Chosen, Precious, and Royal

Is it your net worth? Adding all your investments, bank accounts, and other possessions together to come up with a solid figure. That is how much I am worth.

Maybe it is measured in the number of people you have in your contacts on your phone or in your friends list.

Maybe you find your worth in what other people say about you or how they treat you.

Compliments and positive attention increase your value, while criticism and inattention make you feel worthless.

For some, your value is determined by how well you are doing at whatever you are doing.

Your worth is measure by what you accomplish.

For others, your value is determined by how good you are acting.

Your worth is measures in good or bad behavior.

When you are doing good then you are worthy and loved.

But when you are failing you are worthless and scorned.

Identity+Purpose=Value

The reality is we all seek value in a combination of all of these things.

The search for value really is a search for identity.

Who am I? What is my purpose?

We find our value in our identity and in our purpose.

So if your identity is dependent on having a lot of money, then your purpose will be to do what it takes to put the dollars in the bank, and consequently, your value will be determined by how much you are worth (identity) and how hard to worked to get it (purpose).

If you identity is dependent on your goodness, then your purpose is to try really hard not to sin and to do good things instead, so your value will be measured in how good or bad you have been.

You get the point. Hence why we are all exhausted and feel like our self-worth is more volatile that the New York Stock Exchange.

But there is an answer, there is hope

And as Peter has already told us, it is a LIVING HOPE

1 Peter 2:4–10 ESV

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.

Your IDENTITY/VALUE is rooted in the NEW BIRTH REALITY of the RESURRECTION.

“As you come to Him...”

this is pointing back to the previous verses.

Peter isn’t talking about a one time coming to Him, but a consistent coming.

As you continue to come to Him, every day, every season, over and over again because in Him you have found LIFE and worth and hope and salvation.

“As you come to Him, know this about Him...”

“He was rejected by men…” that is a nice way of saying He was scorned, beaten, mocked, and tortured to death by men.

Peter has just told us challenged us to BE LIKE CHRIST so...

if you are going to be like Him, you should expect the same thing…REJECTION

Yet we spend much of our time looking for acceptance and value and identity in the very things that scorned and mocked Jesus.

We should not look to man for our value, not anything the world uses to measure value.

If we live like Jesus and He was crucified, why would we put so much stock in being accepted by others.

That is what it means to be BORN AGAIN into a LIVING HOPE

We have a new and great source of value and identity as precious sons and daughters of God.

“But, in the sight of God He was chosen and precious...”

Chosen and precious are powerful words.

The life of Jesus was not a remarkable life when measure by worldly standards

He was born into a rural blue class family, raised in a humble setting.

He never won a political office, never struck it big in business, didn’t excel as an athlete, didn’t star in any movies, didn’t win a grammy (or any other awards that we know of), didn’t get married, or have kids.

BUT, it God’s sight He was CHOSEN and PRECIOUS— He was one of a kind, dearly loved, and deeply valuable.

1 Peter 1:18 ESV

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

That is what is so striking about the Gospel and what is so powerful about the following verses.

The precious, one-of-a-kind blood of Jesus was spilled for us.

“As you come to Him…You yourselves have become precious stone being built into a house that proclaims the glory and the greatness of Jesus.

The reason we are worthy, the reason we are valuable is because of the chosen and precious life and blood of Jesus.

Because of Jesus we are being built into a “spiritual house” and a “holy priesthood”

We are a place for God to live, not only with His people, but IN His people.

And we are being made into a people that show the world how great and glorious God is.

Your PURPOSE is wrapped up in your IDENTITY.

And you identity is wrapped up in Jesus.

Peter uses a building analogy to explain our relationship with Jesus (pointing back to Isaiah and Psalm 118.

Jesus is the chosen and precious cornerstone

“The cornerstone is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.”

The cornerstone of a building is the most important stone because it determines how strong a building is and how attractive the building will be.

If the cornerstone is weak, a building will fail. If a cornerstone isn’t laid correctly, then the building will be unattractive, or worse, a weak structure.

Your identity is dependent on what cornerstone it is built on.

If you have built your identity on the cornerstone of success, money, family, or something else, you have built your life on a something that WILL FAIL you.

1 Peter 2:7 ESV

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,”

“The HONOR is for you who BELIEVE...” the opposite of HONOR is disgrace or condemnation.

We live in a perpetual state of HONOR if your identity is founded on Christ the cornerstone.

