The Purpose and Priority of God's People
Notes
Transcript
1 Peter 2:4-12
1 Peter 2:4-12
Introduction
MIT paragraph:
Our text for this morning is 1 Peter 2:4-12. The passage is divided into two sections - verses 4-10 and verses 11-12. In 1 Peter 2:4-10, Peter distinguishes between the people of God - that is, those who are accepted by God - and everyone else - that is, those who have rejected God. In doing so, he reveals why God has set aside a people for himself. God’s purpose in election is to create a people who would worship him above all else. Likewise, in 1 Peter 2:11-12, Peter discusses what must be a priority for God’s people. Like Christ, God’s people will inevitably feel out of place and rejected by the world. Nevertheless, they still a very specific mission to carry out, so long as they’re alive within this world. In these last two verses, Peter gives general instructions on how they should conduct themselves, compromising their witness. This morning, as we work through 1 Peter 2:4-12, my goal is that you would learn one important truth: Our pursuit of Christ helps us realize God’s purpose and prioritize his mission.
Reading
Please join me in the reading of God’s Word: 1 Peter 2:4-12
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 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. 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.” 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,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 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. 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. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Prayer
Exposition
As we begin this morning’s sermon, we need to first take a moment and discuss some of the theological history that Peter is speaking into. Prior to Israel’s exile, the warning’s against Israel’s religious leaders became more frequent and more severe. Faithful Jews, who were still following after God, no doubt had to be appalled at the spiritual decline of their nation. Israel was supposed to be the LORD’s Servant, serving as a witness to all nations, of who God is and what he wants for the world. Yet Israel, after the time of David, grew in corruption, evil, and injustice. This faithful remnant, the Jews who continued to follow God, set their hopes on a messiah, who would bring restoration and righteousness back to Israel. It’s no surprise then, as the warnings against Israel’s leaders increased, so too did the promises of a coming messiah.
As we’ll see in our text this morning, Peter tends to borrow a lot of language and imagery from the Old Testament. In verses 4-10, he includes several references and 3 direct quotations from the Old Testament, concerning a stone.
These Old Testament stone references not only spoke into Israel’s situation at the time, but also carried messianic implications. Israel began to pick up on this throughout the 2nd Temple/intertestamental period and started associating these “stone” texts with the coming Messiah.
One of the references Peter quotes is actually used by Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Speaking against chief priests and Pharisees, Jesus tells the parable of the landowner. In this parable, the landowner plants a vineyard, rents it out to vine-growers, and then goes on a journey. At the time of the harvest, he sent his servants to collect the produce. But the vine-growers beat and killed his servants. Eventually, landowner sent his son, thinking, “Surely, they will respect my son.” But the vine-growers thought to themselves, “Let us kill him and seize his inheritance.” After speaking these words about the religious leaders, he then quotes Psalm 118:22 in reference to himself, which reads
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
All of this is in play, as Peter is writing verses 4-10.
As Peter begins in 2:4, he points his readers to Christ, who is the foundation of their faith. He writes, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious.”
Here, Peter refers to Jesus as the stone the builders rejected. And he was. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day refused to accept that he was the way to a right relationship with God. Not only did they reject him as the Messiah, but they also handed him over to the Romans to be crucified. This is what Peter means when he calls Jesus the stone rejected by men. Yet, Peter adds to the Old Testament reference. He doesn’t just refer to Jesus as the stone, but the living stone. Here, the apostle is pointing back to the resurrection of Christ, which further validates his claim that Jesus was, in fact, chosen and precious in God’s sight.
Now, let me take a brief second to ask: Which is better - to be accepted by men, but rejected by God? Or to be accepted by God, but rejected by men?
As Peter continues, he addresses his readers directly. He writes, “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.”
Certainly, this is a lot to unpack. Peter is now saying that his readers have become like living stones. The people he is writing to had been subjected to religious persecution, to slander, to verbal abuse. They were shunned as outcasts in their own society. They were without a place and without a true home. Like the living stone, Peter says, they too have been rejected by men.
