The Doxological Life

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"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

1 Peter 2:9

Main Readings: Exodus 15:1-21 & 1 Peter 2

Supporting Readings: Psalm 107 & Exodus 19

‘I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my defence; hehas become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God and I will exalt him’.

Those are the words of Moses.

The horse and the rider, that have been hurled into the sea, are the Egyptian horses and riders who were swept away, when God closed the Red sea on them after Israel had gone through on dry land.

In that miraculous act that God performed, Israel was saved from her enemies. On that day God became their salvation.

And Moses’ response to that salvation was this song of exaltation.

‘I will praise him…I will exalt him’ he says.

We call a ‘song of exaltation’, like Moses’ song, after God’s deliverance, a doxology.

‘Doxa’ means ‘glory’ and ‘logos’ means ‘Word’. Literally, a word of praise or glorification.

And I say that because at the heart of our passage this morning is the call on our lives for doxology – for a word of glory.

Peter exhorts to this end: ‘that you may declare the praises of him’ – that is of God.

Everything else Peter’s got to say is serving this goal: that each of us – and collectively too – live a life of doxology.

And that raises in my mind three major questions. They are: First, ‘What is the basis of a life of doxology?’

In the case of Moses, I think it was clear in his song - it was the miraculous way that the Israelites had been saved from the hand of their Egyptian enemies.

Second, ‘What is the content of a life of doxology?’

In the case of Moses, it was a song. But what does it look like for us. Is it a song also?

And third, ‘How is doxology maintained when life is so challenging?’

So, three questions I’ll try to answer this morning from what Peter is saying.

But first, the question of whether or not any Christian will live a life of doxology boils down to whether or not the stunning works God has done for them, are really appreciated by them.

Another way of saying that, is to say, it comes down to whether or not their experience of God’s provision for them is an intellectual experience only, or whether it is an experience of the heart also.

There is a vast difference between those two things.

Any Christian who has only intellectually affirmed what God has done for them – even if they experienced some joy in that idea – cannothave the kind of joy necessary for a doxological life.

It is only when a soul has been moved, and actuated, and born again, that it has experienced that which is more thrilling than life itself.

And then, from that thrill, comes a life of doxology.

CS Lewis observed that, ‘we delight to praise [doxology] what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment’.

What he means is, someone who is truly moved in their heart about the exquisiteness of something/anything – who experiences deep joyabout that thing – it is the overflow of that joy which brings forth praise.

You have all experienced that reality.

You will all have heard something, or watched something, or been somewhere, or observed some rare phenomenon, that, until you share how good it was, you do not feel like the experience of joy that you could have from it, is complete.

People derive joy from different things for sure, but you will all have, at one time or another, been desperate to share the story of the happiest experience of your day with someone else.

And when you have, it has satisfied the itch you had to somehow complete the experience and the joy you had in it.

The reason I’m telling you this is that, the stunning truths that Peter lists here, which do form the basis of our doxological lives, will onlyresult in doxology – in praise to God – if they have really been experienced in our hearts. Not just in our heads.

That is to say, if they really are, at root, our highest joy.

Only you can know that for yourselves. If you find that joy in these realities is missing from your life, it could mean one of two things.

It could mean that you have been misled into thinking other things are more exquisite than these – more satisfying than these. And that would be a lie. A lie, you could have unconsciously bought into.

Alternatively, it could mean you’ve never truly experienced them at all.

So, when we’ve discovered the truths Peter has got in mind, if you find joy in them to be missing. Don’t despair! Both these problems can be remedied.

The first problem can be remedied by believing the lie no longer!

And to do that we need some godly godly friends who will challenge us. And rub our noses back in the Word of God. So that our eyes open to the beauties of our great salvation.

The second problem is remedied by having a living encounter with the risen Lord Jesus Christ through faith in the good news of the gospel.

So, I’d encourage us all this morning to search our hearts.

Are these foundational truths just the best experiences of our lives, or are they tacked on to our lives?

