| A Chosen People |
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I. The Way We Think When you think of salvation— when you think about being in a right relationship with God, when you think about death defeated and eternity secured, don’t you think mostly about something that happens between you and God? It is as an individual, is it not, that you are born again from above? It is as an individual that you become a son or a daughter of God. It is individually that you trust in Christ and receive His Spirit and will be raised by Him from the dead. May I say: there is something fundamentally right about this way of thinking. You cannot be baptized for me; nor I for you. You cannot repent for my sins. I cannot repent for yours. You cannot stand before the judgment seat of God in my place; Nor will I for you. There is something fundamentally personal and undeniably individual about my relationship and your relationship with the living God. As some clever wag once said, God has no grandchildren. Your faith, and therefore your salvation, cannot be inherited from someone else. But today I want to raise a question. Is that true? Is that the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or just a part of the truth? Because I have noticed something in my reading of Scripture over the years. When the Bible speaks of the relationship between God and Man it speaks as often about the salvation and the judgment of a people as it does a person. In fact, I dare say, the emphasis of the Bible is more upon the group, the community, the people or the family than it is upon the individual. II. In the Beginning Consider, for example, the very beginning of Sacred Scripture. Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God said, on the 6th and final day of creation, Let us make man in our image. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him; Male and female He created them. Then we read in the next chapter the story of that creative act. We read how God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the very breath of His life, and man became a living being. But then we hear these words from the lips of God, if you will. It is not good. This turns out to be the first, is not good, declared in the entire creation account. In fact, repeatedly, God has looked at what he made and declared it good. It is good. It is good. It is very good is the repeated refrain of chapter 1.. But this—this is not good. What’s not good? It is not good for man to be alone. Why would that be? Why is it not good for man to be alone? Because alone—as a single, solitary individual—man cannot and does not reflect the image and the likeness of God. Let us make man in our image. Let us. Let us. You and me, God says to Himself. God is not a solitary individual. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the Oneness of God’s mysterious being, there is a plurality of persons. There is a relationship between those persons. There is communion and conversation and partnership— and there has been from all eternity. So if God is to make humankind in his image He must make them as male & female. He must create them in relationship. For it is in relationship—and only in relationship—that we can be fully human And adequately reflect the glory of God. Because it is in relationship, and only in relationship, that we love. To love and be loved is really the heart of what it means to be human. That’s how the Bible begins. Now look at how it ends. What do we find in there—in the book of Revelation? We find humanity in community. We find people from every tongue and tribe and nation gathered at the foot of the glassy sea, casting their crowns at the feet of Jesus. We find the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven to a new earth. I saw the Holy City, John writes, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. As we read on in Revelation chapter 21, we discover that this Holy City, this new Jerusalem, is none other than the Bride of Christ— the people of God from every tongue and tribe and nation through the history of the world. John hears a voice from the throne of God, declaring Now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them & be their God. In the beginning God created humankind for community— Community with Himself and with each other. In at the end of history this purpose of God will be fulfilled— God will dwell in the midst of His people—as a people—for ever & ever. Amen. So it should come as no great surprise that when God begins the history of salvation, when He calls a man named Abram into a special relationship with Himself, he says these words: I will make you into a great nation… I will make your name great and you will be a blessing… And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Here, if anywhere in Scripture, God is speaking directly to an individual. To Abraham, the friend of God. But Abraham is not, and was never meant to be, an isolated individual. From the beginning there was Sarah; and without Sarah there would have been no fulfillment of the promises of God. Just look at those promises. I will make you into a great nation; I will bless all the people on planet earth. When God called Abraham and Sarah, He had in mind the scene at the end of the book of Revelation. He had in mind a people—a holy nation coming down from heaven to earth— Comprised of people from every tongue and tribe and nation— A people who would finally fulfill His purpose for creation. He had in mind the Church. But before the church, God had in mind the nation of Israel—which bring us quite naturally