Be a people of different order

Thought

As these unsettling and uncertain times continue, with no clear end in sight, we have a continuing opportunity to examine who we are as the church of Jesus Christ. Over the next seven days, we will reflect on scriptural insight into the primitive church (the explosive growth of the church of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD) as we seek to understand our own identity.

‘Ekklesia’, the word that Jesus used to initially describe His ‘Church’ in Matthew 16, was originally a secular term that invoked the idea of a people called aside for a purpose - namely to make political decisions. It was used in the contexts of like-minded people gathering together.

The first Christians (‘Christian’ means ‘Little Christ’) saw themselves as citizens of a different political order - ‘foreigners’ and ’strangers’ to the state. They had been called out of darkness into light and were no longer citizens of the kingdom of the world. Instead, they were part of this revolutionary kingdom of God’s love.

You are God’s child. You are a citizen of His kingdom. You do not need to be a slave to the ways of the world. Choose Christ’s way today. Choose love. Choose servanthood. Choose selflessness. 

Action  

Peter teaches us that as we understand our identity as a ‘chosen people’, it will release us to ‘show others the goodness of God’. 

Take 15 minutes to reflect on God’s love for you today. Meditate on your identity in Him.

Then: call someone to encourage them with God’s goodness.