WHERE WILL FOLLOWING JESUS TAKE US? JANUARY 29, 2006 1 PETER 2:1-10 In his book, Everyday Discipleship for Ordinary People, Stuart Briscoe tells the story of his young colleague who was officiating at the funeral of a war veteran. The dead man s military friends wished to have a part in the service at the funeral home, so they requested that the pastor lead them down to the casket, stand with them for a solemn moment of remembrance, and then lead them through a side door. This he proceeded to do, but unfortunately the effect was somewhat marred when he picked the wrong door. The result was that they marched with military precision into a broom closet, in full view of the mourners, and had to beat a hasty retreat covered with confusion. 1 This humorous story reminds us that we need to carefully choose who we follow. Just as this well-planned service went awry because the pastor led them into a broom closet, so our choice of whom to follow will influence our life. Many here today have either made the decision to follow Jesus or are considering following Jesus. I think it is fair to ask, Where will following Jesus take us? Will He take us into the broom closet, making a shambles of our life? Peter has some answers for us. If you have a Bible, please turn to 1 Peter 2:1-10, for we will look at these verses and try and answer the question, Where will following Jesus take us? As we start our passage, we see the word therefore which means that it is connected with what has just been written. In verses 22 through 25, because of the fact that we are born of the word of God, Peter has exhorted us to love one another sincerely and fervently. Verse 1 tells us some practices and attitudes we need to leave behind in order to love others sincerely and fervently. Therefore putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, Let s define the terms here. Malice is a desire to harm other people. Deceit is a deliberate attempt to mislead others. Hypocrisy is a type of deceit in which a person pretends to be different than they really are. Envy is longing for what other people have. Slander is talking other people down. None of these are consistent with a sincere and fervent love. So, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to examine the recesses of our heart. Do we take secret delight in the struggles of an old adversary? That is malice. Do we embellish a story to make ourselves look better? That s deceit. Are we portraying ourselves to be something we are really not in the hopes of garnering favor or approval? That s hypocrisy. Do we want the house or the income or the prestige or the abilities that someone else has? That s envy. Do we damage another s reputation in the guise of a prayer request? That s slander. These types of questions help us in determining whether or not our love is sincere and fervent. It is always personally very challenging to consider these types of questions. Years after the resolution of a disagreement with a Christian brother, I can feel a sense of gratification if time proves me right. I don t say anything; but in my heart I enjoy being right. That s malice. We d think since Peter told us some attitudes and practices we should avoid, he d follow up with some attitudes and practices we should do to maintain a sincere and fervent love. But that is not the case. Let s read verses 2 and 3. Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. Peter tells us that, like newborn babies longing for milk, we are to long for spiritual nourishment, God s Word. Verse 3 tells us we should long for spiritual nourishment because we 1 Pastor Led Procession into a Closet from www.preachingtoday.com, 2005.
have tasted the goodness of God. The all powerful God is a good God and will give us all we need for spiritual strength. He will supply the power to love others fervently and sincerely, if we will but seek Him, if we will but pursue spiritual nourishment, God s Word. During Superbowl 38, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane went down stranding him on a desert island for years. Looking like the bedraggled Hanks in the movie, the FedEx worker goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand. When the lady answers the door, he explains that he survived five years on a deserted island and during that whole time he kept the package in order to deliver it to her. But he is curious about the package s contents, so he asks, What was in the package? She opens it and shows him the contents saying, Oh nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier and some seeds. Jesus is our package. He contains all the resources we need for us to love others sincerely and fervently. Yet, like the stranded FedEx worker, we fail to make use of the contents of our package. Make time to get regular spiritual nourishment, make time to get into God s Word. As we move into verses 4 and 5, Peter uses a stone as a metaphor to represent Jesus. Let s read verses 4 and 5. And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but it is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. The first thing we see here is that this stone has been rejected by many. We will talk more about people s rejection of Jesus in verses 6 through 8. Yet, people s rejection doesn t diminish the value of Jesus in God s eyes. We see that Jesus is choice and precious in the Father s sight. In verse 5, we find out as followers of Jesus we are part of the house of God. In verse 6, we find out that Jesus is the cornerstone of this house. In this house, then, we are connected to Jesus and to one another. As we find out in our coming together, we serve the Lord as priests, offering up sacrifices to God. The sacrifice we offer is the sacrifice of our selves. We offer our life, we offer all that we have and all that we are to God. The reason our sacrifice is acceptable is that we offer it through Jesus Christ. I think this passage reminds us that we are called together. We are called into community. For this reason, Peter tells us to put away malice and envy and slander, etc. For this reason, he also exhorts us to long spiritual nourishment, God s Word, that we might have the spiritual strength to love one another fervently and sincerely. When we follow Jesus, He calls us into relationship not only with Himself, but also with one another. Where will following Jesus take us? Following Jesus leads us to be part of a spiritual community. One of the things that can challenge our faith is the fact that so many people reject Jesus. In verses 6 through 8, Peter digresses a bit to talk about people s rejection of Jesus. For this is contained in Scripture: Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed. This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. Peter uses 3 Old Testament references here; the first is from Isaiah 28:16, the second is from Psalm 118:22 and the third is from Isaiah
