1 Peter 2:4-10 (Honor & Purpose)

Introduction

Imagine a wealthy family (old money, not a bunch of folks who just won the lottery). And imagine this family has a long history of prestige and influence at every level of society (their family tree has roots that run deep).

On their rolling estate, there stands an old and well-kept home. And above the fireplace in the drawing room (which is an elegantly furnished space just near the dining room), the family crest is woven into an aged and prominent tapestry.

Imagine with me the patriarch of that family (the noble father) talking with his young son one evening. Sitting by the fire in a luxurious armchair, he points to the old family crest, and he tells his son that this is his inheritance.

But the young boy is far more interested in the toys dad can buy, and he doesn’t understand why everyone makes such a big deal about the family name and reputation.

And yet, the boy’s father looks intently at his son, and he tells him that what he is and who he is… these are far more important and valuable than any toy… even greater than any building or vocation.

The father says, “Son, no matter where you live or how you make your way in life, you will always be my son and an heir of all who come before you. You must live up to your family name.”

How do you think such a status and such a charge might affect that boy?

How might he endure times of difficulty or failure?

How might he avoid frivolous pursuits, so that he could chase the higher prize?

How might he be impervious to those in the world who might scoff at his virtue and discipline?

Last week, our passage was all about how Christians are like a family. They are God’s spiritual children (i.e., believers), born by spiritual regeneration (i.e., the new birth of the Holy Spirit), living as a spiritual family (i.e., a local church of brothers and sisters in Christ), and sustained by spiritual nutrition (i.e., God’s living and abiding word).

Today (in our passage), Peter tells us what it means to be named among God’s New Covenant family. This an honorable family… and a prestigious one.

And everyone in this family has a high calling and a noble purpose. We are to live for the glory of God and to bear witness of His excellent character and goodness for all the world to see.

We may often be shamed by the people of this world, and we may not enjoy luxurious circumstances in this life, but I pray that God will encourage us today to live up to the family name.

Let’s stand as I read our main text for today… 1 Peter 2:4-10.

Scripture Reading

1 Peter 2:4-10 (ESV)

4 As you come to him [to “the Lord” (v3)], a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 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.

6 For it stands in Scripture [Isaiah 28:16]: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

7 So the honor is for you who believe, bit for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” [Psalm 118:22], 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” [Isaiah 8:14].

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

9 But you are [echoing Exodus 19:5-6] 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.

10 Once you were not a people [Hosea 1:9], but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy [Hosea 1:6], but now you have received mercy.

Main Idea:

Though Christians are often shamed in this world, they are the honored people of God, commissioned to live for and bear witness of Him.

Sermon

1. An Old Promise (v6)

God promised long ago to send a Messiah, on whom and through whom God would bestow honor (and not shame).

Our passage this morning cites and alludes to several OT passages.

One of those allusions is Psalm 34. Peter referred to this Psalm (especially v8) in the verses we considered last Sunday. Peter said that “if” someone “tasted that the Lord is good” (i.e., if someone experiences the life-giving person and work of Christ for themselves), then they would share brotherly love among God’s family, and they would long for the pure spiritual milk of God’s word (1 Pet. 2:3).

Indeed, tasting of the Lord is synonymous with experiencing God as desirable, good, gracious, and just. And those who share this experience are united with one another and they are alive with desire to know God more and more (and, of course, God makes Himself known to us through His word).

Psalm 34 highlights this experience of God as both gracious rescuer and just judge. There, King David proclaimed, “My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad… I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears… Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!… The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. [But] the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth” (Ps. 34:1-16).

By alluding to Psalm 34, Peter was reminding NT Christians that the same God who appointed a king for Israel and delivered His OT people from their enemies has promised to do these things for His NT people. Indeed, God has appointed a better King for His NT or New Covenant people. Through this better King, God will deliver His New Covenant people from all their enemies. And ultimately, through this better King, God judges the wicked and also spares from divine judgment all those who believe or trust in Him for it.

The same God has revealed Himself in both the OT and the NT, but unlike the OT, God’s NT or New Covenant people are not defined by ethnic descent from Abraham. No, God’s New Covenant people are distinguished by belief or trust in the Messiah or Christ which God has provided.

This is why Peter cited Isaiah 28 at the heart of our passage here. Peter says, “it stands in Scripture” (or “it says” or “it is contained in Scripture”): “Behold, I am laying (or “placing”) in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” (1 Pet. 2:6; cf. Is. 28:16).

