I Declare… His Praises

It's a new year here at Cross Connection, so we're taking some time to be reminded about what our vision is as a church that God has called us to experience, express, and extend life in connection with Him, with one another, and with this world.

Open your Bible to First Peter, chapter 2, and verse 9, and follow along with us. Amen. Good morning! God is good. Would you stand with me and open your Bibles to the book of First Peter? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. First Peter, chapter 2. First Peter is right after the book of James in the New Testament and the book of Hebrews, near the end of your Bible.

First Peter, chapter 2, and we're going to begin our reading at verse 9. There, the Apostle Peter writes, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but now you are the people of God; who had not obtained mercy but now you have obtained mercy."

God, I pray that You'd speak to us. Lord, I pray that we would come this morning before You like the beggar in Acts 3, who looked up at Peter and John expecting to receive. Lord, may we come with an expectancy that we're going to receive from You. In the same way that Peter and John didn't have what that man was expecting, but they had something so much greater, the same is true as we come before You today.

We come with certain ideas, thoughts, and expectations about what we need from You, but You know what we truly need. So, God, I pray that You would open our hearts and our minds, that You would speak to us by Your Spirit, and that You would continue to transform us by the renewing of our minds. Lord, continue to use Your living Word powerfully in our lives to be a light unto our path, directing our steps every single day and transforming the way that we think.

And respond to people. So, God, use this passage of Scripture to bring application to our lives. Lord, we ask this in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed and said, "Amen." You can be seated.

There's nothing like getting picked for the team, right? All of us, to a certain extent, experienced that probably when we were kids. Do you remember standing on the line somewhere with two team captains selecting the team? The one thing you don't want to happen is to get picked last. You want to be chosen early. Statistically speaking, it's pretty likely that very few of us were those who repeatedly got chosen first, but you still want to be picked early. You want to be in the first round, if you will.

Of course, every year at the end of April, the biggest team selection process, or the most watched and followed team selection process, happens at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Some of you are really followers of that: the NFL Draft. Watching what takes place over those six or seven rounds of drafting players from college football or new eligible players into the NFL is exciting. All 32 teams of the NFL gather there with their delegates to plan who they're going to get and what they are looking for for their team.

All of those players that are eligible and in that pool, ready to be drafted, are hoping to go in the first round. Many of the people who watch what's going on will tell you that sometimes going later on, and many times going later on in the round, can be detrimental to a person's career. Although that was not the case in 2000 when Tom Brady went in the sixth round at 199th. Everybody thought that guy was never going to do anything, and it turns out that he's been one of the greatest quarterbacks in football since that time.

So, it's not always true, but a lot of times the commentators watching those things will tell you that if you go later on in the rounds, it's probably not a great thing, especially if you're trying to get a whole bunch of money, because the big money goes in the first round. We all want to get picked early; we all want to be a part of the process at the very beginning. As we come to this passage...

Here in First Peter chapter 2, we find a great truth that is encouraging to me and should be encouraging to you. It's point number one on your outline: if you're a Christian, you are chosen by God.

I recognize there are a lot of people who want to argue the finer points of that choosing—how it takes place, when it happened, whether God chose us or we chose Him. There are all kinds of finer details theologically that people have been arguing about for hundreds of years. However, we are not here this morning to put that argument to rest, nor are we going to jump into the theology of the choosing. All we can say for certain is that the Lord has chosen us. If you're a Christian today, you are chosen by God.

If you are not a Christian, I encourage you to become one. Put your faith in Christ. I will give you an opportunity to do that later on in our service together today. But if you are a Christian, the Scriptures are very clear here and in other places that we are chosen by God. We will look at that a little more in depth next week.

We are starting a new series here at Cross Connection called "Identity," which will explore who we are in Christ, who we were before, what God desires us to be in Him, and where we ultimately will be with Him. We will be going through the book of Ephesians for six weeks, examining the text of Ephesians and our identity in Christ. One of the first things we will see in Ephesians chapter one is the reaffirmation of this truth: if you're a Christian, you are chosen by God. It is good to be one who is chosen, who is selected, and who has been set apart as a chosen possession of the Lord, as we see in this text.

