To listen to this sermon use the link below.
The Sermon for Sunday, June 14th, 2026, the Second Sunday after Trinity
The Lessons: Psalm 100; Exodus 19:1-8; Mathew 9:35 – 10:15
The Text: Exodus 19:3-6
INTRODUCTION
People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch towards prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.
– A. Carson, For the Love of God (Crossway, 1999)[1]
So wrote D.A. Carson about general trends among Christians. In today’s First Lesson we learn about God’s call to holiness. God gives Moses the important message to share with the people of Israel that if they will keep God’s commandments, they will be a special treasure to God above all the peoples of the world, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation (Exodus 19:5-6). But we know that, for the most part throughout their occupation of the Promised Land, they did not keep God’s commandments. Nonetheless, as St. Paul affirmed, God has not rejected the nation of Israel (Romans 11), but, through the New Covenant, offers Israel as well as people of all nations, forgiveness of sins and eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a sin offering to redeem the world. St. Paul proceeds to explain in Romans 11, that when the full number of the Gentiles will have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then Israel will come to salvation through Christ (Romans 11:25-32).
ALL OF GOD’S PEOPLE NOW SHARE IN THE CALLING TO BE A SPECIAL TREASURE TO GOD, A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS, AND A HOLY NATION
St. Peter, writing much later to Christians, applies these attributes of Israel to all the faithful:
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
(1 Peter 2:9-10, KJV)
Immediately after writing this, St. Peter commands Christians to abstain from the lusts of the flesh, which are at war with the soul (1 Peter 2:11) and to live upright lives, doing the will of God. In giving these commands, St. Peter echoes God’s words to Israel:
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine.
(Exodus 19:5, KJV)
If Israel could not be a special treasure to God above all people without obeying God’s voice and keeping his covenant and commandments, then neither can we, unless we first keep God’s commandment to believe in his Son, Jesus Christ, and then obey Christ’s commandments, which is the way to remain in his love, as the Lord Jesus Christ has kept the Father’s commands and remains in his love (John 15:10). A treasure is highly valuable. Many people value material treasures very highly, but God highly values his people as his special, guarded treasure, on account of his relationship with them in Christ the Lord. St. Peter, in quoting Exodus 19:5, follows the Septuagint version of it, referring to “a peculiar people” instead of “a peculiar treasure.” The word “peculiar” translates a Hebrew word in Exodus 19:5 meaning “closely kept or guarded,” whereas in 1 Peter 2:9, the word “peculiar” translates a Greek word meaning “unique” or “special.”
What are we to make of the phrase “a kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6)? In ancient Israel itself only the tribe of Levi could provide priests. Yet this phrase implies every Israelite would be regarded as a priest in a holy relationship with God by keeping his commandments. St. Peter interprets this phrase according to the Septuagint version “a royal priesthood.” He then gives an interpretation of how Christians practice their royal priesthood: they are called to declare the wonders or praises of God who has called them out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). Our worship of God, as we proclaim God’s praises, and our testimony to others of the wonderful works of God in our own lives, are priestly and royal acts before God, showing how we belong to him and how our love for him and service flow from his exceeding mercy, love, and acts of grace. St. John writing in the Book of Revelation ascribes praise to the Lord Jesus Christ in these words:
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
(Revelation 1:6, KJV)
A royal priesthood as applied to Christians means Christ has redeemed us by his blood and brought us into God’s kingdom, making us priests and kings. Now we do not yet see ourselves as kings in this earthly life, but this is God’s eternal destiny for us. In spirit, even now we can exercise God’s royal authority by submitting to his will rather than to our own or to the will of our surrounding culture. By steadfastly doing God’s will and trusting him for a good eventual outcome, we are extending God’s rule in our lives and influencing the lives of others.
Just as Israel was called to be a holy nation, so are all God’s people called to be a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9). Nations surrounding ancient Israel were not holy nations. Rather, their pagan, sinful ways led Israel to turn from the love and worship of God to worship false gods and idols. In the first century A.D. Christians lived among polytheists who worshipped all sorts of deities. People of many different nations, slaves and free, lived in the ancient Roman Empire. St. Peter tells all Christians of all nations, races, and economic classes, that they a holy nation. What does it mean for us today? Christians are one nation in God’s sight, born of the Holy Spirit, redeemed by the holy blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, having one God and Father, one Lord and Savior, one faith, one Baptism, one hope of our calling (Ephesians 4:1-4). We are called by God to live holy lives, set apart from the sinfulness of the world surrounding us while showing the love of God that sets us apart from the world.
CONCLUSION
Christians are called by God to be his special people, his royal priesthood, and his holy nation. This means that we must live in close communion with God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord by the grace of the Holy Spirit at work within us. To this, we must engage in prayer, the study of God’s word, discerning God’s will and obeying it day by day.
[1] Quoted on p. 131, Craig Brian Larson & Phyllis Ten Elshof (General Editors): 1001 Illustrations that Connect. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, Christianity Today International, 2008.