Living Stones

I Peter 2:4-10

Transcript

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God
chosen and precious. You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a
spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God through Christ Jesus. For it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in
Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him
will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who
do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone
and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they
disobey the word as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may
proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once
you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. God's word. Let's
pray. Lord God, we just ask in this time that by your Holy Spirit, you would
work so that my words would be faithful and clear and that you would illuminate
us, that we might understand. Lord, as listeners, that we would hear your word
and respond in faith. These are the things we pray for. In your name, amen.
About 15 years ago, I was working as a project manager for a software company.
If you know me, you know that I have no background or expertise in software or
project management. But we were starting a family at that time or about to, and
I needed a job, and this company had an interesting philosophy on hiring and
training. For hiring, they hired only on personal referrals. From their existing
employees. And then they put you through a lengthy interview process. They did
not care what your previous background was. They only wanted what they thought
were good people. And then for training, they just didn't do that at all. They
just didn't do it. There was no onboarding process. There was no employee
handbook. There were no job descriptions. You just had to figure it out by
observation and osmosis. So I didn't know, when I started that job, I didn't
really know what I was supposed to be doing. I went to my first meeting around a
big conference table and listened for an hour and literally had no idea what
anyone was talking about. I didn't know my identity as an employee, didn't know
my purpose for the job. It was very disorienting. Very quickly, my company sent
me off on a business trip to meet with a client. After a couple days, my client
called the boss and said, he doesn't really seem to know what he's doing. They
were right. Without knowing your identity or your purpose in the job, but in
life in general, you're going to be disoriented and ineffective. I bring that up
because it has so much to do with this text in 1 Peter. We've titled the sermon
series through 1 Peter, Hope in a World That is Not Our Home. In the Apostle,
Peter is writing to provide these Christians with their true identity and
purpose in Christ. This is what's considered a circular letter. It's written by
Peter from one place in Rome. It's being carried by his associate, Sylvanus or
Silas, all around Asia Minor to these small, marginalized, suffering churches
scattered across the Roman Empire. These readers were kind of like fish out of
water, very much out of step with what's going on in the broader Roman culture.
In chapter one, we see that Christians are born again to a living hope, that's
what Peter says. They're referred to as obedient children, and they're called to
love one another with brotherly love. So in chapter one, Peter gets at this idea
that the church is the family of God, called to love one another with brotherly
love. And probably you're familiar with that expression, that the church is the
family of God, or the household of God. But that's not the only metaphor used
for the church. The church is also, as we see in this passage, God's
architecture. It is the building of God. In the Old Testament, in the book of
Exodus, we read about the building of the tabernacle in Exodus, and then later
on we read about the building of the temple during the reign of Solomon. We'll
also, if you read the Old Testament, you'll also read quite a bit about the
rebuilding of the temple in books like Ezra and Nehemiah. The temple is this
representation of the dwelling place of God among his people. But now, in the
New Testament, in Peter chapter two, we're reading about the building of the
temple again, but now it is Christ, in Christ, and he is the cornerstone. So
there's absolute continuity with what is going on in the Old Testament, what God
is doing in the Old Testament, and what we see now. However, we see that God is
building a spiritual house, and that Jesus is the cornerstone. The passage is
about, it's about architecture. It's about construction. You'll notice as we
read how many times you hear these references to stones, or a stone, you'll see
that five times. The passage is broken into two parts as well. In verses four
through eight, we'll read about the building of the temple, and in verses nine
through 10, we'll read about the holy priesthood. Both of those things sound
like things out of Exodus, because they are, but in both of those things, we
find new meaning and fulfillment in Jesus. So let's read first about the
building of the temple in Jesus, in verses four through eight. As you come to
him, a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and
precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual
house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a
stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not
be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not
believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a
stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the
word, as they were destined to do. So in verse four, Peter's talking about
Jesus, who was despised and rejected by men, that's what Isaiah tells us. Jesus
is the living stone. It's fascinating that 30 years or so earlier, Peter had
been renamed by Jesus, and the name Peter, or Petros, means rock, and Jesus had
said to Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church, meaning Peter would
become part of the church's apostolic foundation. But the cornerstone of God's
spiritual house is Jesus. Verse six says, for it stands in scripture, behold, I
am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever
believes in him will not be put to shame. That verse is also, it's a quotation
from the Old Testament book of Isaiah, and Peter is saying that Jesus is the
cornerstone, and the living stone. You can see a cornerstone, you may see a
cornerstone with an engraving on it, if you look at an older, or more historic
building, some churches have these, you can see sometimes when the church was
built. If you go down to City Hall in Niagara Square, you can see the
cornerstone, it was laid about 95 years ago, when the building was being
constructed. It's very cool to see a cornerstone like that, because you get a
sense of the building's history. But in the passage, Jesus is not being compared
to like, just a piece of rock, or a piece of marble. Verse four says that he is
the living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious.
