The Church – A Called Out Community
- Rev. Dr. Martin Alphonse
Albert Einstein was once traveling by train, and the conductor came in to check the tickets of the passengers. The conductor was glad to recognize the great scientist on board, welcomed him warmly and asked to see his ticket. Einstein reached out to his coat pocket, but the ticket was not there. He searched all the other side-pockets, his brief case, and all the possible places where he could have stored the ticket. But it was found nowhere. The conductor waited patiently for a few minutes, and then seeing Einstein was getting terribly embarrassed by the incident, gently told him:” Sir, don’t worry about it. We all know who you are.” Saying so, he proceeded on to check the tickets of the other passengers on board. About ten minutes later, as the conductor walked by Einstein, he saw something that moved his heart. Einstein, that great scientist of the 20th century was on his knees on the floor, and gymnastically manipulating his fragile body, he was still searching for the lost ticket under the seats around him. Concerned by the strain Einstein might be going through, the conductor reiterated, even more emphatically this time saying: “ Sir, please don’t worry about the lost ticket. We all know who you are.” At that point, Einstein lifted his head and responded: “I know who I am. But I don’t know where I am going.”
A sudden panic attack triggered by a misplaced train ticket momentarily paralyzed the memory power of a great scientist. He knew ho he was. It was just that for a moment he forgot where he was going. He knew his personal identity, but just forgot his destiny. There are millions of so called Christians around the world, who neither seems to know the nature of identity, nor do they understand their destiny. In this article I would like to briefly explore the nature of the identity of the church as a “Called out Community”. There are several passages of the Holy Scripture which discuss this vital topic of the nature or characteristics of the church as Ekklesia, a called out community. One of them is 1 Peter in which the Apostle articulates various characteristics and functions of our call as a community.
A Study of 1 Peter
There are four key and direct references in 1 Peter to the church’s nature and function as a called out community. I believe the pivotal verse is 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness in to his wonderful light.” There are three parts to this one verse which point out to: a) the nature of our identity; b) the nature of our call; and c) the functions of our call.
The Nature of Our Identity
The first part says, “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God…” We have a fourfold identity namely:
i) We are a “chosen” people. This means that our membership in the church is neither casual, not accidental. We have been “called out” by God’s deliberate will from the world to be members of His body. When did God chose us? Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 1:4 that God ‘chose us in him (Christ) before the creation of the world.” Chosen before even the creation of the world! That means we were in the mind of God for thousands of years prior to our actual admission into the membership of the church. That is a marvelous fact!.
ii) We are a royal “priesthood”. A most important function of the priest in the biblical times was to be an intercessor in the holy presence of God on behalf of the people. Today it means God has called us to intercede on behalf of both fellow Christians and the billions of non-Christians. This is a serious responsibility!
iii) We are a holy “nation”. This means we are a nation within a nation, not as a geo-political entity but as a moral and spiritual constituency within the Kingdom of God on earth. The adjective “holy” denotes uniqueness, namely we are a distinct, exclusive community separated from the rest of the communities of the world. This is an incredible honor!
iv) We are a people “belonging” to God. The word belonging suggest ownership. Of course, God is the rightful owners of all that He has created. While all the rest of the people of the world irrespective of their race, culture, ethnicity and nationality belong to God by “creation”, the church belongs to God both by “creation” and “redemption”. A beautiful Eucharistic (Holy Communion) Song of the Roman Catholic Church puts the dual ownership of God on the church as follows:
“ O God whose love eternal, in wondrous ways is shown,
Creation and redemption, have made us twice Thine own.
And now to us Thou comest, in form of bread and wine,
To make us one with Thee, as branches of one vine.”
This is a breathtaking phenomenon!
The Nature of Our Call.
The second part says God has “called you out of darkness in to his wonderful light.” What kind of darkness is this out of which we as a church has been called out into God’s marvelous light? I live in Portland, Oregon where it rains quite a lot throughout the year. We don’t get to see the sunlight for a long while during fall and winter. Consequently, we long for sunny and bright days. We cannot wait until spring when the sun brightens the sky and we feel as if we have entered into a new world altogether. In fact, as I type this article, we have a bright sunny day today, and a lot of people are outdoors enjoying this brilliant and long awaited gift of God! But, for a well informed Christian, for a true disciple of Jesus Christ, everyday is a sunny day. Of course, we don’t say it in a physical sense, but from a spiritual perspective.
In 2 Corinthians 4:4 we read: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Today’s world is full of brilliant people. We live at a time of “knowledge explosion” as powerfully evidenced by the booming industry of information technology which has revolutionized every aspect of human life both individually and corporately; both locally and globally. Although the people of the whole world today are ubiquitously surrounded by and deeply immersed in an environment of scientific brilliance, the Bible says that the minds of billions of people around the globe are still completely blacked out or blinded or darkened by the god of this age! Their darkened minds cannot see the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, we by God’s great mercy have been called out of this dangerous spiritual darkness of the world, not only to see or “discern” the gospel, but also to “declare” it to others.
Now the third part of the verse points to the purpose why God has called us out. It says: “that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness in to his wonderful light.” Our call is both a relational and a functional call. Including in this verse, Apostle Peter in his epistle emphatically reminds the members of the church the several functions God has called them to perform. Basically, he discusses four functions of our call in this epistle. This does not mean, these are the exlusive functions of our call. There are more. But for our purpose here, let me briefly enumerate these four to you.
