1 Peter 2:9-12

1 Peter 2:9–12 KJV (WS)

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Introduction

Christians occupy a special place in society.

They are God’s ambassadors to the lost and damned.

Too often though, we struggle to maintain our grasp on how privileged we are.

This happens for two reasons…

Because we forget or care too little about how God views us.

Because we care too much or we are too mindful of how the world views us.

Either of these conditions can easily overtake us when life doesn’t go the way we expect it.

In these moments, we must turn to the word of God.

The word of God will always remind us of who are.

First thing we are going to see in this passage is…

Who we are in relation to God. vss 9-10

The whole Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, is like a mirror.

1/2 of verse 9 is a quote from Exodus 19:6 “6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”

Peter, a formally uneducated man, sure does seem to know a lot about the OT.

He references it because he knows we must constantly be reminded of who we are.

He gives us a list of marks that characterize our identity in Christ.

Our identity. vs 9

We are a chosen people.

There is a great debate as to whether our salvation is a product of God’s sovereignty or of our own free will.

The problem with this debate is it assumes that we are capable of understanding how God works.

The Bible speaks in both terms when it comes to salvation.

Full understanding of salvation is like trying to answer the question of which member of the treaty is responsible for creation.

We are God’s chosen people through faith in Christ, .

We are God’s chosen people because of his love and grace.

One of the best ways that I have heard it explained is that God has chosen to receive all those who come to him in faith.

Regardless of how every detail is arranged, I have faith that God will receive me because of Jesus.

I become a member of his chosen people.

We are a royal priesthood.

The individual priesthood of the believer has been at the foundation of any church that ever experienced spiritual health and vitality.

Christians who get this part of their life in Christ, are a step ahead of everyone else.

Individual priesthood is very similar to individual responsibility.

Each believer takes responsibility for their personal walk with God.

They don’t base their relationship with God solely on external influences.

As priests…

We enjoy direct access to God.

We have the Holy Spirit interceding for us.

We can bring our sacrifices directly to God.

We are more than priests though, the passage calls us royal priests.

A priesthood means that no man stands between us and God,

A royal priesthood means that no man stands over us in our relation to God.

We are a holy nation and a peculiar people.

This is a pretty unique identity for us to hold.

We are pretty good with the word holy.

It means we are set apart.

Sanctified is another closely connected word.

I don’t think we have a very good handle on the word peculiar.

To us, peculiar is closely associated with weird.

This is not so in it’s actual definition.

Peculiar, in this case, means we are his special possession.

We are meant to belong only to God.

Lest you think that this makes God out to be clingy or something, this is not what is intended.

Belonging to Jesus comes with so many privileges and protections it would be foolish to think that belonging to him was anything other than a blessing.

We are his because of his mercy and kindness.

Within this identity that God has granted us, we also see a mission attached to it.

Our mission.

Shew forth his praises.

God has granted us this new elevated identity so that we could be an advertisement for his goodness and power.

Some people like to say that the church replaces Israel.

The church does not replace Israel.

We are, however, used by God to accomplish some of the same things that they were meant to accomplish.

“Shew forth his praises” is another way of saying that we are to make a big deal about the fame of our God.

This should be as easy as anything for the believer.

We have been rescued from a horrible fate.

Before Jesus gave us new life, we were in darkness.

Peter uses darkness to refer to blindness.

But it’s not the kind of blindness where you can’t see because there is something wrong with your eyes.

This is the blindness that comes from being dead.

We are alive now, and so God desires for us to spread his fame throughout the world.

That’s not all God desires of us though.

We are also to live united with other believers.

Peter quotes two different verses from Hosea.

Vs 10 quotes Hosea 1:10 “10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”

It also quotes Hosea 2:23 “23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.”

When you got saved, you became a part of a new people group.

Natural descent and all other differences are obliterated by the spiritual condition and status of the readers.

Therefore, we should strive to assimilate into our new culture.

Support our fellow countrymen.

Vss 9-10 should enhance the self-image of all God’s people.

Verses 11-12 now shift to help us with another aspect of our identity.

Who we are in relation to men. vss 11-12

Peter is going to deal with this in two parts.

How we should view ourselves.

How we should present ourselves to the world.

Our identity (how we view ourselves).

Strangers and pilgrims

The use of these terms refers to the fact that we are not at home.

In Peter’s day, aliens were expected to mind their own business and avoid arousing envy.

They had to maintain the goodwill of the locals in order to remain in the city.

We are citizens of another country.

This perspective will help us stay balanced spiritually in the good times and the bad.

In the good times we need to be careful that we don’t grow too attached to the things of this world.

In the bad times we need to be strengthened by the fact that this world is not all that there is.

This is good for us to hear, but they needed to hear it back then too.

Nero was Emperor at this time. and he was responsible for leading Rome to abandon the perspective that Christianity was a part of Judaism.

Judaism was a legal and recognized religion.

By pulling Christians out from under the umbrella, Nero made them more of a cult.

He opened them up for intense persecutions, which did come.

As big of a threat as these persecutions were, you would think that this next point would go a different direction.

Peter speaks to believers as soldiers.

Our real battle is not with the people around us, but with the passions within us.

Our fleshly lusts are literally at war with our souls.

Not a war of a single conflict, but rather a prolonged campaign.

These lusts seek to capture and enslave the soul.

D.L. Moody said, “I have more trouble with D.L. Moody than with any other man I know.”

These lusts are not necessarily the big scary sins that are easy to identify.

It may simply be the kinds of lusts that threaten to keep us distracted from our mission.

Our identity converges with our mission as Peter reminds us that we are examples to the world.

To live as an example is our mission.

We have two goals to accomplish.

Our mission.

Win the lost through our testimony.

Christian conduct must show outsider the validity Christian belief.

Christian conduct must ever be morally excellent among the lost.

The reference to gentiles in this passage has nothing to do with race.

When Peter refers to gentiles, he is referring to the lost.

The unsaved are looking at us for a reason to reject the gospel.

In 1805, there was a meeting in Buffalo, NY between the Boston Missionary Society and a large gathering of Indian chiefs and warriors. After the preacher had delivered a gospel message, one of the chiefs named RedJacket approached the preachers and spoke for the rest of the chiefs.

He said, “Brother, we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this area. We know them, they are our neighbors. We will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest, we will consider again what you have said.

Bring glory to God.

The day of visitation refers to the coming day of God’s judgment.

There should be people in that day who are glorifying God because you lived out your identity as a believer.

You magnified or broadcast the fame of our God.

Your conduct pointed them to the one who could bring them out of darkness.

We are the ambassadors of God on earth.

To accomplish our mission, Peter helps us to not only have the right view of ourselves but also of our mission.

In God’s eyes we are precious, so we spread the fame of his kindness throughout the world.

In the eyes of the world we are to be examples, to the end that the lost might be saved.

Application

A number of Americans do not consider identification with a particular church community as central to their identity.

We cannot create a self-image which does not authentically communicate what we really are.

We must communicate the real person.

As a Christian, Jesus has made you a new person.

Learn to think of yourself as highly as Peter does.

People all around us need us to be secure in our identity in Christ.

We need to be secure enough that we aren’t trying to gain what the world has.

The world should be trying to get what we have.

This requires Christians that are living as pilgrims rather than permanent residents.

This requires Christians that winning the war with their own selfish desires.

This requires Christians that are living as examples of what Christ can do to transform a life.

Conclusion

Is your identity established in Jesus, or in the world?

Are you focused on the mission, or are you distracted by the circumstances of life?