"Only Made Holy Through Jesus" 1 Peter 2:1–12

The first reading for this morning is taken from the first letter of Peter, chapter 2, verses 1-12.

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men 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.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

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.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct amongst the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

So as we all know, or most of you know, the Olympics are going on right now.

They happen every four years.

And they're going on, and you see them on TV.

You see them in the newspapers.

There's ads for it everywhere.

I don't know if they still do it.

I didn't check.

But Olympians go into cereal boxes.

They're all over the place.

And what the Olympics is, is that there's these athletes who represent the countries from around the world, and they come and they meet.

The best athletes in sporting competition come together, and they meet.

And they represent the countries.

They represent the people of the countries as well, because we are compelled to get behind them,

to lift them up so they can come, and they can compete on a world stage.

The text that we're looking at today talks about representatives.

This may seem, this idea of having people represent us may seem like a foreign notion,

but it's very present within our culture, and it's been present within all cultures through the ages.

And the letter that we're looking at today is 1 Peter.

And here we see Peter, who is one of the 12 disciples.

He is one of the people who traveled with Jesus,

who had the great privilege to learn from Jesus,

who had the great, not, I wouldn't know about privilege, but he witnessed Jesus die.

He witnessed his torture and his execution on the cross.

He witnessed Jesus' resurrection, and he witnessed Jesus' ascension.

He witnessed Jesus' resurrection.

We see in the writing that he is writing to Christians who are dispersed.

You may remember from a couple weeks ago, I preached on the letter of James,

and he is also writing to dispersed Christians.

And Peter, in his letter, in the opening verse, in chapter 1, he says who he's writing to.

And he's writing to Christians who are dispersed.

You can see, if you look on a map of the Middle East of that time, you can see it.

You can see all the places that he's writing to.

And he's writing to Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia.

And if you look on the map, you can see that they're all side by side.

They're all side by side.

So there would have been a letter runner who would have gone from each area,

from each church as they go through.

And in chapter 5, verse 12, it ends with saying that Silvanus helped write this letter.

And it would have most likely been him who would have done this,

who would have traveled around sharing this letter.

So Peter is writing to them because the Christians are facing, again, just like in James,

suffering and persecution.

The main theme of Peter's two letters, especially 1 Peter,

is that those who persevere in the faith while suffering from persecution

should be full of hope,

for they will certainly enjoy salvation,

since they are already enjoying God's saving promises here and now,

through the death and resurrection of Christ.

Now at the time of this letter being written,

the decree out of Rome hadn't been written yet,

banning Christianity.

So they most likely would have been facing verbal persecution,

verbal abuse.

They also would have been facing discrimination.

And we all know that verbal abuse leads to physical abuse.

You just look at history and you can see it happen.

So that is what's going on in this letter,

when Peter writes it,

because we're just jumping into chapter 2.

We're just hanging out in chapter 2 for this one Sunday.

So we need to know kind of what happens,

what the theme of the letter is,

what's going on,

what the Christians that Peter's writing to are doing.

So with this in mind,

let's take a look.

So if you haven't already,

turn to 1 Peter chapter 2,

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

and we're going to look at verses 1 to 12.

And it would make more sense now,

because we just went over this.

So let's look at it,

and we're going to look at it in three ways,

because this part of the letter

has three main themes going through it.

The first thing we're going to look at

is the nourishment through the word.

Second thing we're going to look at

is abide in Christ as the new temple.

And the third thing we're going to look at

is gospel life brings glory to God.

I'll say it again.

Nourishment through the word is point one.

Abide in Christ as the new temple, point two.

And gospel life brings glory to God, point three.

So let's look, verses 1 to 3.

So put away all malice, and all deceit,

and hypocrisy, and envy, and all slander.

Like newborn infants,

long for the pure spiritual milk,

that by it you may grow up into salvation,

if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Notice in verse 1 of chapter 2,

it starts with so.

It could also be translated as therefore.

So that means it's linking an argument from chapter 1.

Peter's continuing an earlier argument in this section

where he gives the command,

and it's in verse 22.

And what he says in chapter 1, verse 22,

is to love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

It was very helpful, Daniel,

mentioning before we read the colic,

about true Christianity,

is one out of love.

It's not one done out of have to.

It's done out of love.

Everything is done out of love.

So verse 1 is giving the example

of how to do this, of chapter 2.

How to truly love and treat someone

is to put away all malice,

all deceit,

and hypocrisy, and envy, and all slander.

