What Do I Do Now?

Here we are at our final night of YC Week 2022 and last night we ended with the question: To whom shall we go and tonight we begin with the question, well what do I do now? Even though Peter was the one that asked us the first question, we will turn to him for the answer to the second question so if you have a Bible, go ahead and turn to 1 Peter 2:9-12 and tonight will probably feel more like the YC that we are used to. We won’t try to spend an hour dissecting various aspects of the identity crisis but we will see how Christians are to respond with the identity that they have in Christ. In these verses that we are about to go through, we are going to see 3 things: Who the people of God are, who the people of God used to be, and how we are to live our lives as the people of God. Let’s go ahead and read 1 Peter 2:9-12

1 Peter 2:9–12 ESV

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. 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. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Now some of this may sound familiar to what we have talked about over the last 4 nights or to what we went through when we went through 1 Peter almost a year and a half ago but that’s ok. Nothing wrong with repitition when it comes to the Bible but I am going to try and not repeat anything that I have already said this week or in those past lessons. Let’s start by talking about who we are as the people of God.

Who Are the People of God? (Verse 9)

So who are we as the People of God? What is the Church? What are Christians? Peter gives that answer in verse 9 when he says to believers, “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.” Really right here in this one verse we could find the answer to all three of our questions but we will just use it to answer who we are as God’s people. Peter uses a series of four descriptive phrases, and in these phrases we learn who we are but we also learn a lot about the God we serve. The first of these phrases is that we are a chosen race. For a Christian and the Church to be referred to as a chosen race means that they have been set apart by God from the rest of the world. Just as God set apart the nation of Israel, so has He set apart the Church. Peter was writing to an audience that was no stranger to the Old Testament so they likely saw the connection that Peter was making to Deuteronomy 10:15 “Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.” To be a chosen race by God means that we are loved by God but we are not loved because of any goodness inside of us. God does not choose us based off of future information that He has about us, though He certainly does know future information about us. God chooses us because He is rich in mercy and love. In Deuteronomy 7:6-8 we read “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. 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, 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.” The reason that God chose the nation of Israel was not because of anything inherently special about them but because He chose them and loved them based on His own will. Why would God save this people? Why would God save the Church? And the answer is because He promised that He would! To borrow a phrase from Matthew Henry, God is never indebted to His creation but He has chosen to allow Himself to be indepted to His promise. Why did God choose to save the People of Israel or the Church? Because He chose to. Next Peter describes us as a royal priesthood and this is what Martin Luther referred to as the priesthood of all believers. To be called a royal priesthood again points us back to Christ. People don’t just choose to become priests. In Exodus, God chose Aaron, his sons, and the tribe of Levi to be the priests. In order for one to be a priest of the Lord, God must first choose him as a priest. A priest was chosen by God to a task that God had ordained for that person to do. No priest ever applied for the job. Priests were chosen by God to do the work of God and that work largely involved interceding on behalf of the people. We as the royal priesthood are called to not just reach the lost with the Gospel, we are called to minister to the saints. We are to be active participants in the work of God. The Church is never in a position to sit back and watch the world burn. We are to be at the front lines, we’re to throw ourselves down before the eyes of the world and God and plead people to come to faith in Christ. As priests, we are to be heralds of the Word of God. Centuries ago, heralds would come into the chamber of the king, be given a message, and these men were expected to give the message to the people exactly as the king said. They would go to where they were sent, they wouldn’t change a word, they wouldn’t add any extra thoughts, they simply spoke out what the king had commanded for them to say. The king even sent extra people to make sure that the herald said the exact words that he said to spoke and as soon as he had finished the message, he reported back to the king. You have been created to be a herald for Jesus Christ. You don’t make the message, you don’t add to the message, you simply live out and speak forth that which your King has given you. I love what David Walls writes about being a royal priesthood. He writes, “A royal priesthood reminds us as believers that as priests we serve royalty. We have not landed a maid-service position. We are part of God’s “forever kingdom.” Next Peter says that we are a holy nation. Wayne Grudem says of this, “Just as believers are a new spiritual race and a new spiritual priesthood, so they are a new spiritual nation which is based now neither on ethnic identity nor geographical boundaries but rather on allegiance to their heavenly King, Jesus Christ, who is truly King of kings and Lord of lords.” To be a holy nation means that we are to be a people that are set apart. We are saved so that we may pursue righteousness. We as Christians are not to stay the same. We are saved so that we would be holy as our Heavenly Father is holy. Charles Spurgeon said that the token of our nationality is that we are holy unto the Lord and this causes us to be marked off from the rest of mankind. To be sanctified or to be holy means that all that we do, say, and think is marked by Christ. Every single Christian is called to pursue holiness and we continue to pursue it because none of us will ever perfect it. Our sanctification is never full to the brim. Our sanctification is ongoing, it’s progressive, and this sanctification highlights how we have been called out by Christ so that we may reflect Christ. Mark Dever said, “This means that we live our lives in allegiance to him. We live in reverent fear of him. We take our coordinates from him. We take our bearings from him. He is the audience we play to. We do not take our directions from a pollster but from our Heavenly Polestar. We are not simply trying to be popular with those around us, we look beyond our circumstances to the One who created us by his word and set us apart as his people.” Finally, Peter describes us as a people for His own possession. We belong heart, body, and soul to our Heavenly Father. We don’t belong to any other. Sin is no longer our friend and master. We have been lovingly purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ. That which we are now is different from that which we once were. We are a people that are chosen and precious in the eyes of our God and because we belong to Him, we are to live differently from the rest of the world. We see in all of these phrases that the People of God are different, they are set apart totally, from the rest of the world. These four distinct phrases show that the people of God are totally indebted to God. John Calvin wrote, “God has chosen us, when He could find nothing in us but evil and vileness; He makes us His peculiar possession from being worthless dregs; He confers the honor of priesthood on the profane; He brings the vassals of Satan, of sin, and of death, to royal liberty.” With all that in mind, who did the people of God use to be? For that answer we look at verse 10.

