You Are God's Own Possession
First B Jackson
2023-12-03

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Maybe the chorus one more time.

Did he show rain? Yeah.

Good morning, Josh. Our expert candle lighter's here. We have fire hydrants, fire fire extinguishers on the sides that goes awry. Careful with those matches. Don't go flicking them like this.

Well, good morning, everybody. How are doing? Did you wake up and shovel this morning? Was it wonderful? Hey.

As we enter the Advent season, I've got a good word from Matthew two that I wanna share to to lead us in a worship. And if you would, would you stand with me? And we'll sing together. But it's Matthew two, when the wise men saw that the the star that guided them to Bethlehem where Jesus was born, it says this, that they were filled with joy, meaning they were filled with gladness because they recognized God's grace toward them. And they bowed down and they worshiped him.

Let's start by singing, oh, come all you faithful, joyful and triumphant.

Amen.

You're gonna have a seat here for a moment. Nick's gonna give a few announcements.

Hey. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to First Baptist Church. Lovely to have you all here today. As always, there's plenty of room up front. So if anybody wants to make a move, now is a good time.

It's kinda big during the Christmas season. We'll start to see more faces coming in. And if you would be willing to be brave for just a little while and come sit up right by Carl. People pay more for those seats at concerts, guys. Let's get in this let's get in the mode here.

It's a discovery class. If you wanna be a member at First Baptist Church or just find wanna find out more about the church, would you come down to pastor Ray's office between services? So just after this service in pastor Ray's office, it's the second door on the left as you go down the hallway, and we can walk you through what what it means to be a member here at First Baptist Church. Jackson Hole Men's Alliance, I believe this is going on this week. I got a nod, official nod, on Wednesday, first Wednesday of the month, 06:30AM in the fellowship hall.

There'll be a little bit of food for the guys. It's a great way to get connected. Would you show up? It's a great way to get your the midweek boosted up a little bit. And there are twenty twenty four calendars, paper calendars.

You guys remember those? A little artifact. Wouldn't that be fun to have a paper calendar in your house to write on and look at every day and cherish as your prized possession. They're back here. They're $10, and we're using them to raise a little bit of money for the youth group.

So pick one of those up. And here's our Christmas season calendar. Gonna walk you through it carefully. It's also on the website. So if anything in here you forget about, feel free to check out December 10, the scout service.

They're gonna service breakfast. They spend the night here the night before. They service a great big breakfast during the nine and the 10:00 hours down the fellowship hall, and it's a great way to thank them. They've been here for eighty something years or something like that, really long time, and they've really been blessing us for a long time. Seventeenth is the Christmas caroling at 04:30PM and chili cook off.

If you have not been to the Buzzard Breath chili cook off, this is the time. Okay? It's gonna be huge. We're putting it out there for the town to come and join us. Make a crock pot of chili or two if you really wanna get some votes.

You need a lot of chili for a lot of people to show up. And we vote. It's a silent vote, and you win on best chili, most unique, and spiciest. Those are the three categories. And I've been instructed by our youth director that we need to step it up as adults.

Okay? Because the youth group has swept it again last year, and we need to step it up and make chili that's even better than the youth group. So let's see if we can beat them this year. We've got funny prizes, including the category of things that were left behind in the church. So there's some funny things this year.

So if by any chance you wanna get something, we also have really good prizes too. That's that's both things. Great thing to invite your friends to. And on Christmas Eve, there's no morning service. It falls on a Sunday.

You're welcome to come, hang out, greet the people who also forget, but there's no morning service that day. But Christmas Eve services are 04:30 and 6PM. Now just like when I asked you to move to the front row, would you consider coming to the 6PM service? Most people come to the 04:30. It gets packed out.

There's standing room only. Or and or would you consider sitting up front for that? Or going to the fellowship hall. If you're a regular here at first b, if you see somebody else needs a seat, would you consider maybe giving up your seat and going down the hall? Please do come.

Please do share with people, but maybe be aware that that's the only time some people come to church during the year. And on the twenty fifth Christmas day, there are no services here. Enjoy that with your family. And I think that's it for Christmas. Are we feeling good about Christmas season?

Any questions? Nice. Alright. Great. There's also the women's Christmas luncheon, which is December 6.

That's this week. The RSVP link is on our website. If anybody has any questions, it's from noon to 2PM. Please do RSVP, but it's free and open to all of the women of the valley. Another great outreach opportunity.

If you have a friend who's curious about faith, if they're just buddies with you, bring them. It'd be a really great outreach for them to come along. Anything else to say about that, Natalie? Okay. Alright.

