The Church: A Chosen People

1 Peter 2:9-12 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.


Our fourth metaphor of the church comes from 1 Peter 2:9—a royal Priesthood.

This term came from Exodus 19: 6, when the Hebrews first arrived at Mt Sinai.

When they were in Egypt, the Hebrews had no personal freedom. On the other hand, they were secure. As long as they stayed obedient, they could be safe. But if their masters became angry, they would die. They always knew their place in life, and hung on to a kind of squalid security.

God gave them freedom, but also insecurity. They had to depend upon Him, and their own resources. The manna and quail were only temporary. Eventually, they had to fend for themselves. It’s easy to see why some wanted to go back rather than face a life of constant challenge.

When the Hebrews left Egypt, they did not fully understand their destiny any more than the Pilgrims understood that they were starting a mighty nation. It was not until they arrived at Mt Sinai they understood the larger purpose of their personal manumission. God spoke to them from the mountain.

'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 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 a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' "

We are a kingdom of priests. We were not meant to live pointless lives in a squalid ghetto. We are supposed to be owned by others. We were meant to be a free people, answerable only to our Lord and King—Jesus Himself.

What is the difference between a minister, rabbi, and priest. A minister and a rabbi have similar function. “Rabb” means “teacher” and “minister” means “servant.” Both serve God, and teach the people. But the term “priest” is very different. A priest doesn’t just serve, he mediates. A priest is one who stand between God and the world, bringing the prayers and concerns of the world to God, offering up sacrifices to Him, and bringing God’s forgiveness and pardon to the world. A priest is a mediator between God and man.

That’s what we are. We are mediators. By our witness, we bring God’s forgiveness to the world. By our prayers, we bring the world to God.

In the Catholic church, clergy are called priests, because only they are allowed to handle he host, which they suppose to be the body and blood of Jesus. When they consecrated the bread, they call it offering up the sacrifice. When they pronounce forgiveness in confession, they call it offering forgiveness/ As Protestants, we do not believe our ministers have that kind of power.

It is a mistake, though to think that Protestants do not have priests. We do. In Jesus, every believer if priest or priestess. We are all heard by God. We all forgive sins. We offer up our bodies as living sacrifices to Him. We do not have to be ordained as priests—God has already done that. We are all made to be a nation of priests.

When God called them a kingdom of priests, that had never seen a Hebrew priest. God had not yet chosen the children of Aaron. The only priests they knew were Egyptian priests. So what did they think a priest was?

The role of priests in Egypt bore little resemblance to that of a modern priest, or even a Hebrew priest. They did not practice any form of organized religion, as we would recognize it. They did not preach, proselytize, or care for a people. They were not messengers of any truth.

The most common title for an Egyptian priest was “the servant of the Gods.” The principal god they served was the Pharaoh. They were the Egyptian public servants. They performed services and sacrifices in the temples, but that was not their main occupation. They were the administrators and justices. They were more like civil servants than holy men.

The priests were very wealthy. The temples of Egypt often resembled mansions. The priest often lived in great luxury, even while everyone else was starving..

Why did the people stand for this? They not only stood for it, they encouraged it! Thet enjoyed these things on behalf of the people. They were symbols of his greatness and power. When priests walked down the street of Memphis, wearing their gold and silver jewelry, they displayed the wealth of the God they served.

I grew up in another Memphis—the one in Tennessee. In those days, Memphis had another king--Elvis. He had a royal palace—Graceland—was not far from where I lived. Elvis’ staff drove around in pink jeeps. Whenever you saw a pink jeep rolling down the street, you knew that this was a servant of the King of Rock and Roll. Everyone treated them with great respect and amazement. The person who drove that jeep knew Elvis personally.

That’s what God was telling the Hebrews through Moses—you re like those royal priests. Every one of you has audience with the Lord of Lords. You have great luxury and privilege. You live in God’s presence. Not just one of you—all of you. You all know Him. Do you know how rare that is? Most people never know Him. The more we get to know God, the more others benefit.