Who Did the People of God Used to Be? (Verse 10)

1 Peter 2:10 says, “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.” We won’t spend too much time on this because this is really what we talked about last night as we looked at Ephesians 2:1-3. Before we were saved by Christ we were not God’s people, we rejected His grace and His mercy and chose to follow Satan over our Savior. Before we came to Christ we were lovers of darkness. We rejected the light because we would rather hold onto the dark and vile. While we were still in our sins, we preferred mud to chocolate cake. We would choose puddles over the ocean. What is amazing to me is that people would rather choose nothing over everything. By coming to Christ, you will possess everything that you truly need in life to be happy. Not necessarily riches or popularity, but you will have that which you truly need. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was once one of the most accomplished medical doctors in all of England, he was to be the successor of Thomas Horder, who was the primary physicial for the royal family but he reached a point where he was no longer content with being a medical doctor and became one of the most prominent preachers in the entire world. In fact, when all is said and done, Lloyd-Jones may very well go down in history as one of the greatest preachers to have ever lived. Lloyd-Jones said that one of the things that caused him the most pain was seeing these people come to him, people that were dying or sick, and they would come to him and get better and then leave to carry on living a sinful life. Lloyd-Jones said that he was saving people’s lives just so they could go out and do worse things than they were doing before. So, he left his ever-growing medical career and understand that when he left, it was such big news that it made it to the first page of the London Times. The news of Lloyd-Jones joining the ministry sprung so quickly that he never had time to tell Thomas Horder before Horder heard it through someone else. Later in Lloyd-Jones’ life, a newspaper reporter asked him what it was like to give up such a promising medical career to become a preacher and Lloyd-Jones said this and I have loved this quote for as long as I have loved Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He said, “I gave up nothing. I received everything. I count it the highest honour that God can confer on any man to call him to be a herald of the gospel.” In the grand scheme of eternity, those that Christ purchases with His blood will give up absolutely nothing and will instead receive everything. Are we content to give up all of these nothings? What I mean is are we content to give up all of this sin and self that contributes nothing to us, nothing positive in any way, in order to receive He that is everything, to receive the greatest treasure that could ever be given? So, we know who we are and we know who we were, what do we do now? Look at verses 11-12.

