The People of God (1 Peter 2.9–10)

Peter is teaching about the identity and purpose of the church. He explains that believers are chosen by God, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God's special possession. This identity is not based on ethnicity or social background, but on God's grace. Peter also quotes from the book of Hosea to emphasize that believers were once not a people but have now received God's mercy. The church's purpose is to declare God's praises and bring others out of darkness into His light. Let's open our Bibles in the first epistle of Peter. And today, this morning, we are going to finish that paragraph that began in verse 4 of chapter 2. First Peter, chapter 2, verse 4, all the way to verse 10. But this morning, we are going to mainly spend our time looking at verses 9 and 10. As I've told you, this is a single paragraph that begins in verse 4, which we have begun to study about two or three weeks ago. And we will conclude it this morning. But the whole paragraph is a single thought. Peter is writing a theological discussion about the church. And sometimes we have misconceptions as to what the church is. Or we don't understand what's the purpose of the church. And that's why Peter writes this portion of Scripture, particularly because believers in his context are suffering persecution. They're being ostracized. They're being rejected both because of their ethnicity, because of the reality that they are a minority group where they are. I know maybe that doesn't sound something that you would like to hear, but that is the truth. They are literally foreigners. They are migrants in the places where they are. And they're being ostracized for that reality. But also because of their faith, because they belong to the body of Christ, to the church. And in that context of difficulty, persecution for the things that you believe, but also because of your social background, you may start having some questions, an identity crisis. I don't know you, maybe when you are young, but if you are a normal human being with convictions, you have had an identity crisis. I have had maybe not one, but two or even three identity crises when I was at college. I started going to church. I didn't grow up in a Christian home, but I started growing to church when I was about 12, 13 years old as a teenager. It was a way of escaping home, finding another place. And then, you know, I like church. I met friends and different people that cared for me. But then I went to college and there was my first identity crisis. Is this thing about Christianity true? I mean, after all, there are so many religions. What gives us the right to claim that this is the only truth? So, I went through this process. I had many of my professors who were very smart people. They thought that religion was in and of itself a creation of society. We needed to create a figure, a divine figure. It's not that it exists, but we needed it because it makes us feel better. So, I began to question my faith. That embarked me in a journey of research when, for the very first time, as a young adult, somebody who was in college, I decided to look into the facticity and the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, unlike many of you who were taught, this is what the Bible says and you listen and you believe and you do that because the Bible says so, unlike many people who are raised that way, I was not raised that way. Just because the Bible says it doesn't make it true. That's how I felt. Otherwise, it is a circular argument. The Bible is true because the Bible says it's true. And that just didn't seem to be rigorous. There has to be something else. And for me, it boils down to the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus truly rose from the dead, if he truly rose from the dead and we can make sense, critically, of the data, then the most difficult thing that a human being could ever do, he did in fact, which would show to me that he is God because that's how he claims. His deity is confirmed by his resurrection. But not only that, that would tell me also that if he was truthful in one of the things that is the most impossible thing to do, well, then I am compelled to believe everything else he has said that require less power, to put it that way. So that was my journey during that time of identity crisis. I began reading, researching, not just what the evangelicals wrote, but different things. And I came to the conclusion that the resurrection is indeed a historical fact. When you put all the facts together, unless you have a prejudice against supernatural things, then the best hypothesis that makes sense of the data is that Jesus rose from the dead. So that's where my faith became strong. I went to seminary after that, became a pastor. But then I began my studies of PhD where a second identity crisis happened. Because I was brought in a sort of fundamentalistic way of studying the Bible, where everything was black and white. And I realized that the black and white things are actually very few. There's a lot of gray areas in life, even in the scripture. How do we make sense of those things? And then I realized that that's actually God's way of dealing with us. And I went into a journey that I think you have been benefited by that. We had a lot of discussions about things that you yourself have questions. But we all go through that. And the church Peter is writing is going through that identity crisis. So Peter is writing this epistle to make them help understand who they are. And what does that mean? And what are the implications of that? And he touches on that particularly on verses 9 and 10. In the first part he introduces that the church is like this drawing temple. Then he talks about the cornerstone of the church. Because you cannot have a temple and a building and a church without the cornerstone, our Lord Jesus Christ. So he writes, as you come to Him, the living stone rejected by humans, but chosen by God and precious to Him, you also, like living stones, are being built into spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. Often spiritual sacrifice is acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in scripture it says, see, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone. And the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe this stone is precious, but to those who do not believe, the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for. But, let's pay attention to these two verses. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Let us pray. Dear God, thank you for the opportunity we have now to study your word, to meditate about it. Thank you, Lord, that not only have you saved us, but you've made us part of your family, part of the body of our Lord, and we are members with one another. Help us to fulfill the purpose for which you have created us, the purpose for which you have saved us. Amen. In verse 9, after having talked about the cornerstone, Peter returns to his readers and proceeds to contrast them with those who have rejected the stone, those who refuse to believe in Jesus. His purpose in this verse, using language of the Old Testament that depicted the nation of Israel, is to describe the identity of the church and to explain the reason why they have received this identity. In Peter's theology, the identity of the church cannot be separated from the purpose of its existence. Thus, in this short text, Peter will answer three fundamental questions. The first one is, who are you? Who are you, plural, as a community, as Christians? Who are you, but also individually? The second question that he is going to try to answer is, how did you become what you are? And the third question is, why were you made what you are? So, let us begin then by examining this first question, who are you? Peter will answer this question variously because our identity is not a simple but a complex one. Because our identity, that is our Christian selfhood, is not defined in terms of what we are in and of ourselves, but in terms of what God does to us and the relationship He creates with us and the destiny He appoints for us. His answer to this question cannot be a simple answer. His answer must be a complex one which encompasses a variety of features, characteristics, which speak about the gracious action of God in our lives. So, to the question, who are you? Peter's first answer is, you are a chosen people. Right? He says, but you are a chosen people. You are a chosen people. Now, what's the implication of that? What is he saying? Well, what Peter is saying is that our identity as a people group, as a community, if you want to even use this word, as an ethnic group, in quotes, it's not really, but the word translated here is really race. You can translate it as a chosen people or a chosen race. What he's saying is that our identity as a people group is defined by the attribute of chosenness. I don't know if that's an English word, but that's the nice thing about English. You can make up different words, right? I like to make up words. It's part of the research aspect in life. You just make up words. Your attribute, what defines this group, this community, Christians, this growing temple, what defines them is the attribute of chosenness. What gives us our identity is not color or culture. It's God's divine act of choosing us. It is His divine act of election. Christians are not the Caucasian or the African-American or the Hispanic or the Asian or the Jewish or the Indian race. No, Christians are not that, that at all. To be honest, it is a heresy to speak of that white church or that black church or that Hispanic church. That is not what defines the church. Christians are the chosen race. We are the black chosen, the white chosen, the yellow chosen, and the red chosen. Out from all the races, we have been chosen. Not on the basis of belonging to any group, but on the basis of God's grace and mercy. So to the question, who are you? The first answer Peter gives us is that you are a chosen one. You are someone upon whom God looks down with grace and with love. Irrespective of your background, irrespective of your ethnicity, irrespective of your social environment, you are a chosen one. And you are a chosen one not because you are better than other people or because you deserved it, but because of the grace and mercy of God. Peter will also say that you are a royal priesthood. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood. This phrase means that the people of God constitute a group of priests belonging to a king. As a believer, you are a priest, not just any priest, but a royal priest. Now you might be wondering, what does that mean? When you think of a priest, you probably, your head starts thinking maybe about Catholic priests or maybe Orthodox. They are strange people that put these strange clothes. They look, I don't want to be that, right? Well, that's not really what priest means. We have to have the Old Testament background here as we examine this passage. A priest is someone who serves God. The fact that you are a priest means that you have uninterrupted direct access to God. That really is what he is saying. When he says you are a royal priesthood, he is saying that you have uninterrupted direct access to the king. Not only that, you are also a means to other people to access the king. Because that's what priest did. You see, in the Old Testament, the priest was the person designated by God to intercede for the people and to bring sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. Only the priest had the privilege of coming to God. The people of Israel could only approach God through a priest. However, since the sacrifice of our perfect high priest on the cross, everything has changed. Whereas in the Old Testament, this privilege was restricted to one of the tribes of Israel, that is the tribe of Levi. This privilege is now extended to all of the members of God's chosen people. You can now approach God directly and you yourself can offer sacrifices to God. This is what he said in verse 5. You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That's what it means that you are a royal priesthood. You can approach God directly by yourself. You don't need an intermediary other than the high priest Jesus