Sermon Series: Faithful Living in Faithless Times 1 Peter 2:4-12 Faithful Living Embraces Christ Pastor Sam Parsons: October 11th, 2015 Big Idea: Embracing Christ involves embracing his life and rejection. 1 There was a famous preacher who visited a nursing home that had some patients with Alzheimer's in it. As he was there he went around and greeted the patients in this home. They were all very glad to see him. He walked up to one lady who seemed to be very excited at his presence. The Pastor inquiring about her excitement asked, "Do you know who I am?" The lady smiled and answered, "No, but if you go to the Front Desk, they can tell you. That is what we are going to be doing today friends. This morning we are going to be traveling back to the Front Desk if you will and asking the question who are we? Do you know who you are? I think as Christians we can often get Alzheimer s in our faith. We can forget who we are. There are times that we can often think we are the creator and not the created. There are times when we might forget God s love for us. There are times when we think we have to earn our salvation and forget that it has been given to us. This type of spiritual amnesia doesn t just happen to believers today but it happened to believers back in Peter s lifetime. In fact in Peters first letter he takes time to remind believers who they are in chapter 2:4-5 which is where we are going to camp out. So please make sure you grab a bible and turn there. Over the past three weeks Brian has kicked us off in a new series titled Faithful Living in Faithless Times. What we have discovered so far is that Peter has written a letter to all Christians scattered throughout the regions of Pontus, Galatia, Capadocia, Asia and Bithynia. We have learned that these regions contained cultures that were faithless as a result Christians were experiencing rejection, persecution. So Peter responds by writing a letter of encouragement with the goal of motivating
2 believers to stay faithful in the midst of this faithless culture. In chapter 1 Peter draws motivation by calling the Christians to remember... to remember the truths about Jesus, the truths about who He is and what He has done... to remember the gospel. Today, what we are going to discover, is that Peter is still motivating the Church by not just remembering who Jesus is and what He has done but by going a step further in calling them to remember who they are in Jesus. Lets look at how Peter makes this transition of remembrance here in v. 4 lets read: I would argue that this verse serves as the thesis for verses 5-12. What do I mean by that? What I mean is that in v.4 we see three descriptors of Jesus: 1) He is a living stone, 2) He faced rejection & 3) He was chosen. Peter uses these three descriptors to guide the church in remembering who they are. In verse 5-10 we will see Peter explain that: 1) Just as Jesus is a living stone you are a living stone. 2) Just as Jesus faced rejection you will face rejection. 3) and finally just as Jesus was chosen you are chosen. Transition: Peter motivates Christians during this time by describing who they are in Jesus. Lets look at the first description here in v. 5-6. Just as Jesus is a living stone you are a living stone: (v.5-6) [Slide] This is a beautiful metaphor that Peter draws out here. He is describing the believer as one who helps build a spiritual house... the Church. Peter is identifying us Christians as stones that are set upon the cornerstone. One scholar had this to say about the verse: The foundation of God s building is His Son, Jesus Christ, the living Stone. The living stones, in turn, are believers who come to Jesus and place their lives upon this foundation. One of the striking things we learn in this passage is that God not only chose this Stone who is eternal, but there were men who rejected the Stone because they wanted to build the building of their lives the way they wanted, not God s way (Psalm 118:22). As a result, these men cast this living Stone aside, not caring that Jesus is the only true foundation upon which man can build his eternal life (1 Corinthians 3:11). During this time period, the cornerstone was the most important piece to any structure. The architect s had the essential responsibility to find the perfect stone. This stone needed to be flawless, plum, without a blemish,
3 strong and secure, because the whole building was built in reference to this stone. If a single measurement were off on this stone the building would be off. The cornerstone was central to any building; to put it simply you couldn t have a building without it. The cornerstone is what gave the building life if you will. This is the beauty about Jesus... Jesus is Holy without sin without a blemish: But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. For it is written, be holy, because I am holy. -1 Pt 1:15-16 Jesus is Strong: The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe - Proverbs 18:10 Jesus Guides: I am THE way Jn 14:6 Jesus gives life: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14:6 Jesus is our cornerstone: See, I lay a stone in Zion a chosen and precious cornerstone and the one who trust in him will never be put to shame. Is 28:16 There was only one cornerstone per building. As living stones we can choose to build our lives without a cornerstone or we can choose to build our lives with one. Those who choose to build on Jesus the cornerstone live, those who don t, well they will be a pile of rubble. Just as Jesus is a living stone when our lives are placed on him we then become living stones. Let s look at v.5 again, You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I believe this verse is reflective of that in Romans 12:1 Offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. When you build a brick house you don t use bricks that are cut in 1/2, or 3/4s. You use whole bricks otherwise you would have a hole in the wall. When we choose to follow Christ and place our bodies on that cornerstone we need to make sure we give the whole stone. Christ wants every aspect of us physical, mental, spiritual... the whole brick... the whole stone. C.S. Lewis put it best in his book Mere Christianity: Christ says, "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it.