He is the living stone, because God raised him from the dead. When Jesus walked
out of the grave in resurrection power, God put his cornerstone in place. And if
you follow Peter's logic, that means something for us as a church. Verse five
says, you yourselves, as living stones, like plural, not the living stone, but
as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy
priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ. So in the Old Testament, the presence of God was centralized in a
physical dwelling place, whether that was the tabernacle or the temple. When you
read about Solomon's preparations in building the temple as a place of worship,
you can read in 1 Kings about the just enormous labor force that was mobilized
to quarry out these stones to lay the foundation for this majestic building. And
the temple was the pride and joy of the people of Israel. Up during the time of
Jesus, people were shocked and appalled when he prophesied that the temple would
one day be torn down, which it was in A.D. 70. But Peter's now writing to
Christians who are not Jewish, who do not have this heritage, who would not be
welcome to worship in the synagogue and would be considered unclean. But as he
addresses these Gentiles, he's using a number of very intentional references to
the Old Testament, using this imagery of stones and priesthood and sacrifice to
talk to Gentiles. And this is kind of the amazing truth that's starting to come
through. God's place is not one specific nation or one physical space. And God's
people are not defined by ethnicity. In Christ, through Jesus, the church
universal has become God's people, and God's place in the world is with his
people. And when we think about what that means for us today, we as a
congregation, we're about to move into a new physical space. And I'm excited, I
think it will be an amazing tool for ministry for us, for our congregation. And
I'm very, very thankful for God's provision. And at the same time, we would be
just fine if we had to meet outside under a bridge. Because God's place is with
his people. His presence is with his people. God's, we could put it like this,
God's architecture is not physical. God's architecture is biological. He's
building his church one living stone at a time. So the text tells us, as you
come to him, a daily personal relationship with Jesus, as the text last week
said, longing for God's word, he is the living stone, rejected by men in the
sight of God, chosen and precious. By extension, we may indeed be rejected,
marginalized by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious. He's the
living stone, the cornerstone, the word that became flesh and dwelt among us.
He's the reality that the physical temple anticipated. And we are living stones,
plural, being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, not to
offer physical sacrifices, but spiritual sacrifices, as Romans 12 would tell us,
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And you see this stone and living stone
imagery five times in verses four through eight. Followers of Jesus are being
built into a spiritual temple with Jesus himself as the cornerstone. And
explaining Christ's role, as he explains Christ's role as the cornerstone of the
spiritual house, Peter goes on back to the Old Testament and quotes Isaiah 28,
where God says in verse six, it stands in scripture, behold, I'm laying in Zion
a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will
not be put to shame. Then Peter quotes another passage from the Old Testament,
from Psalm 118, and says, so the honor is for you who believe, but for those who
do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,
and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. Jesus is the cornerstone, and
we become living stones joined to him by faith. The Old Testament temple
anticipated this new temple where God dwells with his people, the church, and we
become God's people, and the church becomes God's place, and we are meant to
grow into a holy temple in the Lord. But Jesus is also a stone of stumbling for
those who refuse to listen and obey the word of God. So we see the stone is non-
ignorable. You can either be joined to it or stumble over it. And we actually
see this dynamic play itself out in the book of Acts, in Peter's own story. In
Acts chapter three, shortly after Pentecost, a lame man is healed in the name of
Jesus. And shortly afterward, Peter and John end up getting dragged before the,
they get hauled up before the religious council in Jerusalem, and when they're
questioned by the council, Peter says this. Let it be known to all of you, this
is Acts four, 10 through 12, let it be known to all of you and to all the people
of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom
God raised from the dead, by him, this man is standing before you well. This
Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, the supposed builders
of the house of Israel, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation
in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which
we must be saved. There is honor, 1 Peter tells us, awaiting those who place
their faith in Jesus. There's honor, so the honor is for you who believe. That's
meant to be encouragement for these suffering believers, that there will be an
end time vindication. There's honor waiting for those who believe. But in
contrast, there are also those who do not believe. They will stumble, they will
trip over the cornerstone. And Peter says, they stumble because they disobey the
word as they were destined to do. That's a tough, that's a tough saying. But I
want you to notice as you look at it that the scripture is holding together a
tension of God's absolute sovereignty and humanity's moral responsibility in
this description. We're not God, we have a hard time explaining it or
understanding it. They stumble because they disobey the word. In other words,
they stumble through moral rebellion against God's word, against God's
authority, through refusal to come to God by faith through the sacrifice of
Christ. Because of their refusal to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, they stumble.
