A Living Church

HBI - As followers of Jesus our lives are built together in unity on Him, built up into a Holy priesthood and a Holy Nation which shows the world the love of Jesus. .

Intro

In the summer we took a trip to visit family. When we went to my parents farm I was put to work. My brother was hired to replace the siding when I went there and I was volunteered to give Him a hand. This is normal when we go home to the farm, we are put to work doing things that need to be done around the farm. Now I am not a carpenter but I thought why not. I started by taking off the old siding and when I was done that I put on the starter strip which lines up the siding and makes sure the whole wall will be sided straight. I was about 1/8” out from one end to the other, which I did not think would have been to bad but by the time we got to the roof, it ended up being closer to 3/4”.

It adds up quickly, it started out small but as you go up the gap keeps getting bigger and bigger. continuing on with the the theme of our Living hope in a world that is not our home. We are told that if we truly have a living hope in Jesus it will show in the way that we live our lives. That is we are called to a lifestyle of Holiness in all that we do.

we continue on with the idea of being set apart and growing closer to Jesus following imagery of a cornerstone and a living stone. But the idea being that we are being built up into something amazing. That is followers of Jesus we become part of something much bigger and much greater then ourselves, that. We are built upon the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, becoming part of the body of Christ. We are given direct access to God through the sacrifice of Jesus. And this great building is all lined up against the son of God. so the building it creates should stand as a testimony to all those around us of who God is. let us look into this.

2:1-3 - grow

We start our with a bit of a transition between two different metaphors saying the same general thing but in different ways. the idea is that as we learn what it means to have hope in a world that is not our home, we need to remember this main theme as we continue to learn what it looks like to live like this in our regular life.

It starts out by living a lifestyle that is set apart for Jesus in all that we do. Transitioning between the two different yet very similar ideas. We must be growing closer to Jesus as we rid ourselves of our old way of life.

1 Peter 2:1–2 (CSB) 1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation,

Rid yourselves of all the things that make you like the world. These terms are fairly self explanatory so I wont get into them.

But we all star tout in the same place, as infants on spiritual milk. Our understanding of the word of God is immature, not where it needs to be yet. This is being spiritual infants but as we go on in life we are not meant to stay there. We need to grow into our salvation and learn more so that we are no longer on milk but on solid food. we are to be growing, we are to be lining ourselves up with the word of God in all that we do.

If we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, which is a quote from Psalm 34:8 “8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!” Then we will do what it takes to grow in Him. put off that old life, grow out of your spiritual milk, you are not meant to stay spiritual babies forever.

but following this idea of spiritual growth we move more into what that looks liek as we move on to a different metaphor.

2:4-8 - Christ the Rock - the Living Church

1 Peter 2:4–5 (CSB) 4 As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

stone imagery, it looks a bit confusing but once you get into the meaning behind it, it is quite beautiful. One thing to remember as you read through Metaphors is that they can only take you so far. A metaphor is an easier way of learning about truths in the scriptures but you can only take them so far.

we read about a living stone. As we are coming to Him. continuing on the idea of growing closer to Jesus we will be coming to Him in all that we do. as we grow, we need to remember these things. This Living stone is Jesus and it will go farther into what this means. there are two things we learn about Jesus, our living Stone.

The first thing we learn is that the living stone was rejected by man. This is a continuing theme as well. Jesus was rejected and is still rejected by people. this continues to happen today as well. People reject Jesus and what He has done for them. It is the same as it was back then, Peoples response to the name of Jesus is to use His name in blasphemy and to take it lightly, or to just right out turn their backs on Him. Even in response to the rising hate against the people of God there are those who have said they are giving up their faith. Jesus has been rejected.

but God did not consider the Human valuation of Jesus is tossed aside by God who chose Jesus and honored Him as the only foundation by which we as his children build our lives.

I know most people do not like stones, farmers spend there lives it seems like taking them out of the ground and they always seem to grow back.

1 Peter 2:5 (CSB)5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Following the same imagery we as living stones made in the image of God are being built up. Liek you would build a house. Or take the fireplace at the Bible Camp. Each stone hauled across the lake by canoe to the building and set together to form a beautiful fireplace.