8:14. These verses are used in other places in the New Testament, so it appears to be a traditional apologetic for the faith in the first century. You will notice that some of these quotes exactly match the Old Testament references, while in other cases quotes are close but not exactly the same. Why do quotes fail to exactly match the Old Testament reference? There are a couple reasons. First, at times, the quote of an Old Testament text is taken from the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Since Greek was the language of the day, the Greek translation of the Old Testament was often used. At times, in the translation from Hebrew to Greek, the wording does not exactly line up, but the meaning is the same. Second, in developing a common defense or apologetic for the faith, the first century church leaders would merge texts together to state ideas more succinctly. At times, the writers of the New Testament appear to quote from this source instead of from the Old Testament directly. As we look at these verses we know that when people encounter Jesus that encounter will have one of two results people either accept Jesus as God s Son or reject Him as God s Son. The rejection can either be passive or active, but the result is the same. The stone in their way is either a foundation stone to which they can commit themselves without any consideration of being let down or it is the stone which leads to their fall. This stone lies in everybody s path. There is no avoiding it. Peter s point is that since Old Testament times, God has anticipated people s rejection of His Son, the stone and their rejection of Jesus should not be a concern. Imagine a presidential election in which the first candidate dominated the east coast states, but the second candidate controlled all the other states to the west, the Midwest, the plains and the west coast states. The early returns would seem to favor the first candidate, but there would be no panic on the part of the second candidate. Things would be going according to plan and by the end of the night he would be declared the winner. That is the idea here. Yes, there is rejection of Jesus by people but God has anticipated this and by the end of time He will be declared the winner. Having dealt with concerns about people s rejection of Jesus, Peter moves on to talk about the purpose of our coming together. Let s read verses 9 and 10. But you (this you is a plural you referring to you as a group of believers) are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God s own possession, so that you, again a plural you, might proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. These titles are taken from the Septuagint s, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, quote of Exodus 19:5-6 and Isaiah 43:20-21. The emphasis is collective: the church as a corporate unity is the people, the priesthood, the nation, etc., rather than each individual Christian fitting these titles. The message of the New Testament stands in quite a contrast to our far more individualistic western Christianity. God moves among us and empowers us to communicate His message when we come together as a body. That is why we are encouraging your involvement in a life group. It gives you the opportunity to fulfill our mandate to be closely connected with others in this body. We ve included a life group card in your bulletin. I encourage you to fill it out and drop it in the box right by the exit to the auditorium. Early in my faith experience I used to think Just me and Jesus. Together, we can do great things. Later, I came to realize this was not a Biblical perspective, rather it was
Christianity viewed from an American perspective. What happens when we come together; connected to God and to one another? God makes us a chosen race, an indication of our privileged status, a royal priesthood, meaning we have access to God, a people for God s own possession, suggesting we are objects of special care. And what is the purpose of this special status? According to verse 9, that we might declare the excellencies of Him who called us out of the darkness into the light. In verse 10, Peter uses quotations from the book of Hosea to remind his readers that they are recipients of God s mercy. Where will following Jesus take us? Following Jesus leads us to be part of a spiritual community so that we might declare the virtues of God. One of the movies I enjoyed was Miracle the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. There are two scenes I found particularly compelling. First, the American hockey association has come together to pick the team. The only problem is that Herb Brooks, the team s coach, has already picked his team. At one point he is asked by an official from the American Hockey Association to involve members of the association in the process. Brooks answers him, Every one of those boys was chosen for a specific reason. I know best what I need to compete and I ve chosen it. Just as Brooks specifically chose his team members, so God has chosen you to be part of His team. Part of being on God s team is serving one another. We will talk about that more in 1 Peter 4. God wants you to be a part of his team that with your teammates you might be a part of proclaiming His message. 2 There is a second part of the movie that I found compelling. From the beginning of workouts Brooks would have the team members shout out their name and their team. So, a guy might say, Joe Smith, Boston University. Workouts were relentless. And in the midst of the workout he d tell a player give me your name and team. One workout was particularly exhausting and Brooks assistants kept telling him to back off, but he wouldn t. In the midst of the workout, he d ask players for their name and team. Finally, one player said, Bobby Jones, United States of America. Brooks ended the workout right there. The players had to broken of their individualism. They weren t from this team or that team, they were the United States of American hockey team. And the same goes for us, if we are going to play on God s team, we are going to have to find our identity in being a part of God s team. God is calling us to deeply connect with Him and with other believers that we might be built into a spiritual house that proclaims His virtues. Erik Weihenmayer is blind, yet on May 25, 2001, he reached the peak of Mt. Everest. On a mountain where 90 percent of climbers never make it to the top, Erik succeeded because he followed well. He listened to the little bell tied to the back of the climber in front of him, so he would know what direction to go. He listened to the voice of teammates who would shout to him, Death fall two feet to your right! so he would know what direction not to go. 3 Just as Erik Weihenmayer needed a guide on that mountain, so we need a guide to lead us through life. God will be our guide. If we will follow Him, He will take us to great heights. Where will following Jesus take us? Following Jesus leads us to be part of a spiritual community so that we might declare the virtues of God. 2 Miracle: Chosen for a Purpose from www.preachigntoday.com, 2005. 3 Listening Well Leads to Success from www.preachigntoday.com, 2005.
*Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1987, 1988, The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. North Pointe Community Church, PO Box 29,555 Lincoln, NE 68529 Copyright 2005 Andrew A. MacFarlane. All rights reserved.