On my first trip to Columbia to take part in the prison ministry
there, I was speaking to a group of about 70 men and women, all
ex-prisoners, in a convent one afternoon. I was nearing the end
of my remarks when a little man walked into the meeting, and the
whole group came alive with excitement and anticipation. I hurriedly
finished what I was saying, realizing that the man would probably
want to say something to those present. I sat down with an interpreter
and he told me that this man had killed four people and he had
been sent to prison for 25 years. While there, he had been led
to Christ by another prisoner. Shortly afterward, his sentence
had been reduced, then it was reduced again down to six years,
and the very day I was speaking to this crowd, his sentence was
up. He came to Bogota to see all his friends, discovered that
they were all at the meeting, so he took a taxi out to the convent
and joined us.
The man shared with the group two things, the first of which was
very amusing: he told us his real name. When I asked the interpreter
why everybody laughed when he shared this information, I was told
that criminals in Columbia change their names whenever they commit
a crime so there is only one crime per name on their records.
When this man shared his real name, that was a mark of bona fide
Christianity! The second thing he shared made a very deep impression
on me. "Because all of you know me," he said, "you
know that I can't read nor write, so you must teach me everything
you know about Jesus." When I heard this, chills ran up and
down my spine. I felt how very fortunate I was, and what a responsibility
the people listening to him had to tell him everything they knew
about the Lord. He had a deep desire to become spiritually mature.
All Christians should consider for themselves the question, "How
can we become spiritually mature in the midst of suffering?"
Let us continue our studies in the first letter of Peter, where
this morning we will find three answers to this question. First,
we must realize our need for the Word of God (2:1-3); secondly,
realize our firm foundation (2:4-8); and thirdly, realize our
message of hope (2:9-10).
Peter is writing to Christians in Asia Minor in 64 A.D. to encourage
them to bear up during a difficult time of political, social and
personal suffering. We saw last week that these Christians were
struggling with members of their own spiritual family.
1. Realize our need for the Word 2:1-3
Therefore, putting aside all malice and guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
The "therefore" refers back to 1:22-23, where Peter
encourages believers to have "agape" love for one another.
Part of the maturing process, he is saying, is the ability to
know, discern and choose between good and evil, between the flesh
and the spirit, between what causes unity and disunity, between
what pleases and displeases God. All that is part of spiritual
maturity; as Hebrews 5 puts it, that is the ability to discern
the difference between good and evil.
First, Peter speaks of some negative things. "Put aside"
these things, he is saying. This has the idea of taking off an
old coat and putting on a new one; put off the old nature and
put on the new nature. This is the same concept Paul speaks of
in Ephesians 4:22-24: "Lay aside the old self, which is being
corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you
be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self,
which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness
and holiness of the truth"--an old coat for a new coat.
Peter goes on to list some of these negative things which, having
put them aside at a point in time in the past, they should continue
to do as a lifestyle. When these people in Asia Minor became Christians,
their friends began to malign, ridicule and challenge them because
they were no longer involved in sensuality, drunkenness and idolatry.
But here Peter encourages them to "turn the other cheek,"
to "walk that extra mile," to not react in kind. Thus
he directs them to "put aside" as a lifestyle, first,
"all malice." "Malice" is wickedness in all
its forms--sensuality, drunkenness and idolatry. "Guile,"
is craftiness, deceit, setting traps. (Here Peter may be referring
to shady business dealings.) "Hypocrisy" is play-acting,
which is the opposite of the "sincere love'' he talked about
in the previous chapter.
''Envy" is displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing
of the prosperity of others. A couple of weeks ago, a group of
my friends went on a sailing trip and never called me! I knew
I was home because that's where I was when I was envious! I even
checked my phone number to see if it had been changed! I was really
upset that I hadn't been invited. But then the Lord pointed out
to me that that was envy.
Finally, Peter says, having put aside slander, keep putting it
away. Slander is backbiting, cutting down, gossiping, character
assassination. That's the one we struggle with, isn't it? It's
so tempting to cut people down because it makes us better, it
lifts us up as they go down. But no matter what gossip you've
heard, no matter how tempted you are to share it with others,
bite your tongue, for Proverbs 6:16-19 says,
There are six things which the Lord hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.
