Word of Salvation – Vol. 13 No.27 – July 1967

 

What We Are And What We Should Do

 

Sermon by Rev. G. de Ruiter on 1Peter 2: 9

Scripture Reading: Eph. 2:1-10; 1Peter 2:1-10

Psalter Hymnal: 15:1 + 3; 438:2; 438:3; 435; 390: 1 + 2 + 4

 

Beloved Congregation,

In some verses from the Bible we often read in a few words and sentences the most wonderful things.  That is the case with this verse from 1Peter.  In just a few words Peter has said almost everything which could be said of our being a Christian.  All the aspects of election, of divine providence, of being called as kings and priests and prophets are mentioned here.

So let us think for a few moments of this word of Peter, that we might see again what we really are – through faith, by grace, in the Lord Jesus – how rich we are, how wonderful and beautiful our lives are, and what therefore our reaction should be.

The first word, which struck me was the word ‘chosen’.  Chosen – elected as God’s own people – as God’s beloved ones.  Just like a lover likes to say: boy, oh boy, my girlfriend, you should see her…. my boyfriend, oh you should know him …  my own dear husband… my dear wife, so God almighty, the eternal, omnipotent God looks at you and me with a warm light in His eyes, points at you and me, turns to the angels and says: ‘My people, My beloved ones; I myself have chosen them.’  Who does understand?  You know how a mother sometimes says to her daughter: ‘Why did you take him?  You could have made a much better choice.’  That is how I can imagine the angels looking at you and me, and then addressing God with this very same question.  Or just like the boy may think now and then, ‘Yes, why in the world did she take me why not Peter who looks much better, or why not Bill who is much more intelligent?’

So you and I, we should daily marvel and say, or at least think: ‘Why me, chosen by Thee, why oh God?  What did you see in me?  You do know, God, I am not good at all’.

And yet, it is true love from God for you and me.  Chosen by God..!

And now His own, His very own people; in my baptismal I ‘ve got His seal on my forehead, and none can take it away from me and make God’s love, His electing love, undone.  And so a believer does not know why.  He never will.  But that does not matter.  God knows.  And that is enough.  I don’t understand why God has chosen so many people to be His people.  When you come to know them really well, you can only say: I just don’t know’.  You are wondering: ‘why that man?  Do you know him, Lord, as I do?  Have you ever heard and seen that boy, that girl as I have?  Have you seen and heard that woman, gossiping, making trouble.  Do you know about his materialism, his love for money, his lack of real, warm neighbourly love?  About her unfaithfulness?  About her quarrelsome behaviour?  Don’t you make a mistake, Lord, in choosing him… her?

But the Lord shakes His head and says: ‘Be quiet, you, hands, off – they are Mine!  Yes, but Lord…!  ‘Oh, be quiet you, what do you know of love!

And then you realize again that this is the secret of your and my faith, of a congregation, of the church and of church history: God’s love!

Isn’t it marvellous, this faith, this conviction: God loves me?  Nothing can go wrong now, with you and me, as God’s people, His chosen ones, as God’s beloved ones, His precious ones.  God’s love guarantees it – His reconciliation with us in Jesus Christ.  Love – the word for what God has done and still does to man in overcoming the alienation in which we live.

God’s love, it is something which happens to us, something passive; it means the undergoing of the transformation of our entire existence by God.

Love: the wonderful deeds of Jesus Christ, humbling, humiliating Himself, accepting human flesh, becoming one of us, living in the midst of us exacting, awkward, unfaithful, quarrelling, childish human creatures, calling us, just as we are, brothers, sisters, dying for us that terrible death on a cross, descending to the depth of hell, being forsaken by His heavenly Father.

And now we are: a holy nation!

Holy, another unbelievable reality!  Holy – without blemish and spot, acceptable for God, acquitted in the heavenly courtroom.  Holy, you!  ‘Yes, Lord, but what about my sins?  I am not holy.  I am dirty; my soul, my heart, my mind, my hands, everything is dirty’.

But again the gospel has to be preached: ‘through faith in the Lord Jesus all dirtiness disappears – as snow disappears through sunshine.
Your sins, oh the blessing of that marvellous thought.
Your sins, not in part, but the whole,
have been nailld to the cross
and you bear it no more;
Praise the Lord, blessed soul..!

Do you believe in the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, your Redeemer?  Well that’s marvellous!  For listen now, listen to God almighty: ‘Let us reason together, brother, sister of my Son; come now and let us talk it over; though your sins are like scarlet (and I do know everything about that), they shall be as white as snow; I know that your heart is red of sin like crimson, but through the cleansing power of My Son’s red blood it has become white – like the cleanest white wool.’ (Isaiah 1:18).  And so all this has been included in your being – God’s – very – own – people, the holy nation of His Son.  It means; protection for the future; for whatever may change or happen in the future, this will stay the same.  Kings and priests are called for the whole of their lives, and that’s wat we are.

Royal is our blood, through Christ our Saviour.
Royal will it be, till we die.

Called, chosen, elected, beloved by God, in life and death.  And therefore, whatever future may bring, illness, war, death, in a way it doesn’t matter, our lover, owner and protector is the Lord, God almighty!

But now we also have to realize that all this is not quite as passive as it sounds; that Christians are not people who can sit back, like an old retired farmer can sit back in his rocking chair on his veranda watching his cattle, having his old sore bones warmed by the sun.  In this very text Peter calls us – as the Bible does on all its pages – to be very active now.