We as children of God are being formed together perfectly as we join the family of God into a beautiful building. A holy priesthood. This just reaffirms that we all now have direct access to God through the blood of Jesus. We no longer need a priest to do this. In the OT God’s people had a set priesthood. Now we are the priesthood. And not only that we are to share this message with those round us so that all may know how to follow God. so this means I get to sit down and y’all get to preach while I listen!

Isaiah 28:16 (CSB)16 Therefore the Lord God said: “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable.

Vs 6 is a quote from Isaiah, a prophecy of the coming messiah. Jesus is the cornerstone. So the next thing we learn about Jesus our living stone is that Jesus is the basis by which we align our lives. He is the basis by which we align the body of Christ.

The cornerstone imagery is what reminded me of that siding starter strip I put on my dads house that was 1/8” off from one side to another. My response to that to my brother was, hey it is not like I do this for a living, give me a break. When laying a stone foundation they would find a stone or carve out a stone to be the beginning stone. all other stones are lined up against this first stone. If the cornerstone is off then the whole building is going to be crooked.

Jesus the chief cornerstone by which the whole body of Christ is lined up by. but not only that in the next verse we read that

Psalm 118:22 (CSB) 22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

Rejected by most people, thrown away as useless Jesus become the cornerstone of the living church. but people still see Jesus this way according to verse 8 people stumble over Him. No one would see Jesus as the true Messiah. They miss the point.

why people stumble over Jesus. They disobey the word of God. We are all going to encounter the precious cornerstone which is Jesus. And either we are going to build our lives upon it or it is the stone that will lead to our fall. (Story of when i went to catch a softball and stumbled over a parking block). It is part of the Plan of God this tells us, all part of His plan that people would disobey God. He knew it would happen and who would disobey Him ye He chose to create the world with this in mind anyways. It does not make it any less blameworthy.

We are all going to encounter Jesus and He will either be the savior by which we align our lives or a stone to stumble over which will destine us to eternity without Him. The choice is yours.

2:9-10 - A royal priesthood.

1 Peter 2:9–10 (CSB) 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Lastly we read that as followers of Jesus we are part of a chosen race, a holy nation a chosen people of God. Once we where not part of the people of God but now we are being built up into God’s Holy people.

what this all is saying is that it is not about you, it is abut the church of Jesus for the Glory of God. The church of God is what is built up on the rock of Jesus. Though not every church is lined up with Jesus our rock. There are those that have gone against what the bible teaches, they are not part of this, they cant be if they go against what the Bible teaches.

But if you line up your life with Jesus, then you are built into the universal church of God. A holy church that is to sing the praises of God for all to see. People see this body of Christ and scoff. But then there are those that come upon the church of God and see all that God has done through us and want to do something about it and their lives are changed.

I remember being a part of a church in Germany where I couldn't understand what was being said. I knew the people well enough to know that what was being taught was the true word of God. But in that moment of worship that I could not understand, I was brought to tears by the presence of God in that room. It is an amazing thing to be a part of.

So What?

We are to be that building. We have a living Hope, that means that we are going to be living a life as if we are part of the family of God, living a holy life. As we build our lives upon Jesus we are part of a special thing where we join together with others who have built there lives upon Jesus and His word and shine His light into the world around us no matter the cost to us.

To be a part of this beautiful building, this royal priesthood we must be growing n God.

Spiritual Milk

This is not negative, saying that it is a bad thing to be new in the faith and less mature but we must not stay there forever. we must be growing and if you are not growing then you need to ask God to search your life. The only time babies don't grow when as they are supposed to is when there is something wrong going on. Not that THEY ARE ANY LESS SPECIAL AND BEAUTIFUL.

As we are growing

The Cornerstone

As we are growing we will all encounter Jesus the Precious Cornerstone. But whether you believe it or not you will encounter Jesus. You will either line your life up in line with the message of Jesus or you will stumble upon Him and curse Him. One will look forward to the return of Jesus and the other will greatly fear when Jesus comes back again. what will you do when You encounter Jesus.

The Building

It ends with knowing that we are built together with other believers that line their selves up with the word of God and the life of Jesus. Not everyone who claims to be a christian has done this. But this beautiful thing that we are a part of means that we will be like a lighthouse on a hill.

we have been called from darkness into marvelous light, and we are going to be shining that light into the world around us. We have recieved mercy and we must teach others about that mercy. How are we proclaiming the praises of God to the world wround us.

what wil you do as you encounter the Precious cornerstone?