4 No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there. I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires, which you think, are innocent as well as the ones you think are wicked the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you myself: my own will shall become yours."- Lewis, Mere Christianity Being a living stone is a calling to place our finances, our vocations, our families, and every aspect of our life on the cornerstone of Christ. Transition: Lets look at the next descriptor of the church in v. 6-7. Just as Jesus faced rejection we will face rejection. (v.6-7) [Slide] When I heard about the shooting at Umpqua Community College and read an article that described one student s eyewitness account. The student states, He was able to stand there and start asking people one by one what their religion was... Are you a Christian? he would ask them... If you re a Christian, stand up. 3 I don t understand that, why delineate between a Christian and other religious faiths. Despite this guys motivations it was clear that this man treated Christians differently on a very lethal level. I shouldn t be shocked though. From my experience it seems Christians get treated differently no matter where they are... in the Middle East, Russia, North Korea, the mall, school. Growing up as a kid my faith at times served as the fuel for ongoing jokes even with my teachers. Even today... it makes me laugh at times the reactions that I receive from people, both good and bad, when they ask me what I do for a living. It is clear that as people who identify with Christ we are going to face rejection. Paul is informing the reader to not be shocked by this because the very person they re following faced rejection too. Quite simply, if they rejected Jesus they re going to reject you. Jesus faced rejection because of what he taught, because of how he lived. Look at the verse again, This cornerstone that the builders rejected is the capstone, and it is also the very thing that will make them fall. Friends the Gospel while it is truthful, while it contains an open invitation to everyone it is also very offensive. The Scholar Jobes writes,
5 Here in 1 Pet. 2:8 Peter claims that Christ the cornerstone presents an opportunity either for trust or for rejection. Moreover, rejection of Christ is not an amoral decision; it is itself an instance of sin. This is a message that our religiously pluralistic society today finds just as offensive as did firstcentury polytheistic society. To reject Christ is to stumble and sin.4 The author of Hebrews equated it as a double edge sword. For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. - Heb 4:12 That s a descriptor isn t it. The gospel can hurt... It can shed light on the fact that we are sinners destined for Hell and in need of saving. This is a hard pill for many to swallow and as a result many will reject it to their own demise as this text states... look at what it says, They stumble because they disobey the message- which is also what they were destined for. It is here however that I want to take time to clarify something that I believe is very important as Christians. The Gospel is offensive yes... but we as Christians need to make sure we do not make it more offensive then it needs to be. What do I mean by this? As believers we need to have a Holy Spirit awareness that allows others to be offended by the truth of the gospel rather than our expression of it. In Pastor Phil s words we need to make sure that our love for Jesus and our love for others is what offends them. The way we avoid falling into this trap is by having a Holy Spirit awareness that guides our conversations, our stances for truth while not taking the role of it. Overall, faithful living in a faithless culture means we are going to give offense. Just as Jesus faced rejection we will face rejection. However, take heart because while we may face rejection from others we won t face it with God. Just as Jesus was chosen we are chosen. Just as Jesus was chosen we are chosen. (v.9-10) Peter just finished describing what happens to those who reject Jesus, they are destined for destruction, he now shifts his attention to those who do not and he describes them as chosen. Now it can be really easy for us to view this from an individualistic standpoint but that would be wrong. The context here is Peter addressing a corporate body of believers. Look at how the words he uses for people here in v.9. They are a chosen people the greek word for people here is genos it is from this word that we get the English word gene or generation it means offspring. I love the NASB translation of this because it gets at the heart of the word: for we are a chosen race. This language has some OT significance because