Peter wanted his reader to remember that God had promised (long ago) a “cornerstone,” a “chief stone,” or a “foundation stone” upon which He would build His whole kingdom. And anyone who “believes” or “trusts” or “has faith” in Him (i.e., the one who is that “stone”) would “not be put to shame,” but would rather be “honored” by God Himself (1 Pet. 2:6-7).

Friends, the OT is full of affirmations that God Himself is a “rock” or “stone” who knows well how to save and shelter His people, even as He brings judgment and destruction upon the wicked.

2 Samuel 22:3 – “[God is] my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield… my stronghold and my refuge, [and] my savior…”

Psalm 62:6 – “[God] only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.”

“Isaiah 26:4 – “Trust the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”

And Peter is affirming here (in our passage) that Jesus Christ is Himself the “everlasting rock” (Is. 26:4)! Jesus is the “living stone… chosen and precious” in the “sight of God” (1 Pet. 2:4). Jesus is the “cornerstone” that God promised long ago (v6). And it is in Jesus (the Son of God who became a man to live and die for sinners) that all believers will find salvation, not judgment… honor, not shame.

Friends, we must believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah of old. We must trust that God (i.e., the God of the Bible) is the only God who saves shameful sinners like us. And if we will believe or trust in the Savior God has provided, then we too will find salvation in Christ, and not judgment… honor, and not shame.

And yet, Peter is clear in our passage that there are some who have and who will take “offense” at Christ, rather than find safety in Him (v8). There are some who have and who will “reject” the “stone” that God has appointed for the salvation of His people (v7). And these will indeed suffer shame; they will (as Peter says it later in this letter) “give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5).

And this too (i.e., the rejection and the judgment) was prophesied of old.

2. A Necessary Offense (v7-8)

God planned from the beginning that the Messiah would endure shame and rejection.

Looking now at v7-8, verse 7 begins with an affirmation of “honor” for those who “believe,” which is what we’ve been talking about already – “whoever believes in him [i.e., the one who is the “cornerstone”] will not be put to shame” (v6), and “so the honor is for you who believe” (v7).

In other words, it is belief in Christ and union with Christ that puts one in an honorable status before God… not ethnic descent or relational connection to Israel.

But v7 continues with a contrast – “but for those who do not believe… they stumble [over the “stone” of God] because they disobey the word, as they were destined [or “appointed”] to do” (1 Peter 2:7-8).

Peter also cited two OT verses here (one from Psalm 118, and the other from Isaiah 8), which show that unbelief and the rejection of God’s Messiah were both part of God’s plan from the beginning. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born to live and die in the place of sinners, God had already foretold that this same Messiah or “cornerstone” would be “rejected,” and that He would be a “stone of stumbling” or a “rock of offense” to those who “disobey” and “disbelieve” (v7-8).

Let’s unpack all of this a bit – first, the sovereignty of God and the necessity of offense; second, the parallel between disobedience and disbelief; and third, the ongoing offense of the gospel.

First, God sovereignly appointed the “cornerstone” (who is Jesus Christ) just as He sovereignly appointed the rejection of Christ by those who should have recognized and received Him.

The Four Gospels of the NT repeatedly tell stories of embarrassing and scandalous rejections of Christ by the Jewish people of that day. John says simply, “He [i.e., Jesus] came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (Jn. 1:11). Matthew portrays all “Israel” as having less faith than a Roman centurion who believed in Jesus and confessed Him as “Lord” (Matt. 8:5-13). And, of course, each Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) ends with an account of Jesus’s crucifixion… which was a collaborative action of both Israel and Rome.

All Israel and Rome were teamed together in a rejection of God’s Messiah.

But all of this was not opposed to God’s plan for His “cornerstone.” This rejection and shaming of Christ was exactly according to God’s plan!

The saints prayed (in Acts 4), “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them… truly in [Jerusalem] there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate [i.e., Roman officials], along with the Gentiles [i.e., all non-Jews] and the peoples of Israel [i.e., both leaders and commoners], to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:24-28).

The path of shame and suffering was precisely the one God intended Christ to walk when He came the first time, and it was through this path that God honored Christ as the “chosen and precious” “cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:4, 6). Indeed, this was the fulfillment of the prophecy from Psalm 118 – “the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (1 Peter. 2:7; Ps. 118:22).

