Glorify God

God's people who proclaim him

Good morning, elect exiles. If you're new with us, we're walking through the book of 1 Peter, and that is how I continue to greet you, church. I hope this continues to form and shape the way we think of ourselves. These are two very important declarations. This is how Peter opens up his letter. And while we're in a transition, section in 1 Peter, really three through our text is about being God's elect people. We're going to start looking more in the weeks to come what it means to be exiles. This week our text really has a hinge point because it's a grand declaration of the many ways in which God has elected us, called us, the many descriptions of who we are, But before he starts explaining the ways in which we'll live as exiles in this world in different ways. This morning we're looking at this final list of declarations about the church, who we are, what God has said about us, what God has called us to. I want you to see the simple message this morning is we are called to be God's people who proclaim him. We're called to be God's people who proclaim him. If you're taking notes, there's three points. The church's position, the church's position, the church's transition, and the church's commission. The position, it's very clear. Verse nine, you see these four very important declarations.

A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.

Now quite a few things we've seen so far. The word chosen is the same word actually for elect. We've seen this over and over again. Jesus is the chosen one. We are chosen in him. We're the elect race. We're a different kind of people. Now, the royal priesthood, that was what we looked at significantly last week as we consider Jesus the living stone upon whom we're all built up as a temple. A holy nation. We've seen the call to be holy. Therefore, be holy as God is holy and as he's commanded us to be holy. And then a people for his own possession. We've been purchased by the very blood of Christ. So we've seen these concepts so far, but he's pulling them together with, well, actually a lot of Old Testament language, a lot of Old Testament declarations for these Gentiles who are now the church, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. These are borrowed from one of the most significant passages, many of them, that Josh read earlier, Exodus 19. As we consider these words, I want you to think about them first as a mirror. If you're a believer, if you're a member of the church, these are truths that are supposed to be telling us who we are. They're informing us about who we are because of what God has done and what God has said and what God has declared about us. It's important that as you look into this mirror, you don't quickly forget who you are. It's very important as we consume and try to digest these theologically packed declarations, we don't easily forget, we don't walk out those doors and just go on our way. To give an analogy, it would be like being married, but when you leave the house, you forget. and you start flirting with other people. If you forget who you are in a covenant relationship, it should affect your behavior. And if we forget who we are in a covenant relationship, we're going to be adulterous. We're gonna be unfaithful. That should sound crazy and terrifying. These are covenantal declarations. from the God who has committed himself and promised himself to us so that we would then be his people and not leave forgetting who we are, but to know how to live according to these wonderful declarations. As we consider these, I want to make sure we have kind of a theological framework because These declarations were given to Israel in Exodus 19 before the Ten Commandments. These were important grace-given declarations for Israel to help them understand what these commandments were to be and how to live in the land God was giving them. The church doesn't replace Israel. That's not what's happening here. What's happened is where Israel failed in every way of the covenant identity God had given to them, Jesus came and fulfilled every way in which God had given them that commitment. He is the true king of kings. He is the great high priest. He is the true and final absolute prophet. All those ways in which Israel was supposed to function for this world as God's people, they failed and failed and failed and failed. Jesus is the true new Adam, and Jesus is the great high priest, and so we as a people are the outflow of His fulfillment of all God has said. Let's first look at a chosen race. Words have a range of meaning. Oftentimes we adopt unhelpful meanings. Race, that could refer to how fast you are in a foot race. Race here is about people, and today too often race is referred to as applying to someone's skin color, and that's just not helpful. That's borrowing from some Darwinian idea, that as if there's different humanities. Very clear, every human being is made in God's image with the same dignity, honor, value, and worth. That's this level one theology. That's the groundwork theology when we think about humans and the human race. The word race here is really the word genesis. It's the same word we get genealogy from. It's the people group, your lineage, who you're born into, the humanity, the family. For Israel, they were a people group. They were all actually born of Abraham. Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, Jacob had his name changed, and he had 12 tribes. To be the people of Abraham, to be the Israelites there, it is meant to be an actual born-in group. And a sign for that born-in group is on the eighth day, every male will be circumcised to identify who belonged to that group. that God had just proven his commitment to these people. He took them in as a small number, around 70, into Egypt to protect them from a famine. He also took them into Egypt so Egypt would serve as an incubator, so they would grow into a great people, a numerous people. And then when God pulls them out, he's gonna make them a nation there on Exodus 19, on Mount Sinai. Here, the idea that they're a People born of Abraham a people born of Judah people of Israel born Well that that can't be what Peter is declaring here with chosen race Because if we look back at chapter 1 verse 1 it's Well elect exiles of the dispersion in all kinds of different cities, and these are all kinds of different kind of people It's no longer just Israelites, it's Israelites and Gentiles. It's not just one birth family, it's all kinds of people. Race cannot mean that because even in this room, we have different kinds of people groups. Biblically, there are two races. In the Old Testament, it was Israel versus the nations. It was God's people who were supposed to be a light to those nations. Those nations are raging against God and his elect. In the New Testament, it's those who are in Adam and those who are in Christ. Those who are still in Adam, in death and destruction and sin, and those who have believed in Jesus and are now united with him as a new humanity. The Adam, the head of a sinful humanity destined for death, Or Christ, the head of a new humanity, redeemed. He is the chosen one so that we have become the chosen race. There's a restoring of our purpose as image bearers. There's a restoring of who we are, not because of who we're born into, but rather that we've been born again in Christ. As God's beloved people, we're not born of flesh and blood, as John tells us in his prologue. We're born again by the very will of God. You've been beloved and chosen to be a new kind of people, restored to that original design as image bearers. Well, secondly, we see this declaration of a royal priesthood. Now, this one's kind of fun, because, you know, royal, all the different trappings of a crown, maybe something really, a cool hat, like a beretta, or the Roman collar. Why anyone wants something like that on their neck, I don't know. We have these pictures of what royalty is, and we usually think of a lot of privilege that comes with power. Or today, most royalty is just some kind of figurehead that does nothing. Or a priest, you know, someone who's representing others and going before God. I don't know why we think about royalty today is it's a privilege that's self-serving too often. It's a privilege of power that's self-serving, whereas what's happening here is God has given us a high calling, renewed the royalty that Adam had in the garden, exercising God's good dominion. Adam was supposed to do this in the garden. That was his number one job, to rule well according to God's design, to rule God's creation as a steward, as a representative. Praise God, Jesus came to be the true king, who showed us the way of good rule, gracious rule, a rule that pours himself out for his people. He came to be a great high priest, the one who provided the once for all sacrifice and the true holy of holies that takes away sin forever for those who believe. And to think about this royal priesthood, the key words that we should have just hanging underneath there is it's a stewardship, not a selfishness. To be in God's royalty is a stewardship to exercise his reign. To be a priest means we're seeking to serve. A little bit later, we'll look at the main purpose of all this is to proclaim his excellencies. And let's just, if your stewardship, if your rule, wherever you have an influence, wherever you have some dominion, if it's not used to proclaim his