Sermon: May 29, 2011

Sermon “Real Royalty – YOU!”

Preached by Linda Jo Peters ~ May 29, 2011

Psalm 68:1-10 read responsively and I Peter 2:1-10

INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
Psalm 68:1-10 read responsively
Another “joyful noise” Psalm in which all of creation joins the people of God in praise and adoration.
1Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise.
3Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
4All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name.” Selah
5Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
6He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him,
7who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations— let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah
8Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard,
9who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.
10For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.

I Peter 2:1-10
People of all kinds find their way to church. They often feel like outcasts. The people to whom Peter was writing was a group of dispossessed people, people who had no unifying dignity and identity apart from being a church. What is the story that they hear when they arrive? Peter is telling them that they belong. You may know how they felt. Perhaps you have felt alienated or lost. But in Christ Jesus we are no longer out casts, but part of a Royal Priesthood.

Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. 2Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— 3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

4Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,” 8and “A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

SERMON
William Loader writes about the imagery used in this passage that:
People together are sacred places and spaces, temples not made with hands. It defines the church not as the building in which we meet but as the building we have become. Our role is to be a space where people engage holiness and sense the presence of God… (Then the writer) draws on another favorite text by which Israel defined itself: a holy priesthood (see: Exodus 19:6.) Now not Israel, but the new believers drawn from among both Jews and Gentiles are to be a "priestly kingdom, a holy nation" or as our text put it: "a chosen people, a royal priesthood", (see: Isaiah: 43:21) a people formed (by) God (for God’s purposes).

Last month much of the world was entranced by another Royal wedding between England’s Prince William and Catherine Middleton. Everything Royal was examined by our avid curiosity. Royal refers to anything connected to a monarchy. We generally see monarchy’s as one hereditary ruler which governs a state: “chief boss,” so to speak. So what does a monarchy have to do with church? We elect our governing officers who make decisions for the life of the church for three to six years. I would never confuse an elder with a monarch. So who is the “chief boss” in the church? God! There is no question that God is monarch of the universe: Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent Creator. Yet God chose to dwell among us as a vulnerable human being named Jesus. We know our relationship with Jesus as God’s heir makes us children of God, heirs with him. So there is how we become real royalty.

So if I am part of the Eternal Royal Family, why don’t I have power to change the world? You know the answer. We do have enormous power for change! Every day, even every moment, you have the power to enact change as a child of the most Holy Monarch that ever existed.

When I picked up Nancy Forsyth from the hospital, she told me this wonderful story about a group of young people living in West Terre Haute. As you may know, West Vigo High School was out of power because of the storms. So there was no school. A group of twenty young people met at the school with chain saws and organized an assistance program of searching for people with downed trees on their property. That is what a royal priesthood does. Right now there are royalty searching through rubble for lost family and friends and others are filling a trailer to take supplies to Joplin, MO. But real royalty doesn’t wait for disasters. They work in food kitchens, bring flowers to a lonely neighbor, give rides, send cards, make phone calls, offer hugs, and just listen without judgment. They tell the story of their brother and Prince, who is called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Tomorrow we will remember those who made great sacrifices that we might live in freedom. May we remember that sacrifice is a royal privilege when we serve the great “I Am.” Amen.

RESOURCES
Easter 6, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.
See: John 1:12, chapter 10, Romans 8:17 and Isaiah 9:6