We're good on that one. And the angel tree is out in the foyer. So if you guys have seen this program before, we have a bunch of tags hanging out on the trees back here. Pick one of those tags up. Buy the gift.

Bring it back by December 20 with the tag attached. Because That way we don't have to unwrap it to find out what it is. So if you would do that, it's a great way to bless the people of the community. And there's tons and tons of of tags out there. And I think Diane, was there one I've been Berkeley?

Berkeley wants to talk for one second and that's all alright. Here you go buddy.

Hello church. I walked in about ten seconds too late to add on to the men's alliance announcement, but really quickly I just wanted to give a plug for that. It's been a huge blessing to me. Oh, thank you. It's a morning where the men of this church and this valley can just encourage each other.

It's really iron sharpens iron. We share a meal, share community, share encouragement. And I wanted specifically this morning, I will be in the back after church with an email sign up. So if you are a man of this man of this church and you do not get emails regarding Medsallions, please see me in the back after church, and I'll get your email signed up. Awesome.

Thank you.

Yeah. What a great sales pitch, and who doesn't need a pancake in the middle of the week? So come on by for that. It's time for the Advent season. This is the first week of Advent, so we're gonna bring up the Geek family.

Maybe you guys introduce yourself a little bit too. I know you've pawned off responsibility on the kids this year, so that's great. So here you go.

Hello. I'm Mary Geek, and we have we've pawned off the reading to Charlie and Baron. So here they go.

Today is the first Sunday in Advent. We light the first candle, the candle of hope. We have hope because of the faithful promises of God. He sent his son and we received our savior, a savior born to redeem the world from sin and death.

May the God of hope for you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you, friends. Would you stand and we'll sing together? God rest you merry gentlemen. And we thank you this morning for joy, for to recognize your grace that you've extended to us and be glad for it, to be conscious of it, to be aware for it. I pray, Lord, that as we sing, as we get into the word, Lord, that it would just continue that that faith would continue to well up and increase in us, God, but also that more most importantly, that you'd be glorified in these songs that we sing.

They're about you. Amen.

In the bleak midwinter, all creation grows. Whole world in darkness, frozen like a stone that is breaking and stay for a throne and he shall reign forevermore to give kings a load of loads, and he shall reign forevermore, forevermore. If I were a wise man, forevermore. Unto us a child is born, the king of kings and lord of lords, and he shall reign forevermore forevermore here within, here within manger lines. Wanna make the starry skies, baby born for sacrifice.

Rise

Man, you know, we sometimes pass through the lyrics very, very quickly, but to hear it again, just hear it said to us that here within this manger, this little manger, this humble manger scene, the one who made the starry skies, that's who's in that, that little manger. This baby born for for sacrifice, knowing God knowing that that he would he would become the atonement for our sins, that he would be the sacrifice for our sins. Christ the Messiah into our hopes and into our fears because we all have them. The savior of the world appears to calm those fears for us, to fulfill those hopes. The promise of eternal years, Christ the Messiah.

Let's keep singing.

In the dark sweet we're waiting without hope and without that till from heaven you came running there was mercy in your eye to redeem the whole creation. You did not despise the cross. But even in your suffering, you saw to the other side. Knowing this was our salvation, and the angels stood in all. For the souls have succumbed to the father of the story.

And the church of Christ was born, and the spirit lit the flame. Now this gospel truth above all that shall not near, that shall not faint. By his blood and in his name,

You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and I invite the ushers to come on forward. We're gonna sing more Christmas songs. Come and come. Come, oh, come Emmanuel from Isaiah 49.

God says this, that you'll do more. Speaking of of Jesus to come, that you'll do more than restore just this little nation of Israel to me. I'm gonna make you a light to the the Gentiles, the surrounding nations. That's that's us. That's why we're here this morning, and you'll bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.

Before before we sing, would you pray with me? We'll give give thanks here. God, we we wanna just pause for a moment. Forgive us, Lord, if we we rush on ahead, and we want to quiet our hearts and to to still our minds and to simply say thank you. God, just thank you.

Words are just they're not always enough. They're really not enough. So would we offer offer our hearts this morning to you truly to surrender ourselves to you? Thank you for the gift of your son. Thank you that you are Emmanuel, God with us.

And may we ponder the significance of that this morning that you are with us every moment, every day, everywhere we go to the end of the age. That's your promise to us. Thank you. And, God, would you use us? Would you use this this little church body here in Jackson, as flawed as we are, to be your continued body on earth.

