Ambassadors of Grace

By

John Orlando

Grace Covenant Fellowship

Philadelphia, PA

16 July 2006

Text 1 Pet 2:9-10

Background:  Peter is writing a pastoral letter to Christians that are spread throughout Asia Minor, and he encourages them to endure the fiery trials that they are in by reminding them of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He reminds them what Christ has done for them, who they are in Christ, and provides practical guidance on how to live as God’s people in fallen world.

Intro

Last week we examined briefly the life of the Apostle Paul and the overwhelming grace of God that was poured out abundantly upon him, and not just him, but on each of one us that has, by God’s grace, been brought into a saving relationship with the One true and living God of Heaven and earth through the perfect work of Christ on our behalf.

And today I want to talk to you about being Ambassadors of Grace.  An ambassador is defined as an authorized messenger or representative. And as those that have been saved and transformed by God’s grace, God has appointed us now as messengers of the Gospel of grace to the world around. 

And as we turn our attention to our text today, the first thing we discover about being Ambassador’s of God’s grace is:

I.  Our Identity

First as a community of grace, and second as individuals saved by grace.  W

Well, let’s look first at our identity:

            A.  As a Community of Grace Verse 9a: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people,”  

Peter first addresses his readers as a community, and he uses language that directly lifted from the Old Covenant in describing the covenant people of God, but applies this language to the New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And this is with good reason:  the Old Covenant has, as is most clearly seen in the book of Hebrews, been forever fulfilled by the person and work of Jesus Christ, and it is now the New Testament church of Jesus Christ, which is composed of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue, that is in fact the Israel of God. 

Second we see our identity:

B.  As Individuals Saved by Grace - Believers in Christ are the true sons of Abraham and have been added to this covenant community. And of course, every community is made up of individual people, and when Peter says of the church that it is a chosen generation (people/race), a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, he is describing things that we as believers are as well.  In other words, a chosen race can only be comprised of chosen individuals, a royal priesthood can only have individual priests in it, and a holy nation is comprised of holy individuals. 

And note, these are not things that we are striving to become; these are things that we already are which calls attention to the fact that our salvation is all of grace; and our identity is wrapped up in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

With reference to holiness, the sense is positional.  Positionally before God, we are perfectly holy, individually and as a community, by virtue of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ that has been credited to us.  Now, what we are positionally we are called to be practically in our daily lives, as Peter says just a few verses earlier in chapter 1:15-16, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."  

Please note that we are called to be holy in all that we do; again calling attention to the practical nature of the holiness that should mark the lives of those that are holy.  Those that are holy are expected to be holy; that is, to do holiness.  

For example, we don’t expect a janitor to go and perform surgery on somebody for a very simple reason:  a janitor is not a surgeon.  Janitors perform janitorial work, and surgeons perform surgeries.  In the same way then we expect only those that are holy to bring forth the fruit of holiness. Or, as Scripture says, only a good tree can bear good fruit.  If the tree is already good, it will of necessity bring forth good fruit.  So we who are said to be holy are called to bring forth the fruit of what we are.   God sees us as truly holy by virtue of being in union with Christ and covered by the blood of Christ, and then tells us now to be what we already are.

And so we have seen our identity:  we are a community of grace that is comprised of individuals saved by grace.  And now we turn our attention to: 

II.  Our Mission

God has made us a chosen race, and a royal priesthood, and a holy nation for one overarching purpose or mission, and that mission is, as Peter says in:

A.  Verse 9b:  that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  In other words, Peter is basically telling his readers to proclaim the Gospel, and does so using phrases that would press upon the minds and hearts of his readers the intensely personal nature of what the Gospel of Jesus Christ has done for them.  As a result of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are those that:

B.  Have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light - The word darkness is a great description of our lives prior to our salvation in Christ.  We were, as the Bible declares, dead in our trespasses and sin.  Our minds and understanding were darkened, and we were alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that was in us, and the blindness of our heart.

It’s as if we were in the deepest darkest pit, unable to see and with no way to escape.  But then God calls us out of that deep darkness into His marvelous light, and please note, this calling was, as we saw in the Westminster catechism question this morning, an effectual calling whereby God the Holy Spirit convinced us of our sin and misery, enlightened our minds in the knowledge of Christ, renewed our wills, and persuaded and enabled us to embrace Jesus Christ.

This calling to us was not a mere wooing, as if God just stood outside at the entrance of the pit and just called down to us, “hey, I’m up here…I’m going to shine a little light down there so you can see, and then you can climb your way out of the pit!” 

No!  God didn’t leave it up to us to somehow get out of the pit.  He actually climbed down into the pit in the person of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ did all of the work to get us out of the pit.  He came to us, picked us up, and then carried us on His shoulders out of the dark pit, and placed us into a place that is marvelously radiant!   He searched for us and rescued us, as it says in Col 1:13-14, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Think of it beloved!  The eternal Son of God sunk Himself into human flesh to go and rescue and save His people from their sins.  He who was fully God and fully man then perfectly obeyed the rigorous demands of the Law of God, willingly laid down His life and submitted Himself to the shameful death of crucifixion, and was then was raised bodily from the grave for our justification.  And, having secured and guaranteed the salvation of His sheep, He ascended into the throne room of Heaven and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, where He ever lives to make intercession for us.  