Kings – priests – declare God’s wonderful deeds as prophets it all sounds like a very busy schedule and program.  And so it is.  Real believers are very busy people; as kings and priests and prophets they are never finished with their work.

A royal priesthood with a prophetic declaration of God’s deeds, Peter says in our text, it means work for a lifetime, just like it began ages ago in Jerusalem, as reads Acts 5:42: ‘Every day in public and at home they did not cease teaching and preaching and talking of Jesus as the Christ.’  That is one of the reasons God has chosen you and me: that in this world the Lord Jesus might become known more and more as Saviour of mankind.

It is one of the great tasks of a church, of a congregation to preach the gospel.  There is the biblical picture of a herald proclaiming good news.  It is Paul’s theme, as he talks about it in all his letters.  Peter and Paul fully agree here.  In the kingdom of God it is a matter of: ‘Come and Go..!’

‘Come..!’  God says first, ‘come to Me, to get rid of your sins, to find a helper, to find peace for your heart; come, let Me make you rich, let Me give you real life, lasting joy in life.’

But then, when God has filled to the brim our lives and hearts and hands with His beautiful gifts of grace, then He says: Go, go now, my people, my children, go out into the world and tell everybody how rich you are through Me.’  Haven’t we many good reasons why we should tell others the good news of Jesus Christ?  God has blessed us so abundantly, calling, choosing, loving us.  Why then are we so often silent?  One of David’s prayers should be ours, daily: ‘Lord, open my lips that my mouth shows forth Thy praise.’  There are so many reasons in our lives for thanking God and praising His name, and there are so many who need to hear God’s good news.  The other day I heard a remark about a minister’s preaching: ‘Not much good, this man – too much talk about evangelism in his sermons; we need more solid stuff..!’  Well, I think it is one of the greatest compliments which can be made of a preacher of the word of God.  Hasn’t Jesus Christ called us to call others… enlightened us to enlighten others… enriched us to enrich others… blessed us to make us a blessing to others?  No, and don’t only and in the first place think here of mission work, mission fields, missionaries, the Back to God hour, and so on.  Of course, all this is important, very important, and that is why we must pray for all this work and give our regular contributions for it.  But there is more, much more.

The relationship of the church with the world today does not consist anymore, if it ever has, in a calm, steady expansion of the power of the name of Christ, nor yet in a public address to the world, eg. by radio as it is done via the Back to God Hour.  We are back, certainly in a city like Sydney, in the situation of the first period of church history, in a world like that in which the apostles lived.  Our main chance is to live our creed, to show and proof our faith as a genuine and sincere conviction, by our way of life, in our daily behaviour.  You have got your own mission field at home.  Not Formosa… not Indonesia… not New Guinea… has to be your first and main concern, no, your family members and relatives, your colleagues and mates and friends, they are living in your mission field.

And if you have heard your Lord’s voice calling you, His inviting, electing voice, with His call of love, saying: come, yes you, come to Me, you My beloved, then you also hear Him say: ‘Go… for many others have to come also; talk about Me, of what I have done for you; talk of it, freely, thankfully; show your neighbour what I am doing within you, through My Holy Spirit.  I called you and that’s great, isn’t it?
And so you came,
out of your unrest and arrogant pride,
into my blessed will to abide:
out of yourself to dwell in My love,
out of despair into raptures above.

But now you must rise and go; please do go now, for many others have to come.  And I have no voice but your voice to call them, no way to show them how good it is to live with Me but your way of life.  So – not preaching only.  No… witnessing also.  Witnessing, which means: showing, proving, presenting the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit within, our Lord’s wonderful deeds in our hearts and lives.

Christ has no tongue but our tongue
to tell men how He died.
He has no help but our help
to bring them to His side.
Christ has no hands but our hands
to do His work today.
He has no feet but our feet
to lead men in His way.
What if our hands are busy
with other work than His?
What if our feet are walking
where sins allurement is?
What if our tongues are speaking
of things His lips would spurn?
How can we hope to declare His deeds
unless from Him we learn?

And so your being one – of – God’s – chosen – ones has become now a new way of life, a way of new life.

The other day a father with his little son visited one of London’s cathedrals.  It was a beautiful September afternoon, with the sun close to sunset, throwing its last beams through the stained glass window, in which some saints were pictured.

The boy asked: ‘what kind of people are they daddy?’  ‘Well, son, those are saints.’

‘Oh, I see…!  And with great admiration on his boyish face he looked at the window, at those faces in the window, beaming in the late autumn sun.  And then he said: ‘Dad, now I know what saints are; saints are people who can let light go through them.’

Well, there it is; God’s people are people called out of darkness into His marvellous light, to enjoy life, living in the warm light of God’s love, to let this light go through, not so much with words as well in deeds.

And so you are your neighbour’s Bible,
he reads you when you meet.
Today he reads you in your home
To-morrow in the street.
He may be relative or friend,
or slight acquaintance be.
He may not even know your name,
he’s reading you and me.

Well, that is Peter’s idea when he talks about God’s people, Gods chosen and beloved ones declaring, announcing, proclaiming the wonderful deeds of divine love in your daily surroundings.

Just where you stand in daily life, there is your mission field.  May God the Holy Spirit give you the royal courage of a king, the humble attitude of a priest bringing daily sacrifices of praise and gratitude, the boldness of a prophet to speak up for your Lord, your friend, your beloved, who called you to be His, His friend His beloved forever.

Amen.