A Peculiar People ~ 1 Peter 2:9-10 (Life Together Sermon Series, No. 1)

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ~ 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NRSV)

It was my 10-year high school reunion. I was excited to go – not because I had loved high school – but more because I was excited about new horizons (I had just been accepted into the PhD program in history at the University of California) and feeling like I wasn’t the fragile, nerdy kid that everyone remembered. The first event was at a local bar and I stood around awkwardly waiting to be recognized by someone when in walks Bob Jean (not his real name). Bob had been one of the more popular kids and he strode up to me with a half-drunk smile and said, “Jon Lemmond, how are you, man?” I responded, “I’m good, Bob. It’s good to see you.” And as we got past the pleasantries, I asked, “So what do you do for a living?” Bob replied, “I’m into ketchup.” I choked on my drink and asked, “I’m sorry. Did you just say that you’re into ketchup.” “Yes,” he replied. “I drive a Heinz 57 Ketchup truck.” Wow – that’s peculiar. And this morning we encounter that word “peculiar” in our text – at least from the King James translation which translates vs. 9’s “God’s special possession” as a “peculiar people.” 

Now when the King James translators used the word “peculiar” in 1 Peter 2:9, weird people are not what they had in mind. The word “peculiar” comes from the Latin word, “pecus” which means “flock”. The KJV translators were simply reflecting the idea that believers are God’s flock – his own unique possession. I like this idea and while I understand that these same translators weren’t assuming “strange” or “odd” as part of it, I also find it oddly appropriate (pun intended). For this God is a bit odd and chooses peculiar people for peculiar reasons. So what does it mean to be a peculiar community – in the fullest sense of the term?

          1.    We are a peculiar people because we believe in an old and odd story.

Our story isn’t new, Peter reminds us. In fact, it’s older than many of us think. Right off the bat, our text reminds us that believers in Christ are part of much more ancient story – a story of God and Israel anchored in the Old Testament. That’s what Peter means by calling the church a “chosen people, royal priesthood, and holy nation.” These were direct descriptors for ancient Israel. The New Testament scholar, Scot McKnight, says that “there is no passage in the New Testament that more explicitly associates the Old Testament terms for Israel with the New Testament church than this one.” And that’s why to be a gospel people, we have to know the Old Testament and Israel’s story. We need to recognize that Peter is quoting Hosea 2:23 in vs. 10 and alluding to the book of Isaiah and the book of Psalms in vss. 4, 6, 7, & 8 when he speaks of the cornerstone. This is why our confirmation students are studying the Old Testament and why we as a church will be reading the first five books of the Bible beginning in January. Do you know how many times the New Testament writers quote directly or reference the Old Testament in some way – somewhere in the ball park of 1,000 times. The point is this: You simply cannot read the New Testament as it was intended if you don’t know the Old Testament story – and Mark Jacobson (our resident Old Testament scholar) says, “Amen!”

And friends, this story isn’t over. We, Trinity Covenant, are part of God’s unfolding story. My friend Greg from Grad School was an atheist. He loved to come and try to tie me up in knots with thorny philosophical questions. After we had been friends awhile, he came into my office and said, “Okay, fine. Just prove to me that God exists.” I responded, “Greg I don’t simply believe that God exists. I believe in a story about a God who created the earth and everything in it, who gathered and called a Bedouin people in the Middle East to worship and follow him, bless others, and never gave up on them even when they had no interest. And that this God himself came as a human being and died for us so that we might be made whole and have eternal life. I don’t simply believe in God. I believe in a story that is continuing to this day – of a chosen people, called to be priests, to serve the world.” And friends, let’s be honest, that’s peculiar!

2. We are a peculiar people because we are connected to a people-oriented and choosy God.

So this ancient story that we inhabit begins with a God who chooses, who is after a people and not simply just you or me. So the next way in which we recognize our peculiarity is understanding that it’s not about me or my individual needs or even individual salvation but about a God who also chooses others – who brings together a people. This is where the English language often hurts our Bible reading and why we need to learn to speak Texan – but don’t worry I’m an expert. In English our 2^nd person singular and 2^nd person plural look and sound the same - “you”. But in our passage, the “you” is not “you” but “all y’all.” We need to move from being 1^st and 2^nd singular pronoun people to being 1^st and 2^nd plural pronoun people. We need to stop always thinking it’s about my personal spiritual needs but about our spiritual needs. Peter is speaking to “all y’all” and not simply “you.”

