We are a chosen people – we are a body of people chosen by God for one special and unique purpose and that is to declare the praises of God who has called us out of darkness and into his wonderful light. On the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit filled the disciples and in many ways really created the church, the very first thing that happened was that the followers of Jesus began to declare to the world all the wonderful works of God. It says in Acts 2:12 that people from around the world heard the disciples speaking about God’s deeds of power in the own native language. So what from the very moment the church was formed, her purpose was to share with the world the truth of God’s amazing grace and power and love. We are to proclaim to the world that it is through the love and grace and power of Jesus Christ that we have been brought out of darkness and into the light of a new life.
Now the reason we are make this difference is so that others can also experience the fullness of life that comes when they enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We share what God has done in us so that others can experience the power and love of God in them. If we go back into the Old Testament, we see that this is not just the job of the church, it has always been the job of God’s people. From the moment God chose Abraham and made the promise to make him into a great nation – a holy nation and a chosen people you might say – their job was to be a blessing to the people around them, look at Genesis 12:2-3.
All the families of the earth were to be blessed through the nation that was chosen by God to come forth from Abraham.
This purpose for God’s people was affirmed again in Isaiah 42:6-7. The people of Israel were to be a holy nation who would not live for themselves but be a light to the nations and the people around them. They were to draw them out of the darkness of this world into the light of God’s love. The purpose given to Abraham and to Israel is now extended to the followers of Jesus. We are to declare God’s power and love to the world and not just talk about how our lives have been changed as we have come to experience the fullness of life with Christ – but we are to invite and call others into this wonderful place of faith and trust in God.
Now what I like about Peter’s letter is that he doesn’t just tell us what our purpose is, he shows us how to become this in the world today. If we want to become God’s chosen people then there are things we need to embrace and things we need to reject. What we need to embrace is spiritual milk that will nourish us - look at 1 Peter 2:2.
This spiritual milk is the word of God. If we look back just a few verses to the end of chapter 1 we see that before Peter talks about spiritual milk he has been talking about the word of God which endures forever. It is the word of God which nourishes us. It is the word of God which feeds us and strengthens us and so we need to embrace God’s word and make it an ongoing part of our daily lives. So how do we get to that place where we actually long for, hunger or crave the word of God because many times reading the Bible seems more like a chore, it’s more like eating broccoli and brussel sprouts that rich creamy milk? Can we even get to that place where we really do long for and enjoy reading God’s word? I think we can, but it will take some discipline and maybe some new ideas.
If reading the Bible is a chore for you, or if it has become a stale and dry exercise then try reading it at a different time, or in a different place or maybe even from a different translation. A number of years ago there was a new version of the Bible that was published and it was written in more of a contemporary story format and so I decided to read the history of the Old Testament not as a study, but like a story. I tried to read it like a novel where I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. It made the experience fresh and new and I got to the place where I really did want to just read more. I also don’t think we will crave the word of God until we get to a place where we are experiencing it every day. Once it becomes a daily part of our lives we will want it to continue to be a daily part of our lives and the more we read, the more we will want to read, and the more we read the stronger our faith will become. Like drinking milk, we may not notice the changes, but in time we will grow stronger.
This past week I did the funeral service for Mike Greninger who was the son of Chuck and Gerry Greninger. Chuck and Gerry’s other son, Gene was here for the service and Gene is probably a little taller than I am and I asked him if his brother Mike was as tall as he was and he said yes. So I asked Gene where they got their height because if you know Chuck and Gerry, they aren’t very tall. Gene laughed and said, well Dad had a milk route and so Mike and I would travel with him so everyday we drank a lot of milk, I guess it did some good. If we will drink the spiritual milk of God’s word everyday – it will do us some good, as we read God’s word we will grow stronger in our faith. Studies have shown that the #1 catalyst for spiritual growth is the reading and reflection on God’s word – that is the spiritual milk that nourishes us in life and faith.
Now another way to embrace the word of God is to study it with God’s people. If you think about it, when Peter was writing they didn’t have their own personal bibles so when the word of God was read it was at synagogue or in the temple. It was read corporately where people could later discuss it. It is important for us to read God’s word together and have times to discuss what it means and how we can live it out in our lives.
