In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." The church here refers to the universal church, which comprises all the redeemed believers who are born again by the Spirit, without limit of time or space.
* The universal church includes the believers from the distant past, like the apostles, and those who are coming in future generations.
* The universal church includes all believers from every nation, culture, language, or experience.
* The universal church is a spiritual entity whose membership may number in the hundreds of millions and has no physical manifestation of its own.
When the New Testament refers to the universal church, the emphasis is often on the relationship believers have to Christ, who is the head of the church (see Col:18).
The other aspect of the church is found in Matthew 18:17, which says, "If he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church." The church here is limited in time and space and is local, because Jesus says in this verse that you can tell your situation to the church.
The local church is the visible and practical aspect of the universal church. The universal church is expressed and realized in the local churches. Without the local churches there would be no practicality and actuality of the universal church.
Local churches are not only related spiritually to Christ but also have a physical and geographical identity. The seven churches John wrote to in Revelation 2 and 3 were local churches. He wrote to the churches at Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, and so on.
These churches, though all related to each other in a common faith, were each distinct entities and were addressed as such. In the same way, churches today, comprised of true believers, are local churches. If one wants to know what the church of Jesus Christ is like they can visit a local body of believers like Pilgrim’s Way or New Vision.
A New Testament church is the meeting together for worship, prayer, fellowship, evangelism and mutual edification, of all the people of God in a given locality, on the ground that they are Christians in the same locality. A local church is the expression of the Body of Christ in that locality.
Whenever we attend a local church made up of individuals who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we are seeing the Body of Christ. There is no other place to go to see the church as it is presented in the New Testament. The only physical representation of the universal church is the local church.
The word “church” is only used four times in the Bible in a general, universal sense. Almost every time you see the word "church" in the Bible it's used to refer to a specific group of believers, a local manifestation, like we are here today.
Once you become a believer you are automatically a part of the universal church of God -- automatically, the moment you gave your life to Christ. But you don't become a part of a local church until you make that choice. It's like when you were born physically, you were automatically entered into the human race. You didn't have a choice. You became a part of the human race the moment you were born. But you didn't become a part of any local family until somebody chose to take you home from the hospital.
A woman once said to a pastor, "I don't need to be a part of any local church. I'm a part of the invisible church." He said, “That's great but when you get sick, in the hospital, who visits you? The invisible pastor?”
Today in our media-driven, technology-based society, it is easy for someone who professes to be a Christian to skip out of the local church and pad their conscience by plugging into “cable-TV church” or the “Sitting at home in your armchair listening to Heaven 600 or WRBS church.”
But the Bible is letting us know that you and I need somebody in the flesh. There are over thirty commands in the Bible you cannot obey, you cannot follow, unless you're part of a local church and say, "That's going to be my church family."
What's the difference between being a member of the universal church and being a member of a local church? The difference is the word "commitment". I become a member of the universal church by committing my life to Christ. I become a member of a local church by committing myself to other Christians. I say, "That's going to be my church home where I'm going to give and be given to, where I'm going to serve and be served, where I'll love and be loved."
That’s the difference between the universal church and the local church. But today we have a problem. You have many that have signed their name to the rolls of the local church but have yet to become a member of the universal church.
When you ask them are they a member of any church, they will tell you that they are a member of New Psalmist or Mount Pleasant or Grace Church or New Antioch or Mount Moriah or Pilgrim’s Way or New Vision. You then ask them when was the last time they attended church they will say something like, “I haven’t been in awhile.”
Someone called our church last week needing some assistance with an eviction notice and I asked this person about their church home and was given the name of a large church in Catonsville. I asked, “When was the last time you were there.” and was told, “January.” That was seven months ago!
We all have family and friends who are members of the local church and may not be a member of the universal church. So I feel the need to teach a little on what it means to be a member of the universal church.
1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…”
The word “you” in verse nine is emphatic in the Greek text and literally means, ‘but as for you.” Peter is contrasting this group to the disobedient of verse 8. The disobedient of verse 8 rejected the Savior who Peter describes as “precious.” The disobedient of verse 8 stumbled over the Rock as they disobeyed the Word of God. But Peter says, “But you…”
Peter is describing “believers,” “followers of Jesus Christ.”
He is not describing “church attenders” or “church members.”
He is not describing "CEO's," i.e., people who attend Christmas & Easter Only.
He is describing those who have surrendered their lives to the Lordship of Christ.
He is describing those who have been bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus that was shed when He died on the cross.
“But you are a chosen generation…”
Chosen –The word “chosen” is not a verb in the Greek text but a noun. Using the word “chosen” as a verb would be to say, “Taylor was chosen as the new American Idol” or “Jennifer Berry was chosen as this year’s Miss America.” As a noun, chosen literally means, “a chosen-out one,” thus “elect.” If you are a member of the universal church you are a “chosen-out one.”
