Welcome to the ministry of First Reformed Church of Aberdeen, South Dakota. Our worship services are at 9 o'clock every Sunday morning. Now we join Pastor Hank Bowen as he brings us God's Word. You'll join with me in turning to 1 Peter chapter 2. We take up our second sermon on chapter 2. And for our background reading, we'll be looking at the verses 4 and 5 in particular. But we'll read through verse 10 as we'll take up this meditation on this concept of Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone over the next couple weeks. Let us take heed to God's holy, infallible, and inspired word. Therefore laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 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. 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. 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 and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. But you are 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 the darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Father, as we meditate upon this word, we pray that this day you may grant unto us insight as well as a warmness within our heart as we hear your words to us, even as the disciples on the road to Emmaus spoke of how their hearts were warmed as the Lord spoke to them. And so, Father, write your word upon our hearts, for we ask these things through Jesus Christ, who is the living word. Amen. A beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, when you hear someone say it is a matter of life and death, it's normally in the context of decisions that will determine whether someone lives or dies, or at least it is so serious a matter that the future of the person's course of life is in view. For the Christian, however, The idea of a matter of life and death, spiritually speaking, is connected to one's union with Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. There is life in Jesus, or there is death permeating the spiritually dead sinner. That is a matter of life and death, spiritually speaking. And so how do you see your identity as a Christian in relation to the Lord Jesus? How do you see it in relation to the Church as a community of believers? How does the way you see yourself in relation to the Lord Jesus and to the other members of the Church impact the choices you make in your daily routine? Do they reflect spiritual life or death? In 1 Peter chapter 2, Verses four and five, the apostle appeals to the imagery of the Lord Jesus as the chief cornerstone of a foundation upon which the entire Christian church is anchored and from which she receives her strength and life. How you understand who Jesus is becomes so fundamental to the Christian faith that it also must be the image by which you understand who you are in relation to God and the world. And that's where Peter is going in these verses. He explains who we are as Christians and how that should revolutionize the way we see ourselves and what we should be doing. A good summary or theme of these two verses would be, having been chosen by God, Christians are part of God's spiritual house to offer living sacrifice. Not only do we see in this theme who we are as Christians, but also the purpose for which we are called to be Christians. We'll explore this theme under three points. First, those who are received as living stones. Second, that these living stones are rejected by men. And then third, that these living stones should be resolved to offer spiritual sacrifice. So received, rejected, resolved. First, received as living stones. We read in the text here, beginning of verse four, coming to him as to a living stone, and then he says, you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, the holy priesthood. At the heart of true belief is the understanding and the believing that God is sovereign, and that God has the right and the authority to choose what will be. He's created the world, he's designed the world, and he is directing the world according to his own will. Peter exhibits that full belief in a sovereign God here and in particular when describing these living stones. What you believe about who God is shapes the way you understand everything about this world. If you believe God is the creator of the heavens and the earth and that he created everything with a divine design and purpose, then you will trust God with the authority and power to work all things after his own good pleasure and for his eternal glory. You will find comfort in knowing that God is in charge and chooses what comes to pass. Central to this text is how we come to Christ. This coming is a drawing near to God, coming to Him as living stone. When you profess your faith before the church, you are coming. You are making a vow, describing yourself as believing in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and in the triune God as the one whom you will worship, obey, and love with all of your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength. That is sometimes called coming to faith or coming to believe. But Peter here refines this coming as a coming to him. Who's the him? The him is Jesus, coming to him as to a living stone chosen by God and precious. He becomes the object of our focus. This is the benchmark that drives these verses. Jesus is God's beloved son in whom he is well pleased. He loves his son and empowers him to be the savior for the world. He is the only Savior. And there is no other name under heaven where a sinner can find salvation from the wrath of the holy and just God. Jesus alone is able and has paid the price for the forgiveness of sins for all who turn to him in faith, who come to him for salvation. This coming to Jesus also implies leaving behind a love for the world. Now, there's a second driving force in these verses. It is how Jesus is described as chosen by God and precious. The word chosen is the word elect, that he is elect. You may never think of Jesus as being elect. We're the elect. But here it says, Jesus likewise is chosen. He's elect. He's the one chosen by the Father. And the word precious speaks to something of considerable value or worth. When we speak of Jesus in the eyes of the Father, that is an infinite value, not just of great value. But the Son in the eyes of the Father is of infinite value. You can't measure it. There's no end to it. There's no limit to how precious Jesus is to the Father in heaven who loves him. And it is this infinite value of the righteous nature of Jesus that guarantees that our sins are paid and forgiven upon the cross. It's