Counsel For the Rejected

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"As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him" 1 Peter 2:4-8

Main Readings: Acts 4 & Isaiah 8:1-18

Supporting Readings: Psalm 118 & 1 Peter 2

I love the pastoral instincts of this Apostle Peter!

It is so helpful to me, as your elder, to see how Peter handles deeplytroubling situations for the good of his people, and for the glory of his God.

It’s because of his desire to help his people that, as we come into verse 4, Peter switches his metaphor.

In verses 1-3 last time, his metaphor was unmistakably that of newborn infants.

And now, abruptly, in verse 4, his metaphor shifts to buildings. And to the stones that they are built out of.

This new metaphor is serving his main purpose here, which is to address a pastoral need that he sees is going to rise up in the hearts of his readers after they read verses 1-3 – just as we did last time.

So this us for us!

Last time, Peter called his people to deep-seated moral distinctivenessfrom their own native culture.

He called for sincere love in the place of malice. He called for honesty rather than deceit. For authenticity instead of hypocrisy. He called for generosity to replace envy. And for gracious speech in the place of slander.

Even though he didn’t mention all those Christ-like qualities explicitly, he implied them all by saying, ‘get rid of these sinful inclinations by craving the pure spiritual milk of the Word’.

That is, ‘by the Word of God that is in step with all that Jesus taught, and said, and did, and believed’.

So, we know that Peter was calling us last time to Christ-like living in this culture of ours.

But he can now hear, in his own mind - as he writes - an objectionfrom his readers.

It goes like this: ‘Peter, why do you keep calling us to more costly ways of living?

We get that it’s Christ-like, but don’t you know, it provokes rejection from our culture. And we’ve already had a lot of rejection.

If we obey your call in verse 1, it’s only going to deepen our rejection at the hands of our culture’.

‘Peter, can’t you just write to us about Jesus’ love for us, and not his call on our lives, please?’

And, perhaps, from those less mature, and more vocal folks: ‘Peter stop preaching moralism at us’.

Peter’s writing to address the doubts and fears of the people, as he calls them to holy living that will only serve to make them more conspicuous as Christians. And more prone to rejection by their culture.

The answer he has for them is: ‘take heart because the pattern of your life is the pattern of Christ’s life.

You were united with Christ in his death – death to your old self that bore fruit for death. And you were united with him in his resurrection – new life from the dead. But you are united with him, also, in a life-lived like his.

As Peter starts to think about them, and about Christ - how he was rejected, and how they are now being rejected – that word ‘rejected’ triggers in Peter’s mind a connection with an Old Testament verse from Psalm 118. It’s the one he quotes in verse 7.

Because there, the Psalmist says, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’.

Peter was there when Jesus quoted that very same verse at the Pharisees.

And what was clear, when Jesus used it, was that he intended the pharisees to know that their rejection of him was the fulfilment of this verse.

That they were the builders, and he was the stone they had rejected, and the stone that would become the cornerstone.

Peter stated that this was the case back in Acts chapter 4, because he quoted this same verse when called to give an account for healing a lame man.

He said, ‘It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is “the stone you builders rejected which has become the cornerstone”’.

At the very moment Peter and John were facing rejection by theirpeople for being Christ-like, Peter invoked the this verse to condemntheir accusers and to align themselves as closely with Jesus as possible.

It is clear from what Jesus said - and what Peter later said - that Jesusis the stone rejected. And the stone that became the cornerstone.

And it is to this Jesus that we, and Peter’s readers, ‘have come’. Notto a dead stone, but to a living stone, that was rejected by humans.

Rejected by humans – yes. But not by God. In fact, this Jesus we have come to was chosen by God and is precious to God. That’s what Peter points out in verse 4.

And it is better to be chosen of God and precious to God than it is to be accepted by mere human beings who would prefer it if you didn’t make them look so bad by living like Jesus!

You are chosen by God, just as Jesus was chosen by God. Chapter 1 verse 2 told us we were ‘chosen according to the foreknowledge of God’!

We have this in common with Jesus then!

If you are going to belong to Jesus, then you are going to be rejected by people, just as Jesus was rejected by people.

But also – wonder of all wonders – you are going to be chosen and precious to God. Just like Jesus is chosen and precious to God! And that should thrill us!

Psalm 118 is not the only place the Old Testament makes reference to the ‘cornerstone’. Isaiah 28 does that too. And Peter quotes that passage as well - here in verse 6.

