Lord's Day 12

Our scripture reading today comes from 1 Peter 2: 4-10. So if you would open your Bibles with me to 1 Peter 2: 4-10. Verse 4. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it It stands in scripture, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling in a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobeyed the word as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness, in into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. This is God's word. This passage answers a belonging question. Who are we? Where do we fit? And what makes us secure? And it does this by putting Jesus at the center, not as an accessory, but as the stone we build on. It leads us to our big question for tonight. How do you become someone who belongs without pretending? How do you become someone who belongs without pretending? Most of us answer by auditioning. We pick the room, we learn the lines, we hide the parts that don't fit in. In the world, belonging comes with conditions. We have to be impressive, be useful, be interesting, be unproblematic. So we curate a picture of ourselves. We achieve, we signal the right signals to the people around us. We live with a low-grade fear that if people really knew me, I'm out. But it's not just out there. The church has its own form of auditioning. You can start to think, I belong if I'm put together, if my marriage looks stable, if my kids behave, if my sins are vague, if I'm serving enough to be considered safe.

So we keep things general. We say, I've been struggling or I've been busy, or I could use some prayer. We say anything except the truth. And here's the diagnostic for us. Where do you feel the pressure to edit yourself? Where do you make sure? What part of your life do you make sure that no one sees? What would it cost you to be honest, to be really honest? Because if belonging requires pretending, the truth is we never get rest. You either perform or you pull away or you judge those who seem to fit in. So the question remains, how do you become someone who belongs without pretending? Peter's answer is this. It's not by cleaning yourself up. It's to come to him. A rejected stone. A rejected stone who makes rejected people. Feel safe. So let's watch Peter answer our question in three movements. We'll see, first, he tells you who you are or who Jesus is. Then he tells you who you are. Then, he tells you how to live. So let's look at that first section, verses 4 through 8, the title, Come to the Anointed Stone. Jesus is not a helpful teacher here.

Peter says, As you come to him, look at verse four. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious. As you come to him, this is not a one-time visit. This is a direction. Christianity is coming again and again to the same person, Jesus Christ. And look at how Peter describes him, rejected and at the same time, chosen and precious in the sight of God. The world makes a judgment, a vote against Jesus to say no. And yet look at the verdict that God renders on Jesus. You are mine, precious. That's the answer to the belonging question right there. Whose verdict gets to name you? Because if your life is built on human approval, you'll always be managing, always editing, always being afraid of being found out. But if your life is built on God's verdict, well, you can't hide. There's no sense in doing that. He sees everything. So we can stop pretending. We can finally find rest in a God who knows all things. Peter proves it from scripture, Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. That's what verse 6 says.

This This isn't a motivational slogan. This isn't something that we put on a bumper sticker or sew into a pillow. This is safety. Safety for the exposed, honor for the ashamed, in a solid place to stand. Peter also says that the same stone does two things. For those who believe, the cornerstone holds you up. And for those who refuse him, it becomes a stone of stumbling, something you keep colliding with because you keep colliding with him. No one gets to approach God and leave Jesus neutral. You either see him for who he is, and it totally transforms you. We have to walk away and say, I don't know if I really like that guy at all. But you can't walk away from him neutral. You either build on him or you trip over him. And don't miss what savior this is. Jesus knows rejection. Jesus was rejected. He walked straight into it on the cross. He was cast out. So people like you, people like me, people like us could be brought in. Not because we've cleaned ourselves up, but because he's been chosen. He's precious. And by faith, we belong to him. So Peter's first word to us isn't perform.

It's come. Come to the living stone and watch what happens next. You don't stay alone. Verse 5 says, We get built in. And here's where Peter gets very specific. What do we get built into? Who do we get built in? That's what we see in this next section. Be built into an anointed people. 1 Peter 2: 5-10. Peter moves from the stone to stones, from Christ to the church. Notice the grammar here. You are being built up. You are not the builder. We are not the builder. God is. Christianity is not self improvement. It is making or it is God making a new people. It's plural. Living stones don't float. They fit. They belong. Peter says, We're being built into a spiritual house, a place where God God dwells into a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. These sacrifices, they're not a payment for sin. They are thank you offerings from people who understand what it means to be forgiven. Then Peter gives the church a name. He says that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for his own possession in verse 9.

