Priority: Witness
Good morning, Main Street Church! If you have a Bible take it out and turn to 1 Peter chapter 2 as we dive into the text that Pastor Ryan just read.
This is the 2nd sermon in a new summer series called Priorities where each week we spotlight a specific priority that we want to encourage and cultivate in our church.
And last week Pastor Ryan got us going with what is probably the most foundational priority and that is worship.
When our lives are grounded in worship..when we make much of God… when the dispositions and affections of our hearts are directed towards Him… we find that it is THEN that the hunger and thirsts of our souls is truly satisfied. Because that’s what we were made for.
But for many the worship of God is the whole of their Christianity in the sense that it’s a “me and God” attitude. I’m saved, forgiven, I have a relationship with God…I’m going to heaven…. I’m good. And that’s where our Christianity stops.
But when we look at the Scriptures, it doesn’t stop there. In 1 Peter 2:9-12, God gives you the grand and glorious purpose for which He has called you to. He gives you the reason why you exist as an individual and why we exist as a church.
We learn that while we are made for worship we are also made for “witness.” To witness is… to borrow some words from Pastor Ryan, “showing the supreme value of Christ to fallen people and a fallen culture.”
And my prayer this morning is that as we grasp God’s spectacular vision and calling for us to be his witnesses…it will transform how we see and do everyday life personally and corporately as a church family.
Now to help us embrace that vision the apostle Peter tells us about three things….our present identity…our past position… and our glorious purpose…
Our present identity (who we are)
Before talking about witness, Peter tells us about our identity, which is important because what we do inevitably flows from our understanding of who we are.
Peter is writing to Christians scattered throughout the first century Roman Empire… Many of them previously found their identity in being a Roman citizen… worshipping Rome’s gods… and being integrated into that society.
But that changed when they became Christians in a world that was growing suspicious and hostile towards the Christian faith. Local persecution, discrimination, slander, and mistreatment of believers was on the rise.
It wasn’t that you weren’t allowed to be a Christian… you could believe in whatever god you wanted as long as it didn’t clash with the Imperial agenda, cultural norms, and the accepted morality.
And with the controversial belief that Jesus…and not Caesar was Lord… believers were finding themselves marginalized and on the outside….increasingly feeling like they were not at home.
That may sound familiar. We aren’t 1st century Rome…but if you’re trying to follow Jesus… and your allegiance to Him is increasingly putting you at odds with our culture…. you’re going to feel more and more like an alien and outsider in this world and the Scriptures are telling you that that is normal Christianity.
But that’s not the whole story. Whatever kind of life and identity we had before coming to Jesus does not compare to the honor and privilege we have in our new identity… and this is where Peter goes to encourage us…
He says…
…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession… (1 Peter 2:9)
Now what does that mean? Peter is using language soaked in the old testament… Those descriptions were given to the nation of Israel …. Who was chosen by God to be His representatives…who had an access and relationship with God that nobody else had.
Now what’s amazing is that Peter, a Jew, is writing to an audience that… probably the majority… are Gentiles…non-Jewish… not ethnically or racially connected to Israel… and Peter is taking language that described OT Israel and he is applying that language to them. That would have been stunning for a Gentile to read…stunning for a Jew for that matter!
But Peter, along with the other NT writers, sees Israel not as replaced, but rather reconstituted around Jesus the Messiah and expanded to include believing Gentiles along with believing Jews… and therefore sees NT Christians as the inheritors of the mission and purpose of OT Israel…
And it is on that basis that Peter takes that old familiar language from books like Exodus and Isaiah and he turns not only to these 1st century believers, but he turns to YOU…Main Street Church…. and says,“you are a chosen race.”
Now when we think “race” we typically think skin color… or culture… or country…
But Peter is writing to an ethnically diverse people… Gentiles…Jews… different cultures…different native languages…
And so Peter is not talking about a people defined by color or culture or country…. But a people defined by creed. By a common belief in and allegiance to the Lord Jesus and His gospel. In fact, by the second century Christians were becoming known as the “third race”… Their prime identity being neither Jew…nor Gentile… but something that transcended the old lines and boundaries.
Peter you’re a royal priesthood. Royal because we belong to King Jesus. And we’re part of priesthood. Now…when we think of a priest a lot us think of a special guy with a special collar who has special access to God.
