Who We Are, What We Do

1 Peter 2:9-10
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, March 26, 2017
Copyright © 2017, P. G. Mathew

In the previous passage, 1 Peter 2:4–8, we learned that Jesus Christ, who has received all authority and power in his universe, is the living Stone, the foundation of his church. He is also the saving Stone for all who trust and obey him. This Jesus is also the crushing Stone to all who refuse to trust him. If you are outside of Christ, I plead with you today to trust in him and be saved.

Everyone will experience Jesus as Lord, either in his saving power or in his crushing capacity. We can rest on this massive Stone or it will rest on us, both in this life and in the life to come. Either way, every person will experience Jesus, either as Savior or as the righteous Judge of all the earth. Therefore, let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Let us heed the words of the psalmist, who said that this One “will rule them with an iron scepter; [he] will dash them to pieces like pottery.” Then he said, “Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Ps. 2:9–12).

Everyone is appointed either to eternal life or to eternal punishment. Jesus himself spoke of this: “Then [the wicked] will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matt. 25:46).

Let us then examine 1 Peter 2:9–10, which concerns God’s people: who we were, who we now are, and what we are to do.

 

Who We Were

In verse 10, Peter describes who we were: “Once you were not a people . . . once you had not received mercy.” All of us knew the true and living God from creation, from our consciences, and, especially, from the holy Bible. Yet, by nature, we suppressed this knowledge of God. Paul speaks about this: “The wrath of God is being revealed against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their [wicked acts]” (Rom. 1:18). Then he says, “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22).

The wrath of God was manifested against us. So God gave us over to depraved minds to do every wicked thing. Paul continues, “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity” (Rom. 1:28–32). We became totally depraved in our minds, in our wills, and in our feelings. As Isaiah said, for us, good became evil and evil good (Isa. 5:20).

In Psalm 14:1 we read, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” If there is no God, there is no Bible, no moral standard, and no Savior. By nature, we were all such godless fools. Paul describes our state: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air [the devil], the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” The father of all unbelievers is disobedience, the devil. Paul continues, “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings [the lusts] of our [flesh] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of [God’s] wrath” (Eph. 2:1–3).

These verses tell us who we were. We were powerless, ungodly sinners. We were enemies of God. Professor John Murray said the essence of sin is enmity toward God. If a child does not obey his parents, he is an enemy of God. If parents do not practice the kingdom order in their home, they are enemies of God. This is true even if they are baptized and pretend to be Christians.

What is the inheritance of such people? Paul says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9–10). Godless people will not inherit the kingdom of God; they will inherit only hell.

This is what we were. We read more about our ungodly natural state in Galatians 5. Paul says, “The [works of the flesh] are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19–21).

So in 1 Peter 2:10, Peter is saying, “Once we were pagans, Gentiles, idol worshipers, under God’s wrath, hell-deserving children of the devil. Once we were a people who were unmercied and under condemnation. We deserved the just wages of sin, even eternal death.” That is who we were.

 

Who We Are Now    

First Peter 2:9 starts with a strong contrast: “But you. . .” Peter is making the point that we are now unlike those who stumble at the living Stone. He already said that they stumble because they refuse to repent and believe in Jesus. They stumble and fall and are eternally condemned, which is what they were destined for by the holy and just God.

Unlike them, we have been shown mercy. We have been born again by the living and enduring seed of God’s word. We have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. So we believe in Jesus (1 Pet. 2:6c, 7a; 1:8), and we love Jesus (1 Pet. 1:8). We have a living hope (1 Pet. 1:3). We have a heavenly inheritance of salvation, which is kept for us and we are kept for it, in God’s great mercy (1 Pet. 1:3). We are objects of mercy prepared for glory (Rom. 9:22–23). We are God’s covenant people. God loves us even as he loves his own Son, Jesus Christ (John 17:23).

We are rich. God makes every believer in Jesus very rich, as Paul explains, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). Everyone who believes in Jesus is rich in God.

We are also, like Abraham, friends of God.  Jesus himself said, “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14). We are friends of Jesus; we have been redeemed at the highest cost, the blood of Christ. Jesus has given us eternal life, and we will never perish. In Jesus, we are more than conquerors.

So Peter says there are four qualities that characterize us.

 

A Chosen Race

First, we are a chosen race. Notice, the emphasis is not on individuals but on community. That is why we must connect with all God’s people. The church is God’s family, and we love God’s people. In heaven, there is no caste system and no sinful discrimination. Elsewhere Paul writes, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26–29).

In heaven, there is only one race, consisting of all born-of-God children of God. We belong to the chosen race, chosen by God. Jesus said that many are called, but few are chosen. God chose us from all sinners even before the creation of the world to be saved and to dwell with him forever. Paul writes, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph. 1:4). If we are not obedient, it means that we are not chosen by God to dwell with him forever.