Would you use the gifts that are put in these plates and otherwise? Lord, there's so much more, so much beyond just what goes in these plates. The gifts that we have been given to to to build the kingdom, to advance the kingdom, God, empowered by your Holy Spirit. Would you use these gifts to advance your kingdom right here in Jackson and truly to the ends of the earth? In Jesus' name.

Amen. Kiddos, guess what time it

is? Children's church.

You're excused for that, and I'm gonna invite up, Brad. Brad, do you have a reader? Oh, we canceled the reading. Well, we didn't really. Brad's just gonna read it.

We're still gonna read God's word. Don't worry.

This is one of our elders. This is Brad Yates and first Peter today. And can I just pray for for you, Brad, and for for us as we receive the word? Lord, we do. We ask that as the the the word is presented here, Lord, that it would do the work.

We really and truly believe, Lord, that your word doesn't return void. I pray, Lord, for a soft and receptive heart on our part that as we hear it, Lord, that it would have a place, truly, that it would have a place in our hearts that it wouldn't bounce off, that we would carefully carefully hear and consider what it is that you're saying to us. Holy Spirit, we believe that you're doing the work to make the the word come alive in us, but, Lord, that we'd be willing, to act on it. Would you use, the the truth of the word and and, also Brad's personality, Lord, that we might understand it in a way that that we can do something about it. The grace that you've extended to us, that you've called us, that you've called us royal priests, a whole nation, God's chosen people, that we would do something with this, Lord, in your power, in your strength.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Good morning. Good morning. Everybody working on winter schedules now? I noticed we were, like, not just a 09:03 church.

We were, a 09:10 church this morning. But as humans, we have this deep seated need to belong, And we see this play out in all kinds of aspects of our lives, but our identity largely depends on the groups that we associate with and those that we're accepted into. And embarrassingly enough, we even see this play out with spectator sports. Now in the odd year that Wake Forest is having a decent football team, I get drawn in. And the amount of emotional connection that I feel with these kids is kind of embarrassing.

What's that? I'm sorry. I because I'm not gonna meet these kids. I can't do anything to help them and I don't know hardly anything about them. And yet, when there's a big play, when there's a score, when there's a flag thrown, it's like a come on or a let's go.

And frankly, it's kind of embarrassing. And that's even before I admit that most of the time I'm watching this on a digital recording after it's already happened. But this is a function and it's all because of the the jersey they wear in the school they go to, but it's a function of our fundamental need to belong. And today in first Peter, we're going to talk about the ultimate belonging, the ultimate assignment of our identity. Because you need to know your identity, because if you can't succinctly answer the question, who are you?

Satan is gonna answer it for you. Now I confess that I feel like a fraud for the message that I'm gonna teach today. I've been convicted in the Holy Spirit that my life does not look the way that I would want it to in light of the text that we're gonna discuss. But that in no way relieves my burden to teach it. If anything, it elevates my necessary response to it.

So I've been convicted in the spirit as I prepared this message, and I've prayed that you will be too. So let's let's read God's word. Oh, no. There we go. First Peter two nine through 10, but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

For once, you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Now for a bit of context, you guys need to know that I have no formal training in Greek or Hebrew. I did take Latin for a few years in high school, but doctor Jacobs thought pretty poorly of my talents then, and they've only degraded since then. But I am capable of reading the commentaries, consulting the experts, and an important thing for our letter today that you need to know is that much of it is written in the second person plural.

And one of the failings, of course, of the English language as we've discussed before is that we tend to use the same word for the singular or the plural second person, you. My creative friends from back home in Texas, we have a solution for this but much of the world thinks us backwards for saying y'all. What you need to know for today's context is that much of today's letter is written in Texan. It's saying, y'all or even the more emphatic, all y'all. So with that in mind, here's our central truth for today.

Here's our thesis. That when God chose us and saved us, he made us part of something brand new. And in light of the kingdom of God, we as a church are to be different from the people around us. We're gonna take four key points from the text, four phrases, and we're just gonna unpack those, and those are our outline for today. That's chosen people, holy nation, people for God's own possession, and royal priesthood.

So our first point, chosen people. I don't know about you, but I can often get pulled into this idea that Christianity is actually a list of things that we are supposed to not do. As if by removing some things from our life, we can somehow make ourselves acceptable to the holy and perfect creator God. And you'll see this and feel this subtly reinforced all throughout the news, entertainment, media, things like that. Everybody in the world knows what we as Christians are against, but they have no idea what we are for.