There's no sense in which those who stumble at God's word, who trip over the
cornerstone, are victims somehow of God's sovereignty. At the same time, Peter
also says, as they were destined to do. So telling, which tells us the rebellion
of sinful men and women is also foreknown and appointed by our sovereign God. So
after explaining to the church their identity as living stones with Jesus as the
cornerstone, Peter goes on to explain identity and how that leads to purpose.
Let's read verses nine through 10. Look at verses nine through 10 with me. But
you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own
possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are
God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
So after talking about Jesus as cornerstone, Peter says, but you, meaning you as
opposed to the stumblers who disobey God's word, you have a new identity. Look
at these very powerful identity statements in verse nine. You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. That's all
language from the Old Testament Israel and the idea that it would apply to non-
Jewish people would be stunning. Someone, I remember someone bringing this up
years ago. We used this passage as a benediction. And someone brought up that it
was not like culturally sensitive to talk about a chosen race. He didn't
understand this is not about ethnicity. Peter's actually broadening out language
that was used for Old Testament Israel and now saying it's applying to all of
you, scattered all over Asia Minor. This is language that people would be
stunned would apply to Gentiles. Some of you remember about a year ago, we
preached through the Old Testament book of Exodus and you might remember we
divided Exodus into three big chunks, deliverance, demands and dwelling. Most
people are most familiar with the deliverance part, how God miraculously brought
his people out of slavery through plagues, through crossing the Red Sea, through
miraculous signs, God brought his people out of Egyptian slavery. But it's not
until Exodus 19, as the Israelites approach Mount Sinai, that God explains to
the Israelites what it's all for. Why did he deliver them? So I'm gonna read
Exodus 19, five through six, and I'm bringing this up because this is exactly
what Peter's quoting from over a thousand years later. The Lord gives Moses a
message for the people in Exodus 19 and he says to them, at the foot of Mount
Sinai, Exodus 19, five through six, the Lord says through Moses, "'Now
therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice "'and keep my covenant, you shall be
my treasured possession "'among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, "'and
you shall be to me a kingdom of priests "'and a holy nation.'" So the church is
now the new Israel, and Peter's readers are all Gentiles. So we're not only
living stones built on the cornerstone, we're a royal priesthood. When we
studied Exodus, some of you might recall this, we read about the institution of
the priesthood through Moses' brother Aaron. We read about the garments of the
priests and the duties of the priests and the sacrifices that he offered. And it
was Aaron's job as the first priest to intercede before God on behalf of sinful
people. He's functioning as this intermediary role, and Aaron turned into a
great failure. But in the new covenant, it's the people of God who now represent
him in the world as a kingdom of priests, not through physical sacrifices, but
they are the ones who represent God in the world. And Peter now says, you are
all these things. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, set
apart for God, a people for his own possession. And then there's this very key
transitional phrase, so that, so that, here's what it's all for. Here's why you
were chosen and redeemed. It's so that you might proclaim the excellencies of
Jesus, that you might proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light. Here's why you were chosen and redeemed. It's
so that you might proclaim his excellencies. In that phrase, we've heard
identity, now we hear purpose, and we see something very powerful about what the
church is and is not. I want you to think about this for a second. Let's say
that someone invited you to a group that they were part of, that you weren't
familiar with. You're not a participant in that group. So someone invites you,
could be the Lions Club, it could be the Kiwanis Club, it could be the Rotary
Club, it could be the Masons, it could be the Young Republicans or the
