Sermon Tone Analysis

“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 marvellous 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]

For a period that proved far too brief, I was privileged to sit under the ministry of W. A. Criswell.

During one memorable sermon, Dr. Criswell related an incident that occurred during a visit to the former Soviet Union.

He had requested and received permission to visit the only Baptist Church in a major Russian city.

In that “worker’s paradise,” the government permitted him to visit the church.

However, they imposed strict conditions, including the provision that he could not inform the congregation that he was coming.

Also, he had to be accompanied at all times by an Intourist guide.

The guide, an apparatchik of the Communist Party chosen because of party loyalty, would always be near Criswell; she would spy on behalf of the government, remaining close enough to overhear every conversation and to observe every action.

Dr. Criswell and the guide travelled by automobile to a poorer section of the city.

At the head of an unmarked, dead-end street, they got out of the car and began to walk toward the end of the street.

There, at the end of the street, a large crowd of people was gathered in front of a nondescript building.

Somehow, in a way that defies those who imagine they can control freedom, these saints had heard that a preacher from America was visiting; and they had gathered, awaiting his arrival before starting the service of worship—everyone wanted to see this man who had not forgotten them.

As Criswell and the Intourist guide walked toward the crowd, she began to speak.

She derided the believers gathered at the end of the street.

“Look at them—slugs and drones.

They are parasites, draining the resources of our glorious workers.”

She caustically defamed the Christians gathered to greet the preacher from America.

Criswell had at first been silent as she continually berated the Christians; however, he at last spoke.

“Don’t say that.

These are my people; these are the people of God.

Though you speak ill of them and though they have nothing in this world, they are destined to inherit Heaven, and they shall reign with Christ.

Do not speak ill of them.”

Doctor Criswell was right.

Though Christians are despised by the world at this time, they are nevertheless the people of God.

We Christians are an elect people, chosen by the True and Living God for His holy purpose.

We are His treasured possession; and though the world does not recognise who we are, God has showered His love on us, showing us great mercy and exceptional kindness.

The grace and mercy that He has showered on us gives evidence of His love.

Though we are in the world, we are not of the world; and we have a great responsibility that is entrusted to us because we are His people.

Join me, then, in study of Peter’s revelation of who we are and what we are responsible to do.

A DISTINCTIVE IDENTITY — “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.”

We are a chosen race.

Christians have a distinctive identity.

Our identity is thoroughly integrated with the Risen Son of God.

Our purpose is clearly stated in the text for the message this day.

As Christians, we are in Christ; having said this, it is doubtful that any of us fully understand all that this means.

Nevertheless, we know that in Christ we have been set apart to God’s holy service as priests even as we enjoy God’s call to reign with Him as co-regents.

Understand that it is Christians—Christians who were even then paying a dreadful cost for being known as followers of the Risen Son of God—to whom Peter was writing.

The recipients of the letter are identified as “elect exiles of the dispersion” [1 PETER 1:1].

To ensure that these elect exiles understood that they were not merely scattered by some form of perverse serendipity, Peter continues by reminding them that their election was “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood” [1 PETER 1: 2].

Perhaps you and I have not been openly persecuted because of our Faith, and obviously, we have not been dispersed throughout the earth because we are Christians, but it is nonetheless true that we are not of this world.

Though we are in the world, our citizenship is in Heaven, and we always live under the threat of imminent assault from the world.

Consequently, the words that Peter wrote certainly apply potentially to us; and these words assuredly apply to fellow saints today who live in Iraq, in Iran, in Pakistan, and in Viet Nam, who even now are paying a demanding price for being Christians.

When Peter says that we are “a chosen race,” he uses the same word that is translated “elect” in the opening verse of the Book.

We are an elect people; we have been chosen by God for His divine purpose.

I suspect that whenever we hear that we are “a chosen race,” most of us think of the privilege that accrues to us because God chose us.

However, I want you to think now of the fact that we are chosen to serve.

In other words, we have been chosen to represent God in the midst of a fallen and wicked world.

I recall visiting a church in Washington State on one occasion.

The pastor recognised me, and asked that I tell of my ministry in the Lower Mainland—an assignment that I was pleased to accept.

I told how that one quarter of the population in British Columbia profess themselves atheists or agnostics.

