If the bible is a new thing for you or even if you’ve been in the word your entire life. You’ve come to the right place because we do the best we can to communicate scripture. To know what it says in the context in which it was written and understand the implications for us in our context.
Now, whether you’ll do what it says is where you get to do the heavy lifting but we’re going to communicate the text to you.
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So, let’s jump into our text for today.
We are now four weeks into a study on 1 Peter. A letter sent to a group of churches in Asia Minor who were experiencing the cost of following Jesus. You see, it was a time that bearing the name Christian was a difficult thing to do. It brought great challenges and suffering and tremendous persecution every day – just because they were called Christians.
And in the midst of all of this suffering, they starting thinking to themselves, maybe I should just dump this whole Christianity thing because it’s going to be a lot easier if I just stopped following Jesus, quit going to church, and started acting like everybody else.
And some were even thinking that their suffering was some kind of cosmic act of God because God was mad at them or he had forgotten about them.
And that's when Peter steps in and writes this letter of encouragement; letting them know that they are not alone, God hasn’t left you, God isn’t angry with you. He’s as close to you now in your suffering as he’s ever been.
In fact, God has chosen you . . . by his grace; he has set you apart as a Holy people.
• People of Grace, who have been redeemed and restored through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus
• People of Grace, in whom God’s Spirit dwells.
• People of Grace, who have the hope of a future resurrection.
And it is in the midst of God’s grace; this grace that has come and a grace that is yet to come that Peter says that we, as believers, are to interact with one another differently.
Our interactions with one another ought to be so different, so strange, so out of the norm that people take notice and say, “I don’t know what it is about those people but man, I want that in my life.”
Last week, we talked about what that kind of community looked like; authentic, putting down our masks and getting real with one another, loving each other deeply, praying, encouraging, and just doing life together with all of its ups and downs.
And now Peter says that if you really want to live differently, if you really want to experience that kind of authentic community than you need to interact differently with God’s word . . . because it is the word of God that will help you to endure life together as people who have been set apart.
And as you begin to interact with God’s word, it will begin to do something in you . . . you’ll be able to see more clearly God’s grace and as a response to His grace Peter says that we are to put aside all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander . . . things that represent our life before we encountered God’s grace because those things no longer define you.
The image he’s given is that of taking off a stinky garment. So wretched that you can’t take it anymore so you just take it off and put it away.
Now here’s the thing about the old life that no one told me when I gave my life to Christ . . . the darn thing keeps crawling out of the grave. New life comes in and you’re just so pumped up about God and what he’s done in your life and you make all sorts of commitments to him about how your life is going to be completely different and then all of a sudden those things that you promised God that you’d never do again crawl right back into your life and you’re like, “where the heck did that come from”.
And the next thing you know, you’re dealing with shame and guilt and wondering if you should just throw in the towel because you’ll never live up to the expectations God has of you.
And Peter is saying that’s exactly why we need to interact with God’s word, because God’s word will always lead to a fuller understand of God’s grace. And as you struggle with those things your life that you keeping trying to set aside . . . you’ll be reminded that God loves you, and God has a plan for you.
So go ahead and those things aside and then pursue God’s word like newborn babies.
I love this imagery. One of the things that we all have in common is that we were all babies at one time and as a baby you basically did two things . . . sleep and cry. And the crying was excruciating.
• If you were uncomfortable . . . you cried.
• If you filled up your diaper, which was your fault . . . you cried.
• If you were hungry . . . you cried.
In fact you probably cried every three hours because you were hungry . . . and it didn’t matter to you if it was the middle of the night and your parent’s were trying to get just a little bit of sleep.
You wanted food and you wanted it now . . . so you cried. And if your parents didn’t feed you, you weren’t only unhappy but you are also going to become unhealthy very quickly.
So Peter drops this bomb and says, “That’s how you should long for God’s word”. Like an infant who is crying for milk . . . you need to cry for the pure milk of God’s word because that’s what’s going to make you healthy . . . that is what’s going to sustain you, and that’s what’s going to make you grow.
Peter is making this argument that our faith in Jesus is not our destination . . . like, “Woo Hoo, I became a Christian 10 years ago at a Billy Graham crusade or a youth camp” as if that’s it.
He’s saying that being a Christian, is about following Jesus. In fact, that‘s the definition of a Christian . . . one who follows Christ. So either you’re following Jesus or you are not following Jesus.
And following is an ongoing process . . . it’s not a destination. We need to grow and the only way to grow is for you to sit in the word of God and dig. And the motivator for you to dig in God’s word is God’s grace; a grace that has already come and a grace that is yet to come.
So God has set you apart and a he desires for you to grow in your faith but he doesn’t want you to do this alone. His design was to draw us together, as a church, and do something spectacular with us.
So get this . . .
We are different people with different backgrounds with different stories, who grew up in different hoods . . . but when we come together under the banner of Jesus, none of that back story matters.
He makes us one and he’s going to do something absolutely amazing with us. Peter says, “Build you up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus.”
Now imagine what this sounded like to those early Christians who lived in a Roman influenced world where everywhere you went there were massive temples to every god you can imagine.
As you walk down the street, there’s a temple for Dionysus, and across the street there’s a temple for Augustus, and a little further down the road is a temple to Mars and then Juneau and then Hermes.
So at first they are probably thinking, “Ah, a temple . . . I know what those are”. They might even begin thinking that God is going to built them something that is just as magnificent and glorious as all those other temples they pass by every day.
But Peter says, “Nope, the kind of temple God is building is something completely different. It’s made up of living stones.”
This means that it’s not a monument. It’s not a museum. It’s a movement made up of people.
He takes each of you, who are followers of Jesus, and he places you side by side, living stone, next to living stone, and he making something fantastic, something incredible. He’s building you up into a spiritual house . . . a church, a place where God's holiness dwells and to offer spiritual offerings.
I have a rock in my pocket. Isn't this awesome? It's alright.
But this is what we do. This is what I've done. We're like, look at me, look at me, I'm awesome. Did you notice these markings? And look how unique and wonderful I am. If you look closer, I'm actually different than any other rock because no two rocks are exactly the same. I am a little bit different and I am awesome!
This what some of us have done a lot in our lives. It's like we don't want to be attached.
I want to be a stone. I'm a living stone. But you're not a living stone, if you stand by yourself. You're supposed to attached yourself and build a temple.
See this is not impressive. This is impressive.
We look at this and we say, now that's cool but too many of are like, no, no, no, look at me. I don't want to attach myself to that.
But if you're a stone, don't you want to be attached to the temple? Because all the temple stones, together, reflect the glory of God.
This is what motivates us to build the temple. If I want to see the glory of God then I've got to attach myself to the temple. I've got to be a part of this thing. I can't stand off and say I don't want to be a part of that. I can do this alone. I can be spiritual and not be a part of the church.
We are, together, the temple of God.
You see, it's not just about your relationship with jesus Christ. The bible tells us that he saved us to be one with Jesus as the cornerstone
It’s bigger than race, it’s bigger than occupation, it’s bigger than nationality, and it’s bigger than political affiliation. Diverse as we are, we are united in Him.
And the purpose of our coming together is to reflect God's glory.
And when people see us, the way we interact together, the way we love one another . . . they go, “That’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like that. I want that in my life.”
What Peter has been telling them up to this point is, “I know life is tough and you’re really struggling and you want to just give up but don’t lose perspective. This time, this place, these circumstances are all part of God’s plan to bring about restoration and salvation for all people. You’re suffering isn’t something to run from, it’s something to embrace because in your suffering he will build you up together, as a church, and it will give you an opportunity to show Jesus to the world.”