Those four titles are straight from Israel's story. This is Exodus language. This is covenantal language that we see here. Peter is saying something massive. God's people are now defined by union with Christ, not an ethnicity. In other words, God didn't scrap his promises. He kept them. He kept them by centering every Everything on the cornerstone, the rock of Christ. He gathered then Jew and Gentile into one people connected in unity around Jesus. When Peter says a chosen race, he's not talking about ethnicity. Diversity anymore. It doesn't matter what group of people you've come from. He's talking about a new people, a new family line defined by Jesus. Verse 10 is proof. He says, once you were a people, now you are God's people. That means your belonging with God did not start with you finding him. Started with God claiming you. And catch the purpose here. Verse nine, that you may proclaim the excellencies. It's that order. First, identity, then mission. You don't proclaim your way into belonging. You proclaim your way You proclaim because you belong. And verse 10 seals it. Verse 10 says this, once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you've received mercy. Verse 10 is Peter's before and after picture. Verse 10 makes it clearer than ever. Peter is using Hoseia's words, not my people, my people, and applying them to the church. That means the church isn't a religious club that showed up later. It is a reformed people of God, built on Christ, made up of all who believe. That reality kills all boasting. It is not our effort. It is not what we do. It is God bringing us together in this beautiful thing he calls the church. Peter is saying something specific here. The church is the true Israel, not earned, but that we are bought with his mercy. If you understand verse 10, you can't be arrogant towards anyone. It eliminates any hierarchy that we can place on ourselves, Jew or Gentile, elite, any educational status, any socioeconomic status. We have We have been received by grace. We are here by grace. We are built into one spiritual building together by the builder. So when Peter calls you or Paul calls the church, royal and priesthood, and proclaiming. He's saying, In Christ, the calling of Israel becomes the calling of the church.

Peter doesn't leave it with those words as poetry. He turns them into a vocation. To proclaim is what we see in becoming a prophet, priesthood, being the priests and royal and the king. And that's what we see in our third point, live out the shared anointing, prophet, priest, and king, from question and answer 31 and 32. Peter does not just give us new names here in verse 9. He gives us a new calling. Proclaim, priesthood, royal. The catechism isn't adding anything to what first Peter is saying. It is naming what first Peter has already said. The prophet isn't someone who needs to be right. When we think of a prophet, we think of someone who maybe who's a little bit brash. Prophet's not that. Prophet's not somebody who argues with people online. Prophet is the one who confesses Christ clearly. Verse nine says this, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him. Prophets We don't need to win arguments. Prophets make Christ clear. They proclaim who Jesus is. So the challenge for us is to do this in your home. Name God's mercies out loud. In your relationships, speak truth and grace, not vague spirituality.

And in the church, encourage, admonish, disciple each other. The diagnostic for us as we look at what it means to be a prophet, If someone followed you for a month, would they know that you belong to Jesus, or would they think that you're just a good person? When was the last time you said the name of Jesus out loud with someone who doesn't already agree with you? If we never confess his name, we might be people who admire Christ, but we're not yet sharing the name of Christ. We're not proclaiming the name of That doesn't mean that every Christian needs to be bold. They don't need to be on the corner shouting apologetics to people passing by. But it means that silence can't be our settled posture. Because mercy makes Jesus speakable. Now, for some of you who are quiet, you're not quiet because you don't believe in Jesus, but it's because there's fear. It's scary sharing our faith. My challenge to you would be this. Bring that to Jesus. Bring that to God. Ask the King for courage. Start small. We don't need to speak to the masses. Think of one clear sentence you could use this week, someone you know.

As we move on to what it means to be a priest, priests are ones who offer sacrifices. And yet when it looks When we look at what it means to do that in the New Testament, our sacrifices don't pay for sin. Christ did. Peter's phrase is everything here in verse 5, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That means your obedience It's never a stand-alone offering. It's always carried in by Christ. Your sacrifices are thank you offerings, not guilt offerings. So that means that we have to stop treating repentance like self-punishment. Repentance is agreeing with God and returning to God because the sacrifice has already been made. We need to be a people who practice repentance, prayer and worship, generosity, service that costs you, and reconciliation, one of the most easily recognizable Priestley acts. We don't offer sacrifices to get God to love us. We offer ourselves because Because the priest has already brought you here. Because Christ's sacrifice is once and for all, and his intercession is ongoing. You don't have to keep trying to make yourself seem acceptable. The Christ has already made you acceptable. Now your obedience comes as gratitude, not panic, not as a way to try to twist God's arm into doing what you want him to do or to accept you.

