1 Peter 2
1) 1 Peter 1:23--2:1: Putting Away the Perishable Seed
2) 1 Peter 2:2-3: Growing Passion for God
3) 1 Peter 2:4-8: The Cornerstone
4) 1 Peter 2:4-8: Living Stones--Bringing Life Out of Deadness
5) 1 Peter 2:4-8: The House of God
6) 1 Peter 2:4-8: Judging the Cornerstone
7) 1 Peter 2:9: A Kingdom of Priests
8) 1 Peter 2:9-10: Christian's Fourfold Identity
9) 1 Peter 2:11: The War Within
10) 1 Peter 2:12: Glorifying God With Our Lives
1 Peter 1:23—2:1: Putting Away the Perishable Seed
1 Peter 1:23 -2:1--"For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, 'All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.' And this is the word that was preached to you. Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind."
If you remember Peter was writing to those up in Asia, Capedocia, Bythnia, and Pontius that had lost their homes, families, businesses, savings, they lost everything and were transplanted to live with people they did not know and did not like. They faced challenges of attitude, of survival, of trusting a God who let these things happen to them. How can God let this happen to us? And Peter says, "Do not give up. God is still there and God is still involved."
And after telling them that because God has chosen them to be His children, they are to live holy lives, he explains to them the trustworthiness and permanence of what God has done for them when they were born again at the initial moment of salvation. Verses 23-25: "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, 'All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.' And this is the word that was preached to you."
Through the whole first chapter Peter's focus is of letting us know who God is and who we are, to encourage us and is essentially saying, "You have a living, powerful, wonderful, loving God. God is real. He is not in your imagination. He is not a theory. He is not a force. He is not an idea. He is not a concept. He is a real, living being who is involved in your lives. He does not let go or let loose. He does not have a blind side. He does not turn back and go and do other things in other galaxies and forget about us here. Our God is not a deist God who winds us up and lets us go and see how everything will work out, but He is actively involved in our lives. There is nothing that happens in your life that God is not vitally aware of and cares about as much or far more than even you care about."
And now in verse 25 Peter explains God's trustworthiness. What God has said, He will do. What He has promised, He will fulfill. When you read through Hebrews you will see that during the history of Israel all the things that God did with them and through them and for them He did exactly according to promise. We have a God who keeps His word. Do you know that God will keep His word for you? That God is involved, God is real, and God is trustworthy in your life? That is what the first chapter is about, wanting to affirm to you that He has given you an inheritance based upon His promises of future blessing. He is with us. God is real and involved and trustworthy. We can build our lives upon Him and what He has told us to do.
By selecting us God has said that He wants us. Every child of God has been chosen by Him to be a member of His family. Unlike childhood games in which some were chosen last, each of us is equally chosen to be with Him as His spiritual child. God says, "I designed you and I want you." As I look at the variety of people in God's family, I see differences of personality and abilities but each has the same spiritual Father, the same source for spiritual strength and vitality.
Verse 23 tells us we have been born from an imperishable seed. We can have confidence in what God has done for us; in the salvation that is ours in Christ Jesus. As we saw in verses 4-7, there are now aspects of salvation and there are future aspects of salvation. And concerning those future aspects because we have the promise of a trustworthy God we can base our lives on what He has told us to do, how he has told us to live. He has told us, "I will never leave you. I will never forsake you." As David gave testimony, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." I know God is there. I know I need some help. I am scared. I am worried. I am concerned. I have fears. I see lions and tigers and bears, but my God is above it all. God is real, involved, and trustworthy.
And then in chapter two, verse 1, He tells us how to begin applying the present aspects of salvation to our lives, by saying, "So, because of all this. Because of who He is, because of who you are, now it is time to get on with your Christian lives." The sign on our church sign says, "Ok, so you're a Christian. Are you growing?" God designed us for growth because He cares about our lives, He cares about those around us. There are all kinds of things that need to be torn out of our lives and others that need to be built into our lives. "So you are a Christian, but are you growing?"
We have a nursery. Would it not be sad if kids go in the nursery and never come out? They never grow or mature? Do you know anybody who is a Christian who has never grown in their Christian walk? They may not say, "I have my ticket to heaven so it does not matter how I live," but the way they live shows it. "Salvation" has not changed their lives or the way they think. Is it possible to be born again and not show any sign of the new life that is in you for the rest of your life? John tells us in 1 John the answer to that question is, no. But it is possible to be stunted in the growth of the new life in us. Peter tells us in 2:1 that the first step is taking the negative behaviors and attitudes out of our lives. Before the new life can grow and draw us closer to God and Christlikeness certain things need to be eliminated first.
In your own life, are you where God desires you to be in your spiritual growth? Connect with God's desires, because where He desires you, He will enable, empower, and take you if you are willing. But He is not going to push you; He is not going to shove you. He is going to nudge you a lot. He is going to open a lot of doors. Do you want to grow your patience? Yeah, so is He going to give you some frustrations? Uh, oh. Do you want to grow your love? Then He may bring some unloving people in your life? Do you want to grow your faith? Then He may bring some trials and tests into your life because without them, you do not grow. Now, you can muddle around in the same turmoil and never grow, or you can get beyond them and continue to grow in your walk with Him.
So, what does he say? Chapter two, verse one: "Therefore, rid yourselves of all spiteful behavior and all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and unkind speech." Let us look at the first phrase. "So, get rid of all spiteful behavior." Some of your versions say "malice." Some of your versions say "evil behavior." It literally means "spiteful." You want to get back at somebody. Notice the first thing Peter picks out when he starts to write here is how you get along with others, your human relationships. It is not, "make sure you never think any bad thoughts. Make sure you do not steal." But "get along with people better. Treat each other in ways that do not include spitefulness, deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and unkind speech."
Paul teaches the same thing. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:20. "For I am afraid when I come, I may not find you as I want you to be, but more importantly as God wants you to be. And you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling and jealousy and outbursts of anger and factions and slander and gossip and arrogance and disorder." Uh, oh. He is talking about the church. Anybody want to go to the Corinthian church? "I want to be a New Testament church." Ok, well, we need a little more quarreling and jealousy and outbursts of anger and slander and gossip and arrogance. You know the problem with the first century church? It was filled with people. You know the problem with our church? Filled with people. And we are broken. But God works to move us beyond our brokenness, to grow us, to heal us, and that is what He is going to talk about in this section.
Let us look a little closer at what it is saying here. "So, get rid." "Get rid of" means to clean house, to make a clean sweep of all malice and pretense and envy and hurtful talk. There is spiritual and moral junk in your house that is stinking it up and everyone who comes into it sees and smells it, but they do not want to say anything. The Living Bible says, "So get rid of your feelings of hatred. Don't just pretend to be good. Be done with dishonesty and jealousy, talking about others behind their backs." Make a complete sweep of these things in your life.
As we are going to see, God wants us to clean house because it is like choosing life over death. Choosing things which bring spiritual life into our lives rather than kill us and our relationships with God and man. It is trusting the Designer by listening to His guidance of how He designed us to live. Do you realize that God loves to bless His children? He has designed so many good things for us. But there are some good things we do not have because they are not the best things for us and God is always working for our best, not our pleasure, not our comfort, but for our best. So, get rid of all spiteful behavior, all deceit, all unkind words. It is not about perfection, not saying, "I want you absolutely perfect." It is recognizing every one of these things, every little flavor of deceit or flavor of jealousy or flavor of hypocrisy, or flavor of spiteful behavior is poison in our lives.
The next time you have breakfast do not worry about the pancake syrup. There is no strychnine in it, just a little RoundUp. But it will not hurt you. It is for plants. How bad can it be? Do not worry about it. It is just a little poison. Ok? Are you fine with that? Just a little bit is all it takes to poison relationships and poison lives, to poison a church, to poison a marriage, to poison a family, to poison a business. God says, "Get rid of them all! Now!"
You do not need a Greek background to understand these words. Our wills and our tendencies to justify our own bad actions hinder us from sweeping them out of our lives not a lack of understanding. Everything we are talking about should not be news to you. Anybody here surprised that God says, "Do not be a hypocrite? Do not be deceitful? Do not speak harshly to one another? Do not be jealous?" Is that news to anybody? So, why are we spending time on it? Maybe because it is still something that needs to be rooted out of our lives, that there are aspects of these negative characteristics that still exist in each one of us. And God in His infinite mercy wants to free us of this death that is in us. I am telling you, it is for our good and our blessing that we take them out of our lives. And realize it is most important because without this clean sweep the new life that is ours will not develop and grow in us.
Get rid of:
All spiteful behavior – attacking others who are also God's precious creations. Spiteful behaviors of all kind are aggressively hurtful of another. These behaviors are born from attitudes of contempt and malice.
All deceit – trading who I am for what I want. Deceit is to compromise to get what I want by lying or deception. It is sacrificing honesty and integrity to get what I want.
All hypocrisy – living with masks. It is being two-faced to get what you want or it is hiding who you are to gain something you want.
All jealousy – distrust of God's provision and blessing. It wants what someone else has without asking whether it is God's best for me. It is forgetting that someone might have something not because God gave it to him or her but because he or she took it without asking Him. They are the masters of their own lives not God. You have essentially, then, become jealous of someone who is not seeking God's will for his or her life. It is also important to not forget that each one of us has his or her own path to walk. Having little or a lot does not identify you as faithful, spiritual or godly (1 Timothy 6:5).
All unkind speech – verbal harpoons. Unkind speech is intended to injure and tear down another—it is aggressive. Harpoons are made, designed to stick into the flesh. Verbal harpoons are designed to stick in the hearts of someone you want to harm. There are different ways to harm another and we all know that verbal assaults can be just as devastating as physical assaults—sometimes worse.
Think of the new life that has been seeded in us as a seed newly planted in a garden. It is a tender seed that will bear fruit that will nourish both ourselves and others we come in contact with, and chiefly our relationship with God. But it needs to be nourished, watered, and protected. And part of that protection is rooting out and keeping weeds away. Weeds will grow so fast that they suck the nutrients and water from the ground before the seed can benefit from them. Weeds will literally choke the life out of a fruit-bearing plant. That is why a good gardener tends to his or her garden by first ripping the weeds out and then feeding and watering the good seed.
Using gardening as an analogy, spiteful behavior, jealousy, deceit, and unkind behavior are weeds that are destroying the spiritual garden God is trying to plant in our lives. I am telling you, it is for our good and blessing that we deny ourselves the pleasures that come from spiteful, unkind, and selfish behaviors. When we stand back and analyze the situation we can easily recognize the badness of these behaviors but when we are tempted to enact them they seem like good ideas to get what we want. Why? Because when we take the attitude that what we want is supreme, just about any means will be acceptable to get what we want—even intentionally hurting another human being.
As I said before, this is not news to us. It is not complicated to understand. We must ask ourselves, therefore, "why don't we just do things God's way?" Is God smarter than you? Is God's way good for you? Well, what is wrong with us? Walking by faith means we live in such a way that shows that God's ways are the best ways. And often that means denying ourselves and our immediate feelings and strategies for getting what we want. God is different and we are to be holy, because He is holy!
Scripture tells us that certain things characterize 'deathness' and certain things characterize 'lifeness'. Second Peter 1:9 tells us that it is possible for a Christian to "forget" that they have been cleansed of their sins and actually enact attitudes and behaviors that work against the spiritual life that was received at the new birth. Second Peter 1:8-9: "For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins." Look at the contrast below:
Deathness (v. 23--perishable seed) Lifeness (v. 23--imperishable seed)
Guilt Grace
Anger Peace
Vengeful Merciful
Reactionary Reasoned
Walks by Sight Walks by Faith
Follows the World Follows the Word
Although the Christian has been born again into new life and has been redeemed unto eternal life, he or she can still experience the negatives of sin in his or her earthly life. Deathness is the fruit of following the world. Lifeness is the fruit of following God's Word while looking to Christ as our Lord and example. Deathness without forgiveness results in the Second Death (Revelation 20:11-14). Deathness in the Christian's life brings suffering and hinders blessing. In contrast, the new life that is ours in Christ grows in us when we consciously and with purpose seek 'lifeness' in our lives. As 2 Peter 1:8 states, 'lifeness' will bless our lives with Christlikeness. And Christlikeness is characterized by grace, peace, mercy, spiritual reason, faith, and obedience.
In order for the new life to grow and prosper in us 1 Peter 2:1 tells us that we first need to let go of certain things. We are to let go of A in order to grasp B. As we cannot serve two masters (Luke 16:13), so we cannot hold onto B without letting go of A.
Let go of: In order to grasp:
Spiteful behavior Graciousness
Deceit Sincerity; integrity
Hypocrisy Genuineness; transparency
Jealousy Contentment
Unkind speech Kindness; sympathy
Ultimately, Peter's message is not so much the letting go of bad stuff but the grasping of good stuff. God wants certain characteristics to be present in our lives so that He can bless us with the fruits of the new life that is in us. But in order for that to be true we first need to purposefully distance ourselves from, make a clean sweep of, things such as spiteful behavior, deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and unkind speech. Do you love and admire Jesus Christ enough to emulate Him in your life? If so, then put those things listed in 1 Peter 2:1 out of your lives!
1 Peter 2:2-3: Growing Passion for God
1 Peter 2:2-3: "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."
We are going to talk about overcoming spiritual fatalism. This is something I believe is a discouragement and frustration to 90 percent of Christians in America today. It is wanting to do and be more but not sure how to go about doing it. It is feeling like you do not measure up and never will. "I have tried to read the Bible. I have tried to pray. I am going to church but it just is not connecting with me. I see others that have a glow about them, they can pray and have all these glorious things going on in their lives and have testimonies that God is real to them. But I am stuck in this mediocre Christianity, wishing I had more but not knowing how to go about doing it. Not sure, really, honestly, if that stuff is real. Sometimes I wonder if all those people I am looking at are just putting on a Christian front, a good smiley face, a Christian mask, just saying things they do not really believe and hoping if they say it enough it will come true for them."
I want you to know, folks, if that is what you are feeling, you have a lot of company. Jesus came to invade this world to take us where God wants us to be. God is real and He wants to be a reality in our lives. He wants us to be spiritual people who are spiritually alive toward Him. He wants to walk with us like He walked with Adam in the garden before the Fall.
Can we? Is there a possibility? Is it possible, really? We are going to look at 1 Peter chapter two, verses two and three. "Like newborn babes, crave the pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." It says, "crave the pure spiritual milk." The word crave is talking about having a strong desire for something. Now that we have been saved by God, now that we have been adopted into His family, He tells us to crave spiritual milk so that we will grow in our spiritual walk with Him; that the new life in us will blossom and grow spiritual fruit.
Anybody wish they were more spiritually alive toward God? Anybody wish they could sit down and spend a whole hour reading the Bible and not be totally confused or frustrated? And really feel like you got something out of your time? Where it is not like listening to a philosophy talk or a physics lecture? But you really feel like you got fed and met with God? Do you have a wish that this was true of you? If you nurture that wish, God will blossom it into a desire that will grow you into the person you wish you could be, that God wants you to be. If you feed and nurture it, God will grow it. "Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk."
The Old Testament is full of guidelines and rules for things to do and sometimes that can seem overwhelming to us. And to a large degree it should. All the rules, regulations, and laws were designed to not only guide social life but prepare Israel (and us) for the redemptive grace and spiritual strength that is in Christ. John Bunyan, hundreds of years ago wrote Pilgrim's Progress and other great books, also wrote this little poem about himself. "Here I am, John, and here's what I feel. Run, John, run the law commands but gives us neither feet nor hands. Far better news the gospel brings. It bids us fly and then gives us wings." Do you catch what John is trying to say here? "The Old Testament is full of all these rules. Here is what you need to do. Thou shalt, thou shalt, you had better get around to doing this.' You have this whole list of things you have to do, but it does not really give you the power to do it. But then the gospel comes along and God says, 'I come to indwell you and empower you to do My will.'"
The day will come, God says in Ezekiel 36:26, when "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you." He is talking about our day when He gives us new life and puts His spirit in us to nurture, strengthen, and encourage us. And by doing this He is telling us, "I give you the power to not only walk and talk differently but so that you can fly in your life with Me. It is hard enough to walk in this world that is set against you, but I am asking you to fly not just trudge along like you are mired in mud, ever struggling to have spiritual victory in your life."
