Just like Kate Middleton - a commoner who through marriage to Prince William becomes royalty - We now have a special relationship with God. Not because of anything we have done, but because of who He has created us to be.
John 1:12 - Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. 1 John 3:1 - How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
Romans 8:16 reminds us that as royalty, as children of the King of Kings, we become heirs. Our name is written in the will! The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
So we are a chosen people - a royal priesthood, third . . .
C. We are a holy nation
To be Holy is to be "set apart" - there is to be something different about us. We are set aside on purpose. The nation of Israel was set apart by God. God placed them at the crossroads of the world, and they were to impact their culture, they were to be a light in the darkness.
But instead of being different, they wanted to be just like the nations around them. They wanted a king instead of following their God. They wanted idols of wood and metal and stone instead of worshiping the true and living God. And this nation that was to be special and unique became anything but holy. And so God “sat them on the bench” - metaphorically speaking.
God brought in the church. And now we who have trusted Christ for salvation become new creations; and we are called to be holy, just like our God is holy. Does that mean that God is done with the Jews? Not at all! Some people think the church has replaced the Jews in God’s plan. Not at all. When we read the book of Romans, we see God is NOT done with the Jews, but will once again use them to be his chosen people. Romans 11 tells us that the church is “grafted in” to the nation of Israel.
As you look at your life, is “holy” a word you would use to describe yourself? Not good or nice or kind, but “holy.” Is there something different about you? Do you live a life “set apart” from sin, set apart to follow God? God sees us as a holy nation.
Think about your citizenship. Most of us here are citizens of the United States of America. We are proud to say the pledge of allegiance. But remember, this is not our country. We only have a temporary residence here. We are pilgrims, tourists, we're just passing through.
Hebrews 11:13 - All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
Philippians 3:20 - But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
So while we live on this earth and live in this nation, we remember that we live as those who follow the laws of our true country, we live according to the rules of heaven. We are set apart to God, for God’s purposes.
And that’s the fourth phrase we see:
D. We are a people belonging to God
We are his possession. He has full right to us. He created us. He redeemed us. We are His! We belong to Him.
Just like the potter determines what he wants to do with a lump of clay, so our God decides what to do with us. Because we belong to Him. Psalm 100:3 - Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
So Peter gives us four visual images to remind us who we are. We are those with a GREAT blessing, with a great future. We are uniquely connected to the God of all creation. But today, after looking at WHO we are, I want us to think briefly about
II. Why We Are Who We Are! God has called us, chosen us, redeemed us for a PURPOSE! What is that. Peter goes on to remind us of that key purpose as he continues on.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
God has a clear, distinct purpose for us. It is not to have a lot of fun. It is not to build a big family. It is not to see how much money or how many things we can acquire. We are chosen for a distinct purpose: to praise! To declare the praises of our God.
In the Westminster Catechism, a training tool used for generations, the question is asked, What is the chief end of man? And the answer is simple - the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Somehow, we seem to forget that purpose. We think that God exists to glorify us. What do we pray for? We pray for God to help us, bless us, meet our needs. How does Jesus teach us to pray? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
If we would really take seriously this calling to declare God’s praises, then we would think more about His will, and less about OUR will. When we make decisions, we wouldn’t think about what WE want, we would think about what God wants. When the offering plate is passed, we wouldn’t hold on to what we have and put a “token” gift in the offering, we would give generously and sacrificially, because we are giving to honor our God, and we understand that everything we have is really His - and He graciously lets us use it.
This word “declare” - we are to declare His praises - this is the idea of advertising.
In 1 Peter 3:15, we are told, But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
We are to always be prepared to advertise for Jesus. We are in “network marketing.” Did you ever know someone who sold Amway, or Shaklee, or any other type of network marketing. They use any occasion to promote their product: church suppers, family reunions, sports teams. They always want to sell you on their product, not just to make money, but because they really believe in it. In the same way, we as Christians are to be looking to talk about Jesus in any and every situation. We are always to be ready to advertise for Jesus.
Back to 1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 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.
We are called to advertise - to focus on Jesus, declaring His praises, and witnessing what he has done for us.
He gives us a Destiny - he has called us from darkness to light. He has rescued us from eternal damnation and separation from God in hell, and has given us an eternal inheritance in heaven.
He gives us Identity - once we were not a people, we were not his children - we were of our father the devil - but we become his child, his heir, through faith in Jesus Christ. So many times liberal preachers talk about treating others with respect because we are all children of God -- NO! We are NOT! Only those who have been reborn become the child of God. Faith in Jesus gives us a new identity, I’m a child of the most high God.
Jesus gives us Sympathy - where previously we were under condemnation, being given no mercy, suddenly through faith in Jesus we find mercy, we find grace to help in time of need.
Think about the common questions people have:
What will happen to me when I die? Jesus gives us a destiny.
Is there anything special about me? Jesus gives us identity.
Does anyone really care about me? Jesus gives us sympathy. He offers us mercy.
So, in being the witness we are called to be, we need to focus on Jesus, who He is and what he does. We declare His praises. But we also share a witness by our life. 1 Peter 2;11 - Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
This is the same idea of Matthew 5:16 - In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Too many Christians have good intentions to be a witness, but ruin that witness by their life, by the things they say and do. Sadly, many non-Christians look at the lives of Christians they know and do NOT see a light that shines, they do NOT see anything different about the way they live and the way most Christians they know live. We need to examine our lives and ask the question, How good of a job am I doing at declaring the praises of the God who has blessed me, chosen me, extended me grace and mercy. God is not going to speak audibly from heaven, He is not going to reveal His face in the sky, He has chosen His method of reaching the world as this: to use you and me to declare His praises. Are you up for the task? May God help us each to remember what God has done for us, and to seek to share that good news with others this week. Let’s pray.