Are they lifestyle choices, or are they, our very lives?

The joy we experience in them will tell us a lot about where we stand.

There is lots of hope for us all this morning. We can rekindle that joy in these things even today.

We can even come to know that joy in these things first time, today.

I would encourage you: if the joy is missing, don’t bury that reality.

Come together with a brother or sister, this morning even, and let them point you to joy to be found through faith in Jesus and all that he has done to make us the very people of God!

So, what is it that Peter establishes as the root of the doxological life? He has five in total. They are these:

1. You are a Chosen People.

2. You are a Royal Priesthood.

3. You are a Holy Nation.

4. You are God’s People - a Special Possession.

5. And finally, you are the Objects of God’s Mercy.

This is who we are!

The word Chosen implies favour.

The word Royal implies the dignity of the King.

The word Holy implies set apart from all the others.

The word Nation implies a birthright and an identity. The word Possession implies belonging.

And coupled with the word Special, it implies a unique way of belonging.

The word People implies ethnicity.

And the word Mercy, implies something underserved.

Chosen according to who’s favour? God’s favour.

Given a dignity above our standing by God the King over all.

Set apart by God, for God.

Receiving the family identity of whom? Of God himself.

Belonging to God, whereby he treasures us. And not in the way that he treasures everything else that he has made. But in a unique way and exalted way.

Having received the very ethnicity of God. Baring the name of God.

Peter has piled up for us a description of who we are!

And notice, none of all of this, is according to anything worthy found in us. But rather is because of the mercy God has poured out on us.

That’s Peter’s concept of what we have become.

What does it mean?

It means that we were not left as common, unruly, unwanted, worthless, people of darkness, on whom rested the righteous judgement of God.

But, that God has intervened in our lives and poured out a wealth of divine blessing on us making us into a people in which he delights.

‘He has called us out of darkness and into his wonderful light’, Peter says at the end of verse 9.

It is as though; the King of England went out to every underpass; every abandoned tunnel; every derelict building in the country.

And he personally, took hold of all 382,000 homeless people in the UK, assembling them in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, and declaredthem to be his people.

Giving each and every one of them the royal signet ring, and inviting them to live with him at the Royal residences the rest of their days.

Calling them all out of the darkness of their homelessness, and into the light of his home, his family, and his identity.

Saying to them all: ‘from now on you will represent me – the King of England’.

And when one of them plucked up the courage to say, ‘what’s the catch?’ ‘There must be something we have to do in return’. The king’s answer comes back loud and clear, ‘nothing’. It is my pleasure to confer on you all this blessing.

It's like that – our privilege of belonging to God.

We hear so much about privilege these days and so often in negative terms. White privilege. And male privilege. And so on.

This is ‘God’s privilege’, and it is not something to be ashamed of, but to be rejoiced in.

I guess the question is: have we grasped who we really are? I doubtwe have grasped it well enough.

At least part of our eternal experience will be grasping more and more of the depths of our privilege – because it runs so so deep!

But what can be grasped of it now, must be grasped.

God reminds us, this morning, of what he has made us. And he reminded Moses and the Israelites too.

He said to Moses, a while after their salvation from Egypt, ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself’.

God intervened where there was no hope – where there was only darkness – in Egypt.

He’s intervened in the darkness of our lives too.

He goes on, ‘Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession’. Peter uses the same term. He says ‘Special possession’.

He goes on, ‘Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’.

Which is exactly what Peter says here!

That’s the measure of what it is to belong to God’s special people.

He owns the whole world!

Yet, he decided to have you for his very own special possession. Amazing!

So, the magnitude of who we are is beyond anything else on earth.

You have more significance than anybody with a PhD, MBE, or VIP status.

You have more worth than any MP including our prime minister.

You have more status than any CEO or Doctor of Medicine.

You have more belonging than any member of the Royal family or ancestral line.

Because of this one thing: God’s mercy in your life!

