Chosen People: Proclaiming God's Excellencies to the World

You see church, this is our mission. It's not just to gather once a week. It's not just to consume as much Christian content as we can. It's not just to keep our faith private and personal. You see, we are a people chosen by God who have been brought out of darkness into his marvelous light so that we can now go into the world and make him known to those who don't yet know him. That's our mission. [00:50:33] (35 seconds)  #GoMakeHimKnown

And so how do we do that? We do that through our whole lives. We do that through our words. We go and we proclaim God to others. We go and we share the good news of what Jesus has and we speak it to the people that we come in contact with. And I know our natural response to this is, I'm not good at that. I'm not comfortable with it. It makes me feel weird. But the reality is all we're doing when we go and do that is telling people what God has done in our lives. And I think that when we think of it in that way, it should become something that's a little less scary. It's a little more easy because we're just making known something that has actually happened to us. [00:46:47] (53 seconds)  #TellWhatGodDid

And so I wonder this morning, you know, what identity are you living into? Is it one that's based on your accomplishments and the things that you have done and the way that the world says that you are? Or are you really taking on those identities, those titles that Peter talks about? Are you living into who God says that you are? Second, you know, do we really grasp the fullness of what he has done for us? Do we really feel the weight and the gravity of the fact that he has taken us out of death and given us new life, that he has taken us out of this darkness and brought us into his light? Because if we do, if that really means something to us, it should change everything for us. [00:51:08] (72 seconds)  #LiveYourGodIdentity

You know, to really sit in the miracle that God has worked in each of our lives because make no mistake, there was a time when you were not saved. There was a time when you were living in darkness. There was a time when your sin separated you from God and you were on the trajectory to death. But God, in his loving kindness, he reached into your life and he grasped your heart and he made himself known to you and he revealed the truth to you that you could find forgiveness and new life through the life, death, and resurrection of his son. And it was not something that you had to earn, but just something that you had to believe in. Right? That's the gospel. [00:43:03] (46 seconds)  #GospelByGrace

And sometimes I think we need to be reminded of just what God has done in our lives because we so often and so easily forget, don't we? And when we remember what he has done, when we remember that truth and really let it sink into our hearts, it should honestly change everything for us. And the only appropriate response to that gift that we have received is a response itself. The only appropriate response to that gift of grace that he has given us is a life of obedience, and a life of of worship, and a life of praise, and a life of going out into the world declaring what he has done. You see, we should be so overcome with gratitude and love for God that our whole life mission now is to go and want others to experience the same thing that we have. [00:43:48] (62 seconds)  #RespondWithWorship

In other words, Peter is saying the church exists to go and declare God's goodness. The church exists to go and make God known. God has given us this new identity as a chosen royal holy people to go and make him known to the world. But if I'm being honest, I don't know how well we really do this. I think the perception is often, oh, that's the staff's job or that's the pastor's job or that's for evangelists and missionaries. It's not natural for me. It doesn't come easy. I'm not comfortable going and talking to people about Jesus. But if that's our response, let's stop for a second and think about that. You know, Peter isn't saying that we go and we make God known only if it's easy for us or only if it comes naturally to us. No, he's saying that this is our mission. This is my mission and your mission as the church. [00:39:10] (65 seconds)  #EveryoneIsAMissionary

And in the same way that the church that we as followers of Jesus don't exist simply to gather together and be comfortable and only do things that affect those who have already given their life to Jesus and who already have a relationship with him, this inward focus that's part of it. Ultimately, our mission as the church is to go out to those who don't yet know God and to seek to make him known to them. And so what does that actually look like for us? How do we do this in our lives? Well, if the church exists to proclaim the excellencies of God, we have to know how to live it. [00:45:48] (44 seconds)  #LiveOutGodsExcellencies

And finally, we proclaim him together. This is not just an individual thing that I think our culture so often thinks it is. Notice that every description that Peter uses here is plural. Right? You are a people, not just a person. You are a holy nation. You are a priesthood. Christianity was never meant to be lived alone. You know, one of the ways that the world sees the excellencies of God is through the witness of the church together. It's through our unity. It's by looking at this place and seeing that, oh, this is a group of people who are different in every single way. They are different in every tribe, tongue, and nation. They are different in their experiences. They are different in what they have gone through and their gifts and their talents but they're gathered around one singular thing. [00:49:19] (64 seconds)  #ProclaimTogether