Generation –This is not the word “generation” that refers to a group of people living within the period of a lifetime. This word means “a race, a body of people with a common life and path.”
Together, a “chosen generation” refers to those who have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and are chosen out of one group and placed into another.
These are those who because they are followers of Jesus Christ were chosen out from the world and placed in a body, biblically referred to as the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12 says, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.”
We who have trusted Jesus Christ are members of one another—we belong to one another. We are a “chosen generation” “a race, a body of people with a common life and path.”
Peter says in our text that God, “called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Verse 10 says you and I “once were not a people but are now the people of God.” We had, “had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
We are a “chosen generation.” He chose us out from among others in this world and placed us in the body of Christ and though we are still in the world, we are not of the world. Though we live in Baltimore we are but pilgrims just passing through. While the census lists us as citizens of the USA, our real citizenship is in heaven.
This “chosen generation” is a group of people with a common life and path.
* We have a common mission. We have a prime directive according to Matthew 28:19-20 and that is to make disciples of Jesus.
* We are members of the same body, the same family. We are to love one another, care for one another, serve one another, encourage one another, provoke and stimulate one another to love and good deeds. When one of us suffers, we all suffer; when one is blessed we all rejoice. (1 Cor. 12:26);
We are a “chosen generation!”
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
Royal Priesthood– The word “royal” is the translation of the Greek word for “king.” Peter is letting us know that believers in the church age are “king-priests.” We are associated with King Jesus who is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, a king-priest.
In the Old Testament when God spoke to Moses at Mt. Sinai, He told him in Exodus 19:12, “I’ll speak to you but the rest of the people better not even touch this mountain or they will die.”
When the tabernacle was built and God manifested His presence between the cherubim, the High Priest alone could go before God in the temple and had to have a blood sacrifice. A common person like you or me could not approach God.
But now, because of the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross, we can meet directly with God in prayer. In fact, we are encouraged to do so. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come with confidence and assurance to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We do not need a human priest—because we belong to King Jesus who is our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14), we are king-priests!
Not only can we pray, we can go into the very presence of God and worship Him. The way into the presence of God has been paved by the blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross and God placed His “stamp of approval” on this sacrifice by raising Jesus from the dead! We are a “Royal Priesthood!”
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation…
Holy – Means “set apart for the service of Deity.” Nation – Is the translation of a Greek word meaning, “a multitude of people of the same nature.”
Putting these together we learn that holy nation refers to the fact that we who have trusted in Jesus Christ have been set apart to serve God as part of a multitude of people who have a common nature.
Before Christ saved you, you had a nature that was “against God.” You lived for yourself—the world revolved around you—you were the “master of the universe” in your own eyes.
Ephesians 2 describes your B.C. (Before Christ) days saying, “you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of (the devil) the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”
But when Christ saved you—He gave you a new nature. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
God not only gave you a new nature, He gave you a new desire. In John 5:30, Jesus “I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me.” In Philippians 3:10, the Apostle Paul, who once hunted down and killed Christians had a new desire to “know Jesus and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings…”
God not only gives us a new nature and a new desire; He gives us a new purpose—this is what “holy” means—it means “set apart.”
It is like those dishes you have in your china cabinet—the ones you have “set apart” to be used only on special occasions. You don’t slap down some hotdogs and beans or pizza on fine china.
If you are a Christian, God has set you apart as His own personal possession. You no longer live for yourself—you live for Him.
2 Cor 5:15 says, Jesus “died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again…”
You no longer prostitute your body by having sex outside of marriage—you belong to God.
You no longer poison what belongs to God with bitterness, strife, foul language, lies, stealing and deception—you have been set apart for God!
You no longer live for yourself; you now live “for Him who died for them and rose again…”
The Word of God says, “You are a “Holy Nation!”
Peter continues: But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people…
The KJV uses the word “peculiar” but that word has changed in its meaning since 1611 and now that word denotes something that is “odd, strange.”
But here is used the Greek word, peripoiesis, per-ee-poy'-ay-sis and it literally means, “to make around.”
To means to make something and then to surround it with a circle, thus indicating ownership. It is like purchasing some land, building a house and then erecting a fence around your property and posting a sign that says, “Private Property.”
Do you know what God is saying through Peter to Christians: “You’re Mine!!!” Listen to how the Bible confirms this:
* Acts 20:28--"The church . . . [was] purchased with [Christ's] own blood. "
* 1 Corinthians 6:20--"You have been bought with a price.” That price was the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
* Titus 2:14--Christ "gave Himself for us, that He might purchase us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession.”
These and other verses let us know that it was by sovereign election that God chose us and by the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ paid the price to buy us out of the slave market of sin. Therefore, we belong to Him; we are God's personal possession.
Listen to the application: You are not your own. God bought you; you belong to Him. So Peter writes: But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people…If you are a Christian, you are God’s prized possession because you were purchased with the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Let’s look at the next part of this verse:
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…
Show forth/proclaim – Refers to a “spoken message.” It means “to advertise” or “to publish.” It refers to something that was to be told that would otherwise be unknown.