So let's break this down.

What does put away mean?

What does he mean when he says

to put away these things?

The idea that he's getting at here

is to give up.

It's to get rid of.

To take off the clothing of this.

He's using illustration.

So the idea of these things

is that they cling to us.

It's like when you have soaked clothing on.

When you try to take the shirt off,

it clings to your body.

It's really hard to get off.

And that's what he's getting at.

So malice.

We're just going to rip through

these examples really quick.

So malice is evil or wickedness.

If you get to know me,

I'm a big fan of The Lord of the Rings,

of J.R. Token's writings.

My favorite book of his writings

is The Cimmerillion,

which is the prequel

to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

And in The Cimmerillion,

there's this character.

The character represents the devil

within this.

And this character,

he describes him as,

he's all bent on malice.

He's full of malice.

Every part of him

is completely full of malice.

The character is bent

on destroying all

that the God figure

has created and sustains.

That's the idea of what malice is.

Then deceitfulness

is harming others

through lying and falsehood.

Hypocrisy

is masking an inward evil

by an outward show of righteousness.

Envy

is the opposite

of thankfulness

for good that comes to others.

And slander

is speech

that harms others

or intended

to harm the person's status.

But here,

we have to remember,

Peter is ascribing this letter.

He's writing it to Christians

who are dispersed

and facing persecution.

So what he's getting at here

is that

even though

you're a Christian,

is that you still have

these inclinations

in our hearts.

Peter knows this

and you would think

he would be saying,

saying don't be like

the non-Christians

that you're surrounded with

because you know

you have the spirit within you.

But that's not

what he's getting at here.

What he's getting at

is because

everyone

struggles

with these things.

Everyone.

And we will all

struggle with them

until Christ returns

or we go to be with Christ.

And the thing

that he wants to show

is that if they run

rampant within a person,

it consumes the person.

They become bent on it.

Or it destroys a church

that's built on that.

But how does one do this?

How does one put them off

as he says here,

as he commands here,

the do?

Well, let's look again

at verses 2 and 3.

Like newborn infants,

long for the pure

spiritual milk

that by it

you may grow up

into salvation

if indeed

you have tasted

that the Lord is good.

See, there's this

common belief

that we all fall prey to

from time to time

is that we've made it.

That we can pat ourselves

on the shoulder

that we've done a good job.

I have my faith.

I come to church.

I've checked off

all my daily

Bible readings

and I've said some prayers.

I don't need to do

anything else.

I can get on

with my day.

But the language

that Peter is using here

is one of earnestness.

And the illustration

that he uses

is perfect.

The longing

to be like a newborn baby.

To be like an infant.

That's longing

for the pure

spiritual milk.

Peter was married.

It never says

if he had children.

But within his culture,

the idea of

it takes the village

is lived out

within the culture.

You see it in a lot

of eastern cultures

as well.

That this idea

that the family,

the community

comes together

and helps raise

the children.

So he would be

very familiar

with newborn babies.

And what is

a newborn baby like?

They're completely,

utterly helpless.

They're completely

dependent on the parent,

the parents,

or the caregiver.

And they like

to drink a lot of milk.

Newborns,

when they're hungry,

if you're not familiar

with a newborn,

is that when it's time

to feed,

they will give you

the signals.

And when you go through,

they go through

a certain amount

of signals.

And once they hit

that end,

they let you know

that you have missed

the signals.

They lose their minds.

They become desperate

for the milk.

It almost seems like

that if they don't

get that milk right,

then they're done.

Like they're,

they're gonna die.

It's quite dramatic.

And that's what's

going on here.

And then there's

also the time

when babies are

growing up,

when newborns are

growing,

that they go through

these seasons

of cluster feeding.

And cluster feeding

is when they're growing,

they feed even more.

And sometimes it can be

two to four times

within that hour,

and normally it's

at night.

So the idea

that Peter is trying

to show here,

he's trying to,

these readers,

and for us,

because we're

readers of this

letter as well,

is to put,

the way you put

these things off

is to become

like newborns,

babies,

and long

for spiritual milk.

And when you're

growing spiritually,

it's normally

through a hard season.

The seasons where

you don't feel like

you should come to church.

The seasons where

you feel cold,

your heart feels cold.

You are to cluster feed

on the pure spiritual milk.

To have an intense

personal desire.

But what is

the pure spiritual milk?

Well, we have to remember

this is a letter,

and Peter is continuing

his argument,

his writing

through the letter.

So we have to look

at verse one.

