Just A-Passin' Through--1 Peter 2:11-12 (1 Peter Series)

            Here in our neck of the woods, we live not far from where the old Santa Fe Trail used to cut across the prairie. I did a little research on the trail this week, and I discovered that a number of travel diaries from that time mentioned a popular spot for crossing the Arkansas River that is located just south of where the Ingalls Feed Yard is today.

            Many people crisscrossed back and forth through this area, but today, apart from some ruts in the ground and some towns located where trading posts had been, we don’t see a lot of evidence that they were ever here. One major reason is that our area was not their destination. They came through, but they were just passing through; they were travelers, with their eyes and their dreams fixed somewhere else.

            Today, the Apostle Peter is going to challenge us to consider how we think about ourselves in this present phase of life in a fallen world. Do we live as if this present phase of life is permanent, or do we see ourselves as travelers – just passing through this present time heading onward and upward to a better home? Your answer to that question will make a profound difference in the way that you live your life.

            In 2:4-10, we learned some important things about the way that God sees us. He sees us as objects for honor because of our faith in Jesus Christ. He sees us as members of a holy and royal priesthood, members of a chosen race and a holy nation, a people for his own possession who are called out and called upon to proclaim his excellencies. Now, in 2:11-12, we’re going to receive a strong challenge concerning the way that we see ourselves.

1. What I Am—A Sojourner and Exile

            Notice the tenderness and passion in the first words of verse 11: “Beloved, I urge you.” Peter is writing with the same love and urgency that you might use in speaking to your children about something that’s very important. What is so important to Peter? First of all, that we realize what we are in this phase of life – sojourners and exiles.

            A sojourner is someone who is only in a place for a short time. He doesn’t go to a lot of trouble to settle in, because he’s not planning to stay there forever. An exile is someone who is living outside of his homeland, and often times, he is doing so against his will.

            The nuance in that word gives us an interesting and provocative way to think about our lives in this present phase. It may be appropriate and healthy for us to think of each day of life right now as a day in which we are living here against our will; in other words, that we would really rather not be here, but in our true homeland, which is heaven.

            Remember how the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1 that “to die is gain.” It is gain – it is better than, it is superior to continuing to live in this fallen world. In that same chapter, he also said that “[his] desire was to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” So perhaps when we wake up every morning, our very first response should be to say, with a very heavy sigh, “Oh – I’m still here! I was really hoping I’d be home by now!”

            Perhaps you remember taking trips with your family when you were a child. Sometimes when you were in the car and really anxious to get home, your parents might’ve said, “Just go to sleep for a while, and by the time you wake up we’ll be home.” Sometimes you would try that but you would wake up too soon; you would wake up while you were still on the road. Do you remember what that felt like? Do you remember how disappointing that was?

            If I truly am a sojourner and exile in this world, perhaps I should feel a little bit of that disappointment each day that I wake up here. Let’s call it a holy discontent over the fact that we have to wait one more day to see Jesus. Perhaps that should be our first response every morning, but as Paul also taught us in Philippians 1, that thought can and should be quickly overtaken by the realization that we have so many opportunities to do good in the name of Christ while we are still here. So that disappointment shouldn’t be with us all the time, but if we never feel it, then perhaps we need to reconsider what it means to be a sojourner and exile in this phase of life.

            Now if I view myself as a sojourner and exile here in this world, my lifestyle should reflect that, shouldn’t it? My lifestyle should be different than that of those who do live as if this fallen world is their home, those who have settled down and gotten comfortable with the values of this fallen world and its goals, dreams, and pursuits.

            So here we come to a moment for some very sobering reflection. What does my lifestyle truly reveal? Do I live as someone who has not made this fallen world his home? Think of yourself as being on trial defending the claim that you do live as a sojourner and exile here in this world. Let’s call some witnesses, and think for yourself of what these witnesses might have to say about your claim:

·         What does your calendar have to say about it? Do you spend your time on exactly the same things as those who are at home in this fallen world?

