I Peter 2:9-12 Who Are You?

Transcription

1 I Peter 2:9-12 Who Are You?

2 Who are you? I mean, what is your background? Where do you come from? It is your personal history, it makes up who you are today When a person becomes a Christian, all of that changes

3 I. Christians are Vss. 9,10

4 #1 A Chosen People Peter was Jewish and God called the Jewish people his chosen people The entire nation of Israel was chosen by God Now God has a new chosen people, those who put their faith in Jesus God is calling people by the Spirit

5 #2 A Royal Priesthood With the royal priesthood, Peter is adding to the idea Royal has the idea of a body of kings, a royal household Revelation 5:10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth

6 #3 A Holy Nation Holy means to be different, different from the rest of the world But like God the father It also means to be set apart for a special work of God

7 #4 A People Belonging to God Belonging means that God completely owns us God gives us salvation, eternal life. He gave us a new life He makes us kings and priests

8 These lead us to declare the praises of God Because God has adopted us as sons and daughters Made us a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a people belonging to God, yes, these are reasons to praise Him

9 There is a theme in the Bible of light and darkness There are mine tours in upper Peninsula Michigan copper mines And you start out and there are lights all the way down the cave But then the tour guide says without the lights it is dark

10 We all came from somewhere, each of us have an identity But what if you didn t know where you came from. My Dad had always said that he was German and therefore, I thought that I was ½ German, till I took a DNA test

11 Whatever ethnic group you are from now won t get you into heaven What matters is that you are from the people of God-God s family And that means you have received mercy from God

12 In forgiving your sins, God gave you mercy In giving you eternal life, God gave you mercy In making you a child of God, God gave you mercy In allowing you into God s kingdom, God gave you mercy

13 II. Living a Good Life Vss. 11,12

14 To live in a foreign country among a foreign people You see that Americans do things differently We cook food differently, our houses are different, our cities are different. Everything is different

15 Christians are different in the world-holy and therefore we are strangers. God wants his children to act differently The sinful desires are all over in the world Sin wars against your soul

16 But if a Christian is living the good life Living according to how God says we should live Loving our neighbor, kind, caring, helping the poor, providing for our family and many other good qualities That Christian is the best neighbor that anyone could have

17 And may our neighbors, co-workers, friends, family see the Christian s good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us When does God visit us? When would God visit them?

18 The idea is that people will see the good deeds of a Christian s life And that these good deeds will have such an impact on their life That they will be drawn to Jesus That God will begin to do a work in their life

19 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 Pero ustedes son una familia escogida, son sacerdotes reales y son una nación santa. Son un pueblo que Dios compró para que anuncien sus obras extraordinarias; él fue quien los llamó de las tinieblas a su luz maravillosa Bali ninyi ni mzao mteule, ukuhani wa kifalme, taifa takatifu, watu wa milki ya Mungu, mpate kuzitangaza fadhili zake yeye aliyewaita mtoke gizani mkaingie katika nuru yake ya ajabu 然而你们是蒙拣选的族类, 是君尊的祭司, 是圣洁的国民, 是属神的子民, 为要叫你们宣扬那召你们出黑暗入奇妙光明者的美德 Ал сендер өздеріңді қара түнектен тамаша нұрына шақырған Құдайдың қасиеттілігі мен ұлы істерін мадақтап жариялауға таңдалған нәсілсіңдер. Патшаның діни қызметкерлері, Оған бағышталған қасиетті ұлт Құдайдың меншікті халқы болдыңдар!

