A Peculiar People

By John Stallings

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people…..1 Peter 2:9

Among my earliest memories of childhood were the days when I was a kid playing sports after school. We played baseball, basketball, cops and robbers and had “gun battles.”

In those days, we didn’t take Polo or Golf lessons, & we had no video games. We knew how to have fun on a shoestring & sometimes with a shoestring. At one time I had seventeen horses, all made of broom handles. But when you’re a little kid, & they’re choosing up sides to play a game, the worst fear you can imagine is not to be chosen, to be chosen last or that no one will want you on their team. Even later in college I can remember games of pick-up basketball when we’d stand on the sidelines waiting to be chosen by the older guys. I never liked that feeling.

In reading the verses from 1 Peter 2 about being chosen, I can imagine a small group of early Christians somewhere in the Mediterranean world gathered in a small unassuming house. The group leader reads them the letter from Peter telling them; “once you were nobody, but now you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, & a peculiar people.”

Once these words applied to Israel, God’s chosen people but now they apply to all who are saved.

In our day we associate the word peculiar with weird. We have many ways of expressing this. We call peculiar people, among other things...

· A few fries short of a happy meal.
· Dumber than a box of rocks
· One Fruit Loop shy of a full bowl
· The cheese slide off his cracker
· He fell out of the stupid tree and hit every limb on the way down
· Not the sharpest knife in the drawer,
· His elevator doesn't go all the way to the top, &
· He’s not exactly a rocket scientist.


No one likes to be thought of as peculiar but the word Peter is using here means something very different than the descriptive words we use. Right in the middle of Peter’s beautiful statement describing the Christian we find the word-PECULIAR!

Some people have so misunderstood the word peculiar that they’ve prided themselves in being, odd, strange, different, and even weird. But those words don’t begin to describe what God means when He calls His people peculiar. I remember years ago hearing people say, “Halliluyer I’m peculiar,” like they thought being peculiar was to be uncouth or eccentric. But the word peculiar in Greek was –Periousios—meaning –Emphatically & distinctly God’s property.”


1. The Greek New Testament goes---A people for a possession.2. The Amplified Bible says in part, ---God’s own purchased special people.
3. Wuest’s Expanded Translation; -A people formed for God’s own possession.
4. The New English Bible has replaced the term “peculiar people” with –“people claimed by God for His own.”5. The New Living Translation; “His very own possession.”
6. Other translations render the phrase as follows,-“a special people” “a purchased people” and “a people for safe-keeping.”

Notice that none of these translations speaks of us as odd, strange or weird. Rather, one & all in an attempt to correctly bring an English meaning out of a Greek term, states that we are SPECIAL, PRIVATE POSSESSIONS OF GOD.WE ARE HIS OWN PEOPLE! Ptl!

We can even look in Funk and Wagnall’s and in Webster’s and find these definitions for peculiar; “Select of special, separate, belonging exclusively to one, and a private possession. Exclusively individual,-something that is set apart from other things.”

Aren’t you liking this word peculiar better all the time?

In the Old Testament we find the word peculiar five times and it means “something special; a precious private possession.”

In Titus 2:13-14 we find---Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might Redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a PECULIAR PEOPLE zealous of good works.

We’re not....odd, weird and funny, but rather we’re....private, special, treasured possessions of God.

If you’re wearing a wedding ring, let me ask you a question; do you often loan it out or even rent it to someone? That’s so silly it hardly rates a serious answer. Your wedding ring is “special.” It belongs exclusively to one person and that’s you. Period!

Now don’t misunderstand me here; I believe when we’re God’s special people we are going to be DIFFERENT! As a matter of fact if we’re not different, something’s fundamentally wrong. That difference, in my opinion, won’t mean a woman has to have a “glory knot” on the back of her head or that her face will be so pale she’ll look like death on a Ritz cracker. If you want to look like that fine & dandy as long as you don’t try to force it on other people, especially my wife. The problem with external standards or non-essentials only comes when we feel God has asked us to dress or appear a certain way, then we put that spiritual “pet rock” on everyone else’s spiritual “red wagon.”

My mother always had long hair & it was so hard to deal with I can remember as a kid seeing her sit & try to comb it with tears running down her face. Finally when she was in mid-life she cut her hair making it more manageable but far from bobbed- off to look like a male.

