Our New Identity

Our New Identity

Pray.

Today we will be walking through verses 4–10 of 1 Peter chapter 2.

And in a way, this passage almost poses a question to the reader:

What defines you?

What is your identity?

Or to simplify it, who are you?

Think about how you would answer that question.

In our verses today, Peter gives us insight into how we should answer.

But before we jump in, let’s recap what Peter has said in this epistle thus far, because the context is important here.

Peter addresses the churches in Asia Minor (Turkey),

and says that Christians are “strangers in the world” (1:1).

God the Father chose us (1:1–2), Jesus redeemed us from our “empty way of life,”

and the Spirit sanctifies us, is continuously makes us more like Christ (1:2).

Because of that, we have an inheritance stored up for us in heaven, safeguarded by God himself.

By faith we receive God’s salvation,

and our holy Father summons us to stop conforming to “the evil desires” we followed when we were unbelievers (1:12–16).

Instead, we should strive to be holy as God is holy (1:16) and live “in reverent fear,”

or in awe of who God is and what He has done for us (1:17–19).

Being called by God into His loving family, the global Church, entails a new way of life,

because we were once so far from God, but through faith in Christ, we are now His people.

And as His people, we are to love one another with sincere brotherly love.

To do that, Peter warns us to shun a series of vices seen in chapter 2 from last week.

The list at first appears to be random, but looking at them carefully reveals that each vice is one that destroys Christian unity.

We CAN”T love one another with sincere, brotherly love, if we are clinging to things like malice, deceit, envy, hypocrisy, or slander.

We are a loving community of brothers and sisters in Christ, and we should always be striving for unity with one another.

And our passage today describes the BASIS, the FOUNDATION for the Christian community:

our Christian IDENTITY.

It’s been said that we should be careful how we finish sentences that start with “I am.”

We should never say, “I am a loser,” because we shouldn’t define ourselves by our weaknesses.

Nor should our identity be wrapped up in things like, “I am a powerful executive,” or “I am a talented athlete,”

because we shouldn’t establish our identity through our achievements.

Now you may ask, “If I can’t define myself by my strengths and weaknesses, what’s left?”

Well, if we consider it for a moment,

we see that we shouldn’t define ourselves by those things because they frequently change, don’t they?

They aren’t constants.

So the question still remains: how should we define ourselves?

Well, there is one thing about Christians that IS constant,

one thing that will NEVER change.

For Christians, the question is not, “Who am I?”

The proper question is “WHOSE am I?”

Who we are is defined by who we belong to, and will always belong to.

Keep that in mind this morning.

Now one thing I’d like to point out before we get to the verses is that the structure of today’s passage is a little different.

It’s not exactly linear, following a single train of thought.

So, as we work our way through the passage this morning, we’re going to be jumping around a bit.

You’ll need to keep your head on a swivel!

There are two sides, kind of like a coin,

and Peter flips the coin back and forth as he makes the points he wants to make.

And what he does is He compares two different types of people,

two different identities of people.

And in the end, they’re only identities that really matter: Believers and non-believers.

This is the qualifier that transcends any type of earthly identity that mankind can come up with.

Those who are in Christ, and those who are not.

Let’s start by looking at the side of the coin that defines those who reject Christ.

I recommend having a bible in your lap or on your phone,

because it may be difficult for the sound and audio crew to jump around with the slides.

Verse 4:

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,

Now let’s jump to verses 6-8.

Referring to Jesus Christ, Peter says:

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.

Peter speaks of Christ and calls Him a living stone that God laid in Zion.

As a side note, Zion was the hill in the center of Jerusalem which kind of represented the Promised Land that God promised to the Israelites.

But this living stone isn’t just any stone, Christ is the cornerstone.

We don’t see very many stone masons in our society today,

so the significance of this analogy is lost on most people.

Before erecting a building,

you first have to lay a foundation for the building to be built off of, right?

A building without a foundation isn’t going to be a building for very long!

And in ancient times, stonemasons would search piles of rocks for boulders with the correct size and shape to use as foundation stones.

But there was one stone of the foundation that was vitally important:

the cornerstone.

As the name obviously indicates, the cornerstone was placed at the corner of the foundation,

and it was one of the largest, most solid, and most carefully constructed of all the stones.

The workers would use it as their guide for the rest of the building project.

Once the cornerstone was set, it became the basis for determining every measurement in the remaining construction;

everything was aligned to it.

And in verse 4, then again in verse 7, Peter depicts this scene of men, referring to the Jews.

And the Jews are searching for this “cornerstone" that was promised to them by God in the Old Testament.

We know this because Peter actually quotes Old Testament Scripture to validate his argument.

In verse 6, he quotes from Isaiah 28,

in verse 7 he quotes from Psalm 118,

and in verse 8 he quotes from Isaiah 8.

God told Israel that His chosen Messiah, the Savior, was coming.

So they’re searching for Him, discarding one stone after another.

They finally come across the perfect stone, Jesus Christ.

