A Temple and Priests in Exile

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. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 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.

I think we can all agree that being grounded is rather miserable.

Whether we have lost access to our phones, social media, video games, or time with friends due to being grounded, we probably all agree that being grounded is unpleasant and is therefore an effective form of discipline.

If you know what it’s like to lose access to something that you value, well then you might have an idea of what it would have been like for Israel to be exiled in the OT. You see, when God punished Israel for their sin, they were sent into exile. This means that they were cut off from their homes. The entire nation was dragged from their home and brought into foreign land called Babylon.

But Israel didn’t just lose access to their homes when they were exiled… During their exile, they also lost access to the temple in Jerusalem. This might not seem like a big deal to most of us, but try to understand what the temple meant to the nation of Israel.

You see, in the beginning, Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden. But when they sinned, they were sent out from Eden, and when that happened they no longer walked with God.

But God made a way for his people to be in his presence again. The way God chose to be with is people was through the tabernacle and the temple…the tabernacle was a tent that went with Israel through the wilderness, and later on Solomon would build a temple where God would dwell.

We see God’s presense dwelling in the tabernacle After it was completed, Exod 40:34.

Exodus 40:34 ESV

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

And similarly, when the construction of the temple was completed

1 Kings 8:10–11 ESV

10 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

The temple was where God dwelt with his people, and it was the place where God’s people longed to be. Reflecting about the beauty of the temple and the presence of God, the psalmist wrote,

Psalm 84:1–2 ESV

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! 2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Psalm 84:10 ESV

10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Hopefully you understand what it meant for Israel to be exiled… they were cut off from their homeland, but more than this, they were cut off from the presence of God. Israel’s exile was a repeat of what happened to Adam and Eve when they were exiled from Eden.

So when Peter addresses Christians as elect exiles does this also mean that we have we also been cut off from the presence of God? Not at all, in fact it’s the exact opposite for us as Christians! Remember Jesus final words to his disciples in the Great Commission,

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We have not been cut off from the presence of God, if anything it’s the exact opposite. We now have closer fellowship with God than Israel ever enjoyed than when they had the temple.

With this in mind Peter writes

1 Peter 2:4–5 ESV

Peter said in v 4, “As you come to him”…that is as you come to God... this is hardly the language of not having access to the presence of God as exiles. This is the langue of having direct access to God. And how is it that we have this access even though we don’t have a physical temple?

1 Peter 2:4–5 ESV

Even though we don’t have access to the temple in Jerusalem, we now have access to God, because we ourselves have been built built into a spiritual house… we are being built into a temple…

and notice what the is the temple made out of;

“as you come to him…” that’s Jesus… who is a living stone… v5 “you yourselves like living stones are being build up as a spiritual house…”

God no longer dwells in a physical temple… but in stead he dwells in this new temple, made up of living stones… That’s a fancy way of saying, God dwells with his people.

This is what I want us to recognize…

1. The church has direct access to God.

Try to let the gravity of this sink in for a moment… right here, right now, God is with us.

Yes we are exiles… and as such we don’t have a physical temple where we worship… But we no longer need a temple in order to access the presence of God.

This is what Jesus was telling the Samaritan woman in Jn 4 when he said God’s people no longer worship on this mountain or that mountain… rather the Father is seeking those who will worship in spirit and in truth.

Understand this, the presence of God does not dwell in a building…

Our church building if you will.... that we are in… it is no more sacred than any other building in Vancouver. What I understand is this was an old Bingo hall before this was ever a church. And that’s okay! A church isn’t made a dwelling place for God because of stained glass windows, or gigantic pipe organs… The church isn’t a holy place because of the presence of a pulpit, or the for having pews… nor is a Church made acceptable because of lights and projectors… Rather a church is only a church if the people of God are together worshiping the one true God! We, as the people of God, are the church where God’s Spirit dwells!

But the church isn’t just any group of people… the church is build up of those who have been built up on Christ the cornerstone.

Go back to 1 Peter 2:4

1 Peter 2:4–6 ESV

A cornerstone would have been the first stone laid during a building project…

Like a puzzle, it’s easiest to start at the corners… so too, when a temple would have been built, they would start by plotting a huge cornerstone. This first stone that was laid would determine the proper placement of all the other stones that would make up the temple.

Peter tells us, that Jesus is the living Cornerstone. Today we might better understand this by saying Jesus is the foundation of the church that the rest of the church is built upon.

now don’t misunderstand what Peter is saying… Remember, a church is not a physical building, rather the church is a group of people…

But a church is not just a random group of people… rather the church is a people who have been built up on Christ.

That is, a church is a group of people who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is so important to understand.

The church is not built though entertainment

The church is not built on the preachers personality… or through motivational speakers

The church is not built up on programs

(none of these things are inherently evil evil, but they are not the means of building the church)

The church is built up on Christ and the gospel.