And some of that's our fault. In modern Western culture, they think that we're just in the way of social progress, that we should just get with the program regarding sexual or identity mores. When in fact, many of the things that are called love or kindness in today's society are the very things that God has commanded us to avoid or to speak out against. So we're considered far too conservative in Western culture, but if you compare us to Eastern cultures, the irony is in shame and honor cultures, Christians are considered far too liberal. The idea of forgiveness, of grace, or of human dignity, that all humans are made equal in human dignity, value, and worth, that women and children are not property.

These are all Christian ideas. They don't have their genesis anywhere else. And if it weren't so tragic, it would be almost funny the extents to which Western culture has usurped the idea of human dignity, perverted it for its own purposes, and then rebranded it as if it's some novel creation of secular humanism. Anyway, people that that have only lazy passing knowledge of the faith, they think that we're just another religion, that we are trying to effectively earn our way to God or to some internal being. You've heard the old phrase about old time religion as Ray calls it.

It's don't drink, don't chew, and don't go with girls that do. So instead, we respond and we get grumpy about the decline of moral values in our society. And you know, and and we should. The decline of civilization in in Western society is a big deal, but the Bible knows nothing of that as the end of our religion. That's a shallow religion.

No. Our faith is that we cannot be good enough. No one can. We are all sinners. You, me, everybody.

And no matter what habits we remove from our lives, because of that sin nature, we need redemption. We need a redeemer. I've recently heard this called the bad news of the gospel, and I actually I just love that phrase, and so I couldn't help but bring it to you guys. But it's the idea that each and every one of us have hearts so evil that God himself had to do something about it. That we were irredeemable apart from his purposes.

That God had to set aside his glory for a bit, take on flesh, live a perfect life, and then die the death that we deserve. That's the bad news of the gospel that we are so inherently sinful we could do nothing for our own righteousness. And we can't accept the good news of the gospel without first accepting the bad news of the gospel. And that's what so many of us struggle with. Because the good news of the gospel is that he did all of that.

He took care of it, and he didn't just die. He rose again on the third day. He was the first person to do so, and that we that call ourselves Christian that commit our lives to Christ, we're gonna follow him one day in that resurrection. And we're called to live in light of that every single day of our lives until we die or until Christ comes back. So God chose to reveal himself to us here today in this text and through the person and work of Jesus for the purpose of creating this very gathering, this people, this church, so that we might work together for God's glory, not our own.

We do that by loving each other, however imperfectly, and reminding each other of the grace that we have received, and we do it constantly because we need the reminders. Because you guys know that we were enemies of God, each and every one of us as Paul says in Romans five. But we now have peace with God because of Jesus, and we can have peace with each other because of him. That's what they mean when you see peace on the Christmas signs. It's not talking about peace with men as if we just lay down our guns and everything is fine.

It's talking about reconciliation. It's talking about justice. And we can have peace with God and true peace with each other. This is what Peter is talking about when he says, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Guys, the bad news of our iniquity, our transgression, our sin, that was the darkness that we were in.

But the mercy we received, the assignment of our sin upon Jesus, that's the good news. The life that we've been called into that we receive in him, that is the light that Peter is talking about here. When Jesus walked out of that grave, and he did, and it is the single most important fact in human history, he created something new when he called us to follow him. For once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. And remember, when Peter's talking about identity here, and Peter is a Jew.

And being a Jew in first century Israel was massive for your identity. And yet when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in Acts two, he created not just a new nation, but a new type of nation. This is not some political entity. This is not a nation based on ethnicity, history, or geography. This is something brand new.

That's why Peter calls it a holy nation. And this is also why Peter throughout this text is using several mixed analogies because he's trying to explain a brand new concept. We aren't the new nation, the Republic Of Christendom. We are a nation of Christians in whatever our context is, but we're to be set apart within that context. You've likely all heard the phrase that we as Christians are to be in the world, but not of the world.

Yes, we're physically here. We participate in it. We take our kids to the ridiculous hockey practice times just like everybody else. But our moral values and our actions and our affections, they are of a different world because they're from a higher power, a different power. We are a nation without borders, without ethnicity, and without alliances.

When Jesus is praying to the father for his disciples and for each and every one of us, he says, I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. Peter then extrapolates this idea into our text today, and it's a much more positive example, but the warning version, the negative example is from Peter's contemporary James, the half brother of Christ. James four four, James says, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility towards God? Therefore, wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Now, this is a terrifying text because we are all guilty of friendship with the world.