But when they examine it, they reject this stone as well.

Israel’s leaders searched for their Messiah, but when they found him,

they judged him a false teacher (or worse) and rejected Him, they killed Him.

He was reviled in the sight of MEN.

But as verses 4 and 6 tell us, before GOD, He was chosen and precious.

Jesus is the precious Son, the eternal second member of the Holy Trinity, God in the flesh.

Around Christmas time you’ll hear Christ be referred to as “Immanuel,” which literally means, “God with us.”

He is the Messiah that God promised to His people long, long ago.

He is the cornerstone of God’s work on earth, and the question is, the cornerstone for what?

What is God building?

Well, we’ll get to that.

That’s on the other side of the coin.

For now, let’s stay on this side.

Peter contrasts the two different responses humans can have toward Christ.

Verse 6, whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame,

and verse 7, the honor is for you who believe.

Then there’s the other response…

For those who do not believe, verse 8:

Christ is a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense.

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

In Jesus’ day, many rejected him.

Today, it’s the same story.

There are many different excuses for unbelief:

Jesus fails to meet MY criteria for what a god should be,

he is too harsh,

too demanding,

too supernatural… whatever.

How can people reject God’s chosen, precious cornerstone?

Simply put, it’s because they want to build something different from what God is building.

Just as the people building the tower of Babel in Genesis 11 rebelled against God and pursued their own project,

those who reject Christ disregard God’s plan,

the project He has been building since the beginning of history,

and they substitute it for their own plan.

And here is the most important detail for those on this side of the coin:

Judgment is promised to all those who reject Christ, because without Him,

we must face the due justice for our sins against a holy God ourselves.

Jesus Himself confirms this when He said that they will stumble over him,

and He will fall on them and crush them.

When speaking to the Jewish leaders, listen to what He says in Matthew 21:42-44:

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. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

And here is where it gets tough:

Verse 8 tells us, “They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.”

We need to slow down for a second and give this verse the proper attention it needs.

Some people say that the idea that some are “destined” to fall gives us a God who is cruel and unjust.

“It doesn’t seem fair, so it can’t be true!”

I can’t even count the number of times I’ve had that conversation with Christians who struggle with this particular biblical doctrine.

I struggled with it.

R.C. Sproul, the world-renowned theologian,

once told the story of how he initially struggled with it.

Most Christians do.

But before we start to cry that there is injustice on God’s part,

or determine that the doctrine is simply wrong and come up with some other way to explain what this verse are many others like it are clearly saying,

I want you to consider this illustration:

Suppose there is a math teacher who gives a fair but very difficult test to his students.

Out of fifty students, none pass the test. Everyone fails.

Now the teacher has a few different options.

He could give everyone the failing grade that they earned.

That’s fair, right?

But what if it was his wish and good pleasure to give a passing grade to some of the students?

Is it unjust if he let the other students keep the grades they earned?

No.

Injustice would be giving a failing grade to a student who actually passed the test.

THAT would be injustice.

THAT would be unfair.

Instead, every student received the grade they earned; and some received more.

You now what that is?

That’s not injustice.

That’s mercy.

That’s grace.

Humanity stands before God like a class of failing students.

Not one is righteous.

Romans 3:23— All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

God doesn’t coerce anyone to reject Christ, we do that of our own free will.

I’m going to repeat that because it can’t be stressed enough!

God does not coerce anyone to reject Christ, we do that of our own free will.

But God sends his Spirit to some,

regenerates them, convicts them of their sin, and leads them to Jesus.

God, according to his eternal purpose and good pleasure, predestines some to life.

Now some might say that God gives mercy to some because He saw that they would respond with faith.

But do you see the problem with that idea?

The sovereign God of all creation would have to let His eternal plan for the redemption of His bride, the Church,

be determined by US instead of by Him.

He would have to relinquish control of His total sovereignty,

and if He is no longer sovereign, then He is no longer God.

He’s either in control, or He isn’t.

And if He is no longer in control, He is no longer God,

and THAT, is a very, very scary.

The idea that there are things outside of God’s control doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

How about you?

He saves His bride by his free grace, His immeasurable love, and great mercy.

God never punishes the innocent… with one exception.

He did punish an innocent individual once… That was Jesus Christ.

The ONLY one to ever receive God’s wrath undeservingly was His holy and beloved Son.

During the thirty-some years He walked this earth,

He walked in perfect obedience to God’s law and was without sin.

And He willingly and intentionally allowed Himself to be rejected by the Jewish leaders and nailed to a cross.

He bled and died, not having His life TAKEN from Him, but GIVING UP His life,

for no one could ever TAKE His life from Him.

He took upon Himself the Father’s wrath toward our sin that we rightly deserve, and He paid our debt to God in full.

And because He Himself was without sin and is God in the flesh, the grave couldn’t hold Him.

He triumphantly burst forth from His tomb three days later,

then ascended back into to heaven where He came from.

