‘But ye are a chosen generation.’ The second great benefit is status.
If you move away to another location and you find a church – first of all, it must be a church where the truth is taught – but make sure you go to a church which is evangelistic, which is making known the Saviour, where the preacher believes in preaching the gospel, where the people believe in knocking the doors and bringing in the children and operating Sunday School and reaching the neighbourhood, because this is our purpose and a church that won’t do this, isn’t this kind of church, however sound it is.
Are we representing God to man? In our family, in our marriage? It works both ways: husband to wife; wife to husband. Do you say, ‘Small as I am, I represent God to my wife; I represent God to my husband; I represent God to my children’? My behaviour must always recognise that. I'm a representative of my heavenly Father, and I pray for those to whom I represent God, and I plead with God on their behalf. We often say every act of witness must be accompanied by a prayer. Otherwise you're not exercising that two-way priesthood. Your representing God to man, but you're not representing man to God in petition, in intercession, in prayer. You’re a priest: it must be both ways.
As members of a holy nation you have your own language, the language of faith with fellow Christians. It's Bible language. You can talk about doctrines; you can talk about Christ. You can talk about your spiritual experiences. The worldling does know what you're talking about. He doesn't have this language. As a member of that church, there is order which God has given: certain offices to proclaim the word, to exercise unity and bring everyone together in the service of the Lord. That’s a difficulty today, because today's culture is highly individualistic and democratic. Well, we like democracy; it’s a good thing, but it can be overdone. In the pandemic of just a few years ago the question arose: How should a church conduct itself? Our forebears would say that, so long as there isn’t singling out or persecution, we have to obey the civil magistrate if something is being enacted for the good of all. So yes, we observe lockdown all the rest of it. But here and there, there will be a discordant voice and an individual will say, ‘Just a minute; you’re reading from Romans and from the apostle Peter and various other people in the Scripture, giving direction, and from Christ, about our attitude to civil authorities. But shouldn’t we discuss this? Shouldn’t we vote about this?’, and suddenly you find this individualism and freedom of choice to an extreme degree is coming into the church. That’s something to be watched today.