“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
If you’ve paid attention to my preaching over the last 2.5 years, you will have undoubtedly heard me reference Peter’s description of the church – “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.” In fact, I referenced this on multiple occasions as recently as November 17th’s sermon. What I don’t mention as often is the second half to this sentence. That we have been made this description – that this is our identity in the eyes of God – is significant in magnificent ways. Yet as much as this description of us is a blessing, there are blessings yet to be unearthed. For this entire identity is given “in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
“In order.” It’s a subordinating conjunction that means that what comes next is dependent (or subordinated to) what came prior. Who we are – “royal priesthood,” etc. – means that we can proclaim the mighty acts of God. So often, when I talk to people about sharing their faith, they get quiet and humble. Faith, after all, is an immensely personal thing. I’m a pastor, with years and years of paid ministry experience and professional training and education, and even I struggle with figuring out how to express exactly who God is and what He has done for me. I know that it has A LOT to do with restoring my sense of family by adopting me into the family of faith known as the Church. I know that it is about the forgiving of my sins and the granting me an opportunity to lead an upright, moral life. I know that it means that every morning I wake up, I wake up with a point and purpose to my life that drives me to work a little harder, care a little more, give of myself just a pinch more than yesterday. I know all of this – I live all of this – but still it is difficult to live up to that “in order.”
That’s because we are called to testify to God’s mighty acts. Over this past year, I got a bit of a crash course in testifying. Because of the church’s court case against a former employee, I was drafted into reading a Victim Impact Statement at the sentencing hearing. This meant I had to stand before a judge, a defense attorney, and a prosecutor – as well as everyone else assembled there – and give a testimony. It was no easy task. The Session worked diligently to figure out the precise right words to use. We solicited feedback from the congregation, spent time talking together, brainstormed, made lists, and dispatched our very best wordsmiths (kudos to Tracy Koski and Mary Ann Edwards!) so that we could get it just right.
Because that’s what a testimony is supposed to be, right? It’s supposed to be “just right.” It can’t leave out any pertinent details, but neither can it embellish the truth. Such a testimony is difficult – and the example I’m using is just that of a small court case in a mid-sized county courthouse, in one state of many in just one country. When I consider that my Christian call as “God’s own people” means that I’m asked to proclaim God’s “mighty acts,” it’s no wonder that tongues cleave to the roofs of mouths.
And so, I think only one thing is left for us to do. We have to accept that we’ll never be able to tell the fullness of God’s mighty acts in one testimony. We, instead, have to learn to get good at sharing even the littlest things that we’ve experienced. We have to tell the story of our life with God as a serial series – one chapter at a time. Give yourself the space and grace necessary to live into the “in order.” Rejoice that God has made you one of His own and then start explaining what that means, little by little, because there is a great big world out there full of people who haven’t even experienced a single iota of what you have with God through Jesus Christ. And they want to hear your story. They need to hear your story. Amen.