And now I can go out and proclaim to the world what Christ has done for me!!  I am a sinner saved by grace, and all that I am is wholly owing to what Christ has accomplished for me, for He, and He alone, was able to deliver me from the bondage and grips of darkness that held me captive! 

Not only that, but we are, as Peter tells us in verse 10:

C.   Those that have obtained mercy – John Piper:  “the closest word we have in

English like "mercied" is "pitied."… God did not just choose me and stand aloof. He chose me and then drew near in mercy to help me and save me. My identity is fundamentally this: I have been shown mercy. I am a "mercied" person. I get my identity not first from my actions, but from being acted upon—with pity. I am a pitied one.”

We think of Peter.  If anyone could understand what it meant to be delivered from darkness and to obtain mercy, surely it was he.  Think of it…here is one that walked with Jesus for over 3 years, witnessed the many miracles that He had performed, and was even empowered himself by Christ to perform mighty works.  He had seen the glories of Christ Himself when he beheld the radiance of Christ’s glory on the mount of transfiguration, and heard the voice from Heaven:  this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!  Listen to Him! …yet, we find him at Christ’s trial denying His master not once, but three times. 

At this denial, Peter comes into contact with the piercing eyes of his master, and all he can do is weep bitterly.  Think of the darkness of soul that Peter experienced and the depths of despair that he was plummeted to!  And yet our Lord takes this one who said that he would go with Jesus even to death, and yet then go on to deny Him, he takes this broken piece of clay and puts him back together again.

And is this not what Christ does for all of His people?  All that we are and all of the benefits that we have in salvation are as a result of incredible mercy and grace that God saw fit to bestow upon us in Christ from the foundation of the world.   We were in the dark pit of guilt and condemnation, but God had pity on us, and rescued us from our desperate condition.

We have been saved and transformed by God’s grace, we are a part of a covenant community of grace--and God has purposed to work through His covenant people to bring His Gospel of grace to a lost world.

III.  Application:

You may be asking how it is that you can proclaim the praises of Him that called you out of darkness.  You may be feeling intimidated with the thought of going to people and sharing with them what God has done for you. 

Well, fear not!  Remember who you are in Christ, and greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world!  When the opportunity to share the Gospel presents itself, you do not have to have a PhD in theology!  You do not have to be an eloquent speaker!  The only requirement needed is that you are one that has experienced the saving grace of God, and have turned from your sins and received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  You may not know a whole lot, but you know who Jesus is and what He did for you, and you’re just pointing people to Jesus Christ, and then getting out of the way and leaving the results to the Holy Spirit, because He is the only that is able to remove hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh.

Secondly, remember that you are part of a community of grace, which calls attention to the fact that there is no such thing as a lone-ranger Christian.  We need each other.  Collectively we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, and each person within this community is vitally important and has a role to play in accomplishing the mission we are called to accomplish.  Get involved in the community and discover and use your spiritual gifts in helping to spread and advance the Gospel of Christ, all to the glory of God.

Third, in the larger context of this passage, we discover that in essence our proclamation is not only in words, but also in deeds.  Peter touches on this in verses 11-12, where he begs us to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, and that we should live such good lives among unbelievers, so that when they observe our good works, they might glorify God. 

As we saw earlier, we who are holy are called to be holy; to do holiness.  Much more could be said here, but the crux of the issue is this:  we can’t talk the talk if we don’t walk the walk the walk!  Our good works do not justify us before God as it pertains to salvation, but they do demonstrate that we are in fact transformed followers of Christ. 

The apostle Paul tells us in Titus 2:13-14 that “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ… gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

Thus, it is through our good works--the love that we have for our neighbor--that unbelievers gain insight into the God that we love.

V.  Conclusion

Are you, like those that Peter was addressing, going through a fiery trial?  If so, then take your eyes of your circumstances and fix them on the glories of the Gospel as revealed in Jesus Christ, and remember who you are in Christ, and what our mission is in Christ.

We are those that have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light, and we are those that have obtained mercy. 

We are those that have been saved and transformed by God’s grace, and God has made us Ambassadors of Grace; messengers and representatives of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are part of a community of grace:  we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation. 

Let us then go and proclaim the glories and riches of a mercy that can reach into the deepest, darkest pit of despair.

Let us go and proclaim a grace that is truly amazing, because it comes from a truly amazing God. 

Let us go and proclaim, and demonstrate by our actions, the wondrous heights, depths, and breadth of the love of Christ; a love that would go to such radical lengths to save such radically fallen sinners.

Let us reach out in the compassion of Christ to one another and the world outside, not just in word, but in our deeds, and pray that God would privilege us to be the instruments through which He would display His incredible grace and mercy. 

Amen.

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