Now Peter says that we should not only long for the word of God, but we should long for Christ himself. Look at 1 Peter 2:4. We need to come to Christ who is the living stone who gives us life. I love this image of Jesus as a living stone because in so many ways Jesus really is that living stone who gives us life. Think about it, Jesus was laid in a grave – most likely a stone cave that then had a stone rolled in front to seal it. That grave was like a giant rock – completely sealed and without life, and yet from that grave, from that stone – God brought forth life and from that stone God gives us life. When we come to Jesus we begin to find life for ourselves and the most effective way to call others to experience the life we can have in Jesus is to simply live out that new life God gives us with authenticity, power and love. When people see the life of Jesus in us, when people see that we are living stones – that the darkness of our lives has been turned into hope and joy and life – they will want to know more and they are going to want to experience this living stone for themselves.
I invite you to think about how God has brought life or hope or joy into your life. We need to be able to see how God has brought us out of darkness and into life if we are going to be able to share it with others. Maybe the darkness we have experienced was a sense of having no clear purpose in life and then the light God gave was a clear calling to a higher purpose - giving our lives a sense of direction and mission. Maybe our darkness was feeling like there was no worth or value to our lives and the light was understanding that because we are children of God we have value and our lives are important. Maybe our darkness was simply feeling weighed down by the reality of our own sin and brokenness and failures and then the light came when we understood that we are completely forgiven. Whatever the darkness of our lives has been, we need to be able to define for ourselves how God has led us from that darkness into a new life or maybe a better way to say that is how God is leading us from darkness into life because there is still darkness that we struggle with and God works every day to bring us into his light.
So we need to embrace the word of God and we need to embrace the living stone – Jesus Christ, but there are also some things that as a chosen people and a holy nation that we need to reject. Look at 1 Peter 2:1.
What we need to reject are specific attitudes that only work to destroy our relationships with others. Did you notice that all of the attitudes listed here have to do with how we interact with others? Malice is an evil desire to inflict harm or suffering on others. Guile is being deceptive in our dealings with others. Insincerity, envy and slander all have to do with how we put others down or try to make ourselves look better then they and what all of this says to us is that how we treat one another makes a difference to God. As God’s people how we treat one another matters to God. As a holy nation we need to be different than the people around us and part of that difference is to be honest and authentic with one another. God wants us to be sincere and humble and kind. The greatest impact we will make on the world will not be made during the hour or two we are together on Sunday – it’s going to be in how we treat people Monday – Saturday. Our attitude towards others at work, in the community, at the store, at the park, on the roads and watching our children play sports will make the biggest impact for the kingdom of God.
I am amazed sometimes that we think it’s ok to hold on to envy, slander, pride or even malice towards one another either in the church or in the community or even in our family and we think it’s ok, or that God doesn’t really care. The truth is that God can’t use us as his people if we aren’t willing to reject these attitudes. Let me say that again, God can’t use us as us to our full potential if we are not willing to reject these attitudes. We can’t praise God with a heart full of envy or malice, so as we embrace Christ we need to embrace the mind and heart and attitudes of Jesus which means that we need to reject any and every attitude that puts others down.
Now let’s be honest here and say that having this kind of heart and mind and life is not easy – you might say that it is near to impossible, and if we are trying to do this on our own – it is imporssible, but you know, Peter addresses this very issue in this passage. Look at 1 Peter 2:5. It says we are the living stones who need to allow ourselves to be built up – we don’t build ourselves up – we don’t become a holy nation or God’s people on our own, it happens as we allow God to work in us and through us. God is the builder who is able to work in us and through us as we embrace Christ and his word and reject the attitudes that aren’t of God and this happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us.
If we go back to the Pentecost story, it was the Holy Spirit that worked in the disciples and helped them declare the wonders of God in many different languages. The followers of Jesus didn’t do this on their own, they simply allowed themselves to be filled and used by God. Are we willing to allow God to work in us? Are we willing to allow God to work through us as his people? To become God’s people we need to not only embrace Jesus Christ and his word and reject all the attitudes that drive us apart, but we need to allow ourselves to be built up and filled and then used the Holy Spirit of God. So let us become a holy nation, a royal priesthood, God’s own people by allowing ourselves to built up into a spiritual house of living stones.