Now, this is where the translation and our understanding falls a little bit short because we're not talking about being jerks. We're not talking about being in isolation. When when James is talking about friendship with the world, he's talking about compromise. Because the church has never interpreted this as like some reason to be hostile. Now what he means here and what helps us with our text today is he's talking about being different.

Fundamentally, intrinsically, and observably different. It's like oil and water. Because think about how otherworldly and different Jesus was. He owned nothing. He had no worldly achievements.

He spoke kindly and made the time to speak in truth to those that were the least of society. And he spoke boldly and without fear of consequence to those that were in power, and he never compromised. He lived in deep poverty in prayer, and from a worldly standpoint, he was in deep material need. And his apostles then followed that example. And yet by sad contrast, I often hesitate to share my faith because in my mind, I downplay the ultimate realities of eternal life and I worry instead about the vulnerability of sharing my faith or as if it matters, my ability to share it eloquently.

I worry first about my worldly comforts and control. My friend, Caleb Malone, back in Dallas, he has this great line about evangelism that's that's too good not to share. It's his birthday today, now It is better to be awkward than to be silent. And now that's not true for general life, but it when it comes to sharing our faith, it is better to be awkward than to be silent. And that's what our text today is telling us to do, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him.

When you're talking about Jesus, you're not talking about your excellencies. It's not because of anything that I've done that I'm a Christian. It's because of the excellencies of the creator God. Guys, the best way to counter the cultural pull around us is to talk about Jesus. Not God in generic terms, not moral values, not the decline of civilization, not love is love or whatever meaningless trope the culture might trot out for us.

It's to talk about Jesus. And then we go and we might love one another in such a way that the world says is different, that they don't understand, that they disagree with, that they might even hate, but they can't help but admit it's kind of appealing the way we love one another. So I have brothers and sisters in Christ in every country and on every continent. And I have more in common with them than I do with my unbelieving neighbors. Have you guys ever been in that moment where you're just going through daily life and you run into somebody and you're oh, cool ring or necklace or they're wearing they have a tattoo or they're wearing a shirt and you go, oh, what's that mean?

And they say, oh, well, you know, I'm a Christian and that sort of thing. You kinda do this dance where you're trying to figure out like, okay. Yeah. And then there's that moment where you figure out you're both followers of Christ, and you kinda do the like the you like you wanna hug or do the high five and the pound all at the same time. And it's just like it's like great moment.

And I've had that on with with several like Uber drivers on trips where these are people from an often from a different part of the world. I have nothing in common with them except for where I am in that moment and then the savior that we proclaim. And you know what you end up talking about when all you have in common is Jesus? You end up talking about Jesus. And can't you see how God is glorified in that moment?

That brings us to our second point, is holy nation. Now something that I have to speak to briefly here is what Peter is not talking about with regards to a holy nation. He is not talking about nation states or political entities, and he's definitely not talking about The United States. Now I know that seems obvious because that's how time works, but I think it bears repeating as we can often get pulled into this idea that our patriotism is just as important as our Christian identity. Now don't mishear me.

Patriotism is a good and healthy thing. I think the American democracy experiment is probably the best idea in the history of human civilization. But we have to be able to clearly prioritize our Christian faith above our national or political identities wherever they are. That's true of America and it's also true of our friends in Israel. Now I realize that that's a bit of a loaded topic right now, so I'm gonna kinda be very careful here and look specifically at my notes, which is that when Peter says holy nation, he is not talking about the modern state of Israel.

Israel as a nation state today is a secular modern nation that is an amazing and necessary safe harbor for ethnic Jews. But it is a very far cry from what God is talking about in the Bible or what God promised Abraham in in Genesis 12. So when you see Israel in your Bible and when you see Israel in the news, you can't a 100% conflate the two. There is overlap for sure, but over half of polled adults in the nation of Israel do not identify themselves as religiously and actively Jewish. And of those that are Jewish, they proclaim love for the father, but they have rejected the son.

And oh, I don't have a slide for this. But in first John two, John says, no one who denies the father denies the son has the father. Whoever confesses the son has the father also. So we pray for Israel. We support Israel when they are in the moral right, but we are ultimately praying for them the same way that we are praying for anybody else, that they would find a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

The Bible makes clear that when God makes promises, he is faithful, and God has made promises to Israel. But those plans don't involve everyone that carries an Israeli passport or lives within its borders. Does that make sense? Another historical example is that in three thirteen AD, Constantine is emperor of Rome. He issued what's called the Edict of Milan.