20 Who are you? I mean, what is your background? Where do you come from? It is your personal history, it makes up who you are today When a person becomes a Christian, all of that changes Because it doesn t matter who you were God makes you into a new person, you have a new family, a new identity And you are changed for eternity I. Christians are Vss. 9,10 These are some of the changes that God makes in your life 1. A Chosen People Peter was Jewish and God called the Jewish people his chosen people The entire nation of Israel was chosen by God Now God has a new chosen people, those who put their faith in Jesus God is calling people by the Spirit God s Word is read, taught and proclaimed And as people respond in faith they become God s people You become part of the family of God, chosen people 2. A Royal Priesthood Last week we saw that every Christian is a priest That every Christian has equal access to God Christians do not need a priest or holy man to speak for them With the royal priesthood, Peter is adding to the idea Royal has the idea of a body of kings, a royal household Revelation 5:10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth So when you become a Christian, you have access to God And one day, you will rule with Jesus on this earth You become a king-priest Since Christians become part of the family of God Sons and daughters of God Jesus is the king of kings We are his younger brothers and sisters So being a part of God s royal family, we will rule with Jesus 3. A Holy Nation Holy means to be different, different from the rest of the world But like God the father It also means to be set apart for a special work of God When God chose the Jewish people in the past, he wanted a holy people Different from all the other nations on earth The Jewish people were to act and live in a holy way They were told over and over to live holy lives, but they didn t do it They needed a heart change, spiritual change And so God sent Jesus to be the Savior And God sent the Spirit to change the hearts of man So the Christians could live holy lives 4. A People Belonging to God Belonging means that God completely owns us It only makes sense God gives us salvation, eternal life. He gave us a new life He makes us kings and priests We are a part of God s Kingdom and so we are God s forever These lead us to declare the praises of God Because God has adopted us as sons and daughters Made us a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a people belonging to God, yes, these are reasons to praise Him And we are really thankful because we didn t earn it God gave us all these things out of his grace and goodness There is a theme in the Bible of light and darkness When a person is living without God, they live in darkness You know what it is like to be in the dark in your home You wake up in the middle of the night and you open your eyes and it is dark. You can t see anything You want a little light so you can see and get to the bathroom Or have you ever been in a cave? There are cave tours in upper Peninsula Michigan copper mines And you start out and there are lights all the way down the cave But then the tour guide says without the lights it is dark And he turns out the light and you can t see your hand in front of your face. The tour was 25 years ago so no one had a phone light After a few uncomfortable moments of darkness some girl or boy screamed. The tour guide turned the lights back on We can t live in darkness, we need the light To be without Jesus is like trying to live in the darkness Thankfully, God called us out of darkness into His wonderful light

21 What is it like to not be a people? We all came from somewhere, each of us have an identity But what if you didn t know where you came from My Dad had always said that he was German and therefore, I thought that I was ½ German, till I took a DNA test And so what my Dad thought was not true He had some German 20%, but he had to be from Norway He really didn t know where he was from When you become a Christian, you are one of God s people That s what is important into eternity Whatever ethnic group you are from now won t get you into heaven What matters is that you are from the people of God-God s family And that means you have received mercy from God In forgiving your sins, God gave you mercy In giving you eternal life, God gave you mercy In making you a child of God, God gave you mercy In allowing you into God s kingdom, God gave you mercy Mercy is something that we don t deserve Mercy is something that you can t earn Mercy is given, God has limitless mercy and he wants to give it to you Will you receive that mercy? II. Living a Good Life Vss. 11,12 You know what it is like to be an alien and a stranger To live in a foreign country among a foreign people You see that Americans do things differently We cook food differently, our houses are different, our cities are different Everything is different Christians are different in the world-holy and therefore we are strangers God wants his children to act differently The sinful desires are all over in the world Sin wars against your soul We constantly have to make decisions between right and wrong And the list of sinful things seems endless And sin is fun for a while and in our old self we want to do sin But God said, no, don t do those things, be different By the way, God is not trying to take away our fun in life God said don t do these things because sin isn t good for you There are always negative consequences when you choose sin God has clearly told us how to live as his children And God has given us his Spirit to teach us right and wrong When we live God s way, it is a good and abundant life Live good lives The Christians of Peter s day were facing persecution The people saw that Christians were different and didn t like it So there were false accusations against the Christians Christians were accused of being against the government, not being loyal to the leaders, drinking blood and many things Christians were innocent but many were condemned to die Just because they were Christians But if a Christian is living the good life Living according to how God says we should live Loving our neighbor, kind, caring, helping the poor, providing for our family and many other good qualities That Christian is the best neighbor that anyone could have And may our neighbors, co-workers, friends, family see the Christian s good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us When does God visit us? When would God visit them? The idea is that people will see the good deeds of a Christian s life And that these good deeds will have such an impact on their life That they will be drawn to Jesus That God will begin to do a work in their life God would visit them and they would become Christians Christians, our best testimony is our good life That people would see that Jesus has changed us So remember, witness to people and sometimes use words But always use good deeds