Our text for today comes from 1 Peter. A letter sent to a group of churches 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. God is 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
- 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; people with different backgrounds with different stories, who grew up in different hoods are to interact with one another differently.
Our interactions with one another ought to be so different, so authentic so raw and so real, that people take notice and say, “I don’t know what it is about those people but man, I want that in my life.”
And this is where we pick up our text, 1 Peter 2:4-5.
Peter says that when God makes us one, he’s going to do something absolutely amazing with us, “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.
Or perhaps, God might build them something even better –
- A massive structure with amazing audio/visual and some smoke machines to help set the mood.
- A dynamic preacher and an inspiring worship team that plays the greatest songs that we’ll get to sing along to as the words flash across the screen.
- A really fun and exciting ministry for kids so we don’t have to deal with them in our worship time. It’ll be so fun and exciting that they’ll be begging to come back every week.
- And when people see our yard signs all over town, they are going to want to come be a part of our temple, our church.
- And when they experience this amazing event, we produce every Sunday morning, they are obviously going to say “I don’t know what it is about those people but man, I want that in my life.”
But Peter says, “Slow down there, kids. 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 structure. It’s not an event. 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 makes something fantastic, something incredible.
He’s builds you up into a spiritual house, a place where God's holiness is revealed.
But here’s the deal . . . for whatever reason some of us just don’t want to be attached.
It’s like we have this rock in our pocket and we recognize that our rock is different than any other rock because no two rocks are the same but we just don’t want to attach.
- Maybe it’s because we think that our rock is way better than other people’s rocks.
- I’ve had someone say to me that they like the idea but they were worried that God would place their rock next to “that person’s rock” and she wasn’t having that.
- Some feel that they just don’t have time to connect.
- or they connect their rock to God in a different way – outside Gods church.
- Honestly, I think that part of the problem is that modern “growing and vibrant” churches have created such events labeled as worship that most people think their role is to line their rock up to watch it – either in person or online - and maybe their little rock will close their eyes and raise their hands but that’s about it. When worship is over they put their rock back in their pocket in anticipation of next week’s event – assuming their schedule isn’t too busy.
This what some of us have done. It's like we don't want to be attached or don’t think it’s our place to attach. But you're not a living stone, if you stand by yourself.
You're supposed to attached yourself to one another and 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 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.”
My prayer is that we recognize that we are better together than any of us are alone in the spiritual house that God is building. We need each other because there are days that I'm doing well when you're struggling and I can pray for you and encourage you. And there are days that you'll return the favor.
And it's great that you're here but that's not enough. This isn't community. This is a corporate celebration.
We need authentic community. We need to be known. That's what the church is all about. it's not a building, it's not a place . . . it's people.
A Holy people whom God has intentionally placed together. And as the world see's how we interact with one another, they'll want to be a part of it.