Who Am I? Series

“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. 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” (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Every human being is driven by something. Some people are driven by guilt. Some people are driven by worry or fear. Some people are driven by insecurity. Some people are driven by anger. Some people are driven all through life by resentment. Some people are driven by their past and they spend their whole lives running from their past. Some people are driven by their possessions and the desire to acquire overwhelms them and they’re consumed by their consumables. Some people are driven by their parents. Even twenty, thirty, forty years later and maybe their parents are passed away they’re still trying to do what Mommy and Daddy would approve of.

If you would look up the word “drive” in a dictionary, you would find that it says “to guide, to control, or to direct.” When you drive a nail, you drive, control, or direct it into the wood. Many people have attempted to answer the question as to what drives people. Yet every stated purpose, save one, breaks down upon scrutiny. For example, Karl Marx stated that people exist for politics (or the state). Yet if one is driven for the state, what happens when the state exists only for its leaders (read the fatcats) and all the while it tramples on the backs of the common people?

Many today will tell you to live for popularity. Popularity comes in many different forms: athletes, rock stars, movie stars, etc. Many young men would like nothing more than to be famous athlete or entertainer. MTV recently ran a special on the devoted fans of Michael Jackson. One New York man portrayed on the show, probably in his mid 20's, had one consuming hobby. When he is not working his primary job, his life’s calling is to promote the pop musician Michael Jackson. His activities included Michael Jackson look-a-like contests, Michael Jackson memorabilia conventions, and Michael Jackson dance competitions. His life’s motto was summed up in the following quote: “My life’s goal is to personally tell every person in the world how great Michael Jackson really is.” Yet anyone with any sense realizes that popularity is short-lived. For example, few if any know the number one entertainers during the height of Roman power. Yet others strive to be the Bill Gates of the world and are driven for possessions. Many of us in this recent downturn of the market have seen that a life lived for possessions is short-sighted drive. Whatever you buy on earth is eventually either going to rot, rust, fall apart, wear out, or be stolen. Things don't last. If I buy a car, it gets a dent in it. If I buy clothes, they wear out. I buy food, it goes to my waist -- then I wear out. But the most popular life philosophy for us today is to live for our pleasure. Our culture is driven for to seek pleasure. Francis Bacon in the 1700's wrote that his purpose was to avoid pain and seek pleasure. America has given a thumbs-up to Bacon’s philosophy. But the question that Scripture presents for us is this: Do we live for His pleasure or our pleasure? Do we live for the pleasure in God or the pleasure in ourselves?

The OT background to today’s passage: “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel” (Exodus 19:5-6).

“…And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God’” (Hosea 2:23).

1. Who Am I?

“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. 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” (1 Peter 2:9-10)

1.1 I am a Chosen Race

I know that this is a corporate identity, he’s talking about the church—the true Israel. But the implication is individual, because this race is not racial. The chosen race is not black or white or red or yellow or brown. The chosen race is a new people from all the peoples — all the colors and cultures — who are now aliens and strangers among in the world. See verse 11, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers . . . “ What gives us our identity is not color or culture. But “chosenness.” Christians are not the white race; they are the chosen race. Christians are not the black race; they are the chosen race. We are the black chosen and the white chosen and the yellow chosen and the red chosen. Out from all the races we have been chosen—one at a time, not on the basis of belonging to any group. That’s why this amazing phrase is individually crucial for you. You are part of the “chosen race” because the race is made up of individuals who were chosen — from all the races. So your first identity is that you are chosen. God chose you. Not because of your race — or for any other qualification—God chose you. Who am I? I am chosen.