Celebrating Our Heritage

Of course to be pure is to be holy and to be holy is to be set apart for a purpose which is what Paul is talking about here. And that’s what Peter was talking about. We are God’s Purely Purposeful People set apart to be servants, literally bondservants – which was a slave whose price of freedom had been paid, but once freed he chose to remain under his master to live out the remainder of his life in obedience.

As God’s purely purposeful people, we must put off the flesh, come out from among the world, walk in the Spirit and commit ourselves more precisely to God’s purposes – to the 2 Foundations of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. If we are to be pure and holy it will only come out of an intimate, meaningful, personal, real, dynamic, vital and vibrant relationship with God through being in Christ and Christ being in you. And out of the holiness of prayer, worship and fellowship in relationship with God there will come renewal and revival in your relationship from which will come a lifestyle of discipleship, evangelism and ministry in obedience to the Spirit and purposes of God. As we celebrate our Heritage, finally we do so as:

IV. GOD’S PERSONAL PEOPLE

We are “God’s peculiar people,” Peter writes. And some of God’s children are quite peculiar – wouldn’t you say? But strange, different and unique is not what Peter had in mind. What this phrase means is that Israel was and we are a people belonging to God. The OT has “peculiar treasure” which carries the idea of a special treasure, that is uniquely His. We have a special place in the heart and plan of God. We are a people of His own, a people belonging to God. This tells us we are truly treasured by God. We are a people for God’s own particular possession and purposes. We are God’s special possession that He might possess us and do with us what His perfect will is. Titus 2:14 tells us therefore that we ought to be a people possessed with a passion to be on mission with God – a unique mission.

The Message Bible translates verse 9, “But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for Him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he make for you – from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted." We truly have a great heritage to celebrate. May the Holy Spirit move among us as we celebrate in the spirit of holiness and fellowship.