And verse one,

what he's saying

is that the pure

spiritual milk,

we have to go back

to it,

is the word of God.

It's scripture.

It's pure,

unadulterated.

God's word is

infallible,

inerrant,

and contains

all things

necessary to salvation.

Look what he says

if you have your Bible.

It's very helpful

because then you can

jump around

and see

the main thrust

of the argument

or the thought pattern.

He says this

in verse one,

chapter 22

and onwards.

Having purified

your souls

by your obedience

to the truth

for a sincere

brotherly love,

love one another

earnestly

from a pure heart

since you have

been born again,

not of perishable seed,

but of imperishable,

through the living

and abiding word of God.

For all flesh

is like grass

and all its glory

like a flower of grass.

The grass withers

and the flower falls,

but the word of the Lord

remains forever.

And this word

is the good news

that was preached to you.

So he's reminding them

of what this

pure spiritual milk is.

And that is the word of God,

the living word of God.

And if you notice,

we're jumping back now

into chapter two,

that he says

to grow up

into salvation.

What he's talking about

is a life

of sanctification.

When you come to faith,

it doesn't just end there,

it continues on.

It is a life

of continual growth,

of growing.

And the way you grow

is to intensely

desire the word of God.

To read,

to mark,

to inwardly digest it.

It nourishes you

through all seasons

of life.

The same way milk

nourishes a baby.

And as they grow up

strong and healthy.

Some of you

might be thinking,

and I've gone through

seasons of this as well,

is how can you

trust the Bible?

How do you know

it's inerrant?

How do you know

it's truly

the word of God?

If we just take a moment,

just a little

sidetrack here,

and we just talk

about the New Testament

itself.

The books of the

New Testament

have a staggering

amount of original

manuscripts.

They were copied

and copied

and copied

perfectly.

Some focus

on certain areas,

some focus

on other areas.

But there's a

continuation

of many

manuscripts.

Atheistic

historians,

non-atheistic

historians and

archaeologists

all agree

that there is

a staggering

amount

of manuscripts

of the New

Testament.

And it's

interesting

because some

of the famous

battles

that you learn

about in

school,

of the Roman

battles and

the Greek

battles,

they only have,

some of them

only have two

manuscripts

written about

them.

And they're

written over

100 years

later.

And we take

them as

gospel.

But the

New Testament

manuscripts

were written

a couple

years after

or within

the same

period.

It's staggering

how many

manuscripts

there actually

are if you

look into

it later

on.

It's quite

impressive.

And we can

rest in that.

We can rest

that what we

read here,

what we read

daily at home,

is truly,

in fact,

what was

written so

many years

ago when

the apostles

and the

disciples wrote

the New

Testament.

So what

does it

mean in

verse 3

when it

says,

to take

the word

daily into

our hearts,

to taste,

to allow

us, to

taste and

see that

the Lord

is good.

That is

to take

the word

into our

hearts

daily.

But the

word that

is described

here is the

same word

that John

in his

gospel at

the beginning

describes.

The word

was made

flesh.

And that

is Jesus.

That is,

Jesus is the

living word

of God.

In the

beginning of

John's gospel,

he describes

it.

As

Christians,

you gain

nourishment

through the

word of

God.

The word

does not

lead one

astray.

Other things

claim to

give nourishment

but require

you to

die for

them.

But God's

word,

the word

made flesh,

died for

you and

died for

me.

So now

as we go

into the

next part

of Peter's

letter in

this section,

let's keep

that in

mind.

That the

word of

God is

the one

who

nourishes.

It's

through

Christ

that you

gain

nourishment

and through

God's

word you

gain

nourishment.

The next

section that

we're going

to look at,

the next

verse uses

Old Testament

imagery

extensively.

So I'm

going to

give a

little

background

for it

to make

sense.

Bear with

me here

because I

have to

give some

background.

There are

two main

images that

are used

in the

next

section.

And it's

the temple

stones and

it's the

priesthood.

The temple

stones,

the idea

is coming

out of

1 Kings

when the

son of

David,

Samuel,

builds the

temple.

Or Solomon,

sorry.

And then the

second image

is the

priesthood,

which comes

out of

Exodus from

Mount Sinai

when the

law is

given.

In Exodus,

God calls

Moses to

lead the

people of

Israel out

of Egypt,

where they

have been

slaves for

400 years.

This is the

account where

you read about

the famous

ten plagues

and Moses

and Aaron

pleading with

Pharaoh to

let the

people go.