·         What does your storage room have to say about it? What kind of stuff are you carting through this life, and how much of it? If you literally had to take all of your personal possessions with you on a trip, would you look like someone who’s just passing through or someone who’s looking to settle down for a good long while?

·         What does your budget have to say about it? Do you spend your money mostly on things that only relate to this phase of life, or do you spend your money mostly on things that will yield dividends in the next life?

            I want to ask you to give all of these questions some serious thought and reflection over the next few days and weeks. Ask God to help you accurately assess whether you’re living like an exile or whether you’re making yourself at home in this world. We need His help for that kind of reflection because it is so easy for us to fool ourselves and become blinded to the true nature of our lifestyles. So please – do not just set this question aside quickly and easily and go about your merry way. Ask yourself – am I truly living like an exile or am I making myself at home in this fallen and temporary world?

Now that Peter has reminded us what we are, he proceeds to tell us what we should do in light of that fact.

2. What I Am To Do

a. Abstain from the passions of the flesh

            The whole of verse 11 says [READ v. 11]. The Apostle Paul gives us a thorough list of the passions or desires of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, where he writes, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” All of these desires are trying to stake a claim within our hearts in various ways, and notice how Peter describes their efforts – he states that they are waging war against our souls.

            One of the main reasons that we might remain vulnerable to temptations like this is that we do not appreciate the fact that we are in a state of warfare against our souls. We know that those behaviors that Paul listed are wrong and we hope to avoid them, but are we really doing battle against them? Are we really seeking to crush those desires whenever we see them attempting to gain more ground in our lives?

            Just imagine if an enemy were to openly declare war against the United States, yet we did not even go to a heightened state of alert. Would we not be vulnerable to attack? Would we not be foolish to dismiss the danger of someone declaring war against us?

            Then my friends, do not downplay Peter’s warning. Sinful desires are at war against you – the question now is are you at war against them? How do we wage this war? The first step is to maintain lines of communication with your commanding officer – the Lord Jesus Christ. Every soldier knows how important communication is inside a war zone. If a soldier on the battlefield is cut off from communication with his commanding officer, he is in a very dangerous and vulnerable position. He cannot communicate his needs, he cannot ask for help, he will have to make decisions from within the fog of war without the benefit of the big picture of the battlefield and the additional intelligence that his commanding officer has.

            Likewise, it is vital that you remain in communication with the Lord Jesus Christ. If you do not pray daily and seek wisdom from the Bible daily, you will be in a very weak position from which to do battle against your sinful desires. So make sure that you keep open and clear lines of communication with the Lord Jesus Christ through Bible study and prayer.

b. Keep your conduct among unbelievers honorable

            Since Peter has just reminded us that we are just passing through this present phase of life, we could possibly get the idea that it’s not all that important how we act during this present phase of life since it isn’t our true home and we’re not going to be here forever. Think about when you go on a vacation. Usually on vacation, you’re not overly concerned about how you look or how you act because you’re not going to be there forever. You’ll probably never see the people that you run into ever again, so you’re not overly concerned about looking nice or making friends.

            But according to verse 12, we would be wrong to think that way about this present phase of life. Here Peter writes [READ v. 12]. I don’t really have to remind you that increasingly in our own country, we are spoken against as evildoers. We will not embrace the popular idea today that homosexual behavior is okay, and for that reason many people have branded us as hateful bigots. They say we are actually doing evil or wrong by holding the conviction that we do.

            How does Peter call us to respond? By keeping our conduct honorable. We have to show people by our actions that their accusations are not true. We have to show people by the way that we live that we have good will toward everyone – even toward those with whom we disagree.

            I’m not sure if Peter had this exact thought in mind, but I think we have to change people’s minds by our conduct today because many people will no longer listen to our words. Many people have already decided for themselves that our beliefs are hateful and bigoted, so they won’t be very inclined to give our beliefs a fair hearing no matter how clearly and persuasively we express them.

