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God’s People: Living Stones

Jonathan Sarr
1 Peter 2:4-10
2010-02-17
one28 Wednesday worship

In the ancient city of Machu Picchu in Peru, Incan engineers constructed temples of cut stones that so precisely fit together that a knife blade cannot be wedged into the cracks.  Some of these stones were massive, and yet they were cut with such precision that no mortar was needed, and many of them still stand today. 

 

Scholars surmise that they fit these stones together with such custom accuracy by lowering them into place, one at a time, and where they bumped against a ridge, they would carve away the needed stone until a tight fit was secured. 

 

Each stone was carefully worked by the craftsmen and the result is that a large portion of a city constructed with crude tools and means largely stands after more than five hundred years.

 

I’d bet that if you were to tell the skilled workers at Machu Picchu that 500 years later we’d be enjoying their handiwork, they would not be surprised.  They’d probably say, “Of course you will.  We’re building it to last.” 

 

Similarly, believers are a part of something great. When I look at these pictures, I see faces of Christians.  Each believer is a carefully-crafted and worked masterpiece fit for the building up of the church.  The sculptor is God, and sometimes believers grind together in the uncomfortable process of making the wall stronger and more stable.  And while it is possible that a wall may stand if one its stones is removed, it may crumble.  It is at least dramatically weaker.  But the wall we are building will stand the test of time as its cornerstone is none other than Christ Himself.

 

No doubt the process of being fit for the construction of the wall is an uncomfortable process for each stone.  That was definitely the case for the living stones that Peter addressed in his first epistle.  They needed a clear mind and an accurate understanding of their purpose in the wall and what awaited them in glory if they were to endure well the grueling shaping process.  That is a major purpose of his letter. 

 

And what we have here is a seemingly endless, glorious meditation on who we are in Christ, and you can almost sense the excitement coming from Peter.  It’s as if he’s saying, “Do you understand what you are?  Do you understand WHOSE you are?  Do you understand what HE IS?  This is amazing!  Who cares about death?  You’re children of the King!”

 

So, in this passage Peter returns to his doctrinal teaching after having spent some time in issuing his directions to his readers.  Interpreters debate rather heatedly about whether this passage is command-oriented or doctrine-oriented, as it’s apparently hard to discern from the original manuscripts.  As most English translations render the paragraph, it is informational, and that fits well with the context and, I think, the content. 

 

You see, Peter is teaching his readers about Christ and about themselves as they are being persecuted.  And this has been his pattern: 

 

·      He addresses his readers as “elect exiles” (1:1).

They have been chosen by God, and can enjoy all the accompanying benefits of such treatment. 

 

·      He tells them of their heavenly inheritance (1:4-5).

They have a salvation and an inheritance that cannot be taken away because they are not physical but spiritual and because the One who has given them is greater than all. 

 

·      He reminds them that their grief under trials is but temporary and necessary (1:6-9).

We learned recently at the Snow Retreat that trials and suffering are temporary by design.  At the worst they last for a lifetime, which is a teeny speck in light of eternity for eternal creatures.  John Bunyan understood this, which is why he was able to joyfully endure separation from his family for his obedience to Christ.  Twelve years of comfort is a small sacrifice for the glory of God.  And Peter’s readers needed to remember this, too. 

 

·      He tells his readers that their salvation surpasses the angels’ understanding and experience (1:10-12).

Remember that the elect angels live to serve and worship and glorify God, and they have never experienced forgiveness because they have never sinned.  The glories of the gospel are only conceptual to them, while they are experiential and real to us. 

 

·      He instructs them to set their hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1:13).

Their hope is in Christ and in Him alone, and a hope that is placed in Him is a good investment for our souls.  They could safely hope in Christ because He would ultimately deliver them from the hands of their enemies, whether in this life or the next. We’re accustomed to hoping in men, and we are often disappointed, but God will never disappoint. 

 

·      He tells them that they have been ransomed by the blood of a loving Redeemer (1:18-19).

It is a glorious mediation to remember that we are free to live holy lives because we have been ransomed by Christ.

 

And Peter will keep doing this in the rest of his letter, because when their life is hard, and when they are being deprived of earthly pleasures and joys, it is helpful to remember whose they are and what awaits them in heaven. 

 

And the same is true for us. 

 

Tonight I would like to hang our thoughts regarding Peter’s readers and Christ on three separate lessons that Peter has for his readers:

 

1.    What They Are

2.    What They Do

3.    What He Is

 

I think a discussion about what we are in Christ deals more directly and objectively with our position.  To say someone is a plumber, or a teacher, or a banker doesn’t tell you much about his personality necessarily, but it does give you objective data about the person.  It is concrete, solid information about his position, his profession, his standing.  And even if a plumber is having a bad day, or is just in a foul mood, he is still a plumber.  That’s what he is. 

 

Similarly, though we may feel distant from Christ, though we may be wayward, even, or disobedient, the fact remains that in Christ, we are custom cut, chiseled, tailored stones for the edification of a spiritual building: the Church.  The master Artisan has shaped and fashioned us with a purpose. 

 

And because the instruction related to these three headings comes from all over the passage, we’ll find bits and pieces from this passage for each.  I have tried articulate this in a way that makes sense to me, and I hope it helps you, as well. 

 

So please follow along with me as I read our passage for tonight before we examine Peter’s lessons for his readers. 

 

1.    Lesson #1:  WHAT THEY ARE

 

1 Peter 2:5  you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood,

 

1.    Living stones (v. 5a)

 

As we’ve already seen in some walls that were constructed centuries after this letter was written, a building is only as strong as its materials.  You can put together straw in a strategic fashion, but in the end, your house is weak. 

