Living Stones

Mission.

So I want to share and kind of recap where we've been.

We've been in this series called Hold Fast to Faith.

It's been a tremendous reassurance to me, especially in the climate that we're in.

A great reminder that the hope that we have in Jesus is better than anything that we might run to in our response to the chaos that we see around us.

It's been a very timely reminder.

A few weeks ago we talked about how we're amongst our culture kind of strangers, we're sojourners, traveling, somewhat strangers to the culture around us, and that suffering's going to come to us.

That there's this ill-begotten notion that our life in Christ somehow makes us immune to struggle or fear or mistakes or uncertainty.

And maybe you've seen, and I know it's it was referred to your best life, you've live your best life now, this idea that as a Christian, we're all of a sudden just happy, and we have nothing to worry about, and we don't struggle with these things, and we're just not going to be uh succumbing to the things that non-believers are.

Um and that's just not true.

What's true is what we do in response to that is find hope in a greater uh a greater Jesus than what we might find in the idols that we erect.

We talked about that as well, that in rush to the to the aid of an idol that would serve us, that would help us escape.

And God, in his love and in his mercy for us, allows suffering to enter in often through those idols falling and failing before us, so that we might be drawn to him, make much of his name, and see that he's true, see that he's not going anywhere, see that he's steadfast for us.

So we've talked about this hope that we can find uh in Christ.

And then in that trust that we find in him, we're compelled then to live holy lives.

This is what we talked about last week, that that we're called to um uh to live a life of holiness.

And unfortunately, as believers, we can tend to do a couple things with that.

We can tend to over-realize our holiness and add to the law that's sufficient, to add to what God would say is holy.

And maybe that's us deciding that holiness is reading the King James Version Bible only, or holiness means you are attached to a certain political party, affiliated to a political figure, um, deciding that we want to add to what is holy, and that tends to honor us instead of pursuing a holiness that would honor God above us.

And then the alternatively, we we tend to sometimes underrealize our holiness or the pursuit of holiness.

And what that looks like is uh clinging to the cross and saying, uh, Christ accomplished everything on my behalf, so now I'm free from wrestling with the sin that I encounter every day.

I don't wrestle with it, I'm covered by grace, no worries here, robbing ourselves of the opportunity to be sanctified as we wrestle with that sin, trusting in Jesus to help us to overcome that sin, to be more like him, robbing us of the sanctification that would bring us more into his likeness and ultimately the glory that he's due in that.

So that kind of brings us up to speed.

Here's what my hope is for this morning.

Um maybe you are watching this and you're not a believer.

Um I I think and I hope I've got a couple friends that would fall into this category.

Um my hope is that you're seeing me and that that I've lived uh as a witness that I am nothing special here, standing uh with my corona hair, um fumbling through words, but this gospel is good.

My hope would be that if you have had poor experiences with Christians, or maybe you've had a poor experience with church, that the result of this scripture being revealed to you this morning would lead you to dig in more and ask more questions and wrestle more and challenge more, challenge me, challenge a believer in your life, and really pursue to know this God that I'm gonna talk about.

Ask more questions so that you might see God rightly and yourself rightly and see that Jesus is better than you think he is.

Maybe you would uh consider yourself a former Christian.

Maybe you uh were raised in the church, maybe you've dabbled, maybe you're not sure.

But something's come in between you and this trust that you might have once uh found in Christ.

My hope this morning was that you would be reminded of the joy that you found in him, that you would know that this joy is here for you, that you would know, just like we're gonna talk about in our text, that you're precious and loved.

My hope would be that you would see and be reminded that the Lord's good and he's everything you've been missing.

And finally, maybe you're a believer, maybe you're a brother or sister in Christ, and you and this this my hope is that this would serve as a reminder that I need.

That as we look around us and everything seems to be chaotic and hysterical, and we don't have answers for it.

My hope would be that you would be encouraged and reminded that our hope is well found in Jesus, that thankfully we've established our footing on a solid foundation.

We've got a wonderful opportunity to love our neighbors in a tangible way that brings them hope, a hope that they're not gonna find outside of Christ.

So we might make much of Jesus' name in that endeavor.

So those are my hopes this morning.

