God's Story Is Our Story: From Acts to New CreationSample

Peter spends a lot of time in his first letter trying to ground the church in their identity. How should they think about themselves? Peter chooses four terms that are from the Old Testament that were used to describe the nation of Israel: a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for God's own possession.

This identity grounds them in the whole biblical story. God is not doing something entirely new in the New Testament. The church is carrying on the mission that Israel was meant to do in the Old Testament. Instead of being a particular race of people living in one area (the land of Palestine), they are a people called out from among all nations. This was always God's plan. The church has grown from the trunk that is Israel branching into the whole world.

This identity also pushes us to live differently. We are to be holy and to live as God's own possession. We are to live under his authority and for his will. That will sometimes mean that we will be at odds with how the people around us are living.

This identity also encourages a commitment to a community. The mission is not given to various individuals, but to a people. How we live together, how we treat one another, how we encourage one another as the church is vital to how God wants us to live in the world.

Lastly, this identity spurs on a sense of mission. We are not drawn into God's people in order to show our superiority towards everyone else. We are people who have been shown mercy who get "to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us." Our greatness does not come from ourselves but from the God who called us. He called us so that we might call others.