And eventually

they are let

go.

And they

cross the

Red Sea.

And Pharaoh

and his

army are

swept away

when the

waters return

after the

people of

Israel

have crossed.

Moses and

the people of

Israel are

led by God

to the base

of Mount

Sinai.

And Moses

goes to the

top to

represent the

people and

commune with

God.

This is where

the ten

commandments and

other laws are

given.

And this

is where

the command

for the

priesthood is

given.

The

priesthood was

only for a

select family

line, the

line of Aaron.

And no one

else could be

a priest except

for those born

in that blood

line.

In 1 Kings,

Solomon, the

son of David,

builds the

temple.

And it's

beautiful.

It's beautifully

built.

And this is

another thing

that's worth

looking up later

on.

A lot of

Bibles have

pictures of

the temple.

It is a

beautiful building.

It is well

crafted.

And the

temple symbolizes

where God

meets his

people.

There were

two courts

where one

court had

everyday worship,

everyday

sacrifices.

This is where

people would

gather.

And then the

inner court

had the

inner chamber,

the Holy of

Holies.

And only the

high priest

would come

once a year

to offer

the sacrifice

of atonement

for his sins

and for the

people's sins.

So let's

take a look

now at

verse 4.

As you

come to

him, a

living stone

rejected by

men, but

in the sight

of God

chosen and

precious.

The stones

of the

Old Testament,

regardless of

how beautiful

they were,

no matter

how much

skilled

mainstream

work they

put into

it, they're

dead stones.

They're just

stones.

It's like

when you

walk into

a beautiful

old church.

It makes

you feel

moved by

how grand

it is,

by the

skilled

work that's

gone into

it.

But it's

made up of

dead material.

But here,

Peter is

describing

Jesus as

the living

stone, as

the chosen

and precious.

Well, what does

he say next?

What is he

talking about

here?

What does

he mean?

In verse

5, he says

this,

you yourselves,

like living

stones, are

being built

up as

spiritual houses

to be a

holy priesthood,

to offer

spiritual

sacrifices

accepted to

God through

Jesus Christ.

Two things

are going on

here.

Christians are

living stones

being built

up as

spiritual

houses, and

Christians are

holy priesthood

who offer

sacrifices to

Jesus, through

spiritual

sacrifices to

Jesus, or

through Jesus,

sorry.

When I first

read this, I

struggled with

how I would

explain this.

But luckily,

when I first

read it, I

struggled.

I didn't

know what I

would say.

But Peter

does it for

me, which

is very

helpful.

In the next

verses, we're

just going to

look at them

right now.

For it

stands in

scripture,

behold, this

is Isaiah, I

am laying in

Zion, Zion's

Jerusalem, 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

is stumbling

and a rock

of offense.

They stumble

because they

disobey the

word, as

they were

destined to

do.

So this

idea only

makes sense

through the

gospel.

When Jesus

went to the

cross to

bear our

sins, to

die the

death that

we deserved,

and rose from

the dead, this

did away with

all the Old

Testament

sacrificial and

ceremonial laws.

The old

stone was

the law, and

everyone was

crushed by it.

The new

stone is a

living stone,

chosen and

precious.

It's a

cornerstone, as

described here.

It frees those

who trust in

it, who

build on it.

But those

who reject the

stone, as it

says here, they

stumble, and

they are

offended by it.

houses that

are built of

stone, obviously

new houses are

built with

wood, but old

houses were

built of stone.

Old buildings

were built of

stone.

And the way

these are built

is that it has

to have a

cornerstone, that

you dig down

and you lay a

cornerstone.

And this stone,

everything is

built off of

it.

It is the

foundational

stone that

everything else

rests on.

Without it, the

house will not

be structurally

sound, the

building will

not be

structurally

sound, and

eventually the

ground will

move and the

house will

start to fall

and collapse.

No longer

are those who

trust in the

living God

required to

go to the

temple to

make a

sacrifice, to

give to the

priest to

make the

sacrifice for

them.

They simply

have to trust

in this

cornerstone, in

Christ, and

build their

lives on him.

No longer

is the

temple in

one place.

Those who

trust in

Jesus are the

new stones,

which make up

the new

temple, the

church.

As we

gather here, we

are stones

built of the

church, and

this is built

on the

foundation of

Christ.

We are the

church built

on the

sure foundation

of Jesus

and the

word of

God.

But those

who don't

build their

lives on

Jesus will

eventually

collapse, just

like a

building

collapses.