Speaking for God, Isaiah says, ‘See, I [that is God] lay a stone in Zion[that is in the city of God] a chosen and precious cornerstone [that is Jesus] and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame!’

Can you see how the connection with Jesus that we have, results in blessing not curse? On the ground it feels like rejection – from people.

But in reality, it is acceptance and embrace – by the living God!

We are chosen and precious to God because of our connection with Jesus – through faith [or ‘trust’ as Isaiah 28 puts it] and we will therefore never be put to shame! Never!

That is a word for us, against the backdrop of rejection and shame that our culture heaps on us because of our association with Jesus - because of our lives that look like Jesus. That glorify God. That show the world up for what it is – shot through as it is! And they hate it! And they hate us for showing them it is so! This is a word for us!

Take heart! You will never be put to shame in the end. They will! But you will not! You are so precious to God that you were chosen in Jesus!

Human rejection. Divine election. Ultimate vindication. That’s the pattern of the Christian life for anybody who has come to know and love Jesus.

Peter says, ‘what strengthens believers is not only that Jesus has suffered, but also that God’s verdict crushed and replaced the verdict of the world.

The world rejected him, but God declared him precious. His verdict will do the same for you because you belong to Jesus’.

Peter’s not done though. He wants to build your confidence in Jesus further. The kind of confidence that frees us to live lives that testify to Jesus.

The kind of confidence that frees us to avoid malice, and reject deceit, and shun hypocrisy, and hate envy, and refuse slander – even though we may feel like walking in those old ways many times!

Verse 5, Peter observes that, not only is Jesus a living stone, but you are too. You came to him – the living stone – and now you are living stones too.

Our modern way of building relies on a concrete foundation to build off. But in Peter’s day, houses were built off a cornerstone which acted as the first stone because it set out the corner of the building, but also acted as the foundation stone upon which everything else was built.

Peter already identified that Jesus is that cornerstone.

It’s not like Jesus was a generic stone in the structure. Rather he was the key stone in the structure. Without him there is no house.

We, on the other hand, are the less special stones in the house. But stones we are, nonetheless. We are not stones that have been quarried and left to lie around.

Rather, we are stones that have been placed together in the walls of this very house. Each stone sitting closely with the next. And all of them sitting on Christ.

The house Peter has in mind is a spiritual house, not a conventional house. He uses that phrase ‘spiritual house’ in verse 5.

Conventional houses don’t stand the test of time, do they? Even the houses that are still standing when Jesus returns will be blown away by his appearing.

Peter himself says so. ‘The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved,

and the earth and the works that are done on it [like houses] will be exposed [that word means burned up]’.

That’s the fate of all conventional houses – which is a sobering word to an architect like me! And to those of you moving house this week too!

But Peter has in mind a spiritual house not a conventional house. In the Old Testament, the house of God was made with hands (even though nothing made with hands can possibly contain God) and it was called ‘the temple’.

In Christ, the house of God is called the church and is spiritual – i.e. not made with hands.

This church is made up of living stones who are individual people who have come to Jesus. To Jesus who is THE living stone.

Which means that we are not lonely. We’re not scattered Christians. We are joined; we’re bonded together; we’re arranged stones in the household of God. All built together on Christ.

I’ve come across so many Christians who don’t want to be members of local churches. But are happy to be scattered individuals.

And yet, the universal church of Christ – of which the local church is an expression – is built up out of bonded, joined, arranged stones; not scattered ones!

Every believer needs to be baptised and they come into a local body of believers – a local expression of God’s spiritual house. And no longerbe alone. And no longer be scattered in the wilderness of the world - but united within the solid wall of God’s local church.

And thus reflect the true way in which they belong to the universal household of God.

As you know, Dave’s been knocking local doors, seeking to share the gospel with our community and invite them to come in. A hard and a wonderful work.

And I had the opportunity to join him last week – which was a great blessing to me too.

But it strengthened Dave, by his own admission, to have a fellow stone come alongside, in the face of opposition to that message that he was seeking to share.

It wasn’t because it was me that was with him, it was because he had a fellow stone with him.

Our confidence and strength are greater when we know we are a stone in a wall of stones that forms God’s house, than if we are scatteredstones.

Let that knowledge come to expression in church membership that acts in step with that amazing reality.

Having moved from stones to house – to God’s house! – Peter can follow through and give us even more grounds for confidence.

In Old Testament theology there is no temple without a priesthood. And there is no priesthood without a sacrificial system.

They all work together to bring the worshipper into connection with God.

So, we are living stones being built into God’s holy house so that, Peter says, we can be a holy priesthood.

