Title: Chosen with a Purpose Part 1

Text: I Peter 2:4-10

FCF: We often struggle with having too shallow a view of our great salvation.

Prop: Because God gives honor to His Son and those united to Him, we must proclaim and praise the Lord for the fullness of our great salvation.

Scripture Intro: CSB

[Slide 1] Turn in your bible to I Peter chapter 2.

Last week Peter used a metaphor designed to help us understand our relationship to our God. It was challenging, but you were able to follow me through all that unscathed.

This week, Peter will change that metaphor to communicate a different truth about our relationship to Christ. It is a core truth – but one that I can’t help but marvel at every time I think about it.

I can’t wait to share it with you.

So let’s start reading in verse 4 of chapter 2. I am reading from the CSB today but you can follow along in the pew bible on page 1365 or in whatever version you prefer.

Transition:

What a marvelous Christmas message we have today. It may not look like it after reading our text – but it is. It truly is. So let’s get to it. Before we hop in I want to warn you that there are a few Old Testament passages that I am going to be referencing in the sermon today. We will not go back and read them. So take down those references so you can refer back to them later in the week.

I.) God gives honor to His Son and those united to Him, so we must proclaim the fullness of our great salvation (4-6)

a. [Slide 2] 4 –As you come to him,

i. Peter just talked about how his audience must apply the truth of God being at the center and doing all in their salvation and how that prompts them to respond. They must set their hope in future grace, be holy like God out of fear and reverence for Him, love one another sincerely from a pure heart, and yearn for the pure spiritual nourishment only God can provide.

ii. And then he says, by doing that, by tasting of Him and seeing that He is good and being nourished by Him– he grows them up in their salvation. Well, what does that look like?

iii. That is exactly where Peter is going here. What does it mean to be nourished by God to the extent that we are grown up to our salvation?

iv. But before he answers that question, he wants to speak about the one to which we are coming. Specifically, he wants to alter the metaphor. When last we saw God, or Christ, he was a nursing mother. This metaphor will not fit with where he is going next so he must alter it.

b. [Slide 3] A living stone - rejected by people but chosen and honored by God -

i. In our introduction to I Peter we noted that Peter quotes the Old Testament directly 15 times in 5 chapters. He also alludes to the Old Testament many times, but since they are not direct quotes it is difficult to know for sure if they are allusions or just scriptural sayings.

ii. In the text this morning there are 4 direct quotes and several more allusions to the Old Testament.

iii. The first of these, although not until verse 6, is anticipated here as Peter compares God, and specifically Jesus, to a living stone.

iv. What specifically he calls to the attention of his audience is that this living stone was rejected by people or by mankind.

v. This theme will continue to crop up in I Peter. Jesus was rejected.

vi. Peter’s audience is being rejected by people too – so they ought not think that something is wrong. Indeed, if they are united to Christ – they ought to expect to be rejected too.

vii. Not only did people reject Christ, but all people including his audience once rejected Him. They too lived as people far from Him.

viii. But God chose and honored this living stone.

ix. This too is a theme that Peter is building. God did not reject Christ and all those who are united to Christ by faith will likewise not be rejected by God.

x. So, Peter says that as you come to this living stone who was rejected by people but honored by God, something happens…. What?

xi. Well before we get there, Peter wants to make one more little point with huge significance.

c. [Slide 4] 5 – you yourselves, as living stones,

i. First, let’s notice the statement Peter makes about his audience.

ii. They are living stones.

iii. This statement should immediately give us pause. Who did Peter just say was also a living stone? Christ. Jesus and His people are living stones – together.

iv. And as God’s people come to Christ to be sustained and grown, this Christ who was rejected by everyone but honored by God, these living stones – what?

v. What does you, yourselves mean?

vi. Friends it means that his audience is seen in the same category. They also are rejected by men and chosen and honored in God’s sight.

vii. Men will hate you – But God has honored you with His Son!

viii. And what happens when these living stones come together?

d. [Slide 5] A spiritual house, are being built

i. They unite to form something.

ii. A spiritual house. What does this mean?

iii. Well, the word house has some ambiguity. Sometimes it means a building, palace, or temple. Contextually we see Peter laying the groundwork for that meaning.

iv. However, it can also refer to household in the sense of a family.

v. It is very difficult to know to which Peter is referring. Clearly the imagery of living stones coming together and the building metaphor which will continue, would suggest he means this as a temple.

vi. But Peter continues and shows purpose of our being built with Christ into a spiritual house…

e. [Slide 6] To be a holy priesthood

i. The temple imagery collides with the imagery of the family.

ii. As we know the priesthood of the Old Covenant was under 1 family. The Levites and specifically after the order of Aaron.

iii. The priests always acted as the go between of God and men.

