This is a sermon that continues in our Devotional: Becoming a People of Overflow, SURPRISE! 1 Peter You can watch more here.
The Stone
This morning, we are continuing through a new series called “Surprise!” 1 Peter is a letter
in the New Testament written to a people who were experiencing ups and downs in life.
These are a people living under an unjust government with Nero as the Emperor of Rome.
They had been run out of their homes in Jerusalem, so this letter is written to a people
whose life is being turned upside down.
As a result, the Apostle Peter, this is someone who has walked with Jesus, seen the
miracles, heard the teaching, witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection, is now an old man,
nearing the end of his life, and he is writing to a people who have never seen Jesus, but
believed in Jesus as God in the flesh, and the Apostle Peter is writing to say, “I know life has
been hell, but your faith in Jesus is more precious than gold! Sit in that for a second.
God’s Word is teaching us that our faith in Jesus’ is more precious than Bit-coin! Our time
on Sunday morning. Those little prayers as you walk into a meeting. Those moments in
God’s Word. Seeing the beauty of creation and being in awe, is more precious than gold!
This is important because the instability of our world is off the charts! The ground starts
shaking beneath our feet and instinctively we start reaching for something to hold on to,
right? (Hands raised)
It might be a person, it might be an institution, it might be our family, but eventually those
things or those people start to show cracks, they start to rattle, and this morning God’s
Word is going to remind us again and again there’s only One strong foundation. There’s
only One who is more precious than gold! His name is Jesus! Let’s look at verses 4-5:
1 Peter 2:4-5, “4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but
is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as
a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ.”
Last Sunday, James Zimmerman walked us through verses 1-3. Didn’t he do a good job?
Like a newborn babe, holding up the milk bottle the follower of Jesus is going to spiritually
grow through the understanding of God’s Word, and in our passage this morning we see
God’s Word describing His people as “living stones.” Do you see that in verse 5?
Coming to Him, Jesus, and then in verse 5 the Apostle Peter writes, “You also, who are in
Christ, are living stones.” Now, this probably doesn’t resonate with most of us in the room,
but the majority of this audience receiving this letter would have been from a Jewish
background, so that these are Jewish men and women who have come to faith in Jesus, and
the temple would have been the most important place known to a Jewish man or woman in
the first century.
The temple is where the glory of God was dwelling. The temple was sacred! The temple
was where animal sacrifices would have taken place, the forgiveness of their sin. The
temple was where they would go to pray and pour out their hearts to God, and
geographically the temple was in Jerusalem.
Remember, chapter 1, these men and women have been scattered outside of Jerusalem.
Chapter 1, verse 1, aliens and strangers scattered throughout little towns in Modern Day
Turkey, 700 miles away from Jerusalem, like here to Denver, and now Peter, a Jewish man
is teaching them and teaching us, “Because of Jesus, the glory of God is no longer about a
geographical location in Jerusalem.” Amen? Jesus is like Star Link! He’s everywhere!
Listen to me, the temple in Jerusalem was important, but the temple in Jerusalem was
never meant to be the focus throughout Scripture. All throughout the Old Testament, the
temple, the sacrifices, the law always existed like a mirror to point people to their need for
a Savior to come; Jesus. It’s why Jesus is so upset when He is speaking to the religious
leaders. God is right in front of them and they were like, “Yeah, but we got this temple!”
Jesus is like, “Destroy this temple, three days I will raise it up again!”
It’s why in verse 5 the Apostle Peter draws out the metaphor so as to say, “You who are in
Christ, you are now living stones, built up as a spiritual house, holy priesthood, offering up
spiritual sacrifices of offerings acceptable to God through faith in Jesus.” Do you see that in
verse 5?
Practically this means things like, I’m not more important to God because I am a pastor.
This building isn’t more sacred because this is where we worship. There’s no need for
animal sacrifices taking place at the altar, because in Christ WE, who are in Christ, become
“the temple of living stones.” C’mon!
This morning, we aren’t gathering to become holy people. Through faith in Jesus we have
been made holy, therefore, we gather for the opportunity to discover, learn, grow, and live
out who we are in Christ! Amen? It’s possible you might be thinking, “Michael, are you
sure you aren’t just making this up?” Look at verse 6:
1 Peter 2:6, “6 For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone,
a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
Verse 6 is a biblical reference from the Old Testament from a book called Isaiah 28:16.