And this basically made the practice of Christianity no longer illegal in the Roman Empire. Ten short years later, Christianity is the dominant and becomes the official nation or official religion of the Roman Empire. But the problem is that Christian leaders then, as now, wrestle with the consequences of that. How do we include people in a Christian nation or in a predominantly Christian nation when Christianity is in itself not an inherited religion. Now hear me very closely on this.

Because what I mean is that God does not have grandchildren. We can be children of God, but you and I and everyone else, we are not Christians because our parents were or their parents before them. We are Christians if we have placed our hope and our faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So running a nation as a Christian, it gets a little complicated because you can set up moral, ethical, and legal guardrails. But just as nations are incapable of doing anything to stand against the spread of the kingdom of God, so they also cannot legislate anything regarding faith in Jesus Christ.

For example, here's an exhaustive list of every official Christian nation that exists in the world. Just to pick on one. Do you know what the percentage of the population that attends church in Norway is? It's 2%. So I'm using that as an example just to say that having Jesus in your constitution would not be a guarantee of faith among the people.

So clearly, that's not what Peter is calling us to here. Our chosen people, our holy nation, they're totally different from anything that has existed before, and that's really powerful. Because if you find yourself being sold on a political alliance or having your healthy patriotism elevated above your allegiance to Christ, keep in mind that we are called here and throughout the Bible to be so much more. And what makes this holy nation so different? I'm glad you asked because that's my next point.

We are a people for God's own possession, and this is so life changing. Fundamentally, it is so powerful Because do you know who you belong to if you have a faith in Jesus? If you identify with him, you belong to God, the creator, sustainer, redeemer, the one who owns all that ever was and all that ever will be. You belong to him and there's nothing that you can do to screw that up no matter what. And in our anxious age, we need that.

There is no sin that is unforgivable apart from denying Jesus. And even then, do you know who got scared and temporarily denied Jesus three times? The writer of this letter, the leader of the early church, Peter. Now when the Bible talks about an unforgivable sin is as denying Christ, it means so in a permanent and determined fashion. Like deciding and then following through for all of your life that no matter what, you will not submit.

So no matter what you've done or for how long or how many times, there is grace available for you. Guys, angels rejoice in heaven when Satanists, when abortionists, when Muslims, when atheists, no matter how previously avowed, when they come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, heaven, the Bible says heaven rejoices. How much more for us? Now we've already talked about Peter, but what about one of the other biblical leaders? Do you know one of them professionally killed Christians before coming to faith?

We're talking about the apostle Paul. But God had plans for him. God revealed himself to him. He redeemed him from his own self righteousness. And then Paul built built churches, bodies of people, not buildings, to be clear.

Paul built churches all over the world. He wrote over half of the New Testament, and then he was martyred for his faith. That is such a flex by the Holy Spirit. And it's a great example of how no one no one is too far gone for God. Because show of hands, has anyone here killed Christians?

K. Because if you have, you still need to go to jail. But we will pray for you. We will baptize you. We will support you.

Heck, we will even help you start a prison ministry, and God will bless that too because of the blood of Jesus. We're gonna go wild celebrating your faith. Now it's an extreme example, of course, but you get the idea. We need this because each of us, we we we punt on our responsibilities. We screw up a lot.

And Christian, I don't know where you are in your walk, but we all need to hear this. Stop trying to earn what you have been given as a gift. Salvation is through faith alone and Christ alone. But what I'm talking about today in this heavy message is what we are being called to after that. But just as Peter today talks about showing us mercy, we can show ourselves and everyone around us the grace that we've received in Jesus.

So when we screw up, whether large or small, public or private, we bring it to God and we bring it to our fellow Christians. Because the other key point from this text is that you are a people. I mentioned this in the introduction, but all throughout this text and all throughout the epistles in general, it's written in Texan. It doesn't come across in the ESV or the NASB, but maybe if Eugene Peterson had grown up in Texas, his paraphrase the message would have nailed this. Because when this text says you, you read y'all, As in y'all are a royal priesthood.

Y'all are a chosen nation. And it kinda sounds good. Right? But my point is, this command, it's written to us collectively. So while each and every one of us have a responsibility to try and carry out the commands of Christ, we cannot do so alone.

Now you hearing this, you're gathered together here on a Sunday, which is a great first step. But if the extent of your participation with first b is just joining us on Sunday or maybe dropping off the kids on Awana on Monday night or a text with Ray or a check-in the mail, I'm saying that you are missing out on the blessing, on the peace that is available to you in Jesus and in this church. Or if it's not this church, another one. There are other healthy churches here. I'm just saying God's body, the church.