God sovereignly appointed or “laid” (v6) Christ as the precious cornerstone who would walk the path of shame, and God sovereignly appointed or “destined” (v8) that those who should have received Him would reject Him when He came.

Friends, this may provoke all sorts of questions in us (like “How can men be guilty of something God planned or ordained them to do?”), but the Bible does not shy away from telling us that God is sovereign over both the good and the bad. Nor does the Bible hesitate to place blame for the bad upon sinful men (not God).

Second, note the parallel in v7-8 between disobedience and disbelief. We ought to take note of the relationship between these two.

See there (in v7) that “those who do not believe” are the ones who (v8) “stumble [on the rock of Christ] because they disobey the word.”

Friends, we are right to distinguish between faith and obedience, but we must never separate them. No sinner is justified before God by obeying God’s law. If we are righteous in God’s sight today, it is not our own righteousness that we wear, but the foreign or alien righteousness of Jesus Christ.

As the hymn says, “Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me.”

However, no justified saint ever becomes such a thing apart from obedience to the gospel of Christ. Those who rejected Christ as the Messiah when He came the first time, and those who continue to reject Christ as the only Savior for sinners from then until now, they are those who “do not obey the gospel” (2 Thess. 1:8; 1 Pet. 4:17). In other words, they hear the command to repent and believe, and they do not obey it… and this is a truly horrifying disobedience.

It is one thing to disobey God’s moral commands – don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t covet – but it is something far more outrageous to learn about God’s gracious gift of a Savior for sinners and to reject Him.

Consider what the Bible says will come to those who know about Jesus but neglect or reject Him – “When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, [he will inflict] vengeance on… those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess. 1:7-9).

Friends, make no mistake, the gospel is certainly an offer of divine grace, but it comes along with a command to be obeyed. If we know that Christ is the Savior of sinners, then we must, we ought, we are obligated to turn from our sin and trust or believe in Him. As Andrew Fuller argued back in the early 1800s, “Believing the gospel is the duty of all unconverted sinners” (paraphrase).

To respond to the gospel with anything other than repentance and faith will only amplify our guilt before God.

Third (in our unpacking of v7-8), we ought to understand that there is a natural offensiveness to the gospel – this was true for first-century Jews, and this is still true for sinners everywhere and for all time.

Peter says (in v8) that the “cornerstone” of God (i.e., the Messiah, the Christ, or the one who is “chosen and precious” in God’s sight to bring about “acceptable” sacrifices from a “holy” people)… that “cornerstone” is also “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” (1 Peter 2:8).

This is a short citation from Isaiah, chapter 8. Some of you might know that Isaiah was an OT prophet that God sent to speak His word to the people of Israel before, during, and after the destruction of the Northern kingdom in 722 BC.

There’s a lot of background to know here, but the short version is that the OT people of God were a disobedient and rebellious bunch from the very beginning. Even under the reigns of King David and King Solomon, the people were repeatedly turning their sights toward pagan gods and heathen ways.

When Solomon died, the kingdom divided into two – Israel in the North, and Judah in the South. The Northern kingdom of Israel never had a good king; they all seemed to do go from bad to worse, leading the people toward greater idolatry and wickedness. And Judah only did a little better, occasionally enjoying good kings who would lead the people toward repentance and renewal. But those seasons never lasted, and the people never entirely gave up their disobedience.

So, Isaiah was one of those prophets God sent to tell the people of Israel what was coming for them if the continued on the path of sin and rebellion. It was Isaiah’s job to speak the words of judgment over a people who didn’t want to hear any of it.

But Isaiah also spoke of a time in the future when God would “become” both “a sanctuary” and “a stone of offense” to the people (Isaiah 8:14).

And Peter is picking up on that old prophetic word, saying that Jesus was and is the fulfillment of it. In Jesus Christ, God has become a sanctuary or temple or holy place for all those who love and trust Him. And in Jesus Christ, God has become a stone of offense or a rock that trips and strikes those who reject Him.

This is what the Apostle Paul was getting at when he wrote, “Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).

In our passage this morning, Peter is especially condemning the rejection of the Messiah by those first-century Jews who should have known better. They wanted a Messiah of glory, one who would perform miracles and establish an earthly kingdom where they might rule and reign beside Him. But the Messiah God sent came to suffer and die the first time, and this was offensive to them.

A major feature of the offense or scandal, however, was not what Christ’s suffering and death said about Him, but what it meant for them.