And if those things are accomplished, it's gonna be, again, in spite of me.

And I'm very thankful that I get to uh open the book of 1 Peter with you.

That's where we're gonna be.

We're gonna be in chapter two.

Um before we jump there, it's it's you know, I just want to kind of align on who Peter is.

Peter wasn't always Peter, Peter uh was Simon until he had an encounter with Christ, just a normal fisherman.

Uh this encounter with Christ happened in Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Um, if you would stay in 1 Peter, but also look at Matthew 16 uh with me, verses 13 through 19, we get to see this encounter uh with Christ.

Um3 starts.

Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do you say, who do people say that the Son of Man is?

Son of man being Christ talking about himself.

Who do people say I am?

And they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

He said to them, But who do you say that I am?

And Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah, for flesh and blood is not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Now, I I think my sons are uh jumping on the couch right now because this is really familiar to them.

We've just very recently uh talked about this passage of scripture.

We've been going through um the season's been really great and being more intentional.

And we we looked at at this encounter that Peter had with Jesus, and what we glean from this is that when you know who Jesus is, and when you have a real encounter with Jesus, you're never the same.

He changes you, he makes you a new creation.

In this case, he gave Peter a new name, a new identity.

And that's our story too.

Should we know Christ?

We're never the same.

And then um digging into the weeds a little bit, I want to point out um that when Jesus uses these words, they they actually mean something.

When he named Peter Peter, the the Greek word used was petros, and that means small rock.

And he said, I'm gonna build on this rock, I'll build my church.

The word he used for that rock was petra, which is Greek for a large rock.

So he's illustrating here that Jesus is going to do something, um, or Jesus is illustrating that he's gonna do a big thing using small components, like Peter and like me and you.

That's what we'll find today.

So it's in light of that, it's in light of that experience, that's where Peter's coming from when he's talking to us, and we'll see these things shine through as he's exhorting us to Christ.

Um that's where we land in 1 Peter, finally, 2, 4 through 8, if you'll follow along with me.

As you come to him, a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

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.

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 and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

This is the word of the Lord.

So, right away, notice a couple things, this imagery of stones and rocks.

It's it's coming through.

Peter remembers this encounter that he had with Christ, proclaiming that Peter is a stone in this equation, and and on that, on this big rock, we're gonna do a big thing together to make much of Jesus' name.

And he's pulling from that language as he's speaking to us in 1 Peter now.

But I also uh kind of want to pause and see that Peter's saying, as you come, it's important to know that there was context here for saying, as you come to Jesus.

There's a there's he he he spent chapter one and the beginning of chapter two addressing how we ought to pursue Jesus, how we ought to come to this Jesus that we're called to.

Recall last week that our charge was to pursue holiness.

The beginning of the chapter, he was specific, even saying to put away all malice and deceit and hypocrisy.

This is the beginning of chapter two.

Put away all malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander.

This is how we're to pursue following Christ.

Um, I'll pause here.

I know that I've got probably one friend listening right now who's ready to pull his truck over and say, Chris, you just lost me because malice and deceit and hypocrisy, that's all I've kind of seen from these Christ followers that I've encountered.

I know that that's his story.

I think that that's probably many stories out there.

I would just beg of you to look at this text and see that we're called to better than that.

We're called to leave those things behind.

So when you see those things, know that we will fail you.

Jesus will not.

We're called to leave those things behind.

And when we don't, we're disobeying.

We're not following in Christ's likeness.

So attribute that to us.

Don't attribute that to Jesus, please.

The second illustration that uh that we can glean from the scriptures on how to pursue, how we're to pursue Christ was also in the beginning of this chapter.

Um it's as infants longing for pure milk that we may grow by it.

Um I've got three sons.

I don't know how many of you have children or have been around, newborn or infant children.

When they want milk, you know it.

You absolutely know it.

And there's nothing that's going to stop them from telling you that they want it until they get it.

And that's that's an illustration of how we ought to pursue Christ loudly and boldly, like our lives depend on it.

Like it's the literal sustenance that breathes us life, that sustains us, that helps us grow.

I pause and ask you, believer, and even myself, it's a good question for myself.

Do I pursue him like a baby if they could get two legs underneath of them and run through a wall to get to their milk?

