READ 1 Peter 2:4-10 KIDS What two kind of stones does Peter call Jesus?

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1 1 Peter 2:4-10 Living Cornerstone June 17, 2018am Ne w Hope R oad Joelton, TN READ 1 Peter 2:4-10 KIDS What two kind of stones does Peter call Jesus? What do you value? We are a collecting culture like our world has ever seen. Within moments of walking into someone s house, you can usually see what they value. Photographs, memorabilia and decorations are all insights into what we value. It might have started with rocks, stamps and baseball cards, but some people s taste gets pretty rich. Here are a few of the most expensive items to be sold at auction: Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication it took Patek Phillippe over 6 years to build, finishing it in It can tell phases of the moon and it also contains a star chart of the constellations of Manhattan. $24 million THE BAY PSALM BOOK AND THE CODEX LEICESTER The first book to have ever been printed in the colonies way back in $14.1 million 59.6 carat Pink Star diamond $72 million Corey M. Minter Page 1 of 9

2 Balloon Dog, Orange, by Jeff Koons 12 foot, stainless steel sculpture of a balloon dog. One of five in the series, it sold in 2013 for $58.4 million What would you buy with that kind of money? One man s trash really is another man s treasure. A 12 foot sculpture of balloon dog would look pretty ridiculous next to our 1200 square foot house. I am sure there are some things that I value that you could not care less about, too. Peter is writing 1 Peter to a group of Christians that are about to go through one of the most intense persecutions that the world had ever seen, under Nero. Undoubtedly, some of the persecution had already began, and they are questioning whether or not all of their suffering is worth it in order to be called a Christian. He writes in verse 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious Simply put, Christ is worth it. I know I do not have to expound on what it means for something to be precious, but literally, in the original language, it calls Christ priceless. Peter will walk those 1st century Christians and us 21st century Christians through what he means by the preciousness/pricelessness of Christ. 1. Christ s Story Is Unique. If everybody has it, then it is not very valuable. Just the simple laws of inflation teach us that. If everyone has a penny, then they are not very valuable, and nothing is sold at that price anymore. If Corey M. Minter Page 2 of 9

3 everyone had a million dollars, then nothing would be sold at that value anymore. In order for something to carry value, it must be uniquely different or, at least, in short supply. That is what makes Christ so valuable, because He is absolutely and completely unique among all others who have ever lived. In his metaphors of showing how precious Jesus is, Peter calls Christ two types of stones. Here is the first one: A Living Stone. 4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, We will get into why Peter uses this kind of stone-analogy (it seems pretty odd, especially being used by Peter and Paul fisherman and tent-maker, respectively. They were not construction workers). Before we do though, let s focus in on the term a living stone. That seems like a paradox, and I believe that is why Peter uses it. Peter is writing to a mixed-bag, group of Believers in modernday Turkey. Some are Jewish, and some Gentile. To the Gentiles, Peter s calling Jesus a Living Stone would set Him apart from all of their former idols which were dead stone. I think it would be safe to say that Peter is drawing from Habakkuk s words when he almost sarcastically said of idols: Habakkuk 2:18 What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, The molded image, a teacher of lies, Corey M. Minter Page 3 of 9

4 That the maker of its mold should trust in it, To make mute idols? 19 Woe to him who says to wood, Awake! To silent stone, Arise! It shall teach! Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, Yet in it there is no breath at all. 20 But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him. Jesus is not like idols that are deaf, blind, mute dead. He is alive hearing all prayers, seeing all suffering and speaking, making intercession for us before the Father. I also think that there is a parallel here to the empty tomb. While the Gentile gods may have been MADE OUT OF stone, Christ MADE THE STONE TO MOVE. It is important for Christians, today, to understand the uniqueness of Christ because we are hit on every side with the idea that All religions are fundamentally the same with superficial differences. Basically, all religions teach us how to be nice to each other, fundamentally, but it may do so through the superficial difference of Muhammad, Jesus or Buddha. Ravi Zacharias says it perfectly when he flips the words in the discussion saying, It is not that all religions are fundamentally the same with superficial differences. Rather, all religions are superficially the same with fundamental differences. Corey M. Minter Page 4 of 9

