Those Who Are Different (practical Christianity as explained by an orthodox rebel)

"...for you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that we should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.... Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.... For so is the will of God, that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men --- as free, but not using your liberty as a cloak for maliciousness, but as the servants of God."
I Pet. 2:9, 11, 15-16

In chapter 1, Peter set down a precedent that we (as Christians) are to be different because we are different (vs. 15 & 23). He then spends the first part of chapter 2 unpacking that difference and then the rest of the book on putting that difference into practice. Though his applications are somewhat unique to his time, the precedent and subsequent unpacking are universal.

The first thing that the precedent entails is our purpose, which is laid down in 2:9 when Peter says that we should "show forth the praises" of God. In the Greek, "show forth the praises" is "aretas exangeilhte," and it literally means to revel/proclaim the heroic and mighty deeds of someone (specifically God, in this context). Herein is our purpose as those who are different: we are to tell God's story, especially in regard to our own lives. He has done heroic and mighty deeds, namely rescuing us from the kingdom of darkness and translating us into the kingdom of His Son (Col. 1:13). We will not hide such things away, but rather we will show them to the generation to come, proclaiming the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He has done (Ps. 78:2-4). Thus is our purpose: to proclaim God to be the hero that He is, both at our salvation and in our day-to-day sanctification.

The second thing that the precedent entails is directly related to the first. It is our identity, which is laid down in 2:16 where Peter says, "As free, but not using your liberty as a cloak for maliciousness, but as the servants of God." In the Greek, "free" is "eleutheros," and it was the word for a "freeman". In the ancient world, a "freeman" was someone who had been a slave or debtor but had been set free by someone (usually their master). Thus, even though they were legally free, they always considered themselves indebted to the one who had freed them, living to freely serve them out of love and gratitude. Herein is our identity as those who are different: we are the freemen of God, who has set us free not for freedom's sake, but so that in our freedom we might live unto righteousness (I Peter 2:24b; Rom. 6:18), which is the truest expression of our gratitude and love as well as the truest proclamation of who God is: the Righteous One who has set us free.

Perhaps now you are beginning to see the whole picture. We are the freemen of God, and as such we are the "servants of God," and we live to show forth the mighty, heroic deeds that our Lord has done, viz., saving us from the power of Sin and the wrath of God. That is who we are and what we do, being those who are different. We are free, but our freedom is a means and not an end, a means to give ourselves in love to the one who freed us, and to praise Him, and to show forth His praises to those who are as we once were: enslaved to Sin in dungeons of darkness, never knowing the freedom to love and serve God.

-Jon Vowell (c) 2012

Homily 12: On Service and Love (as preached by an orthodox rebel)

"Serve the Lord with gladness...for the Lord is good...." Ps. 100:2, 5

The only true and proper service is one done out of love for the object of service. Service itself is good, but only as a means, not an end. Once it is done for itself (i.e., service "in the raw"), it falls apart. It will quickly wear thin and consequently wear out the one who is serving. If they find some strength of ego or conviction to keep going, then they will become hard and cold in their service. Thus, service reveals itself to be a wonderful tool but a terrible god. It can steal all the joy out of life and love.

It is the same thing in regard to God. We do not serve Him for service's sake; we serve Him because (1) He is Lord and (2) He is good. God's quality and character are to be our focus; consequently, service cannot be the center: God is. He is to always be the center, and the instant that something else takes His place (e.g., service), life becomes a disaster. We are serving God for the wrong reasons, and thus are serving the wrong god. Serve the Lord, not for the sake of mere service, but because He is good, because His mercy is everlasting, because His truth endures forever (vs. 5). When you are caught up in love for God (for who He is and what He has done), service becomes a means to express love, and in that context it becomes as easy as breathing.

It should be obvious by now that service is for our benefit, not God's. He needs nothing; He wouldn't be God if He did. Like worship, service is about awakening to reality, i.e., really seeing who God is and who we are in return. The result of such a heavenly vision is loving God more (and therefore serving Him more).  Thus, service is a natural result of desiring closer communion with Him. Anything that sets our focus and affections on God, causing us to draw closer to Him, is good for our souls, because we are poor and needy while He is all-sufficient.

-Jon Vowell (c) 2010