1 Peter 2:9-12
How to Avoid Spiritual Amnesia
Intro: Much of who we are is rooted in our memory. There is a sense in which the
loss of memory is a type of death. As followers of Jesus Christ, our identity is
also rooted in our memory of the past. When we
forget – in whole or in part – what God has done for us, we suffer a kind of
spiritual amnesia, or a spiritual Alzheimer's disease, which leaves us
tragically weakened. Worship is God’s remedy for spiritual amnesia. Every
worship service announces & celebrates what God has done for us in Jesus
Christ. The memory of grace makes us more alive in Christ. As people of
Celebration, we keep the memory of salvation alive
through the symbolic reenactment of God’s works of grace.
One of the great benefits of having a dog is the increased awareness that I am
not one. I look at our dog, Riley, & think for a moment that she is kind
& forgiving & humble & patient & loving & warm & gentle
&
happy & peaceful. Then I realize he's a dog! He does not know or reason or
feel or judge like I do. He does not prize anything because of its true worth --
its relation to God. He doesn't know where He came from.
He doesn't reflect on her identity & wonder who she is or what it means
ultimately in God's scheme of things to be a dog. He doesn't think about why
He's here & doesn't know where He's going.
He is a wonder, & can call forth amazing affection. But he is not a human
created in the image of God. And as I think about him I am amazed at my own
humanity. And at the incredible wonders of the humans I live with. To be alive
as a human being with indescribable mysteries at every turn, & to have in
front of us an eternal destiny of spectacular glory or inexpressible horror is a
weight that can either press you down with fear & trembling or bear you up
with joy unspeakable & full of glory.
Whether it does the one or the other depends in large measure on whether you
know the answer to the big basic human questions or not. Who are you? How did
you get that identity? What are you here for? No dog or turtle or fish or
squirrel or bird or dolphin or chimpanzee ever lost one night's sleep pondering
those questions. Only humans ask these questions. Only humans kill themselves
& kill others when they don't get
true & satisfying answers to these questions.
Not often do we find such resoundingly clear answers to these questions in such
a small space as we do in this text this morning. Who am I? Why am I here?
1. In Christ we share a unique personality (Who am I?)
A. We are a chosen people (9a)
Illus.. Choosing up sides – Remember when you were a kid, when everyone would
line up in front of two captains? One member of the group had the honor of
always being chosen first. Others were always chosen quickly because of their
athletic ability. Some were also chosen near the end, but they were chosen. Then
there usually was one who was left out. One captain would say, “You take
him.” The other captain would say, “No, you can have him.” Maybe you were
that person neither team wanted. Maybe you were the first one or the second or
the third one chosen. Either way, you know that being chosen is significant.
Being chosen is a very important matter.
This reference speaks to the grace of God.
Jews – Deut 7:7- God did not choose Israel because they were a great people.
Us – Jn 15:16- God did not choose you because you are great.
He chose Israel & He chose us because He loves us!!!
This is God’s loving initiative, bringing the church to Himself.
We are kind of like a special species. God has chosen us for a special purpose
& we have responsibility & as a child of the King of kings, we should
bear a family likeness.
We are chosen – That’s wonderful – A chosen people
B. We are a royal priesthood (9b)
What does Queen Elizabeth have to do when she gets up in the morning to be the
Queen of England?
Nothing! She is the Queen! No matter what she does, she still remains the Queen.
The text says the same about us. We are royalty. Specifically a royal priest –
Never used to describe the Christian ministry. It
identifies the corporate function of all believers. Rev. 1:6.
This means we do not need anyone else to go before God for us. A priest is
someone who goes directly to God & says, “It’s me God.” He has
permission to enter into the presence of God. We can also take others
into the presence of God. This too is a part of who you are. God calls you to
introduce other people to him. That is part of what it means to be a priest. All
believers are priests!
You are chosen by God & royal priests to God. The point here is first that
you have immediate access to God -- you don't need another human priest as a
mediator. God himself provided the one Mediator between God & man, Jesus
Christ. You have direct access to God, through God. And, second, you have an
exalted, active role in God's presence. You are not chosen, possessed, &
holy just to fritter away your time doing nothing.
You are called now to minister in the presence of God. All your life is priestly
service. You are never out of God's presence. You are never in a neutral zone.
You are always in the court of the temple. And your life
is either a spiritual service of worship (Rom. 12:1-2), or it is out of
character.
C. We are a holy nation
“Nation” commonly refers to Gentiles.
