The People of God, Pt. 2
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When was the last time you walked into a room where you felt welcomed and a sense of total belonging? There’s something wonderful about that feeling. Pastor Nick Gatzke returns to the story of God’s people in the Old Testament to discover more about the place where you belong.
The New Testament begins. Jesus comes onto the scene, and right away we see that things are going to be different in some ways. John 1, verses 11-13 says, “Jesus came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. The Jewish Jesus came to the Jews, and they did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God.” Jesus came to the ethnic people of God.
Many did not receive him, but many others did receive him when they believed they became children.
Friends, that is such incredible news because when you believe, when you have faith, The entry point for you to be able to say, God will be my God and I will be part of his people is now wide open throughout all of history. Access and opportunity is given to certain classes and certain families and certain areas of industry.
But if you want… the highest blessing, if you want for your life the highest honor, if you want for your life the greatest type of access, access to God himself, then fear not. For you to be called one of the children of God, you need not worry. Anyone can have access and opportunity through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that is incredible news. Galatians 3:26, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
God, in the New Testament, just as he established and chose a people for himself in the Old Testament, does the same in the New Testament. It’s God who initiates the relationship. For his people. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 13 says, “We should always give thanks to God, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and faith and truth.” And just like God has a purpose for his people in the Old Testament, God has the similar purpose for his people in the New Testament. Do you remember what the purpose is? The purpose of God’s people in the Old Testament is to bless them, number one, and to display his glory in them and through them for the rest of the world, number two.
And we see that for the people of God in the New Testament as well. Titus chapter two, verse 14, speaks to this blessing. “Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.” God displays his glory through this people.
Ephesians chapter one, verses 13 and 14 says, “In him, that’s Christ, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God’s own possessions to the praise of his glory.”
God makes his glory known through his people.
You might say it this way, God displays glory in the world through his people as they are redeemed unto him. God displays his glory in the world through his people as they are redeemed unto him.
God could display his glory in the world in a lot of different ways. He doesn’t have to do it this way. He could display glory and power and majesty and might in all kinds of ways.
He could give magnificent displays of light whenever he decides to act. He could make thunderous clouds that would shake this building to the ground daily if he chose.
He could remind us of his severity through natural disaster after natural disaster after natural disaster. He could enact miracles regularly and daily just to remind us of who he is and what his glory is. But God doesn’t do that. He displays his glory through his people. for the rest of the world to watch. And so Jews and Gentiles and men and women and slaves and free and cripples and sick and healthy and strong and adults and children and black and brown and white are all part of God’s people in which he displays his magnificence and power and glory.
And finally, we see that where this story of God’s people through the Old Testament is woven through to the New Testament and comes down into the place of your life where you see that this actually starts to become your story is when you understand that your faith in Jesus leads you to a particular type of relationship with God and a particular type of relationship with other people because the people of God displayed in the New Testament and into today are called the church.
And the universal church, all the people of God, find their expression in local churches.
The word church in the New Testament Greek, ecclesia, literally means a gathering or assembly of people. What people? The people of God.
Jesus says in Matthew chapter 16:18 to Peter, “On this rock I will build my church, my gathering of people, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
Ephesians 5, 25 says that Jesus loves the church, the gathered church. of God. It’s the church that’s called the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12 and the ambassadors for God in 2 Corinthians 5 and heirs to the inheritance of Jesus in Romans 8.
It’s the church that’s called a royal priesthood in 1 Peter 2 and it’s the church that’s called living stones and a spiritual house in 1 Peter 2:5. It’s the church that displays not only the glory of God but also the manifold wisdom of God to the rest of the world and to spiritual powers in realms that we do not see. Ephesians chapter 3 verses 8 through 11, one of my favorite passages in the Bible because it is absolutely loaded with rich expression of what God does in you and through you. This is what it says. Paul writes, “To me, though I am the very least of all of the saints, grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church, the assembly of God’s people, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he realized in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”
God creates for himself a people. From the very beginning, this people has a purpose. And he has a plan for them. And he sees them through the ups and the downs and the lefts and the rights. And he is faithful again and again and again to redeem them and to deliver his promise and to display his glory in them and through them. The eternal purposes of God and the Lord Jesus Christ for the sake of your redemption to become a part of this people.
Paul says, are displayed right now most pointedly in the gathered assembly of God’s people, the church. God’s eternal purposes in redemption displayed in the church.
And when that happens, things that are secret or hidden are made known and the manifold wisdom of God that we cannot begin to comprehend is made plain.
God displays his glory in the world through his people as they are redeemed unto him.
That is the story of the people of God. And that is your story.
I want to close this morning and encourage you with five implications regarding the people of God.
