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Jan 13, 2013

God's Building Program (Part 8)

Passage: 1 Peter 2:4-8

Preacher: Tim Badal

Series:Strangers in a Strange Land

Summary:

Are you a part of God's building project? God is at work and He’s looking for us to join Him as living stones who are brought together so we may see the house God is building and place all our faith and trust in Him. So that one day, in its full fruition, we will praise the name of the Cornerstone that has become the Capstone of what has become of the spiritual house.

Detail:

Let’s turn in our Bibles to 1 Peter 2 as we continue in this series that we’ve entitled “Strangers in a Strange Land.”  I’m going to jump right into our text—1 Peter 2:1-8—from the English Standard Version.  We’ll look at all eight verses but our focus will be on verses four through eight.

1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 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 I Christ.  6 For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,

    a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected

    has become the cornerstone,”

8 and

“A stone of stumbling,

    and a rock of offense.”

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

Father God, we once again declare our dependence on You in prayer.  Lord, I pray You’ve got a word for us because we need to hear it.  Father, I’ve been struck through the study of Your Word how important the people in this place are to my life with You.  Lord, I am not just a stone that You’re working on, but You are working on a multitude of living stones.  And Lord as we gather together as living stones, let us be built into the spiritual house that You are building.  Father, I pray that we would always remember that You are the Foundation, that we would always remember that You are to receive all the glory, honor and praise.  So Lord, open our hearts so that we may be part of Your building program, so that we can see that program being built in our own lives, so that we can taste and truly see that You are good.  Father, lead me in this time we pray, in Christ’s name.  Amen.

As I just prayed, I want to look under the heading of God’s Building Program, as we look at our text.  There are many times when someone will ask me about the uniqueness of my church.  “What makes your church different than many other churches?”  And while we do a lot of the things the same as every church that is meeting here in the western world, there are some things that make us a little bit unique.

One of the things I love to share with people is that all of the buildings on our campus were built by our very own people.  Some of you may not know that the room you’re sitting in and the foyer you walked through was built in 1990 and 1991 by the hands of men and women.  I remember watching with my own eyes and being amazed at seeing the hard work of men and women from our own midst who were able to pour in a lot of time and energy into this building.  And I’m glad they did.  They did a great job.  They let me help a little bit, not too much because they wanted to actually see it built.  We’ve never had leaking roofs; we’ve never had any of the major issues that a building project would have because this place was built with great quality in mind.

Many of you won’t forget back in 2006 through the beginning of 2008, we built our Family Life Center and gymnasium.  We did it again without the help of any major general contracting, but with just a group of men and women—hundreds of them—pouring thousands of hours into the building of that structure which we are blessed to have.  Now all that work enabled us to do something very helpful.  We saved about $2 million in building costs just in the Family Life Center alone which was so helpful when the time of the mortgage came along.  But beyond saying, “We saved a lot of money,” I am struck by the idea that we learned something in those building projects. 

There was a banner on my high school gym that every once in a while my coaches would point to.  It was the acronym T.E.A.M. which stood for “Together Everyone Achieves More.”  The banner had a flock of geese or something on it like those inspirational posters you often see.  “Together Everyone Achieves More.”   I learned that principle to be true as I’ve watched these two major building projects take place.

The amazing thing is for those who hammered in nails, for those who painted walls and put in electrical outlets—they weren’t simply doing a task of building a building.  Think for a moment of the work that was done 22 years ago and since then: the ministry, the amount of hours, the amount of times the gospel has been presented, the amazing life changes that have taken place.  The ministry that unfolds each and every day is amazing when we work together.  What a testimony to those who were working hard to build this place with a vision that in January 2013 this place would still be standing and proclaiming the name of Jesus.  “Together Everyone Achieves More.”

Did you know that while we construct buildings, God is in the process of building His Kingdom today?  Did you know that God is involved in a building project?  Peter has been talking about it throughout the first chapter.  Just peruse with me some of the themes we’ve already seen: 

  • We are now enabled to be born into a living hope (1:3). 
  • We are brought into an inheritance that will never spoil or fade or perish (1:4). 
  • We are enabled to endure all types of trials and tribulations, and still rejoice because God is in fact on the move (1:6-7). 
  • We are now able, because of this building project that God has begun and is continuing, to come to Jesus and love Him deeply (1:8).

