WHAT YOU ARE!1 Peter 2:9

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 into his wonderful light.

By this time, you are used to the idea of me asking you questions! So, let me ask you one more! What are you? Notice, I didn’t say Who are you? The answer to that question would be very difficult, complex, and lengthy to give. Instead, I would like to know What are you? This is a much easier answer to give. It can be expressed in short, simple sentences. And it won’t take very long.

What are you? First and foremost, you are a male and female – a young man and a young woman. You are minor children, that is, you are both under 18 years of age, living under the guardianship of your par-ents. You are a son and a daughter. You are both students in the DC Everest School District. You are resi-dents of Wisconsin and citizens of the USA.

I think that covers most of the high points of what you are, although I’m sure more could be added, with some additional thought. What has not been mentioned yet, however, is surely the most important! You are Christians. You are members of the holy Christian church. And soon, you will be communicant mem-bers of Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church.

And that brings me to the second question I have for you this morning! It is this: What is a Christian? Because you are a Christian, the answer to this question will tell us more than what a Christian, it will tell us more about what you are! In a very real way, you have prepared us all to consider this topic. You have already told us what a Christian believes and how a Christian lives.

Now we get to the heart of the matter and remind ourselves of what a Christian is, what you are, as some-one who believes and lives as you do. The Apostle Peter will lead the discussion. What are you?, I asked. You are a chosen people!, he replies. You are someone chosen by God. You have been selected by him to be a Christian. You are one of the elect, someone set aside to live in heaven with your Lord.

The Bible tells us that sometime in the eternity before time began and our world came into existence, the Lord looked into the future. And who did he see? You! And what did he decide about you? He decided that he wanted you to be his own! That was simple enough. What was not so simple was everything he would have to make his choice a reality. It would take a God to make his wish come true!

Two huge problems confronted him! First, although he would create mankind in his own image, in perfect righteousness and holiness, he knew that mankind would soon rebel against him and reject their place with him in heaven. He knew we never could, he knew we never would, make up for our sin and therefore you would deserve an eternity of hell. But he still loved you and wanted you to be with him.

So, even before we sinned, even before he made us, he came up with a plan for our salvation. It was a plan that you or I would never, ever consider. But it was the only way – so he proceeded! He would send his Son, Jesus the Christ, to live a holy life in our place and suffer the death in hell that should be ours! He would pay a terrible price, but in the end we could be his.

Secondly, he would have to arrange human history so that you would be born at just the right time and in just the right place to learn about Jesus as your Savior. The location and timing of your life on earth would be no accident. After all, you are chosen! You must live under circumstances in which he can make you his own. This is what you are – chosen!

Again I ask What are you? And again Peter responds You are a royal priesthood. In Old Testament times, an individual was recognized as a king or a prophet by anointing. A unique mixture of oil and spices set the individual apart as chosen, as someone special. His right to be king or a prophet of the Lord was certified by his anointing.

You, of course, have not been anointed with oil! Neither are you a mere king or prophet. You are the cho-sen one of God! This is an everlasting calling. And so, you were anointed with water and the Holy Spirit of God. You were baptized! This washing with water and the Word did something wonderful for you! Baptism made you the child of God he had chosen you to be through faith created in you by the Holy Spirit.

This washing with water and the Word washed away all the sins that kept you apart from God. Through faith in Christ Jesus, his life became your life – in God’s eyes! Through faith in Christ, his death in hell became your death in hell – according to God’s way of thinking! There were no longer any barriers be-tween you and God. He had chosen you to be his child and through baptism you are!

Those Baptismal Certificates I was always nagging you to get out of storage and display, are literally your adoption papers into the family of God! It is proof that the heavenly Father is forever your Father; that the Son of God is forever your Brother! You are chosen and you are baptized! The Lord has done marvelous things for you!

But our God isn’t a God of halfway measures. He doesn’t start something without finishing it. He doesn’t just create saving faith in you by Baptism and walk away – hoping for the best! No, he sticks with you. He provides help to remain in your saving faith and to grow in your knowledge and understanding of his grace. In your case, he was very generous to you. He gave you Christian parents who made sure you con-tinued to hear God’s Word.

When you were old enough to learn and apply God’s Word to your lives, they brought you to Confirma-tion Class. There you devoted hours to learning more about your Redeemer and his work of making you his own. The Lord gave you the wisdom and insight necessary to confirm, on your own, the faith created in you by your Baptism.

In particular, you learned that you are a sinner, a forgiven sinner, who may find comfort in receiving the body of Christ, given into death for your sins, and the blood of Christ, shed for the remission of your sins. This morning, entirely of your own free will, you will publicly confirm that faith before everyone gath-ered here! And we, along with the Lord, will recognize you as someone confirmed in your faith!

What this all adds up to is this. I ask one more time What are you? and one more time St. Peter answers You are a holy nation, a people belonging to God. Now you and I both know that we are not holy! We spent too much time together to believe that. I have seen the sin that lives in you, just as you have seen the sin that lives in me.

If we were the ones making the decision, we would have to say that there is no way we should get into heaven. You have to be holy to do that, and we are not. But we also know that our opinion doesn’t count in this matter! Only God decides who is and who is not going to be with him in heaven, based upon who is or who is not holy! As the eternal Judge, his decision is based on faith, faith which makes believers holy!

In his eyes, we are holy! He looks at us through the blood of our Savior and he sees no sin! He sees only members of a holy nation. In fact, because he looks at us through the blood of Jesus, he sees us as people who belong to him! After all, the life blood of Jesus Christ was the ransom price he had to pay to redeem us, to buy us back, from sin, death, and Satan! He has paid that price for us – we belong to him.

This is what you are as a Christian! Well, it’s almost all of what you are as a Christian! Peter won’t let you forget that you are a Christian so that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. You and I have no idea why the Lord chose us to be his own. We know he did it because he loves us, but we will never understand why he loves us as he does.

But we do know why he keeps us alive after he has made us his own. We know there must be a very es-sential purpose for our existence. After all, he sacrificed his one and only Son so that we could be with him. Now that we are his, it is hard to imagine anything he would allow to keep us here while he waits for us there! And, indeed, there is a very important reason why he forces himself to leave us here and keeps us apart.

We are to be his declarers – that is what we are! The God who loved us and chose us, loves all human be-ings and wants them all to be with him in heaven. And so he leaves us here, for a time, to tell others what Jesus has done for them. We know about the darkness of sin and despair. We now live in the light of eter-nal peace and joy!

The Lord knows no one better suited to share the saving Gospel with their fellow human beings than us! So, as much as it pains him, he leaves us here to declare his praises by the godly lives we live. We are to declare what great things he has done for us as we invite others to hear of God’s love in Christ – confident that the Holy Spirit will work in their hearts. Until we die, we are his declarers!

This is what you are! You are a Christian – chosen, baptized, and confirmed! You are the Lord’s posses-sion now and forever! You are declarers of his praises until you join the holy Christian church in heaven and forever praise him for his love in making you what you are! Amen.