What’s interesting, however, is that it’s not even really first and foremost about us at all but about God and what God wants. In vs. 9 the church is mentioned like an extended adjective for this God – This God is the God who “called all y’all out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

A God who chooses can create a fear among for some who don’t feel very choosable; those who were left out of playground games or job promotions. How many of us resonate with the terrible feeling of being picked last or the corporate moan of children who didn’t want to be on a team with us.

So the thought of God choosing a team feels – well scary and maybe even shameful. But that’s only because we don’t get that God is peculiar. This was brought home to me when I was leading the fifth and sixth graders. One of the children who came was never picked first for games no matter how much I encouraged the others to do so. In fact, I sensed my efforts almost made it more humiliating for her. All this changed, when she came up to me and said, “Jon, I know how to not be picked last.” “How?,” I asked. “Make me a team captain,” she said. Friends, that’s what God has done in Jesus Christ, Peter tells us. Jesus was the rejected One (mentioned 2 times in the verses prior) who becomes team captain of the universe. And Jesus, the rejected One, is the One who gets to pick. 

Friends, You and I don’t get to determine who is included in this community. None of us gets to be the chooser of this chosen people – only God does through Jesus Christ.  

          3.    We are a peculiar people because we are a people of mercy.

If God is the only one who chooses, why is it that he chose us and what kind of community are we? And the answer, according to Peter, is one word – mercy. Mercy is what makes us a people – not our piety, our good looks, our missional ideas, or even our behavior. And this is why at most times the church will always be a broken community. In Life Together, Bonhoeffer tells us that Christians “must be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves.” Why? Does it mean that sin is okay? Of course not! But by acknowledging the sin and sinners in our midst we recognize rightly the kind of community that we are - a fellowship of sinners saved by grace and mercy.

  In her book Accidental Saints, Nadia Bolz-Weber shares the story of discovering a new saint out on a walk with a friend in Denver. They noticed a small Pentecostal Church called Pillar of Fire that had a plaque which read, “Alma White, founder of the Pillar Church, 1901.” Excited by the thought of a female church planter, Nadia quickly googled her name and came across a Wikipedia article which she read with growing excitement: “Alma Bridwell White (June 16, 1862 – June 26, 1946) . . . founder and bishop of Pillar of Fire Church . . . first female bishop in the United States . . .  and noted for . . .” Her heart fell, however, as the article continued “her anti-Catholicism, anti-Semitism, racism, and hostility to immigrants.”

The next day Nadia called her friend Sara, an Episcopal priest, to tell her the story of how she thought Alma was a hero only to find out that she was a despicable sinner. Sara responded, “E-mail me her name. I’ll add her to the Litany of the Saints along with all the other broken people of God.” Friends, a peculiar people are sinful people offered mercy. It’s how we know that God is the one creating this community and not we ourselves, it’s how we accept the tragic wonder of what it means to be the church. It’s how we understand that me, you, him, her, cannot be saved by our own effort, our own dashing good looks, but through Jesus Christ. That means, Bonhoeffer goes on to say, that we are to be thankful for sinful church members in our midst. For it means we have opportunity to practice forgiveness, long-suffering, patience, and prayer, and others get to do that for us. 

So how will we continue to be a peculiar church – God’s flock? What will mark us as a peculiar community in a society and world which seems bent upon tearing itself apart? We must practice mercy. The gospel message is that God so loved the world that he came down and lived among us, loved on us, endured our rejection, and that even death cannot stop God’s love. Mercy is not simply a nice sentiment, it’s the story of Jesus Christ who died for enemies, for the broken, for us, and rose again. 

When you remember that you have received mercy you will be more able to give it. It starts with recognizing that I and we need God’s mercy – not that “they,” those over there, the less enlightened, the other party, need God’s mercy but that “we” need it. 

When I was in seminary I remember complaining to a friend about someone in my church who I thought was a terrible person. Her response shattered my own sense of self-righteousness when she gently said, “Jon, we’re Christians. We’ll take anybody. And that graciously also means you.”

Friends, we must practice mercy because that’s how each of us came to this community in the first place. Whenever I find myself judging another member of the church I always try and remember that someone is probably judging me. And so I remember to give mercy to others because it is only by mercy that I am here as well. 

So may mercy overwhelm us today. You are loved by mercy and you are called to love with mercy in return. How peculiar!