1 Peter 2:4-10 Living Stones

1 Peter 2:4-10 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

4As you come to him, the Living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious, 5you also, like living stones, are being built as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, in order to bring spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For it says in Scripture:

See, I lay a stone in Zion,

A chosen and precious cornerstone,

And the one who believes in him will certainly not be put to shame.

7Therefore, for you who believe, this is an honor. But for those who do not believe:

The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,

and a stone over which they stumble

and a rock over which they fall.

8Because they continue to disobey the word, they stumble over it. And that is the consequence appointed for them.

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10At one time you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. At one time you were not shown mercy, but now you have been shown mercy.

Living Stones

I.

The men weren’t just some hack, DIYers doing a weekend project. They knew every trick in the trade. They could evaluate products accurately with just a glance. That was, perhaps, how they usually did their inspection of materials; after all, they were really, really good at their job.

But not this time. This time they took great care. They looked over the building materials carefully and thoroughly. After taking their time and making a detailed inspection, they came to the conclusion that this particular slab of stone was completely unsuitable. It wasn’t good enough to be included in their project at all, let alone for some important part of the structure they were building.

That’s the picture Peter is painting in today’s Second Reading. He draws on what Isaiah says: “For it says in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will certainly not be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6, EHV, quoting Isaiah 28:16).

Jesus is a special Stone. Peter is basing what he says in today’s Second Reading on the concept of the Stone chosen by God to describe Jesus.

The cornerstone had to be special, especially back then. Builders didn’t have laser levels and special surveying tools. The cornerstone was the reference point needed to make sure the rest of the building went up as the architect planned.

So Peter began. He called Jesus: “The Living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious” (1 Peter 2:4, EHV).

Peter was identifying the religious professionals of his day as the builders. Their job was to analyze God’s Word and explain it to the people. All they had to work with was the Old Testament. It wasn’t on the internet in dozens of different translations. There weren’t even shelves full of bound volumes containing the whole Old Testament. It was scrolls of the individual books of the Bible. Each one had to be meticulously copied by hand from another copy of that book.

Religious DIYers, then, didn’t really have access to the whole Old Testament. They had to memorize important verses of the Bible, like you did in Confirmation classes, but they couldn’t easily go back to a book to verify that they were remembering it correctly.

The religious professionals, on the other hand, had all the tools they needed. They were the builders Peter spoke of. They spent hours reading and studying all the Old Testament scrolls. So it was that they—the “professionals”—had made a careful inspection of Jesus. They found him to be wanting. He was rejected. That particular Stone just wouldn’t do for their religious structure.

Most of you aren’t religious professionals. You confirmands are at a special stage of your faith, but you haven’t learned everything there is to know about God’s Word, by any stretch of the imagination. Even the so-called religious professionals of today, with all kinds of resources unheard of by previous generations, aren’t finished learning, either.

Yet all of us, by our sinful nature, treat Jesus the same way the religious leaders—the religious professionals—did. We want to build our own way to heaven. We want to be the architects of our own salvation.

Peter’s words cut deep: “At one time you were not a people... At one time you were not shown mercy” (1 Peter 2:10, EHV). Without Jesus, we are spiritually dead stones—useless and cut off from God. As you learned in catechism, our human nature is that we are “dead, blind, and enemies of God.” By nature we wanted nothing to do with God; not even lifelong Lutherans; not even our confirmands. By nature we are “not a people;” we have no access to God. The only Cornerstone that can save has been rejected by our natural human heart.

II.

But we try to build our own way, anyway. Just like the builders, we reject God’s chosen Stone and set about looking for other cornerstones.

Sometimes people even think they are making Jesus the cornerstone, but in reality he becomes: “A stone over which they stumble and a rock over which they fall” (1 Peter 2:8, EHV, quoting Isaiah 8:14). Rather than the Savior God promised, Jesus becomes an example. So people chase after doing good works to make themselves right with God. They begin to think that God will be satisfied with their sincere efforts and attempts at moral living, even though Jesus said: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48, EHV).

Sometimes people think, like some of the people in Jesus’ day, that their heritage is enough to save them. Jesus told them: “Do not even think of saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ because I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones” (Luke 3:8, EHV).

The Jews trusted in the Temple and the holy things within the Temple. Many today trust in buildings and religious institutions, in traditions, or in being “a good person.”

None of those attempts to build our own way cut it. Today’s First Reading said: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, EHV). Jesus himself declared in today’s Gospel: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me” (John 14:6, EHV).

Alternate cornerstones are going to come up with a completely faulty foundation. A building with the wrong foundation doesn’t partially stand. Any stone other than Jesus will shift and fail, it will collapse. The builders’ rejection of Jesus didn’t change God’s choice—it only exposed the futility of every human attempt to reach heaven on our own terms.

Not one of us—not a religious DIYer, nor a so-called religious professional—can build a spiritual house that will stand if you don’t build on the right cornerstone.

III.

Peter’s choice of quotes is so important: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will certainly not be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6, EHV, quoting Isaiah 28:16). “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:7, EHV, quoting Psalm 118:22).

The religious professional builders rejected Jesus. They demanded his crucifixion. Jesus was buried. But he rose again! Jesus lives! He is the Living Stone.

Because Jesus lives, he is the only way to heaven. He is the perfect cornerstone—square, true, unshakable. On him God builds his church.

And now, wonder of wonders, Jesus takes dead, rejected sinners like you and me and makes us living stones.

Through faith in the only Savior we are joined to him. Remember “Not a people” and “not shown mercy”? Not any more. “At one time you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. At one time you were not shown mercy, but now you have been shown mercy” (1 Peter 2:10, EHV). Those are two completely opposite groups. By nature, each human being is in the “not a people” and “not shown mercy” set. But because of Jesus, the Living Stone, now you are “the people of God” and people who “have been shown mercy.”

IV.

Have you ever heard of a plant called Lithops? Lithops is a succulent. It’s name comes from the Greek λίθος (lithos), which means “stone,” or “stone-like.” Most of the plant grows under ground, with just a little pair of kidney-shaped leaves exposed above ground. It’s often called a living stone.

“You also, like living stones, are being built as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, in order to bring spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5, EHV). No Christian is an isolated individual. Each one of us is a living stone. Together we are built into a spiritual house—the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints, all true believers from every time and place.

On Confirmation Sunday we rejoice that these young people are being built into that living structure. The Church is not a building of brick and mortar—it is people, living stones, founded on Christ, the Cornerstone.

God is building all of us living stones to be a holy priesthood. Old Testament people had to go through the priests to bring their requests before God. Through the Lord Jesus, each believer has direct access to God. No one stands between you and the Father.

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9, EHV). Peter piles up beautiful descriptions of what you are now by faith in Jesus. God has chosen you; God has made you special. Because of who you are, proclaim his praises; speak as living stones to those who don’t know him yet. Never be ashamed of the One who is the only Name by which people are saved.

God bless you as you go on into your life as living stones—solid, dependable, alive in Christ. The Stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; on him you are built. He lives, therefore you live. You are his. Amen.