Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Peter 2:9, 10

Baptist Foundations — A Royal Priesthood

 

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]

I was privileged for a period that was far too brief to have sat under the ministry of Dr. W. A. Criswell.

I recall that Dr. Criswell related an incident that occurred as he visited the former Soviet Union.

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

In that paranoid “worker’s paradise,” though the government permitted him to visit the church, they set strict conditions for him.

Those conditions included the provision that he could not inform the congregation that he was coming; also, he was required to be accompanied at all times by the Intourist guide assigned to him.

The guide, a Communist Party member chosen because of party loyalty, would always be near Criswell and would serve to spy for the government since she would overhear every conversation and observe every action.

Dr. Criswell and his guide travelled by automobile to a poor part of the city.

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

There, at the end of the street, a large crowd of people were gathered in front of the church.

Somehow, in a way that defies those who think they can control human nature, these good people 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 they drew near the crowd, the Intourist guide began to speak.

In caustic tones, she derided the simple believers.

“Look at them—slugs and drones.

They are parasites, draining the resources of the workers.

They are scum.”

She repeatedly slandered the Christians gathered to meet the preacher from America.

As she continued berating the Christians, Criswell at last spoke.

“Don’t say that.

These are my people.

These are the people of God.

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

Don’t speak ill of them.”

Criswell was right.

Though Christians may be despised by the world at this time, they are 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 our worth, God has showered His love on us, showing us great mercy and exceptional kindness.

The grace and mercy that He has showered out on us is 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.

That is the message today.

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 received a distinctive identity.

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

Our purpose is clearly stated in the passage chosen as our text for the morning.

As Christians, we are in Christ; and it is doubtful that we 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 assuredly apply to our fellow saints living in Iraq, in Iran, in Viet Nam, and in Cambodia, 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, therefore, an elect people; we have been chosen by God for His 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 speak 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 professed to be atheists or agnostics.

I related studies conducted in the Lower Mainland revealing that no more than three 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 how others see us 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 to be the 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 glory through bringing many souls to life is His desire.

Christians are designated a *royal priesthood*.

Each Christian is a priest, appointed by God, serving to petition Him for those 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 the will of God that each Christian endeavour to win the souls of those who are lost, 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 and give 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 also known 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 /**/peripoíesis/*.

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*].