One of the ladies in the church who had “thirteen of the nine gifts” came up to mom one Sunday & said, “Oh Sister Stallings, I’m so disappointed in you that you’ve cut your hair. Now you wouldn’t be able to dry Jesus’ feet with your hair.” I could have warned that dear lady but I didn’t get the chance. My Mother smiled & answered the lady who was acting as a self-appointed hair-sheriff,- “Well sister, I suppose I’ll just have to furnish the tears to wash His feet.”

Yes as God’s special property there will always be a difference but not a Pharisaical difference that only cleans the outside of the cup but leaves the inside dirty.

I don’t want to get on a rant about this but the other day someone sent us a ministry magazine & they were advertising a Christian ladies retreat. Obviously it was a retreat for women only. I noticed as I read the ad that they had an extreme dress code for the women.

I can’t remember all the ad said but it went something like, “no shorts, no short skirts, no cut-off jeans, no sun dresses or tight pants etc.etc..” I was picturing a bunch of older ladies wearing bathing suits with long sleeves. Now to be frank, I’m from the old school myself & believe in modesty in dress for both sexes, however I found the ad off-putting.

I don’t want to upset the ladies over this but don’t we all know that when a group of church ladies get together the biggest problem is more likely to be loose tongues than tight clothes? I wondered why the ad didn’t specify that the ladies should come prayed up & filled to overflowing with love & no gossiping was going to be tolerated. But that’s just me.

That’s why Jesus got so ticked off at the Pharisees; they were always emphasizing the externals instead of the internal things of the heart. They dressed great but they were mean as snakes.

Zechariah 14:20 says, ---In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord…Certainly that didn't imply the horses would in themselves be holy, but rather they were holy in that they were the Lord’s horses.

Friend, you and I are God’s love gift to His son Jesus Christ. We’ve been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb.

Paul reminds us, --Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price.—1 Cor. 6:19-20

Peter reminds us—Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver and gold…but with precious blood… the blood of Christ. ---1 Pet.1:18-19

A good example of this was the Old Testament Job. God had set him apart and built a hedge around him as His own private property. Job was encircled & marked-off as being peculiar to God. God allowed Satan to test Job but when you read the last chapter of Job, the man was eventually doubly blessed in every area where Satan had attacked him.

Praise be to God, Job wasn’t the only one protected by a hedge. You and I are also His peculiar people.

For surely O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.—Psalm 5:12

So let’s see how we are different and peculiar as God’s special people. What do we who are Christians do differently than non-Christians? How do we stand out in this world?

1. WE STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD WHEN TROUBLE STRIKES.

Christians have trouble just like non-Christians do but real Christians take it in stride. Again, Job is the oldest example of that. He was put through almost hell on earth but never charged God foolishly & as we’ve said, he was given back double for his trouble.

Daniel was put under pressure and finally thrown in a den of hungry lions but his faith in God brought him out in one piece. Joseph went through enough trouble to make some people give up and quit but he persevered and became second in command in Egypt & was able to save a great portion of the world from starvation.

It was this capacity to bear with equanimity torture & even martyrdom which made the early Christians stand out & caused a rapid rise in their ranks. Everybody saw they had inner resources & wanted to know the secret. Even Jesus was driven into the desert & presented with such demonic temptation & harassment that He didn’t eat a bite for forty days. Have you ever had so much trouble you lost your appetite? Most of us have never been that stressed out but if we live long enough trouble will come our way at some point.

It’s good to remember when trouble comes that it’s “Father filtered.” Nothing comes to God’s children that He doesn’t allow to come & give us grace & strength to endure. When anything hits the child of God, & we can be certain we will be hit at some point, when the blow comes it must pass through a “divine sifter” so that when it hits us, it can’t do anything but help us. This is what Romans 8:28 is all about.

I heard the story of a dear old lady who used to say, when anything harassed or harmed her, “This will do me a world of good.” When eventually her aging body was no longer able to support her spirit and she lay dying & was about to slip through the phantom walls that separate this life from eternity, her dying words were, “this will do me a world of good.” And she was right.

