Beginning to Grow Up Together (1 Peter 2:4–10)

I. We Are Stones in the Same Building (1 Peter 2:4–8)

4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

A. There is only one Saviour, Jesus Christ, and only one spiritual building, the church.

Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone of the church, binding the building together. Whether we agree with each other or not, all true Christians belong to each other as stones in God’s building.

Peter gave a full description of Jesus Christ, the stone. He is a living stone because He was raised from the dead in victory. He is the chosen stone of the Father, and He is precious. Jesus Christ, though chosen by God, was rejected by men. He was not the kind of Messiah they were expecting, so they stumbled over Him. Though rejected by men, Jesus Christ was exalted by God!

B. The real cause of this Jewish stumbling was their refusal to submit to the Word

Had they believed and obeyed the Word, they would have received their Messiah and been saved. Of course, people today still stumble over Christ and His cross. Each time someone trusts Christ, another stone is quarried out of the pit of sin and cemented by grace into the building. It may look to us that the church on earth is a pile of rubble and ruins, but God sees the total structure as it grows. What a privilege we have to be a part of His church.

Too often, Christians hinder the building of the church because they are following the wrong plans. When Solomon built his temple, his workmen followed the plans so carefully that everything fit together on the construction site (1 Kings 6:7). If all of us would follow God’s blueprints given in His Word, we would be able to work together without discord.

II. We Are Priests in the Same Temple (1 Peter 2:5, 9)

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

A. We are a “holy priesthood” and a “royal priesthood.”

This corresponds to the heavenly priesthood of our Lord, for He is both King and Priest. Our Lord’s heavenly throne is a throne of grace from which we may obtain by faith all that we need to live for Him and serve Him.

In the Old Testament period, God’s people had a priesthood; but today, God’s people are a priesthood. Each individual believer has the privilege of coming into the presence of God. We do not come to God through any person on earth, but only through the one Mediator, Jesus Christ. Because He is alive in glory, interceding for us, we can minister as holy priests.

B. Christians today do not bring animal sacrifices as did the Old Testament worshipers.

We do have our own sacrifices to present to God. We ought to give our bodies to Him as living sacrifices, as well as the praise of our lips and the good works we do for others. The money and other material things we share with others in God’s service is also a spiritual sacrifice. We offer these sacrifices through Jesus Christ, for only then are they acceptable with God. If we do any of this for our own pleasure or glory, then it will not be accepted as a spiritual sacrifice.

God wanted His people Israel to become “a kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6), a spiritual influence for godliness; but Israel failed Him. Instead of being a positive influence on the godless nations around them, Israel imitated those nations and adopted their practices. It is important that we, as God’s priests, maintain our separated position in this world. We must not be isolated, because the world needs our influence and witness; but we must not permit the world to infect us or change us. Separation is not isolation; it is contact without contamination.

III. We Are Citizens of the Same Nation (1 Peter 2:9–10)

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

A. We are a chosen generation.

This speaks of the grace of God. God did not choose Israel because they were a great people, but because He loved them.

God has chosen us purely because of His love and grace. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (John 15:16)

B. We are a holy nation.

We have been set apart to belong exclusively to God. Our citizenship is in heaven, so we obey heaven’s laws and seek to please heaven’s Lord.

Israel forgot that she was a holy nation and began to break down the walls of separation that made her special and distinct. God commanded them to put a “difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean”; but they ignored the differences and disobeyed God.

C. We are the people of God.

In our unsaved condition, we were not God’s people, because we belonged to Satan and the world. Now that we have trusted Christ, we are a part of God’s people. We are a “people of His own special possession,” because He purchased us with the blood of His own Son.

All of these privileges carry with them one big responsibility: revealing the praises of God to a lost world. After all, we have obtained mercy from God! Were it not for His mercy, we would be lost and on the way to eternal judgment! We are God’s chosen people only because of His mercy, and it behooves us to be faithful to Him.