Tony Evans out of Oak Cliff Bible has this great quote. I hear people say, I don't have to go to church to be a Christian, and they are absolutely right. Salvation is through faith alone, in Christ alone. But you don't have to go home to be married. You stay away long enough and your relationship will be affected.

So Natalie and I got married here almost ten years ago. And you don't have to tell me, she hasn't aged today and I look like somebody took me out of the fridge and left me on the counter a little too long. But what if after that beautiful day, what if Natalie had gone back to Dallas and I just stayed here? We'd still be married, and we would have this great theoretical idea of each other. We would have never gotten into any of the conflict over any of the things that we fight about.

Right? Kids and work and school and schedules and ministry and all of these things. But we would have never gotten any closer to fulfilling our biblical roles, and I never would have benefited from the maturity that comes in iron sharpening iron. It reminds me of Proverbs fourteen four, which is a great proverb. It says, where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but profit comes by the strength of the ox.

Guys, community works the same. Church works the same. If all you ever do is put on your Sunday best and come and stay clean and keep your hands from getting dirty, there's no there's no oxen there. That manger is clean, but you're missing out on the abundant crops that come from it. Guys, you are his no matter what you do, no matter how fall how far short you fall, No matter how much you punt on responsibilities.

I've done all those things and I will continue to. But we are saved for God's purposes not for our own. And you have a fresh opportunity every day to recommit to that. This is my segue to our fourth point, which is royal priesthood. Because guys, I worry that we're gonna have too pretty of a church.

Look at this cool old building. If the windows were open, you could see the beautiful backdrop, but you guys see it coming in. This is a beautiful place and a beautiful church. Tim Dalton does such a great job taking care of the facilities here. Steve Baldock is moderator, but we could not run the church without him, without Jim Reed, without everybody on the board of trustees.

We are really good at managing butts, budgets, buildings. I mean, I think about Nick and Diane being here every day to interface with those that are hurting in our community. They do such an awesome job with it. But if we leave that work to the professionals, we're falling short. We're missing out on the blessing.

I worry that we leave so much of the grime and the mess of living out the one another's of scripture to those that are in the vocation. Ray and Carl and Mike and the rest of the staff, deal with so much of the mess. And I'm so glad they do because in many ways, they're so skilled at it. But it's an opportunity for me to grow in Christ. Because as I said earlier about a shallow nominal faith or just attendance, the Bible knows nothing of us farming out our responsibilities.

Take a look through the Bible. Read the book of Acts. You know what the difference is between my job responsibility or yours and Ray or Nick? It's not much. You are a royal priesthood.

All y'all. Me too. And priests in the Old Testament, they were mediators between men and God. They were set apart specifically for that purpose. Now that is our job now.

We're in the New Testament, all of us. Peter did not write this letter to pastors or to vocational ministers. He wrote it to you and he wrote it to me. And you know what my I I need phrases. Right?

You guys remember my phrase potentially from last time where I said, that of the things that's so helpful in my walk is remembering that what I actually deserve is death. And it seems dramatic and macabre, but it works. Similarly for this, I'm committing to being weird. I'm gonna be weird. You should be weird.

We should all be weird. And I know that there's some context in the etymology about witchcraft and things like that. That's not what I'm talking about here. I am talking about being different, abnormal, supernatural. And we get there by reminding ourselves that we are a kingdom of priests as it says in Revelations one.

And that we, as Peter talks about here, we were called out of darkness and into light. That each of us, what we really deserve is judgment, but we've been spared that because of Jesus. And you know what the main difference with this mindset is? It's you. Circumstances will still be just as hard.

That driver with California plates is still gonna cut you off in traffic. But the difference is you don't you can respond to it by blessing them, by praying for them. And you know what? They and every other problem source in our lives, which is usually human, the bad boss, the bad employee, the gossipy friend, they're not gonna notice. They're too self absorbed and we tend to be that way as well.

But the difference will be that everybody else around you will notice that there is something different because you have a peace and you don't respond the way that the world does. Guys, if we're gonna be priests, we need to think about trying to fill out the fruits

of

the spirit or pour out the fruits of the spirit as Paul famously writes in Galatians five twenty two. A trick from a friend of mine on this is you put your own name in there. Is the fruit of Brad love? Is the fruit of Brad joy or peace? It's in a way to evaluate myself and how I'm doing in following and becoming more like Christ.

