“Majestic” Series
Series Introduction, 1-1-2023
1st Peter 2:9
Introduction:
New Year’s Day. January 1st, 2023. It’s not often that the first day of the year lands on a Sunday, but I can’t think of a better day for it than a Sunday.
Not that it’s sacred to God or anything, or that the turning of the year on our Gregorian calendar has any particular Biblical meaning…it doesn’t. But it does have meaning to us…significance to us. To us, it speaks of fresh starts…of new opportunities.
To us, it’s a time to lay aside bad old habits, and start good new ones. It’s time to make promises to ourselves…resolutions, we call them. And we make those promises, I think, because we realize that there are things about ourselves that need to change. And the turning of the year seems a good time to start all that.
That’s true for our Christian walk, as well. Though the date on the calendar has no particular significance assigned to it by God, to us it has meaning because it seems the perfect time to realign our life’s priorities.
It seems an opportune time to make promises to ourselves to be more given to prayer and the study of God’s Word than we may have been. It’s a great time to promise God and ourselves that we’ll be more conscious of Kingdom citizenship and Kingdom values.
It seems a good time to determine that we’ll take local church responsibilities more seriously…that we’ll be more faithful in attendance, in financial support, and make ourselves more available for ministry. It seems a good time to begin to ask the Lord more prayerfully & thoughtfully, “Lord, what would you have me do?”
The things that we consider at this time of year, the promises we make, are usually about important things. And the weight of those things can bring a sense of solemnity, a sense of sacredness, to this day; to January 1st, 2023.
I know that I feel it. I stand in this pulpit today feeling the weight, the sobriety, of the hour. And I want to enter this year in the fear of the Lord, focused on His path, with my heart attentive to His voice.
2023 is our centennial year. Our congregation was founded in 1923, and 2023 will mark our 100th anniversary as a continuously operating, continuously worshiping, Oneness Pentecostal congregation. And for us, that’s a big deal.
The awareness of the need to honor our heritage and be faithful to it, while at the same time not being bound by it…well, that’s quite a tightrope to walk. So, I’m especially aware of the need to be sensitive to the Lord’s direction.
I feel that direction about this series we’re starting today…that…by God’s grace…I’ll be bringing to you each Sunday.
It’s a series that will be centered around the calling, the commitment, the consecration, and the completeness, of the life God has brought you into via the New Birth. The series will be called “Majestic”…based on 1st Peter 2:9…and by God’s grace, it’ll help you understand more fully what you are saved to be.
Why don’t you stand with me, and let’s read that text aloud together now.
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.
Let’s pray together now…not just that our hearts will be open to what we’re going to hear in the next few minutes, but that we’ll be attentive and receptive to the Word of the Lord in the rest of this series.
I. 1st Peter: Focus on Christian Conduct
The suggested reading for this service was 1st Peter 2, and I hope you were able to make the time to read over that chapter. But if you read through the entire letter, there’s something you may notice. Though, since I’m pointing it out, you’ll probably notice it for sure. 😊
And it’s that in 1st Peter, theology always flows into behavior…into Christian conduct. There’s not any real distinction made between orthodoxy and orthopraxy, between right belief and right practice. They go hand in hand, and you can’t have one without the other.
In fact, that characteristic isn’t isolated to 1st Peter; it’s a trait of all the letters written to the churches, whoever wrote them. It’s as true for Paul’s letters as it is for Peter’s. And it’s as true for James & Jude as it is for the letters written by John.
It’s a core aspect of how Christianity worked in the Early Church. If you had faith in Jesus, you obeyed Jesus. If you believed that God was holy, you lived as if God was holy…so on and so forth. Faith & belief weren’t separated from obedience and conduct. Faith flowed into obedience, and right belief flowed into right behavior.
That’s not a new idea around here; we’ve taught for years that orthodoxy and orthopraxy go hand in hand. When I say that true faith flows into faithfulness…into faithful obedience to God’s Word and Way…I’m not saying something that stuns you with its shocking clarity. 😊
Of course, that idea isn’t very popular in the unredeemed world around us. Well, it’s unpopular for Christians to hold that belief. The powers and influencers of the unredeemed world aren’t all that deeply concerned with you calling yourself a Christian…as long as you don’t actually take Christian life seriously.
There’s been a concerted push for some time to separate private faith from public conduct, as if for Christians there has to be a clear dividing line. “Keep your faith private. It can’t affect your public conduct. It can’t affect your politics. It can’t affect your career. It can’t affect how you actually live around others.”
Sadly, there are a lot of people who really think they can believe one way and live another…that they can give lip-service to the Faith, maintain some nominal level of private devotion, yet not govern their lives by the teachings of Christ & the Apostles.
So, it’s important to remind you of this at the outset of the year; that theology flows into Christian conduct, that orthodoxy flows into orthopraxy, that belief flows into behavior.
And if…in looking back of the course of the past year…you see the growing tendency to draw a dividing line between your private beliefs and your public life, between your confession and your career…or what have you…then you need to take this reminder to heart; belief flows into behavior. You’ll see that in 1st Peter…that theology flows into Christian conduct.