But the Scriptures are telling you that everyone who is part of this chosen race is a priest.
We offer up sacrifices of praise and worship and service to God…. We are God’s representatives on earth…. With an access to God that no one else enjoys….not through our own goodness but through our relationship with Jesus the High Priest.
But there’s more… Peter says you are part of a “holy nation.”
And again we need to shift our thinking. We tend to associate a “nation” with a group defined by physical land with borders and a geopolitical entity…or a common language…
But that’s not how Peter defines this nation that you’re a part of… so what defines THIS nation? He says THIS nation is holy. Set apart by God for His special purposes… distinct in it’s lifestyle and practice… Unlike the visible nations you see on the map… THIS nation reflects the very nature and character of God Himself. And it’s not limited to borders…or language… or culture…. This holy nation is to be made up of people from all nations… it’s to be global…in this world…but not of it…
And then Peter says you are a people for His own possession.
And we know how much God treasures us as His possession because of the price He paid to get us. He paid for us with the infinitely valuable blood of His Son.
So Christian brother and sister, consider the honor and dignity God has bestowed upon you by paying such an infinitely high price.
The world may not value you…but God does. You may feel unnoticed by others…but God has noticed you. You may not think you’re special… but you are a treasured possession of God’s. The rich, the famous, and the powerful do not know you… but God, the King of the Cosmos knows you… and you need no one else’s favor if you have His.
Brothers and Sisters this is our incredible, privileged identity.
Now knowing that we are God’s chosen people…part of royal priesthood…and a holy nation could cause us to become prideful which would totally undermine our effective engagement with the world we’re called to reach. That’s why it’s so helpful that as Peter talks to us about witness, grounding it in our identity, he also will keep us humble.
It’s important to know who we are…but it’s also important to remember who we were…and so Peter reminds us of…
Our past condition (who we were)
When I was a kid I dreaded playing sports…not because I didn’t like playing… but because of the pre-game ritual of choosing people for teams. I was a chubby little runt of a kid and not very athletic… and I always got chosen last or next to last. It was always the strong kids, the tall kids, the super athletic kids that would get chosen first.
That’s how it works in the world of sports…or business… or in almost every other endeavor… people get chosen because of inherently good and worthy things in themselves.
And it would be easy for us to carry that mindset over into the spiritual realm. Peter tells us that we are a chosen race… and that could cause our heads to swell.
But there’s nothing that Peter says here that should lead us to believe there was anything commendable in ourselves that God would chose us….as if we were just really wonderful, awesome people and God couldn’t resist us and He just had to have us on His team because we’re so great.
Bursting that bubble, Peter teaches the opposite. Notice at the end of verse 9 Peter says that you were in darkness. Darkness speaks of our ignorance, our slavery to sin, and the impending divine judgment we deserve. And the fact that God had to call us out of that darkness implies that without Him calling us, we would have remained in that pitiful and wretched state.
What’s more in verse 10 Peter says,
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
(1 Peter 2:10)
Peter again is reaching back into the Old Testament … this time it’s the book of Hosea…where we learn that God called the prophet Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman named Gomer who was constantly forsaking her husband and going after other men. And this served as a living parable…a living illustration… as Hosea represented God and his wife represented unfaithful, wicked, covenant breaking Israel who constantly forsook God to chase after other gods.
And Gomer bears two children and God tells Hosea to give the children particular names to represent things to teach Israel… the name of one child is translated to be “not my people” and the other child’s name means “no mercy.”
Which speaks to God distancing Himself from wayward Israel…essentially says you aren’t my people… you don’t have my mercy.
And so when Peter turns to us and says “once you were not a people…and once you had not received mercy”, he is identifying Main Street Church with wicked, wandering, unfaithful Israel who has stabbed God in the back and betrayed him time and again.
Friends God did not find us as people who were stellar, and clean, and honorable, and good. He found us as wretched, and treacherous, dirty, and guilty. Nothing commendable in us to God.
And yet if you follow the story of Hosea… he pursues, forgives, loves, receives, and redeems his wayward wife. And God says in Hosea 2….
