A Holy Priesthood

A Holy Priesthood 1 Peter 2:4, 5 speaks of our relationship to Jesus in figurative terms: As you come to him, the living Stone - rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him - you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Peter has been using the image of new birth to explain how we become part of God's family. Born again as God's children, we are to be like our Father in holiness and in love. We grow in our new life through His word. That was our previous lesson. But now Peter introduces some new images. The first image is striking. Jesus is the Living Stone. Notice that the first thing said about Him as the Living Stone is that He was rejected by men. As John put it at the beginning of his gospel, He came to His own, meaning His own people, Israel, and they did not receive Him. In verse 7, He is called the stone the builders rejected. In verse 8, He is a stone that causes men to stumble. It is this rejection of Jesus that brought persecution to Peter's first readers and to Christians today. But immediately in verse 4, Peter adds that the Living stone is chosen by God and precious to Him. God values His Son highly and chose Him for the task of becoming man to be our Savior. In verse 6, Peter adds, For in scripture it says: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. God made Jesus the cornerstone, foundational to the building of His church. The cornerstone establishes the corner and directs the layout of the walls. In verse 7, another OT verse is quoted: The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. The words translated capstone usually mean the same as cornerstone. So, though He was rejected by men, He is chosen of God and is the cornerstone of the church. There is one more emphasis related to the Living Stone. It is that we must come to Jesus by faith. Verse 4 began: as you come to Him. We must come to Jesus rather than joining those who reject Him. Verse 6 added that the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame. Verse 7 begins: Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. We must come to Jesus by faith and build our lives and His church oriented by Jesus, our cornerstone. But verse 5 added a variation of this image, that you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. We too are stones. We are the building blocks of a spiritual house. The house is more than the cornerstone. It needs many more stones connected to Him. This house is a holy temple indwelt by the Spirit of God. Read Ephesians 2:19-22 to see how Paul develops the same image. But we are not inert lumps of rock. We, like Jesus, are living stones. God's New Testament temple is a living organism built of stones who are also the priests for His temple. In the church, every believer is a priest, a member of this priesthood. And like OT priests, each NT priest is set apart for service to God making us holy, each priest knows God's ways and has access to His presence, each priest represents men to God and God to men, and each priest teaches others the ways of God. And we are like the OT priests in one more important way. Verse 5 goes on to say that we are to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We do not offer animal sacrifices, but spiritual sacrifices. But what does that mean? While Peter does not explain, other NT authors give several examples of spiritual sacrifices. In Hebrews 13:15, we are urged to offer sacrifices of praise, confessing Jesus with our lips. In the next verse, we are reminded to do good and share with others, for God is pleased with such sacrifices. According to Paul in Philippians 4:18, God is also pleased by our giving financially to support His work, specifically in the context, missionary giving. In Romans 12:1, he calls us to present our bodies as living sacrifices in His service. And in Romans 15:16, he speaks of performing the priestly duty of proclaiming God's gospel to present converts to faith in Jesus as an offering acceptable to God. To be acceptable to Him, our offerings must be done for God's glory, not for our own. And they must be done through Jesus Christ, not on our own. Clearly, we are of special value to God. We are God's chosen people. Peter uses several images in verses 9 and 10 of 1 Peter: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. God always chooses sovereignly, according to His own will. God chose Jesus before He created the universe to be the precious cornerstone. God had chosen Israel to be His chosen people. God has now chosen the church to also be His people. So, we are a chosen people, chosen to declare His works even as Israel has been. God has chosen us as a royal priesthood to serve Him as King and to represent Him before all mankind. God has chosen us as a holy nation set apart to openly serve God before the nations. God has chosen us as a people belonging to Him, valued as His personal possession and as His family. Notice that God has chosen us. These are all corporate terms. We are chosen as a people, not just individuals. We are chosen to work as a team, as one holy priesthood. In all these ways, we are to work together to proclaim to all His works as Savior. So, let us remember who we are. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Once we were not a people. Like Peter's first readers, we had been sinful, godless, lost pagans. But now we are the people of God, by God's grace, not by our own efforts of merit. Once we were without mercy, lost in our sin, destined for hell. Now we have received mercy through faith in Jesus Christ. We have been called out of darkness into His wonderful life, out of the darkness of our sin into the light of living with God as our Father, Jesus as our Lord, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. The church is a chosen people, called to be His priesthood. Let us serve God together as priests: Offering sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, Praising God and bringing Him honor through good works, Giving our finances, our energy, and our bodies for His work, and Bringing others to faith in Christ See yourself as one living stone working in unity with many others as part of one great temple of His Holy Spirit. Let us join in a common faith to do God's work and declare His works. And if you have never received Jesus as your Savior, call on Him right now and join us serving Him.