Sermon Central
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1 Peter 2:9-17 Series
Contributed by Michael Collins on Jul 2, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: Peter reminds us of the new amazing identity we as believers now have in Christ. He goes on to caution us that the only way we are going to silence those who seek to condemn us is by our Christian conduct and our submission to governing authorities.
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9But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
After telling his readers about the plight of those who reject the Gospel message of Salvation, Peter then compares them with the believers and says, “But you are a ‘chosen generation.’ By the word chosen, he means that God has Himself chosen us to belong to His family. All it took on our part was to believe and trust in His Son Jesus. God called all people to believe in His Son Jesus but only those who responded to the invitation, were chosen to belong to His family.
He then uses another word in conjunction with the word, ‘chosen’ – it’s the word, ‘generation.’ It seems like those who believe in Christ are being referred to as a new generation, which is quite different from those generations of the past, because we who belong to this new generation are now appropriating the Salvation that the Lord had planned over so many generations. This new generation has the potential to create a new world as it were, where love, joy, peace, holiness, justice and mercy, and everything that reflects God’s character, can reign. None of the generations that existed from the time of creation until the time of Christ, had this privilege of experiencing Salvation like the generation that Peter was addressing, which includes us. Earlier generations had only heard that Salvation was coming, but had never experienced it like we have - hence the words, ‘chosen generation.’
Peter then uses another pair of words to describe the church – ‘royal priesthood.’ We know that Jesus is the King – not just of the Jews, but of the whole world, and though we haven’t begun to see the full extent of His reign yet, we know that when He returns, He will do so as ‘King’ and ‘Judge.’ We who have put our faith in this King, have been included as children of the King, which makes us royalty as well. Let’s never forget that. No matter how the world looks at us, in God’s eyes, we are ‘royalty.’
Not only are we royalty, but we also belong to the ‘Royal Priesthood,’ where Jesus is the Great, Holy, Innocent, Perfect, Undefiled, Merciful and Faithful, High Priest, and all we are priests. Just as the priests of the Old Testament offered sacrifices, we too offer sacrifices, but while they offered dead sacrifices, we now offer our lives as living sacrifices, unto God through Jesus, the Great High Priest.
Peter goes on to describe us The Church, by referring to us as a ‘Holy Nation.’ The word, ‘Holy,’ refers to being ‘set apart.’ We as believers are now set apart from living sinful lives, and are now set apart to God - to live lives that are led by His Holy Spirit. Earlier, we lived any way we wanted. We did not have the ability to say, “No” to sin. But now, because of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us, we do have the ability to say, “No” to sin. As God is set apart from sin, we His children too need to be set apart from sin as well. But not only are we to be set apart from sin, but we are also called to be set apart to God.
He adds another word along with the word, ‘holy’ - it’s the word, ‘nation.’ Here Peter is actually using the same words that God used in Exodus 20:6, when God told Moses to say to the people of Israel, “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Though we as believers in Jesus are not confined to any one nation on earth, we belong to a nation that is both invisible and yet eternal, where Jesus is King.
Peter goes on to refer to believers in Jesus as ‘God’s own special people’ - a term that was used by God concerning the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 7:6, which reads - “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth,” and again in Deuteronomy 14:2, it says - “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” The Lord looks at us the same way He looked at the people of Israel, whom He first chose as His people.
