A Privileged People
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· 7 viewsAs members of His body, we should be defined by Who Jesus is.
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9 But 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 marvelous light. 10 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.
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But 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 marvelous light. 10 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. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Image of Fanny Hamer here.
Born in 1917 in rural Mississippi, Hamer was the last of 20 children immersed in a life of poverty as a sharecropper. In her 40s, she got involved in the civil rights movement after she heard young activists give a presentation about voting rights.
She then dedicated her life to fighting for equal rights for black people and more humane treatment of the poor.
One night in 1963, Hamer and some fellow civil rights activists, all of whom were black, were taken into custody on spurious charges by white police officers. The law enforcement officials took them to a jail and proceeded to beat each one, including Hamer. The harrowing experience left her with permanent health problems and emotional wounds such as depression. But that didn’t stop her from loving people, even her enemies.
“I feel sorry for anybody that could let hate wrap them up,” she said. “Ain’t no such thing as I can hate anybody and hope to see God’s face.”
Amazing story.
Born at the time when segregation was still a daily reality in America, suffered through it yet he chose to respond love instead of to hate.
Even through her depression and her own emotional wounds, she felt sorry and loved people who were wrapped up in hatred.
How does a Christian respond to a world filled with hate, prejudice, fear of discrimination? Talks of privilege. People fighting for fairness and equality.
How does a Christian respond to a world filled with hate, prejudice, fear of discrimination?
The world tries to answer these issue in a different way.
Image of John Rawls here.
Image of John Rawls here.
A philosopher named John Rawls came up with a principle or a thought experiment called the Veil of Ignorance.
Veil of Ignorance.
Philosopher John Rawls suggests that we should imagine we sit behind a veil of ignorance that keeps us from knowing who we are and identifying with our personal circumstances. By being ignorant of our circumstances, we can more objectively consider how societies should operate.
Seems to make sense..
If we are from a perceived privileged or majority class, then setting aside who they are supposedly enables them to be fair with all people.
If you are from a perceived marginalized or minority class, then setting aside or not knowing who you are frees you from the fear of discrimination or prejudice.
This is the typical worldly philosophical response.
Divine Justice:
But what is the Christian’s response?
Let me submit two principles from the word of God that is a direct answer to this:
Reject claims of a superior class.
Knowing our own true privilege.
Knowing who we are in relation to God enhances who we are in relation to others.
This I believe was how Fanny Hamer could respond to her enemies the way she did.
Knowing who we are in relation to God enhances the way we look at ourselves.
Say “I am already blessed”
Because I am a “Child of God”
But there’s more!
9 But 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 marvelous light.
You are a:
1. A chosen race.
2. A Royal Priesthood.
3. A Holy Nation.
4. A people for His own Possession.
Continuation of “The Victorious Church” series.
Continuation of “The Victorious Church” series.
1. A Chosen Race.
Continue from 1 Peter.
Short background of 1 Peter..
Images of Peter being the first Pope
A lot of people think of Peter as the first pope and there a lot of people who don’t..
Including St. Peter himself.
I love Peter, because he is most relatable, he is just like one of us.
He was an ordinary guy that was transformed by Jesus Christ.
He Himself believed and taught that he was saved by the grace of God, like us.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
1 Peter 1:
Misconception that Peter is the rock that Jesus mentioned..
Peter corrected the misconception of a special class, which supposedly included himself.
Peter, as if correcting all these misconceptions pointed us away from him and to Christ..
Verse 4: Jesus is the Living Stone
Verse 6: Jesus is the Stone laid in Zion and a chosen and precious Cornerstone.
Verse 7: (Quoting ) Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected, yet the One that has become the Cornerstone.
Verse 8: (Quoting ) Jesus is a Stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
People stumbled on Jesus because of their disobedience
“… they stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.”
Pete elevated Christ and then turns to the believers and followers of Jesus.. I believe this word is as much for us as it was to the Jews in the Diaspora back then.
“Vicar of Christ” - Representative of Christ on earth.
Peter pointed authority ascribed to himself, to us.
In these ways, we are Christ’s ambassadors on earth.
A chosen race.
A Royal Priesthood.
A Holy Nation.
A people for His own Possession.
A Chosen Race.
Word for “race”
A.
Word for “race”
From where we derived the word “gene”.
Image of the Greek word genos here.
As the church of Jesus, you are a super race of men and women made of a special genetic material from Your heavenly Father!