And when you recognize the significance of this type of relationship and this type of identity, being the people of God, will give you a new perspective, as I said at the beginning, on your life, on your spiritual life, and I think even the relationship that you have with these people at this local church. Implication number one, you have the opportunity to become one of God’s people.
Through faith in the Lord Jesus, for the forgiveness of your sins. No matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’ve been, no matter what color your skin is, no matter what social class you come from, access and opportunity to be part of the people of God are yours because Jesus bought it for you. You need but express your trust in him for forgiveness and your identity eternally changes. And if you’ve not done that yet, friends, don’t wait another day.
Because God is beckoning you to come.
Implication number two, if you are one who’s put your faith in Jesus, you are one of God’s chosen possessions, his people, then you need to understand that the promise to be his people is not a promise to have your life always be great, for things to always be easy. For riches and entertainment and health to be yours.
The story of the people of God is a story of ups and downs. It’s a story of difficulty and turmoil.
The people of God have been persecuted and are being persecuted. God himself has disciplined his people for their sin. But you need not fear. Because the king of the universe promises to be your God. And what that means is that regardless of the season of life that you are in right now or the sickness that you are facing or the difficulty that is upon you or the financial strain that you feel in your life or the sin that you continue to battle and you just cannot seem to shed it aside, that the king of the universe has the resources, all of the resources of heaven, at his beck and call, and he will not leave you nor forsake you.
He will always, always, always, always see his people through to his intended end.
And there is great hope and confidence and comfort in that.
Implication number three. If you are one of God’s people today, then you have a very unique opportunity to represent God in the world around you. In fact, this now becomes part of your greatest identity. What makes you, you? Most people, when asked what makes them, them, will talk about things like their job or their family name or their ethnic background.
But if you are part of the people of God, this now becomes the chief part of your identity.
And I want to tell you what, to be known by God and as part of the people of God is so much better than being known as an engineer. To be known by God and as part of the people of God is so much better than being known by the last name that you carry. To be known by God and by the people of God as one of them is so much better than being known as a Republican or a Democrat.
To be known by God and as part of the people of God is so much better than being known as an American. And even more importantly, you represent the one who formed these And that is an incredible privilege and a unique opportunity. And I hope that you display it every day from this day forward.
Implication number four.
God forms his people into the church.
And that church is expressed in local churches. And this means if you are part of the people of God. This means that your spiritual identity as part of this people of God is tied to the church that you are a part of. What if you said to yourself and to others, I love the Lord and being one of God’s people is the most important thing in my life because God is the thing. the person of the greatest value in the universe. And if he’s the one of greatest value in the universe, then he’s certainly the most important thing to me. To be known by him and found in him and loved by him and redeemed by him is what I want more than anything else.
I want purpose and direction in my life that comes from above, not from below. And he does these things. For people, God does these things for people, and he doesn’t do it just for me. And he doesn’t do it just for you. He does this for hundreds and thousands and even millions of other people as well. And he forms those people. He forms them, not as disconnected individuals in their bedroom with their Bible open. He forms them into his people, which he calls the church. How do I be a part of his people? I become part of a local church.
Now, if you think about your interaction with the local church like that, then you no longer view this interaction as an obligation with hopes that it will give you good feelings on that day. But instead, you will look at your church with expectant joy because you are part of God’s people. And you will experience how God will meet your needs as his people. And you will see things you won’t see in the room with your Bible open alone. And you will experience the manifold wisdom of God displayed for spirits and powers and principalities to see. You don’t go to church if you’re a Christian. You are part of the people of God. And your expression of being part of that people is being part of a church.
Implication number five. This means that your expression of faith and faithfulness to God happens as one of his people with many of his people. And it stands to reason then that your ongoing joy And delight in the Lord is linked to your life in your local church.
It’s a really big deal because the God of the universe is a really big deal. And being one of his people and having that be the greatest source of your identity in life, that’s a really big deal. And the spiritual… that God gives and the joy that you can have in him is a really big deal. And the things of life and death and eternity is a really big deal. And so, yeah, active, ongoing, functioning participation in the people of God at a local church is a really, really big deal. Is your local church perfect? No. Are the people who are here, people who are hypocritical and sinful, just like you. Yes, they are. Do your pastors have many deficiencies? No. They have many, many, many deficiencies. But is this a people of God in which he does incredible things among men and women and boys and girls who are not worthy of him, but he makes them worthy because he shows favor to them and loves them and bestows grace upon them and he makes them his. He displays manifold wisdom and he does so in the church.
God displays his glory to the world through his people as he redeems them unto himself. And you are that people. And so I close this morning with these encouraging descriptions from 1 Peter 2. Peter writes, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. Once, you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Once, You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
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This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy, but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.