Flying still requires us to flap our spiritual wings. You still have to watch where you are going. A young chick that is pushed from the nest that does not flap its wings will fall to the ground. To fly, you still have to exert effort. But the gospel's message is that there is extra force that can carry you and help you to do it. The gospel involves more than simply doing, but God helping us to be. We can rewrite Bunyan's little poem this way, "Run, John, run the law commands but gives us neither feet nor hands. Far better news the gospel states. It bids desire and then creates." Do you understand what God is saying in the gospel? "I do not really want you to just do the right thing, but I want you to desire the right thing. I am going to help you develop the desire for My ways and viewpoint." We cannot just invent or manufacture passionate desire. It must be developed. It must grow in us.
Before development and growth of desire there must first be exposure. We must be exposed, or introduced, to whatever it is before even wish can arise in us. Ask anyone who has become great at something and they will tell you that the passion that accompanies that greatness started with exposure to someone else who did the same thing. These people are inspirations for those who come after them. God has exposed Himself to us in His Creation, His Word, and in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. "Crave pure spiritual milk [Creation, Word, Son], so that by it you might grow up in your salvation." God is not about pushing you into being a good person just for the sake of being a good person. He wants you to do the right thing so that your life will be blessed. God is a blessing God and all His guidelines are to protect you and guide you into a life that He can bless. If we choose to expose ourselves to God, He can grow a full-fledged passion in us that changes the way we act, think, and feel.
Verse 22 starts with, "Like newborn babes." It is not calling you a beginner, not calling you childish, not calling you a little kid, just a stupid little person. Peter is saying that in the same way that a newborn baby craves physical sustenance, we are to crave spiritual sustenance. There is more here than just reading the Bible. It is not simply the nutrients from the milk that benefits the child. The child is also benefited by the close and intimate contact with the mother. There have been studies done in which children have been deprived of all human contact during these infant years and the results show that some children have died and others have developed problems relating to other people. Deprived of intimate contact they become socially and emotionally stunted, and maybe even hostile to others.
The pure spiritual milk Peter is talking about involves more than just reading the Bible. It does not say, "The pure spiritual milk of the Word." We infer that idea from the context because that is the way God communicates with us, but realize more is involved than just reading the Bible. As we get into His Word, pray, and contemplate His ways, we develop an attitude of gratitude and appreciation for all God has done for us. If you read the Bible just to know certain facts you miss the point. Thomas Traherne, a seventeenth century pastor, understood when he said: "Contentment and rest ariseth from a full perception of infinite treasures. So that whosoever will profit in the mystery of [holy happiness], must see the objects of his happiness, and the manner how they are to be enjoyed, and discern also the powers of his soul by which he is to enjoy them, and perhaps, the rules that shall guide him in the way of enjoyment. All which you have here, God, the world, yourself, all things in time and eternity being the objects of your [holy happiness], God the Giver, and you the receiver." And in another place Traherne teaches us that in understanding, a soul can walk with Adam, Enoch, Noah, Moses, Aaron and Solomon and be benefited by all toward holy happiness. And by gaining this holy happiness, inner blessedness, the new life that is in us blossoms and grows. You have an eternal purpose and eternal design before God. He is working it out in these very days. Crave pure spiritual milk that you may grow--God the Giver, and you the receiver.
Frankly, many Christians in America live on a diet of spiritual pop or beer. Pop – These are things that excite the senses and taste good now but distract us from God's Word--a really great novel, or some TV shows, some interesting things that peak our interest, that keep us entertained without much effort. These things in-and-of-themselves are not wrong, but when they take up too much of our time and effort, and crowd out time with God, they harm us. Beer -- These are things that change and distort our perspective on the realities of life. They cause us to forget about the important things and become insensitive to others. We become intoxicated with the things of this world and that leads us away from the desires we should have.
It is worth noting that while watching our granddaughter Amy, who is nine months old, I realized she never eats when she is crying. You cannot eat and cry at the same time. It does not work. We spend an awful lot of time complaining and whining about our world, our situation, instead of being nurtured and fed by nearness to God. How many things do you complain about in a week? How many complained about the economy sometime this week? I will venture that you spent more time complaining this week about things than you have praying about them and certainly letting God speak to your heart about them. We have lots of things to complain about. After all, we live in a fallen world, don't we? We have the government to complain about. We have the economy to complain about. We have a job, a boss, a wife, kids; we have lots of complaints. The more we whine, the less time we have to really get fed. Take some of that whining time and turn it into some study time, into some growing time. Closeness to God is attained by gratitude, thankfulness, and having common interests and desires. Whining and complaining kills all of them.
Peter continues: "… so that by it you may grow up in your salvation." You are not done when you accept Christ as your Savior. The sign out front our church says, "Ok, so you're a Christian. Are you growing?" God did not design us to simply be babies in Christ, to be saved from future condemnation but live like babes now. If that were the case, we would still cause problems in our relationships and stink up the world, all with God's approval. But God says, "I want to grow you and I want to nurture you so you will have fewer problems in your life and truly can be a blessing to those around you." His promise to Abraham was, "I will bless you and make you a blessing to many." It feels good to be a blessing to others. That is our fulfillment in Christ. That is when we are most like God. God is a blesser. That is who He is. And that is why He has gone through so much trouble to redeem us. That is why the Son of God came to suffer and die. In Christ, God can bless us.
We have people making breakfast and lunch on Sunday morning. They work in the kitchen because they sense the blessing it is to serve God by helping others. They love to do it. Are they stupid? Are they warped? I have no desire for that and you would probably not like to eat what I cook, anyway. But they have a passion for it. Are you glad they do? What they do encourages fellowship. They have their passion and we have our potential passions and God calls us to use our passions to serve others.
Verse 23 goes on to say, "now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." It is referring to the understanding and gratitude we had when we received Jesus Christ as our Savior. In order to receive Him as Savior, we must see what He did at the cross as the ultimate act of goodness done on our behalf. If you are saved, you have tasted that the Lord is good. The imperishable seed that was planted in you when you responded in grace to the gospel message is truth. Second Peter 1:3 tells us we have been called to salvation by God's glory and goodness. And it is in this same goodness we are to grow to maturity. Our growth in Christ is an extension of our salvation in Him. It is the present manifestation of our eternal salvation. Since we have trusted His goodness when we received Christ as our Savior, Peter tells us to continue in that trust so that we might grow mature in Him.
I wanted to do something healthy five years ago so I took up cycling. If you have a wish to do something and you start working and putting effort and practice into it, it becomes a desire. And if you work and pour more energy into that desire, it becomes a passion and truly enjoyable. A couple weeks ago, I reached the passion stage in my cycling. I had some time for vacation so Eric and I, we often ride together, planned a trip to St. Augustine. He does a great job of pulling me along with him. It is great to have someone to ride with. This would be our big summer trip and we planned it, worked out all the details and trained for it. We rode down to Disney one time and did a bunch of riding around here. Then he was not able to make it. He said, "I will tell you what I will do. To make sure you get there, I will ride from St. Augustine to Palatka and meet you in Palatka and then we will ride to St. Augustine together." We met in Palatka, had lunch there and then rode to St. Augustine. We were just cruising down that highway, having a blast. It felt so good.
The next morning I got up and said, "I think I am going to keep on riding, Eric. Want to head north with me for a while?" So he rode to Jacksonville with me and then he had to turn around and go back because he had family obligations. I kept riding north from Jacksonville through Fernandina and Amelia Island. Beautiful area. And then kept on going and turned off into Georgia and slept overnight. I got up the next morning and still felt good so I rode to Savannah. The next morning I rode to Columbia, South Carolina. Got there, felt good, rode up to Charlotte, N.C. Felt good in Charlotte, kept on going and went up to Cornelius near Lake Norman, N.C. I have some friends there and we had a good visit. I rode 600 miles in six days and loved every minute of it.
I am telling you this not to tell you what a great athlete I am, I am a mediocre athlete, but I took a little bit of a desire, a wish, and fed it and kept on feeding and feeding it and it grew into a passion. I wanted to do this. I could not have imagined I would do this five years ago. When I left here, I never planned to ride to North Carolina. It just kind of grew, step-by-step, into a full-blown passion. In the same way, we are to feed that wish in us to grow in Christ. Like I caught the passion of cycling by cycling, so we are to 'catch' the passion of our salvation by continuing in the goodness of God born in us when we received Jesus Christ as our Savior.
1 Peter 2:4-6: The Cornerstone
1 Peter 2:4-8: "You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual [house]. What's more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. As the Scriptures say, "I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced." Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, "The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone." And, "He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall."
Again, when we are going through the book of Peter, we need to recall we are listening to a man who wants us to meet the man he lived with for three years who showed himself to be more than simply a man but the Son of God, sent to this earth to teach us, to redeem us, to give us direction, give us hope, and give us a future. So when Peter is talking about Jesus, he is not just talking about his friend, he is not just talking about a teacher, he is talking about the Creator of the universe who came in human form to change the world and to change our lives. Someone who has power, though He lived and died, who was raised again 2,000 years ago, is still relevant and active in our lives today, as real and relevant as He was to Peter. Peter wants us to know He can be that real and relevant to us. That the life of Jesus Christ, His influence, His impact, and His promises are as valid for us today in Lake County in 2009 as they were in Rome or in Jerusalem or in Bythnia in 60 AD.
And so when Peter writes, he is writing to a people who are going through troubled times and need to know there is hope, there is purpose, there is a plan, and there is a real relationship that we can have a connection with the almighty, living God. He wants to walk with us through this life.
In 1 Peter 2:4-8 Peter calls Jesus Christ the Living Stone through which God would build a spiritual house filled with people who love and are obedient to Him. As support for the statements Peter makes about Jesus in verses 4 and 5, in verse 6 he quotes a passage the prophet Isaiah made hundreds of years before about the Messiah. Peter quotes Isaiah 28:16. As an introduction to this entire passage we are going to look at Isaiah 28:16-17a. "So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line.'" Peter learned this truth from Jesus who quoted Psalm 118:22-23 as applying to Himself and His ministry. Psalm 118:22-23: "The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the LORD's doing, and it is wonderful to see."
The key term in this passage is cornerstone. God tells Isaiah that He will set a cornerstone in Zion that will be used to build a spiritual structure characterized by justice and righteousness. Key to understanding the Isaiah and Psalms passages is understanding the function of a cornerstone. We do not use cornerstones anymore. When we see a cornerstone, usually it is on the side of an old building and it has a plaque on it telling us the date when it was established. It is just a symbolic display. It has no real architectural function. But in early construction, the cornerstone was absolutely critical, for it established the direction, the track, the very plan of what was going to follow.
So what is a cornerstone?
Merrill Unger says this: "The stone at the corner of two walls and uniting them; specifically, the stone built into one corner of the foundation of an edifice as the actual or nominal starting point of a building."
W. E. Vine says this: "They were laid so as to give strength to the two walls with which they were connected."
William Wilson defines it this way: "To turn; to look towards…. Metaphorically, prince, chief of a people, on whom as a cornerstone the burden of a state rests."
Donald Sheley wrote this: "Now if we were to visit some of those marvelous buildings there in Europe, if you walk around you'll find sometimes in the corner of a building and it's marked the cornerstone. It's where two major walls come together and often it's a massive stone. I read of one building that had a massive stone that weighed 24 tons. But it's on that cornerstone that ties the two walls together and it becomes the starting point; that is the point from which they start the building, so it is a crucial bearing upon the construction."
Richard Krejcir wrote: "Cornerstone. This was a large stone laid at the foundation of a building to be a "footer," and to "plum" the rest of the building so it was square and secure. This was essential to the structure of the building. These buildings were laid by cut stones, interlocked by gravity and force, and without mortar, all relying and leaning on one another. Without proper stone placement, buildings in the ancient world would not last long or would fall during construction.
The cornerstone (or foundation stone), therefore, is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. The cornerstone has to be perfect. The cornerstone is hewn and shaped to specific specifications because it gives shape to the rest of the building. If the cornerstone is shaped incorrectly the building that arises from it will be flawed. So you have to get all the angles correct, all the edges squared and true. If you do not, everything is going to be off kilter. The accuracy and integrity of the building depends on the quality of the cornerstone.
Isaiah 28:16-17a: "So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line.'" "See, I lay," tells us God is active and about to do something special. "Open your eyes and look," He is telling Israel (and us), for I am going to build a new building with a new cornerstone characterized by justice and righteousness." If we read back a few verses in Isaiah we see why something new is needed. "God has told his people, here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest. But they would not listen. So the LORD will spell out his message for them again, one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there, so that they will stumble and fall. They will be injured, trapped, and captured. Therefore, listen to this message from the LORD, you scoffing rulers in Jerusalem. You boast, 'We have struck a bargain to cheat death and have made a deal to dodge the grave. The coming destruction can never touch us, for we have built a strong refuge made of lies and deception.'" Does that sound like justice and righteousness are characterizing Israel? In Israel's immediate future lies captivity. In Israel's far future lies Christ, the cornerstone that will provide a sure foundation on which to build a spiritual house acceptable to God.
"Open your eyes and look, I lay a stone in Zion." This sounds like a nice thing to do. Zion, that beautiful city of God. Zion, Jersusalem. Zion, that beautiful city. When you hear the work "Zion" our minds usually envision a wonderful and beautiful place wherein flows fresh waters that grow beautiful gardens and vegetation. Do you know what "Zion" means? "Zion" literally means "parched place." A dried out, barren place where nothing can grow. It is sand and dust blowing in the wind. Nothing of significance can grow there. Parched, no water and no life. And it is not by coincidence that God says, "See, I lay a stone in Zion, in the parched place characterized by lies and deception, and out of it will flow living water that will bring life where there was once deadness. I redeem the parchedness of the ground.
And why is Zion, Jerusalem, a parched place? Jeremiah 17: 13 tells us: "O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who turn away from you will be disgraced and shamed. They will be buried in a dry and dusty grave, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water." Zion is a dry and dusty place because they have forsaken the Lord.
Joel 3:17-18 speak to a future time when the parched place will be filled with life. "Then, you will know that I, the LORD your God, live in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy forever, and foreign armies will never conquer her again. In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. Water will fill the dry streambeds of Judah, and a fountain will burst forth from the LORD's Temple, watering the arid valley of acacias."
With this understanding of Zion being the parched place, the words of Jesus in John 7:37-38 become significant. "On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
Isaiah describes this Stone as a firm, tested, and precious stone. A tested cornerstone is a stone that has been carefully planned and hewn and inspected with great care. It has passed inspection. It is ready to be put in place. Do you realize that Scripture tells us that Jesus learned obedience (Luke 2:51-52, Hebrews 5:8)? That Jesus was tested and proved Himself worthy (Hebrews 5:9, 12:2-3)? Because God wants to build a spiritual house made up of people who enact justice and righteousness, Jesus is the worthy cornerstone to start the construction of that building because justice and righteousness characterized His life.
This cornerstone is described as precious. Precious is an adjective. It is speaking of something or someone highly valued and esteemed, cherished. A cornerstone is precious for two reasons. 1) It is precious because so much hard work has gone into its construction. 2) It is precious because the final completed construction is highly valued, a thing to be cherished, and the setting of the cornerstone signifies the start of the building process. I think of John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." "God so [cherished] the world that He gave His [unique and precious] Son." There is a part of Him that said, "I am going to let Him go from My side so that the world can be saved." A sacrifice for us; precious in God's sight!
This cornerstone God has given us is absolutely perfect. But unless it is placed on a solid foundation the building will collapse. As Jesus told us, a house built on sand will not stand (Matthew 7:26-27). But a house built on solid rock will withstand the storms of life (Matthew 7:24-25). Even a perfectly hewn cornerstone cannot save a building set on sand. You can take a slab of granite and set it on sand and it is not going to be a good building. It is going to be a real problem. It is going to sink and sag. It is going to be hard to get it level and it is going to give away under the pressure. You will not be able to keep it level because the cornerstone itself is not on a good foundation. So what is the foundation of this building of God? Ephesians 2:19-22: "So now you gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family. We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit." The cornerstone that God lays is based upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Donald Sheley sums up Paul: "He is saying the Christian Church is built upon the writings of the prophets, and the activity and the ministry of the apostles, and Jesus Christ is the cornerstone; so our Christian faith is built on the great truths of the Old Testament, the great truths of the New Testament, and the person Himself, Jesus Christ."
