The Foundation of Holiness

Intro

A study done by Lifeway Research back in 2019 found that two thirds of teens who attended Church regularly with their parents quit attending completely between the ages of 18-22.

In fact it was between 66%-70%. That means that for every 3 teenagers who go to Church, only 1 will still be attending after the age of 22.

That reality has a long reaching impact on the future of the Church as we consider the fact that as older generations begin to pass away and leave the Church, there are far less younger people coming into the Church to replace them.

That is alarming. It should bother us. It should motivate us to try and figure out what is happening that 2/3 of teens leave the Church in their young adult years.

I believe that a lot of it has to do with a poor foundation.

That for many young Christians, they have never been taught to make their faith their own, and rather, they tried to build on the foundation of their parents faith.

And when their parent were no longer around, their faith crumbled.

Last week we started a series called Set Apart. In this series I am taking us through the first 2 chapters of the book of 1 Peter.

It is in this letter that we see Peter explaining to persecuted Jewish Christians the need for the Church to be set apart, or be holy.

We talked last week about the “why” of holiness.

Why does it matter if we live set apart lives?

What motivation is there to change from who we were before we came to faith in Christ to who we a called to be as God’s children, as recipients of what Peter calls an eternal inheritance?

If you remember we said that the “why” or the reason we choose to live holy lives, the reason we choose to be obedient and not slip back into our old sinful ways is because of what God has done through Jesus.

It is because of the precious blood of Christ that redeemed us or ransomed us back from captivity that our sin had us in.

It is because of the fact that we have been born again into a new life, a life that has an eternal inheritance.

Being set apart is a command that we willingly follow out of gratitude for all that God has done for us.

That is where we left off last week.

A Growing Appetite

As we pick up right where we left off, we are looking at the very beginning of...

1 Peter 2:1-3 NLT So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

Again we see Peter use this word “so”, other translations say “therefore”. Remember that when we see this word we have to understand that what follows is built on the context of what came before.

Right before this, the end of chapter 1 is describing our redemption and cleansing of sin by the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross.

Again, Peter is showing us the “why” of holiness. We live holy lives because we are grateful for what God did.

Then in chapter 2 he starts by saying, because of all that God did through Jesus, because of everything I just said about your salvation and redemption, here is what you need to do.

Get rid of all evil behavior. Quit being dishonest and hypocritical. There is no place for jealousy or slanderous speech among the redeemed who have been set free from this kind of behavior through their adoption as sons and daughters of God.

He is saying get rid of this kind of behavior. Get rid of anything in our lives that gets in the way of living a holy, set apart life.

He then builds on the concept of being born again that he mentioned in chapter 1 by comparing these believer to newborn babies.

This wasn’t an insult or somehow saying they were immature or new believers in this instance.

Instead he is comparing how a newborn craves milk and will cry when they don’t get it with how followers of Jesus should crave spiritual milk.

This spiritual milk in context here is the Word of God. Peter is saying that the we must crave the spiritual nourishment that comes from God’s Word. That we should not be satisfied or content until we have had our fill of it.

It is because of Gods kindness and mercy demonstrated on the cross, we should be people who live holy lives and the only we can do that is by being in God’s Word regularly.

A New Temple

As we keep reading we see Peter in the context of speaking about holiness, says something that would have been very familiar to a Jewish believer.

1 Peter 2:4 NLT 4 You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.

For the 1st century Jew who knew the scriptures, the word stone carried significance.

Theologian and Scholar N.T. Wright has this to say about it.

The great hope of Israel was that the true God, YHWH, would return to Zion (Jerusalem) at last, coming back to live forever in the Temple—once, that is, it had been properly rebuilt so as to be a suitable residence for him. What’s that got to do with a ‘stone’ or a ‘rock’? Well, there was a long tradition of speaking about the Temple being built on the ‘rock’, on the ‘cornerstone’. Find the right ‘stone’, and you may be on the way to building the new Temple, ready for God to return.

When Peter called Jesus the living cornerstone he knew that his Jewish readers would have connected Jesus with a prophecy written in the book of Isaiah. In fact Peter goes on to quote it in verse 6.

Isaiah 28:16 NLT Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken.