We are God’s beloved children. Everyone born of the Spirit belongs to God’s one race of people. We are chosen to be holy. We are chosen to obey Jesus (1 Pet. 1:2; Matt. 7:24; Matt. 28:18). In Christ, we have been given the highest status and privilege and dignity.

It is true that we were trash, foolish (godless), weak, lowly, despised, and zeroes. We were nothings; we were grass; we were fallen blossoms. And not only were we nothings, but we were also bound for hell. If a person is not trusting in Christ, he or she is hell-bound. Every decision that person makes will be wrong, and each decision will take that person further and further down.

Yet though we were hell-bound, God chose us and transformed us who were trash into his treasure. We did not choose the Lord; he chose us. Jesus told his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit” (John 15:16).

Though we were a basket of deplorables, a basket of undesirables, a basket of irredeemables, he chose us to sit with him at the banquet. Jesus taught, “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full’” (Luke 14:23). Christ was saying, “Compel the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Compel them to come in to eat at my banquet.” We have been chosen to enjoy fellowship with God and with his holy people. A blessed people we are!

 

A Royal Priesthood

Second, we are a royal priesthood. I agree with Professor G. K. Beale that “royal priesthood” means kings and queens.[1] Not only are we a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ the high priest, we are also “kings and priests,” as it is correctly translated in the King James Version.

Consider the following scriptures about our being kings and priests:

• Revelation 1:5-6: “and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us [kings] and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.”
• Revelation 5:10: “You have made them [kings] and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
• Revelation 20:4: “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. . . . They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
• Revelation 20:6: “Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.”
• Revelation 22:5: “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”
• Ephesians 2:6: “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” We are seated with Christ that we may rule and reign with him.

 

Paul tells us that we will judge the world (1 Cor. 6:2) and we will judge the angels (1 Cor. 6:3). This is the high status and dignity given to us who put our faith in Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament, God appointed men to be kings but not priests. In fact, King Saul was punished when he acted as a priest, and Uzziah was afflicted with leprosy when he acted as a priest. But believers in Jesus Christ have been made both kings and priests with Jesus Christ, the Prophet, Priest, and King. What grand dignity has been given to us, the former nothings, the former trash!

 

A Holy Nation

Then Peter says we are a holy nation. This is true right now. We are a holy priesthood as well as a holy nation. There is only one nation in the world that is holy and separated from the world, separated unto God, to function as the light of the world. As God’s holy nation, we are not to conform to the pattern of this world; rather, we are to be transformed continually by the renewing of our minds according to the word of God (Rom. 12:2). We can do so because we have been born again, and the Holy Spirit dwells in us to give us the power to walk in the narrow way that leads to eternal life.

This holy nation Peter speaks of is not Christendom, nor does it include everyone in the visible church. This holy nation is the company of those born of God, those who obey Jesus Christ our Lord. We were sons of disobedience (Eph. 2:2); now, God has made us sons of obedience (1 Pet. 1:14).

About us, Peter already said, “[You] have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance” (1 Pet. 1:2). If a person does not obey Jesus Christ, even though he may pretend to be a Christian, he is not. I beseech such people to cry out to God that they may be truly saved and obey Jesus Christ exactly, immediately, and with joyful hearts.

Obedience must accompany our confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Paul writes, “Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ” (2 Cor. 9:13). When we said, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” we were saying, “We will obey King Jesus in everything, both in this life and in the life to come.”

The Puritans in the seventeenth century preached obedience to Jesus Christ. Today, even churches that profess to be biblical hate the idea of obedience to Jesus Christ. Only true churches will preach it. Consider what the Lord said in Exodus 19:5–6: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me priests and a holy nation.” Again, what high status and dignity God bestows on his people!

Yet most professing Christians do not belong to this holy nation. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers!’” (Matt. 7:21–23).

God is the Lord who makes his people holy, as he himself said: “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy” (Lev. 20:7–8).

True believers are citizens of heaven because they are born of the Spirit. Paul writes, “But our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). Elsewhere he says, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. . . . For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:4–6, 10). Holiness is God’s eternal plan, and his people will do what is right in the sight of God.

If we are true believers, we will obey King Jesus and follow the Bible as the constitution for our lives. We have a new nature and new capacity—the power of the Holy Spirit—so that we can live holy lives pleasing to God. Paul says, “I can do all things through him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13). The Hebrews writer exhorts, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy.” Then he gives the reason: “Without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Jesus said the same thing: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matt. 5:8).

 

A People Owned by God

Then Peter says we are people owned by God, bought with his precious blood. The highest price was paid for our redemption. By nature, we were children of Adam and the devil. But God in Christ redeemed us from the empty way of life that leads to destruction. No longer do we belong to the world or the devil. Now we belong exclusively to our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we confess. He is our only master. He owns us, and we obey him only.