Because I think they would.

I've got at least one kid that terrified me.

They wanted milk and they wanted it now, and I wish I would pursue Christ like that.

Because Christ is the sustenance that I need, that I don't always pursue like that.

Rarely do I, unfortunately.

So that's the that's the how.

Pursuing holiness and like our very lives depend on it.

That's how we pursue this Christ.

We can dive into verses four and five and and get some um some distinctions here to learn a little bit more about this Jesus that we're that we're called to pursue.

Verses four and five say, as you come to him, a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves like lives like good to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

So right away, know this.

Jesus is the living stone.

As you come to him, a living stone, capital L, capital S, that's Jesus.

Jesus is the living stone that we rejected, that was rejected by men, but seen precious, and that was chosen by God.

See the distinction here.

We would reject him, God would claim, that's my son, and that's the cornerstone of everything that I'm going to accomplish.

We have this distinction to pursue ourselves.

Following Jesus, let us not be surprised, means we're likely rejected by a world around us.

Reminded that we're to reject a lot of the things that we might be engaged with otherwise, like malice and deceit and hypocrisy.

We're to reject those things.

We're to reject them to the point that uh the scriptures elsewhere talk about how the zeal with which we pursue God and abandon all other things.

We're to do that with a vigor that would that would have people think, God, they must hate their families or their parents.

This scripture gets turned a lot uh uh in wrong ways that we're to you know hate our mother and father.

That's not what it's saying.

We're to reject all things worldly and pursue God in a way that they that others that don't know Christ would think they must hate everything else in comparison to the love and the passion that they're thought that they're showing for Christ.

That's how we are to pursue.

And there's that's this distinction that we see that Jesus went through.

He was rejected by a world that needed him, but was chosen and precious by his Father God.

And as we pursue that, as we uh as we pursue a Jesus that was rejected and chosen, rejected by us and chosen by God, we're being made into his likeness.

We're being made to uh put away old things and be made more like Jesus.

And as he's building, as God's building us up as we pursue Christ-likeness and holiness, as He's as He's making us more like Christ, we get to taste and see that the Lord is really good.

And as we taste and see that the Lord is good, we're compelled to pursue him and be more Christ-like.

And as we're compelled and pursue him, he shows that he's good.

And you see what happens.

It's this beautiful cycle that takes us from what we would choose that would destroy us to build us into his likeness and bless us so that we might bring him glory.

It's a beautiful thing that I don't deserve to be a part of, but I'm really blessed that I am.

So we're we're called to pursue in a life marked by holiness, repentance, reliance, like our lives depend on him.

The one that we're called to pursue is the living stone, rejected but precious.

And it it isn't just here that Jesus is proclaimed the formative stone of our foundation, and Peter knew it, which is why in your text, you're probably seeing some of these verses in parentheses.

He's referring back to other places uh within the scriptures.

In verse 6, it's a reminder of what Isaiah told us in chapter 28 of his book.

Behold, I am the I'm laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious.

See, Peter's reminding us that this has been in the works and foretold long ago.

He did it again in verse uh seven, referring back to Psalm 118, showing that God has promised to send a deliverer, that he'd be the foundation for all things, and that we'd reject him.

And look, we we did it.

I did it, you, I do it.

God, God's been telling us that this is this is his plan and his story and what he's going to accomplish all along.

Peter's just reminding us that this is this is not it's not new news, it's it's certainly good news and news that we need.

So we've covered the how we're to pursue Christ, who this Christ is that that we're pursuing, um, and then to to to what end?

To what end are we being called?

Why are why are we called and what what's our place here?

Going back to verse 5, there are three things that that Peter shows us uh is gonna is sought to accomplish, and that's that we become spiritual houses, um, a holy priesthood, and to offer spiritual sac or yeah, spiritual sacrifices.

Let's park on spiritual houses for a second.

These houses that are being built, God is the God's the architect here.

God lays his stone, the cornerstone, in Jesus first, and though we reject it, as Christ is raised from the grave that that he found himself in uh after after our sin put him there, he's raised and placed in his due place of honor and glory in heaven, and the beautiful, scandalous truth is that we as a gathered people in his name are raised with him to become alive with him.