Peter is speaking to the church as a whole when he says, "You are a chosen generation." But he also adds that not only are you a chosen generation, but you are a royal priesthood. Now, going back to the illustration of the NFL draft—maybe because it's playoff season, this is on my mind a little bit right now—when all those 32 teams come together to begin selecting players for the next season, many people look at that event as like the pre-pre-season game. It has become a major event.

A game unto itself, the draft process involves teams looking at specific players. They analyze their stats, watch films from games and college football, and evaluate how each player runs, tackles, and throws. However, at the end of the day, the teams are not necessarily selecting an individual; they are selecting a position. When they come to that event, they are looking for someone to fill a specific role on their team. Maybe they need a defensive end, an outside linebacker, a cornerback, or a quarterback. They arrive with a clear understanding of the spot they need to fill and then assess the pool of players available for those positions. Ultimately, they are choosing the position rather than the individual at that moment in time.

When the Lord chose you and me, He set us for a position in His kingdom. He states clearly, "You are a royal priesthood." This is the position we occupy in Christ. As Christians, we have been chosen by God and called to be a part of His priesthood. That is our position on the team. A priest is one who stands before God on behalf of the people and stands before the people on behalf of God. This person serves as a spokesman for the Lord.

He speaks globally to the church, saying, "You, church, are a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood." Furthermore, He declares that we are a holy nation. Some people stumble at this idea of holiness and trip up on it. However, when He says we are a holy nation, He means that we are a people set apart.

To be holy is to be set apart, not perfect. It is important not to misunderstand this. God, in Christ Jesus, does have a plan to perfect us and make us like Him. Paul alludes to this in Philippians 3:12, stating, "Not as though I am already perfected." He looks forward to the day when God will complete the work He began in us.

Philippians chapter 1, verse 6 states, "Being confident of this very thing, that God will complete the work that He began in Christ." He is going to complete the work of perfecting us in Him. Later on in the Scriptures, we are told that when we see Him, we shall be like Him. There is a coming day when God finishes the work that He is doing in you and in me. None of us are perfect, but we are holy.

This is an interesting concept because, a lot of times, we equate holiness to perfection. We know that God is holy, holy, holy. The Scriptures declare on a number of occasions that He is holy, that He is separate from sinners, that He is perfect and undefiled. As a result, we tend to think that because someone is holy or something is holy, they are perfect. However, the idea of holiness here is consecrated and set apart.

When Peter writes that you, the church, are a holy nation, the word "nation" is the Greek word "ethnos," which refers to a people group that is set apart. God has set you apart to be His people. I go back to the NFL draft as an analogy. When the teams gather together to select players, it is not just the NFL as a league selecting players from all the eligible candidates in college football. They look at a batch of 250 guys and say, "Okay, we're going to take this group, and now they are NFL players."

The league does not place them on teams; it is the teams specifically that choose the players. They say, "We want this player to be a part of the Green Bay Packers, or the New England Patriots, or the San Diego Chargers." The players are set apart for a specific team; they are consecrated to that team. On draft day, they receive a jersey with their name on the back, signifying that they are part of that team.

We are a chosen generation. God has "eclectus," which is the Greek word for chosen. He has elected us to be a part of His family, His own special people, His own nation. Therefore, we are holy; we are set apart; we are His. We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation. He says, "You are His own special people."

In 2006, during the first round of the NFL draft, the second pick was a guy by the name of Reggie Bush.

The New Orleans Saints selected Reggie Bush to join their team, and that's about the only "saints" they have in New Orleans, I'm told. They looked at all the eligible players and running backs in that pool, and they decided that, above all the others, they wanted him. This is exactly what the text is saying when it refers to us as God's own special people. We are His possession.

When we read that we are His special people, it presents an interesting concept that can be hard to translate. Translators often stumble over the Greek words that are translated as "His special people." This is why, in English translations, there are several different interpretations. The King James Version states, "You are a peculiar people." However, we must recognize that "peculiar" meant something different several hundred years ago than it does today. Today, "peculiar" often means strange, which can make us uncomfortable with that translation. There are likely many people who know you and might think you're a bit strange.