Alcoholics Anonymous or the town board meeting. And if you were open to going,
you might say, well, what do you do? What do you do at your meetings? What
happens there? You haven't been, so you don't know. A lot of people are like
that about church. They haven't been, they don't know. Well, when we read 1
Peter 2, we see something important about what the church is not. It's not
primarily a how-to community, like how to raise kids or how to get your finances
in order, how to have a good job, how to fix the country, how to feel fulfilled,
how to make an impact. Those are good things. I'm not saying that those things
are unequivocally unaddressed in the church. But here's what the church is
fundamentally. We are a proclaiming community. Proclaiming means announcing or
declaring something openly. The church is made up of people who have received
God's undeserved mercy, and we proclaim the excellencies of Jesus. We have a
message, and we herald it. We proclaim it. The message is not come fix your
life, and it's not come have a better life. The message is just Jesus is Lord.
Jesus is Lord. And Peter says God's called you out of darkness. I think it's
another allusion to Exodus. If you recall, the ninth plague in the book of
Exodus was darkness. It was literally dark for three days and three nights in
the land of Egypt. And that darkness was also symbolic of the nation's spiritual
condition, as they were rejecting the Lord's repeated warnings. They were in
darkness. Exodus describes the plague like this. Exodus 10, 21 to 23. Then the
Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be
darkness over the land of Egypt. A darkness to be felt. So Moses stretched out
his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt
three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for
three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. Think about
that darkness. I have claustrophobic tendencies, and a couple of times I have
woken up on camping trips or things like that. In that kind of, it's probably
not, but for me it's a kind of darkness that Exodus describes. A darkness that
can be felt. And in that moment of disorientation, I go into fight or flight
mode. I can't even really breathe. That's momentary. Spiritual darkness is much
worse than that. And in his mercy, God has called us out of darkness, a darkness
that can be felt, so dark that it can be felt, and he's called us into his
marvelous light. And the church is made up of people who've been called from
darkness to light so that we might proclaim the excellencies of Jesus. There's
no boasting, there's no superiority in that proclamation. None of us come from
darkness to light because of our own good decisions or our own wisdom. It's
simply God's electing and saving grace. And Peter goes on to say, once you were
not a people. Think about the meaning of that phrase. At one point, you had the
same needs that every human being has, belonging, community, significance,
security, and you didn't have those things, or if you did have them, you were
looking in all the wrong places. But now you are God's people. Now through
Jesus, you are part of the spiritual temple that God is building. Now you are
part of his architecture. Once you had not received mercy, now you have received
mercy. That's language from the Old Testament book of Hosea, when God pronounced
judgment on Israel for their persistent rebellion. And God says to the
rebellious Israelites who rejected him, call them no mercy, call them not my
people. But now, through the atoning work of Jesus, through the forgiveness of
sins that he offers through his work on the cross, now you have received mercy.
You're holy people set apart through God's mercy. You've been made acceptable to
God through Jesus Christ. In Christ, you have identity and purpose. And you have
something to proclaim. We all have this new calling and purpose to proclaim the
excellencies of Jesus. You can do that from a lot of different vocations and a
lot of different locations. You could be a pastor, you could be a teacher, you
could be a doctor, you could be a stay-at-home mom, you could be a struggling
project manager. You could be any one of those things. We're called in whatever
arena it is, whatever vocation it is that God's given us, to proclaim the
excellencies of Jesus. In Christ, we have that new calling. Even as our
vocations remain the same, it's to proclaim his excellencies. God is building a
spiritual temple, one living stone at a time. We're the living stones, and we
proclaim the excellencies of Jesus. Let's pray.