And through the work of the Holy Spirit, we might go forth as a temple.

1 Corinthians 3.16 says a literal dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, for God to accomplish his plan and expand upon us little stones, just like Peter, upon which the God of all creation builds the very church that will give him glory and proclaim that he is indeed God.

We get to be a part of that.

To that end, we're we're not called just to be a passive role player here.

An active participant, maybe priest stirs unhelpful imagery for you.

Um but but just to be clear, um, Hebrews chapter 5 helps give us some context on what it means to be priest and what it doesn't.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

Um as priests, we're called to act on behalf of men in relation to God.

That's what we're called to do.

And very importantly, it's uh we have to acknowledge that Jesus is our priest.

Jesus is the priest that has acted on behalf of us to reconcile us to God.

Please don't see uh this as a call to elevate us as priests higher than others.

We're called to kind of stand in the gap in the way that Jesus spanned the gap that we could not cover between our sin that kept us from a holy God.

He stood in the gap for us.

And likewise, as we're being made to be like him, we're called to be priests too, to see, to acknowledge that, okay, we know a truth over here.

We have a hope in Jesus that has changed us fundamentally, changed our eternity.

And it's good.

We've tasted and we've seen and it's good, and we see a people over here that are desperate for truth, desperate for something to cling to outside of their investments, outside of their crumbling family unit.

And we're called to stand here in the gap and say, I know this Jesus, and I know that they're lost, and I want to connect them.

That's being a priest.

That's caring for someone that doesn't know their need and helping them to see that their need.

Is real and it can be well supplied for in Christ.

To see a people that don't, that know that they're lost or know that they that they're not enough, but reject this God that we have found so much hope in, and our charge there as priests is to be patient and loving, but but truthful with them, to pursue them.

That's what the priesthood is.

Jesus did the heavy lifting of reconciling us to God, and now we get to join Him in that priesthood to stand in the gap.

Existing to bring praise and worship and honor to a God that has called us undeservedly to himself.

And then finally, we're called to offer spiritual sacrifices.

The endeavor of all this is that God may receive us as acceptable.

And it's only accomplished through the work of King Jesus.

He gets all the credit, all the shine.

Nothing we bring is enough outside of us clinging to the cross of Jesus.

He's the living stone that we need.

And everything hinges upon us approaching God through him.

Without his resurrected life, we have no spiritual life to live.

There's no spiritual house to exist to hold the Holy Spirit without us being raised from the dead through Jesus Christ.

There's no spiritual house, there's no holy anything, much less a holy priesthood.

And there's no way we can offer a suitable sacrifice to atone for our sin, our neediness.

Without Christ, we continue to reject.

So once we establish that through Jesus we're acceptable, we can offer our praises to be heard and received.

We can present our bodies as living sacrifices, and in that, acceptable to God.

We can offer our deeds and our words and our acts of love and kindness.

And as they're rooted in Christ, as we're compelled to these, having tasted and seen that the Lord is good, we can know that God receives them and is pleased.

So we've seen that we're called to pursue Jesus like our lives depend on it, having shaken those things formerly that would mark our lives, sinfulness, pursuing holiness, called to pursue him who is the cornerstone placed by the sovereign hand of God, the stone which we likewise are stones, built to comprise his church, existing to be spiritual houses, a holy priesthood, offering acceptable sacrifices through that very living stone of Jesus.

We can move on to verse 8.

Peter's recalling Isaiah chapter 8, proclaiming that in the same way that we thrive, as we make much of the name of Jesus, conversely, those that reject this pursuit, those that disobey, disobey willingly and knowingly, they'll stumble.

Isaiah 8 · chapter mention

Tells us that it's an honor to God, or it's an honor for us in verse 7 to know and cling to this gospel as not believing is like rejecting the cornerstone of the structure that God is building, resulting in the stumbling of all those that would reject him.

It's important also to note that God does not need us to accomplish what he wants here.

The wheels are in motion.

He doesn't need us to participate.

God will be glorified, he will build his church.

We'll either be a thriving, blessed participant in that, or we'll continue to reject him and live in the futility that we've inherited from our fathers, starting with Adam, rolling all the way down to me, but for my redemption in Christ.