Because do I have more anger or gentleness? That one hits me hard. Do I have more selfish ambition or do I have more peace? Because if we're to be holy and set apart as a priesthood for God, we need to take a hard look at our lives before we're putting judgment on anyone else as Jesus talks about in Matthew seven. Now here's a hard one.

Is your sexual morality different from that of your neighbor? Do you protect what your eyes see? Do you take your thoughts captive? Or do you fall prey to the massive industry that wants to monetize your attention and alongside in parallel, in tandem, in cooperation with our enemy, wants to destroy your ministry, your marriage, and your purity through lust, pornography, and adultery. Now stats say it's not that different.

Oh gosh, that's way too small. Stats say that it's not that different inside or outside the church. You guys can read the headline. This is from the Barna Group, a study called the porn phenomenon. And this is terrifying.

But the really important note here is that if this in any way described you, these stats are saying that you are clearly not alone. And the Bible is very clear on what to do with this or with any sincerity. You bring it into the light. The most terrifying and the most freeing conversation that you will ever have if you would but have the courage to start it. We'll be bringing what you previously thought was a disqualifying sin and bringing it to a brother or sister in Christ and to God.

That's how you get set free. And for some of you, if you'll have that initial conversation, you will be free of that burden for the rest of your life and you'll be able to celebrate it. And for others of you, that struggle will continue. But at least in that confession, you will have the beginning of freedom and you will have a co laborer in Christ in that brother or sister that will remind you that you are not disqualified because of that sin and you are not defined or identified because of that sin any longer. As we said earlier, you are God's own possession and there is nothing you can do to change that.

There is no sin that surprises God. God knew what he was buying when Jesus died on the cross. You guys know that. Right? He died for that sin too.

In the church, we've often referred to this idea as strangers and aliens. And you know who the coolest stranger and alien is in comics? Superman. In this comic, Superman is actually an alien named Kal El from the planet Krypton. And depending on how old you are, Superman either looks a lot like Henry Cavill or like Christopher Reeve.

But you know what's important about Superman is that Superman derives his energy from something different than everyone around him. And because his energy is from something different, he can do things that are different from the people around him. Superman, among other things, can fly. And church, what I'm saying is that you can fly. We talk at first b a fair amount about not falling into the ditch on either side of licentiousness or legalism, which is somehow both fancy and folksy, which you get with a head pastor from rural Georgia with advanced degrees.

But the idea is that we are not bouncing between these ditches of white knuckle, exhausted, angry legalism, and this devil may care. Jesus died for that. Free grace is mine. So what do I care? Licentiousness.

No. We don't bounce between those two. I'm saying that we transcend above them because we can fly. And because you can, there is an expectation that you will. And you do so by joining together in other alien with other aliens in a way that the world says is weird.

This is where the Superman analogy, like all analogies about faith, it breaks down because he does things on his own. He's Superman. And as I'm learning in my early I get into my late thirties, I am not. But you, however, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Why?

So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. I'll invite the band back up, I'll say this again to make it very clear, which is that all of those things that Peter says you are, the chosen people, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, that is so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You were called out of the world about while being physically left in it. You were called out of your sins so that you can tell people about Jesus. There is an opportunity right now, as long as today is called today, to change the rest of your life, to stop living for the complacency, for the sin that controls you, for the fear of others, for the fruits of the flesh, and instead to recommit to being holy together, all of y'all.

Church, y'all are the people of God. Go forth and proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. I love you, church. Thank you for this time. Have a great week of worship.

Just stand and we'll sing. My soul magnifies.

Good news and great joy. Good news and great joy. Those of whom his favor reigns come and worship. Do not be afraid. My soul my Great things for me.

Unto you, child born. Unto you, child is born. Unto us, a son is given. Let every heart bear his throne. And let every nation under heaven.

Come and look and come worship. Do not be afraid. And he shall reign on David's throne. And his name shall be from this day on. Wonderful counselor.

Everlasting father, everlasting father. Let's sing that again.

You know what? Can I share a

different benediction than I have on there? I had this one, this one in my mind this morning. It's from Galatians five thirteen, and it says this, that we were called to freedom. Truly, we were. That's what we were called to freedom.

When when Jesus chose us and brought us into his kingdom and we made that confession of of faith, we're called to freedom. It says, use your freedom as an opportunity, not not for the flesh, but to love and serve one another. Lord, may may we, Lord, love and serve one another truly with the kingdom in mind, kingdom purposes in mind. In Jesus' name, we need your strength. We need your power.

Amen.