We are called to reflect the character of God.
Holy=set apart for God’s use
Being holy doesn’t always feel good. Smart kids figure out that it is not okay
to be too smart. It’s good to be athletic. It’s good to be popular. Being
bright & making better grades than everybody else can get
you called names. Some kids even pull their grades down to fit in. (Sad
commentary)
It’s a good thing to be bright, but it doesn’t always feel good for kids to
be bright. In the same way it is a good thing to be holy, but sometimes being
holy feels like being peculiar. Sometimes it will not
feel good, but we are set apart. We are different. It does not mean that we
cannot relate to the world. Jesus was holy & related to an unclean world.
We are called
To understand the world
To reach the world
You have been chosen & pitied & possessed by God; & therefore you
are not merely part of the world any more. You are set apart for God. You exist
for God. And since God is holy, you are holy. You share his character, because
he chose you, pitied you, possessed you. You are holy. If you do not act in a
holy way, you act out of character. You contradict your essence as a Christian.
For your identity is holiness to
the Lord: you are holy.
D. We are a possessed people
The effect of that mercy -- is that God takes you to be his own possession. Now
God owns everything. So in one sense everyone is God's possession. So this must
means something special. And, of course, it
does. You are God's inheritance. You are the ones he aims to spend eternity
with. When God says (in 2 Cor. 6:16), "I will be their God & they will
be my people (my possession)," what he means is that "I will
dwell in them & walk among them."
We have a higher citizenship. Phil 3:20 Citizens of a holy nation that doesn’t
have geographic boundaries.
We have a higher calling
So you can see that your identity -- the question , "Who are you?" --
leads directly to the question, "What are you here for?". Your
identity leads to your destiny. You are chosen, possessed, & holy -- all for
a purpose -- to minister as priests. And the heart of that ministry Peter
describes for us very clearly.
Peter says this in a summary statement at the end of verse 9. He refers to God
like this: "Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light." The light we live in his the light of our being chosen
& pitied & possessed & holy & priestly. And the way we got there
is that God called us. He called us out of darkness into this marvelous light.
2. In Christ we have a clear purpose (9-11) (Why am I here?)
We exist to declare His praises. This is opposite of the world view which
dictates that we live for ourselves. We seek to get what we want.
We reveal the praises of God to a lost world
We are an advertisement for the virtues of God
We are an advertisement for the blessings of the Christian life.
We remember what He did for us.
We need to make Him known for the noble acts of God in history
He brought us out of darkness into light.
We need to think about this.
Name the darkness that God brought you out of.
Now praise Him for what He has done
You might be saying, “I became a Christian when I WAS EIGHT, AND I DIDN’T
GET INTO THE DARKNESS VERY MUCH.” But you know your nature. What is the
darkness in which you would be experiencing if you did not know Him?
Give him praise for the new life he has given you. That means telling others
what He has done in our lives. That means testifying to the difference he has
made in us.
Illus. Doug Nichols, the International Director of Action International
Ministries, made the excellencies of God known in a tuberculosis sanitarium in
India in 1967 -- he was a missionary with Operation Mobilization & got TB.
He was in the sanitarium for several months. He tried to give tracts &
copies of the Gospel of John away, but no one would take them. They didn't like
him & assumed he was a rich American.
At one point for several nights he would wake up coughing at 2 AM. He noticed a
little old emaciated man trying to get out of bed. The man couldn't stand up,
& began to whimper. He lay back into bed. In the
morning the stench in the ward was terrible & everyone was angry at the old
man for not containing himself. The nurse who cleaned up even smacked the old
man for making such a mess.
The next night the very same thing happened. Doug woke up coughing with his own
terrible sickness & weakness. He saw the old man try again to get out of
bed. Again he couldn't stand, & began to cry softly. Doug got out of bed
went over to the old man. The man cowered with fear. But Doug picked him up with
both arms & carried him to the bathroom which was just a hole in the floor,
& then brought him back. The man kissed him on the cheek as he put him down
in bed.
At 4 AM another patient woke Doug with a steaming cup of tea & made motions
that said he wanted a copy of the booklet -- the Gospel of John.
Through that whole day people kept coming to him & asking for his booklets
even though he could not speak their language.
In other words one way to declare the excellencies of God is to act them out.
When we act out the excellencies of God, people will hear them with even greater
eagerness. Which is just another way of saying that our identity -- who we are
-- is for the sake of God. God made us who we are
to show the world who he is.