Your New Identity 1 Peter 2:4–10

Thank you Janae for doing our story this morning. I’ll be honest with you, I really miss doing it. I love these kids and love getting to read that story with them, but I am so thankful that there are so many of you who desire to and love to do it too. Such a good thing.

I’m thankful to be able to open God’s word and study it with you again. If you have your Bible’s go ahead and flip on over to 1 Pet. 2. If you don’t have your Bible’s we have both the journal bibles and just regular Bibles in the back for you. Grab one if you need it. Our text for today is one that we really could spend several weeks on. There’s just something in me that says we will come back to this in the future. Not sure when or why; just a gut feeling. It’s been good to have a couple weeks to meditate on it, but there is no way we’ll plumb the depths of it today. 1 Pet. 2:4-10 is where we’ll be today. Let me go ahead and read it, and then ask for God’s help one more time before we dive into it. Here’s what Peter says next, 1 Pet. 2:4-10

1 Peter 2:4–10 ESV

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 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. 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.” 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,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 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. 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.

This is God’s Word. Let’s pray.

Yesterday evening Walker and I were headed home from the shed—we officially picked our first watermelons yesterday—and I was thinking about the intro for this sermon and really struggling. So I looked over at Walker and asked him, Walker, who are you? Who is Walker Moore? He goes, “He’s Walker Moore.” Realizing how terrible my question was I rephrased it and said, what makes Walker Moore, Walker Moore? He gave some great answers. I pressed him a little further, “If I asked your friends who Walker Moore is what would they say? Or, more importantly, what would you want them to say?” Walker responded with some great answers, but it made me wonder, if I were to sit down with you and ask you the same question, what would you say? Who are you? Or How do you want people to view you? Or how do you view yourself? You see, how you answer those questions is going to reveal your identity. It’s going to reveal who you think you are, and this is exactly what Peter is pressing on today. But Peter doesn’t just reveal you individual identity; he calls out our corporate identity as well. Take those exact same questions about you and now put them towards Liberty Baptist Church. Who is LBC? How does LBC view itself? In these 7 verses Peter gives us something way more important than our perspective on these things, he tells us exactly how God sees us and what God is doing with us.

The main point of this text and the main point of our sermon today is this: God is building a temple with His people to declare His praises. God is building a temple with His people to declare His praises. Now Will did this a couple weeks ago and I thought it was helpful, so I’m going to follow suit. If you took that sentence and divided it up into 3 parts you’d come up with the 3 points of our sermon. Keep your Bibles handy as we work through this because we’re going to work through this passage multiple times as we seek to understand it. I think it’ll be helpful to have your eyes on it to see what all Peter is communicating. So what’s the first thing we see?

God is Building

Peter begins by reminding these exiles where they’re headed. “As you come to him.” Exiles, you are on a marching path towards encountering the living God, the living stone. He’s not some stone that’s been fashioned by man’s hands that you can see in all the pagan temples around you, no he is a living stone that is alive and active and involved. He’s so involved he’s actually building you up as you come to him. He’s fashioning you into something for him and for others. God is doing something through his living stone with you. “As you come to him, you yourselves…are being built up.” Now the question becomes if God is building this group of exiles into something what is he building them into? Or more importantly, what is he building them on? Now we’re going to answer both of them, but let’s start with the latter. What is God building on?

The short answer is Jesus! Right? But let’s look a little closer at how Peter describes him. He says he was rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen & precious. He repeats that description when he quotes Isaiah 28 saying that this cornerstone that God place in Zion was a chosen & precious cornerstone. He quotes Is. 8 in verse 8 saying that Jesus was a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and back in verse 7 he quotes Ps. 118 saying that once again Jesus, this stone, was rejected but now the cornerstone. Notice there’s really only two different view of Jesus presented here: chosen & precious or rejected. There’s no middle ground. No acknowledging his goodness. Just chosen & precious or rejected. Why just these two responses?