iv. Which means that in some way, Christ and these living stones have become a priesthood for the nations.

f. [Slide 7] To offer spiritual sacrifices

i. Offering spiritual sacrifices again points to a family in that Aaron’s line did this and only Aaron’s line could go into the holy of holies to offer sacrifice for the nation of Israel.

ii. Yet where did they do this but the temple?

iii. And so, I think there is an intentional double meaning by Peter. He is using the imagery of stone to point out that God’s house, His temple is no longer with made with quarried stone but with Christ and His people.

iv. But as His people come together, they also form a priestly line whereby they offer sacrifices to God. Not sacrifices of sheep and goats, but their own bodies they offer as living sacrifices. The people of God, those joined to Christ are simultaneously the temple, the priests, and the sacrifices in this context.

v. But how can this be?

vi. How can Peter’s audience form a temple that is stable enough for God to dwell in?

vii. How can Peter’s audience be a priestly line if they are not of Aaron?

viii. How can Peter’s audience be a worthy sacrifice to God since they are supposed to be without blemish?

g. [Slide 8] Acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

i. Christ is the stone on which all others are laid.

ii. Christ is the head of a new priestly order.

iii. Christ is the sacrificial lamb satisfying forever the need for atoning sacrifice. And giving us a way to offer up ourselves as living sacrifices in thanksgiving and devotion to our God for His goodness.

h. [Slide 9] 6 – For it stands in scripture

i. Now Peter will prove that all this is true by quoting from the scriptures.

ii. He is saying that all those who have tasted the kindness of God and continue to come to Him for sustenance and growth are built into His holy temple, become His holy priesthood, and offer themselves as spiritual sacrifices that are accepted by God because of Christ.

iii. How do we know that is true?

i. [Slide 10] See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and honored cornerstone

i. This is a quote from Isaiah 28, in which the prophet Isaiah tells Jerusalem that she cannot hide from God’s judgment.

ii. In the midst of that, God offers hope in a stone that he will lay down in Jerusalem. A stone that will provide stability. An honored cornerstone in the foundation.

iii. Although unclear to Jewish interpreters – certainly Peter sees this as fulfilled in Christ. Probably because Christ told him directly that He fulfilled this prophesy.

j. [Slide 11] And the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.

i. Continuing in quotation from Isaiah, God predicts that as long as one trusts on this stone, this foundation, then he will not be put to shame.

ii. Peter is saying that the one coming to this Christ for sustenance and growth will never be shamed. They may be shamed by men – but to God, they will be a choice and honored stone, just like the cornerstone on which they rest.

k. [Slide 12] Passage Truth: So, Peter reminds his audience that their salvation that they are being grown to is not simply forgiveness from sin. Rather it is so that they can join with Christ to be a temple, a priesthood, offering sacrifices. Connecting the rest of the world to God.

l. [Slide 13] Passage Application: So, what is his audience to do with this? We don’t know yet. Peter hasn’t said. And here is the tricky part for me as your pastor… Peter isn’t going to say what his audience is to do with this until verse 11. We could look ahead, but I kinda want to save all that for next week. That is why it is a 2-part sermon. So, for Peter’s audience we’ll have to wait till next week.

m. [Slide 14] Broader Biblical Truth: How does Peter’s reminder fit into the whole canon of scripture? It speaks to the intricacy of prophesy and the magnitude of the plan of God. As an Israelite, in the tribe of Judah, with the Northern kingdom all but gone, and the Lord’s judgement bellowing down on us through His prophets, it would have been difficult to imagine a time where God’s redemption would have been this big and this great. It is more than they could have ever hoped for. That His people will truly be His people. His possession. His priests. His temple. What a mystery. And now, as New Covenant believers, we see and understand the magnitude of God’s redemption. And what a responsibility as a kingdom of priests, connecting the world to this great God. Announcing to them His law, His ways, His grace, by preaching it and by living it before them.

n. [Slide 15] Broader Biblical Application: So, CBC, since we don’t yet know how Peter is going to apply these truths, let me take a moment to rebuke our shallow view of salvation. Yes, Jesus died for our sins. Yes, Jesus atoned for us. Yes, he made a way for us to connect to our God. But He also is not satisfied with only that. In fact, that was the necessary starting point to grow us up to the salvation that He wants for us. As we preach the gospel to each other and to the world – we must start with the bad news, we must move on to the good news of redemption, but we cannot stop even there. Conversion is not where God stops and it is not where God commands us to stop either. Until we all grow up into the full stature of Christ. That is the end of ministry. That is the end of the function of the church. Until we are built up into the temple of God, the priesthood of God, and offering living sacrifices accepted through Christ.

Transition:

[Slide 16 (blank)] So God united us to Christ. We are living stones like He is the living stone. He is chosen and honored and all those who believe on Him – will not be ashamed. Well, that is cool. But… so what? What does that mean? What are the implications of that?