Ramon, I thought we should be fair and equitable, but this makes me feel more superior than others!
Not if we truly understand the word Chosen here.
Image of the word Eklektos here.
This word means that we are the objects of God’s grace and divine favor.
We were not chosen because we were superior than anyone else.
Why did God choose you?
God chose you simply because He loved you.
We see this example in the Old Testament when God chose Israel.
6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
You have been unconditionally chosen!
No generational curse, sickness, or disease can work against you, or destroy you, because you’re a new creation. You have new genes that came from your heavenly Father.
How does this truth affect us?
This is actually a humbling reality, because God did not choose us out of our merits and superiority but only on the basis of His love for us when Jesus purchased us on the cross of Calvary.
We are just blessed and thankful to God and therefore we should love on others.
What else does the truth that You have been unconditionally chosen do to us.
We realize that we have been accepted.
You have been accepted!
And because we have already been accepted, we cease to be people-pleasers.
People-pleasers
One of man’s greatest fears is the fear of rejection.
Seeking approval of men.
I will Celebrate the favor of God and not seek the approval of men.
2. You are a Royal Priesthood.
Now “With Great Privilege comes great responsibility.”
Not exactly from Spiderman.
Having been chosen, we have been entrusted great responsibility.
If you are part of the church of Jesus, You are a priest. Seems intimidating, I am no priest, Ramon!
Here is why you are a priest. - You have been made a Royal priesthood in Jesus.
In the Old Testament, the roles of King and Priest were carefully divided.
Among the major offices, King, Priest and Prophet. God allowed someone to be a King and prophet (King David was an example), God allowed some to be a priest and a prophet (Samuel was an example).
But God jealously prohibited someone from playing the role of King and priest.
Examples:
King Saul lost his kingdom when he made a sacrifice.
King Uzziah entered the temple and offered incense.
The office of King-Priest is reserved for only One Person - The MEssiah, Jesus Christ, Hallelujah!
We are a royal priesthood, which means we are priests of God under The One True King!
So going back to being a priest as intimidating...
Being a Royal Priesthood means:
We can go to God directly.
We can intercede for others.
Go to God directly, we do not have to go to another person to confess our sins!
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Secondly, you can intercede for others.
This is where our responsibility comes in, we have to minister to the needs of other people.
The Latin word for priest means bridge. The priest is a bridge builder between God and man.
In many ways we also have to build bridges with among our fellowmen.
Instead of participating in the hatred around us, why don’t we bridge people for Jesus?
By being a royal priesthood, you have already been empowered!
3. A Holy Nation.
“Holy” here means not having holier than thou kind of mentality but the word simply means being set apart.
Holy = Set Apart
Jesus said “we are in the world but we are not OF the world”.
The apostle Paul said that we are not to be conformed to the world. Which means
We should not let the world shape us.
When faced with challenges and issues wherever you are, in your business dealings or at the work place, do you resort to worldly solutions, cutting corners, even lying.
As a church, we should hold ourselves to a high standard of honesty and integrity not because of human ethics, but because of the highest standard of all - THE WORD of GOD.
Remember YOU are a Holy Nation.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
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You are the holy resistance to wrongdoing.
FOMO - Fear of Missing Out.
Do not fear missing out on that bandwagon. Everyone’s doing it!
You know what we should not miss out? The move of God around the world.
Chosen at such a time as this.
“Generation”
Followers of jesus Christ are to fulfill His purpose in the generation that they live.
What is God’s purpose for you in the new millennium? In this digital age?
Don’t miss out..
Seek the approval that matters most.
A student in architecture entered a nationwide contest for building design. Judged by a panel of architects, her design received Honorable Mention. She was utterly depressed. She believed hers was the best design. At lunch on the last day of the convention she was sitting over her uneaten sandwich, looking at her creation. An old man was looking at it, too. At last he remarked, not knowing who had designed the building, "This one, I think, is the best of the lot." Judges had merely given her work Honorable Mention, but one old man had liked it. The young student went home elated. Why? Because the old man was Frank Lloyd Wright, probably the greatest architect of the time.
This is the quiet confidence that every Christian should have:
Digital Addiction
We have been accepted.
We have been empowered.
We have been set apart.
Next week, we are going to talk about the truth that you are valuable.
This is the secret of Fanny Hamers, this should be who we are in the world we live in.
Our Destiny:
“.. that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