Peter’s moving from structure to function now.

You have a function.

The priesthood was set apart. It was highly regarded. And it was usefulin God’s service - representing the people before God.

It was therefore a high calling; and it had God’s approval on it – God’s favour rested on the priesthood. In other words, being a priest carried a great honour.

Listen carefully:

‘Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron [the priest] to give him dignity and honour’.

And,

‘I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone elsewho comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death’.

And,

‘[The priesthood] will put my name on [the people] and I will bless them’.

In other words, Peter says, ‘you – Christians - possess the honour that once belonged to Israel’s most revered spiritual office’.

‘And when you go out into the world and you show Jesus off to the world, you act as priest before them, saying “come to Jesus all you who are weary and heavy laden”’.

That’s a high and holy calling! And it’s yours. Honoured by to be a holy priesthood!

So, let’s just recap the encouragements Peter has given us so far to embrace the rejection of the world with Jesus.

One, you are chosen and precious in God’s sight and will never, ever, be put to shame by owning Jesus.

Two, you are the spiritual household of God not individual scatteredstones.

Three, you are a holy priesthood possessing the honour of God associated with that function.

But now, number four, you are also offering spiritual sacrifices.

Offering sacrifices is what priests did.

In the Old Testament the sacrifices were designed by God to be pleasing to God. To be an expression of worship to God. To be a means of restored fellowship with God. And to bless the worshipper.

Listen carefully:

‘You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord’.

And,

‘Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving’.

And,

‘there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice’.

When Peter calls us to live radically different lives to the world around us, for the sake of Christ, that carries cost.

He’s calling us to sacrifice something for Jesus.

But the sacrifices of the Old Testament point us to the satisfaction that those sacrifices bring to God; to the thanksgiving that they are to God; and to the joy that they result in for us.

So, sacrifice is a two-way thing – bringing glory to God and joy to us.

But watch Peter now. He is quick to remind us that all the sacrifices we make with our lives are made acceptable, and presentable, and pleasing to God through Jesus.

If it weren’t for Jesus’ self-sacrifice, none of our sacrifices would be in any way acceptable to God!

But because of his sacrifice, we are found to be in him, and oursacrifices are therefore pleasing to God on account of him.

How is our abstaining from the sins of malice, and deceit, and hypocrisy, and envy and slander satisfying to God?

Well, because they are sanctified by Jesus’ blood, and because they are possible, only, through Jesus’ death.

How is our abstaining from the sins of malice, and deceit, and hypocrisy, and envy and slander thanksgiving to God?

Well, because, through the sacrifice of Jesus we have been given a new birth which is testified to by this desire to flee sin.

And therefore, any act of putting sin to death, is a recognition that Jesus has changed us for ever.

Surely that is more worthy of thanks than anything!

How is our abstaining from the sins of verse 1 - or any sin for that matter - going to result in joy to us?

Well, because every sin defeated is a confirmation that we are reallyGod’s children. And there is no greater joy than to belong to God!

The sacrifices of the Old Testament were also for atonement of course. But that is, emphatically, not the kind of sacrifice we offer. Only Jesuscan offer that kind.

The sacrifices we offer are the result of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus alone.

So, we are, fourthly, encouraged by the fact that we are participants in the heavenly act of offering sacrifices.

Offering with our lives, through the work of Jesus on our behalf.

Since Jesus is the cornerstone upon which we are built.

Since Jesus is the great high priest under whom we function.

Since Jesus in the atoning sacrifice through which we offer.

To us, who believe, we echo Peter’s word in verse 7, when he says, ‘this stone is precious!’.

Oh so precious to us!

Everything we are called to do.

Everything we are doing.

Every benefit and pleasure we are deriving.

Every encouragement we are being strengthened with here.

Has its basis in this precious stone who is Jesus Christ.

Don’t let us ever lose sight of him.

Not even, when we are being derided for our association with him!

Rather, let the truth of our union with Jesus give us every confidencenot to recoil from the call he has made on our lives to live counter-culturally in the world we inhabit.

Praise be to God that Jesus is our cornerstone. Praise be to God that he is not our stumbling block!

Because Peter says, right here, that he can be both to different people.

Peter transitions in verse 7, from those who believe to those who don’t.

He speaks now to people who are the builders who reject the stone – the very stone that goes on to become the cornerstone.

And I would say, goes on to become the cornerstone by his resurrection form the dead. It’s his resurrection that seals him as the cornerstone.

If he remains in the tomb forever, he’s a stone like the rest of us! But his resurrection nails him as THE cornerstone!