On the other hand, the New King James Version translates it as "You are a special people." This emphasizes that we are set apart as special. The literal translation of the words that are rendered as "His own special people" could be understood as "a people over and above the others." This is similar to what the Saints did in 2006 when they evaluated all the eligible players and ultimately chose one individual, declaring, "Over and above everybody else, this is the one we want to be part of our team."

In some way, through God's providence—however that works, and I know there is much discussion and debate about it—He has chosen us. Was it according to His foreknowledge that He knew we would choose Him, or did He choose us outside of time? Regardless of the specifics, the reality is that, above all others, He said, "I want you to be a part of my team as a priest, as one who is declaring and speaking forth these great things."

So, point number three: as a Christian, you are God's redeemed possession.

They got Reggie Bush for free. They paid a lot of money for him; they redeemed him out of the rest to play for their team. God has redeemed you and me, and He has redeemed us. Peter says in another place, not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

We are going to be partaking of communion at the end of our service today. We will be remembering that event. Jesus instituted this ordinance, this sacrament, on the night before He was crucified. He took bread and said, "This is symbolic of my body, which is broken for you." He took the cup of wine—we have juice—and said, "This is the blood of the new covenant," symbolizing His blood that was shed for us. Peter would later say that He has purchased us not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.

Not just the Apostle Peter, but the Apostle Paul in First Corinthians chapter 6 says, "You are not your own; you've been bought with a price." Then again in chapter 7, he says, "You've been bought with a price" a second time. He states that you are the servant of God because you've been purchased by Him. Therefore, we are His redeemed possession; He is in possession of us. He owns us now.

All of these things are purposeful. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, His own holy set-apart people. This priesthood is declaring, as noted in the middle of verse 9, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light. You are this chosen individual, set apart on the team of God, in the position of a priest for the purpose of declaring the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

In the very same way that when an NFL team drafts a guy like Peyton Manning, they are drafting him to call plays and to lead the offense down the field—passing the ball, handing off the ball to make touchdowns—that's what they're selecting him for. When the San Diego Chargers drafted Junior Seau many years ago, they drafted him for the purpose of disrupting the offense, causing fumbles, intercepting passes, sacking the quarterback, and tackling the running back.

Back, whatever it may be, that was His purpose. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He chose you and set you apart to be a priest in His household, did so for the purpose of you and me declaring His praises. We have been redeemed and chosen to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

Now, you may feel like you have no major abilities or talents in the draft pool. You might feel like there is really nothing special about who you are and what you have. But thankfully, the work that God has called you and me to is not a difficult work; it's simply proclaiming the good things that a good God has done.

Sometimes, we are ignorant of the good things that a good God has done. The best way that we can begin to understand those things is just to get to know Him through the Scriptures. As we read the Scriptures, the playbook, we get to understand a little bit better about how good He is and what good things He has done. Our task is to proclaim His goodness, to declare to the world how good and how great God is and what He has done in our lives, how He has transformed us.

In the English translations of the Bible, there are variances in how this is translated. Some translations say that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light, while other translations state that you should proclaim the praises. Personally, I like the translation that says you should proclaim His praises. I think it's fitting with the context that God has chosen us, that He has redeemed us, that He has set us apart, and that He has put us in a position on His team.

We should do this task; we should do what He selected us to do. It's similar to what Paul says in Romans chapter 12, where he begs you, brothers and sisters, by the mercy of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. In those words, "it is your reasonable service," they could also be translated as "it's your only right response." The only right thing to do, after all that the Lord has done, is to fulfill your calling.

This is why Paul, in Ephesians chapter 4, again begs the church at Ephesus and us here in San Diego to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we have been called. I beg you to do that, to walk in the things that God has set you to.