A cornerstone built on a sure foundation. It is something that can be trusted. "The one who trusts will not be disgraced;" will never be disappointed and embarrassed. You can trust in God and not fall flat on your face. Have you ever trusted God and been disappointed? Have you ever given your trust over to God and been disappointed? I have. It says I will not be disappointed, so how can I be disappointed? I have trusted God and been terribly disappointed because He has not done what I told Him to do. I had it all figured out. "God I trust you. Here is what I want to happen." And He did not do it. What is the problem here? I am trusting God to do what I want to do. But so often what I want is not for my best and God is not satisfied with my wishes when they are not for my best. Probably 80 percent of our prayers are self-centered. Are not 80 percent of your prayers telling God what you want Him to do and how you want Him to do it and when? "God, change my husband. Fix my kid. Lord, get me this job. I want this job, Lord. Lord, let me get this raise." And God says, "Oh, if you get that raise and you get that boat and I know the boat sounds really good, but then you are going to start walking away from me and you are going to be teaching your kids that the lake is more important than my Word." He sees all the things that are going on. You can still get it on your own, but God says, "I am not going to give it to you." God wants our best and if we wait on Him, He will work all things for our good (Romans 8:28).
And when you feel disappointed that God did not follow your request, you had better start rejoicing because God does not want to disappoint you. He wants to bless you and He wants to give you the best. And often the best is not what you want. I mean, are there some things you want right now that are not for your best? I do not have to think very long to come up with some things I want that are not for my best. So I am going to say, "Lord, I am going to trust you to design, to work, to plan, to work through the junk I am going through." I know He has not forgotten about me. I know He has not abandoned me. So I can trust Him with whatever I are going through. The future may be uncertain and people may do all kinds of wrong, bad things to me but I am going to trust him. He is worthy of my trust.
What if something bad happens to me? Does that take God off His throne? Does God say, "Oh no, I do not know what to do now. Somebody messed up your life." Becoming a Christian does not exempt us from life's hazards or the selfish people living in this world. We live in a cause-and-effect world in which evil and irresponsible behaviors harm others. And sometimes Christians are the others. And sometimes Christians are the perpetrators. Becoming a Christian does not exempt us from sickness, disease or accidents. Yes, so much of what we suffer is self-inflicted, but not all. Romans 8:28 assures us that God can take those situations and work them for our good, if only we trust Him. Trust takes patience. We need to be patient in order to wait and watch God work. Does God ever lose control? God excels in taking that which is evil and planned for evil in our lives, and turning it for incredible good. That is where God specializes. But we short-circuit the process if we try to work it out ourselves, outside His guidelines and direction.
That is what it talks about next. It says, "I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line." "I will make justice the measuring line." What does that mean? It means off of that cornerstone you are going to sight down to get the wall exactly right. You are going to take your measuring line and put it right on the tip of the cornerstone and sight down to layout the building of the wall. And if your vision line is correct, your building is going to be accurate. If you align your life with Christ and His Word, it is going to be right on track. Every inch of it is going to be right on track.
Are there any areas in your life you feel like God has forgotten about? He does not know about? There is not an inch of your life that God does not know. You are not bigger than God. You are not more complex than God. "I will make justice the measuring line." God knows all the things that are going on and He knows when you are taken advantage of, when things go wrong in your life, when someone else does not do something Christian in your life. He is not surprised by this and He tells us, "Your job is not to look for revenge. Romans 12:19-21: "Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave it to God. For it is written, 'I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it,' says the Lord. Instead, do what the Scriptures say: 'If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink, and they will be ashamed of what they have done to you.' Don't let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good."
Oh, you can try to get even and you may get even. You may get beyond even and really show them. But what has happened to your character and Christian testimony? Being a vengeful, bitter, hurting person is not good for you or God's kingdom. God says, "Trust me. Vengeance is mine. Let me take care of it. Do not become as bad as they are. I want you to align yourself with me. Justice will be the measuring line. I will take care of it. That is not your job. Your job is to align your heart with mine."
I have had thieves break in and steal from my house twice in my life and every time God has caused benefit to come from the loss. The bike I rode to N. C. recently God gave me because one not as good was stolen. I got that bicycle for free, two of them just like that for free. I sold one and blessed my wife with some money to help us through a financial pinch. When things go wrong, do not get vengeful and take things into your own hands.
"I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line." The measuring line of justice goes between how we connect with the lives of others, the things people do to us, and the things that come our way on the earthly plane. But righteousness is between God and us. And the amazing, wonderful thing is God drops His righteousness upon us. It says fifteen different times in Romans that we are in Christ, right in God's sight because of the work of Christ on our behalf. He drops His plumb line of righteousness on us and declares us right in Christ. But there is also our practical righteousness, our actual behavior. Our position in Christ makes practical righteousness possible. But when we fall short repentance is still needed. Christ is our example and God's Word is our guide.
You have a God that you can trust. You have a God who is always working for your best. Remember the Roman and Greek gods who were always playing games with people and doing tricks and finagling them and working against them and cursing them? You have a God who is always working for your good. He is a righteous God. He does not change. He is not going to send all the archangels tomorrow and say, "You know, this thing I have been doing with people and the end times? It is just a big bother. Let us go to the Milky Way galaxy and play around instead. I am bored with these people. Forget them." We have a God who is righteous and promises that every single thing He says He will do, He will do. You have a God you can trust. "I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line."
Is your life aligned with God? What are you connecting your life with? What are you sighting down for your life? Where are you trying to go? What is the focus of your life? What are you looking at as your set of guidelines? Do you trust your feeling without self-examination? Do you use your thinking to justify your behaviors or do you bring every thought to the obedience of Christ first? And what can you trust more, your feelings, your thoughts, or God's Word? The Isaiah passage we have been looking at was preceded by a Psalm written by David 400 years earlier—Psalm 118.
Let us read Psalm 118:
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say:
"His love endures forever."
3 Let the house of Aaron say:
"His love endures forever."
4 Let those who fear the LORD say:
"His love endures forever."
5 In my anguish I cried to the LORD,
and he answered by setting me free.
6 The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
7 The LORD is with me; he is my helper.
I will look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
11 They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
12 They swarmed around me like bees,
but they died out as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
13 I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the LORD helped me.
14 The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
15 Shouts of joy and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
"The LORD's right hand has done mighty things!
16 The LORD's right hand is lifted high;
the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!"
17 I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the LORD has done.
18 The LORD has chastened me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of righteousness;
I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.
20 This is the gate of the LORD
through which the righteous may enter.
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.
22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the [cornerstone];
23 the LORD has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25 O LORD, save us;
O LORD, grant us success.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you.
27 The LORD is God,
and he has made his light shine upon us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
1Peter 2:4-8: Living Stones--Bringing Life Out of Deadness
1 Peter 2:4-8: "You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual [house]. What's more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. As the Scriptures say, 'I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.' Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, 'The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone." And, "He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.' They stumble because they do not obey God's word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them."
Peter, in 1 Peter 2:4-8 uses illustrations that depict who Jesus is and what He has done in our lives. He does this by saying it seven different ways. In the last message we looked at Isaiah 26:18 where Jesus is called the cornerstone. And we saw how this cornerstone depicts what we are to align our lives with. A cornerstone is set so that all the other stones can line themselves up with it. It sets the pattern. It sets the scale. It sets the direction. It depicts aligning our lives with the cornerstone in order to be in right alignment with God. And as you look at your life, is your life in line with what God says? Is your life in line with the way that Jesus lived? What in your life this week reflects something that was not in align with Jesus? What did you do? How did you feel? What did you say? What was your motivation? What was your attitude? The way He lived is a pattern to line our lives up with.
We all need patterns. When you learn how to do fractions, teachers give you examples—"the numerator is on top and the denominator is on the bottom and you line up the numbers this way, see, you have to line it up, you do this and that is how you do it. Let me show you again. You take this number and do this. Let me show you again. You take this, and so on." We are given a pattern, seeing the number of different ways to do it. All of a sudden we say, "Ok, I am beginning to understand. If I have this number on the top, this number on the bottom, this is what it means, this is how it works." We understand by following patterns. And God has given us a pattern to follow. As the New Testament completes and fulfills the Old, we learn that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is our pattern to follow, our cornerstone, not rules or laws or sacrifices or anything else.
Parents, God has given you as a pattern for your children. You want them to do what you say, but far more likely they are going to do what you do. It is a great responsibility to know that what you do makes a difference not strictly for yourself and not strictly in accountability to God, but you are living the dreams and hopes and the future of your own children. This should lead you to want to live differently and want to be a better man or a better woman and have better characteristics because you want to pass those kind of characteristics onto your kids. Because the Lord knows, you do not want to be just like your mother. Lord knows, you do not want to be just like your dad. Your mom and dad may have had some good qualities but you know there are some wounds that you have, some bad habits, some patterns and things you inherited you do not want. You want to break the chain here and now. And so, moms, dads, if anything can motivate you to be a better woman or better man to walk closer to what Jesus says, I think it is those kids.
Peter is one of those guys that likes to see pictures. Paul loved talking about concepts. He was a conceptualizer. He liked theological constructs. He liked to think rationally and logistically—"This is how it looks and this is how it all works." Peter is like many men who say, "Show me a picture. It sticks with me." And like most men, pictures stick with us so that is why I do so much of these picturesque things. I hope you never hear the word "cornerstone" in Scripture again that your mind does not go to something to line your life up with, something solid, unmovable and reliable, based on a firm foundation. That is Jesus Christ and you can align your lives with Him and be right with God.
Peter in verses four through eight of chapter two: "You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. As the Scriptures say, 'I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.' Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, 'The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.' And, 'He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.' They stumble because they do not obey God's word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them." In verse five Peter presents an image that does not make sense, at first. But it pictures something that you can understand and start to get your hands around as you see what it means and where it comes from. See, the phrase "a living stone," is what I usually call an oxymoron, a paradox. Anybody see a stone that is alive? Stones do not live. A rock or stone is the epitome of deadness. There is no life there. But for some reason, Peter refers to people as living stones. Why? What does he mean?
Numerous times in the Old Testament, beginning in Genesis, God Himself is called "a rock." Joseph, when he is on his deathbed, when he is blessing his twelve sons, actually thirteen, well, twelve minus one plus two if you take Levi out of the picture. As he blesses his sons, he tells them that God is the one they are to worship for He is the rock of Israel (Genesis 49). Now, is he saying God is as dumb as a stone? No, he is saying he has found God to be a solid rock in his own life. He is trustworthy and strong. If you look at the life of Joseph that is an amazing testimony. I mean, look at his life. Why would this man Joseph ever trust God? He was just minding his own business as Jacob's son and all his brothers came upon him and threw him in a pit to kill him, but instead ended up selling him into slavery. He finally works himself into a good position and he is falsely accused of adultery by Potiphar's wife because he refused her advances and is unjustly thrown into prison. He helps out other people in prison and gains the trust of the guards and two of the people he helps forget about him when they could have helped him get out of prison. If anybody could say, "Where was God when I needed Him?" it was Joseph. Can you see that? Have any of you gone through that kind of trouble? Your brothers have tried to kill you. They have hated you so much that they sold you as a slave to a bunch of, well, we will say Iranians. Sold you into slavery. Can you imagine anything more despicable? Where was God when Joseph needed Him?
We read the story from the backside and know how the story ends. But imagine going through it. Joseph went through some bad times but when it was all over he could say, "God was with me every step of the way. He preserved my life from my brothers' murderous intent. He provided a way for me to get down to Egypt to get away from them. He provided help in the prison. He gave me a guard to trust in me. He connected me with a baker and a cupbearer that enabled me finally to get into Pharaoh's presence and save Israel from the famine and build a nation. God was with me every step of the way." Bad things also happen in our lives. And if we trust God and remain faithful in our behavior, God can work all things for our good (Romans 8:28), as well. Do we ask similar questions? "Where was God when I lost my job? Where was God when my wife got sick? Where was God when we could not have any children? Where was God when those things happened?" And Joseph can tell you, as he told his children, "He was beside you the entire time." And if we trust Him we can say with Joseph, "No, He did not make me lose my job. No, He did not cause us not to have children. No, He did not make my wife get sick. He did not cause those things. He was with me through it and turned them all for great good." But in order for that to be true, we have to be patient and let God work.
Something I heard two weeks ago when I was at a conference with a couple people listening to the stepson of C.S. Lewis really caught my ear. What he said is what I have been trying to say for years. I am going to try to say it the way that he said it. Where does evil come from? Does God do evil? No. Evil, sickness, death, all those things were caused and brought into this world by sin and by Satan. But that is not the bad part. You would think that is the bad part, that Satan brought sin and evil into the world. That is bad, but that is not the worst part. The worst part is that then Satan says, "See, there is no God. If He was real how could he let all those bad things happen. There is no God. He did not stop anything. He is not active. He is not involved. There is no God. And if there is, He does not care or get involved in human affairs. Live how you want to live. It does not matter." And the problem is, we believe him. Have you ever blamed God for things going wrong in your life? Have you ever asked, "Why did God take my son? What is God trying to do? What is He trying to teach me by doing this bad thing to me? If there is evil coming into your life, and evil things are happening, rest assured, God is not causing it for He is not the author of evil (James 1:13-17).
Let us be clear about this point. Is evil going to come into your life? Yes. Why? Two reasons—sin and people. Maybe a third reason—you. I do not need to blame Satan or other people for half my sin. It is all right here. I bear full responsibility for that. And it is not God. Satan does all kinds of evil and then he stands back and blames God and we believe him. How many people do you know that are mad at God for something they think or they say that God did? God had nothing to do with it. It was man and it was evil.
In Deuteronomy 32, Moses calls God a Rock five different times—in verses 4, 15, 18, 30, and 31. Verse 4: "He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!" Verse 15: "But Israel soon became fat and unruly; the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed! Then they abandoned the God who had made them; they made light of the Rock of their salvation." Verse 18: "You neglected the Rock who had fathered you; you forgot the God who had given you birth." Verse 30: "How could one person chase a thousand of them, and two people put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?" Verse 31: "But the rock of our enemies is not like our Rock, as even they recognize." His ways are just. He is true. He is reliable. He is salvation. You can trust Him because He is the Rock. It is like the Code of Hammurabi. It is written down in stone. What He says is always the best for every generation. His ways are the best ways.
David says in 2 Samuel 22: "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my helper in times of trouble. He is my refuge. God is my fortress, my rock. I can depend upon Him to protect me and care for me and keep me from despicable ends." Do you recognize when David wrote this, he was running for his life from Saul and his hitmen. We see things on television, ideas like this all the time, programs like this all the time, where they have a contract out on somebody that does not deserve it and someone innocent is running for his or her life. We say, "How can someone be so mean? What did David do that Saul wanted to kill him?" He was popular with the people. People liked him better and so Saul said, "Let us get rid of him." David says, "I can trust my God. He is my rock. He will protect me."
Isaiah 26:4-8: "Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock. He humbles the proud and brings down the arrogant city. He brings it down to the dust. The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot, and the needy walk all over it. But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them. LORD, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart's desire is to glorify your name."
Daniel 2:44-45 talks about a rock that strikes a statue, which represents an earthly kingdom, and then grows to fill the earth. Daniel had a vision and saw a statue that was made of gold, silver, bronze and iron and clay. It depicted the different empires of the world that had ruling influence on Israel--the Babylonian, the Assyrian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman. All these empires had their time of prominence and influence but all passed away into history. The one empire that will never fall is the one that comes from the rock that is God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. And His kingdom overwhelms, overpowers all other kingdoms. Daniel 2:44-45: "During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever. That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain."
God bless America. We live in a wonderful country, a great country, even though it is going through its problems. It is still a great country, but this kingdom will not ever supercede God's kingdom. God wants you to know and what He is trying to express through all these things is, you can trust Him. He is strong. He is consistent and He is enduring. God is a rock. He is strong. He has the strength to do whatever He says He wants to do. He is consistent. He keeps on doing what He says He will do and He is enduring. He will carry it all the way through to the end. That is the Old Testament foundation that Peter was raised with and Jesus has explained to Peter, so Peter understood what it meant for God to be the rock.