excellencies, you might be in danger of being a diva rather than a true royal ambassador. Christ. What a high calling that we meditate upon last week so significantly. A new kind of people, of priests, to give to God acceptable sacrifices. A holy priesthood to be built up to represent him to the nations. We're meant to be a witness of God's good rule to one another, to the world. We're meant to be a good witness of his sacrificial love to one another and to the world. Well, the third one, a holy nation. So we've got an elect, a chosen people. We've got a royal priesthood that's very functional to exercise reign and to make right sacrifices. And now a holy nation. Well, this is what's unique about Israel there on Mount Sinai is the people become a nation. They become a political state. Once God takes them through the wilderness, which is gonna take a lot longer than it needed to be because they were unfaithful, but once God takes them through the wilderness, they go into Canaan, they then set up a kingdom. And they were supposed to be a particular people in a particular place to exercise like a political state. Church, The will of God is not for us to be a political state like Israel. I say that with absolute confidence because we could just look down the page in chapter two and see the church and the human institutions of the state are next to each other, and we're told how to relate to the state. So nation here changes the meaning just like race did, or there's an expanded different kind of understanding of it. We're not looking for some kind of Christian nation, and if we wanted to study history, that never works out so well. We're not to be a political state. Rather, we're supposed to be embassies of the kingdom of heaven spread throughout the world, united together. You see, the church and the state, they have two different kinds of authorities. But we need to understand what those two different authorities are, and Scripture is very clear and helpful about the boundaries and barriers. It has to be very clear here that we don't pretend there's some wall that says the church shouldn't be a significant influence in our nation. But we also need to be clear the most significant influence the church will have in our nation is when the church commits to being the church. The chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation. The problem with every institution is it's full of sinners and we typically don't want to do our responsibility and want to take somebody else's responsibility on. We've got to stay in our lane. We have to know that we're called to be a holy people. set apart by God, for God, to obey him and present to the world what his light is, what his way is. We're called to be a holy nation because you now belong to a heavenly kingdom. If you're a believer, you have dual citizenship. Whatever nation you belong to here on this earth, you're in the kingdom of heaven. With every citizenship, you have certain rights, privileges, and responsibilities. In our nation, the United States of America, there's a clear law. There's clear laws you must obey. There's also a clear duty, there's a responsibility to be a good citizen that helps build up a society. And I want to say this, I'm so thankful we have a Bill of Rights. that protects so much of what we want to do and need to do as a church. But as we think about that dual citizenship, as we think about how these two things come together, let's just think about the Bill of Rights and the freedom of speech. As an American citizen, you can say whatever you want. As a Christian, you can't. As a Christian, God says there are things you cannot say. Your citizenship in heaven limits your free speech. You cannot blaspheme. You cannot slander. You cannot lie. It's a way of demonstrating the ways in which we're going to seek to live as good citizens here, but to realize the citizenship in heaven is first and has a priority. It makes it difficult and sometimes confusing, but we need to make sure that God, as his citizens, he gives us the law of Christ. Speak truth and love. Forgive one another as you've been forgiven. As citizens of heaven, as a holy nation of God, you have rights and privileges. You get to call God Father? That's what we take for granted? You get to proclaim the gospel and see God at work. What is interesting I wanna present here is being a good citizen of heaven, your holy nation citizenship, that is what's going to make you a better citizen here on this earth. The fourth declaration of who we are is a people for his own possession. Now there is no direct Old Testament reference like the other three, but even there in Exodus 19, where his treasured possession, where his beloved and his desired possession, there's a number of passages that this seems to be paraphrasing. In other words, it's God's love that has directed his attention and his affection upon a very particular people who are undeserving. God who has claimed a people for his own possession to belong to him. To be owned by him. Because he purchased us with his own blood. A people who are brought to God. This is why when we hear God loves us as his own possession, there's a comfort to it. And we also see this is why God would say he's jealous for his own people. because he's loved us, so that we would know how to love him. And he's jealous for his people. The picture that's also presented in scripture that's similar to this is Christ, the bridegroom, has claimed his bride for himself to love her and care for her and cherish her. People, for his own possession, there's an intimacy. There's a personal way in which God comes to us to bring us back to himself in love. Now, if you're not a Christian, I can hear the idea, well, I don't wanna be, I don't belong to God. Possession, does that just make me a thing? It's much more personal and loving. He's coming to draw back a people, but if you don't belong to Christ who gives life, you belong to sin and death. You are not your own. You're not just some free agent roaming around. You belong to someone. We are all designed to serve a master, and we all serve a master. The gracious thing God does is calls us out of our darkness, out of our slavery to sin, out of death and destruction, and he calls us to his light and his love. That's the invitation for you today. As we think about who we are, again, just scratching the surface of what these incredible declarations mean in some of the Old Testament background, they all have to complement one another. In order for us to have a true understanding of who we are, we need these, and we need the picture of the body. We have the bride and bridegroom language. There's so many ways in which God speaks of his people. We're elected out exiles. We're called to be and meant to be little outposts of God's kingdom, of God's light, given direct declarations of who we are to believe and, well, direct commands to obey. I believe it's important to remember all of these because some of them will resonate with some folks and others resonate with other folks, and that's why we're a church of many, to help each other kind of remember each one of these. I want to give us a warning as we need to understand how all of these are necessary to understand who we are, because churches can too easily become too insular or too missions-minded. Churches can too easily become too insular or too missions-minded. Too insular is just thinking about us and what we need and really a fear of others, a fear of other churches, a fear of other kind of ministries or organizations. There's a threat level. There's a way in which we just want to rally the wagons and be insular, so focused on just who we are. That makes us unfaithful. Well, the two missions-minded, that probably has everyone on the edge of their seats. How could you be two missions-minded? Let me tell you, some, not all, some missions movements have caused some of the greatest dangers to the kingdom. The idea that we need to reduce the gospel down to the least common denominator to the point where it doesn't even exist anymore. The idea that we need to make sure people follow along and they belong to the people of God without ever knowing what the church believes. There's a desire to say we're going to do a scriptural engagement without faithful teaching. Here's a test I have for missionaries, just in case you want to participate. I always ask them two things. What is the gospel? That needs to be clear and crisp. I also want to know, what is the church? Because if you're not proclaiming the gospel to build a church, I don't know what the goal is. Those two things really need to be clear. A church becomes so missions-minded that we're just Sending out and giving out to the point where there's no one else to send. Or to the point where there's not the building up of the body with the hope that we would send. You see, those two things have to go together. To desire to be healthy and growing so that we send out, and even more so, healthy and growing so that if somebody comes to Christ, the church doesn't look just like the world. It actually looks like a church. It looks like light. That's why all these declarations and many others are important. Now, there's a wonderful grand purpose here in verse nine. You are. God has declared you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, and that has with it an understanding of job description, but he gives his own. Look at this purpose statement.

