Dr. John Perkins, minister, author, and civil rights activist, said, “The problem is that there is a gaping hole in our Gospel. We have preached a gospel that leaves us believing that we can be reconciled to God but not reconciled to our Christian brothers and sisters who don’t look like us -brothers and sisters with whom we are, in fact, one blood. I love this quote from John Perkins. It highlights what one of my favorite authors, Paul Tripp, frequently writes, regarding our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with others.
In Christ, the distinctions we love to cling to are leveled at the foot of the Cross. The Apostle Paul writes, “For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus,” Galatians 3:27–28.
While we physically keep our distinctions, spiritually, we become one new family, one new people group, chosen in Christ. Peter writes, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,” 1 Peter 2:9. We are a chosen people, set apart to serve our God and to proclaim his excellencies in the earth.
Peter parallels God’s choosing Israel with that now of the church. Israel could not take credit for being chosen by God. They were called His people and meant to reflect his glory to other nations. The Scripture tells us, “Yet the Lord had his heart set on your ancestors and loved them. He chose their descendants after them—he chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today,” Dt 10:15.
In commenting on this text, Warren Wiersbe said, “We are a chosen generation, which immediately speaks of God’s grace. We are a holy nation set apart to belong exclusively to God. We are the people of God because He purchased us with the blood of His own Son.”
In a world of darkness, we must not forget who we are in Christ? We are a peculiar people called to stand out in a world that is not truly our home. Do we as Christians identify more with those in the world system than in the family of God? While we may find some philosophical agreement with those in specific ideological, political, or cultural camps, can 1 Peter 2:9 be applied to them? What do I mean, when the world ends, and you step into eternity, do those whom you walk with and identify the closest are they the chosen, holy priesthood, called to proclaim His excellencies?
Once you were not a people, Peter goes on if we continue reading, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. We see a clear distinction here. Once outside, slaves to sin and bound in darkness. Yet, it is through Christ that we have now come into the marvelous light.
The people of God are exiles in this world system. We are called to live as resident aliens, seeking the good and glorifying Christ in it. However, in all this, we are on a mission to bring others into God’s family by proclaiming the Gospel. So, as Christians, we don’t retreat from the world but engage it for God’s glory. Even when we are slandered for the name of Jesus, those outside the family of God should still see the good works we are doing in our King’s name.
Today, the danger is that many believers have developed spiritual amnesia of sorts. Generally, in our American culture, it happens every election cycle. We forget we are resident aliens, part of a different Kingdom and serve the Sovereign God of the Universe. While we have privileges as American citizens and should utilize those, they pale compared to the great freedom afforded by God’s mercy to be in His Kingdom.
In the vitriol of the social media landscape, let us not forget who we are. A chosen people, a royal priesthood a peculiar people, sent on a mission to do good and glorify God. Let us not forget people need reconciliation to God through Christ and the agenda at the forefront is Christ. While the world is lost and confused about their purpose, let it not be said that we are. We may physically, politically, and culturally be different, but in Christ, we are one new people, on a mission for His glory.
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