I think the answer is found in the use of Ps. 118 throughout the Scriptures. “In it’s original context Ps. 118 describes the return of the king to the temple to give thanks after his victory over his enemies. The stone rejected in the context of the psalm was the Davidic King, and the builders were the foreign nations that rejected the rule of the anointed king of Israel. The enemies of Israel thereby assured their own destruction, for the Davidic king was the stone by which Yahweh would carry out his plan in the world.”

Now Peter applies that to Jesus here in 1 Peter, but do you know where he got the idea? From Jesus! Jesus, in each of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) tells the parables of the wicked tenants. Remember this one? A man plants a vineyard and then leases it to some tenants and leaves town. He sends one of his employees to check things out and what happens? The tenants beat him. 3 times this happens and finally the owner of the vineyard sends his son, knowing he’ll get a proper response. What happens to the son? The tenants kill him! Jesus says that then the owner will throw the tenants out and give the vineyard to someone else. At the end of his parable he quotes Ps. 118. “The stone that the builder rejected has become the cornerstone.”

So what does this mean? What Jesus and Peter are doing here is they’re saying the builders who reject the anointed king are not foreigners but the religious leaders of Israel. Do you see how offensive this would’ve been to the Pharisees? Do you see why Jesus was a stumbling block and a rock of offense the them? Jesus is telling them that their efforts to maintain the sanctity of Israel based off of their heritage, or ethnicity, or cultural practices completely and entirely failed at the purpose of why God called Israel to be his people! Their focus on building the Kingdom of God was rooted in who they were—their identity—and not in the God whom they served. When Jesus steps on the scene and not only calls them out, but says he is the way, the truth, and the life, they’re extremely offended at who He is. This is why he was rejected by man, but also why he was precious to God. He was precious because it was through him; he made the way for people to live with God! It all begins with him! He is the cornerstone!

I’m not in construction. I’m a farmer. I’ve worked construction jobs, but that’s not what I do. So I’m not an expert here by any means. However, I do know that when you go to build a building you don’t start in the middle. You pick a corner and then the entire building is built off where you put that first stake in the ground.

Here’s what Peter & Jesus are saying, this temple that God is building is all built on the cornerstone. It all begins with him. He is the starting (& the middle & the end) to living at peace with God and walking in relationship to Him. So the first question for you is do you see this cornerstone as chosen and precious and worthy of building your life upon and shaping it around? Or is he offensive and a stumbling block because it’s not you or your heritage or your ethnicity or your social status or your nationality that is truly a firm foundation? When Christ is the cornerstone, it’s not based off of you, it’s based off of him. Is your life shaped by him or built on him?

There’s another thing worth acknowledging before we move to our second point. Peter isn’t addressing one exile individually, he is addressing them corporately. “You yourselves” is the equivalent of y’all. All of you together are being built by God. There is a corporate focus here. Church this is really important for us. When a building is built it reflects the builder and stone it’s built upon. If that’s true, then this group of peoplePeter is addressing are to reflect the magnificence of the builder who’s building them up. Does LBC reflect the magnificence of the builder? Church, we aren’t perfect and we fall short in a lot of ways. But I see glimpses of the glory of God around here so often. I don’t ask the question to stir up doubt; I ask the question to raise our expectations. God is building. May this building—this church—reflect the glory of the builder.

Now we could end this right here, but there’s lots more to discover. God is building, but what is God building? That’s our next point:

A Temple with His People

Back in verse 5 he says, “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.” Now what is a spiritual house? It’s a temple. This group of people are being built into a temple. But what group? Who are “his people”?

Clearly it’s not those who reject him. The builders who say they will build it themselves. It’s also not those who as we see at the end of verse 8: “They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.” It’s not those who disobey His word.

Now, I want to make a real quick side note on this verse. This is a tough verse to understand and explain. This is a very influential verse in helping argue for the doctrine of predestination. This verse tends to stir up a lot of tension and discussion, and quite frankly, I’d love to sit down with you over lunch or coffee or a watermelon sometime and discuss the nuances of it. I’m not trying to sidestep the difficulties of it today; I just don’t think the primary point of this verse is to present that doctrine, but instead to present hope.