II. The Importance of Identity
But beliefs aren’t the sole reason for our Christian behavior…theology isn’t the only foundation of Christian conduct. Peter ties something else in as both an enablement and a motivation of righteous behavior. That something else is identity; it’s about who we really are. In this case, it’s about who & what God has made us to be.
Today’s text tells us about that identity and lists four particular aspects of it. Peter tells the ancient believers of the various Roman provinces of Asia Minor that they are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for his own possession.
Let’s look at each of them briefly.
“Chosen Race”- …a select family, a favored family…a family chosen out of all others for special privilege, being of prime excellence, precious, and beloved. By God’s work & grace, that’s who you are.
“Royal Priesthood”- …a sacred and consecrated order of priests who are royal in position, prerogative, and posture. By God’s work & grace, that’s who you are!
“Holy Nation”-…a sacred race, a people who are righteous, morally blameless & pure. By God’s work & grace, that’s who you are!
“Purchased Possession”-…saved, but in the sense of being kept because of value, something acquired and preserved because of its value. By God’s work & grace, that’s who you are!
While all these terms are particularly Jewish expressions, there wasn’t a person in the entire Middle East at the time…Jew or Gentile…that wouldn’t have drawn powerful meaning from these four aspects of Christian identity.
Each of them spoke of a selectness, a specialness, an otherness, a set apart-edness, a consecration, that every culture in the Middle East would have understood.
Any one of these states of being would have made someone very special indeed, but to be all four of them? Well, that would be just…just…majestic! Such a person would be among the highest and loftiest of the high and lofty! They would be in the 1% of the 1%! They would be the elite of the elite!
And in this case, one wouldn’t have this majestic identity by accident of birth into a certain earthly family, but by God’s choosing. God chose you and made you this! This was your identity because God made it so!
Peter’s audience would have realized something else, and they’d have realized it immediately after hearing this read to them; they’d have realized that with such a majestic identity came majestic responsibility. If you are select, special, other, set apart, and consecrated to be someone as incredible as this…well then…you had to live and act like someone as incredible as this.
This sort of identity would bring with it expectations of behavior…of behavior that reflected the holy nature of such a lofty identity. You would conduct yourself in an upright, Christian manner because of who you were, and your conduct would in turn testify to your identity.
Listen…you really need to get this! Your behavior and your identity are linked! Who and what God has made you, has declared you to be, brings with it expectations of behavior and responsibilities of conduct. God has declared it, you have accepted it, and now you’re expected to live it.
But…hang on…you need to know that Christian identity doesn’t work like the contemporary notion of identity; you know, that identity is a matter of self-declaration. And if you say it, if you declare it, it must be so. But such self-identification doesn’t actually change a thing. Hey…you can call yourself a duck until the cows come home, but that don’t make you a duck.
Calling yourself a Christian doesn’t make you a Christian. It’s what God calls you that makes you a Christian. Your Christian identity isn’t borne out of the expression of your own will or desire…it’s borne out the expression of God’s will and desire. Your identity isn’t borne out of what you declare yourself to be! No, you are who God declares you to be! And your conduct, your behavior, your manner of life, is expected to reflect the majestic nature of that identity.
III. All For A Purpose
And all of this…all of this…all of this business of theology flowing into Christian conduct…all of this business of our identity informing our behavior and our behavior testifying to our identity…all of this…is for one purpose and one purpose alone.
It’s all for a purpose that’s simple, yet so grand and glorious that it, too, is nothing less than majestic. And that purpose…that sole purpose…is this: that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
All of it…everything He has made you, everything He has declared you to be…the faith He stirred to life in you, the repentance He led you to, the baptism that cleansed you and gave you His name, the indwelling Spirit that empowered you…all of it is for the purpose of you proclaiming His glory.
All of it…your calling, your commitment, your consecration, and the completeness in Him that is your destiny…all of it is for the purpose of you proclaiming His glory.
God’s work in your life may affect your feelings. At times you may feel like shouting! At other times you may feel like weeping. Sometimes you may feel like raising your hands. Other times you may feel like falling on your face. God’s work in your life may affect your feelings.
But it’s not about your feelings! The purpose of it isn’t to affect your feelings. The purpose is for you to proclaim His glory!
Your work in God’s Kingdom may bring you a sense of fulfillment, a sense of accomplishment, and a sense of satisfaction. But it’s not about your fulfillment, your accomplishment, or your satisfaction. The purpose is for you to proclaim His glory!
Your upright Christian behavior may cause others to take notice of you. Some may even respect you because of it. A few may even praise your holiness. But that’s not what your upright Christian behavior is about. It’s not so others would notice you, but so that others would notice Him! It’s all so “that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
All of it…the calling He’s issued to salvation, the commitment you’ve made to follow, the consecration you’ve made to His service, and the completeness He’s bringing you to…all of it…is for you to bring Him glory. That’s the purpose of it all. That’s the simple, straightforward, yet grand, glorious, and majestic purpose of it all.
Closing:
And by God’s grace, that’s what I’m going to be talking to you about for the next few weeks; the majestic life that Jesus has chosen you for…a life that calls attention to His glory & majesty.
I close now with this reading from Isaiah 43:19-21…
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches,
for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.
This is the Word of the Lord! And let all the people say, “Amen!”
