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 (1 Peter 2:9).
" + "The legend of the Trojan War and subsequent building of the Trojan horse, though we do not endorse it, is both powerful and instructive. According to Greek mythology and legend, the Trojan War actually began as a result of a beauty contest among the gods. Eris, the Greek goddess of discord, vowed to give as prize a golden apple to whichever goddess — Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite — Paris, prince of Troy, selected as most beautiful. After Paris chose Aphrodite, the goddess of love caused Helen, queen of Sparta, to fall in love with the Trojan prince. There was just one problem: Helen was already married, and her husband, Menelaus, was not pleased by his wife's flight to Troy with her young lover.
" + "Seeking vengeance and conquest, Menelaus entreated his brother, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to assist him in reclaiming his wife and his dignity. Thus, the Trojan War began: Helen's "beautiful face" launched a thousand Greek ships to storm the impregnable stronghold that was Troy. Notable among the Greek heroes that fought in the Trojan War were Achilles, a demigod, Odysseus, Ajax, and Hector of Troy. For ten long years, the Greeks sought to weaken Troy's defenses. With battering rams, hewn stones, bow and arrow, sword and shield, spear, and sling, the Greeks tried to bring down the Trojan Wall to no avail. The Trojan Wall continued to stand, mocking the Greek warriors. When the Trojan War claimed the lives of the best among their warriors — Achilles and Ajax — the Greeks almost gave up hope.
" + "But, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, both wise and cunning, had an idea. The Greeks would use the wood from some of their ships to construct a wooden horse as an offering to the gods: inside the horse, there would be room enough for thirty or so of the best Greek warriors. In this manner the Greeks would convince the Trojans that they had departed Troy. And, according to Odysseus' plan, the Trojans would take the Trojan horse into the city, allowing the Greeks to make the conquest of Troy an inside job. Odysseus' plan worked perfectly and the same Greek warriors, who had ventured to Troy some ten years before brought down the impregnable stronghold.
" + "Peter reminds us that we are a chosen generation, namely the generation of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1). We are living in the age of the Resurrected One, Jesus Christ, who stood toe to toe with an enemy, who possessed dominion over man from Adam to Moses — death (Romans 5:14). This Jesus Christ, who embodied the hope and anticipation of generations before Him and the Life of the new generation He is still creating, became sin and died for us that sin would be condemned and death would die (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 15:54–58).
" + "Like the Greeks in the legend of the Trojan, but in a very real sense, our past(s) — corporate and individual — no longer defines us. As the impregnable bastion of Troy claimed the lives of so many Greeks, so sin and death still claims the lives of so many of us. But, we have a Trojan horse, who is more powerful than any legend and more real than any myth. Our Trojan horse, Jesus Christ, embodies the new reality, indeed the only Reality: through us, in the apostolic ministry, the manifold wisdom of God is revealed to the powers and principalities of this world to the pulling down of strongholds (Ephesians 3:4–6, 8–11; 2 Corinthians 10:3–7). In Jesus Christ, we can storm the enemy's camp and emerge as "more than conquerors" (Romans 8:37).
" + "What is often too peculiar to us is this: like the Greeks — and indeed like certain of those shipwrecked with Paul off the island of Malta — our brokenness does not break us. Our brokenness makes us. Remember, the Greeks constructed the Trojan horse from some wood from their ships, and some of those shipwrecked with Paul swam to shore on "broken pieces of the ship" (Acts 27:44). We can make it on broken pieces, but not just any pieces. God grants us deliverance through Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, through the foolish, base, and despised things of this world (1 Corinthians 1:27–31). God grants us deliverance through things like studying and obeying His Word, praying, fasting, assembling together, turning the other cheek, relinquishing our cloaks, going the extra mile, giving indiscriminately, care—taking orphans and widows, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison, and so many more things. These are God's broken pieces, which allow us to be in our Trojan horse, Jesus Christ, and to be conformed to his image.
" + "Our reliance on these broken pieces that God chooses means that we do not have use battering rams, hewn stones, sword and shield, spear, and slings like the Greeks in order to bring down the Trojan wall. Yet, like the Greeks, our reliance on these broken pieces allows us to walk through walls. We do not have to beat any walls in defeat. We can walk through them. Why? Because our reliance on God's broken pieces allows us to walk in the fruit of the Spirit, against which there is no law, because all law — cosmic and natural — was authored and written by Love (Galatians 5:22–23).
" + "This is the absolute and comprehensive victory that is ours in Jesus Christ. We walk through walls led by the Spirit of God so that Godly liberty might reign over, through, and in us. Ours is a message of hope and victory. This is the generation of Jesus Christ that is given the oracles of God to be set apart and peculiar so that we might boldly proclaim: "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:31–32). May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all!
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