And now, He sits on His heavenly throne, reigning over all creation,

awaiting the day that has already been determined,

when He will step off His throne again and return to earth,

but not as a reviled, rejected servant like during His first coming,

but as the glorious, conquering King that He is.

So that’s the first side of the coin Peter describes.

That is the first category of identity—

Those who reject Christ and stand in the condemnation of their sin.

Now let’s look at the other side…

Verse 5:

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.

Verses 9 and 10:

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.

Peter tells us that Christians are like “living stones being built up as a spiritual house.”

Remember earlier when I asked, “What is God building?”

Well, here’s the answer.

God is building His “spiritual house,” the Church.

And when I say “Church,” I’m of course not referring to a literal building,

but rather the worldwide community of believers.

Christ is the cornerstone of the foundation,

and His apostles laid the rest of the foundation based off of what Christ taught them.

This letter we are currently studying was written by one of them.

Peter was the leader of the apostles, in fact.

And God has been building His church ever since, stone by stone.

Each believer, Old Testament, and now, is one of the “living stones” that make up this beautiful building God is piecing together.

And these stones are living because we are alive in Jesus Christ, who is also living.

As the cornerstone of the church, Jesus is our standard of measure and alignment.

He is foundational.

BUT the building isn’t finished yet.

The Church is still under construction!

Every time a sinner repents and comes to faith in Christ,

another stone is added to Christ’s bride, the church.

And THIS is why Christian unity is so important!

Together, we make up the bride of Christ.

If you were to separate the stones from one another, you’d just have a bunch of lonely, individual rocks.

But when put together in the right order, they will support one another and form something beautiful.

And Christ and His teachings are the cornerstone and foundation that the entire Church is built upon.

And what’s more, He not only is the foundation, He also provides the building materials!

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord works in our hearts—

shaping, moulding, calling us through the gospel.

We haven't made ourselves into stones to be used in the construction of Christ's church;

the Lord has done that for us!

You think God is going to relinquish control of the building up of His Church???

I don’t think so!

And Peter says in verse 9 this Church is a chosen race,

a royal priesthood,

a holy nation,

a people for God’s own possession,

all of which are titles that were originally given to Israel in Exodus 19.

These titles were SO IMPORTANT for the Jews!

They were what defined the identity of who the Israelites were!

They were what set them apart from the rest of the world.

They were God’s chosen people.

And by applying these titles to the Church, Peter tells us that the privileges of Israel are now ours.

We may be aliens and exiles, cast out and rejected by the world,

but God has taken us in.

He has adopted us, welcomed us into His royal family, and extended all the rights and privileges His family brings.

It was jaw-dropping that Peter calls Gentile (non-Jewish) converts like you and me,

a “people” and a “holy nation.”

These were labels that had originally distinguished Israel FROM the Gentiles.

Now Peter applies the same labels TO the Gentiles!

Church, THIS is who you are.

If you are in Christ, THIS is what defines you,

not your ethnicity,

not your career,

not your accomplishments,

not even your failures…

Your identity is the fact that you are a chosen and loved child of God.

All that other stuff, that’s not going to matter in 1,000 years.

But this will.

We see that verses 4–10 are filled with quotations and allusions to the Old Testament.

And Peter assures us that the promises made to Abraham are also made to the Church, since we are his spiritual decedents.

We may not be his physical descendants, but we have the same faith in God that he had.

The Old Testament is not just an irrelevant story about this group of people called Jews.

It’s not just their book, their story.

It’s OUR book.

It’s OUR story, because we are all in the same family of God— the Church.

And this Church— God has been building it since the very beginning.

A beautiful building, shining the marvelous light of Christ from the top of a hill to the darkness of the world.

This Church is the emblem of hope to fallen humanity.

This Church is God’s representative and ambassador to this fallen world.

As verse 10 says, we were once not a people.

But now, we are God’s people.

Once, we stood in the condemnation of our sin,

but now we have received mercy and stand forgiven

because of God’s great mercy and grace that was displayed at the cross.

And Church, I want to point out something from our passage today—

something you may have already noticed.

Look at how Peter describes Jesus and how he describes Christians.

In verses 4 and 6, Jesus is a living stone,

rejected by men but in God’s eyes,

chosen and elect,

in God’s eyes,

valued and honored.

And Christians are likewise living stones (verse 5),

exiles and aliens (1:1),

but in God’s eyes,

chosen and elect (verse 9),

and in God’s eyes,

royal, valuable, and loved (verse 9).

Peter describes Christians with the same adjectives that he uses to describe Jesus!

One definition of identity that I came across is, “the quality or condition of being the same as something else.”

The life of a Christian should be an indication that we do indeed have a new identity from the rest of the world.

We are a chosen people,

recipients of forgiveness of our sin by the blood of Christ,

set apart BY God, FOR God.

He brought you out of the world to Himself.

We are living stones that God is using to build up His Church.

Let your life and your character reflect it!

Pray.

Benediction:

1 Peter 5:6-11

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.