The chaos of the world rings in our ears right now, but these truthsthat Peter points us to are unshakable. And you know why? Because God is behind them. And God is unshakable!

These then are the truths that fuel the doxological life.

To the extent we know these truths, live these truths, marvel at these truths, give thanks for these truths, repeat these truths, enjoy these truths, praise is going to be forthcoming.

And therefore, because of the reality of them in our experience, we will declare the praises of God that made all this happen.

And so, here we get to the second question: What is the content of the doxological life?

The word ‘declare’ that Peter uses suggests speech.

Moses’ Doxology was in song, which is a form of speech. Certainly, Peter has speech in mind.

We know he does from chapter 3: ‘In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer [speech] for the hope that you have’.

That kind of doxology – in speech - is coming to expression even this morning as we join with Moses in singing the praises of God.

It will come to expression after this service, God willing, in fellowshipwith each other as we overflow in praise to one another.

But also, as we have opportunity to share with people around about us – unbelievers - the wonders of God’s mercy to us. Wonders that are available to them too. As we do that our speech will be full of praise for God.

More immediately though, and probably more impactfully, what Peter has in mind is what he says in verse 12.

Namely, ‘Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorifyGod on the day he visits us’.

This is why I’ve been using the phrase ‘doxological life’ this morning.

Peter has all of life in mind.

Our lives speak - as well as our mouths.

Lives that are bowled over with the riches Peter has set before us, will show it.

And when unbelievers see it, even some of them will be emboldened to believe on Jesus, and so find that they themselves gain doxological lives!

I really believe that the more we meditate and dwell on the beauty of our belonging to God, the more we will have doxological lives.

I think we will want to sing more, the praises of our God. Not just on Sundays but all the time – in the car, at work, cooking tea, wherever.

There is too much good here for it not to come out in some form. And song is the natural way to express joy.

It’s not an accident that Moses sang his praise after their deliverance.

I think we will want to share more, the glories of our God and his great salvation. With family, and neighbours, and strangers, and colleagues.

I think that when we are asked common questions, our answers will be seasoned with the goodness of God.

If a colleague says, ‘how does the unrest in the world make you feel?’ your answer won’t be without the surety of your belonging to God.

I think we will want to show more, how belonging to God influences every attitude of heart and mind, and thought and deed, and speech.

I think that as we encounter each other every week, we will want to fellowship more, how belonging to God has blessed us and helped us and thrilled us this last week.

All of this is doxological.

It is telling a story about what belonging to God means to us, and how good he really is.

Now, the third question is, ‘how do we maintain a doxological life in the face of life’s challenges?’

And it’s here that the truth about God’s mercy is going to be most valuable and important to us.

The mercy of God, if properly grasped and loved, will be a powerfulmechanism in the face of life’s setbacks. Let me show you.

God is not worthy of our praise only when life is going well.

He is worthy of our praise always because of who he is. And because his mercy has worked such an amazing deliverance and belonging, for us.

Therefore, if God is always worthy of our praise, it is not unrealistic to say that no matter what life is like currently, our life should be doxological.

It is also, not chipper, or stoical, or unfeeling to say that, no matter what life is like currently, our life should be doxological.

The way our culture thinks about the struggle of life, is that when things are tough, the natural response is the right response.

That’s not the way God thinks.

It’s not the way God’s deliverance functions.

It’s not the way God’s glory is shown.

The tendency to anger when life has hurt us, is not a doxological response to relational pain for example.

The tendency to bitterness when life has thrown us a curved ball, is not a doxological response to disappointment for example.

The tendency to impatience when life has placed an obstacle in our way, is not a doxological response to hardship for example.

In the pain; in the disappointment; in the hardship there is always a doxological response.

There is always praise to be offered up to a good and perfect God.

And if we run with our natural instinctive response, it is impossiblefor God to be seen as more precious to us than the satisfaction we would get if life was different to this present challenge!

It’s impossible for God to be glorified for the overwhelming satisfaction that he really is!