that reality that brings comfort to us, confidence to us, trust in Christ. The image of the living stone is central to the next five verses. To the hearer, it would direct their attention to the stones of the temple in Jerusalem as the beacon of the people of God, the place where God comes and dwells with his chosen. This idea of the stone is a strong Old Testament image. So when Jesus is described as a living stone, Peter shifts the imagery away from the dead stones, the material rock stones of the Jerusalem temple, to Jesus as a living stone who has been resurrected and ascended into heaven and is the one who brings life to those who come to him. All of this is important information for us in understanding who Jesus is because of what happens next. Look at verse five. He says, you also. Jesus is this, you also are this. You also as living stones. Stop there for now. Do you see what Peter just did? Jesus is the archetype of a living stone, meaning he is the ultimate living stone after which all other living stones will be patterned. It brings up the imagery of the Apostle Paul saying that we have been predestined to be conformed to the image likeness of Jesus Christ. That's who we are. Here's who Jesus is, here's who we are, and we are being conformed to this. That's our calling, that's our purpose. Are we conscious in that understanding? Jesus is the living stone who when we come to him in faith, we become like him as a living stone. We become the same stuff in the sense of receiving spiritual life. This is the revolutionary concept that should grab you deep down in your soul. I am in Christ, and that means that I become one with my Lord. It is with that concept in mind that the living stones imagery is now advanced to the point that you see yourself, as it says in verse five, built up a spiritual house. Two things in this building up. the building up the spiritual house, is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. That's God in us through the Holy Spirit, through a process called sanctification, where God transforms us in such a way that we become conformed to be more and more like the image of Christ. We're transformed, renewed by the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We are regenerated. We are brought to life. It's the Holy Spirit in us that makes us living stones, spiritual stones. The stones used to build this new temple of God begin with Jesus as the cornerstone, and then we are added to as stones of similar material in us as the people of God. In other words, he doesn't start building the New Testament temple with one kind of material and then build on top of it with a different kind of material. Well, what's around here? We'll just throw it all together and see what comes. That doesn't work. As a builder, it doesn't work. You can't throw up a two by four and then stack up a bunch of bricks for the next one and then pile up some rocks for the next one. No, you use the same material throughout to build it so that it's correct. And so Jesus is the cornerstone, and as we are called by God and given spiritual life, we become similar in material to what Christ is as the cornerstone, so that the church is built as the same thing. Paul uses a similar idea when he says, we're the body of Christ. We're all the same organic kind of stuff as a body. Christ is the head and we're the parts. He doesn't make part of it a tree limb and another part a stone. We're part of a living organism body. And so we see that here. We're being transformed and that's who we are. The temple of God is built with living stones. You should also see in this imagery that Peter is not talking about individual believers, but that we collectively as church are built up into this one spiritual house. When you become part of this house that Jesus is the cornerstone of, we then share in something else with him. That brings us to our second point. It says in verse 4 that this living stone is rejected by men, rejected indeed by men. Now this will be a short but important point. Peter quotes Psalm 118 verse 22. Psalm 118 verse 22, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. The rejection of Jesus by the Jews becomes a key point in the New Testament of prophetic fulfillment. The Apostle John opened his gospel stating, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God. And the word came unto his own, and his own received him not. They rejected him. In Luke 2.34, Simeon's prophecy at Jesus' circumcision said that this child would be for a sign which will be spoken against. in Mark chapter 12, 10 in Matthew 21, 42. Mark 12, 10 in Matthew 21, 42. Our Lord pointed to this prophecy as being about himself. Because there Jesus said to them, have you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. This also becomes linked to the persecution of the apostles in Acts chapter 4, verse 11. Acts 4, 11. When Peter and John are arrested and made to answer to the Sanhedrin, by what power or by what name have you healed this man? At the portico. And Peter stands up in Acts 4, verses 8 through 12. And it says, then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well? Let it be known to you all 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 stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And as he stands before the Sanhedrin, the spiritual leaders of the land, Peter says, this stone you inspected, you listened to, you qualified, and you rejected it as not being worthy of taking Israel, taking the world forward into the future. But this one is the chief cornerstone. Returning to 1 Peter 2.4, when Peter said, rejected indeed by men, he was applying this rejection of Jesus as the chief cornerstone to all the other living stones that make up the spiritual house. In Christ, you too will be rejected by the world as a living stone chosen by God and precious. They'll reject you as that. In union with Christ, you share not only in spiritual life, but in suffering in the name of the Savior. When you stand up for Jesus in a real and significant way, then the world will hate you for it, because they hate the true Jesus, who is the anchor of His church. That you will suffer for Christ occurs when you take those stands as the light of Christ in the world that reveals the darkness and sin in the lives of the people that are around you. But Peter's point is that as living stones, God has a spiritual purpose for your life. And that brings us to our third point, resolved to offer spiritual sacrifice. We should be resolved to do that. That