So understand this, the only way to be built up into this new temple is by believing in Jesus Christ… and if you have placed your faith in him, then you are a stone that makes up the spiritual temple where God himself dwells.

Sure we are in exile, but we have the presence of God with us! It is better to have the presence of God in exile than to be settled into a home without God. Even though we are exiles in the world, we are still the most to blessed of all people, because God is with us and we are his dwelling place.

But we are not just a temple… that is we aren’t just the place where God dwells… but we are also the servants in the temple itself… that is to say, we are all priests. Listen to how Peter said it again starting a v 4

1 Peter 2:4–5 ESV

We aren’t just a building that exists for God to dwell in, but we are also a priesthood that offers sacrifice to God…

But these sacrifices are not animal sacrifices like that of the OT priesthood… rather Peter says that we offer spiritual sacrifices to God…

If you’re taking notes, you can write this down…

2. We have been saved by God to serve God.

Again, understand that this is what the priesthood did in the OT… they were the servants in the temple. They were the ones who offered sacrifice to God.

But being a priest was a terrifying job

Remember the two passages that we read earlier about God’s presence as he filled the tabernacle and the temple? Notice the position of the priests in the presence of God.

Exodus 40:34–35 ESV

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

And again

1 Kings 8:10–11 ESV

Notice that while God is dwelling in the temple, the priesthood couldn’t simply come into the presence of God.

And in Leviticus, we hear a story of two priests who make an unauthorized offering to the Lord… Expand

So how can we as the priesthood serve the Lord? Is it in fear that our offering won’t be accepted by God? Not at all!

1 Peter 2:5 ESV

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.

This means, that because Jesus made the perfect sacrifice on the cross in our place, now we can come before the Lord and make sacrifices to God with confidence that we won’t be consumed by him.

Understand, my preaching, though it is not perfect, is made perfect and acceptable through Jesus Christ…

Your singing and praise to God, is made acceptable through Jesus Christ…

Your good works are only good and acceptable through Jesus Christ…

And what is the job of the priest do you know?

It is to be the representative of God to the rest of the people… So too as new priests in this new temple, we are to make God known in all the world.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

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.

We are to proclaim the excellencies of our God who has saved us!

What exactly does that look like… well it’s quite simple… we tell people who we were before God and who we are now because of God…

We were called out of darkness into his marvelous light!

We tell people that we were

1 Peter 2:10 ESV

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.

This is what we tell the world… we who deserved wrath… have recieved mercy… we who were a bunch of strangers, without anything to boast in about ourselves have been brought into the family of God. And it is all owing to the excellencies of God’s grace.

So understand what Peter is teaching us

we have the presence of God with us…

and we have been saved to serve God by making him known…

But this isn’t new news to most of us… we know that we should make Jesus known, but many of us fear that we will mess it up… as if we are going to make only add confusion when we share the gospel… or worse we will make people reject Jesus all together.

But you’re not responsible for how people respond to the gospel… you’re simply responsible for making the gospel known.

Or to put it another way.

3. Christians don’t have to popularize the gospel, we just need to proclaim the gospel.

Now, the church has accepted a bunch of strange practices over the years in an attempt to get people to hear the gospel… one of the major movements has been called the seeker sensitive movement.

Essentially the seeker sensitive moment has aimed to accomplish is to take away the offense of the gospel in order to help non believers believe in the gospel.

So Christians will preach only the parts of the gospel that are palatable to those who do not believe, but in doing so they distort the gospel in such a way that the message that they preach is no longer the gospel at all.

Understand this, a distorted gospel is no gospel.

In 1980 when St Hellens blew… they knew it was going to happen… but there were some who didn’t want to listen to the warnings…

So what’s the solution to this? Do you change the news of impending danger in order to make people like the news more? Well you can… but it won’t stop the mountain from blowing…

The gospel message is an offense, and not everyone will believe it.

1 Peter 2:4 ESV

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

Men rejecting the Living Stone that is Jesus Christ does not make it less precious. And further, those who reject the Living Stone will stumble over it.

1 Peter 2:7–8 ESV

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.

Understand, the Gospel message is offensive to most people… it is not our responsibility to change the gospel in order to make it popular, because as soon as we change the gospel then it will fail to be good news that can save sinners.

The gospel is an offense to many people. But just because the gospel message is offensive, doesn’t mean the gospel messengers need to be offensive.

Next week we will pick up in these verses, but Peter gives us these instructions.

1 Peter 2:11–12 ESV

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 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.

We are the temple where God dwells, and the priesthood who have been called to serve God. So be holy just as he who called us is holy. We get to make him known, and we do so by proclaiming the excellencies of him and living for his glory.

May we do so knowing that it is all possible because of Jesus who makes our spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.

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