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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Something
Big
(1 Peter 2:4-10)
by Karl J. Forehand
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 corner stone, 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 corner stone," 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.
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 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. (1
Peter 2:4-10)
Everybody wants to be a part of
something. Even the most rugged individualist
inwardly wants to be a part of something significant. We want to be associated with the right
friends – we want to be a part of the right club – we want to be a part of
something. The first part of this
passage says “Coming to Him…” It all
starts, for the believer, when we come to Him. My first football coach said, “You can’t be a part of the team
if you don’t come to practice. There
is no couch potato club, because they would never meet. But, belonging in the body of Christ is
not just about coming to church – it IS about coming to Jesus (for our
salvation and our service).
In the past few weeks we have
looked at the Living Hope, the Living Faith and the Living Word. Those are all things that we have. This week we want to look at what we are
as believers. We are living stones –
what does that mean?
- We are part of a
building
It is interesting that Peter
uses the term “stone.” If you
remember Jesus’ conversation with Peter, you remember that Jesus called him
“Peter,” meaning “little stone.” He
also told Peter that his confession was a “massive stone” that the church
would be built upon. Now, Peter says
that we are living stones. Jesus is
the cornerstone to our building. It
says, He is living, choice, and precious to believer and a stumbling block to
believers. There is only one building
in the Kingdom of God – it is the worldwide body of believers. This passage says that it is a spiritual
house.
Let me give a little Greek
lesson. Spiritual is translated from
the word pneumatikos. The root word
for this is pneuma which means “spirit.”
The opposite of this word is pseuchikos, which means “natural.” It comes from the root word psuche,
meaning soul. Your soul is your mind,
emotions and will. Spiritual and
natural are complete opposites. When
something is pneumtikos (spiritual), it is not pseuchikos (natural).
You are living stones, not
stationary (fixed) stones. Some of
you may be very surprised that your area of service in the church is not what
you imagined it would be. It may not
be what you aspire to do. You may be
surprised when the pastor suggests you do something that you would have never
aspired to do. You may do something
for others and say “that was nothing – that was easy.” It was easy because God gifted you to do
it and worked through you. Many
times, the body of Christ is full of people doing things they are not gifted
to do. We are trying to do things
that we do well at work, but God may want to do something totally different
through you.
The health of the building is
determined by each of the living stones discovering their spiritual gifts and
using them. You may desire to be in
leadership, but God may want you to serve meals to the poor. If you are a living stone, you have to
start living (using the gifts God has given you). Do you know what yours are?
Are you using them?
- We are part of a priesthood
Notice
that this passage references the priesthood twice. In verse 5, it says that we are a Holy priesthood; and, in
verse 9, it says we are a Royal priesthood. This is significant. In
the Old Testament times, the king was not the priest and the priest was not
the king. The priesthood and the
monarchy was separated from the time Saul became King. Jesus reconnected the two when He died and
rose again. He became priest and
king. Since we are seated with Him,
we are a part of royal and holy priesthood.
The Old testament folks HAD a priesthood – we ARE a priesthood.
Being a
part of the priesthood (as believers) gives us the privilege of offering
sacrifices. What type of sacrifice
can we offer? We offer a sacrifice of
praise (Heb. 13:15). We also offer a
sacrifice of our good works (Heb. 13:16).
Hebrews 10:19-21 offers some insight into our position in the priesthood.
Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by
the blood of Jesus, by a new and
living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
We have
the privilege of intercession. We
have the privilege of approaching God and entering the most Holy place. But maybe just as significant is that we
can offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God.
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to resent your
bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual service of worship. And do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and
acceptable and perfect.
How do we operate as
priests? We come to our mediator (I
Tim 2:18). We come to Him – we
sacrifice to Him – we serve Him – and we are priest of His.
Does being a priest of God
frighten you? It does me – but with
the honor, God provides the power.
- We are part of a nation
Most
people are proud of the country in which they reside. Even if their country has problems, they
hope for better times and try to make their country better. In the U.S. we have states, of which we
are also citizens. These states are
supposed to be independent, but that is another discussion. I also live in the town of Stella. Actually, it is more accurately termed a
‘village.’ With my citizenship in
each of these places comes a responsibility to obey the laws and try to
impact them for the better.
This
passage says first that we are a chosen race (generation). We have been grafted into the Jewish
nation by the blood of Christ. He
chose us because He loved us (Duet. 7:7-8) and because he wanted to (John
15:16). We are also a holy
nation. We are primarily citizens of
heaven. We obey heaven’s laws and
seek to please the leader of our nation, Jesus Christ. This passage also says that we are people
of God – why? – because He purchased us.
We now belong to him and are a part of His kingdom because of His
mercy.
Are you
proud to be part of the nation of God – the Kingdom of God? Are you obeying its laws and are you
making it better?
Jesus is
the center of what we have been talking about. In the building, He is the cornerstone. In the priesthood, He is the high
priest. In our nation, He is our
king. If we center our attention upon
Him, then we will walk in unity. If
we focus on ourselves, we will be divided.
If Jesus is the center of our worship, we’ll have unanimous
worship. If He is the center of our
service, we’ll have viable programs.
He must be the center.
Here are
some attitudes that focus on self and divide:
“I’ll
bet I’m the most important stone.” -
pride,
“I’ll
bet I’m the least important stone.” -
self-degradation – false
humility
“I’ll
bet I’m the most important priest.” – pride again
“I
don’t think I could be a priest” – failure to recognize God’s enabling
“I’m
my own boss.” – self-reliance
“I’m
unwilling to submit to Jesus as King.” – misplaced authority
All of
these attitudes pull us apart and subvert God’s order for our lives. Jesus is the cornerstone – we are living
stones. He is the High Priest and we
are part of the priesthood. He is the
King and we are the Kingdom.
Something to think about: we will all be in heaven together a long
time. Shouldn’t we start learning how
to behave and work together now.
Karl J. Forehand, 2001
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