If you an exile suffering at the oppression of ungodly people this verse bring hope regardless of which side of the isle you fall on. Either God destined these people to oppress you, which means he’s working this out for your good. Or because of their sin they were destined to oppress you, which means your hope is in God and not something else.

Regardless of this, the point is there are people who have rejected the cornerstone and because they’ve rejected the cornerstone they’re going to reject those whose lives are built on him. And what happens to those people? They’re put to shame in verse 6, and the stumble and are offended in verse 8. Clearly this isn’t the people God is building his temple with.

No, God is building his temple with those who through faith in Jesus believe. Notice the emphasis Peter puts on faith. “And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” “So the honor is for you who believe.” So then, for those who believe in Jesus God has made them His people and he’s building them into a temple. The entirety of this passage today is Peter speaking into this group of people that God is building into a temple their identity. This is how God sees those whose lives are built on the cornerstone.

I opened with asking my son how he sees him or wants others to see him? I asked you the same question. More importantly, How does God see you? Let’s look at what Peter says:

Starting in verse 5 you’re like living stones. How did God view the living stone? Chosen and precious. How then does God see those who are like him? Chosen and precious. Some of you need to hear that today. Your identity and your worth isn’t in what some boy or some girl thinks of you. The King of the Universe sees you as chosen and precious. Is that enough for you?

If you’re resting on the cornerstone your being built up as a spiritual house—a temple. Who dwells in a temple? God does! When you believe in Jesus He gives you His Holy Spirit and now you are the temple in which He resides! What does that mean for us corporately when we come together?

Jump down with me to verse 9. You are a chosen race. Your identity is now no longer based off of your ethnicity. Yes, God made you red and yellow, black and white. Your ethnicity is absolutely a way in which God has shown his magnificence, but it’s not the most important thing about you. Jesus comes in and give you a new race. The gospel is the only hope for curing racism, but at the same time it doesn’t remove your ethnicity. It just doesn’t elevate to the most important thing about you.

You’re a royal & holy priesthood. The priest would go in and intercede for the people—we’ll get to that in a little bit—but he was the one who was able to enter into the holy of holies to encounter the glory of God. Now the glory of God dwells in you and you get to encounter him every day.

You’re a holy nation. Now I want to sit on this one for just a minute longer. This passage is not about America. That may not need to be stated, but I’d rather be clear on that than not. Peter’s point is that our identity is no longer based on our earthly citizenship. This doesn’t mean that we don’t care about our earthly citizenship. We can go look in the book of Acts or spend time studying the early church to see that they cared about the places in which they lived and sought for the betterment of every facet of life. They just didn’t do it with a focus on government reform. Instead they did it by being the people of God. Their focus wasn’t the growth and sustainability of the Roman Empire. Their focus was on “your kingdom come your will be done.”

There’s been two questions that have hit me from this calling: Do you care more about the sustainability of America and it’s values than you do about the growth and establishment of the eternal Kingdom of God? Will you spend more time over the next few months discussing the election than you will the God who has called you? We are to care for our nation. We’re going to see that here in a few weeks; I’m not belittling that. Peter just reminds us today that while many of us might have a US social security number, that’s not our eternal residence.

In all of this Peter has quoted Exodus 19:6

Exodus 19:6 ESV

and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Remember for just a second the context of Exodus 19. The next chapter Exodus 20 is God giving the people of Israel the 10 Commandments. So the people of Israel are standing at the base of Sinai after having just Exodused (is that a word?) out of Egypt. They’ve seen God work in the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptian army. Now they’re seeing the presence of God descend on a mountain in a cloud with thunder and lightning and a loud trumpet blast and the whole mountain is shaking. This magnificent, awesome God has descended to speak to a people to call them His own people, not because they’re a special or unique people. Deut. 7:6-9

Deuteronomy 7:6–9 ESV

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

It wasn’t because there was something special about the people of Israel, it was because of who God is! This God, in his loving mercy, descends on Mt. Sinai and speaks to this people. Peter is taking this and do you realize who he’s applying it to? Us! The church!