Praises/excellencies – Not the word that indicates praise, but one that means, “excellencies, gracious dealings, heroic deeds, glorious attributes.”
Peter is reminding his readers of their responsibility as Christians to advertise or publish the heroic deeds and glorious attributes of God.
God does not save men and women by writing his message in letters of light on the midnight sky. Rarely did God save men in the Bible by speaking to them audibly. He has committed to Christians the message of reconciliation, and if you refuse to be God’s ambassadors His Gospel shall remain unknown.
Roman 10:14 says, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without someone to proclaim [the Good News]?”
Christians are charged with letting people know the wonderful things God has done so they can be saved. If we do not tell people, they will not know.
Someone might say, “We are telling but still they do not get saved.” My answer is that it is all in the presentation. This truth is illustrated in a story told of a great English actor who was approached by a well-known preacher.
The preacher says to him, “I wish you would explain to me something.” “Well, what is it?” the actor says, “I don’t know that I can explain anything to a preacher.””
“What is the reason for the difference between your theatrical company and my church, says the preacher to the actor. “You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. We are proclaiming the essential and unchangeable truth, and are not getting any crowd at all.”
And the famous English actor’s answer was this: “This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. Our group presents my fiction as though it were truth; your church presents your truth as though it were fiction.”
How many of us are as guilty as that preacher’s church? Are we proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ and His saving grace as though it were not true? Are we proclaiming the truth as if we were not sure of it? No conviction; no boldness; afraid to offend; no confidence; no commitment.
This sounds like Peter before the resurrection of Jesus Christ—“I don’t know the man!” But you and I now have resurrection power! We have the indwelling and the filling of the Holy Spirit!
This is why Paul would say in Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."”
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…
The word “into” refers not merely to locality but to a result. It is not the word “into” that would be used in the sentence, “She got into the carriage.” It is the “into” that is used in the sentence, “She turned the pumpkin into a carriage.”
When Peter speaks of being “called out of darkness into His marvelous light” he is saying that in Christ Jesus, we are turned into “creatures of light.”
We weren’t in darkness as much as we were in darkness. Peter is saying not that we are “in the light;” he is saying that we are now light.
Jesus says it this way in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Paul says it like this in Ephesians 5:8, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light…”
This is the universal church; a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
The universal church comprises all the redeemed believers who are born again by the Spirit, without limit of time or space. It includes hundreds of millions of believers from every nation, culture, language, or experience.
The universal church is a spiritual entity and has no physical manifestation of its own but is manifested in a local setting where believers gather together to worship God and get out His message of salvation to a lost and dying world.
Just before Jesus left this earth to return to His Father, He left the following prime directive:
Mat 28:19-20 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.”
Though this commission was given universally, it is discharged locally as we put our hearts and hands together to get the job done.
It doesn’t matter whether you are at Pilgrims Way, New Vision or some other church; if you are not “making disciples” you are in violation of the prime directive.
Some time ago an 18-year-old girl from the state of Washington attended a worship service. For the first time in her life she heard the Gospel message. The following Tuesday the members of the church received a letter from her. It read:
Dear Church members:
Last Sunday I attended your church, and I heard the preacher. In the sermon the preacher said that all men have sinned and rebelled against God. Because of their rebellion and disobedience they all face eternal damnation and separation from God. But then he also said God loved men and sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to redeem men from their sins and that all those who believe in him would go to heaven and live with God eternally.
My parents recently died in rapid succession. I know they did not believe in Jesus Christ, whom you call the Savior of the world. If what you believe is true, they are damned.
You compel me to believe that either the message is true or that you yourself don’t believe this message, or that you don’t care. You see, we live only three blocks from your church, and no one ever told us.
Could it be for Pilgrim’s Way, like the English actor said, “Your church presents truth as though it were fiction.”
* You don’t really believe that the wages of sin is death. You don’t really believe that if someone dies in their sins they will be separated from God for all eternity—or else you would be warning as many people as you can about it like they were in danger of dying in a house fire.
* You don’t really believe that the free gift of God is eternal life—or else you would be telling everyone you can about this free gift of God’s grace.
* You really don’t believe that the effectual, fervent prayers of the righteous avail much because if you did more of you would be out at prayer meetings crying out to the Lord for your unsaved loved ones.
The Bible says of the church, the body of Christ, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…”
You may have your name on the church roll but the real issue is: Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? Revelations 20:15 says, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
You may have been baptized but the real issue is: Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?
Your grandmamma may be a member of this church but the real issue is whether your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?
You may give tithes and offerings to this church, serve on the usher board, sing in the choir but the real issue is: Are you a member of the body of Christ? Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?
Your name must be written in the Lamb’s book because it was the Lamb, Jesus Christ who was slain on Calvary’s Cross for your sins.