By calling Jesus the living cornerstone in 1 Peter 2:4, Peter was declaring Christ as the foundation that everything else in our lives can be built upon.

Have you ever played with blocks with a small child? They have an incredible time, but their towers never get very tall. They have no concept of building a solid foundation.

Their only thought is stacking one block on top of the other. They don’t understand the need to distribute the weight evenly if they want a stable tower, and before long they decide to knock it all down anyway.

When Peter refers to Jesus as the living stone, he is claiming that Jesus is the foundation for holy living. When we build our lives upon that foundation, it is steady and sure.

I can’t help but think when Peter wrote this that he was referencing back to a conversation he had with Jesus back in the Gospel of Matthew.

It was during this conversation where Peter declared that Jesus was the Messiah or “anointed one” and the son of the living God.

Do you remember what Jesus said to him as a result?

Matthew 16:18 NLT 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

Peter wasn’t the rock he would build his Church on. It was the truth of what Peter said, that Jesus was the promised Messiah and Son of God. It was this revelation that the Church would be built on. Jesus is the rock.

It is this foundation that Peter says we come to. And I like how the NLT translates it as coming to in the present tense. Because the word in Greek doesn’t mean a singular arrival, but a continual coming to Jesus.

In other words, it isn’t a one time deal. That as we learn to live holy set apart lives it requires that we continually come to Jesus on a regular basis so we can build on the foundation he has set for our lives.

Building Blocks

And as we do that, look at what Peter says about us.

1 Peter 2:5 NLT 5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.

Peter took the stone imagery even further. Here he describes believers as living stones because they are made alive by Christ, the Living Stone.

These living stones that are being used to build this temple are cut into shape in order to be used.

They aren’t just boulders or rocks found in a field somewhere and randomly gathered up.

If that is true, then we must be willing to ask the question, am I willing to be shaped and used as a living stone for God’s purposes?

Am I willing to be set apart and holy so that I can be used for a holy purpose? If we aren’t willing to have our sin and rebellion chiseled away.

If we aren’t willing to have our disobedient heart reshaped into something useful for building than can we really call ourselves living stones?

Not only are we as followers of Christ stones that make up God’s spiritual house, be we also serve in that house as part of a holy priesthood.

Peter here is using a two-fold metaphor.

We are both the temple and the priests who serve in it.

Peter used these metaphors because they would have reminded his Jewish listeners of God’s promise in Exodus 19 where he promised Israel they would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation if they remained obedient to God.

The OT priests entered God’s presence at specific times and only after carefully following ritual cleansing instructions.

The OT priests offered animal sacrifices in the temple, the place that housed the presence of God.

In the NT, all who come to faith in Christ and receive him as Lord and savior are now his temple and his priests.

As a temple, God’s presence dwells with in us through the Holy spirit.

As priests we approach God after being cleansed by the Holy Spirit and offer spiritual sacrifices.

We can only do this if we live set apart, holy lives.

Application/Closing

Peter when speaking about Jesus being the foundation or cornerstone goes on to say in...

1 Peter 2:8-10 NLT And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.

9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”

Peter is telling us that those who reject Jesus. Those who reject God’s word. Their fate is sealed.

It isn’t popular to say, but hell is real. And those who reject Christ. Those who choose to live in rebellion to his word will sadly find out how real it is someday.

When Peter says their fate is planned for them, he isn’t saying that they have been pre-destined for hell as my Calvinist friends might say.

Rather, he is saying that hell is the predestined fate or consequence for those who choose to reject him.

The opposite though is also true.

In verse 9 Peter says that you and I are not like that. We are a chosen people. Not chosen in the sense that we were forced to except Christ. Chosen in the sense that because we chose to except Christ we enter into a predetermine reward for our choice.

We become part of a chosen people, a line of royal priest. We become Gods special possession.

It is because we are his that we can show others his goodness.

By living holy, set apart lives we put on full display to everyone around us, our friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors what it looks like to be called out of darkness and into his wonderful light.

But if our foundation for holiness is our parents, our pastor, other Christian leaders, then like the teens I mentioned in my opening, it will crumble.

Jesus is the cornerstone. He alone must be the foundation for everything in our lives.

And when he is, then and only then will we truly pursue a holy, set apart life.