            Clear and persuasive arguments for our beliefs are necessary, but I think more than anything, people are just going to have to see through our conduct that the way of Jesus truly is the way to abundant life – life that is characterized by peace of mind, hope, joy, and the kind of sacrificial love that Jesus himself has modeled for us. People are eventually going to realize that the fruit of an ungodly lifestyle is bitter and poisonous, so we need to be able to show them a stark difference through our lifestyles. We need to be able to show them that the fruit of a godly lifestyle is pleasant and sweet and desirable and satisfying.

            And let us not overlook the purpose that Peter mentions for all of this – that they may see our good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. That statement seems to be a description of unbelievers coming to faith in Jesus Christ because of the example they see in us. We have to remember that our desire for those who disagree with us should always be that they would come to faith in Jesus Christ.

            It is not easy to maintain that kind of mindset when people are throwing unfounded accusations against us. It’s much easier to grow angry and bitter toward them and to take a perverse delight when we see them face the inevitable consequences of sin. But we need instead to follow the example of Stephen from Acts 7. When his enemies were literally throwing rocks at him to kill him, he cried out and said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

            We must ask God to help us maintain a tender heart toward those who accuse us of being evildoers. Otherwise, our conduct toward them likely will not be honorable. It will likely be tainted with anger and pride and perhaps even thoughts of revenge. That kind of behavior is no different than their own, and thus it will have no power to draw them toward embracing Christ as their Savior.

            We are just passing through this life on our way toward a better home and a permanent one. But let us never forget that one of our goals for this journey is to bring as many people with us to that better home as we can. In that sense, we are not supposed to be only travelers through this world but trail guides, calling other people to follow along with us as we head toward the high country to find homes of peace and rest.

Great Faith in the Love of a Mother--Matthew 15:21-28 (Mother's Day Sermon)

            On this Mother’s Day, I would like to look with you at the story of one of the greatest women of faith in the whole Bible. Now, each of you probably has your own idea about which woman I may be thinking of. Some of you are likely thinking, “We’re about to look at the book of Ruth!” That’s a good guess, but that’s not where were headed today. Now that you’ve heard that, you’re probably thinking, “Oh – we’re going to study the story of Esther.” Another good guess, but wrong again.

            I would tell you the name of the woman whose story we’re going to read today, but the truth is the Bible doesn’t tell us her name! In fact, she was a woman who was not even supposed to be alive. Let’s find out about her, shall we? Turn with me to Matthew 15:21-28.

            This passage is in the Gospels, so of course it is recording an incident from the life of Christ. Verse 21 begins by telling us, “And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.” Before we continue, let me explain a bit about why Jesus was headed to that area.

            The district of Tyre and Sidon was north of Israel and was actually a different country. If you think of Israel as the United States, it would be as if Jesus had traveled into Canada at this point. The Gospel of Mark makes it a bit more clear that Jesus had crossed the border at this point in time seeking some rest and relaxation for himself and the 12 disciples. They had been engaged in ministry continuously for some time, and they were beginning to wear out.

            Here’s what Mark 6:30-33 says about that stretch of time: “The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.”

            So they were trying to get a bit of rest, but it was proving to be impossible to get away from the crowds. The same thing happened again just a few verses later in Mark 6:53-55: “When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was.”

            After all this, Jesus decided that they truly needed to get away from it all, so the beginning of this same story in Mark 7:24 says this: “And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.” It’s important for us to realize, then, that Jesus had not come into this area to do ministry, either through teaching or healing. Remember that detail, because it will help us understand what is to follow in this story.

            Back in Matthew 15 now, verse 22 begins with, “And behold.” Don’t rush over that like it some throwaway word! It’s like Matthew is saying, “You’re not going to believe what happened next!” And what did happen next? “A Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.’”

