2020-03-11 1 Peter 2.4-4
Notes
Transcript
4 As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—
5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.
7 So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected— this one has become the cornerstone,
8 and A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this.
I. Get the foundation right.
I. Get the foundation right.
4 As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—
5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 pet 2:4-
A. We are built off of a living stone.
A. We are built off of a living stone.
4 As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—
5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Illus: Jesus is the living stone. As he is the foundation, the capstone, and the cornerstone… we need to understand what that looks like.
As the foundation, Jesus is what everything is built off of. When we say “In the begining was the word, the word was with God and the word was God.” That is placing Jesus as the foundation. Every act fro creation, to covenants, to judges, kings, nations, was built off of the work God began in Christ. The foundation of the house is Jesus life, death, and resurection. Even the parts built before Jesus’ incarnation.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’
23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’
24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
27 The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”
As the capstone, Jesus is what holds everything together. Everything has been building and leaning on him. The capstone is the center portion of an arch where everything leans to. So you have the law, temple, kings and prophets all built up to Christ where they are secured.
As the corner stone, it is laid straightest and most secure. It is the plumb line stone. Everything else is built upon it. When the cornerstone is right, the rest of the building is right. When it is crooked, the whole building will be as well.
We could stop and argue about the meaning of this stone, but in truth it is all three. Jesus was the foundation, the cornerstone, and the capstone. All of scripture is built around Him. We are built around him.
One more thing… the foundation of what we believe is not a dead man, or a old philosophy. The foundation of what we are built upon is the Living God.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.”
mt 7:21027
B. Through christ we become living stones.
B. Through christ we become living stones.
4 As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—
5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Illus: When you become a christian, it is more than learning to live by a biblical philosophy.
When you become a christian, it is more than just obeying the rules of the bible.
When you become a christian, it is more than following the example of jesus.
When you become a christian, it is more than spiritual disciplines.
When you become a christian you are transformed. YOu are made new.
Jesus takes what is dead and makes it alive.
What Jesus is (a living stone), He makes you.
11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
12 equipping the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.
Eph 4:11-13
19 So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
22 In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.
II. There is only one foundation.
II. There is only one foundation.
6 For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.
A. God has laid the foundation… we are built off His work.
A. God has laid the foundation… we are built off His work.
6 For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.
Illus: When you get the foundation wrong, everything else is off.
When our girls were much smaller, we bought them a swing set. It was delivered and both my family and Jennifer’s family went to building.
As we build we were careful to get the correct pieces in place. We had the support beams, roof tiles, and everything tight to create a fun and safe backyard oasis.
The only problem was that we built it on a crooked hill.
Because the swing set was built on a crooked hill, the swing-set as crooked.
It did not matter how well we put the set together, how sight we screwed it together, the swing set leaned.
This is true about your life. When your life if built on a crooked foundaiton, you will have a crooked life.
This is why I preach about Jesus from the OT, NT and in every sermon.... if we build off any foundation than Jesus it will be crooked.
11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
12 equipping the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.
B. We must have faith in the foundation.
B. We must have faith in the foundation.
6 For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.
Illus: I believe we all have christ in our foundations, but have allowed cracks to form in the foundation.
Not that Christ can be cracked, but instead have allowed secondary things to become the foundations.
When we place our hope and focus on anything other than Jesus and the gospel, we have allowed a crack in our foundation which will lead to cracks in our house.
I have not been shy about sharing the fact that politics inhabits a place in our hearts and with our energy that is unhealthy.
I think I have gotten a bad wrap with some believing that I am a raging liberal, crazy conservative, or have advocated for political unattachment.
We should pursue the best for our country. We should vote. We should care about who is elected and laws the pass.
BUT… I do believe in many cases that the hope, focus, and energy we have given politics have placed it as a substitute for the foundations of our lives.
In other words, we care more, and place more hope in politics that we do the gospel.
But it is not just politics… we have slowly allowed our faith and hope in the gospel to erode to the point that we don’t believe the gospel is the power of God.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’
23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’
24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
27 The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”
III. Many trip over the foundation.
III. Many trip over the foundation.
7 So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected— this one has become the cornerstone,
8 and A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this.
A. God’s foundation is more than first time faith. It is faith in the gospel way.
A. God’s foundation is more than first time faith. It is faith in the gospel way.
Illus: The gospel is something that you believe, and something that your live.
Tripping over the cornerstone is more than just denying Jesus.
Many trip over the cornerstone in not believing that that it is a way to live your life.
If we as believers genuinely believed that Jesus transforms lives, it would change the way we relate to people.
Is Jesus christ the foundation, cornerstone, and capstone of your life?
Doe He affect the way you live?
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’
23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’
24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
27 The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.