…I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”
(Hosea 2:23)
And Peter says that this is OUR experience… we weren’t chosen by God because we were good. We were chosen by God because He is good…and it was His good pleasure to lavish His redemptive mercy and love on us though we did not deserve it… and so Peter reminds you, Main Street Church,
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
(1 Peter 2:10)
Yes, let us embrace and appreciate and revel in our current status before God, but let us never forget where we came from. And as we grasp those two realities…then we find ourselves ready to pursue…
Our glorious purpose (what we do)
Again in verse 9 Peter says
“…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
(1 Peter 2:9)
Now it will be helpful yet again to consider the OT backdrop that Peter is thinking about. Old Testament Israel….
At one time was in captivity…in horrible slavery to Egypt…And God miraculously rescued and redeemed them from bondage, overthrowing the might of the King of Egypt. And why? To fulfill God’s very special purpose for them. God says to Israel…
"You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."
(Exodus 19:4–6)
In other words Israel was to be uniquely distinct and radically different from everyone else.
While the pagans descended into idolatry and immorality and violence and debauchery and injustice... Israel was to abstain from those things and live counter-culturally.. they were to demonstrate and reflect the very character, wisdom and ways of God to the surrounding nations that didn't know God.
Not for the purpose of isolation, but for the purpose of invitation. So that the surrounding peoples would notice the special relationship they had with God...they would see how great God was... and they would be amazed and drawn in to know God themselves…
This is what Moses is getting at when he tells Israel in Deuteronomy 4…
…I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them ...for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who...will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law…
(Deuteronomy 4:5–8)
Similarly, the prophet Isaiah writes that,
The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.
(Isaiah 42:21)
Do you get the point? Israel was not to blend in…but to stick out and be attractive to others...they were to be a light… a beacon... drawing others to join them…in placing their hope in God.
In short, Israel was redeemed from slavery for the purpose of witness.
And likewise God has redeemed you and I from the bondage of sin…calling us out of darkness… for the purpose of witness.
To proclaim and draw attention to His excellencies…His greatness…to show Christ’s supreme value…
And how do we do that? We do it by our lips and through our lives.
With our lips we speak forth and proclaim how great is our God. We do it every Sunday… and any unbelievers who come here will hear much proclamation about God’s excellencies… and may come to know God as we do. In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul envisions an unbeliever walking into a Sunday gathering, and when he hears the word of God powerfully proclaimed…,
…falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
(1 Corinthians 14:25)
That can happen… and we should pray that happens every week here. And if you’re an unbeliever we’re excited you’re here and we want that for you. But let’s be honest. Many unbelievers will never darken the door of a church… and are we only to proclaim his excellencies on Sunday?
Surely not! In fact, one difference between God’s people in the OT and today…is that in OT Israel the main emphasis was “come and see.” Come and see what God is doing and join us.
But now the activity of God isn’t constricted in a theocratic nation state, but in a spiritual holy nation without borders… and so instead of “come and see”, the emphasis is now, “Go and tell.” When the risen Lord commissions His disciples and by extension us, He says,
…you will be my witnesses…to the end of the earth.”
(Acts 1:8)
And to be Jesus’ witness means telling the truth about Jesus. That He is supremely excellent and glorious! Generous in mercy! Supremely satisfying! That He is like treasure hidden in a field that a man found and sold all that He had to get that treasure.
That to have all and lose Christ is ruin… but to have Him while losing all means untold riches!
Do we talk about Jesus this way to people? When is the last time you’ve done so to someone who doesn’t know Him?
And if you’re getting convicted right now… welcome to my world. I’ve been wrestling with this all week as I’ve been preparing for this message. And this is not meant to make you feel guilty…but to remind us all of why we’re here… why God redeemed us….
If God has put unbelievers in your sphere of influence… in your workplace your neighborhood… your family… none of those things are by accident… they are instead opportunities that God has deliberately placed in your life to proclaim His excellencies.
And ultimately, the way we proclaim His excellencies is by telling people about the excellent gospel. The same gospel that brought us out of darkness and into light…making us His people.
The gospel that urges everyone to turn from their sins, repent of their rebellion, lay down their weapons, and receive King Jesus for all that He is. For
…there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
(Acts 4:12)
Well we are to proclaim His excellencies…to witness for Jesus…. not just with our lips… but our entire lives are to show forth His glory.