The same God who came to Mt. Sinai though isn’t expecting this people to build him a temple for him to come and dwell in. Instead, because of Jesus, God has come down and made his temple in us! We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation a people for his own possession. If all of that is true, what then should our expectation be of this group of people?

It would be really fun to pull out the white board and work through all the implications of that question and this truth, but we’d be here for days. Fortunately, Peter gives us 2 really clear expectations of this group of people. That’s our third point: God is building; the same God who created the heavens and earth has now come down in the person of Jesus and is fashioning, building on the cornerstone of Jesus a temple in which He resides with His people whom are chosen and precious to him and he has made them a royal and holy priesthood and a holy nation for what purpose?

To Declare His Praises

There’s two ways, to action steps, to functions of this group of people. Because they’re a holy and royal priesthood they are to offer spiritual sacrifices, and because their a chosen race, royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession they are to proclaim the excellencies of Him. Spiritual Sacrifices and proclaim excellencies. What does it mean or what does it look like for us to do those two things?

The priests in Jesus’ day were to go in and offer sacrifices of lambs and goats and animals and it was a bloody job. Thank goodness that’s not what this priesthood is like. When I think of spiritual sacrifices the first thing that comes to my mind is Rom 12:1-2

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

What is the spiritual worship, the living sacrifice that Paul calls us towards? It’s to offer our bodies. It’s to give of your very self to other for the sake of God. In a way that is what the ancient priesthood did. They gave of their time, and comfort, and abilities to serve the people of Israel by interceding for them and making atoning sacrifices on their behalf. Jesus was a better high priest though and made the one atoning sacrifice on our behalf so that we don’t have to. Instead, now we’re called to do the rest, give of yourself and your time and abilities to serve other people so that they might know and see the power and the goodness of the God who dwells inside of His people.

So the call here is to give of our whole selves, and part of the way Paul says we do that is to not be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by renewing our minds. Peter has already called us to that. Last time I preached actually he instructed us to prepare our minds for action, to set our hope on him, to not be conformed to the passions of our ignorance, but to be holy. We’re not to function out of the ignorance or the foolishness that we can build ourselves up into a temple that is pleasing to God, but to transform our thinking and remember that God is building this temple. Our role is to now live out of the holiness that he has created us to be. You do that by adjusting your thinking about your identity of who God has made and is making you into. This is why Peter spills so much ink over describing how God sees this people. It’s to help remind them of their identity as the endure their time as exiles.

So we give of our bodies, we transform the way we think, and the other way we’ve seen Peter describe a spiritual sacrifice is to love one another with a sincere and brotherly love. It’s in the way we relate to others. I think about a priest, a minister or a pastor and the good ones all function out of a true and genuine love for the people they serve. God is building us into a temple that declares his praises by calling us to offer spiritual sacrifices of giving our heads—the way we think, our hearts—the way we love, and our hands—our entire selves to others.

Isn’t this what you would expect from someone who is being built upon the cornerstone of Jesus? If we are being built on him, if he is our firm foundation and all of our lives are being shaped by him, then wouldn’t we begin to look like him and act like him? Sure, we won’t do it perfectly, but we’re being built on one who did. Jesus is the perfect cornerstone. He is the better High Priest who didn’t come to be served but to serve. He gave of his body as a ransom for many. He wasn’t conformed to the world, but instead transformed the world and now He resides in us through His Spirit. When you offer spiritual sacrifices—giving your head, your heart and your hands—not to prove your identity, but rather out of the identity he’s given you, do you know how God views that sacrifice? As acceptable. Because when you do that you are doing it through and in the name of Jesus. Not in the name of LBC or you. It’s through Jesus.

So we offer spiritual sacrifices of our whole selves as a holy priesthood being the temple that God himself indwells and is building up. We are also 1 Pet. 2:9

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

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.