In the New Testament, Jesus takes the picture of a rock and makes a profound statement about Himself. In Luke 19:37-40 Jesus is approaching Jerusalem on a donkey and all the people are cheering for Him as the sent one of God, the Messiah, and the Pharisees told Him to stop them from saying such things. And Jesus tells them, "I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." I always assumed that the stones Jesus is referring to are the stones on the side of the road. It might have been them. But Jesus is getting close to Jerusalem when He says this and I think it is a possibility He was referring to something else. There is only one other place in scripture where it talks about stones crying out. It happens to be in a small Old Testament book you have probably neglected called Habakkuk. Habakkuk 2:9-14: "Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin! You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. 'Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime! Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.'" Whether Jesus is pointing down at these stones or He is looking at the stones of the wall of the city that they loved so much, that Jerusalem itself, that unjust place, if these people do not sing, then Jerusalem itself will declare who He is—the Messiah, the bringer of righteousness and justice. It is just a thought. Regardless, the very stones will cry out. Stones, dead stones coming alive toward God.
In Matthew 16:13-20 Jesus says, "On this rock I will build my church." Here he is not talking about Peter being the rock. He is talking about the confession that Peter had just told him. Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do people say I am?" And some of them said, 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' And Jesus says, 'Peter, who do you say I am?' Peter said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'" Jesus tells him and us, "Upon this rock," that I am the Messiah, the sent one from God, "I will build my church." His church needs to be founded on nothing else but, "I am the Son of God and I have come sent from God to redeem my people and bring them back to His kingdom." This is the gospel, a solid foundation for building God's kingdom in this world.
Then in John 11, Jesus goes to Bethany to visit Mary and Martha who have lost their brother. Their brother's name was Lazarus. Word came to Jesus that Lazarus was sick and near death. But instead of immediately heading to Bethany he waited four days. Jesus could have gotten there earlier but did not. And why? Jesus answers that question Himself in verse 40. "Then Jesus said, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?'" Why didn't He go sooner to comfort the mourners or touch Lazarus with health as the sisters requested? Jesus does not go to Bethany because it was not yet time. The Jews believed that the spirit hovered over the body for three days after death. There was a time of mourning for three days with hopes that maybe the spirit would be rejoined to the body. They know it would never happen because it never happens, but that is what they believed. For this reason Jesus purposely showed up on the fourth day. There is no hope for life. There is no chance of Lazarus living again. The superstition, the magic has no chance of working. It is beyond any kind of logic or reason or superstition if Lazarus should live again.
He shows up on the fourth day and sees Mary and Martha and their tears and He weeps with them. Then He goes up on the hill where Lazarus was buried. Carved into the side of the dirt is a cave. And rolled in front of the cave is a stone, a dead stone in front of a dead hole, holding a dead man. Jesus told them to roll away the stone. But Martha confusedly says, "Do not do that. He stinks." "So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.' When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'" And out of that deadness, behind the dead stone, in the dead hole, comes life. Peter has seen life come out of deadness. Would that make an impact on your life and on your heart if you saw something live coming out of deadness? If you saw a dead body raised? A cold stone giving life back? Peter saw it.
Peter saw it again on resurrection Sunday. The morning when he runs to the tomb where Jesus was laid, a tomb cut into the rock. Carved into the rock was a tomb and in front of the rock was another dead stone and out of that dead stone came new life (Mark 16:2-6). He is the creator, the giver of life and He is the sustainer of life. Peter talks about living stones and Jesus being the living cornerstone because He is the one from whom all life has come. "I am the resurrection and the life." "I am the way, the truth, and the life." "In Him were all things created, nothing that had been created was created without Him and in Him all things hold together." He is the master, the giver, and the sustainer of all of life. He is the source of life. So when Peter talks about Jesus being a living stone, he is saying that Jesus is rock solid, dependable and trustworthy.
And then he goes on to call us living stones. And this is where he takes it a whole step farther. This could not have been imagined in the Old Testament. He calls us living stones because we have the life of God living in us--because we were made alive by being connected with the cornerstone, Jesus Christ. God incredibly makes dead things live. From the very beginning, this is what God did. In Genesis 2:7, God took the dust of the earth and formed man. Dust, ground up dirt. Basically rock that is ground up and He breathed spiritual life into the physical stuff and man became a living soul. God incredibly makes dead things live.
In Ezekiel 11:19 it says, "I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." People who knew about God but did not know Him and had no love or sensitivity for Him will be made alive toward Him. Is that not what Jesus did when He said, "I am the resurrection and the life"—"I will bring life to dead people." Is there anything in your life that needs an infusion of life? Your heart for God, your passion for Him, your care and love for other family members that you live with or care about? Peter wants us to know that as living stones we are alive as we let our lives connect with the source of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. This first means accepting Christ as your personal Savior and saying, "Yes, God. I want to be part of what you have for me. Yes, I want to live with you. Thank you for your salvation that accepts me into your presence and into your family, even though I am a sinner, even though I failed miserably." But beyond that, it means growing in the new life we have received at our new birth.
The cornerstone illustration tells us there is something more that God wants to do. Peter did not give us the illustration of cornerstone, nor did God use it in Isaiah just for fun. God's cornerstone is to be admired, yes, as a work of art, but more importantly, it is functional. A cornerstone implies construction. A cornerstone implies other stones. It suggests there is something further that is going to happen. Construction is not finished with the cornerstone. The cornerstone is just the start. And then come the other stones.
God takes us as individuals and pulls us into contact with His Son and pulls us into contact with each other. Sometimes when He pulls us into close contact with each other it is going to hurt but He needs to put you next to this other person because He needs you to work with them. And sometimes when we have to work with another person we do not like, we have to figure out how to make it work and it grows us. And so God says, "I want you close to that person because they need to wear off some things in your life. They need to grind down some things in their life. There are some irritations, a lack of patience or anger or prejudice or bigotry or a certain problem that you have that I want to get out of my life and the only way to get it out of your life is to expose you to someone else who is going to bring that out and then rely on me to do it." That is called God orchestrating you, God designing you. Anybody here want to grow in Christ? Anybody here want to be God's man or God's woman? The first step is admitting that you need God. It is giving God permission to work on you. "I have some things that are sticking out. Things that are hanging down and things that are inappropriate in my life and if I want to be God's man, those things need to be gone. I have tried for years to get rid of them, but they are just always there." God says, "Trust me. We can work on this together and I will bring some people into your life that will help you with that."
And folks, very frankly, that is what church is supposed to be about. Church is not just about nice songs and a guy that talks a lot. Church is about the family of God coming together and growing. The sign out front says, "So, you're a Christian. But are you growing?" God wants to expand your love and your grace. Do you recognize people who are not like you, who like different things than you like, they are loved by Him too and are important to Him. If you are getting along with everybody in this church, maybe it is time you leave. Did I say that? Wait a minute. Can I take that back? No, if you are getting along with everybody in this church, maybe you need to leave and go someplace where you are not going to get along, where it is not going to be quite so easy. But I can tell you, if you get involved with working and acting in what God wants you to do, you are going to find some people you are not going to get along with. You will be angry and frustrated and hurt and then God is going to say, "Good, now you can grow your love. Now you can grow your grace. Now you can grow up."
As you look at your life, you need to assess where your life is headed? Is your life really going to amount to anything substantial? Where is your life headed? What is your destination? Are all the things you are doing, all the things you are working towards, trying to accumulate, trying to make, going to end up being dumped into a hole someday? Or, are you living for something higher? Are your values, are the things you say you are living for going to pass the Judgment Seat of Christ? Are you building on the living cornerstone that is going to last forever? Are you doing things that God cares about, things that are going to make an eternal difference? Where is your life headed? What is the focus of your life? Is it all going to go down the hole or is it going to be built on the cornerstone? Is your life built on the solid rock, something that is going to last forever? And are you living as a living stone connected with others? As a church, we are not just about Sunday mornings. We are about connecting lives. And that will not happen if all you do is come to a service on Sunday morning, sing songs and listen to me. Church is about the people being God's people--God's individual living stones that together construct a spiritual house that is concerned with doing God's will. This is not just a gathering of people. It is a gathering of God's people and there is a profound difference.
1 Peter 2:4-8: The House of God
1 Peter 2:4-8: "As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,'and, 'A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.' They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for."
Prayer: "Father, as we unpack all that you packed into this passage for us, we ask that You enable us to grasp what You have done and what You are doing and what You will and want to do in our lives. Grant in us, Lord, as David said, "a willing spirit" that we might learn to flourish in the joy of your salvation, not simply to have salvation, but to let salvation make a difference in the way in which we live so that truly we will be your family and your people and this can be your church. In the name of Jesus we pray. And God's family said, Amen."
Stones that have not been cut and hewn by a master craftsman are not useful for the construction of a building. They are dirty and have not been shaped to fit with the surrounding structure. But they are of the same material. They have potential. And these stones represent, if you will, us before God got a hold of us. They are dirty and they are misshapen. They are set in their ways. They are not easily changed. It takes work and skill to form stone to fit a structure. Peter's message in 1 Peter 2:4 is that God is the master craftsman who is forming us, living people, to be a special, unique group of people. He calls it the house of God.
He calls us and wants to make us into something special, something useful for the furtherance of His kingdom. Not by cramming us into a mold like bricks, but shaving, shearing off, and chipping away at the things that do not belong in our lives to reshape us that we can serve God's purposes and fulfill what God wants to do in our lives. It is not simply, "I have to change for God." I get so frustrated hearing that. When you change for God, who gets the benefit? God is not out to make you miserable for His good purposes. He wants to bless your life and some things He causes you to do will be hard. Sometimes it is hard to be honest. Sometimes it is hard to be morally and spiritually courageous but it is the right thing to do and it will make your life better. It will make you more like Jesus Christ. And that alone will bless your life and protect it from the sin that will ravish and tear it apart. Trust God to do the right thing and watch what He will do.
Katie is getting ready to teach Amy, our granddaughter, how to walk. She is crawling up the side of the couch and Katie is going to work with her day in and day out, for hours, just nurturing that along. Can you see how God is trying to nurture you the same way? "Come on, come on. You can do this." Is Katie going to be happy when Amy starts walking? Yes. But who is the major blessing for? Who is going to benefit the most from Amy walking? It is not going to be Katie. It is Amy. God has a divine design behind your choices, behind what He puts in front of you. Katie is also feeding Amy and trying to get her to eat things that are good for her--strawberries, bananas, but she has not tried Twinkies yet. She has not tried asparagus yet. She has not tried a chicken leg. Why? Because those are not choices she is capable of making yet. If left to herself she would most likely chose the Twinkies and other sweet things that are not good for her. God puts good choices in front of us and He also withholds choices because we are not ready to make them yet. God wants to bless us not harm us.
These raw stones represent what we are before God gets a hold of us. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." We know John 3:16, "For God so loved the world", but the next verse says, "I came not into the world to condemn the world." We know that we are misshapen. Jesus did not come to say, "Look at how misshapen, look how dirty you are." He said, "I came not to condemn you. I came to save you." He came to redeem. He came not simply just to save us for heaven but to redeem us on this earth that we might walk hand-in-hand with Him in this life. That is what John is talking about when He recorded what Jesus said in John 10:10: "I have come to give you life in abundance." He is not telling us He wants to make us rich, as the prosperity preachers want you to believe, but that He wants to richly show His life and presence in our lives.
I tell you, which kind of stone do you want to be? You have a choice. A stone fit for the building does not just happen by itself. As the stone submits itself to the work of the craftsman it is slowly shaped—made useful. And this is good for the building for without this piece put where it belongs the entire structure is affected. It is the same with you and me. The talents and abilities God has given us are needed if the Body is to function rightly.
In verse 5 the first thing he says is, "You." He is talking about each one of us as an individual. God knows us personally and He knows what is best for us. He knows what we need. He knows that He has designed us for a purpose. He knows our strengths. He knows our wants. He knows our desires. We are not a surprise to God. We are not an enigma to God. God could have made us like perfectly shaped bricks, squeezed into molds and then crammed together, stacked one on top of the other. He does not call us bricks. Bricks are easier to work with because of their molded shape but bricks are not as strong as stone. Did they have bricks back in those old days? Yes, in Egypt Pharaoh forced the Israelites to make bricks. They were not kiln bricks but they were still formed and molded and squeezed together. But bricks do not last. Bricks break. God calls us stones. Stone is harder to work with but the finished product is stronger and more durable and able to stand under great pressure.
Have you ever seen a stonemason at work taking all these weird pieces of stone and somehow is able to grab just the right piece and put it right where it fits? He seems to reach down almost without looking and grab the next one and with some chipping and shaping it just fits. A stone is just a stone until the master craftsman grabs a hold of it. And then the weird-fitting stone, the stone that looks like it does not fit anywhere, fits. The craftsman says, "I have a place for that one right here. It is going to take four stones around it to make it look right, but it is going to be beautiful when it fits in." The one stone that looks like it was the oddball is the one that sets everything else off. Everything else just kind of keys into it and it ends up being the center of focus. What we thought was the stone that should be discarded because it was misshapen, God says, "No, I have a place, a perfect place for it." God has a place for you too.
As long as we are open to Christ, our lives are always redeemable. God does not give up on us. But before you dwell on that, I need to make sure you recognize that you can give up on God. You can stop being who God wants you to be. You can stop growing. You can pull yourself back and say, "I have had enough." As a redeemed child of God, God never gives up on you, but if you give up on God, you are stuck. Remember Pharaoh? Pharaoh gave up on God. It says, "Pharaoh hardened his heart towards God" and again it says "Pharaoh hardened his heart towards God" and then it says, "And God hardened Pharaoh's heart." God was not responsible for Pharaoh's heart. Pharaoh was responsible for his heart. And then when God kept on acting like God, it hardened Pharaoh's heart even more. Pharaoh wanted God to stop being God. Pharaoh wanted God to relent. Pharaoh wanted to deny that there was a God over him that had authority over his life. But God essentially told him, "I am going to keep on being God and you can like it or you can lump it, but I am not going to stop being God." The more that God did, the more Pharaoh hardened his own heart against God and what He was doing. Pharaoh was responsible every step of the way for his heart. It was his choice. It was his hardness that caused his son to die and his army to perish. We in our own lives can turn our hearts against God and experience appropriate consequences.
I did my doctoral dissertation on disembodied believers, which is a simple way of saying "believers who do not belong." Believers who have walked away, run away, been driven away from church. They say, "I believe in God, I love God, I just can't stand Christians. I love God, but I cannot deal with church." And when you do that, you set yourself up for stunted growth. My father was one of those who loved God but got alienated from some people in church and you know how easy it can happen and then sat at home, read his Bible, but did not grow. Do not put yourself in that position. I am going to tell you, if there are some things going on in church you do not like, you are in the right spot. Huh? Because God is at work growing our grace, growing our love. Some people are hard to love. I can be hard to love sometimes. I do not agree with everything that goes on in this church. I do not. I would not do everything the way others might do them. You know what? It is not my church. I have more than enough influence. And it is not for me to decide so many things. It is for us, as a body, to decide to do certain things or not do certain things. I am here to equip and facilitate God's people to be the ministers in this community of what God wants to do here. And it is not for you to just come to listen to me and be nice looking Christians and then go home and live like you never heard of Christ. We might as well just plug in some tapes and go home. But it is up to us to unite to build something for God, which is a church that represents who God is in this world by letting His spirit flow through us, to work in us together to do what none of us can do alone.
Some people have come to my office and said, "Pastor, I am afraid I have committed the unforgivable sin and I am really worried about it." Let me tell you, you have not because the only unforgivable sin is rejecting Christ. Saying, "I do not care about God. I do not care. I do not even know that You are there. You and the devil are all just the same. It is all just one big mixed-up mess that I do not understand. It does not matter. I will live the way I want to live. God, if He exists, does not matter to me." If you care, then there is still hope. If you are worried about it, then you have a chance to change. You are forgiven in Christ and can move on with life instead of being paralyzed by fear and guilt.
Verse 5 starts with, "you also." "Also" is a little insignificant word that does a tremendous thing. Who is he referring to? You, who? This little word takes "you" and aligns it with Jesus Christ, the original living stone. He is the foundation and cornerstone of the church of God. Peter is taking "you" and saying, "Hey, I want you to saddle up alongside Jesus and walk through this life with Him. I want you to saddle up alongside Jesus and together with Him are going to do some things for Him with the rest of my people."