That’s where Peter takes us next…
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
(1 Peter 2:11)
Just because we’re now Christians doesn’t mean we’re beyond temptation. Indeed sometimes when you’re really trying to follow Christ…the temptations rachet up… as if the devil and the remaining sin in our hearts are working overtime to drag us back into our old life…
and then combine that with pressure from the culture beckoning us to conform to their ways…the 1st century Christians felt this acutely…In fact Peter says that non-Christians…
…are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;
(1 Peter 4:4)
Friends sometimes it can feel like it’s just easiest to fall in to sin to relieve that pressure… to accommodate to the prevailing culture… and be accepted by them instead of maligned…
But Peter urges you not do that…He says those very sinful passions… whether that be lust or greed or pride…whatever it may be…those things that are promising you life… are actually waging war against your soul and are seeking to destroy you. You will not find life going back down that path.
But we’re not just to abstain from those things for our own sake… but for the sake of others. He says in verse 12,
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable…
(1 Peter 2:12)
Now it’s fascinating that Peter says “the gentiles.” Because again much of his audience are Gentiles… but here Peter uses “Gentile” not in a physical sense to describe ethnicity…but in a spiritual sense to describe non-Christians…which is a not so subtle way of saying that all believers have become part of the True Israel of God… not Israelites genetically…but in the way that counts… through union with Israel’s Messiah…Jesus Christ.
But beyond that, Peter is saying in verse 12 that…
While the Christian's response to the culture cannot be accommodation… neither can it be isolation… Peter assumes that Christians, as God’s ambassadors, will actually be engaging and interacting with the world in a way that our conduct can be seen and noticed…. And that we should cultivate reputations for being people of integrity…
That’s why for the rest of the book Peter will talk specifics about how we are to engage with a wicked, anti-God society…which includes humble submission to government authorities we may not like or agree with…
Counteracting the slander and gossip about them by actually being good citizens and neighbors…even doing good to those who mistreat us. In chapter 3 Peter encourages Christian wives to be a witness with their lives when their words fall on deaf ears…he says,
…be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct.
(1 Peter 3:1–2)
And a little later he says to all Christians…
… honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
(1 Peter 3:15)
Notice again Peter is assuming that Christians will not withdraw from the culture but actually are interacting with and engaging with it to the point that unbelievers actually see you living with so much hope they’re going to ask you about it.
They don’t get depressed reading your social media posts as you grumble and complain about life. They notice you’re not all gloom and doom…in constant fear… because you haven’t let yourself be discipled by fox news and cnn. You recognize the world is hard and you rightfully mourn and grieve over it… but at the same time you’re not in despair because of the hope and treasure you have in Jesus.
Those attitudes are SO obvious that people are coming up to you and asking you why you’re not like everyone else…why do YOU have hope?
And so as you witness with your life… it opens a door for you to witness with your lips. To point people to hope in God. And that’s our ultimate goal…
Peter says,
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
(1 Peter 2:12)
…again… Peter presupposes something… and that is that you are publicly identifying as a Christian. A follower of the one true God. Nobody is going to glorify God just because they think you’re a nice person. Somehow they are connecting the dots between our behavior and our God. Otherwise people will just think you’re a good atheist…or a nice Muslim.
But the Bible is assuming we’re living lives where we aren’t shy about our identification with Jesus.
Now let’s be honest… in our current culture it is real tempting to stay in the shadows, and keep our heads low…and not rock the boat. Why risk offending? Why risk losing a relationship? Or being called an intolerant bigot? Brothers and sisters let’s admit that it can feel easier to hide what we are… but that is antithetical to who we are, and the glorious purpose God has given us… Jesus says,
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
(Matthew 5:14–16)
Friends, you do not exist for yourself. The reason you exist is for your words and deeds and character to put on display God and His supreme worth. Or to put it another way, the reason you exist is to make God look really good!
And some are put off by that… There are people who are very offended by the God-centeredness of God because it sounds unloving…
And it is unloving… if what the world needs the most is something other than God at the center of all things.
But the fact of the matter is that because God IS so loving… He will not offer us anything less than the very best thing He could give us which turns out to be….. Himself.