Christ. You can bring your sacrifices to him. Of course, that does not mean that you have to bring the sacrifice for sin. No, a sacrifice for sin is not necessary because this was done by our high priest. Our Lord Jesus Christ. He offered the only sacrifice that was required for the forgiveness of our sins on the cross. Yet you can bring sacrifices to God. And the writer of Hebrews speaks of different kinds of sacrifices. A sacrifice of praise, a sacrifice of confession, a sacrifice of good works. As a priest, you have direct access to the King of Kings and you can also intercede for others in the church. So sometimes you feel, you know, many of you have come to talk to me, maybe not using these words, but some people have. They approach me saying, you are the pastor. Pastor, could you say a prayer for me? You know, I think the Lord will listen to you. I don't know what it is, you know. Yeah, I'm nothing special. I'm just a sinner as you are. You actually have direct access to God yourself. You can come to Him. You are a royal priesthood. You can bring your offering to Him. That's part of your identity. You are a chosen one and you are a royal priest. But that's not all. Peter continues and states that you are also a holy nation. You have been chosen by God and you have been made a priest of His royal kingdom. What this means, therefore, is that you are no longer part of this world anymore. You are set apart for God. In other words, you exist for God. That is who you are. And since God is holy, you are holy. You share His character because He chose you and made you a priest to be in His service. Because He did that, you must also be holy. If you are going to serve God as high priest, you have to be set apart for Him. You have to act in a manner that is consequential to your identity. I know you are tired of listening. My grandfather used to say, remember the name. Every time I was going to go out or do something, remember the name. He's worked so hard his entire life to build a reputation for his name. That we better not tarnish that name. My grandfather didn't have any wealth. He was a simple man. But his name was very important to him. Who he was. The reputation he built. And he wanted us to honor that. That's what it means that you are a holy nation. You share the character of God. And He made a priest to His service. So you must be holy. You've been set apart. Therefore, you have to act in a manner that is consequential to your identity. 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 a holy one. But there is one more thing that Peter says. When you think about it, it's really surprising. Because I would not expect this. Why? Well, because this is an expression that God has used throughout the Bible. Exclusively, only to refer to Israel. Actually, all of these expressions we just read were used only in relationship to Israel. But this one is particularly special. Peter says that you are God's special possession. Now, I'm going to say something that some of you might sound scandalous. But it's not. In one sense, the church is the new Israel. That does not mean we replace Israel. Israel has a future. God has prepared and promised different things that await fulfillment. But in the Old Testament, Israel was the apple of His eye. Israel was God's special possession. He chose them from the other nations. But now He uses these words to refer to the church. You are God's special possession. Now, God owns everything, right? Do we agree on that? He owns everything. So, everything is God's possession. So, the fact that Peter says that you, the church, are God's possession must mean something different. And because of that, the NIV adds those words, special. Because the word special is not in the text. The text literally says, you are God's possession. But you are a possession. You are a different kind of possession than the rest of the universe. There's something peculiar about you. The original text here conveys the sense that the church is a particularly significant and precious possession to God, and therefore the object of His special care. You are God's inheritance. Think about this treasure. A few weeks ago, Matthew and Lucas, and Christa too, they like to play pirate and things like that. And Matthew really, really wanted a treasure box. You know, whatever. It was so important to him. So, I went to Amazon and something quick. Treasure boxes, like, for whatever. And there was this little one made out of plastic. It was very important that this treasure box had its own lock with its key. It had to have a lock. So, I bought it and all of that. And he was so excited. The most precious and important things were going to go into this treasure box. I was thinking he was going to put, like, maybe, I don't know, toys. No, he puts his dragons that he makes out of paper on that. That's his most precious possession. He makes cuts of paper that look more like wands. He calls them dragons and all of that. That was so special to him. All of you have something like that. And this is the point that God is doing here. You are that special treasure of God. That's what he's saying. You are the ones he aims to spend eternity with. When God says in 2 Corinthians 6.16, I will be their God and they will be my people. What he means is what he said before at the beginning. I will live with them and walk among them. Isn't that amazing that God actually is excited to spend eternity with us? That we are God's special possession is that God considers the church his treasure. In like manner to Israel, the church is the apple of God's eye. So to the question, who are you? Peter's answer is you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God's special possession. That's our identity. And God has made us who we are so that the world may know who he is. There is two more questions that we need to answer. But don't worry. Those two questions are very short. Because we need to define first our identity to understand the other question. The second question is, how did you become what you are? Now, to answer that question, I'm going to have to jump to verse 10. And then we'll come back to verse 9. In