Christ is the source of our life. He is the one who breathes spiritual life into us. "You also," also means that we are also of the same, watch this, the same nature as Jesus. Now, most of us, we say, well, here is Artie and here is Jesus. Artie, Jesus. Man, they are worlds apart. Dave, Jesus. They are worlds apart. But God is saying here, "You also, as living stones, you have what Jesus has and what Jesus was so I can work with you." Jesus was fully human. Philippians 2 tells us, "Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped or held onto, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming (thus meaning it was work for Him to do this) obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." He became like us.
But the other side of this is, "I want you now to be like Him." Jesus died that we might be like Him. Like Him how? Like Him by having a heart that is … God-ward. Do you recognize Jesus had a God-ward heart? God-ward! It means a leaning, to always be moving towards God. It wants to do what God wants. We use the phrase, "What would Jesus do?" He would do what God does and that is the definition of a God-ward heart. Jesus was not a masochist. He did not want excruciating pain; He did not want to be separated from the Father; He did not want to be beaten, spit on, and humiliated. There is something psychologically and emotionally wrong with someone who does. But as Luke 22:39-45 tells us, He did the will of the Father because He knew it was the right and appropriate thing to do. He knew how important it was and the end of it all (Hebrews 12:2). He chose to go through great temporary pain and humiliation for a greater good. So we also, having a God-ward heart, are to let that God-ward heart rule in our lives.
I just love fast cars. I just love sleek, shiny, and fast. I do not think God really cares a lot about it so I have to temper my heart to what God's heart is. If I am going to invest my whole life in low, sleek, and fast, my whole life may accumulate a whole lot of low, sleek, and fast, but that is not going to last or make any kind of eternal difference. I have had low, sleek, fast. It is fun for a while and then it ends up enslaving you rather than you just having fun with it. Let your heart be God-ward. Trust what He says will fulfill your heart rather than chasing after your own heart, chasing after the wind (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11).
How does God want us to grow? As Christians, do you need to grow? Well, what does it mean? Size 42? Size 64? Three hundred pounds? Six foot, six? How do we grow? We grow emotionally and spiritually by letting our lives be governed by what He says. We grow in obedience. We grow in personality. We grow in love. They are exhibits of Christlikeness in our lives. How many of you have been to the Impact Center? Does anybody remember what is on the floor? The verse is from 2 Peter 3:18 and it is not an accident that it is up there. It says, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory forever." Grow, that means to become more. To be different the next day than you were the day before, to see differences going on in your life. Not just to get through your life until you die and get to heaven. But grow, to let change occur, to be transformed, be metamorphed, to let more God in your life this week than you had last week. It is not by accident we put that verse on the floor of a basketball court in which guys get together and trade elbows. It takes a lot of grace to play basketball and keep your patience, to be kind, to be forgiving when someone else gets the ball and you do not, when someone else throws an elbow in your face. It is not an accident that verse is right outside the door when you come out of our ABFs or Sunday School or Awana classes where kids go in to learn God's Word.
"You also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house." Or as 2 Peter 3:18 says, "Growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." You need to recognize that we are all in process and that God is engaged in changing us. And the only way for you to grow is to team up with others who are going to stretch you. If you want to grow in your patience, God is going to put you with some people that are very irritating. Why? Because if they are nice, it takes no patience. God is going to grow you that way. If you are trying to become more muscular, you do not work out with donuts. It is going to be challenging. It is going to take work. It is going to take effort. But it is the way that you grow. If you are going to work out with wimps, then you are going to be a wimp. If you are going to work out with people that are better than you are, then you are going to become better than you are. Who are you hanging with and how are they influencing your life?
As parents, we want our kids hanging around others who are encouraging and strengthening to them. Kids who will try to do the right things and not be instruments of destruction, instead. Who are you hanging out with? What are you watching on TV? What are you thinking? What are you doing? You are going to become more and more like those you hang with, physically or mentally. That folks, to me, is the number one reason to hang at church—to be with others who are seeking the same things in Christ you are. Hang out with people that are going to lift you up rather than pull you down.
"Like living stones are being built into a spiritual house." Being built is a process and God promised to build you into His spiritual house. A spiritual house is not a literal house even though we may meet in a literal building. Remember, the building is not the church. You are the church. It is not the building; it is the people. It is a spiritual house. That is what Christ is trying to build. Peter knows this. That is why he calls this, I think, a spiritual house and not a temple. In a parallel passage, Ephesians 2:21, Paul uses the word for temple. Peter does not. He uses the word for house, an entirely different word. Paul uses temple because he was emphasizing the church as the place God dwells, as in the Old Testament the temple was supposed to represent. The tabernacle and then later the temple was supposed to be the place where God dwelt in the midst of His people. Peter, however, saw the hypocrisy there. He was there when Jesus said to the disciples, "You see this beautiful building, all the ornateness and everything? In a short time, not one stone will be left upon another. The temple is going away." There will be no need anymore for an altar for sacrifice for the cross takes the place of the sacrifice so we are not going to need a temple. There is no need for a Menorah for light because Christ is our light. There is no need for incense because the prayers of His people are the the sweet aroma to His nostrils. There is no more need for all the shewbread for all His people gathered together show the world who He is. He is the Bread of life. There is no more need for a temple, so Peter does not say we will be the temple. He says we will be God's house because he does not want us to focus on the outsides, on utensils or on the furnishings but focus on who lives there.
The temple is to be the house of God. The Old Testament temple was to be the place God dwelt. People, in a sense, were not fit to be there. The priest would enter on behalf of the people and only once a year into the Holiest place. But now, in Christ, God is forming a house where He and His people can live together in love and harmony. God wants to pull us together and empower us to do His will in a way that God can inhabit. It says "dwell." A dwelling is where you live. Your house is where you can be yourself. It is your place. It is where you belong. It is where you fit. It is where things are made according to the way that you want them to be. God says, "I want to make you into my dwelling place where I can be at home." So often we as individuals try to fashion God according to our own desires. We get our ideas and make plans then pray that God will bless them. God says, "I want to create my habitation. I want to be in my people."
As a church we should not gather together and say, "Well folks, what do we want to do? Let us just take a vote. How many vote that we do this? How many vote that we do that? Let us democratically decide what God should do." Rather let us pray and sense what God wants to do and then get in the business of doing what He has on His agenda. That is what church is supposed to be about. It is hard to keep it straight folks, but we have to work at it otherwise we will get nowhere. This is not a human organization. This is not a tradition of men. This is to be God's place, where God dwells, where God lives and we work out His will. The bottom line is that we do not come to church. We are the church. You are placed in His framework to fulfill a purpose. You are needed. You are wanted. You belong. You should not take yourself and set yourself off on the side by yourself like my dad. It is not best for you or His church.
God has been about doing this from the beginning. This is not something new. This is not just a New Testament concept. God has been in the business of dwelling with His people and working in them and through them from the beginning. We got off track as recorded in Genesis but God said, "I am going to lay down a new foundation. I am going to start working with a small group of people. I want to work in them and through them." God worked through Israel but His focus has always been the entire world. God cares about every people, tongue, and nation. As soon as Israel lost sight of this it began to crumble from selfishness and corruption. And God offers us today the same opportunity to be used for the benefit of others in this world. Do you want that? Or like Israel will you forget your purpose and implode on yourself as you become self-absorbed and selfish?
1 Peter 2:4-8: Judging the Cornerstone
1 Peter 2:4-8: "You are coming to Christ, who is the
living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by people, but he
was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God
is building into his spiritual [house]. What's more, you are his holy
priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual
sacrifices that please God. As the Scriptures say, "I am placing a
cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts
in him will never be disgraced." Yes, you who trust him recognize the
honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, "The stone that
the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone." And, "He is the
stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall."
Just after Katie and I were married, my brother got married in England and our whole family went over there for the wedding. Taking advantage of being in Europe, we took a side trip down to Paris, France. When you go to Paris, you have to go see the big sites, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triumph and all that stuff and of course you have to go to the Louvre to see the great masterpieces of the world. You have all the greats there. You have Michelangelo, you have Rembrandt, you have DaVinci, you have things that have been approved and certified as the most amazing art in the world. Katie and I went to the Louvre and stood in line to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. Katie and I stood in front of the Mona Lisa and said, “Ok. You do not want that in your bedroom, do you? Living room over the mantelpiece? Nah. Put that statue in front of the house? No.” We stood there thinking, “Ok, I guess it is good. I guess it is a masterpiece.”
The surprising thing is the creator of the museum did not come up to me a few minutes later and say, “Pastor Dave, you do not think those things are great? Pierre Francois, take those things out of here. Pastor Dave does not think those things are great. Get rid of them. If he does not think they are great, then just forget it. They are not important. Just put them in the back storeroom. Let us get some things that are worthwhile in here, because Pastor Dave really understands what a real masterpiece is. He is the expert. He has the authority.” They did not say that. See, when I stand in front of those great pieces of art and look at them and say, “Uhh, oh, ok,” I do not reveal anything about the painting or the sculpture. What I reveal is me and the frailty, the uneducatedness, the inexperience of my own judgment. Those masterpieces have already been approved for centuries by experts who understand the detail, the shadowing, the lighting, the fact that the painting depicts imperfection. It is not a perfect person being depicted. There are sweat pores and other blemishes there. It is a masterpiece in the way it depicts everything and what it says without speaking a word. To be honest, I do not appreciate all the intricacy of detail and the hours spent on a statue carved out of, not clay, not sandstone, but marble. And after polishing, you do not see a single chisel mark in the whole thing. Venus de Milo was made to look like a beautiful female form so that it looks almost alive. Although I admire the workmanship and the skill it took to create these works of art, I do not treasure them like I treasure a 671 Blower all polished sitting with double pullies on the top of a Hemi. I do not appreciate them because I have no experience with such things. That is not my area of understanding.
As we continue to study 1 Peter 2:4-8, we will look at verses 6-8 and individual appraisal of the cornerstone. We are talking about judging the cornerstone, about assessing the cornerstone. Do you accept it or reject it? Do you appreciate it or do you count it as insignificant? Seven hundred years before Christ was born, Isaiah expressed these words, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen and precious. Anyone who trusts in him will not be disappointed.” Those are the words of Isaiah and Peter quotes them because he wants to help us understand who Jesus is and where He stands in relation to the world. It goes on to say, “Yes, you who trust Him recognize the honor that God has given Him.” You who trust Him recognize that the one who really understands how to judge has already approved him. God has approved Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. By doing so He is saying that Jesus is exactly, precisely, perfectly what the world needs. There is nothing lacking, there is nothing over Him. He is exactly what is needed. The God who designed us, who designed the world, who wants to bring us back together with Himself says, “This is what you need.”
If you reject the cornerstone, you are saying, “God, sorry, you are wrong. I have a better plan. Just hold on a minute God and let me tell you how it should be done. Let me tell you what you need to do. Let me tell you how you should feel, how you should think, and what you should be.” God says, “I know what you need. Trust me. Trust Jesus. He is precious to me. And if He is precious to you, it is because you have a heart for what I have a heart for. Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.” You have to recognize what that means. Does that say everyone who trusts in him will have an easy life? How many want to have an easy life? We all want to have an easier life. We seek comfort, stasis. Does that mean that God is letting us down if we have struggles and difficulties? No, that is not what he is talking about. Does it mean we will never be disappointed, that everything is going to work out perfectly according to our expectations--no disappointments, no hardships, no deaths in the family, no betrayals, no backstabbings, no tears, no anguish, no soul wrenching grief? No, because life is filled with these things. Jesus told us that (John 16:33).
Parents, do you not want your kids to be happy? But what does that mean? Do we stop making them go to school? Give them every GameBoy game they want or Wii game or new electronic gadget out now? Give them all the money for the junk food they want and movies they want to go to and have no restrictions on them? Is that the way to happiness? Hopefully as parents you say, “There is a problem here.” Because what we want and what we think is going to make us happy often ends in just squandering our life away, letting another day or year go by without learning, without growing, without really becoming or doing anything worthwhile. And so we start thinking, “God, maybe you have a better way. Teach me Lord what you have for me.” So when verse 6 says we will not be disappointed if we trust Jesus, the cornerstone, with our lives, it is not talking about difficulties and hardships. It is talking about not being disappointed that we have attached ourselves to Christ in this life and the next.
Then it goes on and talks about the other side. Peter brings in the contrast. “But those who reject him, the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone, even a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense.” Those who reject Him, those who say, “No, I really do not want anything to do with that guy. I have heard about your God and any God who would let those things happen or do things this way, I do not want anything to do with him. Jesus, he says some good things, but you just cannot believe him, you cannot trust him because he God was his father and no man can have God as his father. It just does not make sense. I just cannot understand that and so I throw it away.” That is exactly what the builders did. Who are the builders Peter is talking about here? It is interesting that this phrase, “those who reject him, the stone that the builders rejected have now become the cornerstone, even the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense” was quoted by Jesus Himself in front of the Sanhedrin when He was judged. They were the ones in charge with building the people’s understanding and relationship with God. The priests, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, their job before God and before men was to stand before God and understand who God is and explain it to everyone else who did not have time to sit and study. It was kind of like a pastor’s job, to sit and understand and feel and sense and pray and say, “What does God want us to do?” and then tell the people, “Folks, here is where we need to go.” And these leaders refused Jesus; they rejected the teaching and the person of Christ.
Do you remember when Jesus questioned the high priest’s motives at His trial (John 18:19-23)? Essentially Jesus was saying, “Just look at what I am doing. Listen to what I am saying. What do you take offense at that I am saying--Do not kill each other. Do not sleep around. Do not steal each other’s stuff. Do not take the name of God in vain. Do not make God to be nothing in your life. Stop working all the time and take time to live and appreciate God and what He has done for you. Do not spend so much time making a living you forget how to live and the purpose of life. Where do you take issue with all these things?” They could not take issue with all those things because they believed all those things right to a T, right down the line. They may not have always done them but they taught them. In fact, they even elaborated on what God said to create a huge number of rules and regulations to live by to the point they became more desirable that actually walking with and honoring God. What they could not take was Jesus saying, “I represent and I am the person of God in your life?” His message to us is that God has become human and came to show us, to depict to mankind that God wants to have a relationship with us. He wanted to step down to our level. He stooped down to talk to us eye to eye. He wants to be a part of our lives. He wants to sit down at the table with us. He wants to walk along the road with us. The Pharisees and Sadducees wanted a God up there that they can use to trick and force people to do what they wanted them to do. They wanted a God that is out there, a God that is not too personal. But God does not want to be out there. He wants to be in here, our hearts. He wants to be with us. He wants to go through life’s stuff with us. He cares about our pain. He cares about our frustration. Not just when we come to church. Not just when we are crying to Him in prayer. He cares about when we are having fights with our wives and He wants to be right there to shut our mouths before we say something that is going to destroy our marital relationships. He wants to meet us where we are because He cares about what is going on in our lives. They could not take a personal God, a God who would connect with them on a personal level.
We talk about the Spirit of Christ being in us. We talk about God giving His Holy Spirit to indwell each and everyone who trusts Christ as their Savior and Lord. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, He says, “I have given you my Spirit to speak to your heart to encourage you along life’s journey. He will be with you, to be your comforter and helper and teacher” (John 16:5-15). That is a scary message if you are a Pharisee or Sadducee. They liked to be the ones who said, “Let me tell you what God says. You do not really understand. You are not smart enough. Let me tell you how to live. Let me tell you what to do. I will tell you what to think. Do not go listening to this, something that will come, oooooo in your heart from some spiritual nature. Listen to me.” They feared losing control. Like John the Baptist, their ministry was to point people to God and His Christ and then step aside so that He can have preeminence in their lives. Instead, they crucified Jesus to preserve their position and status.
“Those who rejected Him, the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” Some of the translations may not say cornerstone there. It may say capstone. The NIV, I think, says capstone because they are trying to answer, "Wait a minute, if you reject Jesus, He is not your cornerstone. You are not basing your life on Him. So, how can you say that the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." Just look at it. It is not saying that He is their cornerstone. They have rejected Him. They have rejected this cornerstone for what they want to build. But He remains the cornerstone of what God is building.
