Sermon Archives
The Church: God's Missionary People
1 Peter 2:9-10Living as Chosen Exiles
Rickey Primrose
August 12, 2018
Description:
The mission of God is not simply an obscure ministry in the church that a few serious Christians, who have the appropriate gifts, engage in. The mission of God is the ministry of the church. God called us out of the world to be his missionary people in the world.
Being God’s missionary people means that we represent His name, character, and glory to the world. Like Israel, we have a mediating function—we bring the excellencies of God to the world through our witness and lives.
It also means that we increase His praise in the world. Peter says that we were called out of the world to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness…” (1 Pet. 2:9b). We were saved and gathered into local bodies, called churches, to praise God. The question is: Where do we proclaim His excellencies? Yes, we do so in our corporate gatherings, but we could praise Him together even better in Heaven than we do on earth. So why did God make us a people to praise Him and then leave us in this world, a foreign land?
God called us out of the world but left us in the world to increase His praise here, among the nations. God’s people, the church, praise Him among the nations so that some from every nation will join us in our praise of the one true God. Evangelism is simply doing what we do on Sunday mornings—praising the excellencies of God—but doing it conversationally with lost people.
The church doesn’t just do missions. We are a missionary people. God wants every one of His children to embrace the mindset and lifestyle of an ambassador. We are here to proclaim His excellencies among the nations.
Keywords:
Church, Evangelism, God, Mission, Praise