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1 Peter 2:9-10

Simon Says – Part 12

From the words of the Apostle Peter, this message focuses on the church: what we are, what we do, what we have become and why this matters.

NOTES:

Simon Says – A Study in 1st Peter

1 Peter 2:9-10

Dave Spooner – Mosaic Rockford – April 12th, 2015

 Intro:

  • Connect back to the Spiritual house that God is building with the cornerstone and capstone being Christ.
  • Each one of us is a part of the place that the presence of God dwells. We are living stones being built into a Spiritual house
  • This Spiritual house is called the “church”. The buildings we meet in we have come to call the church, but the truth is we are the building or the church – we don’t need a building to be with God.
  • Peter goes on to focus on what we are, what we do, what we have become and I am going to talk about why this matters.
  • It is important for us to understand these things about who we are as the church – so that with this perspective we will confidently engage the world and build God’s kingdom.
  • In contrast from verse 8 where Peter writes about people who stumble over Christ because they disobey the message, he says this about us, the church.

1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 What we are

  • Chosen People
    • This points to the sovereignty of God
    • You have been selected / elected / chosen
      • You did not come into the kingdom by accident
      • Means that you have purpose and value – that you are loved and needed
    • Royal Priesthood
      • Royal – there is honor and authority
      • Priesthood – there is sacredness is representing people to God and God to people
    • Holy Nation
      • Ultimately – are true nation is from another place – Where Jesus is the King . . .
      • We are ambassadors – representing that nation to the nation we are in
      • We have dual citizenship – and our loyalty needs to first be to the kingdom of heaven
    • A People belonging to God
      • Then if we belong to God . . .
        • We are not our own . . .
        • God – what do you want done with . . . time, money, location, effort . . . all I have is yours
        • Ultimately all this is yours – in this way we say, to live is Christ and to die is gain . . .
          • Matt 10:39 whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
  • So we are these things so that you may declare the praises of him

 What we do

  • Declare the Praises of him
    • The emphasis is not on the declaring but on the praises
    • Declaring
      • in the sense of making know, publishing, making public, celebrate
      • Give credit to the origin as a messenger . . . .
    • The Praises
      • To lift up, to raise up, the excellence of God – build his reputation
        • We do this by telling stories
        • We do this by intentionality of communication
          • 20 years of marriage, or kids, or this church . . . .
        • Of him
          • This is not about how great we are but how good he is
          • And it puts things in the right order . . .
          • We want to say in the end . . . look what God has done . . .
          • He is the initiator – and we have responded to his invitation –
            • we are to be responsive and responsible
          • So we are to declare the praises of him who has . . .

1 Peter 2:9b-10 NIV

declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 What we have become

  • From lost to found
    • We were in Darkness and now we are in light
  • From separated to connected
    • We were not a people, but now we are the people of God
    • We were alone and now we are together
  • From condemned to pardoned
    • We were people of wrath and now we are people of mercy

 Why this matters

Why does all this matter?

  • Because how you see yourself is how you will live
    • You have to see yourself as you really are.
    • Your destiny flows from your identity – belief flows into actions – as a person thinks, so is he –
  • Because now we know what to do – what is a win – what our ultimate purpose is
  • Because this will create gratefulness / humility in our hearts . . . .
  • Because this will raise the value of the church . . .

Conclusion

  • Call for those to join the church and for those who need prayer / prayer people
  • Pray