God has selected us to be on His team as priests, those declaring His praises. He says this is what you should do; this is what you are supposed to do. It's kind of interesting—maybe you have been following this. If you follow football, there's a funny story that has been going on this season. There is a player, and his name just escaped me. Someone is going to tell me, I'm sure. He plays for the Seahawks, and in his contract with the NFL, he has to make public appearances and do interviews. However, he doesn't like to do interviews.

Throughout the season, they fined him a hundred thousand dollars for not doing what he was contracted to do and for not giving interviews. Now, in his interviews, he just sits there and goes, "Uh-huh, yeah, yeah." It doesn't matter what the question is; he just responds with "yeah, yeah." I told you someone would tell me what it was, so that's right. Here he is, hired for a job—not just to run the ball on the football field—but the NFL also contracts him and says this is part of your contract. You have to do what you should do.

The Lord has called us and selected us to be a part of His team. He calls us to be a part of this, and we should do it. We should proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. The New King James, the King James, and the New International Version say that we should proclaim the praises of Him. The English Standard Version states that we should proclaim the excellencies of God, while the New Living Translation says we should proclaim the goodness of God.

The New Revised Standard Version, which has a lot of versions in the English language, says that we would proclaim His mighty acts. The Revised Standard Version states that we would proclaim His wonderful deeds. I like the differences in translation because they add weight to what we are supposed to do. It builds the task, if you will, the job description.

You and I, as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, His own special people, and this holy nation that is set apart, are to proclaim His praises, His goodness, His excellencies, His mighty acts, and His wonderful works. How can you ever possibly do that if you don't get to know Him by reading His Word? You will never be able to accomplish what He has called you to do if you don't spend some time reading His Word.

Now, over 500 people a week receive our weekly email that goes out. In this last weekly email that I sent out, many of you got it, and many of you probably took...

A look at it: read it. One of the things I said is, "Hey, listen, it's a new year. It's time to read through the Bible and get in the game." Read through the Bible, get a plan, get the playbook, and follow the playbook. Read through the Scriptures. Start at Genesis and end in Revelation, or start at the New Testament and come back to the Old Testament. Whatever you do, get a plan to read through the Scriptures daily. Spend time in the Scriptures.

Now, I realize that our lives and our schedules are busy, but a chapter in the Bible typically takes about five minutes to read through. Unless you're reading through First or Second Chronicles, that might take a little bit longer because those names are a little hard to read. But reading through the Scriptures for five minutes a day to spend some time with Jesus is worthwhile. I guarantee that if you set aside five minutes a day, you'll find yourself spending more time as time goes on.

Yes, there are busy things that come into our lives that can sideline us and derail us from our plan. We all understand that our plans sometimes get hijacked or intercepted. But if you miss a day or two or three, just come back to where you are and keep going. If it takes you a year and three months to get through it, then take a year and three months. If it takes you five years to read through the Bible, then take five years. But spend time reading through the Scriptures to get to know who God is, so that you can be reminded of who He is and how great He is. This will help you fulfill what He has called you to do, what He redeemed you to do: to proclaim His excellencies, His mighty works, His good deeds, and to declare His praises.

He called you; He called me out of darkness and into His marvelous light. That's one of the things that He has done, which Peter highlights here in this passage. Of all the multitude of great things that God has done for you and for me, one of the things is that He called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

Two weeks from today, we're going to be in Ephesians chapter 2, and we're going to look at some other great things that God did when we were dead in trespasses and sins, when we were subject to His wrath. We were once in darkness; we were once dead in trespasses and sins. But now we have been chosen, now we have been set apart, we have been redeemed—not with incorruptible things like silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He has redeemed us to be His special people and to be His royal priesthood. We are a chosen generation by God, redeemed with a purpose.

Our purpose is to declare His excellent goodness and His wonderful works.

Excellent goodness and His wonderful works! Now, there are some Christians saying that we need to declare bountiful blessings into our lives. That's the declaration that we need to make. There's a big number one selling book written by a Christian author that says you need to declare bountiful blessings into your life.