The reason Christ came to die was because the best of men are utterly sinful and deserving of God’s justice and wrath. In order to “taste that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:3) or to experience Christ as precious Savior and as merciful Lord, sinners must come to grips with their own weakness, shame, and guilt.

Friends, this is offensive to all sinners everywhere. The gospel is first an announcement of justice and condemnation. Like Adam before us, like the Israelites of old, and like the worst of the worst we encounter today, we too are sinners. There is nothing in us that deserves anything good from God.

On the contrary, we ought to be “put to shame,” because we are shameful. We deserve to be crushed under the “rock” of Christ, because we have lived as rebels against the true King. And we have rightfully earned God’s divine malediction – “no mercy” and “not my people” (Deut. 7:2; Hos. 1:6, 9).

Brothers and sisters, we ought not be surprised when our friends and loved ones are offended by the gospel, which calls them sinners and demands their humble confession of shame and guilt. Indeed, we ought to wonder what we’re doing wrong if sinners can hear us explain the gospel and they are not offended or humbled by it.

May God help us to avoid being jerks – poking and offending just for the sake of offense. And may God help us also to be willing to endure the worldly shame that may come as we live for Christ and bear faithful witness of the Savior who walked this path before us.

Here, then, at the heart of our passage this morning, Peter is drawing deeply from OT promises (where God revealed His plan to send a Savior) and OT predictions (where God said beforehand that His Savior would be offensive to those who would disobey and disbelieve). The point is that the present situation for Christians in the first century (a generally outcast bunch of believers trusting in a largely rejected Messiah) was exactly as God had intended.

But while the normal experience of Christians in this world is often shame and dishonor (like Christ endured before us), Peter is also pointing Christians here toward a better word that God has spoken over His New Covenant people – a word of divine honor and profound purpose.

3. A People with Honor & Purpose (v4-5, v9-10)

Through Jesus Christ, all who believe or come to Him share in His honor (even as they endure shame and rejection). And in Christ, God has created a New Covenant people for the purpose of living for and bearing witness of Him.

We’ve taken a bit of time to get to the main takeaways of our passage this morning because it’s important for us to understand their context. We need to know that God promised a “cornerstone chosen and precious” long ago, and that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that promise. And we need to know that “those who do not believe” in Christ (especially those descendants of Abraham who rejected Him when He came) are also a fulfillment of God’s overall plan to both judge sinners and save saints.

We need to know this stuff so that we can enjoy and hope in and cherish as we ought the main takeaways here. It was Israel’s rejection of Jesus that gave way to the establishment of a New Covenant people – a “spiritual house” and a “holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5), and also “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, [and] a people for [God’s] own possession” (1 Peter 2:9).

Let’s consider all of this under two headings – (1) the honor, and (2) the purpose.

First, the honor (especially looking at v4-5).

Peter was writing to Christians scattered about the first-century Roman world, and these were mostly people that were not “honored” or “valued” in society. Indeed, the content of this letter suggests that Christians were already facing persecution of various sorts (from unbelievers, both Jew and Gentile).

They had every reason to think that they (and not their unbelieving neighbors) were the shameful and rejected ones. And in this way, they were walking a similar path as Christ had done before them. He too was despised and rejected when He came into the world.

But Peter does not point backward here (e.g., to Christ’s example) in an effort to encourage them toward faithfulness. Rather, Peter describes their new and present status as “living stones” in God’s “spiritual house” (v4), as a “holy priesthood” in God’s new temple (v5), and as those capable of offering “acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ” (v5).

It was and is Christians (not ethnic descendants of Abraham) who are the people of God in Christ. It was and is believers in Christ (both Jew and Gentile) who are being “built up” as a dwelling place for God (v5). And it was and is the status of all Christians to be called “priests” before the Lord (v5).

This means a whole lot more than what we are able to consider here but take note of the encouragement there is for all Christians everywhere!

This “honor is for you who believe” (v7)! If you are one who has heard the gospel, if you are believing in Christ, if you are turning from your sin and aiming to live for Him, then YOU are the focus of God’s honor and effort.

God Himself honors His people, and God Himself is building them up “as living stones” upon the “living stone” who is Christ Jesus.

You may come to God from humble origins. You may not feel much honor at all in your vocation, your family lineage, or your social status. But, brothers and sisters, God has set the honor of being called His child upon you!