How many people think they are their own? There is no true autonomy. If we are Christians, we belong to Jesus Christ. And those who are not Christians belong to the devil. No one is his own master. Paul writes, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Cor. 6:19–20). How do we honor God with our bodies? Simply, we must do what God wants us to do with our bodies, our minds, our wills, our affections, and all our resources.

When a person was cleansed in the Old Testament, the priest would put blood and then oil in three places—the right ear lobe, the right thumb, and the right toe. The blood of Jesus Christ and the oil of the Holy Spirit were put on these places, indicating that all aspects of life should be governed by Christ and the Holy Spirit. (PGM) Paul summed up this idea in the New Testament: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

We are God’s portion, and God is our inheritance. Paul asked, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:32). The answer is, no one. “I am my beloved’s and he is mine, and the banner over me is love”—God’s unfailing, eternal love. We are the new Israel; therefore, we are God’s treasured possession, as we read in Deuteronomy 7: “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession” (Deut. 7:6). We also read, “For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob is his allotted inheritance” (Deut. 32:9). In Malachi 3:17 the Lord says, “They will be mine . . . in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.”

Paul writes, “[He] gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:14). He told the Ephesian elders, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

We are God’s treasure, and God is our treasure. Thus, we have fellowship with God and with his holy people. We are truly blessed and filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory (1 Pet. 1:8).

The psalmist says, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple” (Ps. 27:4). He desires nothing in this world. He is taken up with God. The psalmist also says, “Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts!  We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple” (Ps. 65:4). He declares, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:25–26). Finally, he says, “You are my portion, O Lord; I have promised to obey your words” (Ps. 119:57).

 

What Are We to Do

After identifying who we are, Peter tells us what we are to do: “that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (v. 9). After Jesus healed him, the blind man declared, “Whether [Jesus] is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:25). In the same way, we who have been saved by Christ are to declare God’s praises in this life and in the life to come, in worship and in service.

God in Christ came to our hell and transformed us and took us to heaven. God in Christ transformed us who were trash into jewels that he himself will treasure forever. So we declare his glory. We do not tell people how great we are; we say, “Look to him and be saved!”

God in Christ has saved us. Therefore, we will tell the world who Jesus is. Let us consider some scriptures that tell us who Christ is.

• Colossians 2:9: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” Jesus Christ is infinite, eternal, unchangeable God, God who is a spirit, God who is holy. When we realize that, we will work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
• Hebrews 1:3: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
• Philippians 2:9–11: Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
• Romans 4:25: “[Jesus Christ] was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
• Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
• John 1:1–4, 14, 16: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . From the fullness of his grace we have all received grace after grace after grace after grace.”
• John 15:5: “I am the vine; you are the branches. . . . apart from me, you can do nothing.” That means with Jesus, we can do all that God wants us to do.

What is it we have to do? We must declare his praises. The psalmist says, “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods” (Ps. 96:1–4). In Exodus 15:1–2 we read, “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: ‘I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.’”

We declare his glory, his mighty deeds, in several ways: to God himself in praise, to God’s church, to our families, and to the world around us, that they may be saved.

Of Jesus the angel said, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). There is no other savior. So we read, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Only Jesus can save us. May God help us all to bow our knees and open our mouths and confess that he is our Lord and Savior.

God commands all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). He does not beg; thus, we also do not beg. We command you to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. God commands everyone to believe in Jesus Christ and to love one another (1 John 3:23–24).

Not only do we declare God’s praises by our speech, but we do also by living godly lives. Antinomians are the curse of Christ’s church. Paul tells us,  “And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” (Rom. 13:11–14). We must not make provision for our flesh.

God has called us out of all moral filth, moral darkness, immorality, and idolatry, and brought us into his wonderful light of the gospel. Paul says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord” (Eph. 5:8–10). Having been brought out, what we are to do is declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness.

Paul also says, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness [the dominion of the devil] and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13–14). He also writes, “Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing” (Phil. 2:14–16).

God saved us, that we may be for the praise of his glorious grace (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). Praise God, he brought us out of moral filth through regeneration and made us his sons and daughters. He made us light.

God himself listens to our praise of him. We read, “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. ‘They will be mine,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not” (Mal. 3:16–18).

 

Conclusion

Are you still a son of Adam, a son of disobedience, dead in trespasses and sins and governed by the devil? Call upon the Lord Jesus to save you. He is here to save you now.

If you are a believer, know that you are part of God’s chosen race, God’s kings and priests, God’s holy nation, people of God’s possession. Praise God, you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.

What is the purpose of our salvation? That we may bear witness to Jesus to the world by our lives and by our proclamation, so that God may add to his church through our testimony those who are being saved.

[1] G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, The New International Greek Testament Commentary series (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 192–194.