Identity of a Christian-pt.7
1 Peter 2:1-10
The Christian is built up a spiritual house. You notice in this passage that this is not talking singular. The first word of verse 5 is “ye”. God does not save individuals to live in isolation. He saves them to bring them into His fold, to become part of a local church on earth. It is not natural for a saved person to be separated from the local assembly of believers. This is why the discipline spoken of in Matthew 18:15-20, is so effective. The child of God does not want to be cut off from the body. He or she wants to be with the body. Christians are united through that spiritual life they have been given through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Christians are also an holy priesthood. The priesthood was a special office in the Old Testament. The Priest was chosen from among the Levites and it was the priesthood who was chosen for special service in the temple of God. The Christian has been chosen for special service for God in a sin-cursed world. We have been called to be a light in this dark world. We have been called to be witnesses unto Jesus Christ.
The Christian is designed to offer up spiritual sacrifices. We can even know what these sacrifices are. It says they are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:10
“10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
The Old Testament priest could not offer whatever sacrifice he thought was good enough. Prior to the choosing of the nation of Israel, we read of Cain who offered a sacrifice of his own choosing. God rejected that sacrifice. It was not acceptable to God. It was a sacrifice of Cain’s own making. In Leviticus 10 Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, offered up strange fire to God and God struck them dead. They did not have the respect for the offering that God demanded. In I Samuel 2 we read of Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli the priest who defiled the sacrifices that the people brought to the Tabernacle. God took their lives because they defiled that which was designed to be holy.
Those that are saved are called to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God. Christians are bought with a price and need to glorify God in their lives. It is a privilege to be able to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God. They are made acceptable by Jesus Christ. He purchased us with His own blood. That is what makes the Christian acceptable to God.