1 Peter 2:4-12
Today's Passage: 1 Peter 2:4-12
In our verses today, Peter uses the illustration of stones to describe who Jesus is, who we are, and what God is doing in His Kingdom.
1. Jesus is the cornerstone.
The cornerstone was the first and most important stone that the rest of a structure relied on and leaned on. Jesus is the foundation of the church and he should be the foundation of your life as well. Is Jesus all-satisfying to you? Do all other earthly things pale in comparison to Him?
2. Jesus is building his church.
“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.” (verse 5)
We as living stones are built around and built upon the cornerstone Jesus.
This has incredible implications for our lives…
3. Jesus gives his church a new identity.
Positively, it is said of us:
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.
Look at those verses again. In Christ, you are:
Why? So you can feel better about yourself? No. So that, “you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
Mercy is at the heart of it. The mercy of God is what forgives you of your sin and makes you new.
Negatively, we must make sure that we are:
11 abstain[ing] 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.
Allow your identity in Christ build you up to be so consumed with his excellencies that you are dissatisfied by anything less than feasting on Christ.
As Milton Vincent says in A Gospel Primer, “Eyes do not rove, nor do fleshly lusts rule, when the heart is fat with the love of Jesus.”
Written By: Graham Withers
In our verses today, Peter uses the illustration of stones to describe who Jesus is, who we are, and what God is doing in His Kingdom.
1. Jesus is the cornerstone.
The cornerstone was the first and most important stone that the rest of a structure relied on and leaned on. Jesus is the foundation of the church and he should be the foundation of your life as well. Is Jesus all-satisfying to you? Do all other earthly things pale in comparison to Him?
2. Jesus is building his church.
“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.” (verse 5)
We as living stones are built around and built upon the cornerstone Jesus.
This has incredible implications for our lives…
3. Jesus gives his church a new identity.
Positively, it is said of us:
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.
Look at those verses again. In Christ, you are:
- Chosen by God
- Royalty
- Holy
- God’s possession
Why? So you can feel better about yourself? No. So that, “you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
Mercy is at the heart of it. The mercy of God is what forgives you of your sin and makes you new.
Negatively, we must make sure that we are:
11 abstain[ing] 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.
Allow your identity in Christ build you up to be so consumed with his excellencies that you are dissatisfied by anything less than feasting on Christ.
As Milton Vincent says in A Gospel Primer, “Eyes do not rove, nor do fleshly lusts rule, when the heart is fat with the love of Jesus.”
Written By: Graham Withers
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