It was this building project that the prophets prophesied about.  It was this building project that the Apostles preached about.  And it is this building project of redemption that Christ calls us to believe.  It is a building project that Peter says the angels long look into intently (1:12).  The project was started a long time ago.  It was started in eternity past when God chose for His Son to be the Savior.  It was then manifested in Christ’s incarnation, and one day—that great and glorious day when our salvation is revealed and fulfilled—we will see the grand opening of the grand and glorious Kingdom of God. 

Now He is calling us to join Him in this project.  He wants to tell us that we can be a part of it.  But to be able to be a part of His building project, we must be a people who have purified our souls by obedience to the truth, and we must have a sincere brotherly love.  Notice 1 Peter 1:22:  “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart…”

So Christ has called us into this building project but if we want to be part of it, Peter says we’ve got to rid ourselves of all malice, all deceit, all hypocrisy and all slander (2:1).  God wants us as part of this building project but He won’t just take anybody.  There’s a certain way we are called to live before we can be part of this project.

1.  The Description

I want you to notice three things about this building project.  Number one, let’s look at the description.  Peter begins by reminding us of Whom this building project is all about.  All that the Father does, all that heaven is involved in, centers on the Person and work of Jesus Christ.  So where does Peter begin?  He begins with the phrase, “As you come to him” (2:4).  Well, who is the Him?  The only Person we can come to—the only Person we can engage with in God’s building project—is Jesus. 

Now let’s notice a couple things about Who God says Jesus is.  Notice Peter speaks of the condition of Jesus.  He says, “As you come to him [Jesus], a living stone...”  Let’s stop there for a moment.  The word “living” there is the Greek word zaō which has a double meaning.  It means living or life and it means that whatever is being spoken about is among the living.  Peter speaks of Jesus as the “living stone.”  What Peter is saying is, “Jesus is not dead.  He’s alive.”  It’s a great truth of Christianity that we do not serve a God and a Messiah Who is dead, but One Who is alive as He promised He would be.

Now Peter, our author, didn’t always believe this way.  On the night of Jesus’ arrest, Peter had come to the realization that Jesus’ final days were upon Him.  Peter believed that the end was coming for the ministry and life of Jesus.  He would hear and even see some of it with his own eyes—the scourging and the crucifixion.  For a couple days, our author would have the feeling that his Master, his Lord, his Teacher and his Friend was dead.  He would feel the sting of death.  He would feel the loss and failure of betraying Him and leaving Him on a night when Jesus needed him most. 

But a day would come a short time later when Peter would see with his own eyes.  After hearing from the women that the tomb was empty, Peter would then come face to face with the Stone that would change his life forever—not a dead stone, not a broken stone but the Living Stone.  Let us not forget what Peter is talking about as an eye-witness to Jesus’ life and ministry.  Peter is the one sharing his story here. 

Peter is reminding us that we do not serve in a religion of a dead prophet or a dead martyr.  But Peter says when we come to Him, we must come to Him as Who He really is—the risen One Who is alive today.  It would be well for all of us to be reminded of this truth.  You and I serve a risen King!  Amen?  We don’t have to go to Mecca and look at a tomb and say, “That is where our prophet lives.”  We do not just live in the aura of a great prophet or a great teacher. 

No, brothers and sisters, we may live according to the principles He has laid forth.  We have the great hope that our Lord and Savior is alive today.  Yes, He died on the cross.  Yes, He was buried but on that third day He rose again according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) and that gives us the peace and hope that we too will rise on eagles’ wings (Isaiah 40:30-31).  And that’s why we have hope, because we come to Jesus, a Living Stone.

But I want you to notice this word zaō is a word that speaks of living or being alive—but it isn’t simply the idea of being alive, having a heartbeat.  It is that which gives life.  So as we come to the Living Stone, we come to this Stone that gives us life.  Jesus had shared this over and over again.  We were to come to Jesus, Who was the drink that would make us never be thirsty again.  He was the Living Water.  We were to come and eat of His bread, because we would never be hungry again.  We were to come to Him where He might give us life—but life in all its fullness.  We were to come to Him because He is not only the Alive Stone, but He is the Stone that gives all that we need for abundant and healthy living.