What Do the People of God do Now? (Verse 11-12)

Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:11-12 “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” The goal of the Church is that we might point people to the wonderful works of our Savior. You were placed on this earth to tell people about the greatness of God. You don’t need to be a pastor to proclaim the excellencies of Christ. I know that many of you probably wonder what God’s will is for your life. God’s will is actually pretty easy to understand and this is applicable to every single person in here. God’s will for your life, no matter what you might do, is to proclaim His excellencies as the One who brought you out of darkness and into His glorious light. We as Christians have an answer to the identity crisis that is happening. We have answers to the great longings that the world has and people should be able to see us and see that we are fundamentally different from anyone else in the world. Peter urges us to abstain from the sins that we once held so dear. We are to be killing the sin that is inside us daily. John Owen famously said, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” Even as Christians, Satan and sin will be waging war against us. I’ve said before that living a holy life is not difficult until you actually try to do it. What do I mean? Satan will leave you alone if you are already a member of his household. It isn’t until you are pursuing the very opposite of what he stands for that he will begin to really do battle with you. Of course he is going to show you the fools gold of sin prior to your coming to Christ because he wants you to think that you are in possession of the best things that you could ever have. We should be living such holy, God-fearing, and God-glorifying lives that the world should be able to look at us and the things that we are doing in the name of Christ and say, “There is someone different. Praise God for someone like them!” Our testimony is far more than just our words; they are our actions! The Apostle John says in 1 John 3:18 “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” We can’t just talk the talk, we need to walk the walk. The world is not going to care what you know until they know that you care. Are your actions totally in line with the Gospel? Do you do everything as a message of the transforming love and grace of Jesus Christ? Jesus says in Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” You have not been saved to stay the same. You have been saved to make an impact on your culture. John Stott wrote, “Jesus calls his disciples to exert a double influence on the secular community, a negative influence by arresting its decay and a positive influence by bringing light into darkness. For it is one thing to stop the spread of evil; it is another to promote the spread of truth, beauty, and goodness.” It is one thing to call out the world’s sin; it is another thing entirely to promote the spread of holiness. Christians often seem to only be good at one or the other but we really need both. We need Christians that are not afraid to call sin, sin and to call men and women to holiness. We need Christians that aren’t afraid to hold themselves to the very standards that they hold to others. We should be living such impressive lives for the Gospel that when the world starts to feel a sense of desperation that they come to us and the Lord for help! This is exactly what happens to Jonah. Jonah 1:4-6 “But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”” Do you see what this pagan individual is doing? He basically says to Jonah, “Look around at all that is going on and tell me why you are doing nothing? Do something! Pray to your God so that we may possibly stay alive!” The world is begging for Christians to do something! The answer to all of life’s problems is not less Bible. It may not look like it but deep down the world is crying out that we would act and we need to notice what is going around us. Christians, we are not saved to go live in a commune away from the rest of the world. We are to be in the world but not of the world. We need to recognize the world is broken and that recognition should propel us to Gospel work. James Montgomery Boice has this wonderful quote where he says, “Even a Christian is not allowed to ignore reality forever.” Are you going to choose to ignore what is going on around you? Are you going to ignore the great need of not just this hour but every hour? What are we to do? What do we do now? 2 Timothy 4:1-5 may give us the answer. Paul writes:

2 Timothy 4:1–5 ESV

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Each and every Christian has a ministry and God has called us to fulfill it. He has called us to proclaim the excellencies of our Savior so that those who are in darkness may see His marvelous light. We are to always be ready. There are no off days for the followers of Christ. We are called to be patient with others as God is patient with us. We are to understand that the world is full of sin and that they day is coming and is already here where people will do all they can to refuse sound teaching and embrace sin and heresy and myths but as for us believers, we are different. We are to stand firm. We are to plant ourselves firmly on the Chief Cornerstone and not be swayed by the wind and weight of worldliness. We are to be sober-minded, we are to endure suffering, we are all to do the work of an evangelist because the great commission is for all believers, not just pastors and missionaries. We all have a work to do and we are going to look at the work in greater detail this Fall as we go through the book of Acts together. I hope that this week has been beneficial to you. I know that we haven’t gotten to talk about everything that I wish we could have talked about but I trust that the Lord has used our time together to accomplish exactly what He wanted to accomplish. As always, we are here to pray with you and talk with you, we’re here as a shoulder to cry on if you need one, and the leaders and I live you more than you could possibly imagine. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer and then we will worship together again.