Do you believe in a personal God? Think, in your heart right now, do you believe in a personal God? Or do you believe that God is out there and you come to church to hear about God and hear what God is like. Rather, do you come here to be quiet in your hearts and talk to God and say, “God, you are good. God, you are holy. Thank you for what you have done for me?” I need to remind myself of that. We are not telling God that. God knows He is good. God knows He is holy. You have to beat it into your own head because many times we forget that God is there amid all the stuff we are going through.
“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” God established Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. Whether you accept Him or reject Him, He is still the cornerstone because God said so. “Even a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. Because they have rejected Him.” This is saying, because they reject Him as God’s provision it reveals their heart and causes them to fall further away from God. It is like God is standing at the door and knocking but they are saying, “Huh? I cannot hear anything. Turn up the TV. There is some racket going on outside. I do not want to hear that.” When they reject what God has provided for them they do not remain neutral. They are now against. What God had intended as good has, to them, become a source of animosity and acrimony.
Jesus is called a rock of offense. Does that make any sense to you? Some of your verses say, “A rock that causes people to fall.” It is the final delineating factor that declares your eternal destiny, whether you rise or fall, if you will. What you do with Jesus makes all the difference. What you do with Jesus reveals where you stand. Whether you are with God forever or separated from God forever rests on whether you have been reconciled with God through Jesus Christ or not. It all comes down to not how many lies you have told, not all the good things you have done, how many bad things you have done. Those are part of judgment, but they are not the determining factor because we have all sinned. We have all done those things. The determining factor is, what have you done with Jesus? Have you accepted Him as the cornerstone in your life or have you rejected Him? What you do with Jesus makes all the difference.
“A stone of stumbling, a rock of offense.” Many who reject Christ as Savior and Lord over their lives say that the teaching of Jesus is all right but they want to do without God. They recognize that since we live in a chaotic world with competing interests and downright selfishness, rules and regulations are needed. They still believe it is wrong to kill, it is wrong to steal, it is wrong to sleep around, it is wrong to do all these things, and Jesus has some interesting things to say about these things like other great teachers but that is where their interest ends.
Verse 8 goes on to say that because they have rejected God’s cornerstone they have rejected God’s message and have therefore stumbled and must meet the fate that was planned for them. If you look in your version, it may say this a little bit differently and I really studied this hard to make sure we get the clear message of what it is saying. Some versions will say this in terms that sounds like they stumble at the Word because they were destined for hell, that God appointed them, destined them saying, “I pick you for hell.” That God arbitrarily sits out there and makes the decision based on nothing but pure choice, just because He can. That is not, I believe, what this is saying. What it says is there has been a fate appointed for those who refuse the message of Christ. The message of Christ is the same message God has given us from the beginning in Genesis when He promised someone to crush Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15)--that there is a God who lives and has created us and that we are fallen and subject to judgment and that He has provided a way of escape. He has provided a Savior and there is a future state of judgment where that Savior will be revealed and we will live with Him forever. That is the whole message of God, but they reject it. They have aligned themselves against God because they refuse God’s message and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. Not that they were planned for the fate, but the fate that was planned for them. They were not appointed for the fate. The fate was appointed for them.
God said, “If you do not want to live with Me, there is a place for you. If you do not want to have a relationship with me, if you want to live in a godless world, I will create that place for you.” Hell is that place and it is real. Separation from God is real (see Eternal Destiny series). God says, “I am not going to make you be with Me if that is not what you want, so I have appointed a place for those who want to be separated from Me.” That is a place I do not totally understand but I absolutely believe it is real. Just because I do not totally understand it does not mean that it is not real, it does not mean that God is not fair or just by having a place like that. He suffered, bled, and died so people do not have to go there. What more can He do? He is now patient because He wants none to perish but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). To refuse Him is to be against Him—actually in opposition to God and His ways. Recalcitrant rebellion is ingrained opposition to God and like Satan will not remain neutral or peaceable but will seek out and destroy that which God plans and holds dear.
Look at what happened to Israel. When they entered the promise land God told them to destroy all who were there at the time. These were peoples who were in opposition to God and His ways and to let them remain would lead to the corruption of Israel. God told them this but they did not listen. They were eventually corrupted to the point they had to endure two captivities (Assyrian and Babylonian) to root out the idolatry of the pagans. God will not make the same mistake! There is nothing left for God to do but separate these from Himself and His blessings. The Bible says the result of this separation will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). They refused God’s message so they will meet the fate that is planned for them.
God’s cornerstone is like a plumb line stretching in every direction, that sets the direction for rightness in life. Horizontally and vertically. Rightness with each other and rightness with God. Jesus defines how we are to get along with each other. He teaches us about us, about our relationships, about who we are, that we are fallen, that we are broken, that we are selfish, that we are lazy but also that we are precious and special and cared for.
What does He teach us about God? What does Jesus teach us about God? That He is just, that He is loving, that He is merciful, that He is gracious, that He loves us enough to send His Son, that He has had a plan of blessing and that He is wise. He is a God that we can trust. You may say, “Jesus trusted God and look what happened. It got him on the cross.” But realize, He was also resurrected and exalted to the Father’s right hand.
Last thing, you can trust Jesus or you can reject Jesus, but He is still the cornerstone. What do you want? Do you want a book of rules and laws that tells you how you are supposed to behave, a code of ethics, or do you want a relationship with the living God who will not simply give you the rules and the way to behave, but will also strengthen and help you to understand the wisdom of why and how. Do you want to be a three-year old and have to do it just because ‘mommy’ said so? Or do you want to understand and do the right thing because you both love God and know it is the right thing to do?
Jesus is the cornerstone. He is irreplaceable. You cannot replace Him with anything else, with anybody else. There is no other name under heaven by which man can be saved. “Well, that is too exclusive, pastor.” I did not make the rules. I did not set it up. It is not my call and it is not your call. It is God’s call and I trust God, who is fair and just and knows the right thing to do. It is absolutely beyond me to question because I am not God’s judge. We should not put ourselves in that position.
The bottom line question is--What will you do with Christ? What will you do with God’s cornerstone? Will you accept it or reject it? It is your call. It is not that you have been appointed to accept it or appointed to reject it. That puts the responsibility on God. You cannot say, “Oh, I cannot help it. God appointed me for hell. It is not my fault. He did not pick me.” No, every word in that verse points to personal choice. You choose to trust. You choose to reject. You choose to follow. You choose to refuse the message. There is choice all the way through there and with that choice comes personal responsibility and consequence.
Have you made your choice? Are you living your choice? Are you choosing to trust God in the way you live? Not simply trust Him for your eternal destiny? If you have not done that already, you need to do it. You, yourself, need to do it. No one can do it for you. That is something God has put into your hands. If you are a Christian by choice, let God speak to your heart to grow in those areas that need to be sharpened and strengthened--for your marriage, for your family, for your life and future.
1 Peter 2:9: A Kingdom of Priests
1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
Who do you think you are? Your self-image, who you believe you are, is going to influence and affect how you think and act. Often we live up, or down, to our expectations. Who do you think you are? I want to remind you that God calls you to be a priest. Now, I don’t know how you feel being called a priest. Most people usually feel a little inappropriate, a little insecure, a little ill-equipped, a little “I do not measure up to that image.” I want to raise your self-image. There is an old story of a guy who is depressed and feeling bad and just does not feel like he has his life together, just does not have any answers so he goes to a psychiatrist and talks to the psychiatrist for about $6,000 worth and the guy finally comes up with a conclusion, “Your problem is self-esteem. It is a very common problem for losers like you.” Your self-esteem, your image or identity, who you think you are affects how you act and how you live.
God says you are a royal priest. Most of us have a hard time thinking about ourselves as a priest of any kind. I mean, “Pastor Dave, you are a kind of a priest. Doug is a youth priest and Theo, Theo could be a priest. He’s the kind of guy that has the demeanor about him, prays real well.” But a priest is like one of those holy men. Well, I guess maybe nowadays not quite so holy. There have been a lot of problems with priests lately. Maybe we do not want to be a priest. But the fact that there has been a problem with priests really is a good sign because we have expectations of priests to do the right thing, to live the right way, to be dedicated to God and to serve Him. That is why God calls us priests. We are designed to be His servants and ambassadors to the world.
Being a priest is what is called a sacred vocation. How many of you have sacred vocations? How many have a secular vocation? God wants to break down this barrier of sacred and secular and have everything in your life become sacred. What does that mean? Even washing your car can be a sacred action because you are thanking God for the car you have. “Thank you, Lord, I have transportation.” Washing your car can be a sacred duty before God because He calls us to take care of what He has given us. If washing your car can be sacred, how about being at home with your kids all day long? Is raising kids a sacred duty? It had better be because it is hard. You want God’s help, don’t you? Moms, if it is all up to you, dads, if it is all up to you, you know your kids are bound for disaster. But with God’s help, you can get through it. God wants to be involved in our lives, leading and directing.
Some of you work in an automotive shop or sell real estate or teach or are school administrators, doing something like that. Are those sacred jobs? They can be. Do you think God can care for others’ kids through you? You think God can work through you if you are repairing cars and doing it in an honest, God-honoring way? God says everything you do, do it as if you are working for the Lord (Colossians 3:17). You mean fixing a Mazda? That can be a godly thing? Absolutely. God has given you skills to be able to do that job and provide for your family and He wants you to be His representative at the Mazda store, at the auto parts store or wherever you are working. What you do, what you say, can make a difference in someone’s life. God wants to permeate our society with His presence and His design for doing that is us. Let me say that again. God wants to permeate our society with His presence and His design for doing that is us. God is relying on you to do His work and make a difference in the world, to explain to other people what God is like, to reflect how God can be real in lives. He wants to do that through you and me. That is the very definition of a priest.
Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellences of him who has called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.” Now as you look at that verse, I want you to notice the language of ownership. God is engaged. God has not planted us, set us up, everything ready and walked away and said, “I will catch you in a thousand years. I will be back for you with a trumpet and a rapture. Have a good time. Do the right thing.” God is involved because He has a stake in what is happening. He is personally invested.
We are not here to be a church, to play church, to go to church. We are here to live the church in our world. We are the church gathered and the church scattered. We are to be making a difference and not simply doing our religious duty by singing some songs to God and listening to the preacher. Maybe learn a few things about the Bible that are not too painful. Church is not mere education. Church is not merely gaining knowledge. It is designed to be life transformation. And folks, I have to tell you, that is not God’s intrusion in your life. It is God’s assistance.
God’s design for you as a priest has been His plan from the beginning. I want you to catch this. It has been God’s design from the beginning that there is not a difference between sacred and secular but that everything is sacred. Everything is done with God in mind. You see it in Adam’s life. You see it in Enoch’s life. Enoch did what? He walked with God (Genesis 5:24). And, like him, it is God’s design that we live and walk with Him in all that we say and do.
Look at Exodus 19. Exodus 19 picks up after Moses and the Israelites have walked out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. God has delivered them by miracle after miracle to show them that He is real, that He is alive and active in their lives. He will provide for them and will not leave them alone. Exodus 19 starts off with the people camped in front of Mt. Sinai. Do you know what happens at Mt. Sinai? A little thing called the Ten Commandments where God says, “Do not foul up each other’s lives. Here are ten things I want you to do so you do not stink the place up, the things that everyone else seems to be doing, so that you can walk with Me. I want you to be different. Follow these basic commands. They are good for you. Do not kill each other. Do not tell lies to each other. Do not sleep with each other’s wives. All those things the pagans do but, ‘You be holy, because I am holy.’”
Verse 3: “Then Moses went up to God and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, this is what you are to say to the house of Jacob.” And that is God’s word for the whole family of Israel. “You are to tell the people of Israel,” verse 4, “yourselves have seen what I did and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to,” where? Not to Mt. Sinai, not to the wilderness, but “myself.” What was God’s goal in the Exodus? To get people out of slavery? His main goal was to bring them to Himself.
And then He says, verse 5, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant,” do the things I am saying, “that out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests.” A kingdom of priests. “Moses then went back to some of the elders and the people and set before them all these words the Lord had told them to speak. And the people responded together. “We will do everything the Lord has said” (verse 8). But history shows us they violated their oath and instead of being priests to the world they were both corrupted by the world and became obstacles to God’s work to the world.
From the very beginning, God designed Israel to be a kingdom of priests. What does that mean? Not priests in the kingdom. When you think of Israel you usually think of the twelve tribes each with its own land, but actually there was another tribe, Levi, to whom God said, “And you will be the priestly tribe. You will not have possession in the land. You will not have an area of land. You will be my own people in all of the land and you will live in all the land and minister to the people as my priests.” But that was not God’s best for them. He wanted them to be a kingdom of priests but unfortunately, they declined the privilege and instead chose a priesthood that would represent them to God. Instead of trusting God they were afraid of Him. Their sin made them fear God’s holiness. They wanted to keep Him at a distance. This beginning set them on a course that resulted in many rebellions and subsequent captivities to cure the idolatry that corrupted them. Listen to Exodus 20:18-21: "When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.’ The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.” They did not want a personal relationship with Him because that would require them to purify themselves and change their ways. Israel became a kingdom with priests because they did not keep His commands, did not keep His ways. They ended up being a kingdom with priests rather than a kingdom of priests.
God wants to have a kingdom of priests where everyone is a priest not just a designated few. That means everyone should be living a sacred life, living a life before God whether they are teaching, whether they are working on cars, whether they are a stay at home parent. Whatever they are doing they are to do it with a heart and life dedicated to God. He wants us to be a kingdom of priests, where everyone in the kingdom is about the business of glorifying God in everything they do.
Turn to the back of your Bible, to Revelation, the very last book of the Bible and see what God has planned for the very end. Chapter one, verse six says Jesus has made us a kingdom of priests for his Father forever. He has made us priests in His kingdom for how long? Forever. You already have your job description. You are going to have to do whatever you do in heaven with God, for God, in light of God. Look down in chapter five. Chapter five, verse ten says, “Then you made them a kingdom and priests for our God, priest kings to rule over the earth.” Who are the twenty-four elders talking about? They are talking about us, Christ’s body.
We are not simply called priests; we are called royal priests. It is bad enough trying to live up to the title of being a priest, is it not? But now it talks about being a royal priest and sometimes people misinterpret what that means. Some think that means we are priests of the king so we are royal priests. That kind of makes sense. We are priests of the King of kings. But that is not what it means. Rather, you are royalty because you are sons and daughters of the King. And as a prince or a princess you are royalty. We are of royal ‘blood’ with a royal commission to represent God to the world.
Royalty has the opportunity to be the heir of the throne and take over and rule with dedication and responsibility or to kick back and indulge in the riches of the king. A prince has the freedom to choose whether to live up to his opportunity or squander it away. A princess has the freedom to choose whether to live up to her opportunity or squander it away. Do you recognize that? And you know, even as Christians, we still get to make that choice. I wish God had twisted a few of your arms. In fact, sometimes He does. Actually, we end up twisting our own arms. We want to influence and strengthen each other but God gives us the freedom to say, “Hmm, this priest thing, this sounds too hard. I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it.” God says, “Trust me. As my representative before the people, you will flourish. It will fulfill your heart and your life because you were designed for this. This is what I had in mind back in the Old Testament, in Genesis, in Exodus. This is what I had in mind. This is what I have laid down for you in Revelation, in the future, for eternity. So trust me.” Royal priests have the opportunity to set aside their privilege and life of ease to serve and do what God commissioned them to do. And I guarantee you a life of service to God is better than a life of ease. Solomon learned that (Ecclesiastes 7:2-4) the hard way.
Turn to the very end of Revelation, Revelation 20:6. “And those involved are most blessed, are most holy. No second death for them. They are priests of God in Christ and they will reign with him a thousand years.” Now, I want you to catch for a moment what it means to reign with Christ for a thousand years. People talk about the millennium and reigning with Christ and “Yeah, we get to be the bosses. Cool. We get to be the leaders. We get to really. . .” Wait a minute. Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to be most among you, let him become their servant” (Luke 22:26-27). God has designed leadership to be a blessing to others. Not to lord over them and gather in all the wealth to use it for what you want to use it for. That is not what leadership is all about. It is about giving self away for the blessing of others.