But notice as he shares this about the condition of Jesus to his readers this morning, Peter goes on and he articulates a commitment among the Godhead.  Notice in the middle of verse four, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious.” “In the sight of God”—this phrase speaks of the total intimacy and proximity of Jesus to the rest of the Godhead.  Peter is describing something that is foreign to our world today, that is, that the Godhead lives in perfect and sweet fellowship with one another. 

 God is going to speak about His Son through the Holy Spirit into the words of Peter.  Notice what he says: he says that He is the chosen One.  Now here before we move on too quickly, we can stand back and marvel at the utter communion that the Godhead has amongst one another.  But I want to remind us that yes, the perfect intimacy and the perfect love that the Father has for the Son and the Son has for the Spirit and the Spirit has for the Father is the same love that you and I are called to this morning with one another. 

Remember John 17, one of the final times where Jesus shares with His disciples, and He’s praying what is called the “High Priestly Prayer”?  In John 17 He says, “Father, that they would love as You and I love, that they would know each other as You and I know each other, that they would have communion as You and I have communion.”  So we don’t just sit back and marvel at the amazing love that the Father has for the Son, but it’s a display—it’s displayed for us this morning—so we can have it for one another.

Now notice he says when he speaks of the Son, He is the “chosen” One.  Another way to translate that is the “choice” One.  The Father chose the Son because of His “choiceness.”  What I mean by that is that the Father chose the Son because He was far more excellent than all things in the world.  It speaks to that which was given to us in Christ.  Listen to me: what was given to us in Christ by God was the best He had.  Do you understand that this morning?  When the Father lavished us with His Son, it was the best in the entire universe; it was the best that heaven had to offer.

Now when we have guests in our home, we may go out of our way to give something better than maybe we give our own family.  That’s important to do that—shows hospitality.  But when God looked at our sin and He looked at our rebellion and He looked at our unwillingness to follow Him, God didn’t send an angel, He didn’t just send a prophet, He didn’t just send someone who lived a good life, but He sent His one and only Son—the best of the best—and He gave that Son, the best of all of heaven, for you.  If that doesn’t warm your heart this morning, then there’s some coldness in this January morning that you need to get out of your heart and head.  Jesus is the chosen One.

But notice He is also “precious.” The idea here is that He is to be honored by all others.  And what that means—and this will be important as we continue to move forward—what God says is, “You’re the best, Jesus, and I’m going to give the world the best.”  And our obligation is to say, “Yes, He is the best!  Yes, He is the precious One!  Yes, He is the glorious One.  Yes, He is the One that is inexpressible in human words or affection.  He is the great One Who came and put on flesh to become one of us.”  The hymn writer got it right when he said,

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands

Robed in the blooming garb of spring;

But Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,

Who makes the woeful heart to sing. 

(Fairest Lord Jesus by 17th Century German Jesuits)

Who can forget what transpired on that day in the Jordan River, when Jesus arrives and John the Baptist sees Him from afar?  John says, “Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29-34).  As Jesus entered into that water, what must have been transpiring in heaven when the Son of God was rising up out of the water, the Spirit of God descending on Him like a dove, and the Father saying, “This is My Son” (Matthew 3:16-17)?  

It’s similar to what I would do in the stands watching one of my boys playing a game: “That’s My boy!  Look at him go!  He’s a chip off the old block.”  (Now, that would be a good thing for God to say of Jesus; my sons might struggle with that.)  

It’s as if God is shouting down from Heaven, “That’s Him—My Son!  I’m proud of Him.  Way to go!  Listen to this One.  He’s the chosen One.  He’s the precious One.  In Him is life and life to all abundance.”  We see the Father just lavishing His love upon the Son and we see Him saying, “It is My Son with Whom I am well pleased.”

Notice Peter continues and describes this building program that finds itself focused in on the Living Stone of Jesus.  Seeing this commitment amongst the Trinity, we now see the centrality of Christ in all things.  Notice, because He is the Living Stone, because He’s chosen by God, because He’s precious—His value is of inexpressible worth—God makes Him something.  Notice 1 Peter 2:6 as 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.

Now Peter brings in a metaphor and says, “Hey, God is up to something.”  When God sent Jesus to this world, the building project was really set in motion.  The ground began to be worked up—the prophets brought forth the tilling of the ground and the moving of dirt—as we see in building projects each and every day.  And then it was time for the foundation to be laid.