II.) God gives honor to His Son and those united to Him, so we must praise God for His great salvation. (7-10)

a. [Slide 17] 7 – So honor will come to you who believe,

i. Peter is setting up a dichotomy here.

ii. What does that word mean? Well, he is speaking in reference to two kinds of people. Really since chapter 1 he has been doing this but now the differences are being highlighted.

iii. He has just got done describing one group of people who come to Christ to be spiritually sustained, and in so doing they are like living stones laid on the foundation of Christ. They are like a new priestly order set apart to connect people to God. They are to offer spiritual and living sacrifices, their lives, to the Lord. And all this is acceptable because of what Christ has done.

iv. This was prophesied hundreds of years before Peter wrote these words.

v. And to those who believe, to those who are trusting and are depending on Christ and Christ alone, to those who come to Him for nourishment, to those who know He is good because they have tasted of Him – to those kinds of people and those kinds of people only – They are not put to shame for relying on this cornerstone.

vi. Instead, they will receive honor. In fact, they will receive the same honor that comes to the one on whom they rest. The same honor of the one who is the head of their priestly line. The same honor that goes to the one who laid down His own life as a sacrifice.

vii. What a glorious promise here.

viii. We will not be put to shame. Indeed, we will receive honor if we are believing on this living stone.

ix. But what about those who are not believing ones?

b. [Slide 18] But for the unbelieving, the stone that the builders rejected - this one has become the cornerstone, 8 – and a stone to stumble over and a rock to trip over.

i. Those who are not believing ones receive the shame withheld from those who believe.

ii. They do not see the choiceness and honor that God has given to this stone.

iii. Instead, they reject the stone.

iv. The last part of this verse is quoted from two texts. Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 8:14.

v. The Psalmist describes a time that the Lord delivered him from his enemies. In that context the psalmist describes himself as a stone that was rejected by his enemies but was rescued and used of God anyway.

vi. You can vividly see the exact correlation to Peter’s audience. They too are rejected by men, but God is using them anyway… and he is using them toward those who rejected them.

vii. The word cornerstone is literally “the head of the corner.” So, it is difficult to know whether this is talking about a capstone which would be the last stone fitted into a building or the cornerstone or guide stone which would be the first stone set down. Broadly, there is little difference. Perhaps there is a subtle change from Peter indicating that those who do not believe have succumbed to the dangerous heresy of looking for Christ + something. They do not see the choiceness and honor of Christ in that they are looking to add something else to Him.

viii. So not only do they reject this stone, but also it is a stumbling stone or a rock to trip over or a rock of offense to them.

ix. This is drawn from Isaiah chapter 8:14.

1. God warns Isaiah that there will be conspiracy theories floating around and great terrors and he warns Isaiah not to fear like the people. Instead, he is to announce the faithful message- that God is sovereign over all. He is the one to fear, respect, and He will be a sanctuary or a safety for those who fear and respect Him…

2. But…

3. He will also be a stone to make one trip, a rock that makes one stumble. To the two houses of Israel (The Northern and Southern Kingdoms) He will become a snare and a trap. Many will stumble over this great stone and the rock and they will fall into a pit, into a trap, and the rock will crush them.

x. And so, the quote from Isaiah reinserted back into I Peter tells us that although those who are believing ones enjoy the honor of Christ – those who are not believing ones not only do not receive honor, but He becomes the object that brings their doom. He makes them trip, fall, and be seriously harmed. He will be the instrument of their great shame.

xi. As if it isn’t obvious, honor and shame in this context refer to eternal life and eternal death.

xii. But why would they trip over Christ? Why would they not see Him the way God does, as a choice and honorable cornerstone?

c. [Slide 19] They stumble because they disobey the word,

i. Because they love their sin.

ii. Because they have no care to try to keep the whole law or lie to themselves to think they can.

iii. Ultimately speaking – any who are not believers, are lawbreakers. They disobey God’s law and word. And because they disobey – they cannot see any value or honor in Christ.

iv. A cornerstone serves as a guide and a capstone a finish on a built structure. If the cornerstone goes a direction or at an angle you don’t want to build toward, or a capstone is placed and the walls are not able to meet it – it shows that you have made a mistake and one of fairly grand proportions. A mistake that will cost time, money, and energy to correct. A mistake that possibly, could ruin you.

v. That is why Jesus is rejected by people who do not believe. That is why they stumble over Him. Because He does not fit with the house they are building. Whether Jew or Gentile, Jesus does not fit with any who are not believing ones.

d. [Slide 20] They were destined for this.

i. As you might imagine, this is a fairly challenging little phrase that Peter puts here. So why don’t we just skip it.