What does it mean to be a Christian?

9 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. 10 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.

What does it mean to be a Christian?

Began coming to my own faith in high school

Camp, girl says she’s a christian but doesn’t act like it

Friends at work, says christian but they don’t go to church

What does it mean to be a Christian?

Christ is the center of our lives

When Christ is the center of our lives, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to glorify the Father

This requires more elaboration, but there are too many pictures

Today we focus on Peter’s picture of the Church as a spiritual house

(NIV)

4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—5 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. 6 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.” 7 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,” 8 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. 9 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. 10 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.

Who is Jesus?

A foundation for those who believe (2:6)

(NIV)

6 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.”

From

CORNERSTONE Stone laid at the corner to bind two walls together and to strengthen them. Used symbolically as a symbol of strength and prominence in the Bible. The figure is often applied to rulers or leaders (; ; NIV, REB, NASB; ). God promised through Isaiah that Zion would be restored, resting on the cornerstone of the renewed faith of Israel (). Jeremiah

Phil Logan, “Cornerstone,” ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 349–350.

An offense to those who do not believe (2:7,8)

(NIV)

7 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,” 8 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.

From and

Jesus himself referred to this same when speaking about himself to the religious leaders.

The message of Christianity is counter to the message the world.

The expectation of the world is that our religious convictions should be the first thing to bend when the culture demands it, in the name of progress, in the name of self-love, and tolerance.

Many churches and denominations have begun to sink their knees to this demand.

“Change everything about Christianity but keep Jesus” They think, but they really only keep the name “Jesus”, not the person of Christ as he actually has revealed himself in Scripture.

They forget that we are to be conformed to the image of Christ, not the other way around.

So who does Peter say we are in light of Christ being our cornerstone?

Who are we?

Community of Christ (2:5a)

-Preaching to the choir

-Friends by association

Two implications

When we remove ourselves from the community of the church, there is a significant sense in which we remove ourselves from fellowship with Christ himself

-Can’t I have fellowship with Christ on my own?

The NT doesn’t picture a church who meets once a week, but a church that lives life together, meeting together multiple times to pray, encourage and to meet each others needs.

Christ must be the focus of our fellowship

We do not gather primarily as sports fans, parents, etc but as followers of Jesus

Application: We must both strive to remain in community as well as make an effort to include others, removing obstacles from fellowship

Part of the purpose of our fellowship is to worship

Worshippers of Christ (2:5b)

“to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” vs 5

“a royal priesthood” vs 9

Grew up in a Roman Catholic faith.

Continuity between Catholic and OT priests.

Jesus is our high priest granting us all access to God, the Veil was torn and we were let behind the curtain into God’s presence

What did OT Priests do?

IntercessionSacrifices (Worship)

Intercession

This goes back to our point of community, we minister to one another through prayer.

They do not need us to approach God, but that we can bear their burden with them to God.

Sacrifices (Worship)

There were two basic kinds of sacrifices made by priests

-For atonement of sins

-For worship

(NIV)

12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

Since Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifices once and for all, we no longer require another atoning sacrifice, one that takes care of our sins.

Our sacrifices then are those of worship.

Do we need to start bringing goats and birds to church?

These sacrifices are spiritual!

(NIV)

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Our act of worship is a giving up of ourselves, what we naturally think, what we naturally desire, what we naturally do, not bending them to what thew world says we should think and do, but giving it all up to the service of God.

When the OT people of God made sacrifices of animals and grain, they didn’t get those things back, this is an abandonment of self to God.

Peter takes this picture of sacrifice of self to the next level

Possession of Christ (2:9,10)

(NIV)

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.… 10 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.

Back to being an offense, but that shouldn’t be the case for us

We our told to be our own possession

“Its my body and I’ll do what I want with it”

“You are not your own you were bought with a price”

“Follow your heart”

“The heart is deceitful, keep my commandments”

“Live your best life now”

“You will have trouble in this life, store up for yourselves treasure in heaven”

We forget that we were made by God and that the potter does what he wants with the clay.

This was the subject of the first sin, rather than let God be Lord of their lives, Adam and Eve desired to become god’s of their own lives.

But this shouldn’t be undesirable to us. Our quality of life as a possession depends entirely on the quality of our owner.

Toy Story, Andy and Sid

When we are owned by Jesus we receive grace, blessing, forgiveness, provision, and security.

(NIV)

28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

When we realize this humbling position we are in it will change the way we look at obedience to Scripture.

What is our response? What is the purpose of our belonging to Christ?

Heralds of Christ (2:9)

“that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

When we come to realize what a precious salvation we have and what a precious savior has given it to us, it affects us in a way that the people around us notice it, through our actions, through our attitudes and through our proclaiming of the gospel.

God has given us a title that once belonged only to Israel, “a Holy Nation”. That means that we are separated from the rest of the world for God’s own purposes. But we are not removed from the world, we are one of the main points of contact between God and the world. We are proclaiming his great mercy.

Hosea and verse 10

This is the mercy we proclaim, that we once walked in darkness but have been transferred by God into his wonderful light.

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Now I know what you might be thinking.

That’s actually a good question to ask, but the solution isn’t to try harder.

This isn’t a list of things to do, it’s a list of things that are true about you whether you feel them or not. Please don’t walk away thinking this is something you need to try harder at. There is only one thing that Peter wants us to “do” in this passage. One prime directive all the way at the top. These things become true of us in increasing measure…

“As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—”

When we come to Jesus, he changes us

People who have come close to God physically.

The idea of drawing near

How do we draw near? It’s nothing new, in fact I hope you’re not completely let down.

Drawing Near (2:4)

By receiving his word

Pastors have tried to get their congregation to do this as long as the printing press made it available.

Don’t be discouraged, think of bible reading in a new way.

My suggestion, go all the way through a book rather than jump around, and start with a paragraph.

People didn’t use to have this kind of access to scripture, they only heard it when gathered.

Meditation through the week.

Become a good steward of the kind of access to Scripture you have, but start out small

By responding in worship and prayer

Why I link these together

Worshipping in prayer instead of just asking for stuff

The solution to not feeling like worshiping is to worship? Yep

What is true of God is true even if we don’t feel like it, and he is worthy of praise whether we want to or not. Remember, entering God’s presence through praise is a transforming experience.

Finally ask him, pray your heart out to become the living stone that this passage talks about.

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Draw near to Christ, thats it really

Counting the cost

Pursuing holiness

Its a relationship