I want to make it very clear that this is nowhere in the Bible that I can find. What we are called to do is to declare His praises and how gloriously awesome He is, to make Him famous. God does not exist to make you and me happy, although one of the byproducts of making Him glorious is joy. Our joy increases, and we are more satisfied in God as we glorify Him and make Him great.

This teaching that's going around, that you need to declare bountiful blessings into your life, is just repackaged Norman Vincent Peale from another generation about the power of positive thinking. It's no different than that, and it has very little Bible. There’s a word or reference here or there from the Scriptures, but that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that Christians are to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

Now, before we move to verse 10, which has some great things in it as well, I want to point out one small thing here in this passage. One of the things that we American Christians sometimes struggle with when we're reading through the Scriptures and interpreting them is partly due to a linguistic problem in the English language and partly due to a cultural issue in our Western American culture.

One of the problems we have when we read the Bible and interpret Scripture is that we individualize every text. We interpret these things completely for ourselves. This is because, number one, we are an individualistic people here in America. Number two, in our language, there is no "you" plural unless you live in the South, where they have "y'all." We don't have that here, so as a result, we miss the fact that so much of the Bible is speaking to you corporately.

The plurality within the church is often overlooked as we tend to look at things singularly and individualistically. With a text like this, that becomes a problem. One of the ways we navigate the scriptures is by interpreting them as individualistic texts that do not apply to us. We often look at a passage that says, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, His own special people, a holy nation, that you would proclaim the praises of Him who calls you out of darkness and into His marvelous light," and we think it refers only to pastors or church leaders. We might say that it applies to Pastor Josh, Pastor Miles, Pastor Mark, Pastor Nick, or Pastor Jason, or the elders of the church, but not to ourselves. However, that is not what the text says.

Notice what it is actually saying: "You, church, are a chosen generation and a royal priesthood." God has called you. This is one of the foundational principles of the Protestant Reformation—the idea of the priesthood of all believers. The Protestant Reformation emerged from Roman Catholicism, which had entered a dark age where the work of the ministry was reserved for professionals, the called ones, the saints, the set apart, the holy ones.

The reality is that the Bible states all Christians are saints, all Christians are holy, and all Christians are set apart. All are under this covering of the priesthood. This is not just a singular calling for a few; it is a calling for all of you within the church. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, His own holy set-apart people, redeemed for the purpose of declaring the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

You may never have a pulpit, and you may never stand on a stage to declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light. However, you have a classroom that you are in, a construction site that you work on, a corporate office that you work in, a basketball team that you play on, or a soccer team that you coach. You have some area where you can fulfill this calling.

You're involved in the community in some way, and God has placed you there to be one who is declaring the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. That's your task, not just my task; that's your calling, not just my calling. God has placed that upon you and me together.

You all are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, His own special people, His own holy nation. Then, He goes on in verse 10 and says, "You once were not a people, but now you are the people of God." Now, circle the word "the," that definite article in front of "people." You are the people of God; you are His set-apart people, the people of God. You were not a people before, but now you are a people.

Now, that phrase "a people" is speaking of a nation. Nations typically have common forefathers, common borders, common language, common history, and common culture. But look around this room. There is a lot of diversity in this room. When we stand before God one day and worship before His throne, as described in Revelation chapter 5 and Revelation chapter 7, it says that in that event, there will be people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people represented. There is diversity in the Kingdom of God, in the family of God. He did not just call one small group of people to be the people of God; He has called people from every tribe, nation, tongue, and people to be His people.

He has made us, who were formerly not a people, the people of God. Now, when you look around, there are people sitting in the same row as you, people in this room that, apart from Jesus Christ, you would never have gotten to know. You would have no idea who they were, and you probably, for some of them, would never associate with them because you might be afraid of them. I don't know, but you would never associate with those people.

But in Christ, He has made us one. We, who are not a people, are now the people of God. How did that happen? Well, notice what He says at the end of verse 10: "You who were once not a people are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." All of these great things are afforded to us by God.