The foundation was begun at Christmas in Bethlehem.  It was started at the Incarnation when we see Christ being born of a virgin, coming to redeem us who are under the law.  This foundation was built throughout His entire life on earth as He preached and showed mighty works that were done with His hands.  He did it in the way He taught and the way He lived.  As this foundation was built, God was saying, “Everyone listen!  Everyone be abundantly clear on this.  You will find your foundation in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.” 

Now there’s a lot of talk and a lot of misinterpretation of this fact.  In Matthew 16:18 Jesus finds Himself with the disciples in Caesarea Philippi.  We’re not sure what brought on this question.  Some believe Jesus and the disciples had walked by a statue of Caesar.  Remember, the whole town is named after Caesar Philip or Ceasar the Tetrarch.  Caesar—Caesarea.  Philip—Philippi.  And Jesus must have used that opportunity to ask the question, “Who do people say that I am?” (Mark 8:27-30). 

Now we’ve heard what the Father says of Jesus—He’s the chosen and precious One.  Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?”  And the disciples are like, “Holy cow, that’s a tough question; we want to get this right.”  What do we do when there’s a hard question or a hard issue to deal with?  We always have a friend, right?  “I’ve got this friend who’s having a problem...”  Well, that’s what the disciples do.  “Some people are saying...there are some who say You are Elijah.  And still others say You’re one of the prophets.”  Then another one speaks up and says, “Some believe You’re John the Baptist.”

But it’s Peter—the author of this book—who answers correctly.  I don’t know how he said it—with a booming voice or with fear and trepidation.  Knowing Peter’s personality, he probably stood up with all gusto and dramatically said, “No.  You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  You see, what Peter is saying in Matthew 16:18-19 is what God is saying of Jesus through Peter in 1 Peter 2:4.  “You’re the chosen One.  You’re the precious One.  You are the One Who has come to redeem His people from sin.”

It is this that brings all kinds of questions and confusion.  This is Jesus’ response in Matthew 16: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  Now there are some churches in our world—in fact the vast majority of them in early church history—that hold to the belief that Peter was the dude.  He was the rock.  He was the one upon whom the church was to be founded.  And even to this day our Roman Catholic friends affirm the position that popes are direct descendants of Peter, the rock.  But here’s the problem with that. 

Number one, Peter seems to be an odd person on which to start a church.  Peter is a lot like you and me.  Think about Peter for a moment.  One minute he is walking on water and the next moment he’s sinking (Matthew 28:28-33).  Peter’s the one who says, “Jesus, I’ll go to the grave for You.  Man, everybody else will leave, but I won’t leave You.”  But then he deserts Jesus (Matthew 26:30-35).  Peter is the one who says, “Hey, I understand that flesh and blood have not given me this truth (Matthew 16:17), but it is with my own flesh, with my sword, that I’m going to try to keep God’s Kingdom from coming into existence.”  Then he cuts off the soldier’s ear (John 18:10-11).  This Peter is a funny guy on whom to build a church!

Peter is not the rock, the cornerstone.  But notice what Peter says, “Behold I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious.”  You want to believe in someone?  Don’t believe in another person like Peter.  Believe in Jesus—He is the Rock.  In Him there is no failure.  In Him there is no sin.  Peter—yes, he’s a stone—he is a stone like you and me.  Is he an important stone?  You betcha.  Peter’s of vast importance within the church—as are all the apostles.  But he is a living stone like one of us, many stones being built up on the Living Stone of Christ, the Foundation on which a spiritual house in being built.

Now notice Peter says Jesus is the Cornerstone.  The building is only as good as the foundation that it stands upon.  I don’t know much about building but I personally learned this a couple years ago. 

We were building a barn.  We went to Home Depot, or Lowes, and bought one of those erector-set barns which they say anybody can build.  They’re lying!  If you don’t know what you’re doing it’s like Greek.    It was as if I was reading the French instructions while building this thing.  I began to put it all together and I had some friends helping me build this thing.  And for whatever reason, we couldn’t get this thing to be straight to save our lives.  When I began to build this thing, I just kept saying, “Well, it will straighten up on its way up.”  I had neighbors say, “Did we have an earthquake?  Something’s wrong with your barn.”