And frankly, folks, don’t we have that expectation of our leaders? Do we not get upset when our government leaders take money that we pay in taxes and pocket it or use it for personal vacations or luxuries? Do we not hate it when government makes special situations for government leaders so they do not have to play by the same rules as the rest of us? Do we not think it is unfair? Do we not expect them to make our lives better? Leadership’s design, priesthood’s design is to make other people’s lives better. Jesus was fulfilled by serving and lifting us up. That is what being a priest is all about. Jesus is called the great high priest (Hebrews 5:1-5). Being a priest involves serving. A priest serves God for the benefit of others. No one has done more for another than what Jesus did for us in the name of His Father. Philippians 2:4-8: “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
There are four things that a priest serves as he carries out his priestly duties.
1) He serves God. He does what God wants. He has God’s priorities. He gives face and hands and legs to the will and purpose of God.
2) He serves people. Being God’s priest means you are serving others. Each one should use whatever gifts he has been given to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. God gives us gifts and opportunities and connects us together to serve and love each other. God wants to see that come out of us. There are all kinds of things that the priests did. Somebody had to check the animals and make sure they were ok. Somebody had to be animal inspectors. Somebody had to go chop firewood for the altar. Somebody had to carry out the ashes after that was done. Somebody had to clean the wicks of the candles. There were all kinds of things to be done. But what I want you to know is that all of them are important. There is a whole book of the Bible devoted to it. It is a book called Leviticus. It tells all about the Levites and how they are to operate, what each of the priests is to do and how to do it. What we do and how we live makes a difference and it is important to God.
3) He serves his family. You serve your family by being a priest. How did a priest become a priest? How did a priest learn to be a priest? How did a 17-year old boy learn how to take care of the animals and check out the animals properly? He hung around his dad, walked with his dad. His dad taught him. As parents, we have the opportunity and obligation to train our kids. As you expand your child’s world, teach them to recognize they are living not in their world but in God’s world. And that as members of your family they can bring honor to the family as they honor God with their lives.
4) He serves himself. God is all about blessing His children. When you serve others, you serve yourself; you are blessed. You get great blessings by doing and being what God has designed you to be. I could have done all kinds of things with my life. I had a software company in Southern California and had opportunities to do some other stuff but there is nothing that has blessed my life more than being a pastor. I could have made a living in a lot of ways, but I do not want to just make a living, I want to live a life that matters to God. It is fulfilling to use the gifts God has given me for His good purposes.
God has put us in a place to walk with Him, to be ministered to by Him for a purpose. He wants us to minister to and bless others. We are priests and God wants our lives to be sacred. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, God calls you to be conscious of who you are and how you are to behave. God puts us in this position so we can help those who are lost and living life in darkness. But there is a danger. If we hold God at arms length and reject His offer of close attachment and relationship, have we placed ourselves on the road to ruin, like Israel? If today you stand at a distance from God, tomorrow you could end up in ruin, a victim of your own sin nature.
1 Peter 2:9-10: Christian's Fourfold Identity
1 Peter 2:9-10: “But you are a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own
possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called
you out of darkness and into His marvelous light. For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Peter was instructed in Verse 10 by Hosea 2:23. The literal interpretation of this verse says this: “At that time I will plant a crop of Israelites and raise them for myself. I will show love to those I called ‘Not loved.’ And to those I called ‘Not my people,’ I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’ And they will reply, ‘You are our God!’” This verse plays upon the literal meaning of Hosea’s children’s names. Let me explain.
Let’s read Hosea 1:2-9 to get background information. “When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, ‘Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD.’ So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Then the LORD said to Hosea, ‘Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel.’ Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, ‘Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God.’ After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. Then the LORD said, ‘Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.’”
God is essentially saying, “Hosea, I am asking you to marry this woman because you are my prophet and you are speaking for me and this is the clearest way I can begin to help you and the people understand the vileness of their flagrant adultery towards me. Israel has broken my heart. I have provided for them. I have called them to be my people. I have given them the land. I have given them kings. I have given them a good harvest. I have blessed them countless ways from generation to generation but they still have turned to other gods.”
God uses Hosea’s marriage to Gomer as an object lesson to the people to teach them what He is going through because of their unfaithfulness. Gomer became notorious for her brazen harlotry. I am sure many felt sorry for Hosea and probably others mocked him for supporting such a woman. The negative feelings they had toward this situation God planned on using to get them to have empathy for what they were doing to Him. As they saw Gomer betray Hosea time after time and then be told they were spiritually doing the same thing to God must have shocked some of them. God’s shocking message here is similar to when He compared Israel to Sodom and Gomorrah as an example of their coming judgment because of physical and spiritual fornication (Jude 7, Isaiah 1:9-10, Matthew 10:15, 2 Peter 2:6).
In the midst of judgment God holds up the opportunity for repentance, forgiveness, and blessing. Hosea 1:10: “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'”
Peter in 1 Peter 2:10 takes the truth of what these Hosea verses say concerning Israel and applies them to the Gentiles who have come to Christ. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” These people are contrasted with those who have rejected Christ, God’s cornerstone. The identity of those who reject Christ are those who “disobey the message” (verse 8). The identity of those who are now “God’s people” is given to use in verse 9.
In verse 9 Peter tells us that the Christian has a fourfold identity. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God’s own possession. Rick Warren, in The Purpose-Driven Life, said, “You were made by God and for God and until you understand that, life will never make sense. You were made for God, not vice versa.” The Christian’s fourfold identity is centered in his or her relationship with God. We need to recognize how God is for us. Everything He has done is for us. He wants our best and sometimes our best conflicts with what we want. As a parent, we do not give our kids everything they want. Because sometimes what they want is not good for them or will not get them where God wants them to go. Ultimately, the function of a Christian is to “proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (verse 9). He brings us to understanding of what is good and what is helpful, so we will proclaim who He is in His goodness to the world. To fulfill that function Peter tells us to realize our Christian potential in Christ by putting on our fourfold identity.
In the previous message we talked about what it means to be a priest. Let me review what we saw.
Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.” Now as you look at that verse, I want you to notice the language of ownership. God is engaged. God has not planted us, set us up, everything ready and walked away and said, “I will catch you in a thousand years. I will be back for you with a trumpet and a rapture. Have a good time. Do the right thing.” God is involved because He has a stake in what is happening. He is personally invested.
We are not here to be a church, to play church, to go to church. We are here to live the church in our world. We are the church gathered and the church scattered. We are to be making a difference and not simply doing our religious duty by singing some songs to God and listening to the preacher. Maybe learn a few things about the Bible that are not too painful. Church is not mere education. Church is not merely gaining knowledge. It is designed to be life transformation. And folks, I have to tell you, that is not God’s intrusion in your life. It is God’s assistance.
God’s design for you as a priest has been His plan from the beginning. I want you to catch this. It has been God’s design from the beginning that there is not a difference between sacred and secular but that everything is sacred. Everything is done with God in mind. You see it in Adam’s life. You see it in Enoch’s life. Enoch did what? He walked with God (Genesis 5:24). And, like him, it is God’s design that we live and walk with Him in all that we say and do.
Look at Exodus 19. Exodus 19 picks up after Moses and the Israelites have walked out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. God has delivered them by miracle after miracle to show them that He is real, that He is alive and active in their lives. He will provide for them and will not leave them alone. Exodus 19 starts off with the people camped in front of Mt. Sinai. Do you know what happens at Mt. Sinai? A little thing called the Ten Commandments where God says, “Do not foul up each other’s lives. Here are ten things I want you to do so you do not stink the place up, the things that everyone else seems to be doing, so that you can walk with Me. I want you to be different. Follow these basic commands. They are good for you. Do not kill each other. Do not tell lies to each other. Do not sleep with each other’s wives. All those things the pagans do but, ‘You be holy, because I am holy.’”
Verse 3: “Then Moses went up to God and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, this is what you are to say to the house of Jacob.” And that is God’s word for the whole family of Israel. “You are to tell the people of Israel,” verse 4, “yourselves have seen what I did and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to,” where? Not to Mt. Sinai, not to the wilderness, but “myself.” What was God’s goal in the Exodus? To get people out of slavery? His main goal was to bring them to Himself.
And then He says, verse 5, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant,” do the things I am saying, “that out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests.” A kingdom of priests. “Moses then went back to some of the elders and the people and set before them all these words the Lord had told them to speak. And the people responded together. “We will do everything the Lord has said” (verse 8). But history shows us they violated their oath and instead of being priests to the world they were both corrupted by the world and became obstacles to God’s work to the world.
From the very beginning, God designed Israel to be a kingdom of priests. What does that mean? Not priests in the kingdom. When you think of Israel you usually think of the twelve tribes each with its own land, but actually there was another tribe, Levi, to whom God said, “And you will be the priestly tribe. You will not have possession in the land. You will not have an area of land. You will be my own people in all of the land and you will live in all the land and minister to the people as my priests.” But that was not God’s best for them. He wanted them to be a kingdom of priests but unfortunately, they declined the privilege and instead chose a priesthood that would represent them to God. Instead of trusting God they were afraid of Him. Their sin made them fear God’s holiness. They wanted to keep Him at a distance. This beginning set them on a course that resulted in many rebellions and subsequent captivities to cure the idolatry that corrupted them. Listen to Exodus 20:18-21: "When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.’ The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.” They did not want a personal relationship with Him because that would require them to purify themselves and change their ways. Israel became a kingdom with priests because they did not keep His commands, did not keep His ways. They ended up being a kingdom with priests rather than a kingdom of priests.
God wants to have a kingdom of priests where everyone is a priest not just a designated few. That means everyone should be living a sacred life, living a life before God whether they are teaching, whether they are working on cars, whether they are a stay at home parent. Whatever they are doing they are to do it with a heart and life dedicated to God. He wants us to be a kingdom of priests, where everyone in the kingdom is about the business of glorifying God in everything they do.
Let us go on to the next one. It says that we are a “chosen race.” In our day we cannot hear the word “race” without thinking racism and that this is somehow encouraging bigotry or making us think we are better than somebody else. That is a mistake Israel made. Instead of being priests to the nations they grew to separate themselves from Gentiles because they were “unclean.” But that is not what it means. In fact, this is the cure for all racism. It is God’s cure. Scripture tells us we are born of Him. All peoples regardless of skin tone or ethnic background are children of God. They have been “chosen” in Christ. We have been given God’s spiritual DNA. We have been given new life in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). We are a ‘race’ of God-fearers who are designed to show others the goodness of God. Galatians 3:28: “You are all [children] of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
We are worth something to God. Do you recognize that? Physically, you are worth about 42 cents in chemicals. Take all that iron and salt and everything else together—42 cents. But God says, “You are priceless to me.” What is something worth? We often say something is worth what somebody will pay for something. If it is worth it, somebody will pay. If the death of Christ is any indication, we are worth a lot to God. Acts 20:28: “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” God has invested time and energy and countless years in you and He looks forward to the day that you will walk hand-in-hand with Him. Based on the sacrifice of Christ we are priceless to God. We are a chosen race purchased, with intent, by the blood of Christ. We are valuable to God.
And thirdly, he goes on to say, “You are a holy nation.” The focus is on a group of people bonded together who strive to live together in peace and work for each other’s benefit. God expects and wants you to be bonded. You can be a Christian and be saved and go to heaven without ever going to church. But uniting yourself with fellow trusters of Christ, Christians, is good for you. It is also good for conveying the goodness of God to the world (1 Cor. 12:7). God’s kingdom supercedes all national borders. God’s kingdom is based on one’s relationship to God not a particular government or ideological principal. And the chief quality the Ruler of this kingdom requires is holiness. The Spartans built a society that was based on physical and military prowess. Marxists want loyalty to their ideology and to dissent is to invite the State’s wrath. Millions died in the old Soviet Union because they did not tow the party line. God wants His people to be holy. We are to love God’s goodness enough to emulate it to the world—as a group as well as individually.
Then fourthly, we are God’s own possession. The King James Version calls us a “peculiar people.” Well, I know we are kind of peculiar, but our word for peculiar does not convey what God is saying. We are a people who have been secured for God’s own use and purposes. We belong to Him. We work for Him. He is our master and sets our agenda. And while it is true no human should own another human, which is slavery, to be God’s own possession is different. When we belong to God, we are freed from the tyranny of our own sinful desires. As Jesus said, we have been set free. John 8:34-36: “Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’”
Our fourfold identity gives order and purpose to our lives.
Chosen race -- We are a ‘race’ of God-fearers who are designed to show others the goodness of God.
Royal priests -- Whatever we are doing we are to do it with a heart and life dedicated to God. He wants us to be a kingdom of priests, where everyone in the kingdom is about the business of glorifying God in everything they do.
Holy Nation -- The focus is on a group of people bonded together who strive to live together in peace and work for each other’s benefit. God wants His people to be holy. We are to love God’s goodness enough to emulate it to the world—as a group as well as individually.
God’s Own Possession -- When we belong to God, we are freed from the tyranny of our own sinful desires and are set apart for God’s own use and purposes.
1 Peter 2:11: The War Within
1 Peter 2:11: “Beloved, I urge you as foreigners and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”
Do you trust God enough to listen to what He tells you not to do? God has moved on Peter’s heart to warn his audience about something that will damage their lives, their very souls. Listen to Peter’s plea. “Beloved, I urge you as foreigners and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” Peter calls them “beloved” because he wants them to know he cares about their welfare. He does not pull rank on them or talk down to them but pleads with them to stay away from that which will harm them. There can be several reasons to tell someone to stay away from certain behaviors. It could involve morality, legality, or harmfulness to others but Peter does not appeal to these here. Up until this point in the letter Peter has been educating and exhorting his readers toward Christlike character and behavior. He tells them to be or manifest certain attitudes and behaviors. Lets review: obedience to Christ (v. 2), given new birth and living hope (v.3), live genuine faith (v.7), show inexpressible and glorious joy (v.8), seeing Christ (v.8), be self-controlled (v.13), be holy (v.16), live in reverent fear (v. 17), purifying self by obeying the truth (v. 22), believer priesthood (v. 9), holiness (v.9), and praises to God (v.9). And twice he gives them negative commands to rid their lives of certain things. In 1:14 he tells them to “not conform to the evil desires [they] had when [they] lived in ignorance.” In 2:1 he tells them to “rid [themselves] of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”
But in 1 Peter 2:11 Peter does not command his audience to abstain from fleshly lusts but he appeals to their will. He encourages them to do something that is in their best interest. Peter’s statement shows recognition that individuals have the ability to direct parts of their lives. They have choice in this matter so he appeals to their reasoning abilities by educating them about certain things.
Let us look at what he tells them. “I urge you as foreigners and strangers …” Foreigner denotes someone who is living in a foreign country. Stranger describes someone who is a temporary sojourner, a visitor making a brief stay. There is to be a certain detachment from this world because our citizenship is elsewhere (Philippians 3:20). To be in a foreign country is to be exposed to different customs, traditions, and cultural practices. And for Christians it is not acceptable or good “to do as the Romans do.” Cultural relativists teach that since there are no moral absolutes and hence no way to judge between conflicting behaviors across cultures, the moral thing to do is to conform to recognized and accepted cultural practices—“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” To them there is nothing outside a particular culture to say whether certain cultural practices are right or wrong, moral or immoral. They do not accept such things as natural human rights, natural law, or divine decrees. But Peter does. Implied in Peter’s designations foreigner and stranger is that they belong to a different land and have a different citizenship. And that the practices and principles of their ‘home country’ are not only different from where they presently are, but are actually opposed to them.
What does Peter urge Christians to do? “To abstain from fleshly lusts.” To abstain means to turn away from something, to not indulge in something. But as is always the case in Scripture God never tells us to merely abstain from something but that we are do something else in its place. We are to say “no” to something so we can say “yes” to something else, something better. In this case that something else is in verse 12—live good lives so that God can be glorified through us and so that our witness might draw others to Christ.
What are we to abstain from? We are to abstain from fleshly lusts (or desires). Lusts are desires in excess. These are desires that are either inordinate (disorderly, unregulated) or misplaced. If inordinate, they become too dominating of our behavior to where they override our reasoning abilities. The objects of these desires are not wrong but the strength of our attention is excessive (ex. money, cars, homes, adventure, traveling, sports, etc.). If misplaced, wrong objects receive inappropriate attention. The objects of these desires should not receive the attention we give them (ex. adultery, idolatry, etc.).