            Two facts in this verse make this whole situation highly ironic. The first is the fact that this woman was a Canaanite. The Canaanites were ancient enemies of the people of Israel. They were the people who lived in the land of Palestine during the time of Joshua and the Conquest, the people whom the children of Israel were supposed to wipe out completely through battle. Now please understand that when God gave that command, he was not being mean-spirited or bloodthirsty or prejudicial. That command was a judicial act on the part of God, who is the rightful judge over all the earth. He was passing a judgment on the Canaanites because they were exceedingly wicked people. Yet the Israelites did not fully obey that command, and so the Canaanites continued to live in various parts of the Promised Land, which allowed this woman to be alive at that time and in that place in order to cry out to Jesus.

            The second fact is that this woman called Jesus the Son of David. If you do a search for that phrase in the Gospel of Matthew, you’ll discover that the religious leaders were outraged when anyone suggested that Jesus was the Son of David because that title connected him to all of the prophecies about the Messiah from the Old Testament. To call Jesus the Son of David was at least the beginning of faith in him, and in the Gospel of Matthew that affirmation was only made by the unlikeliest of people, such as blind beggars on the side of the road and this Canaanite woman.

            But Jesus responds to her in a way that seems a bit surprising [READ v. 23]. Now the sense seems to be that the disciples were saying, “Lord, just give her what she wants and get her out of here! It’s embarrassing having this woman carrying on like this!” What tremendous compassion from the disciples! A lot of concern for the woman, right? Their request basically amounted to, “Lord, use your power to get this nuisance away from us!”

            But Jesus reminded them of something in verse 24 when he answered them, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” That statement might sound a bit cruel or even bigoted to us, but we need to see it from a different perspective. Jesus had not been sent into the world to heal every person on earth at that time who was sick or demon-possessed. Please do remember that, because if that had been Jesus’ mission, then unfortunately we would have to say that he failed, because he never made it any further out of Israel than this.

            His first purpose in coming to earth was to offer to the Jewish people the kingdom that had been promised to them in the Old Testament. That’s why his earliest recorded sermons said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was not his highest mission to heal everyone he encountered, but to offer salvation first of all to the Jews, then the through them to the rest of the world.

            Also, with this response, I have to think that Jesus was setting the disciples up to see something they really needed to see – an example of great faith. Jesus told them several times in the Gospel of Matthew that they had “little faith,” so they needed to see great faith in action. Undoubtedly then, part of Jesus’ intention in verse 24 was to set up what came next.

            Let’s see what did happen next [READ vv. 25-26]. That statement almost sounds a bit rude, doesn’t it? But since it comes from the lips of Jesus, we have to conclude that he did not mean to be rude or prejudicial or hateful.

            I think Jesus was perhaps making that statement as kind of a proverb or a cliché, just like we sometimes say things that wouldn’t be very kind if you took them literally. For example, imagine that you were about to leave your house to run an errand and your spouse said, “Could you run this by so-and-so’s house?” You might possibly say something like, “Sure! If I’m going to go into town, I might as well kill two birds with one stone.”

            Now, you’re not really comparing that other person to a bird, and you’re certainly not talking about killing them! You’re simply using a proverb or a cliché, and I think that may have been the attitude with which Jesus made this statement. The statement itself was really a reminder that the woman did not have a right to ask this question. That didn’t necessarily make the question entirely inappropriate, but she could not lay any particular claim upon Jesus and expect him to oblige her request. In other words, Jesus was stating that she was not entitled to receive a blessing like this, not even in the way that the Jewish people could have made a case for receiving God’s blessings based on his promises to them.

            The woman’s reply revealed her trust in Jesus because she made it clear that she was not coming to him with an entitlement mindset at all [READ v. 27]. Notice how she agreed with what Jesus had said before she humbly made her request again. If I could paraphrase her statement, I think I would say this: “You’re right, Lord! You are not obligated to do this for me, and I can’t claim any right to receive this blessing, but I just know that with you, there are plenty of blessings to go around!”