I was in Russia across Red Square from St Basil’s Cathedral at a Russian Orthodox church. There was a service going on. We had never seen a Russian Orthodox service, so we went in to see what it was like.

We saw nothing. There was not a priest, choir or altar. Instead, there was a wooden wall. The service is half over before the priest ever emerges from behind that wall. Th service actually begins a half hour before the priest arrives. The priest chants prayers from the other side of the wall.

The were glad they did. They did not care whether the priest ever looked at them/ The priest stood in for hem. He was their living representation before the altar.

No one has to stand in our place before God. We can all know Him. Instead, we stand before God in the place of the world. What we do in our prayer closets will change the world. Our faith will move mountains. Our hope will lift spirits. Our prayers will intercede for all. We are the living representation of God’s power and Spirit.

This is your destiny. This is your purpose. You have been led from your slavery into a position of authority. You are given the responsibility to represent God. All of you, from the oldest to the youngest are to be dedicated to being servants of God.

People are looking at you too. When you walk down the street, people will know your prayer life. They can sense it.

That’s what it originally meant. Why did Peter bring this up? What special purpose did this metaphor men in his day

Peter lived in the time of the emperor Nero. He was a wicked, insane despot. All over the world, Nero’s soldiers were killing Christians for something they did not do.

Never mind who others say you are, Peter said--iust know who you really are. You are a royal priesthood. Just as the priests of Egypt administered the wealth of the Pharaoh, we administer the wealth of heaven. In spite of he hatred others may feel you are the priests standing between the common and the divine. The whole world benefits from your piety. There is no on in this earth who is like you, in any way. When you behave as the church, the world benefits. When you are not, the world suffers.

Peter goes on to tell the church how they should live as priests.

First, being priests requires that we be separate. You are not part of the world. You are servants of God. You don’t have to live as other people do. Everything you do reflects on your Lord and Master.

We Christians have this idea that we have to conform. We are afraid to be the ambassadors to Christ. That we are supposed to be.

Have you ever stood in an international airport and watched the passengers go by? You will see all kinds of people—Arabs, Hindu, Europeans, Africans. You can spot them often by their distinctive dress. Why would a man wear a turban in an airport, or a floor length kafti? Because they proudly don’t belong. They are unashamed to show that their citizenship is somewhere else. So why are we Christians so often ashamed to be seen as different? We should be proud of it! If we are not different, then we have no use in the world.

Even in persecution, Peter was not ashamed to show who he really was. We are God’s priests, and we should behave that way.

Second, being priests mean that we should live respectfully of others. Once abroad, I saw a true ugly American. He was berating a desk clerk in a hotel for some small offense. He was yelling loudly that they did not do that way in the States. I felt ashamed to admit that I was from the USA, because of that man’s behavior.

We should obey the laws, not because we have to, but because we want to. We do not submit because they world has any obligation over us, but because we want to bring glory to God’s kingdom. God is not glorified by us acting like fools and idiots.

Peter further says we should obey our masters—even our unworthy masters. In this, we say that we are truly free from the world.

When it comes to conforming with the world, a rebel is just as much guilty of it as a conformist. One is influenced by the world because he loves the world too much. Another is influenced by the world because he hates the government too much. The truth is, if we are truly free of the world, it does not matter is we win here or not.. We stand before God. We answer to Him, and whether or not we obey our earthly masters is simply a matter of how may we best represent God before the world.

Third, being priests means are ambassadors to the world. An ambassador has two functions: he takes the will of his king to other countries, and he delivers messages from another king to his country.

We do the same. We take the messages of our King to this world . At the same time we take the concerns of our world back to the Lord, who can do something about them. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we represent Christ. You can’t help it—if others think that you are a Christian, then you bear the responsibility of representing His name. To do this right, you need to be a priest. You need to stand before Go in prayer and humility, asking Him to forgive your sins, and to give you the strength and courage to follow Him.