 

Believers are the stones that construct …

 

2.    A spiritual house (v. 5b)

 

This is not a physical, earthly house of bricks and mortar or clay that will inevitably crumble. They are a part of a spiritual house that cannot be compared with the physical.  And it is for a purpose: to be a holy priesthood. 

 

3.    A holy priesthood (v. 5c)

 

The priesthood of Christians surpasses the Levitical priesthood in every way: they are spiritual, and the Levites were physical.  Their work covered sins, but because of Christ’s real atonement for sins, we can have real contact with the Father through Christ.

 

Every believer is a priest, then, as he speaks to the Father because of the work of Christ.

 

This is likely no new knowledge for these believers, but if you imagine for a moment that newness and novelty that this carried with it, they would have to get pretty pumped up thinking about it.

 

1 Peter 2:9  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession

 

Note in this section the striking parallels with Old Testament Israel.  This is much of the same language we might hear in the Old Testament to describe God’s people Israel, but in every case the believers’ position surpasses Israel’s. 

 

4.    A chosen race (v. 9a)

 

This surpasses Israel’s election, as it was unto an eternal inheritance, and because they rejected Christ the Messiah. 

 

5.    A royal priesthood (v. 9a)

 

Here he takes the priesthood piece a step further: beyond being a holy priesthood, we are also royalty, as coheirs with Christ, children of the King of kings who have access to the Father, we are a royal priesthood. 

 

6.    A holy nation (v. 9a)

 

The holy ones are like God.  It is His requirement that we be holy as He is.  We are a nation of believers

 

7.    A people for His own possession (v. 9a)

 

We are God’s possession!  Do you get that?  He has chosen us to do what He will with us, and He has chosen to give the Church as a gift for His Son!

 

8.    God’s people (v. 10)

1 Peter 2:10  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.

 

Again we have a contrast between their station before Christ and when they’re reading the letter.  They were without mercy, but no longer. 

 

This glorious meditation has to impact how they are to live, then.  If they are stones in the God’s spiritual house, if they are a holy and royal priesthood, being built up as God’s people for a gift for the Son, what do they do? 

 

This takes us to our second lesson:

 

2.    Lesson #2: WHAT THEY DO

 

1.    They come to Him (v. 4a)

1 Peter 2:4  As you come to him,

 

These people come to Christ!  What else will they do?  The Levitical priests would have given anything to have had the access to the Father that we have through Christ.  If we are a holy priesthood, of course we will come to Him. 

 

When we talk of someone being saved, we often will say he has come to Christ.  But rather than being a salvific reference, one commentator suggests that “The present participle (coming) does not refer to an individual’s initial commitment to Christ for salvation, but to the voluntary, repeated, or habitual coming of believers to Christ for sustenance and fellowship” (Hiebert 129).   

 

This is a participle, and it is indicative, meaning that it does not command the people to come to Christ, but rather it describes what they are doing. 

 

You go to the living well.  You go to the source of living water.  You go again and again to the hope of eternal life.  At least that’s what Peter thought.  Turn quickly to John chapter 6 for a quick look inside the mind of the apostle Peter.

 

READ JOHN 6:65-69

 

John 6:65-69  And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."  ⁶⁶ After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.  ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?"  ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,  ⁶⁹ and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."   

 

Peter knew that the One to go to repeatedly would have the words of eternal life and be the Holy One of God.  But what else are they to do as followers of Christ? 

 

2.    They may proclaim Christ’s excellencies (v. 9b)

1 Peter 2:9  that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

 

The immediate context makes it clear that we are made with a view to this kind of behavior.  This is natural for the believer, as this is what we were intended to do as God’s own possession!

 

It is our duty and should be our delight to sing the praises of the one who has rescued us from ourselves and transferred us from darkness to light.  Do you do this?  If not, you’re missing the very point of your identification in Christ. 

 

I confess that sometimes I feel more exuberant in worship than other times.  When we gather corporately, we corporately (as living stones!) proclaim His excellencies! 

 

 

3.    Lesson #2: WHAT HE IS

 

1.    A living stone (v. 4b)

1 Peter 2:4  a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,

 

As we’ve already discussed, the stone in the wall is a person, but rather than Christ being like us, we are like Him.  And this is an interesting picture, because a person may be described as “stone dead,” but living stones compose this spiritual house.

 

2.    A cornerstone (vv. 6b, 7b)

1 Peter 2:6-7  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."  ⁷ 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,"

 

A cornerstone was the start of the construction.  It was at the bottom of two walls and held them together, ensuring the building would be square, straight and true from there.  The cornerstone bore the full weight of the wall, and without a cornerstone, no wall will stand. 

 

The cornerstone, then, is Christ. 

 

3.    A savior (v. 6b)

1 Peter 2:6  whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."

 

This is said quickly, but it is a significant and glorious truth of Christ, the Cornerstone.  He is our Savior and can rescue the weak and weary and the afflicted.  This had to be a comforting and sweet reminder for Peter’s readers. 

 

4.    A stumbling block (v. 8)

1 Peter 2:8  "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

 

Where Peter’s audience needs constant reminders of their position and their inheritance in Christ because of their suffering, we need these things in order to suffer.  They were suffering already because of their identification with Christ.  Practically, identification with Christ for us will cost us almost nothing in this world.  But living for Him as we should live will make the world around us very uncomfortable because Christ is a stumbling block. 

        

We should not be surprised if the world hates our message, because it hates Christ.  If the world loves us, we can conclude that we do not have the love of Christ. 

 

CONCLUSION

 

1.    How does a proper understanding of who we are in Christ make this life more bearable?

2.    What does it mean to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light?”  Is this worth singing about?

3.    What truths do you remind yourself of when you are discouraged?