to Moses and to the people gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 19. Let me set the scene. God had appeared to Moses in the midst of a burning bush. He said to Moses, I have heard the cry of my people; and I am sending you to set them free. Moses had stood before Pharoah, and in the name of God declared, Let my people go. Pharoah said, No. Who is this god that I should obey him. So the King and Creator of the Universe sent one plague after another on the people of Egypt, until they cried for mercy, and let God’s people go. With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm God had delivered his people from 400 years of slavery in Egypt & brought them to himself at the foot of the mountain. Ex. 19: 3: Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. Now, if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priest and a holy nation.” Without a doubt, God had a personal relationship with Moses the man. He spoke to him, the Bible say, face to face, like a man speaks to a friend. But God spoke to Moses so that He might speak to His people. God called Moses so that He might rescue his people. God revealed Himself to Moses so that He might reveal himself to his people. It is His people that God is most concerned about. It is His people that God has reached out to save. It is His people with whom God is entering into covenant relationship. It is His people that will be his treasured possession on planet earth. The very words God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai are the words Peter uses in I Peter chapter 2 to describe the Church. The churches in his day; and by implication, the churches in our day. What does Peter say about the church? III. A Kingdom of Priest and a Holy Nation He says that we are “a chosen people,” “a kingdom of priests” and “a holy nation.” Now obviously, what Peter is doing is taking the promises that were given to the nation of Israel at the foot of mount Sinai—the promises that go back to the covenant God entered into with Abraham & Sarah—and he is saying, these promises are for you. “Once you were not a people, but now—you are the very people of God.” Once you were living in darkness. You were excluded from the life of God and promises of God. You were the descendants of idolatrous pagans. But now “you have been called out of darkness into God’s wonderful light.” You have been born again from above. Now, you are as much the people of God as the nation of Israel ever was. You—the church of Jesus Christ—you are, in this day, the people God has chosen as his own treasured possession. Your are now the people in whom God dwells—and through whom God will fulfill his purposes on planet earth. You are the children of Abraham by faith and you are citizens of the very kingdom of God. That means you are now a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Is that how you think about yourselves—ever? A kingdom of priests and a holy nation. I don’t think Peter could say those words, “holy nation” without thinking of God at Mount Sinai. God coming down in a fiery cloud—descending in the midst of fire and lightning, thunder and smoke—then speaking the Ten Commandments. No other gods. No murder. No adultery. No lying or stealing or even desiring what belongs to another. I don’t think Peter could say those words, “holy nation” without thinking of the fiery cloud of God’s glory filling the temple. I don’t think he could say, “holy nation,” without remember the day of Pentecost, The day the Holy Spirit came down upon them with tongues of fire. To be a holy nation is to be filled with the fire of God’s Holy presence. It is to the people that God has set apart for himself, People in whom He dwells, the people who are holy because he is holy. To be a kingdom of priests—what does that mean? You know what a priest is. A priest is someone who close to God. Someone invited into the inner precincts of God’s most holy place. A priest in the person who handles the sacred fire, who offers the sacred sacrifices, who speaks the sacred words. To be a priest is to stand between a people and their God. It is to represent God to the people, and the people to God. I am a priest. Most of you think of me as a priest. I mean, you would probably never use that word. It’s too catholic. But you think of me as a priest nonetheless. Speaking the words of God to you; then speaking to God on your behalf— Praying for you. But Peter says that you are a priest, not just me. He says that we are chosen by God to be a whole kingdom of priests. Together, we are to be to the world what a priest is to a people. We are to represent God to the world and bring the world to God. Or to change the analogy to another NT picture: We are to be the body of Christ. We are to be his hands, his feet, his eyes and his mouth. We are to be filled the Spirit of the living God, the very Spirit of Jesus. And together we are to proclaim the words of God and do the works of God, and manifest the presence of God to this world. We are to do it as a chosen people, as a holy nation, as a kingdom of priests and the very body of Christ. That’s why we are saved. That why we are born again from above. That why we are called out of darkness into God’s wonderful light. IV. Practical Implications That’s what Peter says. That’s the truth of God. But could I draw out some practical implications from this biblical truth? If it is true that we are a chosen people, a holy nation, a kingdom of priests and the very body of Christ, then what difference should it make in our lives? If we are to be a holy people then what you and I do actually effects everyone else Years ago a friend of mine came to speak at our men’s retreat. Some of you guys will remember him. Dale Schlafer was his name. He changed Dave Manzer’s life. Well, on that treat he gave an illustration that stuck with some of us. If I took this glass of water, he said, and dropped one drop of sewer sludge in it, would you drink from this glass? I mean, come on, it only one eye dropper. 