            In other words, she was asking Jesus to help her not out of any obligation, but out of his mercy and grace. That’s an illustration of saving faith right there! When we ask God to forgive us of our sins, we are not asking for that because we feel we’re entitled to it. Rather, we are appealing to God on the basis of his mercy and grace, which is precisely what this woman was doing here.

            Jesus saw that clearly of course, so he complemented her and granted her request [READ v. 28]. This woman was a great example of faith because she appealed to Jesus on the basis of mercy and grace, not from any attitude of entitlement or obligation. That’s what set this woman apart from about everyone else in the Gospel of Matthew. The Jewish people had come to feel entitled to God’s blessings despite the fact that they were failing to obey him in many ways. But this woman understood the attitude that God delights to honor – an attitude of simple trust in him, through which we simply cast ourselves upon his mercy and grace.

            Finally today, notice how this woman exemplifies so many of the qualities that we appreciate about our mothers. She was persistent in seeking help for her child. She was not going to give up until her child’s needs were met! She was also very humble, and how many times have we seen great humility from our own mothers! They have frequently embraced thankless tasks simply out of their love for us. And many of us have seen in our own mothers examples of great faith in God. Make sure to thank your mothers for these things, and may we all learn from the great example of faith that we have seen in this Canaanite woman.

Walking in Redemption, Not Rejection--1 Peter 2:4-10 (1 Peter Series)

            Rejection is never a fun experience, no matter what the circumstances are. Perhaps you apply for a job and don’t get it; perhaps your friends decide that they don’t want to be your friends anymore; perhaps you express your feelings for a member of the opposite sex but your affection is not mutual; perhaps you audition for something or perform or submit something for evaluation and you don’t get the part or the score you are hoping for.

            Rejection is never pleasant, but when we face it, we need to remember to consider the source. Just who is it who has rejected me? How important is their opinion really, and is it even correct? In times of rejection, we have to remember to assign the most importance to those who have an opinion that truly makes a difference in the grand scheme of things.

            As we’ve been studying the letter of 1 Peter, we’ve been listening in on one side of a conversation between the Apostle Peter and some Jewish believers in Christ who were facing rejection because of their faith. In our passage for today, Peter is going to remind these believers that the reality about them was precisely the opposite of what other people might have been saying about them. It was also precisely the opposite of the way that these believers themselves may have been feeling about their status and role in this world.

            Though they were objects for rejection in the eyes of some people, they were objects for honor the eyes of God. Let’s see how Peter develops this thought today in a way that would’ve been particularly special for these Jewish believers – by appealing to numerous passages from the Old Testament.

1. God sees you as an object of honor and part of a new work He is doing in the world (vv. 4-8)

            Let’s read through these verses first in order to get the full context before we take a bit of a closer look at these word pictures [READ vv. 4-8].

            The main word picture in these verses is that of God building a temple. Temples, both in ancient times and today, are considered to be the dwelling place of a god – or, at the very least, the place where human beings can have some access to the deity who is worshiped in that temple. So the idea is that we as Christians collectively are the dwelling place for the living God.

            According to the text, the cornerstone for this spiritual temple is none other than Jesus himself. Now when we read the word “cornerstone” here, we shouldn’t think of what we sometimes call a cornerstone today, which is usually little more than just a piece of decoration for a building. Modern cornerstones typically make no difference whatsoever for the shape or the stability of the structure, and they may actually be the last feature of the building that’s put in place.

            But in ancient times, a cornerstone was precisely the opposite – it was the very first stone that was laid, so the rest of the building was literally built around that stone. That stone would dictate the shape of the rest of the building, so it had to be a stone that was quarried well to ensure that it set the proper angle for the walls that would be built around it.

