In
the sermon on Sunday from 1 Peter we saw that God saves us to “declare [his] praise”. But what does that mean? John Dickson explains:
The theme of promoting the gospel looms large in the middle chapters of 1 Peter. In 2:12 the apostle urges believers to live such good lives that their pagan neighbours would end up giving glory to God (compare Matthew 5:14 – 16). In 3:1 Peter drives this point home by urging wives to win their unbelieving husbands to faith through godly conduct. Then, just a few paragraphs later in 3:15, he calls on us “to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (a statement we’ll explore in the next chapter). Given the missionary thrust of these chapters it seems likely that Peter is thinking of some kind of evangelism in the words of 1 Peter 2:9: “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness.”
But what type of evangelism is Peter talking about? I once assumed (and taught) that the apostle was talking about personal evangelism. I interpreted the phrase “declare the praises” to mean something like tell the gospel to your friends and family. I now think that was probably a bit hasty. The expression “declare the praises”…comes straight out of the Old Testament’s description of Israel’s public praise, with its creeds, prayers and ever-present psalm-singing.
When we remember that the biblical Judaism of Peter’s day already thought of its public praise as beneficial to outsiders, it seems far more likely that the apostle is talking in 1 Peter 2:9 not so much about conversational evangelism but about the evangelism that goes on when God’s people gather to celebrate in word and song the saving wonders of the Lord…Peter’s words are strongly evangelistic without actually having anything to do with what we call personal evangelism…
Declaring God’s praises together – in our readings, creeds, preaching, psalms, hymns and spiritual songs – is one of our central acts of worship as the people of God…One reason for the central importance of praise is God’s sheer worthiness; we need no other reason for viewing praise as a high and holy activity. But, given the strong mission theme in 1 Peter, combined with the equally strong Jewish biblical tradition of doxological evangelism, we are probably right to detect a secondary reason for the great importance of public praise. Through it, we announce God’s mercy and power to those who overhear us, who have not yet been called out of darkness into his wonderful light.
John Dickson “The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission” p160-161, 163
Don’t forget that this doesn’t mean personal evangelism is any less important though! Rather our Sunday gatherings ought to have the effect of fuelling our personal evangelism throughout the week. After all, how can we praise God together on a Sunday and be unmoved when the people we live among don’t give him a second thought?
