Sermon Tone Analysis

— 4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.”

They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

There are many pictures of the church in the New Testament.

Sometimes it is described as a vine with many branches.

Sometimes it is shown as a shepherd with many sheep.

Sometimes it is a holy city being ruled over by a king.

On occasions it is seen as a mighty army with its captain at its head.

But here, in chapter 2, it is described as a spiritual house—a temple having a chief cornerstone.

We need to remind ourselves that Peter is not talking about the literal temple of the Jews which was in Jerusalem.

He is writing about a spiritual temple which is still being built today.

Indeed the Bible never means a physical building when it talks about ‘the church’; it always means the whole of God’s people or a group of them in a particular area.

The foundation of the church

Jesus is called ‘the living stone’ in this portion of Scripture.

— 4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,

‘The Stone’ was one of the titles used to describe the Messiah.

What are the qualities of stone?

When we think of stone the idea of permanence comes into our mind.

The mountains and hills stand certain and sure.

Until the end of all things they will remain as a reminder of the certainty of God.

We sing, ‘Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.’

God is like that and his Son, Jesus, obviously has the same attributes, for he is God.

But this stone is not dead.

It is a ‘living stone’.

Jesus is the one who died to pay the punishment of our sins.

However, he did not remain in the grave; he rose up, victorious over sin and death, and he is alive for evermore.

God the Father has appointed Jesus to be the foundation-stone of the church.

Peter quotes three Old Testament scriptures to substantiate this (; ; ).

— 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.”

They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

God says, ‘I lay a stone in Zion.’

By Zion the Lord means the church.

The Lord has done this.

Jesus Christ has been given this task by God the Father—to be the cornerstone.

Jesus Christ is the head of the church by God’s divine decree.

Peter tells us that Jesus has been ‘chosen by God’ (2:4–6).

— 4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Therefore anyone who rejects Christ’s authority is a fool.

Anyone who says, ‘I will not have this man to reign over me’ is rejecting the Lord God Almighty himself.

Next we read that Jesus is ‘precious’ (2:4, 6).

This means that he is valuable.

He is highly prized.

Anyone who sees nothing precious in the Lord Jesus Christ is to be greatly pitied, because if he carries on in this same frame of mind then Jesus will see nothing valuable in him on the Day of Judgement.

Verse 6 tells us that Jesus is the cornerstone, or foundation.

The cornerstone was the first, and most important, stone to be selected and laid in place when a building was being erected.

It was laid at the intersection of the corner and the other foundation-stones were placed alongside it, and at an angle to it, on the same level.

As the building grew all the other stones were put in place in relation to the cornerstone.

Each course of stones was built up from these main foundational ones.

If the chief cornerstone was ‘out of line’ then the whole building would be unsound.

We can understand, then, why Jesus is called the foundation-stone, the head of the church.

The members of the church

They are people who have come to Jesus, and who keep on coming to him.

Peter says, ‘As you come to him’ (2:4).

‘Coming’ is a term used for approaching the place of worship in the Old Testament.

Therefore the members of the church are those who want to draw near to God.

They are prepared to leave their own ways and submit to God’s way.

They are willing to give up their independence and surrender everything to God and to His purposes.

In other words, they want to be like Jesus.

Peter says that Jesus is ‘the living Stone … chosen by God and precious to him’.

Then he goes on to say, (v5) ‘You also, like living stones …’ It is as though Peter were saying to these believers,

‘Everything that Jesus underwent

“you also” want to experience.

You want to suffer with him.

You want to share in the work of the kingdom.

You want to be part of the living church of Jesus.

You want to be prepared even to give your life for him.’

I wonder if Peter wanted to say to them, ‘Do you remember I once said that I would never let Jesus down, and a few hours later I was even cursing and swearing and denying that I ever knew him?’

You want to suffer with him.

You want to share in the work of the kingdom.

You want to be part of the living church of Jesus.

You want to be prepared even to give your life for him.’

I wonder if Peter wanted to say to them,

‘Do you remember I once said that I would never let Jesus down,

and a few hours later

I was even cursing and swearing and denying that I ever knew him?’

These scattered Christians of the early church may well have been feeling very feeble at the time when Peter was writing to them,

but he says, ‘You are like living stones.’

Peter was saying, in effect,

‘Jesus saw me as a weak, hasty fisherman; and

he turned me into a rock.’

Jesus had said to Peter, ‘I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church’ ().

Peter did not believe, just because he had been given the name Peter, the rock, that Jesus meant that he would be head of the church.

This could not have been, because Jesus Christ himself is the head of the church.

But why does Peter say here that God’s people too, are living stones being built into the church?

Peter realized that Jesus meant that

it was the kind of faith that Peter displayed upon which Jesus would build his church.

God’s people were like dead stones before they were born again.

Before they became Christians they were dead to the things of God.

Jesus held no beauty for them.

He was not precious to them.

They would not give up anything to serve him.

This was all because, spiritually, they were dead towards him.

They were just like cold, hard stones lying deep down in the darkness under the ground.

They needed to be quarried and shaped before they could be of any use to God.

However, having once ‘come to him’—to Jesus in repentance and faith—having already been born again we are made living stones in His spiritual temple.

Jesus often used this figure of something which is alive when speaking of himself.

He has life in himself (; ).