Cornerstone

If you are like me you look back to when you were a child and there was this beauty about childhood.

You did not really have a ton of responsibilities

Most of us had all summer to do whatever you wanted

And you never had huge worries or stresses in life.

But I am assuming something happened as you got older because your parents most likely started making you pick up after yourself.

Then a couple years later (maybe elementary aged) you started getting something called chores

then you made it to high school and you may have had to get a job.

And all of these things are preparing us for adulthood

And then finally there was a point where you became a full grown adult.

But with all of this there are times in our life where we are

And you probably had this realization where if you were not grown up, where you said wow I better start growing up.

But you know similarly if you grew up in the church or have been a Christian for years, often times God is calling us closer to Him.

And sometimes we are receptive other-times we might not be.

But if you are like me there will be a point in your life where God will ask you, when are you going to start taking me serious?

When are you going to stop playing games, and really decide that you want to go deeper in your walk with me?

And today in our passage the author of this (Peter) says look, if you have excepted Jesus Christ, its times to start taking your walk with God serious and he gives us steps that we can take to move into a serious relationship with God.

So turn with me to

And what I love about this passage today is that it is very pratical.

It just says look do not do this, but do this.

Peter knows how to connect to the heart.

So once again it is and it says:

But this is going to be a stand alone sermon for us today, its not ties into a particular series, and then

1 Peter 2 NIV

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

1 Peter 2 NIV

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

1 Peter 2:1–8 NIV

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

1 Peter 2:9–10 NIV

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

So this whole passage starts with the word “Therefore,” and I have mentioned this before whenever you see the word therefore it means that we need to look at what happens before this passage.

And in this case it is Peter talking about how the good news of Jesus Christ has been preached to these people and now that they know who Jesus is it causes something to happen.

And what Peter does is he says now that you have heard this amazing news and have accepted Christ as you savior “Therefore” this is what needs to happen.

And the first thing that Peter says is you need to get rid of these things in your life.

and Peter does not beat around the bush so either am I in this passage.

He starts with Malice

And Malice is really just the desire to do evil and cause harm.

and really Malice is more then just a thought, but it is a condition of your heart where in your head you are constantly just not wanting to do whats not right.

And Paul is saying look this is the first thing that has to go, because when come alive in Christ, your heart is changed.

Where instead of wanting to do things your shouldn’t you desire to do God’s will.

Next he says rid yourself from all deceit.

And something that is really interested with the word deceit is that the greek word for it is a fishing reference

Because this word is also used for when fisherman would put bait on a hook.

Because think about it when you fish and your using a worm you try to trick or deceive the fish into thinking they are getting ready to bite down a this juicy worm but really its a hook.

So Peter here is saying stop deceiving the people around you by making things seem like one thing when really they are something else.

Then he moves on to hypocrisy.

And these words are rich, because this is a theater reference where people would where a mask and play a part in a production .

So their true selves are hidden but what people see is the part they are playing

Can I just say that this is one of the biggest issues I believe the American church faces,

because we come to church acting one way (We have our church mask on) and then when we leave church we put on another mask and act another way.

I was talking to my sister in law, and she was working at Starbucks, and they made her the wrong drink, which is typically not a huge deal, but she told me this lady started chewing her out.

Saying things that are not nessacarally nice things

And then at the end she goes you are going to make me late for church!

When that happens and we are hypocrites wearing a mask it reflects poorly on who God is.

And no one wants to be part of that.

Then Peter moves to Envy, and really envy is when we are jealous of someone else's blessings that God has given them

Where we go why don’t I have that!

And we become resentful of someone because of what they have.

And then finally Peter says Slander.

And Slander basically means that we speaking down on people.

And this is an issue that a lot of times we like to turn our back on because Paul is saying slander of any kind is something we need to rid ourselves of.

But a lot of times what happens is we love to gossip, and then we will find excuses like ”I had to tell someone” or “I am just a mom its what we do”

And so we keep slandering and talking about people, but Peter says no. That is unexceptable and you need to get rid of it.

So Peter is really striking some cords here. I mean he is tearing us apart.

But the reason he is doing this is not to just tear us apart and make us feel sad.

But its because these things are toxic in our life.

Its like the Pavilion in the back of the church, this summer we were rebuilding that and some of you remember replacing the wooden beams that hold it up, and we would take the beams out and they would be completely rotten in the ground.

and we could have left the poles in, but eventually something would of needed to be done or the Pavillion would eventually collapse.

And really that is what Peter is doing here, because he is tearing us down, but he does it so we can be built back up.

And look what he says because he says you do not want this rotting foundation that will eventually collapse, but you want to desire things that are glorifying to God.

Thats why it says in verse 2 (thats right we are only in verse two) but it says Like a new born baby crave spiritual milk.

Basically we should crave a things that are God glorifying in our life like a baby who wants milk

Have you ever seen a baby that wants milk?

Liam lets us know when he is hungry! and he does whatever he can to get the food.

And this passage is saying your desire should shift from these things that are terrible, to things that are God glorifying, where we desire God more and more.

And then he finally tells us how we can make this happen.

It says in verse 5 we are like living stones.

And each of our lives are being built into something.

Some of our lives are being built into something that looks like a train-wreck.

Some they look beautiful on the outside but if you ever did an inspection it would look nasty inside or about to fall apart.

But look what Peter tells us in this passage because Peter tells us what to do in verse 6.

Because it talks about Christ being our corner stone

Now you have probably heard that phrase before that Christ is a cornerstone, but do you know what a corner stone is?

Because to my understanding (Hopefully one of the contractors in here wont correct me after the service) it is one of the most important pieces on any building,

Because the corner stone is the piece where if it is off, the entire building is off

If it is unstable the entire building is unstable.

So you want to have a solid cornerstone.

And Peter is basically saying make Christ your cornerstone

because it is the best cornerstone and you will never be put to shame.

Because when thewind is raging and the rain comes down and the flood waters rise, a building that has a good corner stone will survive

And when that happens in our life we will not fall because we have Christ as our corner stone!

And I was going to stop there but I really want to hit on verse 9 and 10 because it talks about how once we did not know God but now we do.

And I just want you to reflect on that for a moment.

Do you remember what it was like that moment when you went from not knowing God to knowing Him?

For me it felt like life was breathed into me.

for a lot of us it was a burden that was removed, it may have been a sense of love, but when you think about what God has done in our life its hard to say that we want any other cornerstone other than Him.

And we are getting ready for New Years this week, but imagine if in the year 2020 you said this is the year I am going to start taking my faith serious.

This is the year I am going to make sure I cleanse myself of all the rotten things and build my life upon Christ.

Will You pray with me