In a recent National Geographic article, I read that Tibetans
don't eat fish. Since fish have no tongues, they say, they cannot
gossip; and since Tibetans consider gossip a cardinal sin, they
reward fish for their virtue by not eating them.
Peter now moves from the negative to the positive by using a metaphor
to illustrate the lifestyle God desires for His children, regardless
of the various trials they are undergoing. He commands, "Like
newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word." Peter
is not saying that all Christians are newborn babes. He is saying
that, like babes who long for milk, Christians are to have a hunger
for the Word, free of the impurities of malice, guile, hypocrisy,
envy and slander. Peter calls this Word, "the living word."
It's the abiding word, the imperishable word, the eternal, true
word, the only truth in the universe; it's the truth that helps
us cope with reality, truth that is found in the life and in the
words of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:23-25).
The apostle Paul shared these words with Timothy,
All who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
That's how we mature. We must hunger and long for the Word
of God that will teach us the difference between truth and error,
which will teach us the very mind and heart of God. As we walk
by the power of the Holy Spirit, as we make the choice to put
off the old and put on the new, we will become spiritually mature,
sound, wholesome and healthy. We must long for the Word of God.
And he will put that longing in our hearts. Don't try to do it
mechanically because it will taste sour if you do. Long for it!
Peter's desire for his spiritual children is that they may grow
in respect to their salvation if they have tasted of the kindness
of the Lord. That's the process of sanctification. As born again
believers, they were set free from the penalty of sin, now they
were set free from the power of sin. They were to learn how to
grow within that time period of their sanctification. "You
have tasted of the kindness of the Lord,'' means you have established
a personal relationship with Him. He is the milk and His Word
is the milk. His life and His words will help you to grow in Him.
In the words of Psalm 34, "O taste and see that the Lord
is good." Psalm 119 speaks further to this:
How sweet are Thy words to my taste!
Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
From Thy precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way.
Without the word of God we don't know the "false way."
That's why we get in trouble. Many people don't know that certain
things they are doing are called sinful by God. We must be patient
with those people. Just hand them the Word of God and let the
Spirit of God convict them.
Last week one of our interns called me and said, "I've been
writing a lot of papers and reading so many books, I wonder if
we could just get together and study the Word again? I got lost
somewhere. I got so busy with all the paperwork, I want to get
back to the Scripture again so that I can look at things from
the bottom up." What a wonderful statement! "I want
to get back to the basics.''
How can we become spiritually mature in the midst of suffering?
First, we need to realize our need for the Word of God. Secondly,
we need to
2. Realize our firm foundation 2:4-8
And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, 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. For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed." This precious value, then, is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, "The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone," 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.
Some of the terms in these quotations from Isaiah and the Psalms
are unfamiliar to us, so a little background information may be
helpful here with reference to the "rock," the "living
stone," the "corner stone," and "spiritual
house." In 1 Peter 1:22 through 2:3, Peter is focusing on
the Christian's behavior within the Christian community; while
in this passage, the apostle focuses on the nature of the Christian
community, using some Old Testament words--imagery--which used
to apply to Israel, but since they had rejected the Messiah and
had been put aside, all this now applies to all Christians in
the church of Christ.
First, the term, "the rock." In the Old Testament, Yahweh
is called "the rock of Israel," and "the rock of
individuals." Referring to Yahweh as the rock, Moses said,
"His work is perfect for all His ways are just." Moses
also said, "Yahweh is the rock of our salvation." Hannah,
the mother of Samuel, said, "There is no rock like our God."
In Psalms, David sang songs of thankfulness for deliverance from
his enemies: "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my
deliverer, my God, my Rock, in whom I take refuge" (2 Samuel
22:2). "He only is my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not
be greatly shaken" (Psalm 62). "When my heart is faint,
lead me to the Rock that is higher than I; for You have been a
refuge for me" (Psalm 61). Isaiah said, "Trust in the
Lord forever; for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.''
So we see that in the Jewish mind, the "rock'' is Yahweh,
the Rock of Israel. He is their firm Foundation, the One they
stand on. The attributes of this Rock are that He is perfect and
just, He is a deliverer, He is unique, He is a fortress, He is
a refuge, He is a stronghold, He is consistent, He is a foundation
for every generation, He is eternal. "Build your life on
that Rock," Peter says.
