Peter’s Pen 1st Peter 2:20-25

1Pe 2:20-25  For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.  (21)  For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.  (22)  He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.  (23)  When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.  (24)  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  (25)  For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Let me cut to the chase:

(21)  For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 

Any questions?

Mat 5:11-12  "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  (12)  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Peter’s Pen 1st Peter 2:9-10

1Pe 2:9-10  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.

We are:

·         a chosen race  [family, lineage, stock]

·         a royal priesthood [a priesthood as a fraternity, a body of priests]

·         a holy nation  [the sense of nation, people, as distinct from all others]

·         a people for His own possession [a people acquired or purchased to Himself in a peculiar or unique manner]

In order that:

·         you may proclaim the excellencies of him

o   who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

We are a specific “called” and “commissioned” people.

Please note that we are NOT just called that we might be saved – we are called and saved that we might serve Him and “proclaim” [make widely known] His excellencies.

Now, that proclaiming might be verbal, written or it may be in feeding or clothing.  It may be just listening – but it is for the purpose of proclaiming the truth about Him and we need to consider making that clear.  Something on the order of, “I do this in service to the God who has redeemed me and made me His own.”  Or perhaps just “4 Jesus.”

My point is this.  We are not to serve Him by “stealth.”  Proclaiming His excellencies shouldn’t be a “hidden” agenda.  When proclaiming His excellencies is an “ulterior” motive, it is no motive at all.

A friend of mine has posed the question “Can we use deception in order to be able to proclaim His excellencies”?  In other words, if the government of a country bans Christian missionaries – do we present ourselves as just well diggers or food providers?  If a country bans the Bible, do we violate its laws by smuggling Bibles into the country?

NO – you’re not going to get a definitive answer here.  This is a great matter of discussion and one about which we all must spend time in prayer and examining our consciences.

But – we are to proclaim His excellencies – to make them widely known - which is getting to be a little dangerous even in our nation. 

Where do we get the “oomph,” the moxy to do this?  Of course – from Him.  But, we can go to Him confidently because:

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.

Please notice that once we were “not a people.”  We were all a part of different families, ethnic groups, cultures.  We were all what men call “different races,” (thank you Darwin ;-{ ).  We were “not a people.”

But God didn’t just call us together and tell us, “You are now a people.”  What He did do is call us and tell us, “You are MY people.”  That is a point we need to really get in our heads.  WE are HIS people.  AND we are His people who have HIS mercy (of course His grace as well).

I think that this is cause for joy – which I describe as a sanctified humility and thankful pride.  A pride in Him.  Pride?

Pride:  καυχάομαι, kaucháomai:  To boast, glory, exult, both in a good or bad sense.

Indeed, we should boast, glory and exult in Him, for Him and about Him.  That is our commission. 

Rom 8:3-4  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  (4)  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Today we struggle with, “Who are His people”?  All the denominations, sects, septs and other groupings of believers cause us to be cautious, which is not a bad thing.  But the bottom line is determining who “we,” is:

1Co 12:3  Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit.

Yes, I know, anyone can “say” that but when the rubber meets the road or we listen to what else they say, we can, by the power of the Spirit, discern if they are SAYING that or just mouthing the words.

Let’s pray hard that we will learn to and be bold to proclaim His excellencies – and remember it is all about Him!