God, because of His grace and His mercy, we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that we would proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. All of this is because of His grace, not because of how good our stats were. The reality is, none of us had very good stats. In fact, some of us probably had some pretty good negative marks on the stat sheet. So, when it was looked at how great we are, it had nothing to do with how great we are, but how awesome He is and how good His love is.

By His mercy and His grace, He has gathered people of different cultures, different mindsets, and different family origins all over the world to bring us together to be the people of God. He created us to live as the people of God. At the very beginning, He created us to live in communion with Him and community with one another.

Now, we talk about this a lot here at Cross Connection because it's important to who we are as a church, but also just as Christians. He called us and created us, at the very beginning in Genesis chapters one and two, for humanity to live in communion with Him—unhindered, unimpeded communion with Him and community with one another.

Of course, the story doesn't end there. In Genesis 3, we see that communion with God and community with one another was devastated. It was broken by the fall, by sin, and now that disruption, that separation, comes in. But ever since Genesis chapter 3, specifically when a promise comes in prophetically in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, God's plan has been to restore that connection, to bring reconciliation, to bring redemption.

Jesus, when He came 2,000 years ago, came on a mission from God the Father to enact that redemptive plan, that buying back plan, to bring restoration, to bring reconciliation, to bring reconnection. That's why He instituted the sacrament that He did on the night that He was betrayed. He was speaking towards redemption; He was speaking towards reconciliation—rejoining separated parties. That's what reconciliation is. Through the fall, humanity was separated from God, and through the fall, they were separated from one another. So, communion and community are gone, but God comes to restore that.

And so that's why we here at Cross Connection Church have our mission and vision: that we would experience life in connection with God, with one another, and with the world through Jesus. As we step into 2015, our desire as the pastoral leadership team is that we, as a church, would experience that to a greater extent. We want to express that in our lives, not just here on Sunday morning, but throughout the week. We also aim to extend that to a world that is still disconnected, still experiencing disharmony and division.

Do we see disharmony and division in our world today? We do, in a huge way. In Christ, those things are torn apart, and He establishes something new and something better. Our vision is life in connection with God, with one another, and with the world through Jesus. We always want to have biblical support for these things, so I just want to touch on a couple of passages of Scripture before we partake of communion.

You are in First Peter; turn to the left in your Bibles to the book of Romans, specifically Romans chapter 5. It is right after the book of Acts and just before First Corinthians. In Romans chapter 5, the Apostle Paul talks about, in verse 12, the separation that came to us because of the sin of Adam in Genesis chapter 3. The fall came through one man; sin entered the world, and death through sin, and death spread to all humanity.

But back up a little bit and look at Romans chapter 5, verse 6. It says, "For when we were still without strength, when our stat sheet didn't look so good, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His love towards us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Much more than that, having been justified by His blood—the cup that symbolizes His blood—being justified means the penalty for our sin is dealt with because His blood was shed for us. Justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled, rejoined back to Him once again, reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we...

We shall be saved by His life. Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Jesus came two thousand years ago; His blood was shed on Calvary's cross to reconcile us to God. Genesis chapter three says there is a separation between God and man because of the fall. However, Jesus came and reconciles two warring parties back to one another again through His blood that was shed, not only reconciling us to God but to one another.

Turning your Bibles to Ephesians, Ephesians chapter two, I already mentioned we will be looking at this next week a little more in depth. Ephesians chapter two, Romans, turn to the right: First and Second Corinthians, Galatians, then Ephesians. Ephesians 2, verse 14. Paul is speaking about Jesus. He says, "For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity that was in the law or commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace."

See, He is rejoining humanity. Not only does He reconcile us to God, but Jesus, in Him, makes two one, thus making peace. In verse 16, he states that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. He came and preached peace to those who were far off and to those who were near. For through Him, we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Now, He is speaking about the separation between races, Jew and Gentile. He says He makes us one. Those separations, where there is racism and hatred for other people, are a product of the fall. But He says, "No, Jesus makes us one."

In verse 19, "Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." Jesus, His blood shed for us, reconciles us to God and reconciles us back to one another. But not only that, He has made us reconcilers. You are in Ephesians; turn a couple of books to the left to Second Corinthians chapter five.

