SERMON STRUCTURE: A CHOSEN PEOPLE!

2 Peter 2:1-10

CIT (Central Idea of the Text): Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our faith.

SERMON FOCUS: Because Christ is our cornerstone, we must “let ourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood.”

MO: Consecrative

SO: Remember who you are in Christ Jesus!

TITLE: A Chosen People!

Then … the completed sermon should be evaluated in terms of how well it adheres to the CIT and SF, and accomplishes its SO.

INVOCATION

OUTLINE OF 1 Peter 2:1-10

1. Long for pure spiritual milk. (2:1,2)

1. Rid yourself of all malice, guile, insincerity, envy, and slander. (2:1).

2. Desire the pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow into salvation. (2:2,3).

2. Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house. (2:4-8)

1. Come to Christ, a living stone. (2:4).

2. Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, (2:5).

   1. To be a holy priesthood, and

   2. To offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.

3. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our spiritual house. (2:6-8).

   1. For those who believe, the cornerstone is “chosen and precious.” (2:6,7a).

   2. For those who do not believe, Christ is still the cornerstone (2:7b,8).

      1. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner.” (2:7b).

      2. He is “a stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” (2:8).

3. Remember who you are!

1. We are… (2:9).

   1. “…A chosen people [NASB “race”],

   2. A royal priesthood,

   3. A holy nation,

   4. God’s own people, …”

   5. “ …in order that that we may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

2. “once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people,

3. once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (2:10).

SERMON DEVELOPMENT

A Chosen People!

1 Peter 2:1-10

Introduction

1. As I’m sure you remember, three weeks ago I began this series of sermons from First Peter.

1. The first of them, based on 1:3-12, focused on our living hope in God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

2. The second of them, given two weeks ago, based on 1:13-25, focused four things we ought to remember in order to live a holy life:

   1. The God who calls us.

   2. What God has paid for our redemption.

   3. Our duty to one another.

   4. Our source of authority and instruction.

2. Today we continue with a more familiar passage in 1 Peter, a passage filled with big ideas and stirring words and colorful illustrations from the Old Testament.

3. But we want to listen carefully to what Peter is saying to us here, because his instructions express something else that we ought to remember in order to live a holy life.

4. But we will come to that idea in a few minutes.

5. First, let’s turn to the Scripture itself.

Scripture

1. Our passage for today comes from the second chapter of the book of 1 Peter, verses 1-10. I am reading from the New Revised Standard Version.

[Read here 1 Peter 2:1-10, NRSV.]

2. Peter says here that Christ is the cornerstone of our faith. (Central Idea of the Text).

3. And because Christ is the cornerstone, Peter appeals to us to be built up “into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, [and] to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (2:5). (Sermon Focus)

4. So here’s a hint about what we ought to remember about living a holy life. Do you get it yet?

Exposition

1. Peter begins with an admonition to “¹rid yourselves of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and slander. ²Like newborn infants [he says], long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation….” (2:1,2).

1. This metaphor of drinking “spiritual” milk, rather than eating solid food, is common in the New Testament.

   1. In 1 Corinthians 3:2, Paul says, “²I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet.”

   2. And the author of Hebrews (5:12,13) writes, “¹²For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. ¹³For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

2. And so Peter is reinforcing here what his readers had probably already heard from Paul and the writer of Hebrews: it’s time for you to grow up!

3. And sometimes that’s an admonition we need to hear as well!

2. But Peter comes quickly to the main point of this chapter: As believers, we are to “be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus.” (2:5).

1. “⁴Come to Christ”[he says],” a living stone.” (2:4).

   1. And he makes here an important assertion about the nature of Christ: he was , Peter says, “rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight.”

   2. And he follows up his claim by quoting from the great prophet Isaiah (28:16,17), who wrote

“¹⁶Therefore says the Lord God,

‘Behold I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone,

A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

¹⁷And I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the level;

Then hail shall sweep away all the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the secret place.’”

For Isaiah, therefore, the foundation of God’s rule on earth is justice and righteousness — but that is a sermon for another time!

2. “⁵Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house,” Peter says. (2:5).

   1. These words may also be translated as “you are [already] being built up.”

   2. Although the image is not explicit in this passage, many of the large buildings of biblical times were constructed by expert masons who carved and shaved each piece so exactly that it fitted the stones next to it without any need of mortar or cement.

      1. One thinks immediately of the western wall of the temple mount in Jerusalem — the well-known public square in which devout Jews (and even Pope John Paul II) met to pray, and to insert brief written prayers into the very small openings between the stones.