Isaiah is this huge piece of writing to Israel to see their need for a Savior, and in Isaiah,
written 700 years before Jesus is born we see God’s Word lifting their eyes and our eyes to
a “choice stone, a precious corner stone.”
Do we have in builders in here? Anyone who works in construction? We don’t use
cornerstones today, but especially in the first century the cornerstone of the building is the
most important part of the building because it determined the foundation, right?
In the first century the stone mason would have to search through all the stones to find the
biggest, strongest stone, and it would form the corner piece for the rest of the building, and
the Apostle Peter quotes Isaiah so as to say, “Jesus is the corner piece to all of life!” You
don’t want to build without Him!
Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus paid the price for our sin at the cross. Jesus ascended into
heaven. He is victorious King, conquering sin and death, so that through faith in Jesus we
are anchored with Him, positioned with Him as “living stones.”
Therefore, every time we start to anchor ourselves to another corner stone there will come
a time when cracks are going to start to show up. We get that email from HR that our
services are no longer required. We get that person in our family who turns everything
upside down. We get that call from our doctor, and every time the ground starts to give
way, our soul starts to shutter, and we hate those moments, I hate those moments, but
really that is God’s grace in our life saying, “Those things were never meant to be corner
stones.” They might not be evil, they just aren’t strong foundations. Amen?
This is why verse 6 doesn’t just describe Jesus as our corner stone but He’s a precious
corner stone. Do you see that in verse 6? The word precious in the original language
means prized or honored, so that it isn’t enough for me to tell you Jesus is precious.
You must taste and see He is precious. I am not committed to Jesus because I work as a
pastor. I’m committed to Jesus, because I can’t imagine my life without Jesus. There’s no
foundation in life greater than Jesus, but I can’t tell you He is precious. You must
experience Him!
It reminds me of when daughter was little, and we celebrated her 1 st birthday. We invited
friends, got presents, but my girl didn’t want the ice cream. At her 2 nd birthday it was the
same thing. She wanted nothing to do with ice cream. At her 3 rd birthday I put my foot
down! I force her to eat ice cream.
I take a spoonful of the ice cream and bring it to her lips. Her mouth is closed shut. She
doesn’t want it, and I just take the slightest bit and I touch it to her lips. Her head jerks
back in frustration, and slowly her bottom lip come out, and for the first time she tastes ice
cream. Her eyes immediately focus on the spoon and she says, “Have more, please.” I had
told her ice cream is precious, but then she tasted ice cream, and now she loves it! She
knows!
Our passage is teaching us, when it comes to Jesus, we are all like little Kennedy with ice
cream. None of us want anything to do with Jesus. At the core level, we want to do what
we want to do, and then by grace through faith we taste of His grace and mercy, the joy of
Him being the corner stone of our life, and in that moment, Jesus becomes precious!
Can you imagine how encouraging this must have been to these men and women who were
having their lives turned upside down? There’s so much they must have missed about their
homes, so much confusion and pain, but Peter is writing them so as to say, “You have
everything you need, you have in Jesus!”
Listen to me, it’s not the same as being religious. Being religious will tell us to read the
Bible, go to church, serve others, tithe, sing songs, and if we don’t want to do them then
religion will use guilt and shame to get us to do it.
Religion will say, “Do these things or don’t do these things, God will love you.” But God’s
Word says, “Jesus loves you, therefore, look to Jesus. Find your corner stone in Jesus. Turn
from your sin. Trust in His life, death and resurrection and build your life on Him because
there’s nothing better than Jesus.
Even if we have seasons where we turn from Jesus, and tell ourselves we don’t want
anything to do with Jesus, and we try to re-create our own corner stones, eventually our
soul will remember the goodness of Jesus, and we will come running. It’s because He’s the
precious corner stone! Look at verses 7-8:
1 Peter 2:7-8, “7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,
“The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone,” 8 and, “A stone of
stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the
word, and to this doom they were also appointed.”
In verses 7-8 we see this corner stone metaphor being used as an encouragement and as a
challenge. Do you see it? In verse 7, it is an encouragement for those who “believe” that is
an “experiential belief” where Jesus has become precious and you want to build your life on
Him as “living stones.”
You will want to open up God’s Word on your own. You will want to show up on Sunday
morning. And it won’t be just about what you can get but what you can give, because in
Christ, we’re the “temple of living stones.”
When you go to group it isn’t just about checking it off your list, but there are opportunities
for you to pray with others and encourage others. When you go to work, or a park or HEB,
you are walking into those places as a “temple of living stones.” It’s experiential. It’s
precious, but look at verse 8.
