I Peter 2:2-10 “I Am Somebody” 4-20-08 LMPC by Dr. J. Ben Sloan
Someone said we know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
When the Titanic was sinking, Major Peuchen had $300,000 in a safe in his cabin. He left the money and jewelry and grabbed three oranges. He said, those oranges meant life. The money meant nothing. There were eleven millionaires who died on the Titanic- their money could not buy them salvation.
We often overlook the value of what is important, especially the value of the human soul.
In 1667 John Milton wrote “Paradise Lost” a great epic in English literature. He sold the book for $10 and the next three editions for a total of $10. He made $20 from a book he wrote, while his publisher became a millionaire. He didn’t think it was worth much. Today a single copy of the first edition of this book is worth $2,500. We can de-value ourselves, and think others are not valuable as well. As I said the other week, Peter was writing to slaves and exiles. People that the world saw as unimportant.
I. ONCE WE WERE NOT A PEOPLE- What could Peter be talking about- once you were not a people? What has really changed? A church is a bond of fellowship. It is a family of people who share something deeply held in common- our faith and the way we look at life.
The Constitution of the United States said, “We the people in order to form a more perfect union…” The people were people before the constitution.
You know the Revolutionary War was over in 1781 but the Constitution wasn't adopted until 1789. Were there no people then? Was there no post office, or government then? There were actually eight presidents between the winning of the Revolution and when George Washington took office- each serving a one year term. The first president was a guy named John Hanson. He kicked the foreign soldiers off of American soil, found a way to soothe the unpaid American soldiers until they could get paid, and instituted Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November. These presidents you don’t hear about because they were ruling under the Articles of Confederation instead of the Constitution.
An elder will tell you that there are three books that make up the Presbyterian Constitution. The Book of Order- which tells us how to run the church (may be changed every year), The Book of Confessions (summarizes our beliefs- may be changed rarely), and the Bible which is never changed. We are a people of the Book. But the book is our story it alone does not make us God’s people. It is the call of God- the grace of God that makes us a people. To say the Constitution is unimportant or irrelevant to America is wrong headed. But the Constitution does not make us the people of these United States. Our loyalty- our faith- our allegiance and trust is what makes us a people. We are not loyal to the British crown- but to the United States. So our loyalty, our faith, our allegiance and trust make us God’s people. A terrorist can read an even admire the Constitution- just like an unbeliever can read the Bible.
God’s call and our response in faith, loyalty, allegiance and trust make us His people. God chooses us to be a people. Why do some people respond to the gospel and others do not? It is not a matter of intelligence, goodness, or history. It is a matter of God’s grace calling us, drawing us- in effect choosing us.
II. WHAT WE ARE-
A) A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD- Did you know you were a priest? Why don’t we have priests in the Presbyterian tradition? Because we believe we all are priests- kingly priests at that! The old phrase is “the priesthood of all believers.” Just as Israel was a chosen people and a priesthood to all the nations, you and I are called to be a nation of priests to others. Peter was quoting Moses in Exodus 19:5,6 where he told the whole group of believers, “You are a kingdom of priests.” The church is the new Israel that is to be a priesthood to the world. A priest stood between God and human beings and mediated. The priest would pray to God for the people, and tell the people about God. The priest would point to the sacrifice that reconciles us to God, forgiving us of sin.
We all are called to do this- pray to God for others, and tell others about God- pointing to the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. There is a tendency sometimes to make a second-tier of Christians. There are Christians, and then there are these super-Christians. It is not that a nun or a monk or a minister is somehow more holy than others. We all stand in need of forgiveness. Anyone who believes is a saint- a sanctified one. We live in a time in which so many people are experts in their own field. My brother is a chemical engineering professor- I cannot read the book he wrote. It is too complex. There are experts in computers- that make many of us seem flustered. We have some guys in our church that went to Mississippi on a mission trip- and they can put a roof on and know what they are doing. They can lay a new floor without reading the directions. There are so many books on religion today that there can be a temptation to think that you have to know so much to really be a good Christian. Being a good Christian is not a matter of having some secret knowledge (an ancient heresy called Gnosticism taught that). The best Chrstians I know were not necessarily the ones who taught at a graduate level in seminary. I knew a lady in Georgetown who didn’t finish elementary school. She could barely read and write- just enough to read the Bible. But she loved the Lord and had more wisdom than most. You are all saints- who believe. You are all priests! Be a priest!
