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!

Peter’s Pen 1st Peter 2:4-8

1Pe 2:4-8  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.

First, a little about “rocks.”

Mat 16:18 

·         And I tell you, you are Peter > Greek word petros – a piece of a rock – a “throwable” rock.

·         and on this rock  > Greek word petra – a mass of rock from which a “petros” is broken off

                I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.               

1 Peter 1:4

·         “a living stone”  Greek = lithos = the size of stone the Temple was built of.  Note:  The smallest stones weighed between 2 to 5 tons and the largest stone of them all – possibly the largest building stone in antiquity – is 13.6 meters long, 4.6 meters thick and 3.3 meters high, and is estimated to weigh 570 tons.

1 Peter 2:5

·         “you yourselves like living stones”  Greek = lithos

In all of this passage the “stone” is “lithos.”  A big monster of a stone.  Even today archeologist wonder at how the stones of the Temple were cut, moved and fitted with such incredible precision.  These are are Ginormous stones!  

Christ is the stone.   As believers in Christ, Peter says of us that:

1Pe 2:5  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.

“WE,” individually and collectively, are being built into a “spiritual house.”  Huh?  Well, we all know what a house is but the word here carries the idea of “family home.”  The “family” part is very important!

The “spiritual” aspect of this “house,” may cause some consternation; it may seem vague or unreal.  But it simply means, “dominated by the Holy Spirit.”  It is not physical although there is a physical aspect to it (we have “bodies”).  Rather, the controlling influence, the head of the household if you will, is the Holy Spirit.  Most times when we read the word “spiritual” in the Word, this is what we’re being told. 

We are intended to be a, “holy priesthood.”  This, too, can be chewy.  We are not that familiar with priesthoods today.  But praise God, we have the example in the Old Testament which gives us great detail about the role and responsibilities of the priesthood.

Now Christ is our High Priest so if we are priests at all, it is in subordination to Him.  We “serve” Him and we “serve” His people (of course it’s weird that we all are priests so we all serve one another.)

We are “holy.”  Oh yes, in Christ we are; His blood has made us so.  We are “set apart” by Him for Him.  We are separated, consecrated and devoted to the service of God, sharing in His purity and abstaining from earth's defilement, all by the blood of the Redeemer and High Priest.

Our “role” as priests is to, “offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  Again, keep in mind that “spiritual” means dominated, controlled, directed and protected by the Holy Spirit.  What we do of our own volition and under our own feeble strength is “carnal” or fleshly.  So we see that attention to the role and influence of the Spirit in our lives is very necessary – actually, essential.

What of these “sacrifices”?  Well, the idea behind the word is exactly what you would think – sacrifices.  There is no way to get around the element of death when we read sacrifice.  The two are one.   But we need not get all creepy about this connection.  Death or “mortification” is part and parcel of our walk.

Rom 6:3-8  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  (4)  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  (5)  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  (6)  We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  (7)  For one who has died has been set free from sin.  (8)  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Rom 8:5-6  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  (6)  For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Col 3:3-5  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  (4)  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  (5)  Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Gal 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The Col. 3 passage is perhaps the best picture of these sacrifices.  We are to be putting to death all that is “of the flesh.”  It used to be called, “the mortification of sin.”  We, by the grace of God and through the power of the Spirit “sacrifice” all our fleshly (self) assurance and desires to Him and for Him. 

Tough job – right?  Yes, it certainly is.  When I consider the day-to-day sacrifices in the Temple, the rivers of blood that flowed, the burning, the constant activity, I appreciate the massiveness of the work we have been given to sacrifice.  Praise God we are only called to sacrifice or kill our flesh/sin.  He made the ultimate sacrifice so we may make all these others.  But He does not expect us to do it by our own power – indeed He would be a cruel Master if He did.  Rather, He places us in that state and provides us with all we need to work with Him as He works in and through us.