But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
(1 Peter 2:9 ESV)
Have you ever wondered if the Bible clearly stated why God chose us and what’s our purpose in life? Well, wonder no longer, the verse above says it all.
The first part of the verse is very important to us as believers because it first states who we are and our new identity in Christ as God’s people and children. We are a chosen race, meaning that God has graciously poured out His grace upon us, delivering us from our old lives. From the beginning of time God knew that we were going to be His people. We are a royal priesthood, and that has a lot of responsibility and meaning that also. In the old testament, the priesthood was set aside for God’s purposes. They were the ones who took over all the responsibilities regarding sacrifices, anything pertaining to God’s ark of the covenant, and leading the Israel nation regarding their relationship with the Lord God Almighty. We are a holy nation, which means that not only are we separated and cleansed but we live as a people whose king is God and we live and abide under His laws. We are a people for his own possession, meaning that we are His, that we are owned by the Lord. We are not only owned but slaves to the Lord God Almighty who bought us out of slavery of sin because of His love for us into His everlasting arms. He bought us with the blood of Jesus Christ who died on that plank of wood that we called the cross. He walked up that hill with the gigantic plank of wood which he gave himself to be nailed to. Not only are we all these things, but we’re God’s children, His sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of Jesus, temples of the Holy Spirit.
Now what’s the purpose of the Christian? Why did God save us from our trajectory to an eternal life without Him? That we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous Light. We talk a lot about the word evangelism, and what it means is to share or proclaim. We can see pretty clearly from this verse that we were called out of darkness into God’s arms so that we can evangelize! The word evangelism comes from the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον (pronounced euangelion) which means, good news. The word εὐάγγελος (pronounced euangelos) means bringing good news. And in parallel texts of Mark and Luke we see that these words show a synonymous relationship with the Greek word, κηρύσσομεν (pronounced kerrusomen) which means to preach, herald, proclaim. We are called to proclaim His good news to people! We are called to be God’s people so that we can proclaim his goodness to all people!
We see here that our purpose as Christians is to tell people and proclaim to them how beautiful our God is. We’re not just proclaiming anything, we’re proclaiming His excellencies! This is the God who created us, who loves us, who died for us, who brought us back into this relationship with Him. He is the God who brought us out of a life of darkness and into a life of light. That’s why we are called new creatures in Christ, we have a new life altogether that functions in a totally new environment with a totally new outlook on life. We were not able to see and do a lot of things before because we were in the dark but now that we’re in the light, we’re able to do so much more than we were before! We should be rejoicing always that we now have new life which was given to us as a gift of God from His grace. This joy should be overflowing from our receiving of it from God out from our lives into the lives of the people around us!
God MADE US so that we can proclaim His excellencies, I think the verse just took away any excuses that say that we’re not CALLED to it!
Imagine this.
Imagine you and a group of people are trapped in a cave and of course you’re all in total darkness. In this darkness, you’re blind, you fall and stumble, the air is thick and humid, and you’re struggling to find things to survive on. You’re all struggling to find a source of light, which of course means a way out. And so you do, you find a way out and you escape. You take your first breath of fresh air, you see the beautiful sun’s warmth upon your face, you see the beauty of everything around you, and you’re free to go where you see fit and explore the world. But wait! Your friends are all back in the cave! So you have two options, to either leave them there or go back and look for them and help them out so you can enjoy the beauty of freedom together! So maybe you love them, and you do decide to go back for them. So you tie a rope to yourself attaching yourself to the outside world and you begin your journey back into the cave to find your friends. You go back in there and you find them in the darkness and you tell them about light and freedom that you found and that you know the way out and tell them to follow you. So they have two choices, either to believe you and follow you to the light, or they can think that you’re delusional just from being in the darkness for so long. And the friends that decide to go with you, you lead them, following the rope you attached to yourself to the outside and lead them out. And you get out with some of your friends! Now you can experience this fresh air, the sun’s warmth, the beautiful world together which makes the experience all the more joyful and beautiful! Now all of you as a group have two decisions once again, to either stay there or go back for the rest of your friends.
A couple of questions for you to think about:
- Are you “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession”?
- Do you experience the “the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”?