I heard about an elderly lady who was sitting in her rocking chair & working with a large piece of raggedy material with loose ends of string going every which way. It looked so horribly ugly that a man asked, “Granny, what in the world are you doing with that big ugly lump of threads of all colors knotted up,-it has no sort of design or beauty.” Granny was non-plussed for a moment then she smiled & flipped the large ugly piece of material over so the man could see she was making a throw rug. It had a beautiful design on the other side. The man had been looking at the shaggy side.

Many times when trouble comes we see only the shaggy side of it & don’t see the design God has in the things He allows. Maybe down the line we’ll see the trouble for what it really was or it could take another world to reveal it to us. But if we’re God’s child, nothing is wasted, not even our battles & trials are wasted.

James went so far as to say,--My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diver’s temptations, knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. –James 1:2-3

In the 23rd Psalm David said—Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me…..

David didn’t say, “Lord I know you’ll be waiting for me when this trial is over.” No, he proclaimed that God was going to be with him as he passed through his trouble.

2. WE STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD IN... MUTUAL LOVE.

Jesus said men would know we were His disciples when we loved each other. The early Christians enjoyed the “Koinonia” or shared fellowship of souls with one another & God. Many Christians today are trying to get back that spirit of the early church with small groups of members personally known to one another meeting together in their homes and are again seeing what the miracle of love can do.

I’ve often said if I moved to a town with only two churches, one church was filled with gifted people moving in all the spiritual gifts & overflowing with talent, but wasn’t friendly, but there was another church which had none of the gifts operating & little talent was displayed, but were friendly people, I’d choose the friendly church every time.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13, -- If we have all the gifts in operation but have no love, we don’t have the welcome mat out, & don’t reach out to others in friendliness, we are nothing, or zero.

I am grateful for some of the practical things my parents taught me as I grew up. I’m not going to say I was the best student but I did manage to pick up some keystone truths that have served me well throughout my life & ministry. The one I now have in mind that my mother drilled through my head a hundred times as a boy was, “Son, a bad attitude cancels out all the other good things you might do.”

You & I can be doing all the right things but if we’re doing them with a wrong spirit & bad attitude, we lose our effectiveness & it just doesn’t count. I’ve been in hundreds of churches as an evangelist & have been shocked when song leaders would come on the platform & walk right by me with their nose in the air & never speak. Then they’d get up & lead in worship & run all over the platform as if they were more spiritual than the Apostle Paul, but when it came to the practical side of their walk, they missed the mark.

I’ve amazed at Christians who don’t seem to even be aware of the simple fact that when we’re engaged in doing God’s work, we should put a smile on our face no matter how we feel & show the love of Christ in all we do. We don’t have the luxury of showing our feelings if we expect to be usable in The Kingdom of God. Every thing that we do, if it’s not done with the right motivation, the motivation of love toward God & man, it’s wood hay & stubble & will burn at Christ’s Judgment Seat.---1 Cor.3:11-15

3. WE STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD BY OUR LACK OF WORLDINESS & CONCERN FOR THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT.

The early church wasn’t materialistic, but rather they stressed the things that were spiritual in nature. They had a lightness of touch when it came to the mundane things of earth. They were free from selfish ambition, the desire to amass property but were content with their lot, never complaining or expressing frustration or jealousy. They joyed in the presence of God & their brothers & sisters in the Lord. They were;

Praying people. Eph.6:18

Earnest people. Jude 3

Consecrated people. Rom.12:1

United people. Eph.4:1-3

Loving people. Eph.5:1, 2

Influential people. Matt.5:16

Active people. Phil.2:12

Righteous people. 2 Cor. 5:21


LASTLY, WE ARE A PECULIAR PEOPLE BECAUSE WE’RE A RADICALLY CHANGED PEOPLE.

I believe that we’re nearing the end of the Gospel age & the Lord is making us peculiar people ready for a very peculiar & glorious job. That job is nothing less than reigning with Christ for a thousand years.

We’re a holy nation within a nation but we should always remember that the weapons of our warfare aren't carnal but  mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Our weapon is the Sword of the spirit which is the Word of God.

All we who are members of this “chosen generation” this “royal priesthood,” this “holy nation & peculiar people” are called & should strive to be different & separate from the spirit of this world so that we may fulfill our purpose;

To show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His glorious light.

Blessings,

John