Now, Peter is doing something incredible here in verses 4-5. He says, “As you come to him, the living stone, you yourselves are becoming like him, like living stones.” Peter says, “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.” You don’t feel at home in the world? Well, guess what. You have a home and a family within the house of God. Listen to what one scholar writes,
The Christian community is portrayed as a temple, implying that now it—not a literal stone building—is the place of God’s earthly dwelling by the Holy Spirit, a place of true worship and of acceptable sacrifice. (Karen H. Jobes)
Peter continues with this imagery of a building. He says, Christ is the base, God is the builder, now here are the blueprints. “You yourselves are being built up… [why?]… to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
In the Old Testament, Israel’s priests served in God’s temple, worshipping him and obey his commands. This is primarily what Peter means when he says that we are to offer spiritual sacrifices. Just as we are being built as a spiritual, not a physical house, so we are also to offer spiritual, not physical sacrifices. As we continue, we’ll learn more about what types of sacrifices God desires - that is, what God has purposed for us. Until then, Peter reminds us that our sacrifices are acceptable because Christ is chosen and precious, accepted by God, though rejected by men.
Our text continues with 3 “stone” quotations from the Old Testament in verses 6-8.
The first quotation we see is from Isaiah 28:16 and reads, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
In the ancient world, the cornerstone set the foundation for the entire building. The angle of every brick and every stone was determined by the cornerstone. By referring to Christ as the cornerstone, Peter’s not just saying that Jesus is important, but that he is paramount to the faith. Those who build their lives with Christ as their foundation, those who trust Christ and orient their lives around his teaching, will not be put to shame.
In verses 7-8, Peter talks about those who do not believe, about those who have rejected Christ and who refuse to build their lives around His. In verse 7, he quotes Psalm 118:22, saying, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
As Peter quotes Psalm 118, he’s not just making a passing reference to the Psalm because it fits what he is saying. Rather, he sees this verse lived out in Jesus’ death on the cross. Listen to what Peter says in a speech before the Jerusalem Council in Acts 4:10-11
let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.
In verse 8, we find Peter’s final Old Testament “stone” quotation. This text is borrowed from Isaiah 8:14. Here, Peter is saying that for those who do not believe, the stone has become a “stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”
In its original context, Isaiah 8:14 distinguishes between both the faithful and the unfaithful within Israel. To the faithful, the stone would become a sanctuary. To the unfaithful, the stone would be offensive, a stone of stumbling, a trap, and a snare. Once they stumble on this stone, as Isaiah says, they shall fall and be broken, they shall be snared and taken.
Peter says that those who don’t believe will stumble, because they disobey the word. What does he mean by this? Throughout the epistle, Peter refers to the gospel message as “the word.” We see this in 1 Peter 1:25, 3:1. So it seems reasonable that disobeying the word should be understood as a rejection of the gospel.
For Peter, there is no neutral ground. Either you believe in Christ and receive honor or you reject Christ and are destroyed. Listen to the words of New Testament scholar Leonhard Goppelt:
1 Peter c. Jesus—Honored Cornerstone or Stone of Stumbling? (2:7–8)
Christ is laid across the path of humanity on its course into the future. In the encounter with him each person is changed: one for salvation, another for destruction. … One cannot simply step over Jesus to go on about the daily routine and pass him by to build a future. Whoever encounters him is inescapably changed through the encounter: Either one sees and becomes “a living stone,” or one stumbles as a blind person over Christ and comes to ruin, falling short, i.e., of one’s Creator and Redeemer and thereby of one’s destiny.
As we come to the close of verse 8, Peter mentions something almost in passing. He writes, “they stumble because they disobey, as they were destined to do.” This phrase “as they were destined” or “as they were appointed” as caused an incredible amount of disagreement among scholars. Does God appoint the stumbling, because of their disobedience, or does he actually appoint their disobedience - that is, their rejection of the gospel?
Unfortunately, Peter doesn’t address this any further. Although we do not have time for a fair discussion of both sides of the issue, I don’t want to minimize the doctrine of election, which is such an important aspect of Peter’s theology. He’s writing to those who are elect exiles (1:2), according to the foreknowledge of God (1:2), who God has caused to be born again (1:3) and God’s power are being guarded until the last time (1:5). We reject, as some have argued, that the doctrine of election excuses sin and somehow negates human responsibility. Peter is not teaching that here.
Peter is consistent on this point, as he held the rulers and elders in Jerusalem accountable for their part in Christ’s crucifixion, all the while acknowledging that they did “whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” Acts 4:28.
We can affirm God’s sovereignty, without denying human responsibility.