Then we have the term, the "living stone." Yahweh and
His Messiah were called the "stone." Jacob described
Yahweh as ''the stone of Israel, for He cares for His son Joseph."
When Judah was turning away from the security of God and was laying
a foundation of lies in Zion, Isaiah was told by God to tell the
rulers of Israel that they were going the wrong way: "Behold
I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone
for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will
not be disturbed." God declared through Isaiah that the only
safe way was to put their trust in the work of the Messianic Redeemer.
Daniel talked about the Stone that would destroy the image of
Nebuchadnezzar, and that all the nations who at the end times
desired to make alliance with the anti-Christ will be carried
away in judgment because of the Stone who hits the feet of the
image and smashes it. So the attributes of the Living Stone are
that it is protective, reliable, precious, firm, powerful; it
is a keystone, a foundation.
In the New Testament, Jesus used the word "the rock."
Referring to Himself, He said, "Everyone who hears these
words of mine and acts upon them may be compared to a wise man
who builds his house upon the rock. The rains descended, the floods
came, the winds blew and burst against that house, and yet it
did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock" (Matthew
7). The attributes of the rock are: it is firm, solid, consistent,
reliable, safe; it is able to resist all the storms of life. Then
there is that very famous passage in Matthew 16, when Jesus asked
Peter, "Who do you say I am?" Peter replied, "Lord,
you are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God."
Jesus said to him, "I say to you that you are Peter, a stone,
and upon this bedrock statement that you just made, I will build
my church."
Coming back to our text, we read, "and coming to Him as a
living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God's
sight." Here Peter is encouraging the Christian community
to keep coming to the Lord, for He is the living Lord, the resurrected
Lord, the One who would hold them together regardless of the storms
of life. "Keep coming to Him," Peter says, "for
He is your salvation, your peace, your hope, your inheritance,
your protection, your wholeness. He is your living Lord, your
living Hope, your living Word, your living Stone."
I called a young man who is suffering from cancer, Earle Craig,
last week. He was away at a doctor's office because of more complications
in his cancer, and I talked to his wife. I asked her how she was
doing. She told me, "It's difficult, but I'm so delighted
to be married to Earle. I can't believe the strength of my husband.
In spite of the new pain, which he is very worried about, he said
to me, 'I'm not going to give up on the Lord now. I need Him more
than ever and I'm going to thoroughly trust Him for this trial.
Keep with me on this.'" Here is a mother, with a young child
and a four-month old baby, but she also is hanging on to the Rock,
the Living Stone who, no matter what storm comes along, will stand
now and forever.
But this stone, Peter says, was "rejected by men." In
the words of Isaiah 53, "He was despised and forsaken of
men, a man of sorrows. " John 1:11 says, "He came to
His own, and those of His own did not receive Him." In Acts
4, Peter says to the supreme court of Israel, "Jesus Christ,
whom you crucified, God raised from the dead. He is the stone
which was rejected by you, I, the builders (the leaders), but
which became the very cornerstone, and there is salvation in no
one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been
given among men by which we must be saved." Peter is saying
to these Christians in Asia Minor, "This Messiah and Lord
is being rejected as you now are being rejected. But as He was
chosen and highly prized in God's sight, that is also true of
you.'' Thus Peter is saying that Jesus Christ is the Living Stone,
the Cornerstone, but to those who do not believe in Him, He will
be a rejected stone--a stumbling stone--to their doom.
''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." Here Peter is saying
that Christians are identified with the Lord and His church in
a personal, intimate way. The figure of a building is used to
describe this relationship. Christ is the chosen, precious living
Stone, and believers possess His life. As living stones, they
constitute a spiritual house. In contrast to the temple in Jerusalem,
Christians are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, the ones who
contain the Living God, the very presence of the resurrected Lord
and Savior, priests who offer up acceptable sacrifices to God.
In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul describes the same concept: "For
no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid in
Christ Jesus." Christians' lives are also laid on that foundation.
In Ephesians 2, Paul says,
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow-citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
Christ is our firm Foundation. On that foundation, He is building His church, you and me, whom He calls "living stones." We have stability in the midst of all the storms of life. That becomes apparent to our friends when we are facing difficult times. "Why is it that you were so strong when you were facing the death of your child?" asks one. "How come you were so calm when you were being sued recently?" asks another. "I don't understand the strength you Christians have," another declares.