Second Corinthians, chapter five, verse 17, Paul, the same author of Romans and Ephesians, says this: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God. For God the Father made Jesus, the Son, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Life is in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. In 2015, our aim is that we, as a chosen people of God, would experience life in connection with God, one another, and the world to a greater extent. We want to express this in the way we live our lives in community with one another and extend it to the world. We carry this out through worship, prayer, the study of the Scriptures, times of fellowship, communion, baptism, generosity, service, outreach, evangelism, charity, and compassion. There are all kinds of different ways in which we do this.

So, if you're a Christian and you consider Cross Connection Church to be your home church, if you're a member of this church, then you've been chosen by God and set apart for His team. He has called you to be a part of this church. If this is your place, you've been drafted to the team. My exhortation as your pastor is that you get in the game and no longer just be a spectator. You see, the Saints didn’t hire Reggie Bush to stand on the sidelines and just watch; they hired him to get in the game and be a part of it. They drafted him for that.

Every single player that gets drafted is drafted for a purpose, so that they engage and become a part of it. Point number five in your outline is simply this: don't be a spectator; get in the game. We are going to give you a lot of opportunities to do that over the next several weeks. My hope and prayer is that you will engage with that.

Next week, we are going to start a push for new volunteers. There are about 200 people here at the church who regularly serve in some capacity. If you are already serving, we appreciate you. However, if you are a part of this church and are not involved in serving in any capacity, we want you to get involved. We will share some specifics next week. We need about 120 new volunteers, or new servants, just to make things happen on Sunday morning.

Next week, we will be asking you to step out of your comfort zone and do something you may have never done before. We want you to engage and be a part of that. Additionally, Pastor Mark highlighted in the bulletin this morning that there are outreach opportunities this year. We will be engaging in outreach more so that we can express and extend our connection with God and one another to our community.

One of the ways to do this is next Saturday morning. We need some people to come here between 9 and 10 a.m. The more people who show up, the quicker it will go. We talked with the city, and Kelly Kierstead, our director of outreach overseeing missions, spoke with them. They suggested that we clean up Seven Oaks Road. You live there; clean it up. It’s your home.

So, next Saturday, January 10th, from 9 to 10 a.m., be here if you are available. We also have opportunities to serve dinner to veterans on January 22nd and 29th. If you want more information, just email Kelly; her email address is in the bulletin. We are also assembling hygiene kits for the homeless, which is another outreach in the community. They reached out to us and said they could use help with that.

We want to help, but if you are a Christian and a part of the body of Christ, He chose you to be a part of it—to get in the game and not be a spectator, but to be a participant. If you are not a Christian, as I said earlier, you need to become one. Simply put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ. Ask Him to redeem you from your sins. He already paid the price to save you from your sin. Confess your sin to Him today.

I am going to ask the worship team to come back up here, and our ushers will distribute the bread. As the ushers are handing out these little crackers, as you take this, remember...

Holding in our hands something that symbolically represents that Jesus gave His own body. No one took it from Him; He gave His own body so that He might ransom us back to be reconciled to God and to one another. Therefore, we are to be those who bring reconciliation to the world. The world needs that. That's one of the hip words that people use today: we need racial reconciliation. Let me tell you, there is no racial reconciliation apart from Jesus Christ. All the rest of it is just noise.

Remember that Martin Luther King was a Christian minister. His recognition was that in the Kingdom of God, this is where these things truly come together. Until our community and our nation recognize that, there will be nothing of racial reconciliation. It is only found in Christ.

So, Father, we pray that You would work in us as Your church. May this year be a year of new things for every one of us, that we would be stretched out of our comfort zones to discover who You are by reading Your Word, spending more time before You in prayer, serving You, and giving of ourselves—our time and our resources—to glorify Your name.

Lord, we thank You for Your body that was given for us, broken for us. You laid it down; You gave Your back to those who would whip You, and You gave Your face to those who would strike You. You did all that so that we could be a redeemed and ransomed people unto You. So, God, lead us now as we worship Jesus.