God's Fame > Our Fame: 1 Peter 2:9 Part 5

-
Photo courtesy of jamez0
Well, we are finally ready to embark on the final leg of this journey through 1 Peter 2:9. I must confess that I never believed one verse could lead to a five part blog series but this one is so rich and it is vitally important that we understand who we are in Christ. Over the course of the past couple of weeks we have seen that, according to this passage, we are four things in Christ: a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for God's own possession. While each of these descriptors is unique, they are all interconnected and even when considered together they do not fully express the new life that we have in the Lord Jesus.

The last part of the verse serves as a wonderful reminder of why all of this is made possible. It would be extraordinarily easy for us to become prideful or even arrogant after finding out that we are royalty of the highest order, or that we are handpicked for God. Knowing that that is the case the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to ground us right back in reality and place the focus on who is really important in all of this...God. He says;

that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light (ESV).

This is our reason for being. This is the reason that God has adopted us, called us and saved us; so that we might make much of Him. Once we realize that we have not earned any of what God has graciously given us then there is no other course of action than to stop and magnify His name in all the earth. The great and mighty God of the universe has bestowed grace upon grace on us and we should want nothing more than to tell others how marvelous He is.

If we look to the example of our Lord we find that honoring God was His overriding motivation. In John 17:1 He says;

Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.

This sentence belongs to the opening line of what has become known as "the High Priestly Prayer" of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. This was mere hours before He would stand before an unjust court and be sentenced to die by crucifixion. Yet, in the forefront of Jesus' mind was bringing glory to God the Father. What kind of mindset produces such incredible selflessness? A mindset that puts God's fame, honor and will over and above our own. It is a total re-prioritization of what is important in our lives and what we are living for. What Jesus knew then, and what we know now, is that He would soon die, be raised again and ascend into Heaven to be seated at the right hand of God. This is the ultimate honor and one that only God Himself can bestow. What Jesus is saying is, "Do all of that so that you will gain the glory." God the Son wanted all of that done so that people could see the overwhelming mercy, love and grace of God and exalt Him for it. We are invited to become royalty not so that we can polish our fingernails on our shirt and have people look at how wonderful we are. We have become royalty to display to the world the unfathomable grace of a God who would sacrifice everything on our behalf, a God who extracts us from the darkness of sin and places us in His light filled presence, a God who gives us a new life through His Son Jesus Christ.

You may be thinking, "Hey, what kind of arrogant and egotistical God do we serve?" This would be a reasonable question if we were simply talking about a fallen human, but we are talking about the perfect God. God wants us to glorify and exalt Him because that is the kind of thing that only comes from an intimate relationship with Him. God wants us to proclaim His excellencies because that points more people to Him who will then come into a relationship with Him and spend eternity in His awe inspiring presence. Unlike a private party where three or more makes for a  crowd, in Heaven the old saying holds very true, "the more the merrier." This verse points out a truth that is often times lost in our proclamation of the Gospel. We are not inviting people into a relationship with a God who begrudgingly saved us from the fires of Hell. We are proclaiming that God has rescued us from the darkness that is in the world and transferred us into the light. This is an act of gracious mercy that was not required of the Almighty. He chose to do it and in light of that choice we should be inexpressibly grateful to the point that we want to make Him famous in all the world.

So, it is true that we are royalty, we are chosen, we are holy and we are God's own possession. However, to truly understand why all of this is the case we have to understand that God has done that for us so that we will magnify Him. He didn't do it because we deserved it and He didn't do it so that people would think highly of us. He did it so the world around us would think highly of Him. This is the reason you are royalty in the line of Christ and specifically chosen by Him. Now we must live like it and talk like it.

Godspeed,

Christian

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Characteristics of a Godly Watchman Pt. 1: Vigilance

-
Image
Photo courtesy of grzswe Most everyone has heard an alarm go off. It may be something as mundane as the alarm clock every morning that tells us it is time to get up and get ready for work, or it may be something as frightening as a fire alarm. No matter what the specific purpose of the alarm they all share one common theme: they are meant to alert people and warn them of impending danger.   In Joel 2:1 the Lord commands the prophet to; Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain because the day of the Lord is coming. That is, God’s judgment is coming upon Israel for their sinfulness. Further along in the chapter, in verse 15, Joel is again commanded to blow a trumpet but this time it is to call the assembly of the people together so that they can, consecrate a fast . This tells us two important things about the role, or the duty, of the prophet of God. First, it tells us that the prophet is to act as an alarm to warn the people of God’s coming judgment. Seco
Read more

Characteristics of a Godly Watchman Pt. 2: Listening.

-
Image
Photo courtesy of Mattox               If you look in Ezekiel chapter 3, which is where we will spend the bulk of the time from here on out, you will find the commission that God gives the prophet beginning in verse 10.   In this verse God tells Ezekiel; Son of man, take into your heart all My words which I will speak to you and listen closely. In this short phrase I believe we find the second crucial characteristic of a godly watchman: listening. If we understand our duty to be warning God’s people and acting as “voices crying out in the wilderness” then it only makes sense that we must take time to listen for the message that God is trying to get across. For me, as a preacher, this is sometimes difficult because I love to talk. However, if I am faithfully going to communicate the message God has for His people then I must discipline myself to be still before God and hear His voice.             One of my hobbies is amateur radio and with that I am able to talk to peo
Read more

Characteristics of a Godly Watchman Part 3: Holy Anger.

-
Image
Photo courtesy of Catalin82 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away; and I went embittered in the rage of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong on me. Ezekiel 3:14. When we look at the pantheon of Christian virtues holy anger is probably one that most people miss, or have a hard time placing alongside things like meekness, love, generosity, patience and peace. I freely admit that the Bible is full of admonitions to not be angry. Ephesians 4:26 tells us not to let the sun go down on our anger. Colossians 3:8 tells us to put it aside, and James 1:19 explains that we should be slow to anger. However, I firmly believe that anger coming from the right place, in the right time, for the right purpose is a powerful characteristic of a godly watchman. Look again at Ephesians 4:26 it says, Be angry, and yet do not sin ; do not let the sun go down on your anger. Equally as clear as the instruction to deal with anger before the sun goes down is the statement, "Be angr
Read more