We came to the conclusion when everything was all said and done that the problem was not us—and I’ve had builders tell me this—the problem was with the materials in the kit.  I got so frustrated that I took the barn down.  It wasn’t incredibly bad, but it was out of shape enough that I took it down.  And that’s when I learned there was one mistake.  One of the boards in the foundation was shorter than the others.  

You see, when you build on something that is just not right, the rest of the building is going to suffer.  That is why Jesus is the Cornerstone.  He’s the Foundation.  He is what the church is built upon.  But I want you to notice that it says He’s laying “a cornerstone chosen precious” but notice that it says in verse seven that “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” 

For those who have an NIV Bible with them, they’re going to get some help that we won’t get in the ESV.  There’s a double meaning to this word “cornerstone.”  Yes, it was the foundation but that word in the Greek could also mean the final brick, the top brick, the capstone—as the NIV states, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone” (1 Peter 2:7, NIV).  So what Peter is trying to tell us is that we must recognize that Jesus isn’t simply the foundation of the church—meaning everything we do is built upon what Jesus has done for us—but everything then rises to Him. 

He’s the Cornerstone and He’s also the Capstone.  We found everything in Him and to Him goes all the glory, honor and praise.  He’s the beginning of the church, and He’s the end of the church.  Let all the world hear that Jesus isn’t just a Person of importance in history; He’s the Cornerstone of history and redemption.  And one day when every knee bows and every tongue confesses, they will see that the Stone that the builders rejected is not simply the Cornerstone, but the Capstone.  He’s the beginning and the end.

2.  The Invitation

Now that we have gotten the description of this building project, notice that there is an invitation that is given.  Verse four begins with an incredible offer.  It says, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious.”  “As you come to Him…”  I wonder if Peter was remembering back to Matthew 11:28-30, when Jesus said to the crowd that was harassed and helpless—sheep without a shepherd— “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  You see, Peter is reminding us that there’s been a great invitation extended:  “Come to Jesus.  Come to this Living Stone.”

Now Peter had seen many people in his day come to Jesus.  They would hear; they would see; they might even taste.  But they would leave after the show was done.  Were these the ones who had heeded the call of that coming?  No.  Peter had something very different in mind when he thought of this invitation.  When he called us to come to the Living Stone, Peter says there are two responses.

Response number one to this invitation is, “You can receive this Jesus by trusting in Him.”  Now Peter says, “As you come to Jesus—this Stone that is in Zion, this Stone that the builders rejected, this precious Cornerstone that is now the Capstone—the one who believes in this Stone, the one who believes in Jesus, will not be put to shame.”  In fact, in verse seven it says that the believer will also receive honor.  That sounds like a great deal!  “All I’ve got to do is sign up with Jesus and I’ll receive honor.  I’ll receive these great fringe benefits and I’ll be able to use Jesus in a way to get the abundant life for which I’m looking.”  Brothers and sisters, Jesus is not a stepping-stone—He’s the Cornerstone.  So we can’t look at Jesus as a means to the end of what we desire in life. 

Now, how do we come to Jesus?  It is to be done properly.  We do need to pursue Jesus.  The Greek word there is proserchomai, and it speaks of one who is continually drawing closer to Jesus.  It is not a one-time approach.  It isn’t “as you came to Jesus” in the historical or past tense.  It is present tense, “as you continue to keep coming to Jesus.”  It speaks of an approach that is reverent, habitually coming to Jesus.  It speaks of coming in a reverent way and that you are now desiring intimacy with God.

Now this is the model for every one of our marriages.  The pursuit of every marriage is that we enter into it with a sense of fear and trembling; a sense of the unknown.  So we’re reverent as we come to our wedding day.  And then as we wake up each and every morning with our spouse, the desire is not that you say, “Well, I know everything about her so I have nothing left to learn.”  You say, “I’m going to join again into a relationship of greater intimacy, of greater knowledge, of greater understanding.”  

Even more than that, when we enter into a life with Jesus we are called to grow in our intimacy and knowledge of Him.  Now it continues to go on in this sense.  What He’s saying is, “As you come to Me, there are some things you need to recognize.”  He says in verse six that when we come to the Stone that God has laid, “…the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.”  