            So Jesus is the first and most significant stone in this spiritual temple. Now, to us, that’s no surprise, but according to the text this fact is a bit ironic because Jesus had already been rejected for precisely that role by some other people. Historically, the religious leaders of the Jewish people in the first century – like the Pharisees and Sadducees – were the first ones to reject Jesus, but since that time everyone who has rejected him would fall into this category of those who do not believe, those who have stumbled and have disobeyed the word.

            Now before we go on to look at a twist in this word picture in verse five, let’s step back and make sure we understand what Peter is doing. He is setting up a contrast between two different groups of people – those who believe in Jesus and those who do not. What he’s emphasizing is that the true reality of life is exactly the opposite of what the unbelievers thought it was. They had rejected Jesus; they had considered him unworthy to be the cornerstone for their lives, and so, they had rejected not only Jesus but they were also rejecting those who followed him.

            But in the eyes of God the Father, Jesus was certainly not an object to be rejected because he was chosen and precious. And since Jesus is a person worthy of honor in the sight of God, those who believe in him are likewise considered to be worthy of honor. We are destined for honor according to verse seven, and we will not be put to shame according to verse six.

            So Peter’s basic message to his audience was, “Look – those who have rejected you because of your faith have gotten it all wrong! They think you deserve shame and disgrace, but in the eyes of God – the one whose opinion truly counts – you are honorable and will not receive shame from him, but praise.”

            One application of this message for us is to make sure that we always allow God’s opinion of us to define the way that we think about ourselves, not the opinions of others. Here’s the truth for you to hang onto throughout your life – other people may lie about you, but God never does. So if his word says that whoever believes in Jesus will not be put to shame, that’s the truth! You are not destined for shame, then, but for honor! If other people call you a fool because you embrace Christ, that’s a lie, because God the father embraces him and calls him chosen and precious. Other people may lie about you, but God never does! Everything he says about you in his word is true.

            We need a healthy dose of this today because of the increasing rejection we are facing in our country for following Christ and upholding Christian values. Christian ethics about the family and sexuality are being openly mocked and rejected today, so much so that the narrative in the media and in our wider culture is that you are obviously a hateful bigot if you still live by and promote such values and standards. This situation seems likely to only increase, so we need this reminder today that those who reject us because of our faith and its teachings have gotten it all wrong! Their opinion could not be more wrong, because God, who defines right and wrong and has made reality, considers us objects for honor because of our faith in Christ. We are not and will not be rejected by the One whose opinion truly matters, so even if we have to deal with rejection from others for a little while, we have to remember that their rejection of us is based on a lie, not the truth.

            Now, a moment ago, I mentioned that verse five presents us with a bit of a twist in this whole word picture of a spiritual temple. The twist is this – not only are we the spiritual temple, but we are the priests of that temple as well, able to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. I bet that comment was very significant to the Jewish believers who first received this letter, and they probably appreciated it more than we might – at least initially.

            Within Judaism, most of those Jewish people could not have been priests because the priesthood was open only to members of the tribe of Levi. Only the Levites had that honor – it was not available to anyone else. But within Christianity, every Christian is called a priest, and in this verse, we have that position because we are each able to offer the sacrifices of the New Covenant to our God.

            According to the New Testament, we could say that the sacrifices we offer are the acts of obedience that we perform for God. We do not simply offer animals, but rather we offer our lives themselves as sacrifices, with all of our goals and dreams and aspirations and hopes. We place all of these things in the hands of the Lord and dedicate them to his glory.

            Now why did Peter add this little twist into his word picture? Why did he also point out that we are not only the temple of God but the priests of that temple as well? I think perhaps he did it to show that Christianity is not in any way deficient compared to other religions.

            Christianity was very different from all of the religious activity that surrounded these Christians in the Roman Empire. It was very different from both Judaism and the worship that was practiced for the Greek and Roman gods because – outwardly at least – it lacked the three main elements of worship in all of those religious systems – namely, a temple, priests, and sacrifices. Christianity has no temple, no central place where we must go in order to have access to God. It has no priesthood, at least in the sense of some believers having unique access to God that isn’t available to all believers. And we offer no animal sacrifices.

