1 Peter Bible Study #4: The Foundation of Every Healthy Church

Last week we continued our Bible study through 1 Peter and saw how, in the local church, we submit to the Word of God and we are satisfied by the Word of God in 1 Peter 1:22-2:3. Believers have been born again through the enduring and living Word of God… as a result of this, we are to put off things like malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander and desire the Word so that we grow stronger in our walk with the Lord. It is impossible for a believer to grow deep roots apart from the Word of God. This doesn’t mean that believers become perfect or that there are perfect churches, that’s an impossibility because we’re all people and churches are full of people as well! But, a Godly church will stand out in a godless world and a church that is built upon the right foundation will endure while many that are built upon the sand of tradition and trends will give way one day or another. What we need is to ensure that we have built our lives on the solid foundation of God’s Word individually and then pan out and make sure that we have done the same as a church, if we get our foundation wrong, there will be lasting consequences for ourselves and many many others in our congregation.

Everything we do as a church must be done to glorify our God, not just to check boxes or to go with the flow one way or another. We are called by God to stand on His Word - and if we fail to do this, if we build our foundation on anything else, we will pay the price. Why are so many Christians and Churches tempted to trade faithfulness for fame, and why do many give into that temptation?

Failure to understand why faithfulness matters so much

Fame promises amazing things

Think about how pervasive the pursuit of fame is embedded into our DNA

We want to do something good, not only to glorify God, but also to look good in the court of public opinion

Parents, we want to have obedient and well-behaved children… but deep down we hope that everyone notices that our kids are awesome

The person who always has to do something in order to impress others or fit a self-imposed box that no one has given to them

We all are tempted to pursue fame, more than we even know! The human heart is bent towards becoming famous, even if its just within our own family unit - or our church family

As Juan Sanchez says, “This is one reason why living a life of faithful Christian discipleship is so hard. Peter’s readers were rejected by the world, exiles scattered, without a home, without a status, without honor… Yet, it’s not our fame that we work for. We are created and saved to make much of Jesus.”

As a church and as individuals, we are created and saved to make much of Jesus. Not ourselves. Not FBC Salem. Just Jesus - and if Jesus so chooses to use us and our church in a mighty way, praise the Lord for that! But our priority can’t be fame, likes, subscribers, pats on the back, claps, or congratulations… let me tell you this: Those don’t last. If we’re in it for fame, our fuel tank will run on empty sooner rather than later. But… if we’re in it for faithfulness, He will sustain us each step we take.

Let’s read from God’s Word in 1 Peter 2:4-8 and evaluate our foundation

1 Peter 2:4–8 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. 6 For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame. 7 So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected— this one has become the cornerstone, 8 and A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this.

False Foundations For Fans

Back in chapter 1, we saw how our identity isn’t in our past accomplishments, birth story, or background. Our identity is rooted in belonging to Jesus Christ as Peter addressed these people as “Those chosen and living as exiles.” That is our identity and it is only possible because we have a living hope. Because of this, we are called to live a holy life that is based on God’s Word, not man’s approval. Jesus is to be the foundation for our lives and the church. Yet, some reject Jesus. We see in verse 4 that this living stone was rejected by people.

Why do some people reject Jesus?

Don’t want to admit that they are in the wrong and in need of help

Don’t believe the supernatural

Some believe Jesus was a teacher or leader, but not a Savior

The foundation that people use for this conclusion is not God’s Word but themselves. Look at the issues we see in this text with those who reject Jesus - they reject the cornerstone, they stumble over Him, they disobey the Word. What is the consequence if we get Jesus Christ wrong?

Biblically speaking, eternal punishment and separation from God

Acts 4:11–12 CSB

11 This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

We must be saved by Jesus because there is no other way to be saved - as John 14:6 says that Jesus is the only way to the Father. What does that mean for those who reject Jesus as Lord and Savior? They have a false foundation that will not last and stand - they are not saved. There have been many people who see Jesus and the cross especially as a stumbling block. The Jews of the day didn’t accept Jesus as the Messiah because they longed for a warrior and conqueror… not a servant to give His life as a ransom for many and to seek and save the lost from their sins. The Romans rejected Jesus as King of Kings because He died and the cross didn’t make sense to them because only criminals of the worst degree were crucified. How could the true God die on a tree? The cross caused many to doubt Jesus being this cornerstone

1 Corinthians 1:22–23 CSB

22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

Jesus is a stone that many have stumbled over. For people who reject the Lordship of Jesus Christ, they have built a false foundation in something else that will not last and will not stand the test of time. In fact, there are even people who come to churches, sing the songs, know the words, participate in the events, and all the church stuff… but they are fans of Jesus. We know people who are big time fans of teams and people and ideas and even countries. They are supportive in the good times and they like to let everyone know when the going is good, but the moment that things turn sour, they’re out.

Is Jesus interested in fair-weathered fans?