6 the people of Israel where God s a chosen people/race that he lead out of Egypt. And what Peter is addressing here is that all believers of Jesus Jew and gentile are now all God s chosen people. They are a new race, an offspring of God, His children. One commentator put it this way: Israel s deliverance from exile in Babylon is the typological forerunner of the greater deliverance achieved by Jesus Christ, deliverance of God s people out of darkness into light. Peter here makes the radical claim that those who believe in Jesus Christ whether Jew, Gentile, Greek, Roman, Cappadocian, Bithynian, or whatever though from many races, constitute a new race of those who have been born again into the living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.5 The descriptors don t stop there, we are a chosen race but we are a royal priesthood. Peter used this same descriptor back in v.5. To be a son of Aaron... a priest was a high calling back in the Old Testament. Why? Because of God s Holiness. God s Holiness made it impossible for him to be in the presence of sin. Holiness and sin is like oil and water. The priest s function was to meet with God as a representative of the people. They offered sacrifices in God s presence. However in order to enter God s presence the priest would have to go through all sorts of rituals and ceremonial cleansings before entering this special room in the temple called the Holy of Holies. Jesus changed all of this... he broke the barrier and tore the curtain to Holy of Holies through His work on the cross. Just as we place ourselves... our living stones on the cornerstone we become part of a spiritual house but also part of the royal priesthood in that we all now have access to God. One commentator put it like this: Peter s thought here is not in the context of spiritual authority, nor is it focused on the qualities of the individual believer. It is not the concept of clerical authority but rather the theme of obedience and holiness that Peter has in view, concepts that were also present in the original context of Exod. 19. An ancient priesthood was to be sanctified and set apart from the people at large for their ministry to the deity, to whom they had special access. We all have access to God. I have the ability to commune with God in my lazy boy at 6:30 in the morning and everywhere else I go during the day.
7 We can have relationship with the God of this universe, Jesus made that possible because our sin is no longer in the way. Since our sin is no longer in the way the result is this: we become a people of God... v.10 Once you were not a people, now you are a people of God Since our sin is no longer in the way we receive mercy. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. When you place your life on the cornerstone you are now placed within Christ. Your identity is not found in your vocation, your role as a husband or wife nor is it found in this culture. Your identity is found in Christ. Look at the beginning of v.4, As you come to him. As you embrace Christ you are embracing his life and rejection. You were once not a people now you re a people of God a recipient of His mercy. Back to the question I asked at the beginning. Who are you? Who are we? We are living stones used to build up the church in glorifying God. Who are we? We are a people who will face rejection. Let this provide context for the resistance you get as you life faithfully. Who are we? We are God s chosen people. Let your identity in Christ motivate you to faithful living. This is who we are Church. We represent Jesus our cornerstone so live like it!!!! Look at how Peter ends this section. This is who we are Peter exclaims... so church abstain from sinful desires and live good lives. Live up to who you are. Next week we will be diving into what does that practically look like. We are going to be answering the question, how do I practically live a faithful life in this faithless culture? Lets Pray Church of the Foothills 2015
8 Bibliography 1. Jobes, K. H. (2005). 1 Peter, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. 2. McKnight, S. (1996). 1 Peter, The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing. Unknown. (2015, October 2). Authorities Gunman's 13 Guns Purchased Legally. Retrieved October 6, 2015, from newsmax: http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/oregon-gunmantargeted- christians/2015/10/02/id/694382/? ns_mail_uid=35092186&ns_mail_job=1638301_10022015&s=al&d kt_nbr=mlzx8l5t 3. Unknown. (NA, NA NA). Sermon Illustrations on Identity. Retrieved October 7, 2015, from Preaching Today: www.preachingtoday.com Unknown. Unkown. Unknown: Unknown.