During Sunday’s final sermon in the “Destiny” series, we studied I Peter 2:4-10.  Our focus was the description of God’s people as “A Chosen Race, A Royal Priesthood, A Holy Nation, A People For God’s Own Possession” in verse 9, with verses 4-8 providing the backdrop to properly understand the impact of these descriptive titles.

The main idea was simple – We will never fulfill God’s destiny for our lives until we do two things:  1) Know who we really are as believers and 2) Own who we really are.

In other words, be glad and never ashamed that you are different…that you are part of God’s people.  That one reality makes you different than those who are not part of God’s people.

You’re not part of God’s people because you are better than others or in some way earned the right to be part of the “in crowd.”  You are in His group because you believed Jesus and His message, whereas the other group did not (vs.4-8).

Because of time constraints we weren’t able to study verses 1-3 and verses 11-12.  Think of these verses like the two pieces of bread on a sandwich, with verses 4-10 being the meat and cheese.  Without the bread you really don’t have a sandwich.

The meat (vs.4-10) is important truth or doctrine we know and understand.  The bread (vs.1-3, 11-12) is the practical application – what difference does this truth make in our daily living.

What we learn is that because we are different from the rest of the world – in the sense that we belong to God’s people – we should actually live differently.  Because this world is not our real home (v.11) we live in such a way that people in the world cannot accuse us of hypocrisy (v.12).  Verses 1-3 teach us the importance of reading and studying God’s Word (Bible) so we can grow and defeat the impulses of the flesh.

As long as we want to be like everyone else in the world, we will be defeated spiritually.  Truth is – we are different.  We belong to God.  We have a new identity.  He has given us new names and titles.  We are not like everyone else.  Be OK with that.  In fact be glad and proud – without being arrogant and judgmental.  Own who you really are.  Only then will you live like it.

Pastor Steve Hogg