In other words, there is a response to each and every circumstance of life that springs up out of a heart that is deeply satisfied in all that God is for us in Christ - deeply satisfied in belonging to God - which results in praise and worship.

There is a response to illness that makes God look precious, and therefore glorifies him.

There is a response to redundancy that makes God look secure, and therefore glorifies him.

These are doxological responses to life’s circumstances.

They show that jobs, and health, and houses, and cars are not more precious to us than belonging to God.

And I think that Peter places mercy where he does, in the flow of his argument, to help us see that meditating on the mercy of God – out of which spring all these benefits – will serve us well at the coal face of life.

Listen, mercy is: not getting the negative treatment we rightlydeserve.

So, mercy in the court of law, would be to not receive the sentence due for the crime committed.

The positive way of saying it is called ‘grace’. Grace is getting something positive we didn’t deserve.

So, grace in the court of law would be getting freedom when we deserved jail for the crime we committed.

Now the impact that the mercy of God - or we might say the grace of God - has on our soul if we really think about it is, that we start from a position of not expecting anything good.

In fact, we start from a position of expecting only bad things.

Our rejection of God means that all of life should go very badly.

All of eternity will go very badly for anybody who refuses God’s gracious gift of Jesus.

So, if we start from a place where we can rightly expect everything to go badly for us…

For God to make a life as dreadful as can be in response to our rejection of him. And then send us to hell for an eternity of the same…

Then we start from a place where, anything good that we get – anything good - is simply a marvel of God’s grace.

And anything bad we experience is no better than we deserved anyway.

In other words, we don’t start from a position of entitlement. And that’s crucial.

When that’s the case, grumbling, and bitterness, and impatience, and swearing, and getting bent-out-of-shape sits squarely at odds with who we are.

We are the people of God’s mercy. How can we grumble? How can we complain?

That reality fundamentally alters our outlook on life!

And the powerful impact of that altered outlook, is that we count, very carefully and very joyously, every benefit which is ours.

Such that we are able to see through and past the circumstances of life, to the reality of belonging to God - which is better by far!

And as we can reflect on all the benefits which are ours as the people of God. Our souls can soar at the preciousness of those truths.

And thus, doxological life can happen.

Instead of grumbling we can find ourselves exalting.

Instead of bitterness we can find praise!

The circumstantial examples I’ve given are lightweight in comparison with the challenges of life the people Peter was writing to were experiencing.

And we’re going to see the details of those in the forthcoming weeks.

But there’s no doubt: it is with these dire circumstances in mind that Peter is calling for doxological living.

So, there’s no room to say, ‘this is unrealistic’.

Peter’s going to show us the realism of it up close and personal in the weeks ahead.

He’s calling for doxological lives from these believers in the face of false accusations, capital punishment, slavery, marital mistreatment and more.

Some of you will know the story of the life of Joni Erekson Tada. At just 17, Joni dived into a shallow swimming pool and broke her neck leaving her paralysed for life. She’s now 76. And has been a Christian for almost the whole time she’s been paralysed. She says that her suffering provides the gym equipment on which her faith can be exercised.

How? Because as reflects on who God has made her – his very own possession – she can see through the suffering and marvel at God’s mercy. She is one of the most doxological Christians you will come across.

That’s what Peter is talking about.

So, it’s a call from Peter this morning, to remember who we are.

We are the very people of God. And to let that truth permeate our minds and our hearts. So that we might live doxological lives, here in the world.

The mercy of God which brought about all these benefits that are ours, will help to keep us grounded about what we deserve.

And then, even in the face of life’s great challenges, we will be able to live doxological lives.

As we should. Because God is so worthy of doxological lives.

Moses says, ‘I will sing to Lord for his is highly exalted. Both horse and rider he has thrown into the sea’. That’s doxology responding to mercy.

Here’s Jude for a New Testament doxology to finish with: ‘To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault [that’s mercy] and with great joy – to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, both now and forevermore! Amen’ [that’s doxology]!