No! CS Lewis, “Liar, Lunatic, or Lord” there is no room to say He was just a nice person that we should follow when its convenient - either we follow Him exclusively or not at all. He didn’t leave that option available to us

So often in our country, though, people identify as fans of Jesus. I’m a fan of Jesus whenever it benefits me or whenever I’m at rock bottom, then I’ll seek out Jesus. But whenever the going is good or whenever I disagree with what the Bible says or whenever Jesus calls me out in my sin, then I’ll do what I want to do instead. What we’re seeing in the West in many congregations is a steady plateauing or declining trend in 81.5% of churches. People panic and wonder how is this happening and how do we fix it? Kind of like an old building that has lots of problems - what do people usually do whenever a home or old building starts to have some issues? We’re really good at putting up some bandaids to try and mask the problem. What happens over time, though? The bandaids get old and they lose their stickiness and effectiveness and we have to replace the bandaid, but when we go back to the problem, the problem has gotten worse! So we get a bigger bandaid, and this process repeats itself and instead of fixing the actual problem, we dress the problem up. We look around at the growing secularization in our country and we see declining church attendance figures, declining baptism numbers, and some want to put up a bandaid! This is the bandaid that many mention:

People like movies, we can pack the pews if we offer soda and popcorn and have a full on production and call it an experience rather than a worship service

People really like being entertained, so let’s entertain people and offer self-help seminars so that they leave feeling better about themselves than they did whenever they came in

Or, let’s pound the pulpit and church with a message that reminds them of how awful things are in this generation and how things used to be better and how the younger generation is the exclusive problem and if we could just do x or y or z then all of this would be alleviated

These are bandaids and they aren’t worth the cost! Fame isn’t more important than faithfulness.

We have to get to the heart of the problem and the heart of the problem is this, often times, many churches have built a foundation that breeds fans, but not followers. Come and be entertained and have fun sounds good until another opportunity arises for more entertainment and fun. Come and have this experience sounds fun until another place offers a better experience. Come and hear how awful these people are might sound interesting until we realize that the problem starts with us more often than not. What produces genuine, faithful followers? The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Why is our service centered around the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Because that’s what the Bible tells us to do - to build our lives and our church on the solid foundation of God’s Word, and in 1 Peter 1-2 we see that that foundation is nothing less than Jesus Christ. He must be at the center of our lives and the life of our church. This isn’t to say that FBC Salem is a perfect church and that there aren’t things that we could do better, there certainly are! But Jesus must always be at the center. That message can’t change - the methods will, but the message can’t. We must praise Him for the growth that we have seen and continue to do the things that He has called us to do as individuals and as a congregation to make a dent in dent county for His glory!

Firm Foundation For Followers

Notice what Peter says about these believers in verse 4 - while the living stone was rejected by some, He was honored and chosen by God and He is the cornerstone who saves His people. Further, Peter says that those who are believers are living stones, a spiritual house, and being built into a holy priesthood as we’ll get more into next Wednesday night. Our foundation isn’t our own views or ideas. Our foundation is the cornerstone of the building - Jesus Christ.

If our foundation is built on Jesus Christ, what should the fruit of that foundation be?

Spiritual sacrifices that are pleasing and acceptable to God

Does that sound familiar to any of us? It’s exactly what Paul says in Romans 12:1

Romans 12:1 CSB

1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.

Once you are saved, you become a living stone. Your foundation changes and Jesus literally brings you to life… not just so that you can have some fun or do what you think is best or what you’ve always seen done, but so that you can please Him with the way that you life. See, we don’t offer sacrifices to God through our own actions and goodness… it’s through Jesus. Through His work on the cross in our place - Jesus has to be at the center of everything that we do individually and as a church. We’ll look more at the wonder of the cross this Sunday in Hebrews 12, look briefly with me at this incredible verse

Hebrews 12:23–24 CSB

23 to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to a Judge, who is God of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.

This is the new covenant. No longer do we have to go through a priest and offer sacrifices, now through Jesus, we have access to our God and we are called to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to Him. This is a doctrine called the “Priesthood of the Believer” - have you heard of that before?

This is a core truth in historic Baptist belief and we can define it like this, “The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers states that all believers in Christ share in his priestly status; therefore, there is no special class of people who mediate the knowledge, presence, and forgiveness of Christ to the rest of believers, and all believers have the right and authority to read, interpret, and apply the teachings of Scripture.” You don’t have to come through a priest or pastor to come to Jesus. You don’t have to have someone else read the Bible for you. You can do those things yourself as a Christian whose foundation is built upon God’s Word! This is great news! But it can be taken for granted to the point that some people believe wrongly that because of the priesthood of the believer, they don’t need to be connected to a local church. That’s not Biblical as there are no lone ranger Christians in the New Testament. Believers were a part of local churches then and should be today as well. We see this in Hebrews 10 and Hebrews 13. We still gather together for worship and service and encouragement. Pastors still matter. Worship still matters. But you don’t have to come through another person for access to Jesus. Through the death of Jesus Christ and His mediation in heaven on our behalf, His blood speaks on our behalf and we have access to Him all the time.

A final positive note about those who have this firm foundation - look at verse 6, the one who believes in Jesus will never be put to shame. Again, think about this community of believers facing shame left and right - that’s all they ever knew! Persecution, suffering, shame, exile… yet, with Jesus there is no shame. There is no such thing as purposeless persecution. There is no such thing eternal suffering.

While some still stumble over the cornerstone due to unbelief and rejection of Jesus Christ, if you are saved today, you can rejoice that you are literally a new creation, a living stone, that has been saved for the purpose of serving Jesus and sharing His Gospel message far and wide. Our responsibility as a church is to stand on the foundation of God’s Word. To do the things that Jesus calls us to do. To present ourselves as an acceptable sacrifice to God through Jesus.

How does this text encourage you to keep standing on God’s Word, even when some people reject this message?

Our responsibility isn’t to make converts or convince people of the truth. Our responsibility is to stand on the truth and share the truth and leave the rest with the Lord. Some will obey and be saved… others will disobey and be destroyed.

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