Let’s stop there for a moment.  What does it mean to believe?  We want to come to Him.  We want to have the honor and not be put to shame.  So God says, “When you come to this Stone, you’ve got to come believing.”  Believing what?  We are to believe that though He was rejected by man, though He was the Stone the builders threw by the wayside, though the world says Jesus is nothing more than a figment of some crazies’ imagination—you need to say, “I believe.  I believe He’s the Christ.  I believe He’s the Son of the living God.”  This belief is not a one-time proposition.  Don’t tell me about a time way in the past when you “believed.”  Tell me Whom you believe today.  Tell me what your hope is built upon today. 

It is because this ongoing, habitual, continuing, present-day belief should impact every facet of our lives.  Every moment of every day we are to live differently out of that faith.  This is what Paul was saying to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:12 when he said, “But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.”  You see, the belief in the Stone—that the Stone is Who God says He is—leads to trust.  But trusting in what?  Notice he says in verse seven, “The honor is for you who believe.”

Now this living Stone is capable.  This is what our trust needs to be based on because we believe in the Stone.  As we’ve come to the Stone, now we put all our faith and all our hope on Him because He is able to do everything He said He was going to do.  The idea in this word translated “believe” is to entrust one’s self to Jesus in complete confidence; to believe with total commitment to the One Whom you’ve trusted.  That means Christ is the object of our faith because He is completely and utterly trustworthy.

Charles Spurgeon, a pastor of a century ago, said this:  “Put all your trust in Jesus, for you will never have cause to regret doing so.”  The text in the Old Testament from which Peter quotes says, “Whoever believes will not be in haste” (Isaiah 28:16).  Notice what Spurgeon tells us. 

“The one who trusts shall not need to be in a hurry, or have undue concern or trouble.  He shall enjoy the holy peace and leisure which springs from a quiet confidence in the One, Jesus, where all confidence is found.  Oh beloved, place all your trust on Christ.  Rest your whole weight on Him, for then [and I might add, only then] the honor will be for you.”  

You’ll never be put to shame when you put yourself and your life on the Rock of Jesus Christ.  But notice that not everybody responds this way.  Notice our text says, “…but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected...’”  Peter has already told us in verse four that He was rejected by men, and now he says that the Stone that the builders rejected “‘has become the cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense’” (2:7-8).  They stumble because they disobey the Word, as they were destined to do.  So Peter says, “Hey, as amazing as this is—this precious and chosen Stone that God has placed in the world in the Person and work of Jesus Christ—you would think everybody would want it.  But they don’t.”

Notice what Peter says.  He says, “They’re going to stumble over Jesus.  They’re going to have no use for Him.”  He says the religious leaders—the builders—are going to reject Him.  And they did, didn’t they?  The Pharisees and the leaders of Christ’s day—the ones who should have been ready for Jesus and His Kingdom to come—said, “We want nothing to do with You.  You have no value to us.”  They hung Him on a cross with the help of evil men.  Yet God made Christ the Savior of the world anyway.  Christ allows and causes men to stumble because they choose to disobey.  And the text tells us that “they were destined to do” this from the beginning. 

Now let’s understand a couple things before we go too far.  The word “rejected”—when it says He was rejected by the builders—is the word apodokimazo.  It’s a long, compound word that means to examine and deem as useless.  It means that the world judged Jesus and saw Him as not fit, not worthy or genuine, so the only recourse was rejection.  It means they threw off Jesus as the result of a test.  They tested Jesus and then they said, “We don’t want Him.  We repudiate Him.  We disapprove of Him,” and they declared Jesus useless. 

Peter is saying this rejection was not a one-time act but the unbelieving world over and over and over again is in a continual and habitual rejection of the Person and work of Jesus.  They want nothing to do with Him.  “Who cares that God says He’s chosen?  Who cares that God says He’s precious?”  What the world says is, “Jesus is garbage.  We want nothing to do with Him.”

Now let’s notice verse eight.  The last statement makes us bristle a little bit.  “They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.”  I see perfect balance in this statement.  There’s the human side—“they disobey the word.”  There’s the divine side—“as they were destined to do.”  We can easily understand the human side; we see people reject Jesus every day.  But the divine side bothers us.  We recoil from statements like this because as humans, we value our freedom.  We would like to think if anybody goes to hell they do so almost as if by accident. 

