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----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan Hughes
To: Lance Muir
Sent: April 24, 2005 08:03
Subject: This Week's Sermon 1 Peter 2:1-10 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all
malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so
that by it you may grow into salvation-- 3 if indeed you have tasted
that the Lord is good. 4 Come to him, a living
stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and
5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house,
to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture: "See,
I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever
believes in him will not be put to shame." 7 To
you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, "The
stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,"
8 and "A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them
fall." 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, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the
mighty acts 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.
Expository Sermons from 1 Peter:
2:1-10 So far in this series on 1 Peter I have tried to stress that we are a chosen people, people God has chosen and made his own by the holy-making work of the Holy Spirit that we might live in the living hope of a new life in obedience to Jesus Christ since we have been given access to God because of him and in him. Because he was God become human we know cognitively, rationally that God loves us so deeply that he would give his life for us; and, we know God in faith by the touch of his hand, so to speak. We know we can trust God�s love because as Peter says here, we have tasted that the Lord is good. Because of this gracious gift of being born anew into God�s family life, we trust, give thanks, praise, adore, and serve God as Jesus does his heavenly Father and we love one another deeply from the heart. He first loved us and we know it therefore we can�t help but to respond. The response he gives us is to participate in worship and being a deeply loving community that strives to give that love away selflessly, indeed expecting nothing in return in proof that the proclamation we have of Jesus Christ is the Truth. I�ll say this another way. God chooses to make himself known to the world, by bringing us in faith to worship him and serve by reaching out in his love. I�ll say it yet another way. In the love that God gives us to share, God himself shines forth the proof that his intentions for his creation are certainly very good and shall come to pass. As I noted last week from chapter one, the prophets of the First Testament deeply longed to know the details of what God is doing in us through Christ Jesus by the work of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the angels in heaven are fascinated with it. In our passage today Peter goes on to say that if indeed we have tasted that the Lord is good (the Greek word there is good like good wine), then we must do two things: put aside the old way of life and hunger for the new life in Christ so that we may grow into our salvation; come to Jesus and let him build us into his spiritual house. Put aside the old and come and be in the presence of God and the reason for this is because of who God has made us to be. Peter says, �we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God�s own people.� That is who we are! You, me, and we together are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God�s own people. Let that click around in the cogs of you minds and hearts for a while until you realize the gravity of it. As Jesus brought the things of God to humanity and takes the things of humanity before God, so do we because we are in him by the communion-building work of the Holy Spirit. God has made us to be this so that we may proclaim forth the salvation, the mighty redemptive acts of the one who has called us out of darkness into a wonderful light. Indeed, once we did not know mercy, (which is God�s love, favor and faithfulness,) but now, indeed we do know it. Or at least I hope we do. If you, me, and we together have tasted that the Lord is good, we must respond with being the people of God who in a loving community of faith proclaim the mighty acts of salvation that God has done for all humanity and we are to do it not as if it is our duty but because it is a privilege, a wondrous grace. If we have been called forth from darkness into a wonderful light, we must make every effort to leave the darkness behind and live in the light to show this world the way. Come to Jesus. Come to him who is a living stone, a chosen a precious stone. Come to the one whose voice is as loud as the must disturbing silence, and as silent as the Big Bang. The voice that simply says you are my beloved child lay down your weary head and rest. Faith, trust in God�s love (and we can trust it because we know he loves us) is rest. We need not worry. We need not strive and toil for that which he freely gives. But we must come to him. Rest comes in God�s real presence with us. He settles on our hearts, he settles here on us gathered in his worship like good wine. Every bottle of wine is different. When you hit upon a really good one you know you are having a moment that is utterly unique that you won�t be able to find anywhere else. That�s the way the presence of the Lord is here in our midst. His presence with us is utterly unique and we can�t find it anywhere else like this. Indeed, I hope you are tasting of the goodness. Coming to Jesus to rest also means letting him build you, me, and we together like living stones into a spiritual house, a house full of God�s presence, a house full of the love of Jesus Christ in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit to God�s glory. The Greek word for house, oikia, like our word for house can mean a building like a house or a household meaning family or even a dynasty like the house of Tudor. We are the living house, household, dynasty of the living God. Our cornerstone is Jesus Christ who lives in our midst in the real presence of the Holy Spirit in us shaping us, molding us into his image. We are the house that God lives in. We are his family. We are part of his dynasty. This building is not his house. Creation is not his house. We are. It is good that this passage came up today as we are sharing in the Lord�s Supper because it speaks readily to how he is the living stone rejected by humanity but chosen and precious to God who builds us living stones into a spiritual house. He gave his body for us and he gives it to us now that we the many might be united in him. His blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins and so he pours it out for us now to drink that we who are the many may be united in him. We came to this table not because we are worthy but because we are welcome. We come to him dressed with a wealth of evil intent, with deceitful hearts, as hypocrites who are envious and who slander one another yet we come wanting to undress ourselves of these old dirty clothes and needing help with the buttons. We come as infants thirsting for this pure spiritual milk that we may grow into salvation. He is with us in this meal. He comes to nurture and heal us. There is healing at this table. Undress yourself of your hurts and your hates and come to him. He will heal you. All who trust in him absolutely shall not be put to shame. Truly, we bear the name of our most holy God; we are his household, his dynasty. What greater undeserved honour or privilege could there be? Come to him. |