I related studies conducted in the Lower Mainland revealing that no more than a few percent of the population were in a religious service on any given weekend.

I also stated the estimate that perhaps as many of 5,000 people, out of a population of almost 800,000, would be in an evangelical service of worship in the city of Vancouver on any given weekend.

I said that Vancouver was an evangelist’s paradise; everywhere you threw a tract you would hit a sinner.

At the conclusion of the service, a couple approached me.

It was obvious by their approach that they wished to speak with me.

They informed me that they lived in the Lower Mainland.

Travelling through Washington State that morning, they also happened to visit the church where I spoke.

They insisted that I should not have said what I said.

They complained, “You make us sound like ‘heathens.’

We aren’t that bad.”

Their response reveals a problem for modern Christians.

We are so thoroughly identified with the world about us that we no longer see ourselves as Christians first.

We are more concerned with avoiding conflict than we are with our relationship with God.

We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and so we fail to be divine ambassadors.

Nevertheless, we Christians have been chosen as God’s ambassadors, charged to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.”

Our position is not simply that of redeemed individuals, though we are indeed delivered from condemnation; we are declared heirs of Heaven and co-heirs with Jesus Christ.

I would never depreciate the privilege that we enjoy because of His grace.

However, I must emphasise that privilege always confers responsibility.

Our enjoyment is not God’s primary concern; rather, His righteous desire is the glory that accrues to Him through bringing many souls to life.

Christians are designated a royal priesthood.

Each Christian is a priest, appointed by God, serving to petition Him for those individuals living in the world, and serving as Christ’s representative in the world.

We are called by God and appointed by Him to stand between Him and fallen man.

It is God’s will that each Christian endeavour to bring the lost to faith in the Son of God.

We do this through praying for their salvation and testifying to the grace of God.

The condition of those whom we love—family members and loved ones—must move us with compassion so that we tell them of the life that will free them from condemnation, giving them a place within the Family of God.

The sentence of death that hangs over the life of those with whom we work must impel us to seek their salvation, just as the certainty of condemnation for our neighbours without Christ must impel us to seek mercy and life for each one.

Christ Jesus, the Son of David, has been appointed to rule from David’s throne.

We who are the redeemed of God have received a promised that we shall reign with Him.

As His people, we share a common heritage, which is the life He gives and the presence of the Spirit of God within us and among us.

Thus, we are designated a holy nation.

What we are is not always accurately reflected through what we do.

Nevertheless, we are a holy nation—our citizenship is in Heaven; and therefore we should be a holy people.

Christians are identified as a holy nation.

To say that we are holy, to say that we should live holy lives, sometimes embarrasses us, since the statement is seen as clichéd, hackneyed, trite.

In part, this is because the English tongue is dynamic and language itself tends to be fluid, the meaning changing with time; and in part, the clichéd nuance of calling for holiness is because our words are stolen and redefined by a world hostile to the righteousness of Christ the Lord.

I remind you of a truth that you know quite well—we are set apart for God’s purposes.

Thus, we are separated from sin and separated to serve the Lord.

To be holy is nothing more, and nothing less, than living as one who is conscious of having been separated from evil and thus separated to God.

Peter also declares that we are a people for His own possession.

I suspect that the designation does not resonate with us as it should, and that is a shame.

The concept is that we are so intimately identified as belonging to God that we are forever known as His.

However, there is an aspect of this designation that is not immediately apparent until we have more carefully studied the use of the underlying Greek phrase, eis peripoíesin.

The manner in which the term is used in 1 THESSALONIANS 5:9, 2 THESSALONIANS 2:14, and HEBREWS 10:39 ensures that Peter intended this to be an eschatological term.

It is apparent that Peter recognises that Christians already belong to God as a unique possession [e.g. 1 PETER 2:10].

What is lacking is a complete and final vindication against unbelievers and those who are disobedient.

Therefore, a more accurate translation would likely be that we are “a people destined for vindication.”[2]

Taken together, the designations advanced in this NINTH VERSE recall EXODUS 19:5, 6. “If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples… and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

It is as though God is declaring that we Christians have now inherited the promises that were first delivered to Israel.

We share in the divine inheritance with them.