1 Peter 2:9-12 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Sunday, February 12, 2023 “Now You Are the People of God”
What does it mean to be the people of God? In our First Reading today (Exodus 19:1-8), we heard God’s own words to his Old Testament people, the Israelites. If you recall, that reading told us that it recorded what happened in the third month after the Israelites left Egypt. The people camped in the wilderness could remember what had happened. They knew exactly what God meant when he said, “you have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” After centuries of those people and their ancestors living as slaves in Egypt, God worked amazing miracles. He brought plagues that caused their Egyptian slave masters to suffer. He convinced them to release the people. He even opened a pathway in the sea for them to walk through while the Egyptians who had changed their minds were pursuing them. And he caused that pathway to collapse and drown the enemies. His people were safe. His people were saved. His people were free. And the people, reminded of God’s work for them, responded to his instruction by saying, “Everything that the Lord has said, we will do.” What did it mean for them to be the people of God? It meant that they had been rescued by God and that they would obey him. That message is echoed in the words of Jesus in his famous sermon. We’re only spending a couple weeks on this sermon in our worship, so we won’t get through anywhere near all of it. But what we heard today was Jesus telling the people who were following him what it meant to be people of God. It meant that God had done the work of making them his people and that they were invited to share his love in the way they lived their lives. You are salt…go out and live in a way that preserves and enhances the world around you. You are light…go out and live in a way that breaks through darkness. Your righteousness should surpass even the people that most of your society consider the greatest. That message is also echoed in the words of our sermon text today. The Holy Spirit moved Peter to write these words to Christians scattered throughout the area of modern-day Turkey many years ago, around 60 AD. These words reminded those Christians, who were facing suffering because of their faith, that they were God’s own people and that they should live as God’s own people. And his words apply directly to you and to me today. We do well to pay attention as he tells us, “Now You Are the People of God.” So what does it mean for us to be the people of God? It means that God has made you to be his own. There are some pretty amazing pictures Peter uses as he by inspiration describes this truth. He calls us “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession.” God chose you to be his own. Whenever Scripture invites us to think about this truth, it drives home the point that God made a choice before we did. He made a choice before we were born or conceived, or even considered. He made a choice before he even created the world that he would make you his own. He chose the Israelite. He chose the disciples and apostles. And you are here, and you are one of God’s people, because he chose you. And don’t even bother trying to figure out why. You hadn’t done anything good to make him want to choose you. In fact, until he chose you and changed you, you wouldn’t have done anything good at all. He chose you anyway, and that is why he did everything that needed to be done to make you his own. God’s chosen people is also his royal priesthood. If we were to go back again to the time of our First Reading, to the mountain in the Wilderness of Sinai, we would hear God give his commandments. We would hear God direct his people to set aside his chosen priests. We would hear about the special privileges and responsibilities for the priests, who would go to God on behalf of the people and would offer sacrifices for them. God has now made you his priests. He has given you the privilege of coming to him in prayer and offering your praises. And not only have you entered into that priesthood, yours is also a royal priesthood. You are members of the family of the King. You have that close connection to the power and authority of the ruler. And there is more. You are a holy nation, set apart for God and made to be with him. You are, in fact, his very own possession.