Who are you? (2)
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Transcript
Reading
Reading
33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
Matthew 21:33-
Introduction
Introduction
So what do you do?
That’s perhaps the most asked question in a room full of strangers isn’t it? If you go to an event like I’m about to go to next week, an event full of people that you haven’t met, you can bet that you are going to get asked this question and that you yourself will most likely ask this question in return. What do you do?
And of course what we mean by that is “What do you do for a living?” And by asking this question we are trying to get to know this person.
But my thought this morning is why do we ask this question in order to get to know someone? Are people defined by what they do? Not necessarily. But the truth is that we spend over a third of our lives at work.
And so while asking a person what they do for a living might not tell you much about who a person is, it will tell you a great deal about where they spend their time.
In essence what we ask “What do you do?” What we are really asking is “Who are you?” What do you believe in enough to devote 1/3rd of your life to doing it?”
But is that a really a good indicator of who we are? Granted, sometimes it can be, but often times what we do for a living is not at all indicative of who we think ourselves to be. Often times the work that people have is just a way to pay the bills and nothing more.
It’s not a great indicator of who we are, what we believe, or what we love.
Yet this morning as we look through , hope we will see that what we are supposed to do as Christians ought to tell others and ourselves exactly who we are, what we believe, and what we love and hold dear.
HOPE
HOPE
If you have been with us or watched online over the last few weeks you’ll know that we are about 3 weeks in to a series on Hope out of 1 Peter.
So far: A hope filled life is a life anchored in the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ
A hope filled life is a holy life
And last week
A hope filled life is a living word fueled life.
4 As you come to him, 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: “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, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 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. 10 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.
The Foundation - v.4, 6,7
The Foundation - v.4, 6,7
Peter continues on a theme that he has been using.
In verse 3 - Living hope
v. 22 = Living and abiding word
Him, A Living Stone - v. 6-7 cornerstone
Him, A Living Stone
ABOUT Stones
During the time of Peter and in that part of the world, no poured concrete, but cut out stones in order to have a firm foundation to build upon.
The CORNERSTONE was the stone upon which the rest of the building depended. If you HOPED to have square building, a level building, a sturdy and secure building, you put your trust in the cornerstone.
If the cornerstone was not square, the building wouldn’t be square, if the cornerstone was tilted out or in, the walls would tilt out or in, everything is based on the cornerstone.
Peter is no doubt recalling the words that Christ spoke that was read for us earlier from ,
Where Jesus quoted
English Standard Version Chapter 21
“ ‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
And Jesus made it clear that this cornerstone was Him!
He is the foundation upon which the church is built.
After all, did Jesus himself not say in to the very person who is writing this letter “upon this rock I will build my church”? And what was the rock? The confession that Peter made that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God!
The confession of Christ, and therefore Christ himself is the foundation of the church,
So in that way, the building becomes a direct reflection of the soundness of the cornerstone.
The Building - v. 5
The Building - v. 5
But a cornerstone is not meant to just sit there and be admired for it’s perfection. A cornerstone is meant to be built upon.
We become like him when we come to him.
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
2 Peter 1:3-
When we draw near, we become like him, and Peter says we too become living stones.
For a specific purpose, for a reason, to do a job. And that reason is to be built up as a spiritual house., to be a holy priesthood, and to offer spriitual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Saved, now I can do whatever I want and not worry about it!
Or I’m saved so now God is going to bless me with health and wealth and I can do whatever I want in life.
These concepts are foreign to anything we see in scripture
Instead what we see is this, We’ve been cleansed by the blood of Christ, we’ve been saved from an eternal hell, to be of service to God.
The Blueprints
The Blueprints
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
God had a plan from the beginning to reconcile us back to himself, and this book, his word, serves as the blueprints of those plans
The Builders
The Builders
Spiritual sacrifices
Praise
15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
Prayer -
8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Self - Consecration
1 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. 2 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.