5 The claims of Jesus Christ are unique among religions in that He lived an actual life, died an actual death and rose from an actual grave. No other religion of any consequence even makes those claims. Life and death, yes, but not the resurrection. Muhammad s body resides in Medina. Gautama Buddha s ashes are in Kushinagar. We have a pretty good theory about where Christ s tomb was, but we are not positive. Know why? He s not there to run tests. Peter was also talking to Jews who placed a premium on stone for its permanence. You can imagine a people with a history of tentcamping in a desert for forty years would have a fondness for permanence. When God gave them the commandments, what medium did He use? Tablets of stone. Multiple times throughout the Old Testament, God is called A Rock. He is solid, unmoving. To the point and within the context of the 1 Peter passage, the greatest example of stonework among the Hebrews was the actual building of the temple. Throughout 1/3 of the Old Testament, the children of Israel worshipped God at the tabernacle. Sure, it was special, but it wasn t pretty from the outside, and it (tabernacle being the Hebrew equivalent for tent) sure was not permanent. Here, Christ is called the Cornerstone of the Temple. Living stone, now He is the cornerstone. Corey M. Minter Page 5 of 9

6 1 Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame. The cornerstone of a building is arguably the most important. It must be perfectly squared, leveled and without any blemishes. If there are any faults in the cornerstone (no matter how minuscule), the whole structure will show noticeable defects. Christ is called the cornerstone of the temple. If the Jewish Christians default from their faith in Him and revert back into legalistic, law-driven Judaism (which was an accepted religion for the most part in Roman Empire), then they are essentially building their entire lives upon a faulty cornerstone. With Christ as our cornerstone, Christians, then, are supposed to also be living stones: 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That brings us to our second reason that Peter gives as to why Christ is so precious. Not only is He unique, but 2. Christ s Call Is Relational. Corey M. Minter Page 6 of 9

7 Christ beckons to us to have a relationship with Him. You know, there are some things that really are not worth much at an auction, but because of sentiment, they are priceless. It may be an heirloom, a plot of land, a photograph, but because of who owned it before you, you find great value in it. In the same way, Christ is so precious to us because of that relational aspect. Christ is called the cornerstone our bedrock that which we are to build upon. Edward Mote said it best. In fact, turn to number 419 in your hymnal, and let s read his words. We are to build our entire lives upon Christ as our cornerstone. Because He is a LIVING Stone, all who come to Him obtain life, as well. All our lives should be spent in building a spiritual house, worshipping God as a holy priesthood, offering up sacrifices our lives to God. He calls us into this relationship. He makes a bunch of nobodies somebodies. 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. This promise is not just applied to the Jews but to the church, as well. One of my favorite Old Testament stories is Hosea and his wife Gomer. Hosea is God s prophet who God told one day to marry a woman Corey M. Minter Page 7 of 9

8 of whoredoms. Essentially, Hosea, marry this girl, knowing full well that she will commit adultery on you. Hosea, unquestionably, obeys God and marries Gomer. We do not know how much time passed, but after a while, Gomer runs away and cheats on Hosea. He gets her back. She runs away again. He gets her back again. Finally, Gomer runs away and out of desperation sells herself into slavery. Hosea sees her on the auction block and spends every dime he has in order to buy her back as his wife. Throughout her adulteries, Gomer mothers three children (and we are not even sure if they are all Hosea s, in fact, we are pretty sure they aren t). One of the children s names was Lo-Ammi, which means Not my people. Hosea bringing Gomer back into his home, along with her three children of questionable fatherhood (especially Lo-Ammi) is a beautiful picture of what Christ wants to do with us. He pleads for us to be His, and He promises that He will bestow blessings not as a love-sick puppy but as a Good and Gracious God. However, not everyone has accepted Jesus as the cornerstone of their life. Not everyone has believed that He is a Living Stone. To them, Christ has not become something valuable because of uniqueness or relationship, rather He has become to them a stone of stumbling a rock of offense. 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone, Corey M. Minter Page 8 of 9

9 8 and A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. Value of something is also wrapped up in not having it. You never think about how valuable oxygen is until you are diving and the line goes dry. You never think about how valuable water is until you are on mile 8 of a hike, and you have run out of it. The third reason that Christ is so priceless is because 3. Life without Christ Has Consequence. Like the water you do not have and the oxygen you cannot breathe, those who reject Christ will see how valuable He is one day. They have contented themselves with dead stones, and they are surprised when they whole life reaps death. They have built their life upon lesser cornerstones, only to find that their life, their home, and all they hold dear will stumble and crumble one day before their very eyes. Christian, how about us? How often are we contented with the nonsense of this life over the blessings of life in Him? Is He your cornerstone? Are you building? Corey M. Minter Page 9 of 9