John Piper has some strong and sobering words from this verse for those listen today:

“Christ is not just the milk we desire; he is the precious and chosen cornerstone that we come to and build our lives on individually and as a church. Some reject the stone and stumble over it into eternal doom, but as verse 7 says, "To you who believe, he is precious." Notice what happens when we connect verses 4 and 7. In verse 4, Christ is chosen and precious in the sight of God. In verse 7, he is, therefore, precious to us who believe. Believers are chips off the Old Block as it were. We choose what our Father chooses. We feel to be precious what our Father feels to be precious. Therefore, we see again how saving faith is not just agreeing that certain facts are true. Saving faith signifies a new nature. And the evidence of this new nature is that it desires Christ, it cherishes him as precious.”

Do you cherish Christ as precious or is He just a way to get to heaven?

Embrace your Identity

If you believe, like REALLY BELIEVE, in Jesus, like whole-heartily trust Him, not just believe facts about Him, then Peter has some glorious realities for you identity as a born-again child of God through the resurrection of Jesus.

These are corporate (or whole church) realities, but they each have individual implications.

You are a part of a chosen race

At the root of every human heart is a desire to belong and a desire to be loved, by others, but also by God.

There are so many sinful, worldly barriers that divide us and separate us and promote hatred and discrimination.

Whether is it the color of our skin, the language that we speak, the place we were born, the clothes that we where, the political party we affiliate with, the style of clothes we wear, the job that we have…and the list could go on and on.

There are countless reasons we find as humans to hate, divide, and discriminate.

But we are a Chosen Race

The word “Race” here has nothing to do with your skin color or country of origin.

What gives us our identity is not color or culture, it is chosenness.

If you have trusted in Jesus, then you have been CHOSEN by God.

It was nothing in you of value above other humans.

You didn’t do anything to earn it.

You didn’t meet a certain list of criteria or conditions to get it.

But, in God’s glorious sovereignty, He chose you and me, and us.

You are valuable, you are loved, and you belong.

You are a royal priesthood

This point is all about access.

For 1000s of years, the people of God required a mediator to approach God.

Someone to go to God on their behalf.

To perform sacrifices for their sin.

But those of us In Christ, we are Royal Priests.

Think of the British monarchy.

Prince George of Cambridge is the 6 year old son of Prince William and is the third in line for the British throne (the most prestigious monarchy in the world).

If his great-grandmother, grandfather, and father were to pass away he would become the King of around 151 million people across the world.

He is just under a year older than my Hannah, and yet he has complete access to one of the most powerful people in the world (the queen of England.

And he did absolutely NOTHING to gain that access.

You have unlimited access to the creator of the heavens and the earth.

It is an access that was granted to you simply by being born-again into the family of God by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Hebrews 4:16 CSB

16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

You are a part of a Holy Nation

The word “Nation” is most often used to in reference to geo-political boundaries.

The United States of America is a nation with geographic boarders that is governed by a single governmental system.

Peter is using the word more like the Raider’s fans use the word: Raider Nation.

Raiders fans are all over the country, but they are all “governed” by an allegiance to their favorite football team.

And that allegiance means they act a certain way and live a certain way.

In a much more significant way, Peter is saying that each of us who believe in Jesus are a part of a “Set-apart” (meaning of holiness) people whose allegiance is to Jesus.

And that allegiance means we acts a certain way, live a certain way, and that our values (what is most important to us) are guided and directed by Jesus and the Holy Spirit that lives in us.

But this is not a rigid, oppressive nation, it is a Free Nation.

We are a special, set-apart, people who live with a unique freedom under the reign of a mighty and loving King.

You are a valued possession of our glorious God

The King James version says we are a “peculiar people”, it doesn’t mean we are weird (though that is true), but it means we are the “unique possession of God”.

God purchased us through the blood of Jesus to be His valued possession.

You have value, not because you are wealthy, not because you are a hard worker, not because you are gifted and talented, not because you have possess particular qualities that that make you WORTHY,

Your value comes from whether or not you belong to God.

1 Peter 2:10 ESV

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.

Everyone of us at one time or another were in the first group, longing and looking for value in any place and from anyone we could find it.

But if you are listening today and you have been purchased by God by the blood of Christ and through you faith in Him, then embrace the wonderful knowledge that you are a treasured possession of our great and glorious God.

Titus 2:11–14 NIV

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

You belong to God, act like it, and don’t loo anywhere else for you value.

Live out Your Purpose

Your identity determine your purpose.

So as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, as those who were once not a people (had no real or lasting identity), and as those who have received mercy that ABSOLUTELY did not deserve it

BE PEOPLE THAT PROCLAIM THE EXCELLENCIES OF HIM WHO CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS INTO MARVELOUS LIGHT!

You have received something YOU DID NOT DESERVE.

Evangelism is not a hard task if we grasp just how marvelous this light God has brought us into really is.

Embrace the Light brothers and sister and may our lives proclaim the excellencies of our Glorious God.

Next week we will talk about the kind of life we are to live in the this marvelous light!

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