That you may proclaim the excellencies of him. who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

To proclaim him, who called you to be this people, who's made himself known as the holy God. We get to proclaim and be a witness to him. Specifically, the excellencies of him. we get to know the great, mighty, powerful Creator, Savior, God. We get to know Him who is holy, holy, holy, and to make Him known as a God who is holy, holy, holy, and great in mercy. What a high, wonderful calling. What a significant purpose as to why we need to know who we are so that we can do this job. We must first know him as the one God who is excellent so that we may make him known. Now notice how we know him who's excellent. He called you. He called us. It's not just a personal call, it's an effectual call. God speaks and life exists. God speaks and sin is forgiven. Here, it's God speaks and you get drawn out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Notice, without God speaking, there's no light. Notice, we are without Christ, without God, in darkness. Well, whose darkness? I think it's probably our own. our own selfish way of living, our own lies, our own sin. God calls us out of the destruction we create and into his marvelous light. We're supposed to be people caught out of darkness, who no longer practice darkness. What's kind of amazing is until God shows you light, you don't ever see how dark it is. It isn't until God calls us with his light Did we ever actually see how dark it is? Now, that's who we are and that's what we're to do. That's the new position we have as a people called into that marvelous light, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession to proclaim him. Verse 10 introduces the transition that's taken place. Notice the parallel declarations. and the timestamp on them. Once, passphrased, you were not a people, but now, present, you are God's people.