B) A HOLY NATION- What makes us a nation is not our boundaries on the outside, but our faith on the inside. We are holy- meaning-other, separate. We are not to be like everyone else. The God on the inside makes us different on the outside in our behavior. If you cannot tell the difference between you and those who do not believe, then maybe you are traveling in another nation- and need to come back home! We are called to be different from the world, but different together. We are a holy nation- we are not alone. We are a plurality of holiness. What makes salt salty is that it’s more than one grain of salt. We are the salt of the world- a holy nation. What makes light noticeable is that it’s more than one ray, one molecule of light. We are beams of light to a world full of darkness. But we’ve got to get out of the salt-shaker and into the world. We’ve got to get turned on together to let our light shine in the darkness.
C) GOD’S SPECIAL POSSESSION- We are not our own- we have been bought with a price, therefore let us live for God and not for ourselves! We are somebody- no matter what we have, how many mistakes we have made, how we look, think, act.
Watchman Nee tells about a new convert who came in deep distress to see him. "No matter how much I pray, no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot seem to be faithful to my Lord. I think I'm losing my salvation." Nee said, "Do you see this dog here? He is my dog. He is house-trained; he never makes a mess; he is obedient; he is a pure delight to me. Out in the kitchen I have a son, a baby son. He makes a mess, he throws his food around, he fouls his clothes, he is a total mess. But who is going to inherit my kingdom? Not my dog; my son is my heir. You are Jesus Christ's heir because it is for you that He died." We are Christ's heirs, not through our perfection but by means of His grace. You may not feel like it, but you are the apple of God’s eye. He cares for you. We are special- there is no one in the world with your fingerprint, your DNA, your eye print or face image. We had a company in the other day that was trying to sell us time clocks. You stick your hand over this clock, and it identified you. They also had an eye scanner that would scan your iris and identify you. God made you unique, in a unique time and a unique place to do something unique with your life. Jesus came and gave Himself for you- and that also makes you special. But more than all that- the scripture says that you are God’s special possession. Have you ever had a special possession? I have a box in our bedroom that has a cross that my mother gave me when I went to college. That is a special possession. Some people think of their car as a special possession- they polish it, wax it, care for it. God thinks of you as His special possession. Because He is an infinite God with infinite love, He is able to love you uniquely and specially.
III. WHAT WE ARE TO DO- DECLARE HIS PRAISES!
A) Tell others that God is good. Many in the world do not believe that today.
The unbeliever has changed. There was a time when the unbeliever thought the Christian God was good, but they didn’t want to submit to Him. Now people are saying evil things about God. My daughter received a free subscription to The Rolling Stone Magazine- I guess because she's a music major. I leafed through the magazine and it is totally different from the magazine I used to get songs from when I was a teenager. There were five full pages of mean-spirited criticism of Christianity in there. They were making fun of God and the faith- without any shame. Now everyone has heard of "The Rolling Stone." It is a shame they do not feel one bit embarrassed of their harsh and intolerant criticism toward people of faith. There are many who think God is restrictive, made up, and wrong for ever telling them “no.” But I believe what they will find is that they are creating their own meaningless, moral-less, evil existence. What you and I need to do is to pray for such people and tell them and all the world that we have tasted and seen that God is good.
B) Tell others about Him- How can they hear without someone telling them? How can they hear if we are afraid that our witness will be so bad that we don’t have any witness at all? Many believers today are almost afraid of their faith.
I believe many Christians are like the soldier who is in a M-1 tank cowering in fear at a few infantry in front of him. We don’t know what we have, and we are afraid of offending people who are out to tear us apart!
Last night I watched an old-but-good movie again- called, “Mr. Holland’s Opus.” Mr. Holland was a musician- a writer who was more or less dragged into the teaching profession to teach music. He kept working on this one piece of music called “The American Symphony” but his work kept getting in the way of his writing it. The school board cut their budget, and one of the first things to go was the music program. Mr. Holland said that he was brought into the job kicking and screaming and now it is all he wanted to do. They had a surprise rally for Mr. Holland. Hundreds upon hundreds of his former and current students were there. One of his former students was the governor who said that Mr. Holland kept writing his symphony thinking one day he would be rich and famous when it played. She said he was not rich in money, or in fame, but he was rich in another way. She said that all of those hundreds of people that he influenced and touched were his symphony. I kept thinking about that movie, and these verses, and I believe… You and I are God’s symphony! You and are called to let his wonderful, graceful, loving music play in our lives, and touch the world. God has influenced each one of us here. Each one of us has a valuable instrument to play. The symphony is less without our playing. He has called you here today on purpose. I believe He wants you to see your value as a part of his grand symphony- and play. Let the world hear!