MONDAY
Today we come to our fourth week of our Resilient Christianity campaign. We’ve seen that the Christian life is the life of an elect exile in covenant relationship with God. Resiliency is rooted in our worship of God for the living hope and eternal inheritance he gives his people, who are guarded for salvation at the return of Christ. Because of this we can rejoice regardless of our circumstances. And last week we saw five imperatives to live in this new identity that we have in Christ: set our hope on the grace ahead, be holy, fear God, genuinely love one another, and crave the things of God.
Moving right along we come next to 1 Peter 2:4-10. This will conclude Peter’s introductory theology which sets the basis for the practical teaching to follow.
1 Peter 2:4–10 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 Jesus Christ.
The big idea of this section is found here in verse 5–”you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house…” Remember, we said the main theme of this broader section 1:3-2:10 is to identify the church with the people of God. Here is the most direct statement of this theme. He has previously relied on the family, father-child, metaphor. Now he switches metaphors to a building. Individual believers in Christ (living stones) make up the church (the spiritual house). He is clearly referencing the temple here as the following phrases indicate—a holy priesthood, a place to offer sacrifices. The church, then, is the temple of God, where the presence of God through the Holy Spirit dwells.
So how do we become a part of this spiritual building? In verse 4 he gives us the answer—we come to Jesus. The term translated “come” here implies approaching a deity, moving towards him. This is another great picture of salvation and the Christian life—constantly moving towards Jesus, approaching him, abiding in his presence. We do this first by believing in Jesus, which he will get to in the following verses.
Jesus is said to be “the living stone.” He will unpack this more in the coming verses, but in the Old Testament this was an indicator of the Messiah. Peter has previously described our hope as living because Jesus is living. In verse 5 he calls believers “living stones” as well. As believers who identify with Christ (our life is sourced in him) we are also living stones.
In identifying believers with Jesus, he reminds them of Jesus’ life. He was rejected by humanity, just as his audience is rejected by their society. Like Jesus, however, their rejection by humanity doesn’t mean that they are cursed or rejected by God. Just the opposite. Just as Jesus, in spite of his rejection by humanity was chosen by God, so believers should not view their rejection by society as a rejection from God. Jesus was chosen and precious to God, so are believers.
As a part of being built into a spiritual house, believers are holy priests. In the temple priests performed the sacred duties of worship to mediate the covenant relationship between God and his people. Interestingly, Peter doesn’t distinguish a certain class of Christians as priests. Instead, he references all believers as a holy priesthood. The Protestant Reformation restored this idea of “the priesthood of all believers” to the church. In Christ our access to the presence of God is through faith in Jesus so all believers have this privilege. Other religions set up certain holy members of their religion to mediate between the people and their gods. In Christ we can all access the presence of God.
All believers, then, can offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus. These sacrifices are only acceptable to God because they are through Jesus. He is the means by which our sacrifices are acceptable to God. The only worship God now accepts is through Jesus. These sacrifices are also spiritual in contrast to the physical sacrifices of the Old Testament. Most likely, Peter has in mind the worship and behavior that flows from a life transformed by God— hope, holiness, praise, love, etc. This is our sacrifice to God in Christ.
By way of application, this big idea counters our cultural value of individualism. Peter is calling his audience to view themselves as a part of a whole. They are each an individual stone in the temple. They are not to perceive of themselves as an individual stone, alone in a field. Coming to Christ means coming into the community of the church, both the local church and the broader church now and for all of history.
Additional Content
1 Peter 2:4–10 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 Jesus 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.
9 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. 10 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.
Reflection
If you believe in Jesus, picture yourself as a stone in the wall of a large building. As we often say on Sunday mornings, community contributes to our identity.