What does Peter mean when he says Christians are a "holy
priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ?" He is saying that we are placed in the world
in order to bring men and women into a relationship with God,
as the Levitical priests did. As people who love Jesus Christ,
we function as ministers who tell others about our Lord, about
the good news that God in Christ has forgiven their sins and that
He now wants a personal relationship with them. As such, priests
have nothing but good news to share with people--unless, of course,
they reject the good news we bring.
Christians also "offer up spiritual sacrifices." In
Old Testament times, priests would offer lambs as sacrifices for
sin. Some lambs would then be totally burned up on the altar,
which symbolized a life being offered up. The New Testament counterpart
to this sacrifice is laid out for us in Romans 12:1: "I urge
you, therefore, brethren, to present your bodies a living and
holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service
of worship."
A second spiritual sacrifice for Christians is worship. Again,
in Old Testament times, the priest led the people in the service
of worship, while in New Testament times, Romans 12:1 declares
that our offering of our bodies to God is our "spiritual
service of worship."
Thirdly, Christians offer up their works to God. Peter says that
all of our good works are "sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ." Ephesians 2 tells us, "For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." We can't
miss these good works unless, of course, we have the old coat
on, unless we are being selfishly preoccupied with ourselves.
When we are walking with Christ as Lord of our lives, good works
are everywhere around us and we are to participate in them, thus
we make "sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
Have you ever thought of a good work in that light?
Peter goes on to quote Isaiah 28:16 from the Septuagint:
"Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious stone,
And he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed."
This precious value, then, is for you who believe . . .
God has given us His Messiah--Jesus. He is the stable, solid,
firm, eternal and living Foundation upon whom we build our lives;
He is our precious Cornerstone who is able to hold our lives together
regardless of our circumstances.
Following the second service last week, I was introduced to a
young man whose life was totally devastated. The woman who introduced
us said to me, "I think he's ready to come into a relationship
with Christ." My first thought was, "I hope not. I want
to go to lunch!" That was a temptation! It wasn't sin yet!
Here was this man standing in front of me, his whole life falling
apart because he had built his life on sand that was now crumbling
under him. We went upstairs to my office and we talked for a while,
and he bowed his head and asked Jesus Christ to become the Cornerstone
of his life. That's the work of a priest--bringing people to God.
Now Peter shares the bad news:
...but for those who disbelieve,
"The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the very cornerstone," 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.
The spiritual leaders of Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Matthew 21:42 quotes a fascinating statement by Jesus. He began, "Did you ever read in the Scriptures?" Why, they were Pharisees! Of course they had read it! But Jesus is saying, "Did you ever read it so that you understood it?" Did you ever read in the Scriptures,
"The stone which the builders rejected,
has become the chief cornerstone;
This came about from the Lord,
And it is marvelous in our eyes?"
Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.
Rather than becoming a firm foundation upon which to build
their lives, Peter is saying, because they had rejected Jesus
Christ, He has become a stone of stumbling whom they would keep
tripping over. They could not get rid of Him nor His name, His
ministry nor His people. In the Book of Acts, you can see that
that is what drove the Pharisees crazy. They couldn't get rid
of the disciples; even when they put them in jail, people still
kept coming to Christ. The Cornerstone of the universe can't be
stopped from ministering in and through His people and in and
through His Holy Spirit.
So the good news is that if this Lord is your Rock, you have joy,
but the bad news is that if He is not your Rock, you're going
to trip and stumble over Him all the time; He's always going to
be in the way. He's a Rock you will trip over and a Ledge you
can't climb over.
I overheard a man who attends our Careers ministry talking in
a derogatory way about Jesus, so I asked him, "Why are you
so angry at Jesus? I just now heard you mention His name several
different times, yet you tell me you're not a Christian. Are you
a religious fanatic or what? Even I don't say the name of Jesus
that much. What's your problem?" "Am I really doing
that?" he asked. "Yes you are," I told him. "You
know, God loves you so much He won't let you stop talking about
Him." I told him that when he went to pick up his friend
at the airport that afternoon, to quietly count all the times
he mentioned Jesus Christ in his interaction with his friend.