No church

can stand

without him

or replace

him.

So what's

the priesthood

that Peter's

talking about

here?

Let's look

at verses

9 and

10.

But you

are a

chosen race,

a royal

priesthood, a

holy nation, a

people for his

own possession,

that you may

proclaim the

excellencies of

him who called

you out of

darkness into

his marvelous

light.

Once you

were not a

people, but

now you're

God's people.

Once you

have not

received mercy,

but now you

have received

mercy.

The

priesthood was,

as I said,

only for a

select family

line.

And these

people would

represent the

people of

Israel.

They would

be the ones

who come

before God

to offer

the people's

sacrifices on

behalf of

them.

But no

longer is

this the

case, as

Peter says

here.

Not only

are we the

stones of

the church,

we are also

the priests

of the

church.

No longer

do we need

someone to

be the

middleman.

between us

and God

and enter

the holy

room for

us once

a year.

We have

direct access

to God

through Christ,

through his

work on the

cross.

That is the

glorious thing

of the

cross.

That through

Christ's work,

the finished

work, we

are given

access to

God.

And it's

only through

faith that

happens.

Do I still

need to make

these animal

sacrifices?

No.

We are

required,

though, to

make spiritual

sacrifices,

not out of

duty, but

of a

willing love

for Jesus,

the precious

stone, the

cornerstone,

freely given

to us.

And it's

through prayer,

it's through

worship, it's

through scripture,

it's through

attending church,

it's through

giving up our

time and

possessions,

helping the

poor, and

sharing the

gospel as it

says here.

See, why is

church so

important?

Church is

so important

because it

edifies us.

We get to

come and

encourage one

another, we

get to

worship God

together.

It's like, it

describes here

stones.

A stone, when

you look in a

farmer's field or

in a field, it's

just a stone on

its own.

It's useless.

But when stones

come together, it

builds the church

and it is a

beautiful thing.

Everyone's lives

here makes up a

beautiful artwork

of the church.

And we are the

church through

Christ.

Because God has

made us his

royal priesthood,

his holy nation,

his own

possession.

He called us

out of darkness.

He is merciful,

loving, and

steadfast.

He has given

us the great

privilege to be

his people.

He has given

us the great

honor to be

his people

through his

son.

So the

gospel gives

nourishment.

God's word

gives nourishment.

we abide in

Christ as

new temple.

And here we

see the gospel

life brings

glory to God.

Look at it

verses 11 to

12 with me.

Beloved, I

urge you as

sojourners and

exiles to

abstain from the

passions of the

flesh, which

wage war against

your soul.

Keep your

conduct among

the Gentiles

honorable, so

that when you

speak against,

when they

speak against

you as

evildovers,

they may see

your good

deeds and

glorify God

on the day

of visitation.

A very

well-known

apologist now,

Canadian

apologist,

is Wes

Huff.

And I was

listening to

a talk he

gave to a

church, and

it was called

How to

Look, How to

Not Look Like

an Idiot

While Sharing

the Gospel.

And he

gives this

talk, and he

gives this

illustration that

I'm going to

take right now,

because I

think it's

really good.

He says

this, there's

actually, in

your Bible,

there's four

Gospels, but

there's actually

five Gospels.

There's Matthew,

Mark, Luke,

and John in

your Bible, but

then the other

Gospel is you.

It's the spirit

within you.

And he's

given this talk

about how to

give good

arguments, and

he says this

because he

says people may

never listen to

your argument or

be persuaded by

them.

But the way we

live out our

lives amongst

those who don't

call themselves

Christians, who

are hostile towards

Christianity, speaks

louder and is more

persuasive.

They may not be

listening, but they

are watching.

How are we living

out our lives?

In light of being

part of the new

temple, in light of

being God's holy

priesthood, how are

we living out our

lives?

Can people see the

Gospel through us?

Are we isolated or

are we living in

community?

Gospel living builds

up the temple.

Ungospel living destroys

the temple.

And if you continue in

1 Peter, he gives

examples more and

more on how this

looks like to live it

out in a society that

is very anti-Christian.

He gives more

examples.

But I need to wrap

up here.

Friends, brothers,

sisters in Christ, we

have been given a

great gift.

Jesus is the chosen

and precious

cornerstone laid for

us.

Build your life on

him.

Long for him as the

pure word of God.

Offer spiritual

sacrifices through

him.

You have been chosen

and been made God's

possession of love

through his son,

Jesus.

종 of God.