            Now I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the people who rejected these Christians to whom Peter was writing made fun of the believers for these things. They probably thought that Christianity was deeply flawed because it didn’t have the external trappings of the other religions in the Roman Empire. But according to Peter, Christianity was not lacking in any way compared to these other religions. We do have a temple, a priesthood, and sacrifices, they are just different and in fact superior to the elements of those other religions. Our temple is not limited to just one place; it can be found everywhere! Our priesthood is not just a small group within our fellowship – it is the whole group! Our sacrifices are not offered once and then gone forever – they can be offered again and again, and they have much more power to actually bring about change in the world.

            So despite what these believers may have heard from those who rejected them, neither they nor their religion were deficient in any way. They were objects of honor in the sight of God, and they worshiped in a manner that was far superior to that of everyone else around them.

But not only does God see us as priests to serve Him…

2. God sees you as a messenger of His glory (vv. 9-10)

            I think verses 9-10 would have been deeply moving for these Jewish believers because they are so rich with allusions to the Old Testament. Each of the titles we find here had been used of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament [READ vv. 9-10].

            Peter’s point in these verses is quite clear—as members of the Church, this new spiritual temple, they were living out the role that had been given to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. Remember—these Christians were apparently from a Jewish background. Many of their family members had perhaps been telling them that they had betrayed the people of God by following Christ. But as we saw before, their opinion could not have been further from the truth. They were God’s people precisely because they had embraced Jesus by faith. They were now living as the people whom Israel was supposed to be all along.

            Now lest we think that a passage like this means that God is finished with the nation of Israel, as though He has cast them aside completely, we need to understand that other passages in both the Old and New Testaments teach us that this is not the case. God still has big plans for the nation of Israel, but when their leaders rejected Christ, the nation could not be used by God in that condition. So God has ceased to carry out His work through them for a time, but He will once again use them in a great way in the future.

            Perhaps a sports analogy will help clarify their status and their relationship to the Church of today. Every sports team has its starters, the players whom the coach wants to have on the court or the field for the majority of the game. But if the starters aren’t following the game plan or they’re not performing well, the coach will take them out for a while and put in the subs.

            You can think of Israel as being kind of like the starters. God’s desire for them was that they would follow his game plan, his commandments, and that they would accept the Savior whom he was sending to them. Unfortunately, they chose to reject him, though God in his foresight and wisdom used even that rejection to bring about good, since it brought about the death and resurrection of Christ.

            But since the people of Israel did not follow God’s game plan, He has put them on the bench for a while, so to speak. Today he is accomplishing his work through people who are defined not by a single ethnic identity but by faith in Jesus Christ. We are presently carrying out the role that was meant for Israel, but just as every coach wants to get his starters back in the game, God has plans to carry out his work through Israel once again.

            So we are not permanent replacements for the nation of Israel, but for now we have been given this great task that is laid out at the end of verse nine – to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. This is why God has called you and me and put us into the game, so to speak. This is his intention for his great work of salvation in us – that he might also do a great work through us.

            These privileges we have of being destined for honor and of being a special people in the eyes of the Lord have not been given to us just for our own benefit and enjoyment. With these treasures comes a tremendous task – the task of being God’s messengers and ambassadors in this world. How keenly are we aware of the excellencies that God has put on display by calling us out of darkness into light – traits like his goodness, justice, holiness, mercy, grace, and love.

            Christian, never forget – other people may lie about you, but God never does! They may reject you for your faith and thus communicate ideas about you that are not true. So do not walk in that rejection; do not let it define the way that you think about yourself. Rather, walk in redemption. Live as a child whom God treasures and wants to use to do a great work in this world. Look at yourself at all times in that light, and then live to proclaim the excellencies of the one who has called you into that light from out of the darkness.