I would invite you to be an active participant in the work that God will accomplish.

It will be good for you and it will bring glory to him.

You might be happy in your marriage.

There's fullness of joy in making Christ the center of it.

While you might succeed in the eyes of everyone around you, your boss and your coworkers and your neighbors, toiling to build your own kingdom through your title or authority or your stuff, these things will fail you.

You will stumble.

And I want joy for you.

I want your pursuits to be for the cornerstone in Christ.

I want a joy for you that doesn't rise and fall with the stock market.

I want joy for you that doesn't rise and fall with the fluctuating mood of your spouse or the failing words of a politician.

I want joy for you that's unshakable because it's found in a king that hasn't changed.

And not only has he not left us, but he's promised to come back and make all of this right again.

All these things that we don't have answers for, all these things that we can't encounter and succeed in on our own merit.

He said, I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna put an end to all of it.

All will be well.

Let's cling to that and look forward to that and pray for that.

In the meantime, join me and join us believers and stand in the gap.

In the meantime, let's be a holy priesthood that would exalt the name of Jesus to a world that needs it, reminding ourselves that we need him like a baby needs milk to survive.

So you might ask, Chris, what do we do with all of this?

Where does this leave us?

Here's the main idea.

There's but one foundation on which we may stand confidently, and that's upon the name of Jesus.

There's one foundation on which we can stand confidently, and it's the name of Jesus, our cornerstone.

We don't need to look far to see all around us the futility in pursuing comfort and sustenance and confidence from things like our employment or our investments or our local grocery store that might be out of what we need, or our grade A school district that isn't even in session anymore.

All these things that we surround ourselves with to convince ourselves that we're that what we're pursuing will give us the life that we've dreamed of.

It's a mirage, it's a vapor in the wind.

And I want to tell you that we're invited to something greater, something that will sustain us, something that will not fail us.

And that's where we find our good news, that we're not just left to twist amongst the waves.

That God knew that we were needy, that we're utterly incapable of saving ourselves, and he determined to make a way for our redemption, though we were dead and helpless and could do nothing for ourselves.

That's where we find our gospel conviction this morning.

In love, God laid for us a cornerstone in Christ Jesus, that we may make much of his name as we're sanctified toward his likeness and labor for him as living stones of his church.

I'll read it again.

In love, God laid for us a cornerstone in Christ Jesus, that we may make much of his name as we're sanctified toward his likeness and labor for him as living stones of his church.

That's what we call kingdom work, and it is a worthy pursuit.

In place of this sandy foundation that this world would offer and its pleasures and its counterfeit sustenance, let us cling to the rock, the cornerstone that we have in Jesus.

I'll finish with this.

Jesus is better.

I'm gonna preach to me right now.

Making much of the name of Jesus is better than winning that argument on Facebook.

It's better than Tiger King or whatever else we might binge on next week.

Jesus is better than the adoration that we strive to earn from our spouse.

Proclaiming the name of Jesus is infinitely more satisfying than building a name for ourselves.

Hope in Jesus is immeasurably greater than hope in our savings accounts.

Confidence in Christ will not fail us like confidence in our fathers or our jobs or our health or our waistlines.

We are needy and dead in ourselves, desperate for someone to come and pick up the wreckage that we found ourselves in.

And God, God saw us in that need and said, I've got it.

Christ said, I've got this.

I'll be the way.

God said, I'm gonna rebuild, and I'm gonna start with this cornerstone right here in my son.

Jesus is better.

Pray with me.

God, thank you so much for the words of Peter and the words of Isaiah and the words of David.

Thank you for speaking through them and our scriptures and proclaiming that you have made a way for us that is better.

You've made a way for us that is steadfast and strong and unshaking and unwavering, and we can cling to it.

Thank you that we might, though we might build monuments for ourselves and build pathways for ourselves.

Thank you that in your love you allow us to see that these things are futile and that you are worthy and trustworthy and there and never leaving.

Thank you for these words.

Thank you for the cornerstone that we have in your son Jesus.

I pray that his name that you used me in any way to make you famous and to bring glory to your name.

God, it's in your son Jesus' name that we pray these things.

Amen.