There is nothing that satisfies like God… that brings joy like God… that provides life like God… our hungry and thirsty hearts were made to be filled up by God and nothing else will satisfy those cravings.
Indeed Jeremiah 2 likens any attempt to find fulfillment outside of God as drinking from broken leaky cisterns that do not satisfy…If God were to hide Himself…and urge us to NOT put Him in the spotlight and proclaim His excellencies to the world…it would be the most cruel thing He could do. But instead, God says,
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food….come to me;… that your soul may live…”
(Isaiah 55:1–3)
And so the most loving thing for US to do as God’s chosen people is to join God in exalting God…to proclaim Him… to put Him on display… As priests we should be pointing all people to the fountain so that they may receive life and refreshment as we do.
This is the connection between worship and witness. We worship God because we find Him immensely worthy and satisfying… and we witness because we love other people and want them to discover what we have discovered as they join us in making much of God!
I love what John Piper says…
“Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Missions is our way of saying: the joy of knowing Christ is not a private or tribal or national or ethnic privilege. It is for all. And that’s why we go. Because we have tasted the joy of worshiping Jesus and we want all the families of the earth included.”
Our hearts resonate with the Psalmist who said,
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy…Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
(Psalm 67:4–5)
This is why Andrew and Allie are committed to pouring out their lives to students at BSU…it’s why Josef and Maggie and others from our church just went to the Middle East to consider spreading His Word abroad… it’s why Roslyn and our children’s ministry volunteers pour themselves into kids…it’s why many of you in your workplaces and neighborhoods and families deliberately identify yourselves with Jesus seeking opportunities to proclaim His excellencies…
It’s why I would be remiss to not say right now that if you don’t know Christ… then you are lost in darkness…you have betrayed and forsaken Him and you are not among His people.
But that can change right now. God sent His Son Jesus into the world to live the righteous life you couldn’t live…and to die the death you deserved to die… He did it as a substitute for sinners like you… and He was raised to newness of life to give life to all who would turn from their sins, receiving His sacrifice as sufficient payment for sins. If you trust in Him, not only will you find yourself forgiven and free from God’s judgment…
You will be counted among God’s chosen people… and you will find Jesus superior to any other thing you’ve been chasing after to give you life. And if you want to know more… I know any Christian here would be delighted to talk with you… we’ll all be chomping at the bit to proclaim His excellencies to you!
Brothers and Sisters, when we witness… we are living according to our present identity…serving as royal priests in a needy world.
When we point people to Jesus, we’re not acting as if we’re better than anyone else…we know our past condition… who we were and what God saved us from. And so when we tell people about Christ we are simply beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.
….that the hope and joy they desperately crave is found in God and God alone…to be a part of making much of God to the nations is our glorious purpose…
This is why you exist Main Street Church….
“…you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
(1 Peter 2:9)
As we move from the sermon into a time of response… this is a good time to prayerfully consider your own witness… what might it look like for you to proclaim Christ’s excellencies to those around you?
It’s going to look different for different people. A person who spends 50 hours a week in the office will have a witness that looks very different than a stay at home mom with toddlers… or a retired person…or a high school student…. or someone who is physically weak due to chronic illness…
Being a witness could look like sharing your faith on campus… or fighting for faith and joy in Jesus as you lay in a hospital bed… or helping a despairing friend to turn their eyes back to the God who is our only hope….
There are almost endless ways to serve our priestly role of proclaiming His excellencies… if you need help determining what that looks like for you…. Pastor Ryan, myself, or any leader here would be glad to talk to you more anytime…
And as I invite the worship team to come and play instrumentally… take this time to respond to however God may be moving in your heart right now… you can pray silently… you can use the qr codes in your bulletin and on the screen to respond through sharing prayer requests, or by giving tithes and offerings or getting in touch with a pastor or elder if there’s any way we can serve you…
And afterwards we’ll partake of communion. If you’re a believer, taking the bread and the drink is a way of proclaiming His excellencies…a way of declaring that you trust in Christ's broken body and shed blood to save you.
So in a moment we’ll begin singing… at that time feel free to come and get the communion elements at the various stations in the room…also feel free to pick up your children in the foyer… and we will then all partake of the communion elements together after the song is done…