Verse 8 is a challenge to those who don’t believe in Jesus as their corner stone. In fact, they
find the idea of Jesus being their corner stone offensive. Do you see that in verse 8? It’s
possible some of us might struggle with this language, but sometimes when someone is told
that bank account that they built their life on isn’t reliable, it’s offensive. When someone is
told that boy is not meant to be your foundation is offensive.
God’s Word is saying, in the gentlest way possible, all those accomplishments and
achievements that we hold most dear, they aren’t that impressive. They won’t stand the
test of time. It can become offensive.
Even in church in Austin, God’s Word is saying, “All those prayers, all that giving, all those
titles…that’s not your corner stone.” It’s only Jesus! Therefore, verse 8 could come across
as a doomed fate for some, but God’s Word is simply drawing out the reality of life.
Verse 8 isn’t definitive, but descriptive. Write that down. There are some who are going to
see Jesus as precious, and there are some who are going to say in their heart, “I don’t want
anything to do with Jesus” so that there is a weightiness to our passage this morning.
Imagine if a doctor is offering to remove a deadly tumor. One patient will hear, “The
surgery is going to hurt, the recovering is going to be difficult” but that patient will say, “I’ll
take the procedure!” The one patient will want the doctor to remove the tumor, but the
other patient can hear the same information and say, “No thanks, I am not interested.”
The offer is made to both patients, but there are two different results, so that the outcome
for each patient wasn’t destined by the surgeon telling them about the tumor, but the
outcome was destined by each response. Does that make sense? Look at verses 9-10:
1 Peter 2:9-10, “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for
God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the
people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
In verses 9-10 we see the culmination. This is all language of Israel in the Old Testament
coming out of the Exodus and this language in verse 9 is used to teach Israel what it looks
like to live out this new life in Christ.
Remember, this original audience was scattered into a foreign land. They have felt loss.
They are walking through pain, therefore, God’s Word is pointing them and pointing us to
what it practically looks like as “living stones.”
Verse 9 says, “You’re a chosen people, you’re a royal priesthood, you’re a holy nation.” This
might not resonate with us as much today, but this is a mix of Jewish and Gentile people
given a new identity in Christ.
Today, our culture will tell us we’re valuable because of how much money we make, where
we live, what we drive, clothes we wear, the shape of our physical bodies, and God’s Word
is like, “Child, please!”
All those things are like the grass that withers and falls off. They come and go. They are
here today, gone tomorrow, but in Christ, you’re a royal priesthood! You’re ambassadors of
Christ! You’re a people for God’s own possession!
He gave His life for you. He took your sin for you. He gave you His righteousness. He gave
you His Spirit. He made you holy!
We aren’t described as holy because we haven’t done this or that, or because you came to
church this morning. We are made holy in Christ. This is so important! We are meeting as
groups right now, and the main focus of the material is to give us language to help us see
who we are in Christ. If you’re not in these groups, you should sign up ASAP, because Jesus
wants us to have the words to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of
darkness into His marvelous light.” Do you see that in verse 9?
We’re “temple of living stones anchored to Him” therefore, He doesn’t want us just to
receive, but also to proclaim!
Every time we are kind to someone, every time we smile, every time we pray for someone;
we are proclaiming the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His
marvelous light.
Right now, our non-denominational church in Austin is challenging everyone to “become a
people of overflow.” The month of October is writing a note to someone like a teacher,
neighbor, or co-worker and just calling out God’s grace in their life! We’re living stones!
Last Sunday there was a man visiting and I said, “How did you hear about North Village?”
He said, “Oh, I work with so and so.” That’s it! It doesn’t mean we need to walk down the
street with a bullhorn, but we are embracing our new life in Christ and looking for
opportunities to encourage the people around us.
North Village Church
This sermon is brought to you by North Village Church, a non-denominational church in Austin. established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching.
Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.
North Village Church is made up of professionals, married couples, singles, and families who are wanting to experience the life-transforming power of Jesus. If you are a family with children or teens, we can support you with either or both our Kids Ministry and Youth Ministry.
You are welcome to contact us if you would like more information.
NVC Online
Unable to attend this Christian Church in Austin? Don’t worry, because, through God’s provision, we have created NVC online, an Online Church streaming a worship service every Sunday from 10:30am Central Time. You can also watch our short, powerful sermons on demand and follow us on Instagram for daily Christ centered content.