God's People

You are God’s people. That’s what the apostle Peter writes in today’s Epistle reading, and it applies to you. You are God’s people. People whom God has chosen. People who belong to God because of what Jesus has done. People who belong to God because of the Holy Spirit’s activity in your heart. This morning, I want to introduce you to a few more of His People. We’re going to take a trip around the world today, and it starts in Burkina Faso. That’s in Africa, in case you were wondering.

 

Let me introduce you to a man named Joakim. Joakim lives in Africa, but he speaks French, and one day he met a man who as it turned out was a Lutheran missionary. That Lutheran missionary asked Joakim to help him learn the French language. Joakim agreed. So the missionary and Joakim got together and took turns reading from a French-language Bible. They had been doing this for a while when the missionary asked Joakim if he was a Christian. And this is what Joakim said. He said, “I was a Muslim until the first day that we read the Bible together.  I had always thought that Jesus was a prophet like Muhammed and that Islam and Christianity were basically the same.  I thought Jesus was a law-giver like Muhammed.  I never heard that Jesus came as a Savior to pay for our sins.  I had always tried to be a good Muslim but my sin haunted me.  Now I know that Jesus came to die for me and because of what He has done, I can be sure that I will go to heaven.” That’s Joakim. One of His People.

 

Then there’s Renee, a young lady from Taiwan, who was involved with an international student ministry at University Lutheran Chapel in College Station, Texas. She came to many Bible studies, English conversation classes, and hospitality events, so there were high hopes that she would come to faith and be baptized. But then, when she and her husband and infant son returned to Taiwan in 2006 without that happening, the people at University Lutheran Chapel were disappointed.

Then one day the folks at University Lutheran Chapel got an e-mail. It was from Renee. She wrote to tell them that she had recently been baptized in Taiwan. That’s Renee, there, in Taiwan, off the coast of China. She’s one of His People.

I would also like you to know Slava Ostanin. Slava lives and works in Novisibirsk, Russia. He brings the Good News of Jesus to people who are in jail. He also reaches out to young people who have committed crimes and have been recently released from prison. He shares Jesus' love for them through conversations, giving them the printed Word of God in the Bible and other Christian literature, and giving away clothes, shoes, and basic necessities. He also sends those sorts of things to prisoners in other cities. Slava is doing some very hard work under rough conditions. He’s one of His People, too.

Let’s spend a few moments in Japan. In Japan, not only is professional baseball a big sport, so is high school baseball.  Every spring there is a national tournament with televised games which are played in a major league stadium in Osaka.  A few years ago, Seibo Gakuen’s baseball team made it to the tournament for the first time in their school’s history. (Seibo Gakuen means Holy Hope.) They were just happy to win the first game, but they went on to win the next four games as well and ended up coming in second place in the entire country.  It was an exciting time for the players as well as for the school. And I want to tell you about a long standing tradition that they have at Seibo Gakuen.  Since Seibo is a Lutheran School, every time they get a run, they sing the first stanza of the well known hymn, Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus. The words of that famous hymn echoed throughout the stadium during the course of the tournament.  What an awesome witness their tradition turned out to be. Needless to say, the teachers, students, and the baseball team of Seibo Gakuen, or Holy Hope Lutheran School, are His People.

 

There’s one more person I want to talk about today. That’s you.

 

Just like Joakim, the first person I told you about, I hope you know that Jesus came to die for you and because of what He has done, you can be sure that you will go to heaven. Is the story of your life going to show that you believe that, too?

 

God makes us His People through baptism, just like Renee was baptized, the second person I told you about. God chose you when you were baptized! He wants you! He picked you out! How does that feel? Good? Yes, it feels good! So good, that we want other people to feel the same way!

 

You can be like a Slava Ostanin in Russia, helping out people that no one else would help. You can be His People like the students of Seibo Gakuen, Holy Hope Lutheran School, sending out the message of Jesus loud and clear.

 

You’ve heard a number of true stories this morning about real people who are His People. Some of them are very different from you. Others are probably quite a bit like you. What is your story going to be?