99% of the water is pure. But that’s not the way it works; and that’s not the way you would see it. You would not see a glass of water with 1% sewer sludge as fit to drink So tell me: how does the world see the church? If there is some serious pollution among God’s so-called holy people, Then the world see us, all of us, as seriously polluted. Our sin does not just effect how the world sees us (as bad as that is for a community of priests). No. It also effects how we really are. If there are germs in the body of Christ, then those germs spread. If there is a cancer, that cancer grows. Or to Paul’s language to the Corinthians, if one part of the Body suffers then we all suffer. I dare say, the body of Christ, the chosen people of God in this land are suffering. We are suffering from the sickness of greed— wanting more and more of what we have enough of already. We are suffering from the sickness of immodesty and sexual immorality. Just open your eyes; it is everywhere. Sometimes we are so sick we don’t even see it. We are suffering from fear and anxiety, from worldly ambition and prayerlessness We are suffering conformity to the world and ignorance of the word of God. We are effecting each other. We are infecting each other. The solution is not to cut off one arm or leg or head—at least not yet. The solution is not to withdraw from the body into smaller and smaller bodies. We are the people of God. We are a nation, if you will. We are a community. We are a family. You don’t just separate from your family. You take care of your family. If there is something wrong in your life that is hurting the members of your family, You do something about it. If you don’t your family suffers. So the first implication of being a holy people is that my sin effects you and your children and your sin effects me and my children. We need each other to become more holy for the sake of the whole. So I call us to take responsibility for our holiness. I also call us to take responsibility for our priesthood. The Bible says that if you and I are born again from above, then we have the Spirit of God in our lives. When the Spirit comes into our lives, he graces us. He gives us, what Paul calls, charismata. Gifts of the Spirit. These charismata are Spirit-empowered abilities to minister— To serve one another in the name of Jesus and the power of the Spirit. We need your charismata. We need each and every one of you to see yourselves the way God sees you— As a spiritually gifted member of a kingdom of priests. A priest is someone called and gifted by God to do the work of God. And you are a priest—in a kingdom of priests. So, don’t sit back and let others minister to you. Don’t think of yourself as a spectator—someone who comes to receive the work of the priests—the musical priests and the teaching priests and the youth ministry priests and serving priests. There are so things I could say about this. But let me speak of two. If new people come to the church, whose responsibility is it to welcome them? Is it mine? How about the other paid staff? Maybe it’s the person who assigned to greeting—you know, like the Walmart greeter. Could it possibly be your responsibility? Are you the one who should welcome them into your home or into your life in the name of Christ? If not one of you, then who? You are the body of Christ; you are the priests. Changing the subject—ever so slightly. Did you know that we need 2-3 times as many fellowship groups, small groups and Man2Man groups than we currently have in this church. That is, if everyone hopes to be in a group where someone knows their name, A group where they can get close enough to have their needs met, Close enough to be involved in meeting other people’s needs. That means we need at least 100 more small group leaders—people who would take responsibility for attending to the spiritual well being of a handful of other people. Now let me state what I believe to be a fact, based upon my understanding of the teaching of Paul about the body of Christ. God gives enough gifts, enough graces, to meet every need in a local church, And enough to do what God calls us to do in the world. There are enough priests in this church to mediate the presence of God everywhere it needs to be—in every home, in every small group, in every person’s life. But there problem is: there are people refusing to be the priests they are called to be—and other priests trying to do to much—overstepping their bounds. I honestly think that is because we don’t really believe that we are a kingdom of priests. We don’t really believe that God can use me to bring people into his presence. Some of you are saying, “Wait a minute, I thought you were talking about salvation this summer—about the gospel.” I am—and I have been. Salvation is about the power of God at work in our lives causing us to become all that God created us to be. What God created us to be—and what He is re-creating us to be— is fully functioning, spirit filled participants in His kingdom— a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. When that happens, then God’s kingdom has come and God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. |
