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1Peter 2:9-25 "A Special People"
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)
I have just finished reading a book about years Cambodia
suffered first under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge and then under the
Vietnamese who came to drive out the Khmer Rouge but then stayed to
set up a puppet government. It makes me wonder if there ever was a generation
that has suffered more than this?
I first learned of Cambodia when I met a young Khmer woman in America.
She started coming to international student outreaches at the church
and my wife and I befriended her. Her family had fled as refugees, and
had done well for themselves in America. But as we got to know her better,
we began to realize that her parents and some of her brothers had been
killed, and the family that she lived with then was the pieced together
remains of the families of uncles and cousins.
Since that time a fragile peace has held in Cambodia and people have
tried to put their lives back together. Youth With a Mission is dealing
with the specific problems of women and children who have been widowed
and orphaned, or simply sold into prostitution by desparate relatives.
The Hagar Project is an attempt to love as Jesus loves, directly to
the lowliest, most helpless of peoples.
But now the political situation has turned once again. The delicate
peace that the U.N. negotiated and Japanese soldiers went to Cambodia
to enforce, has been undone by Hun Sen. During fighting in the capital,
Phnom Penh, rockets fired destroyed houses around the Hagar Project
directors house. News reports have shown that Hun Sen’s military
has executed opposition party leaders, imprisoning family members and
generally using the tactics of fear and repression to control the country.
These tactics are very effective as the memories of worse days are still
vivid in people’s minds. Internationally as well it looks as if
Hun Sen will get away with his coup. Already the world is looking the
other way. A U.N. official was quoted in Time magazine as commenting
that as soon the banks and markets reopen and airport traffic resumes
the rest of the world will say that Cambodia is back to normal.
What is our response to this situation as Christians?
It stems from our identity as the people of God. Peter here says that
we are a chosen "genos". The word is translated "generation"
but it really means a kindred, a brotherhood. We are a holy nation.
We are a special people. He is bringing back to mind the words that
God had spoken to Israel through Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. "Also
today the LORD has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as
He promised you, that [you] should keep all His commandments, and that
He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise,
in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the LORD
your God, just as He has spoken." (Deut 26:18-19)
The promise of God is that we are a special, peculiar, different people
chosen out of the world. We are a holy nation. It is supposed to be
obvious to the world as they look at us that we are of God. It is supposed
to be obvious that we represent the values of the King, justice and
mercy, grace and love. That is why Peter calls us a royal priesthood.
Just as the priests stood between God and the people, we stand between
God and the world as His chosen ambassadors.
I find it very poignant that the very last command given to Israel by
God before this wonderful promise is that they should give generously
and not forget those who have nothing. Deut 26:13 "then you shall
say before the LORD your God: `I have removed the holy tithe from my
house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless,
and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded
me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten
them. (Deut 26:13)
This is loving as Jesus loves, this brings glory to His
name. God has not chosen us just so that we can rejoice in having been
picked. No! He has called us out of darkness so that we can show others
the way out as well. He has shown us mercy so that we can show mercy
to others. He has made us who were once refugees into a people so that
we can reach out to all of the other helpless peoples of the world.
He has blessed us so that through our increase all might be blessed.
As God's chosen people, holy ambassadors of the kingdom of God, our
first reaction to what is happening in Cambodia must be to give.
My natural reaction is just the opposite I must confess. When I hear
of renewed chaos and violence in Cambodia, my first thought is revulsion.
I want to pull away. I watched an interview on the news with the head
of Tourism in Phnom Penh. The official admitted that this years tourist
season is a total disaster. People are staying away from Cambodia in
droves. Nobody wants to go near the place. My second thought is despair.
I want to give up. Will there never be any good news from Cambodia?
Isn't all of our efforts just a vain attempt to stop the tide from going
out?
But we are called to love as Jesus loves. Jesus did not pull away in
revulsion from the lepers, Jesus did not give up on sinners. Jesus persevered
even to give His life for us on the cross. As Jesus gave, we also must
give.
"Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. for this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men-- as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. (1 Peter 2:11-17)
I think it is not so hard to obey this scripture when you live in a country like America or the Japan, where the laws are basicly set up to protect people and the police are looked upon as the "good guys". But what if you live or are working for the Lord in a country like Cambodia, where the power of the gun speaks louder than the ballot, and corruption in government is assumed rather than suspected? It is more difficult to submit to every ordinance of man. When the king is obviously wicked, must we still submit? In cases like Hun Sen, isn’t it justified for us to work subversively? Aren’t we doing God’s will by disobeying the state, breaking the law? But remember that Peter was not writing about submitting to the laws of freedom and democracy. Peter was writing about submitting to caesars like Nero and Domitian, men who ruled by fear and tyranny and could arbitrarily command life or death, men who ordered cruel persecutions of Christians.
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. for what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness-- by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:18-25)
You see Peter is not really talking about submitting to
the good and kind master, the wise and gentle ruler, the Christian husband.
He is talking about the much more difficult thing of submitting to the
corrupt and evil. Submitting in situations where you know that you are
right. Suffering for the good that you have done when you should have
been rewarded. I believe that this is what we are called to do in Cambodia
now. We must make every attempt to work with the Hun Sen government.
Although by looking at his track record, we cannot expect honesty. We
cannot expect him to have mercy. We cannot expect him to punish evildoers
and praise the good. But we must follow the example of our Lord, who
when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He
did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.
We must commit the work in Cambodia, the Hagar Project, to our Father
in Heaven who judges righteously. We must trust in the might of God,
and resist the urge to take matters into our own hands.
The natural urge, of course, when we suffer wrongly, is to shout loudly,
“Unfair” When we are struck across the cheek, our first
thought is not how to turn the other cheek but how to strike back. Back
in 1975 World Vision built a children’s hospital in Phnom Penh.
However, just as the hospital was completed the Khmer Rouge took over
the country and they entered all hospitals forcing patients to flee
at gunpoint, executing doctors and nurses, and smashing all equipment.
Pol Pot used the World Vision hospital as a prison, and then the Vietnamese
used it as a barracks for their soldiers. By the time World Vision workers
returned to Cambodia in 1980 the hospital, that had taken one million
dollars in donations to build was in ruins. When Stan Mooneyham, the
leader of World Vision went to see Hun Sen, about rebuilding the hospital,
he was looking into the face of a man who had first been in the Khmer
Rouge and then defected to Vietnam, both of which were to blame for
the destruction of the hospital. At that time the government was not
allowing any medical personnel into the country, except a few teams
sent from Communist countries. Mooneyham had every right to demand that
Hun Sen allow World Vision back in. He had every right to stand before
this man as a messenger from God and shame him into resuming medical
relief for the poor. Instead, Mooneyham said to Hun Sen, “Don’t
look at my face, you will only see an American, an enemy. Look instead
at my blood.” And then he took his penknife and drew it across
his wrist and began to bleed. Hun Sen gave permission to rebuild the
hospital.
If we are to make a difference in a place as dark and merciless as Cambodia.
Indeed, if we are to make Christ known in the dark and merciless places
of this country as well, we must follow the example of our Lord. We
must not give up, we must not draw back, we must not return evil with
evil, but be willing to give. And at the core that giving must be in
blood, just as Jesus gave. We must be willing to give our lives for
the light, for mercy, for Christ because He has given His life for us.
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