There is a giving of our whole selves, but the call of God’s people isn’t just what we do, it’s what we say. The praises of God are seen by our actions, but they’re heard by our words. We are called to proclaim his excellence. I think Peter is setting up 1 Pet. 3:15

1 Peter 3:15 ESV

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Living in the middle of this exile your life displays you have a great hope by how you act and that will in turn cause people to go, how can you have such great hope, how can you live with such great joy in the midst of all of this? The door then is opened to proclaim his excellencies. But here’s the question from all of that: why? Why would this group of people want to offer spiritual sacrifices and why would they want to proclaim his excellencies?

There’s two reasons. 1) Because of who they are. This new identity that God has built this people into naturally flows into these two expressions. And 2) because they marvel at what God has done. He has called them out of darkness into his marvelous light. There’s an echo here of Genesis 1. God called forth out of the darkness light. He created from nothing everything. He spoke it into existence through His Word. God has created in you a whole new people through that very same Word.

I’m reminded of Lazarus. Lazarus dies and is buried. Jesus shows up a few days later to a broken hearted and distraught family who knows that He could have healed him. Jesus goes to the grave and hollers, “Lazarus, come out!” Out of the darkness of the grave into the marvelous light of the day walks Lazarus. This is exactly what God has done in you through Christ. When you believe in Jesus you are born again to the marvelous light of a new day as a new creation with a new people. If you were dead and buried and Jesus showed up and said come out! What would your response be? Lay in the grave? Oh that’s neat Jesus thank you. Let me give you my Sunday mornings…most of the time. No! You would spend every moment you have telling people that you were once dead but someone breathed life in you. That’s exactly what Jesus did. You were dead in your trespasses and sin, but God through Christ raised you from the dead. How could you not proclaim his excellencies?

He didn’t just call you out of darkness and into marvelous light though. 1 Pet. 2:10

1 Peter 2:10 ESV

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.

Peter quotes Hosea here. Remember the story of Hosea, the OT prophet. God commanded him to go and marry a prostitute named Gomer. She conceived and bore a daughter named No Mercy and then she conceived and bore a son and named him Not My People. Terrible names. But they were to the Israelites a very outward expression of what the people of Israel had done to God. Outside of Jesus you were once not a people. That’s when you were truly exiled. You exiled from him and what he created you to be. You had once not received mercy—destined for damnation and the wrath of God. But by the mercy of God displayed through the person of Jesus you have now been called out of darkness, rescued from your exile and placed into the body of Christ. Why does this new people offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the excellencies of him who called them out of darkness into marvelous light? Because they marvel at what God has done in them through Jesus.

So church there’s really two questions that come from that. Do you marvel at what God has done in you through Jesus? Do you see and understand and believe that outside of Christ there is no mercy for you, but because of Jesus and in Jesus there is enough mercy to cover all of you. In Jesus you are chosen and precious to God. He loves you and desires you, not because of who you are or what you offer, but because of who He is. Because He is a merciful God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Is this marvelous to you?

The second question then would be if this truly is marvelous to you, does your life declare His praises? Are you living out your priestly calling, this new identity given to you by God, by offering spiritual sacrifices of your head, your heart, and your hands and proclaiming, telling, witnessing, sharing with others how excellent and marvelous your God is? Again, while there is an individual aspect to this, this is for us. This is for the Church. When you step back and look at LBC as a whole does our church marvel at what God has done and proclaim his excellencies in all that we do? There’s absolutely glimmers of hope. I’m optimistic and hopeful though of the potential. Not because me, or Will, or even you. But Because God is building. IF God is building it, my expectations are really high and hopeful. God is building a temple with his people, that’s me and you, to declare his praises.

As the music team comes up, I want to give you a minute to meditate and think about his excellencies. Think about the marvelous work he has done for you and in you. Maybe there’s some of you in this room today who either haven’t or don’t see the work of God done in Christ as that big of a deal. I would love to talk with you further about that and maybe share with you why there is reason for such great hope in the middle of this world we live in.

But for those of you to whom God has given this new identity, for those of you that are seen by God as chosen and precious the call for you today is to respond by offering spiritual sacrifices of yourself—thank you to the many of you who have already done that this morning—and to proclaim his excellencies. Let’s conclude in prayer and then stand to sing about the one we are being built on. Let’s pray.