What’s more is that God Himself is doing the work of building His own holy “house,” and He has placed you in it! This is no insignificant status; rather, it is the highest place of honor that any person can have.

Brothers and sisters, in the mundane activities of our daily lives and in our formal gatherings as a local church, we are the honored children of God. And, in all of our efforts, we are able (no, we are commanded!) to live as priests offering sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

The man who labors as a machinist, an accountant, a law-enforcement officer, an engineer, a burger-flipper, or a business owner… if he is a repenting believer in Jesus Christ, then he can and should perform his work as an offering to the Lord.

So too, the woman who labors as a child-rearer, a schoolteacher, an administrator, a business owner, a code-writer, or a marketer… if she is a repenting believer in Christ, then she can and should perform her work as an offering to the Lord.

As men and women, as husbands and wives, as fathers and mothers, as grandpas and grandmas… As church members and church leaders… we can and should live all of life as though we ourselves are priestly sacrifices to the Lord.

As the Scripture teaches us, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17). And, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). And again, “I appeal to you… brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship [or “service” or “duty”]” (Rom. 12:1).

This is our honor! This is our status in the world! We are God’s people, and our whole lives are lived with His affirmation of honor – if indeed we are “coming” to Christ (v4), if we are “believing” in Him (v7), and if we are those who have been “born again” by the “living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23).

Ultimately, then, we should understand our purpose in life is to live for God’s glory, to worship God in all we do, to love, honor, obey, serve Him.

But there is another purpose listed here as well…

Second, the purpose (especially looking at v9-10).

Peter taps into a few OT passages at the end our text which echo God’s creation and claim on His people in the world. He recalls that God has said of OT Israel that they were “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God’s] own possession” (v9). This language comes from Exodus 19, where God brought the people of Israel to Mt. Sinai in order to mark them off (peculiar from all other peoples in the world) with His presence and His law.

But Peter says that this honor is no longer upon OT Israel; it is now the honor of those who are “coming to” or “believing in” Jesus Christ. It is NT believers (and not OT Israel) who are God’s people in the world… and they have a divine purpose on their lives.

Peter says that God has made NT believers “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God’s] own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (v9).

This may well be understood as evangelism – telling others of God’s excellencies in the salvation of sinners. We would do well to live our lives as witnesses for Christ to those who do not know Him and/or do not presently believe or follow Him. We should tell others of the excellencies of God in Christ!

But the phrase translated “proclaim the excellencies” (ESV) can also refer to “declaring” or “showing” the “praises” or “excellent character” of God. In other words, the purpose for which God has made believers in Christ His honored people in the world is so that they will (in their daily thoughts, words, and deeds) reflect God’s own excellent and praise-worthy character.

This would seem in keeping with the whole theme of Peter’s letter. Christians should certainly bear witness to God by telling others about the Savior, but they should also bear witness to God by living in holiness.

Consider what we’ve already read in Peter’s letter. Peter said (in ch. 1), “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Pet. 1:14-15). But here (in our passage) the analogy is not holy or obedient children, but a holy “house,” a holy “priesthood,” a holy “nation,” and a holy “people.”

Brothers and sisters, this is our calling! This is our purpose! In all we say and do… and in all our lives… we are to show the watching world what our God is like. We are to live as a reflection of God’s holiness and goodness and righteousness and grace… because we are His people now, and we are no longer in darkness, but we walk in His marvelous light.

Conclusion

Charles Spurgeon told a story of a hypothetical encounter in order to drive home the point of what we’ve been getting at today.

“You are a very peculiar person,” said someone to a Christian.

“I thank you for that testimony,” answered the Christian, “for that is what I desire to be.”

“Ah!” said the other, “but there is a strangeness about you that I do not like. I feel sometimes that I cannot endure your company.”

“I thank you again,” replied the Christian, “for you only fulfill our Lord’s words, ‘But because you are not of this world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you’ (John 15:19).”

Then Spurgeon went on to say, “Yes, it is so. If you never strike a worldly person as being a strange person, if you never get the mocking laughter of the ungodly, if they never slander you, if you never detect any difference between yourself and them and they never discover any [difference] between themselves and you, it must be because you are not a genuine child of God.”

But, brothers and sisters, let this never be said of us. Let us be the people God has intended us to be. Let us be those who are honored of God… Let us be those who live for and bear witness of Him… Let us live up to the family name.

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim or testify to the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and into the light of His marvelous family.

May God help us.