He told me later that he had counted some 12 times. "That's
the bad news," he said, "the good news is that I accepted
Him because I got tired of tripping over Him." I had the
privilege of marrying him recently to a Christian woman from the
community.
My wife once worked in an advertising business in Philadelphia
in an office staffed totally by Jews who were always talking about
Jesus. Finally she told them, "Jesus Christ is my Savior
and my Lord and I really love Him. It hurts me when you talk about
Him like that. Can't you use someone else's name instead?'' When
she got home that evening, she told me that later that afternoon
when one of the typists made an error in typing she pounded the
typewriter carriage and shouted, ''Oh Moses!''
C. S. Lewis in ''Mere Christianity" said of Jesus,
He is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe. We either believe Him and make Him the foundation of our lives, or we reject Him and spend the rest of our lives falling over Him. There is no other alternative.
Peter now goes on to recall all the covenant promises and gifts
which God made in the past to the nation Israel, and he infers
because of Israel's rejection of the Messiah, their Cornerstone,
God's wonderful plan of redemption continues on through the church,
consisting of Jews and Gentiles, who by faith have accepted Jesus
as their Lord and Savior, the Living Stone, the Rock on whom they
have chosen to build their lives. The apostle then picks up six
familiar figures and applies them to the Christian community.
How can we become spiritually mature in the midst of suffering?
First, we must realize our need for the Word; secondly, we must
realize our firm Foundation; and thirdly, we must
3. Realize our message of hope 2:9-10
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for once you were not a people, but now you are a people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
"But you are . . ." (present tense), in contrast
with all those who are disobedient, "a chosen race."
That is what God called Israel in Deuteronomy 7:6; but now that
is how Paul describes Christians in Ephesians 1:4. "A royal
priesthood" is what Israel was called in Exodus 19:5-6, while
in Revelation 1:6, Christians are called "a kingdom of priests."
"A holy nation" is how Israel was described in Exodus
19:5; now that is applied to Christians in 1 Peter 1: "be
holy in all your behavior. " "A people of God's own
possession" was the name applied to Israel in Deuteronomy
14, while Ephesians 1:14 speaks of God's redemption of His own
people. "You were once not a people," Peter quotes from
Hosea 1:10 (you were without hope, without God), but God in His
great love for us has made us "people of mercy;" we
had not received mercy but now we have ''received mercy,"
which is life in Christ.
Peter then gives the reason behind God's great love for the Christian
community. God expects a response to this love, and that is, in
Peter's words, ''that you may proclaim (that you may call out)
the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light." We have a responsibility not merely
to be Christians, or priests, or a holy nation, or to walk around
with all kinds of credit cards in our pocket from a Sovereign
God which admit us to all kinds of clubs. That's not what God
wants us to do. He has put us in a fallen world so that we might
call out the message of hope to people that Jesus Christ is the
Foundation of our lives, that He is the Cornerstone of our lives,
that He is the great and wonderful Messiah, that He is Lord and
Savior, that He is living in our lives and that He will be all
of those things to those who will make Him the Cornerstone of
their lives.
How can we become spiritually mature in the midst of suffering?
First, we must realize our need for the Word. The Word is what
excites you about life and teaches you what life is all about.
Secondly, we must realize our need for a firm foundation. The
man I mentioned whose life was devastated because of a foundation
built on sand realized his need and stepped onto a firm foundation.
Thirdly, we need to realize that we have a message of hope. Don't
hold back and be silent about Jesus. Proclaim Him to people who
keep tripping over Him as the only Foundation capable of holding
them securely now and for eternity, for Jesus Christ is our eternal
Cornerstone, and will be to all who place their faith in Him as
Messiah, Lord and Savior. All who come to Him by faith will not
be disappointed.
Catalog No. 3939
1 Peter 2:1-10
Sixth message
Ron R. Ritchie
May 6, 1984
Updated December 16, 2000
Copyright © 1984 Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church. This data file is the sole property of Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church. It may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice. This data file may not be copied in part, edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of Discovery Publishing. Requests for permission should be made in writing and addressed to Discovery Publishing, 3505 Middlefield Rd. Palo Alto, CA. 94306-3695.