The Functions of Our Call.
1) Called for Perfection.
1 Peter 1:15-16 “ But just as he who called us is holy, so be holy in all you do. For it is written, “Be holy, because I am holy.” Holiness has been an unpopular world among millions of Christians in the modern world. Tragically it has become even more unpopular in the post-Christian ethos in which we live today. It has become a subject of ridicule in the media, and unacceptable in many political circles. People blatantly deny the moral standards God has set for humanity in His Word, and want to redefine the concept of holiness according to their own taste and comfort zones in which they live. Speaking of moral and spiritual values, being “politically correct” is more important for most people to day than to becoming theologically sound. It is from this anti-theistic, absolutely secular, and raising-your fist-against-God culture, that God has “called us out” to be holy.
The call to holiness came to the people of Israel in the Old testament itself. In fact Peter seems to reiterate that same call God have His people repeatedly in Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2 and 20:7. In his Sermon on the Mountain, Jesus also commanded his disciples in Matthew 5:48 “ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect.” The question and challenges are, is it truly possible for anyone to be absolutely holy as God Himself is? Of course, considered from a solely human perspective, it may seem impossible for anyone to become as holy as our heavenly father is. But we must ask ourselves, “Will God ever command us to do something which He knows is absolutely impossible to do?” Of course not. Then think about it! Yes, by our own strength, this is an impossible journey to undertake and an unrealistic destiny to reach. But by the aid of Holy Spirit, nothing becomes impossible. Holiness and perfection are not a matter of human efforts. They are gifts of God bestowed upon all willing hearts. Are you willing to receive this gift from God?
2) Called for Proclamation.
Again getting back to 1 Peter 2: 9 we read: “that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness in to his wonderful light.” Jesus told his disciples in Acts 1:8 “ you will be my witnesses.” It is the same concept and call peter repeats here. To be a witness of Jesus includes our acts of declaring or proclaiming the gospel of Christ that has called us out of moral darkness to his marvelous light. In a broad, but true sense, this means the act of evangelism. Proclamation of the gospel does not mean only the formal and professional way in which evangelists present it in a mass crusade. Proclamation also includes sharing the gospel with one another in a friendly relational manner. Dr. D. T. Niles, a prominent leader of the Methodist Church in Sri Lanka defined it: “Eevangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where bread can be found.” Dr. E. Stanley Jones used to say that in his evangelism he would not simply “speak to Hindus and Muslims, but just tell them how Christ meets their needs. He has met my needs; he will meet their needs too.” We are called to proclaim to others how he called us out of our own regions of darkness, whatever that might have been, into his marvelous light. This is also called giving your own testimony to others! Are you a testifying Christian?
3) Called for Persecution.
In 1 Peter 2:18-21 Peter discusses how we have been “called out for persecution”. Called out for persecution? That is a scary thought. Isn’t it? Of course, persecution takes place in various forms and with varied degrees of intensity. The early church was persecuted in alarming proportions, and millions of Christians including women and youth courageously laid down their life for the sake of the gospel. They lived by the maxim, “A cause that is not worth not dying for is not worth living for.” The phenomenon of Christian persecution in many parts of the world has perpetuated its gruesome acts through many generations spilling over even into the 21rst century. Even now we keep hearing atrocities committed against Christians in several parts of the world including in some northern states of India.
But not all Christians undergo persecution in the same form or intensity. Peter here talks about a form of social persecution, namely suffering for doing good in our work place. It is not a persecution which results in martyrdom. He talks about Christian slaves being ill-treated by their masters and are made to suffer pain for some wrong they never committed. He sums it up in verses 20-21 by saying: “… if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps.” Note the emphases on several aspects of our call to persecution: a) We are called to suffer for doing good; b) We are called to endure it; c) Such suffering is commendable before God; d) Christ suffered unjustly and left an example for us; e) We are called to follow his food steps. This may be happening right now to some of you in your work place, in your relationships, and unfortunately even in your family. Remember Jesus Christ. Seek his help. He will sustain you, surround you with his power and love, and deliver you.
4) Called for Pardoning
I Peter 3:8-12 discuss our call to forgive one another. v9: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” God commands us to forgive one another. Jesus made it a key requirement of our discipleship in the prayer he taught us in Matthew 6:9-13. v13 “Forgive our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us..” Have you noticed what Jesus reinforced in vv14-15? After teaching the short prayer he repeated one more time just that one aspect of the prayer in vv14-15 saying: “For, if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men for their sins, your father will not forgive your sins.” Why did Jesus repeat it? Because, I believe, this is real serious! For, our forgiveness by God is reciprocal. God forgives us “as” we forgive others. That means:
If we forgive others more, He will forgive us more.
If we forgive others less, He will forgive us less.
If we forgive others of everything, He will forgive us of everything.
If we forgive others of nothing, He will forgive us of nothing.
Voluntary forgiveness is central to Christian spirituality. Often people say “I am willing to forgive if the person who offended me first apologizes to me.” But that is not what Jesus taught us. Dying on the cross, he voluntarily forgave all of his offenders, when he prayed “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” There is no evidence whatsoever, that any one of his offenders ever apologized to him. Yet he forgave them all. We have been called out to be his disciples. As was the Master, so must his disciple be! As did the Master, so must the disciple do. Otherwise, we cannot be his disciples.
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