Lesson 8: Holiness in action – committed to His purpose

Read 1 Peter 2:1-25- https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1pe.2
 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

One of the things we need to understand when we become children of God is that God did not save us so He could help us with our plans – He saved us so we could work in His kingdom. Our plans can, at best, only be for perhaps sixty to seventy years or so. His plans include all of eternity!

What does it mean that we are a chosen race? If we are from all the different nations and languages of the world, how can we be a single race? We can, and are, because we are children of God. We are unique in all the world, for only those who have chosen to believe in Jesus are children of God (John 1:12). God had called the people of Israel His children before – see Deuteronomy 10:15 and Isaiah 43:20-21 – and now He also calls us by this special name. We must be careful, however, not to think we are God’s children just because we go to church or even call ourselves Christians. Jesus said in Matthew 24 that many would one day call Him Lord, but He would have to tell them He did not recognize them because they had never chosen to believe and thus be born into His family.


A royal priesthood tells us the purpose for which we have been chosen. The priests of the Old Testament were assigned the duty of helping others come to God and form a right relationship with Him. These priests were not of the royal family, however. But we are children of the King of Kings, so we are both royal and priests. Our job as royal priests is to go and tell those who do not yet know Jesus about Him, teaching them how to do all He asks of us, and training them to be His disciples (Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8).

A holy nation is about how we interact with the world in which we temporarily live. Holiness is the subject of this study, and holiness is to be our commitment to Him as we represent Him to those around us.

A people for His own possession speaks of relationship. It tells us God treasures us as people who are dearly loved. This description also tells us He will do all He can to protect us. Such protection does not mean He keeps us safe FROM all danger but He is with us IN and THROUGH all danger. His promise is not that we will avoid the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23) but that He will walk with us through every valley.

The blessing of being committed to His purpose of Verse 9 is found in Verse 10 – we are now a people of God who have received His mercy.

*What would change in your life if you became a dedicated royal priest for God’s kingdom?