If you’re interested in learning more about this, John Piper wrote an excellent article, titled “A Response to J.I. Packer on the So-Called Antinomy Between the Sovereignty of God and Human Responsibility.”
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/a-response-to-j-i-packer-on-the-so-called-antinomy-between-the-sovereignty-of-god-and-human-responsibility
As Peter continues in verses 9-10, he finally turns his attention back to the why. As we said earlier, Christ is the base, God is the builder, now what about the blueprints?
Back in verse 5, Peter asserts that God’s purpose for us is to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices. He continues this line of thinking in verses 9-10, writing: “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. 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 reminds his readers and us of our privileged state. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. And how did we come by this? Through Christ, the Living Stone. It is through Jesus that we find our acceptance before God. Through Jesus, we have been brought out of darkness and into God’s marvelous light. Through Jesus, we who were once not a people have become God’s people. Through Jesus, we who had not received mercy now have received mercy. Jesus is the difference. He is the cornerstone and if you believe in him, you will not be put to shame.
And so we turn back to God’s purpose for us as his people. In verse 5, it was to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices. Here in verse 9, Peter clarifies even further. What is God’s purpose for us? “That we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
God has chosen you, God has saved you, God has brought you into his family. Why? So that you could proclaim his excellencies!
What does that mean? It means that as we gather here, we praise God for his glorious grace. But it also means that as we go to work, we praise God for his glorious grace. As we’re driving our cars, we praise God for his glorious grace. As we’re cooking dinner, we praise God for his glorious grace.
As we come to Christ, we realize God’s purpose for us. By that, I don’t just mean that we understand God’s purpose for us. Rather, as we come to christ, we grow in our passion for God’s glory.
Now, as we study the second section of our text this morning, we will see how our pursuit of Christ helps us prioritize God’s mission. 1 Peter 2:11-12 reads:
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Whenever you find yourself out of place, in an unfamiliar situation, it always helps to be reminded of one’s identity. That’s what Peter is doing here in verse 11. He says, “I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh.”
Peter’s writing this because the temptation for his readers would have been to given into the passions of their flesh. They’re being persecuted. They’re being slandered and maligned because of the good that they are doing. Surely, the thought would have crossed their mind, “Perhaps, if I’m willing to give a little, be flexible and do some of the things they do, maybe then they might accept me.”
The fear of rejection is so incredibly powerful, that it has made countless people do things which they never would have done on their own, in order to fit in. If you have to compromise your character or your convictions to be accepted, then it probably not worth it. A new job, a new benefit, a new relationship, a new social circle… none of these things are worth the cost of compromise.
I asked this question earlier and now I ask it again: Which is better - to be accepted by men, but rejected by God? Or to be accepted by God, but rejected by men?
Peter reminds them that they are sojourners and exiles. They are not just hated by others because of what they do, but also because of who they are and who they follow.
One scholar concludes: “The terms Peter uses to describe them basically mean that as Christians they are citizens first of God’s holy nation and therefore not primarily citizens of the society in which they live, to whatever extent the two conflict.” (Karen H. Jobes)
In addition to reminding them of their identity in Christ, Peter goes further, by letting them know the consequence of compromise. Peter urges them to “Abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
By giving into the passions of their flesh, they would be turning their backs on their identity at the deepest level. Peter tells us to avoid any passion that is antithetical to our identity in Christ. God’s purpose for us in Christ is to be a holy priesthood and so, we are to abstain from things like drunkeness, sexual immorality, greed, dishonesty, anger, trash-talking, and the like. These things lead to corruption, rather than the purity God desires from his people.
This spiritual conflict is on display in Romans 6, where Paul admonishes his readers to present their bodies as instruments for righteousness. He writes in Romans 6:20-22
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
Finally, we come to the last verse in this section, where Peter writes, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
In verse 12, Peter reveals what’s at stake when we compromise - that is, our witness. Peter urges us, as intermediaries between God and men, to conduct ourselves with honor. This means that we not only obey God and the imperatives we see in the Bible, but also that we recognize the certain aspects of culture that do not conflict with God’s law - that is, that we practice common courtesy.
dog poop illustration
The culture will speak badly about you if you take a godly stance on moral/social issues. But our priority is to live in such a way that we represent God well - not only who he is, but also what he wants from his people.
Application
Come to Christ in Community
Reflect on the things you’re praising/worshipping
Prayer