- Are you going to live out the purpose of your new life in Christ, to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light?”
A Christian’s Purpose
Have you ever wondered if the Bible clearly stated why God chose us and what’s our purpose in life? Well, wonder no longer, the verse above says it all.
The first part of the verse is very important to us as believers because it first states who we are and our new identity in Christ as God’s people and children. We are a chosen race, meaning that God has graciously poured out His grace upon us, delivering us from our old lives. From the beginning of time God knew that we were going to be His people. We are a royal priesthood, and that has a lot of responsibility and meaning that also. In the old testament, the priesthood was set aside for God’s purposes. They were the ones who took over all the responsibilities regarding sacrifices, anything pertaining to God’s ark of the covenant, and leading the Israel nation regarding their relationship with the Lord God Almighty. We are a holy nation, which means that not only are we separated and cleansed but we live as a people whose king is God and we live and abide under His laws. We are a people for his own possession, meaning that we are His, that we are owned by the Lord. We are not only owned but slaves to the Lord God Almighty who bought us out of slavery of sin because of His love for us into His everlasting arms. He bought us with the blood of Jesus Christ who died on that plank of wood that we called the cross. He walked up that hill with the gigantic plank of wood which he gave himself to be nailed to. Not only are we all these things, but we’re God’s children, His sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of Jesus, temples of the Holy Spirit.
Now what’s the purpose of the Christian? Why did God save us from our trajectory to an eternal life without Him? That we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous Light. We talk a lot about the word evangelism, and what it means is to share or proclaim. We can see pretty clearly from this verse that we were called out of darkness into God’s arms so that we can evangelize! The word evangelism comes from the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον (pronounced euangelion) which means, good news. The word εὐάγγελος (pronounced euangelos) means bringing good news. And in parallel texts of Mark and Luke we see that these words show a synonymous relationship with the Greek word, κηρύσσομεν (pronounced kerrusomen) which means to preach, herald, proclaim. We are called to proclaim His good news to people! We are called to be God’s people so that we can proclaim his goodness to all people!
We see here that our purpose as Christians is to tell people and proclaim to them how beautiful our God is. We’re not just proclaiming anything, we’re proclaiming His excellencies! This is the God who created us, who loves us, who died for us, who brought us back into this relationship with Him. He is the God who brought us out of a life of darkness and into a life of light. That’s why we are called new creatures in Christ, we have a new life altogether that functions in a totally new environment with a totally new outlook on life. We were not able to see and do a lot of things before because we were in the dark but now that we’re in the light, we’re able to do so much more than we were before! We should be rejoicing always that we now have new life which was given to us as a gift of God from His grace. This joy should be overflowing from our receiving of it from God out from our lives into the lives of the people around us!
God MADE US so that we can proclaim His excellencies, I think the verse just took away any excuses that say that we’re not CALLED to it!
Imagine this.
Imagine you and a group of people are trapped in a cave and of course you’re all in total darkness. In this darkness, you’re blind, you fall and stumble, the air is thick and humid, and you’re struggling to find things to survive on. You’re all struggling to find a source of light, which of course means a way out. And so you do, you find a way out and you escape. You take your first breath of fresh air, you see the beautiful sun’s warmth upon your face, you see the beauty of everything around you, and you’re free to go where you see fit and explore the world. But wait! Your friends are all back in the cave! So you have two options, to either leave them there or go back and look for them and help them out so you can enjoy the beauty of freedom together! So maybe you love them, and you do decide to go back for them. So you tie a rope to yourself attaching yourself to the outside world and you begin your journey back into the cave to find your friends. You go back in there and you find them in the darkness and you tell them about light and freedom that you found and that you know the way out and tell them to follow you. So they have two choices, either to believe you and follow you to the light, or they can think that you’re delusional just from being in the darkness for so long. And the friends that decide to go with you, you lead them, following the rope you attached to yourself to the outside and lead them out. And you get out with some of your friends! Now you can experience this fresh air, the sun’s warmth, the beautiful world together which makes the experience all the more joyful and beautiful! Now all of you as a group have two decisions once again, to either stay there or go back for the rest of your friends.
A couple of questions for you to think about:
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