Now You are God's People

Sunday - January 9th

Scripture to Read Today: 1 Peter 2:4-10

---

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. "Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God's people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God's mercy."

1 Peter 2:9-10

The story of human history in the Scriptures includes humanity sinning against God and being cut off from Him forever. God barred Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden after their disobedience to Him. As the first book of the Bible, Genesis, unfolds, the story of humanity being scattered and divided takes center stage. Things seem hopeless.

God called an elderly man and woman (well beyond their childbearing years) to be the parents of a great nation. Through that nation, the whole world would be blessed. Abraham and Sarah had a son, Isaac. That son became the start of a nation. God would protect that nation, Israel, from other people groups and kingdoms. The Jewish people were to remain separate and pure from other nations. Eventually, through Israel, the long-awaited Messiah arrived.

That Messiah, Jesus Christ, would, through His death, burial, and resurrection, make a way for humanity to be reconciled to God and to each other. The scattered, divided, broken people of the world could become one new people through faith in Jesus. This new people group, the church, would not be divided by Jew or Gentile - or any other distinction. They would be one - united in Christ.

Throughout the Book of Ephesians, Paul emphasizes how we are one in Christ. We are a living temple, the body, and the bride of Jesus. Living in community with other followers of Christ is a core theme to Paul's first-century letter to the believers of Ephesus.

"Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God's people" (1 Peter 2:10). One of the most beautiful and powerful truths of our salvation is that God has brought us together as one in Christ. What was lost in the disobedience of Adam and Eve was found in the finished work of Jesus. In a world full of polarization and disagreement, we, as the followers of Jesus, are united in Him!

Since we are now God's people, let's act like it in how we love and care for each other!