is, we should be committed to it. He ends how? To offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That's the purpose. Here's your identity. God has called you. He's come, and you have come. He's brought you to come to Him. That coming is not active on our part. That coming is interesting in a passive kind of context, meaning that God is the one bringing us along in that process for the purpose of doing what? And he states it very very straightforwardly, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. There are two descriptions of who we are as living stones here. The first of being built up a spiritual house we've already talked about. But there is a second, and that is that we are a holy priesthood. This language complements the idea of this spiritual house being viewed as the temple of God, the New Testament temple of God. And this should not be confused with our teaching of the priesthood of all believers that were prophet, priests, and kings. No, but rather the position we hold as those charged with the care of the temple where God dwells. That's what's here, that we become the living stones of the temple, and we also become those who are serving that temple inside to keep it carefully. In other words, it's kind of drawing our attention to the Levites of the Old Testament, who were the priests, the tribe of priests. They were charged with the care of the temple as the place where God dwelt with his people. They were the only tribe not given a land grant of all the tribes, because God was to be their possession. So they didn't need land. They had God. And so we are identified as those priests. The imagery for us today develops in this way. The temple that God dwells in for the New Testament Christian is not a material temple made with rocks, with stones, but God dwells in the hearts of His people as living stones who have God as our special possession within us. Not only do we make up the building, but we also are to serve as the priest within her. Thus, we as the called-out people of God, chosen and precious, are not to be of this world even though we are in the world, but we are to be the corporate body of Christ spiritually. We form the one temple of God, and in this we are bound to one another, being built up as a spiritual house anchored by Jesus as our chief cornerstone." We're tied together. God has tied us together. The work of the Holy Spirit is building us up into this spiritual house, so we're part of one house together. Thus, we as the called out people of God are to be careful in what we do. The service of sacrifice that we offer as the spiritual house of God is a spiritual sacrifice. Now immediately, when we hear that our sacrifice is to be a spiritual sacrifice, what should pop into your mind is Romans 12.1, 12.1 and 2. And remember there, where Paul says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." In other words, Paul understands that that's what's driving the whole thing, that by your actions you are proving what the will of God is, and that it's good and acceptable and perfect. This idea of spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God brings in the whole gamut of Christian living. It is following Christ in love for one another in such a way that we give our life to serving God as the body of Christ. This entails forsaking the world, like the Levites, who were not given land to pursue the love of God first and foremost in our lives. We do that by living in love for one another, putting others' interests and needs over our own, being loving husbands and submissive wives, caring fathers and mothers. It is loving sacrificial service to God, to others, and self-lust. It is loving others the way you would have them love you. But Peter ends with the essential element, lust. All of this can be done only through the merit of Christ. Your good works, your sacrifices, and all of what you do are only acceptable through Christ. They all fall short of ourselves, but Christ brings them up to that level of perfection. And so Paul says in Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can do nothing of my own. I want to end by turning to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. At the beginning of verse 10, Paul is bringing a kind of crescendo of a climax. And he says, we have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. We have a temple that far exceeds the Old Testament form. Because remember, the book of Hebrews is all about the superiority of Christ to the Old Testament system. So he says, we have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him, outside the camp, bearing his reproach. He's been rejected. Let us go as those who likewise are rejected in Christ. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. The picture is Jerusalem. Jerusalem isn't for us. Even Abraham, you know, we've got a whole segment of the church that says, you know, Jesus has to come back to Israel. The promise was to Abraham that he have the land and all those kinds of things. And they completely miss in Hebrews where it says, Abraham sought a city not made with hands. Not an earthly city, not Jerusalem. Therefore, by him, by Jesus, Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Let us go outside. Let us go to Christ. Let us be those who are coming to him as living stones, not by the earthly institutions, but by the heavenly. not by the ways of this world, but while we are in the world, let us never be of the world. And so to resolve is to be committed, committed to spiritual life, spiritual service, spiritual walking in this world. When the Holy Spirit works faith through regeneration, the result is transformed life, wherein you seek those things which are above. And so Peter here identifies who we are. We are those who are living stones formed after Christ himself and what we are to do, to live as the spiritual house of God together as the body of Christ. Amen? Our Almighty God and Heavenly Father What a great calling, what an amazing reality, when we come to recognize that you stir in us new life, and that we come to Jesus as living stones, patterned after him, being added into the very building, the spiritual house, with Christ as our cornerstone, so that everything we do is to be anchored and built upon Christ himself. Father, give us wisdom. Help us to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may serve him fully and wholly, that we may give him the sacrifice of praise. Hear us now as we pray as you've taught us, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.