We are already already firmly found in Christ. As we look to what it means to be a king and to act in that kingly office, some of you might confuse this idea of freedom with comfort, but the idea of kingly anointing, it goes beyond those categories. Kingly anointing means that we In some regard, we engage in warfare, not coasting, because with a free conscience, because we can do it with a free conscience, not a condemned one. This warfare is not to earn our place. It's not to fight our way in. We wage war against sin, against evil, the sin and evil that we see in ourselves, the oppression that we see in the world, not because we're trying to find a place, but because we already have one. Your struggle is not proof that you're losing. It's proof that we're alive. As Christ fought, he's calling us to fight, and Christ guards what he has already won. The comfort underneath the fight is the King does not just command, he keeps. Your grip on him is real, but his grip on you is even stronger. That leads us into our main idea. Our main idea for tonight is this, the spirit anointed Christ makes spirit anointed people.

The spirit anointed Christ makes spirit anointed people. Jesus is called Christ because the Father appointed him and the spirit anointed him, Prophet, priest, and King. He doesn't just give us information. As prophet, he reveals God's will for our deliverance. He doesn't just give us an example. As priest, he offers himself and keeps us as he intercedes for us. He doesn't just give us inspiration. As king, he rules and guards the freedom he won. And Peter says, When you come to this living Stone, you don't just get forgiven. You get built in. You become a holy priesthood, a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood, a people for his own possession. That means Christian isn't just a label that we wear. It is an identity we have been given. If we are united to an anointed one by faith, we share in his anointing. So the question isn't, do you have the name Christian? The question is, is the anointed Christ producing an anointed life? Do we confess? Do we see sacrifice in ourselves? Mercy. God's mercy makes a people, and mercy gives that people a mission. So what does an anointed person do this week? The catechism gives three verbs: confess, offer, and strive.

So our application for tonight starts off with this. The first point, Confess his name, Prophet, verse 9, that we should proclaim the excellencies. This week, make Jesus audible, not just vague, but explain his name. Pick one person and say one clear sentence. Something like, I'm a Christian. I belong to Jesus. I'm grateful for what he has done for me. Or, I'm trying to follow Jesus, and I need his mercy every day. That's a good one you can use if you've messed up in front of that person. That's all right. We don't have to laugh here. It's a night service. It's all good. Why does Peter give us this? Peter says this, that God has made you his people so that you would proclaim him, proclaim the one who has called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. If you're thinking, I don't I don't know if I can do that. Don't start with a crowd. Start with a person. Start small. But we can't stay silent forever. The second point of application is this. Present yourself as a living sacrifice. Repentance without self-protection is what we're called to do. We're called to engage in generosity that costs us.

We're called to serve, serve people when it's inconvenient, that we should be a people who initiate reconciliation, initiate peace with those in our life, and that we worship even when we don't feel like it. That leads us into our third point of application, strive with a free conscience against sin and the devil. Name one sin that you've been excusing this week and put it in front of the cross. Confess it to someone and resist the fear of man, which was Peter's temptation if you were here for the morning service. By remembering those... Or by remembering whose approval makes you clean. We are cleansed by Christ. As we strive for a free conscience against sin and the devil, remember, when you fail, don't run from Christ. Don't do what Adam and Eve did in the garden, trying to guard themselves and run and hide from God. Run to him. Kings, get back up because the King guards them. We've asked, how do you become someone who belongs without pretending? Peter's answer is not clean yourself up. It's come. Come to him. But why can we come? Because belong Our longing always has a cost. In our faith, we know Christ pays it.

Our problem isn't only that we're wounded, it is that we are guilty. We have a record. And a Holy God does not just call evil no big deal. He has to judge it. So on the cross, Jesus does not suffer with us. He suffers for us. He takes the penalty that our sins deserve. The stone, the rejected stone, is rejected under judgment. So rejected people like us can be received in mercy. He gets your shame. You get his honor. He gets your condemnation, you get welcomed in. That's why Peter can say, whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So we can drop the mask, we can drop the resume, and we can come empty-handed to the true and perfect King. Don't leave tonight as an applicant, Grace, but as one who has received mercy and belongs. Because you can belong without pretending, because Christ has taken your place. Remember this, the spirit anointed Christ makes spirit anointed people. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for who you we are. We praise you that we get to share in your anointing because we take on the name of Christ. We are grafted in.

We are yours. Father, I pray as we continue in this series that we would remember where our comfort comes from, that we can proclaim and know that we belong to you, body and soul, in life and in death. God, you are our comfort. You are our peace. God, I pray today on your Sabbath day that we would be able to find our rest in you. Father, help us to respond. Help us to respond in worship as we sing how How Great Thou Art. It's in your name we pray. Amen.