Peter calls these lusts “fleshly.” What does that mean? Is he saying fleshly as in our skin? The matters relating to our sense of touch and feeling? Is he condemning our physical nature? That cannot be true because God in Genesis 1:31 declared our physical nature good. Peter must be referring to something else. He is referring to those impulses that originate in fallen humanness. John MacArthur said these “desires manifest rebelliousness toward God, [man’s] glorifying in himself, and his proneness to sin.” God said what He made was good as long as it was subject to Him, as long as it existed within the bounds He has set for it. The flesh describes what we became when Adam took himself out from under God’s authority and direction. Like pornography is sex for the sake of sex, fleshly desires operate without any kind of oversight that controls them for God’s good purposes. They become ends in themselves. Completing them, expressing them, becomes the sole objective. By definition, therefore, they are opposed to God and His ways.
Why are we to abstain from fleshly desires? Peter’s answer is strong. They wage war against our souls. They wage war against our spiritual, moral, and psychological well-being; our inner selves where God meets us one-on-one. Our humanness when it is loosed from divine governing power becomes self-indulgent. And self-indulgence opposes anything that would tell it to stop or place restraint on it. Self-indulgence makes us less than we were created to be. Listen closely to Romans 1:18-32: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” Paul in Romans tells us these people have totally rejected God’s authority over them so He withdrew Himself from them and hence gave them over to themselves, there own sinful selves. The behaviors described are the fruits of fleshly lusts. And they are not good for us--first as humans, but especially for us as Christians.
The new life we have been given in Christ is not compatible with the behaviors listed in Romans 1. God calls us to glorify Him with our behavior (v. 12). And to do that we need healthy souls, souls that are open to God’s touch and fellowship. Peter appeals to us to voluntarily reject self-indulgence for the sake of our walk with Christ and our testimony for Him. Do you trust God enough to listen to what He tells you to do?
1 Peter 2:12: Glorifying God With Our Lives
1 Peter 2:12: “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Our behavior matters. It matters because we are not alone in this journey as we navigate through life. There are others who are watching us. There are others who are following us. An important question is, “Does our behavior draw or repel others?” Do we draw people to God because there is something about our lives that is special or does our behavior repel others for the wrong reasons? Does your behavior matter? Yes, it matters to you, your family, your church, but it also matters to those who are not yet saved, those who have not yet accepted Christ.
Most of the world sees the church and sees Christianity as something that absorbs time and money. Christianity is all about meetings, money, and movements. So many Christians are so known by what they are against, by their movements, by their picketing, by their anti-whatever anybody else wants to do. Christians are looked at as being judgmental sourpusses against enjoyment in life.
Look at 1 Peter 2:12. I know you have a lot of different Bibles and the versions you have may say it differently. I pulled together from the text what I think the text is really saying in its fullness. But let us look at what some of the others say, first. The King James says, “Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” Basically it says, do not lie or you will give God a bad name. Have your conversation be honest. That is the first take you get from it. The New American Standard, which I was raised with, says, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” This adds a little bit more of an idea of “do the right thing so that slander, so that accusations made against you do not stick.” When accused they may say, “No, I cannot believe that about them because I know their character. I know who they are.” I like the way The Message says it and most of you do not have The Message, but The Message brings out a truth that these other versions miss. It says, “Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your accusation will refute their prejudices. Then they will be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when He arrives.” That adds something to our understanding--“then they will be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when He arrives.” That is quite clearly saying that your behavior can make the difference in someone accepting or rejecting Christ as their Savior. Your behavior can make a difference in their eternal future.
The way I translate this verse emphasizes the power of godly behavior. “Keep interacting admirably with your unbelieving neighbors so that your beautiful behavior exposes their malicious slander and they will praise God for you on the day of reckoning.” Why did I use those words? Let us look at it and see exactly what it is saying. The picture I want to paint for you is of a ‘Teflon Christian’. What is a Teflon Christian? What image comes to your mind when I say Teflon Christian? First, we have to understand Teflon.
What is Teflon? Teflon was invented in 1938 by a chemist who made a mistake and left something burning overnight and it hardened into a semi-solid. He and others examined it and found it had some unique properties. Literally, Teflon is called “polytetraflorinethyline.” That describes what it is made of. It is made of carbon and fluorine atoms very tightly packed. They call it PTFE but just say Teflon because it is much easier to remember and say. Because the molecules are so tightly packed, the unique character that they found was that water and oil and all the derivatives do not attach to it. They seem to run away from it, if you will. Have you ever put water in a Teflon pan? Ever put oil in a Teflon pan? It always runs off to the side. It does not coat. It wants to keep its own entity. It is what is called, lipophobic. That means it causes ‘fear’ in oil. Lipo is the word for oil and phobic means fear. It also causes ‘fear’ in water. If you put water on Teflon rather than flattening down like a water balloon or running all off, it sits there like a little ball. It does not even want to collapse. It just sits there. Did you ever see water on a leaf stay as a ball and just kind of sit there. That is what is called hydrophobic. Teflon has an amazing characteristic of being both hydrophobic and lipophobic. Many things are hydrophobe, I mean, oils are hydrophobe. Oil and water do not mix, right? But to find something that does not do either is totally unique. There is only one compound in the world that is more slippery, has a lower coefficient of friction than Teflon. It is diamond-like carbon. It is not diamonds and it is not carbon. It is more expensive than Teflon and is not commonly used.
From our cooking experiences we know that Teflon is non-stick. Nothing can grab onto it. In fact, Teflon is the only substance geckos have not been able to stick to. Also, this is something I want to try out, it is the only substance that ants cannot climb on. I am tempted to wrap some Teflon tape around my ankles and see if it really works. When we talk about Teflon Christians we are describing someone to whom accusations do not stick.
There is another property of Teflon that you may not know about. It is its most important property. Teflon is non-corrosive. Because acids and alkaloids do not corrode Teflon they will coat the inside of pipes and valves with it. It is resistant to extreme acids like hydrochloride acid that will eat through glass. Teflon is non-corrosive and that is the main point of analogy I want to relate to Christians. Christians live in a world that is not friendly to who they are or what they want to be. The world is not an encourager but a corruptor. God has given us what is necessary to stand against the corrupting influences of this world but it is up to us to apply it to our lives. Have you ever tried to help someone and find out they end up influencing you more than you influence them toward God?
Teflon is incredible, but there is one enemy of Teflon. Did your mom teach you to keep that fork away from the pan? A simple, everyday fork or knife will scar Teflon. In the same way, a simple lie, a simple pilfering will scar your life and make you a bad testimony, an unusable element in God’s kingdom. “He is a liar like anybody else. He loses it, he gets angry; he is like anybody else. Christianity is like any other religion. It is nothing special.”
Let us get into the Word because this is not about Teflon. This is about us. “Keep interacting admirably with unbelieving neighbors.” Let us look at that a little closer. It says you should be interacting with non-believers. The word the King James uses is “conversation.” It means there is give-and-take, a connection between two people. As Jesus was untainted by sin, yet a friend to tax collectors and sinners so are we to interact with unbelievers. There is to be interaction with them.
“Let your interaction be admirable with your unbelieving neighbors.” The word used most often there is Gentiles. Gentiles is talking about anyone who is not a believer—a truster of Christ. He is talking about those who have not yet accepted Christ, whom I will call not unbelievers or non-Christians, but “pre-Christians.” That they are not there yet, but maybe your help and your guidance might lead them to Christ. Now let me ask you a pointed question. Do you know your neighbors? And do your neighbors really know you? Yeah, you are going to wave at each other. They know you are probably not a mafia boss or mass murderer. But they are not really sure because they have never been in your house. They really do not know your values. They do not know much about you except you go away on Sunday morning so you are probably one of those Christians. Is that as much as they know about you and your character? When they were sick, did you mow their lawn? Have you been involved with them in any way? Is there anything that expresses your belief system and your relationship with God that they can see? “Well, I wear a cross.” Yeah, so does Madonna. Some have it tattooed right on their chest. Does that make them a Christian? “Keep interacting admirable with unbelieving people.”
Neighbor in Scripture is talking about everyone who is not your family, not just those who live next to you. Bottom line on this, your life is to be a testimony 24/7 with everyone you come into contact with. I am not saying you have to push Christ on everyone you see but no matter what you do you do it in a way that is consistent with being called Christian—a follower of Christ. Do you tell others about Christ in a pious way but then on the way home scream at others in traffic or gossip with everyone else at work? You could say a lot of things, but unless your testimony backs it up it will not mean much to somebody who is watching you. Your testimony is the life you lead. Your life before them declares who God is in your life. I have to watch out that my neighbors do not think that cars or boats are my god. I have had three or four opportunities this year to share Christ with them, to share my belief in God with them, but they hear my car start up every morning. I hope that is not an irritation to them.
Your life is a testimony, but a testimony to what? Is it a testimony that you are a nice guy, a Republican, a Democrat? Is it a testimony that you are retired or wealthy? What does your life point to? Who does your life point to? Does your life point to anybody else besides you? If you do not point to God, if you do not overtly let your life point to God, they are not going to see it.
We live in a mission field. It is not hard to think about going to France or going to Afghanistan or to all those unbelievers ‘over there’. But look at all the unbelievers on your street. Look at all the unbelievers in your work place, in your mobile home park, in your school. Look at all the unbelievers in the club that you are a member of or in the sports team you are part of. You live in a mission field and you are the most equipped to reach those around you. Do we need to bring someone over from Uganda to lead someone to Christ? Or do we have the opportunity, do we have the relationships, do we have the credibility that they will not have? We live in a mission field and folks, if we do not tell them, if they do not turn to Christ hell will be just as real to them as anyone else (see Eternal Destiny series). Hell is non-discriminatory. Do you recognize that? Hell is just as horrible for Americans as Africans or Canadians or Mexicans. Hell is a real destination and we have the opportunity to make a difference in their lives.
Are there people out there saying mean things about you? That is not new. You are not the only one who has experienced slander and false gossip. The Christians Peter addressed in this letter experienced slander after being exiled from Rome. When they arrive at their new home (see 1:1 message), they are accused by the people who are living there of all kinds of strange things. “These Christians are cannibals. They have a ceremony where they say they are eating the body of some guy they call Christ and then drink his blood. I do not want to be around cannibals? These are also atheists because they refuse to worship the gods of Rome. How can we let them live in our midst. They are against our culture and gods. We had better get rid of these Christians because they are alienating the gods and they will bring plague and famine to our land. They will not accept Caesar as god, as lord, as their master. They claim there is no master but their God. They are going to bring the wrath of Caesar down upon us. We have got to rid of these Christians.”
Can I give you some good news? Peter’s words made a difference to these people. They did what Peter said to do. And here is what is said about them years later. In 112 A. D., the governor of Bythnia writes back to the Roman Emperor, Trajan, concerning these Christians. Do you remember the way they were taken (see 1 Peter 1:1-2 message)? One of the counties was Bythnia and the governor of that province writes: “They meet on the stated day before it is light and they address a form of prayer to Christ as if He is divinity, binding themselves to a solemn oath not for the purpose of any wicked design but to never commit any fraud or theft or adultery, to ever falsify their word nor deny a trust and to eat a common harmless meal.” Under close scrutiny this early church was vindicated of those vicious lies because they listened to Peter, because they listened to God, because they did the hard thing and kept doing the right thing and did it in an openness that other people could see and understand.
Fifty years later a letter is written to Diognetus, who was the tutor of Caesar Marcus Aurelius, and the writer says, “These Christians are not differentiated from other people, by country or language or customs. They follow the local customs in clothing and food and other aspects of life. But at the same time they demonstrate an unusual form of their own citizenship. They marry and have children just like everyone else but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer to share a table but not a shared bed. They obey appointed laws and go beyond the laws in their own lives. They love everyone but are persecuted by all. Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and they bless others in return. They are treated outrageously but behave respectfully to others. They are attacked by Jews as aliens and persecuted by Greeks. Those who hate them cannot give any reason for their hostility.” I do not want to live in Second Century Bythnia but I want to live among a people who have that kind of reputation, who stand amid all kinds of accusations and do the right thing and bear testimony that there is a real God who cares about us.
We are being watched. What are they seeing? What do they see? They see you. They see me. That is why we need to do the right thing and connect with them and let them know who we are and who God is and the difference He is making in our lives. We are being watched and often they look for the worst in us to try to validate their own unbelief. If they can make us like them, then they say there is no reason why they should submit to a God. Is that not the way the whole world is? Everybody loves mud. How many headlines have we had just this year of senators, of congressmen, of evangelists, of teachers, of people who have worked hard to build a reputation and then watch it all go down the drain because of something they did. Too many people love to tear others down but especially if you are a Christian. Let your life show that God is real. Prove it with your life rather than with an argument and a debate because no matter what you say, they will still watch what you do and that will matter more to them. Give them truth. Tell them the gospel because Christ saves them, not you. But do not let your life be a hindrance to someone not coming to Christ.
For an example, lets look at Israel. God chose Israel to be His mouthpiece to the world. By His involvement with Israel the world would be taught who He is and His holy ways. God made an alliance with this people so that He could speak to the world. And as Israel obeyed Him and prospered He was glorified and they fulfilled their purpose. But God made Himself vulnerable by attaching Himself to this people. He chose to work through them not because they were worthy but because they were so unlikely to achieve greatness. If they prospered it was to be because God blessed them beyond what they could have achieved on their own. It was a struggle from the beginning. Listen to Deuteronomy 9:5-7:
“It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people. Remember this and never forget how you provoked the LORD your God to anger in the desert. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the LORD.” Israel possessed the power to mess up God’s best plan. And they did! She disobeyed God and worshiped other gods. She obscured God’s intended message to the world. And she was warned at the beginning. Moses taught her that if they rebelled they would experience God’s wrath. Deuteronomy 29:10-29:
“All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, together with your children and your wives, and the aliens living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today.
You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.
When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, ‘I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. The LORD will never be willing to forgive him; his wrath and zeal will burn against that man. All the curses written in this book will fall upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. The LORD will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.
Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it. The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger. All the nations will ask: ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?’
And the answer will be: ‘It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. Therefore the LORD's anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.’
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”
God had to make it clear to the nations that He was not endorsing Israel’s injustices, perversions, and idolatry. Israel was to be an instrument in God’s hands to evangelize the world. In her obedience, Israel glorified God. God’s attributes were to be seen through His people. She was to be a flesh and blood example for all to see and follow. But instead of following God and influencing the world she forsook God and His ways and became like the world. The two exiles, Assyrian and Babylonian, all the periods of oppressions during the time of the judges, and the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem give testimony that God was not pleased with Israel. And He wants the world to know it! In their present disposition against Christ and the gospel, they are considered the enemies of God (Revelations 2:9. 3:9).
Let us learn from Israel’s sins. Let us not follow in her footsteps. That is sad. God’s best plan for Israel was that the nations should follow her as she followed Him. But because of her sin and betrayal she is our example of what not to do! That is precisely why the Epistles stress Christian conduct as being key to evangelizing the world (Titus 2:3-10, Phil. 1:27). It is important to recognize that just as God raised up Israel to focus His voice to the world, He has assigned that function to us. Peter’s words in 1 Peter 2:9-10 repeat to the church what Israel previously had been told. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” I pray that we, here, at Trinity Evangelical Free Church, fulfill our holy function!
What is the day of visitation? Some might say, “Well, I guess it means when Jesus returns. And boy, then there is going to be hell to pay.” But wait a minute. It says, “And they will praise God for you on the day of reckoning.” Are non-Christians going to be happy when there is judgment, when they get judged and we are set free. That is why this verse is not talking about judgment. The word used here for day of reckoning is not speaking about judgment. Judgment is krisis in Greek. It is where we get the word crisis. But that is not the word used here. The word used is episkope. It is used only four times in the New Testament. Young’s Analytical Concordance says it means inspection, a looking over. It is a day of inspection, a day of investigation. Do you remember Christians are going to be evaluated based upon their behavior? Reward (1 Corinthians 3:8, 3:14-15) is in view not condemnation (Romans 8:1). This is the time when Christians will be evaluated for reward. Peter tells us to live our lives in such a way that fellow Christians that will be present at this time will praise God for our effect on their lives. That is what it is saying here--“On that day they will praise God for you.”
I am not asking you to go out there and knock on doors and start explaining evolution and creation science to them so they turn to Christ. I am saying do the right thing before others and give God the glory. Fulfill your evangelistic function by glorifying God with your life.
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