verse 10, Peter writes, Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Now, if you are a little bit familiar with the Old Testament, you will know that these words are a collection of sayings from the book of Hosea. One of the prophets in the Old Testament. A little tiny book. Not so tiny, really. It's the largest book, really, among the minor prophets. Now, these words, which Peter quotes, summarize the central theme of the prophet's message. Namely, the compassionate love of God toward a people group that did not deserve his love. If you know a little bit about the book of Hosea, you will know that Hosea has a terrible familial experience. Hosea marries a woman who later becomes a prostitute. She abandons the prophet and she goes to do all sorts of immoral stuff with other men. She becomes a prostitute. Before that, Hosea had a couple of children. A daughter, Luami, which means not my loved one. And he has another son, which he names Lorumi, I believe, which means not my people. Now, what God tells Hosea is, these are the names you will give your children so that you remember that that's exactly what the people of Israel have done. The story of Hosea at the beginning is a very sad story because the real life of the prophet in his home is a picture of what's happening in Israel. But then, God tells Hosea, I want you to go rescue your wife from that life of prostitution. And I want you to bring her back home and take her back as your wife and love her. I want you to do that. The prophet does. He goes. He rescues his wife, if you read the text, who was in a terrible condition. She couldn't come out of that home on her own. She needed rescuing. He takes her back. He loves her back again. And it is in this context that God uses the family situation of Hosea to illustrate what he does with Israel. Like Hosea took his unfaithful wife, so did God did with Israel. So, in verse 23 of chapter 2, the prophet writes, or these are the words of God. He says to the prophet, I will plant her for myself in the land. I will show my love to the one I called, not my loved one. I will say to those called, not my people, you are my people. And they will say, you are my God. Peter, in like manner to Paul, by the way, in Romans 9, uses this scripture, which was originally referred to Israel, to express the fact that the church, composed of Jews and Gentiles, was now the people of God and the object of His mercy. Thus, the answer to the question, how did you become what you are? Well, the answer is, through the mercy of God. That's how you become what you are. You are God's chosen people. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, because He loved you. Because of His mercy. Like Hosea, who went and took his wife, from that life of destruction and immorality, and took her back and loved her. That's what God did with us. He chose you. He loved you. He had mercy on you. That is why Peter writes, once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you have not received mercy, but you have received mercy. If you've done something wrong in your life, really bad, and the person against whom you've done the wrong, has forgiven you, you know what it means to experience mercy. I have. First by God, but then by others, who love God. So, how did you become what you are? Through the mercy of God. It is because of His mercy that God has made us who we are, so that the world may know who He is. The mercy of God is not a treasure that we selfishly keep hidden from others. The mercy of God is a treasure that is meant to be generously spilled all over, so that as many as are willing are benefited by God. Yes, we are a holy nation. That is, we are set apart from sin and for God. But that does not mean that we are engaged, or that we are not engaged with the world. We are meant to make the Lord known to the world. And that is the answer to the last question. Why were you made what you are? With the following words, Peter answers this question. Verse 9. That you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. As you can see from Peter's answer, and as I said at the beginning, you cannot separate your identity from your purpose in life. As a Christian, you cannot talk about your identity without talking about the action of God on you. The relationship of God with you, and the purpose of God for you. The biblical understanding of human self-identity is radically God-centered. God made us who we are, so that we might declare the praises of Him. Or, I would argue a better translation, the excellences of Him. That is to say that God has given an identity to us, so that we may proclaim the excellency of His freedom in choosing us. So that we may proclaim the excellency of His grace in calling us to serve Him as His royal priest. So that we may proclaim the excellences of His worth and purity in making us holy. So that we may proclaim the excellences of His authority and power in making us His special treasure. In other words, God has given us our identity in order that His identity might be proclaimed through us. God made us who we are, so that we could make known to the world who He is. Our identity is for the sake of making known His identity. The meaning of our identity is that the excellency of God may be seen in us and through us. That is why I've been saying that God has made us who we are, so that the world may know who He is. And as I said before in other sermons, let us make sure that we try very hard to become that which we are already. Let us strive, let us pray to God that we may become that which we already are. We have been made, we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. And we were made that so that the world may know the praises and the excellences of God's nature and identity. Let us pray. Dear God, thank You for Your Word and this opportunity that we have to meditate upon it. May everything that we do be to the praise of Your glory. May everything that we do cry out to people, communicate to them the excellences of Your nature, of Your personhood, of Your own identity. May we honor, may we remember the name. May we never forget Your name as we relate with others. Amen.