      2. Now in every church there are occasional frictions between folks who don’t exactly see eye-to-eye.

         1. But if we are to be “living stones” being built up into “a spiritual house,” then we need to fit as closely together as the stones of these ancient buildings.

         2. So, we need to ask ourselves if we are willing to be shaved and polished so that our own rough spots disappear, and we fit perfectly with the other stones around us.

         3. That is a formidable challenge for any congregation!

3. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our spiritual house. (2:6-8).

   1. For those who believe, the cornerstone is “chosen and precious.” (2:6,7a).

   2. For those who do not believe, Christ is still the cornerstone (2:7b,8).

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner.” (2:7b).

1. Here Peter is quoting Psalm 118:22:

“²²The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone.”

2. Now the words of this Psalm are much better known to us than we may realize, for it goes on to say

“²³This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

²⁴This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

3. Yet, for those who do not believe, Christ is “a stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” (2:8).

   1. And here, Peter again quotes Isaiah (8:13-15):

“¹³It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy

And he shall be your fear, and he shall be your dread.

¹⁴Then he shall become a sanctuary, but to the houses of Israel,

a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over,

and a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵And many will stumble over them.

Then they will fall and be broken; they will even be snared and caught.”

4. Now there is a snare and a trap in these verses that we need to be aware of: a smugness in thinking that as believers we have a proper understanding of Christ, and others, particularly the Jews, do not.

   1. Again, God’s plan for bringing us as Gentiles into His kingdom is a topic much too complicated for now. We must reserve it for another day.

   2. But if you want to begin thinking about this interesting question, a good place to start is with Paul’s agonizing discussion of it in Romans chapters 9 to 11.

5. And take careful note that those who stumble and fall do so “because they disobey the word,” as all of us do!

3. Well, Paul has one more admonition for us in this section.

1. Do you remember the question I asked early in the sermon? Or have I been talking so long that you have forgotten it?

2. The question was, what is the next thing we need to remember about living a holy life?

   1. We have already said we need to remember

      1. The God who calls us.

      2. What God has paid for our redemption.

      3. Our duty to one another.

      4. Our source of authority and instruction.

3. In verses 9 and 10 of our passage, Peter says we are

   1. “…A chosen people

      1. [The NASB uses the word “race,”

      2. but this word does not designate just an ethnic identity,

      3. but even more so a group of people who share a common trait (like the group of elderly ladies sometimes called “The Red Hat Society”).

      4. Three out of 19 times this word is translated “race,” but at other times, “nation” or “people.”]

   2. A royal priesthood,

   3. A holy nation,

   4. God’s own people, …”.

   5. “ …in order that that we may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (2:9).

   6. “once you were not a people [Peter says], but now you are God’s people,

   7. once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (2:10).

4. It seems to me that what Peter is saying to us here is, “remember who you are!”

   1. Each of us takes pride in our personal and family identity.

   2. Each of us would be understandably embarrassed and distressed if a member of our family found himself or herself in some public scandal, or was arrested for a serious crime.

   3. But what do we do to protect our identity as Christians?

   4. And have we not all been embarrassed and shamed by the hatred and self-righteousness that is often proclaimed in the name of Christianity?

   5. Do we in fact take the name of the Lord in vain, as the second commandment forbids? Do we bear the name of Christian for nothing?

   6. Does our community look upon this church as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, [who] proclaim the mighty acts of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light”?

   7. One of the reasons non-believers cite most often for not attending church is that the church is made up of hypocrites, and Mohandas Gandhi is reported to have said, “If it were not for the Christians, I would be one.” Does that charge stick with you or me?

1. So, to sum up Peter’s points in this passage, I think he says,

1. Grow up spiritually!

2. Come to Christ to be shaved and carved and smoothed so that you will fit well and work well with your fellow Christians.

3. And remember who you really are in Christ.

Reflections and Conclusions

1. Well, what are we going to do with those instructions? Several questions come to mind.

2. Is it time for you — or me — to grow up spiritually, to abandon childish and simplified understandings of what it means to be a Christian, and to begin chewing on the word of God for yourself?

3. Or have you — or I — gotten caught in a different trap — the trap of thinking that we know and understand all that it means to be a Christian, and that perhaps those who don’t agree with us just “don’t get it”?

4. Do you want to be a part of the spiritual building that is the church? Are you therefore ready to be shaped and polished by the master Mason, so that your rough spots are smoothed out?

5. What practical things can each of us do to remember who we really are as Christians, and to be mindful of those who are watching what we do more than listening to what we say?