Peter wants to emphasize the truth that men cannot overturn God’s purposes by their unbelief.  Though they reject Jesus, though they crucify Him, nevertheless God made Jesus the Cornerstone of the church and the Capstone of salvation.  No unbeliever will be able to ever say, “See, I messed up God’s plan.  He thought I was going to be one of those living stones but I’m not.  Forget it.  I don’t want anything to do with Him.  I know I was supposed to be a part of this building program but I’m not going to be.”

Peter is saying there are no gaping holes in the building that God is constructing.  There are no gaping holes in the temple of God.  All whom God has chosen will eventually be saved (Ephesians 1:3-14).  That’s the truth of Scripture.  None of the elect will ever be lost (Romans 8:31-39).  None of them will ever be snatched out of the Father’s hands (John 10:27-30).  And those who do go to hell—as sad as that is—will discover that though they chose to disobey, God has the final word.  If there must be damnation in this universe, it is better to understand that it is by God’s choice, not by ours alone.

Now there’s a warning in this for us.  The Stone that saves some also causes some to stumble.  Notice, we reject Him by tripping over Him (Romans 9:32-33; 1 Peter 2:8).  You see, the world rejects Jesus because they see Him as worthless and not very precious at all.  But the value of something isn’t seen by the checking of opinion polls.  The world was wrong about Jesus 2,000 years ago, and brothers and sisters, the world is still wrong about Jesus today. 

Yet the world is going to learn on a day of God’s choosing that we can’t be neutral about Jesus.  There’s a choice that needs to be made: the choice to come to Him and be saved, or reject Him and trip over Him.  I say this with all love and grace and sincerity.  On that day the Spirit of almighty God will crush those who reject Him and send them to a place of eternal agony and pain.  That’s what Peter is warning us about here. 

3.  The Transformation

Herein lies the good news—there’s a transformation.  For any of you who have never followed Jesus—never trusted or believed in Him—you can receive Him instead of rejecting Him.  In receiving Him, you can become a living stone.  Our text states, “…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.”  We have the opportunity to be part of God’s building program and when we bow the knee to Jesus, He adds us to His house. 

When we are transformed, we are able to answer two very fundamental questions. 

The first question is, where do I fit?  Notice Peter says you’re not just one stone—you are “living stones.”  No matter our backgrounds—whether we’re male or female, young or old—all of us gather into this place as people who have been changed because we have come to the One Who gives life. 

Now God says, “I’m taking you and you and you and you and I’m building you up into a spiritual house.”  Maybe right now you’re a small stone.  There’s room for that.  Maybe God has grown you to be a bigger stone.  Well, God has a place for you.  And what he’s trying to tell us is each stone can’t be on its own.  Yet 81% of Christians who were recently surveyed said they could get all they need out of the Christian life by doing it alone.  That is not what Peter is saying.  Peter is saying that “lone ranger” Christianity is a lie of the devil.  We need one another.  We are being built into something that’s greater than ourselves.  So I need you and you need me.

So the second question is if my stone was taken out—or your stone was taken out—would that wall collapse? You see, a lot of us say, “Well of course I’m a living stone.”  But we’re not pouring anything into it.  We’re not doing what God has called us to do.  As a result, the stone could be taken out and nobody would ever be the wiser.  But hear and understand this: you and I cannot experience God fully without one another.  Oh, it’s true that we can experience God in our personal walks with Jesus Christ.  But God did not bring us into salvation for isolation; He brought us to salvation for community.

C.S. Lewis, the famed author and theologian, put it this way in his book called Four Loves.  Of his circle of friends and he says, “In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can truly bring out.  By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity.  I want other lights, other than my own, to show all of its facets.”  He goes on to speak of two guys named Charles and Ronald.  He says, “I need Ronald to bring out the Ronald part of Charles so that I can see all of Charles.  I can’t see all of Charles without Ronald, and Ronald can’t see all of Charles without me.”  Does that make sense?

We need each other, and we need a group of others to bring out that which is in the individual.  Notice what C.S. Lewis goes on to say,

“Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald’s reaction to a specifically Charles’ joke.  Far from having more of Ronald—having him to myself because Charles is no longer there, I don’t have to worry about him, he’s away—I have less of Ronald.  Because in this, friendship exists: a glorious nearness by resemblance to heaven itself, where the very multitude of the blessed, which no man can number, increases the fruition which each has of God.”