Rejected unto death. Resurrected unto the very cornerstone itself!

That very cornerstone Peter says, causes those unbelievers to stumble and fall.

Quoting Isaiah again, this time chapter 8, Peter says Jesus – the stone – ‘causes people to stumble’. And ‘makes them fall’.

If the ones who are built on the cornerstone are never put to shame, then what of those who stumble over him and fall because of him?

Isaiah 8’s context is very bleak for them. When they fall, they are utterly broken. When they stumble, they are snared and captured.

The picture is that of judgment.

They are the kind of people, whose end is so dreadful, you do not wantto follow their example, Isaiah says.

This helps us. It helps us to see through the culture, to the consequences of their rejection of Jesus.

Jesus confirms Isaiah’s angle on the stumbling and the falling. He – that is Jesus - says that person will be broken to pieces and will be crushed.

It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God as one who has rejected his own dear Son.

Their condemnation; their destruction, is of their own making. Peter says they ‘disobey the message’.

 The ‘message’ is what he referred to in verse 25 of chapter 1. It’s the good news of new birth through Jesus Christ.

And, whereas the people he’s writing to – and you – ‘purified themselves by obeying the truth’ (v.22 of chapter 1) here, these who stumble over Jesus, to their own destruction, disobey the truth – the very message about Jesus.

He is an offence to them, and they will stumble into judgment because of their unbelief - because of their disobedience.

But this is actually, and somewhat surprisingly, also, the fifth spur to us - to live counter-culturally for Jesus, even though it results in rejection.

God is in control of this whole thing. There’s nothing happening here that he is not sovereignly superintending.

Not the rejection. Not the provision of Jesus. Not the house. Nor the priesthood. Nor the sacrifices. Not the vindication. And not the stumbling and falling either.

Peter says the very people who disobey the message about Jesus were destined to fall on account of him and to stumble over him to their destruction.

Just as, those living stones were chosen and precious to God before the foundation of the world - they were destined to obey the truth about Jesus and so, never be put to shame - so these were destined for the opposite.

It’s all of God. It’s all his sovereign undertaking.

And that helps us in a fifth way, because it means that no amount of rejection by humans can stand in the way of God’s purposes.

Those people who oppose us on account of Jesus will either respond to what they see in us of Jesus; and hear from us about Jesus and so be saved. And become living stones themselves.

Pray God for that!

Or else, they will stumble over what they see in us and hear from us of Jesus, to their ruin and destruction.

God knows who will do what! Because he has destined them, Peter says, to become stones, or to fall over the cornerstone.

We don’t know what God has destined for anybody. We are called to spread the aroma of Christ around – even in the face of rejection.

God will save whom he wills! That’s a fact.

Those who rejected us will receive from God their deservedpunishment. And we will receive from God our vindication.

Those who embrace our message about Jesus will receive from God undeserved salvation. And we will receive the joy, from God, of sharing in the glory of their place in the household of God.

Either way, it’s God whose got it in hand. And he has given us greatencouragement to press on in the calling he has made on our lives here below.

So, I see five encouragements here from Peter to continue to do God’s will in this world whilst being rejected for Jesus.

One, you are chosen and precious to God in Jesus. Jesus was rejected; you will be too. Jesus was loved of God, you are too.

Two, you are not scattered stones, but bonded stones in the household of God. And as a wall you can stand firm effectively. More so than if you were alone.

Three, you are a priesthood of believers possessing the honour that function carries with it. That honour exceeds any honour any human being could confer on you.

Four, you offer spiritual sacrifices which, though costly, result in the joyof assurance that you really are born-again of God.

And five, you have a God who is in complete control.

He will not let the rejection go unpunished. And he can even turn that rejection into regeneration if he wants to, and thus, give you the joy of having won a soul for Christ.

But it’s up to him. We are called to do our part faithfully. But notwithout these five massive gospel-shaped blessings that serve to strengthen our faint endeavour.

Thank God for Pastor Peter. He was not oblivious to the feelings his command in verse 1 would produce in our hearts. And he was ready to supply us with good reasons to embrace his word to us.

Note this: he did not think it wise to retract or revoke that command from verse 1.

On the contrary, that command is necessary and vital, not only for our Christian lives, but for the kingdom of God.

Rather, instead of retracting it, or being sorry for it, Peter gives us powerful incentives, tools; comforts to help us to whole-heartedly embrace his good command. Which is of course God’s command!

And I pray this will have been effective in strengthening us, both now and for the future.