{"id":338,"date":"2008-01-28T01:01:53","date_gmt":"2008-01-28T01:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2008\/01\/being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction.html"},"modified":"2008-01-28T01:01:53","modified_gmt":"2008-01-28T01:01:53","slug":"being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/01\/being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction.html","title":{"rendered":"Being the People of God: An Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 1 of series: Being the People of God
\n<\/em>Permalink for this post<\/a> \/ Permalink for this series<\/a>
\nToday I’m beginning a new blog series called Being the People of God<\/em>. I expect that this will be one of those on-again, off-again series, in which I put up some ideas for a few days, then focus elsewhere, only to return to the series later on.
\nWhy am I doing this particular series at this time? I have two major reasons, one a matter of conviction and the other a matter of autobiography. I’ll start with the conviction.
\nSimply stated, I believe that it is absolutely crucial for Christians to know who we are as the people of God<\/em>. This knowledge gives us much that we need for fruitful living, including: a sense of personal identity, a sense of purpose, a context for relationship, and an abiding hope for the future. In fact, I believe little is more important for Christians today than to know who we are as the people of God and to live out that identity in the world.
\nUnfortunately, many of us, perhaps even the vast majority of Christians, do not know who we are as the people of God. If you were to take a survey of Christians next Sunday after church and ask: “Who are the people of God?” I expect that many would answer “The Jews.” Now that particular answer is partly right, and crucially right, I might add. But it is inadequate, at least from a Christian point of view.
\nOthers might answer the question “Who are the people of God?” by saying something like “the church” or “all Christians.” This answer gets more of the truth. So far, so good. But if you were to add a follow-up question, “What difference does it make that we are the people of God?” I fear you wouldn’t get much of an answer. You might hear something about heaven, or worship, or mission. All of these matter, but don’t begin to plumb the depths of meaning in the affirmation: “We are the people of God. ”
\nSo I believe that it is absolutely crucial for Christians to know who we are as the people of God. And I also believe that most Christians do not have this knowledge, or if they have it, they don’t realize its radical and powerful implications. Put these two beliefs together and you have the beginning of a compelling rationale for a blog series.
\nBut, of course, there are many, many valuable topics upon which someone like me could blog. So why am I picking this particular topic and this particular time? This brings me to the matter of autobiography.
\nIf you’ve been reading my blog for a while you can probably guess where I’m going. In October of 2007 I became the Senior Director and Scholar in Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. At the center of Laity Lodge is a retreat center called Laity Lodge (obviously enough). But the Laity Lodge “brand” also includes youth camps, family camps, publications, and web-based ministries, especially The High Calling of Our Daily Work.org<\/a><\/em>. (Strictly speaking, both Laity Lodge and The High Calling.org<\/em> are siblings in the ministry of the H. E. Butt Foundation.) All of the ministries associated with Laity Lodge are devoted to helping the laity<\/em> encounter God so as to become agents of renewal in the world. (Photo: The entrance to Laity Lodge.)
\nThe word laity<\/em> is used in English to denote non-clergy<\/em>. In the church, the laity include everybody except the pastors or priests. Outside of the church, laity<\/em> can mean non-specialist<\/em>, though usually the adjective lay<\/em> is used rather than the noun laity<\/em>, as in: “The physics professor was able to explain quark theory for a lay audience.” The word laity<\/em> comes to us by way of the French, and derives ultimately from the Greek word laikos<\/em> which means “of the people.” People<\/em>, in ancient Greek, is laos<\/em> (pronounced today as LAY-oss with two syllables, not like the modern country Laos.)
\nLaity Lodge and its constellation of ministries is dedicated to the equipping, empowering, renewing, and sending of the laity, the people of God. I should hasten to add the Laity Lodge is not non-clerical or even anti-clerical. I am an ordained Presbyterian minister, for goodness sakes, a member of the clergy even though I’m not currently serving as a parish pastor. Many ordained ministers come to Laity Lodge each year. And one retreat is intended primarily for clergy. In truth, Laity Lodge seeks to touch the whole people of God, clergy and non-clergy, all of whom belong to the laos theou<\/em>, the people of God (in Greek).
\nSince the notion of the people of God is so central to my new ministry, it seems only right that I should do an in-depth study on this theme. For me, of course, this means study based on Scripture. I plan to ask such questions as: What does the Bible teach about the people of God? Who are the people of God? What is their identity? What is their purpose? Their calling? How does being a part of the people of God impact individual Christians?
\nFrom a rhetorical point of view, I will be writing this series a Christian for Christians. I will talk about who we<\/em> are as the people of God. If you are not a Christian, you are more than welcome to read and interact with what I’m saying here. If you’re seriously considering Christianity for yourself, it will help you greatly to understand what it might mean for you to become a member of God’s people. I recognize that Jews and Muslims might take umbrage at my claim that Christians are God’s people. I respect the fact that they would see things differently, and I hope they would respect my orientation as a Christian.
\nI also realize that some people, even Christians, might object to the implication that if Christians are the people of God then non-Christians are not. It’s common to hear the phrase “all God’s people” used in reference to all human beings. I don’t believe this notion of the people of God is to be found in Scripture, however. But now I’m getting ahead of myself.
\nMore tomorrow . . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 1 of series: Being the People of God Permalink for this post \/ Permalink for this series Today I’m beginning a new blog series called Being the People of God. I expect that this will be one of those on-again, off-again series, in which I put up some ideas for a few days, then…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-being-the-people-of-god"],"yoast_head":"\nBeing the People of God: An Introduction - Mark D. Roberts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/01\/being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Being the People of God: An Introduction - Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Part 1 of series: Being the People of God Permalink for this post \/ Permalink for this series Today I’m beginning a new blog series called Being the People of God. I expect that this will be one of those on-again, off-again series, in which I put up some ideas for a few days, then…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/01\/being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-01-28T01:01:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Being the People of God: An Introduction - Mark D. Roberts","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/01\/being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Being the People of God: An Introduction - Mark D. Roberts","og_description":"Part 1 of series: Being the People of God Permalink for this post \/ Permalink for this series Today I’m beginning a new blog series called Being the People of God. I expect that this will be one of those on-again, off-again series, in which I put up some ideas for a few days, then…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/01\/being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction.html","og_site_name":"Mark D. Roberts","article_published_time":"2008-01-28T01:01:53+00:00","author":"Mark D. Roberts","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/01\/being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/01\/being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction.html","name":"Being the People of God: An Introduction - Mark D. Roberts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-01-28T01:01:53+00:00","dateModified":"2008-01-28T01:01:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/01\/being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/01\/being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/01\/being-the-people-of-god-an-introduction.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Being the People of God: An Introduction"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/","name":"Mark D. Roberts","description":"Mark D. Roberts: Thoughtfully Christian Reflections on Jesus, the Church, and the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}