The only way that I’m going to experience God is as I watch you taste and see that the Lord is good.   The only way you’re going to see the fullness of God is when you see me taste that the Lord is good.  We need one another in ongoing community and ongoing fellowship and interaction so that we can fully experience the glory of God.  This means God is building a house and the only way we’re going to see the full glory of God in this house is when we see that glory in one another.

Now notice what he says.  “Every soul seeing God for Who He is in her own way, doubtless communicates that vision to all the rest.”  That is why an old author says that the seraphim in Isaiah’s vision are crying, “Holy, holy, holy…” to one another (Isaiah 6:3).  Because one is seeing the holiness from one view so he’s telling the other angels, “I see it from this vantage point.”  And they are able to see a greater sense of God’s holiness as they cry out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy…”

So here’s the practical implication:  We here at Village Bible Church unapologetically believe in what is called church membership.  It’s not so you can vote, or so you can be part of this group of people, or so we can have some level of representative government and democracy.  We believe in it because church membership is a tangible way to live out what we’re talking about here.  I want a relationship with God—I want to come to the Living Stone, the One the builders rejected—but I can’t know Him if I don’t have brothers and sisters who have committed with me to pursue knowing the Almighty God. 

So what is church membership here at Village Bible Church?  It is an ongoing commitment that I’m going to pursue God with the help of my brothers and sisters.  I’m not going to do it on my own because it’s unbiblical to do that on my own.  We need our brothers and sisters in Christ to spur us on—to love one another, to pursue one another—so we can pursue the Living Stone and follow Him faithfully forever.  That’s what membership here is all about.  It’s important because we can’t do this on our own.  God is building a spiritual house and we fit in this plan together. 

Notice finally, we also see how we are to function.  Notice our job description is simple: “to be a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5).  The Latin word for priest is the word pontifex.  It’s where we get the word “pontiff” used of the pope in Rome—he’s pontiff; he’s the head priest.  But literally the word simply means to be a bridge-maker. 

So my application for you this week is, “Are you a bridge-maker?”  Are you the kind of rock that is being built up in this house that God is building?  Are you doing that in such a way to help other living stones draw closer to God?  To become closer to Him?  To pursue greater intimacy with Him?  Are you drawing close to God and in your drawing close to Him are you bringing others along with you?  

That is how we are to function: 

  • We are to share spiritual sacrifices, offering our bodies (Romans 12:1-2).  
  • We are to give praise (Psalm 111:1). 
  • We are to give generously and share with others (1 Timothy 6:18). 
  • We are to share the good news of Jesus Christ (Romans 10:15). 
  • We are to love one another because we are imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1). 
  • We are to be priests (1 Peter 2:9) who go on the behalf of others to draw all closer to God.

So are you a part of this building project?  God is at work and He’s looking for us to join Him as living stones who are brought together so we may see the house God is building and place all our faith and trust in Him.  So that one day, in its full fruition, we will praise the name of the Cornerstone that has become the Capstone of what has become of the spiritual house.  To Him be the glory. 

Let’s pray.

Father God, we come before You and thank You for Your Word.  Lord, I pray that my hearers would hear what I’ve said today.  Father, I pray that I did so in a clear and concise way so the hearers may hear what Your Word has to say.  Lord, I hope I unpacked this well so that my brothers and sisters in Christ may truly hear what our focus and desire should be. 

Lord, we are so thankful that You are the Stone and that though the builders rejected You that You are the One Who has been lifted high and You are seated at the right hand of Your Father’s throne.  Father, we are so thankful that You sent Jesus to die for us.  Even though we were slaves to sin, even though we were hostile toward You, You sent the precious One of Heaven Who died on our behalf that we might become living stones. 

Lord, as we leave this place let us be the living stones You call us to be.  Let us honor You with all we say and do.  Let us rid ourselves of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy and all slander as we fervently love one another, so that when the opportunity is right we may be able to declare the praises of Him Who called us out of darkness and brought us into His wonderful light.  Lord, thank You for showing us this building project; for giving us an opportunity to engage in this program of redemption.  Now send us forth into this world, being reminded of our job description and give us the Spirit we need Who will empower us to be faithful to the cause.  In Christ’s name we pray.  Amen.

All Scriptures quoted directly from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.