1 Peter: Building Our Faith

David Krueger

1 Peter • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

1 Peter 2:1–10

Spiritual Growth

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Believers mature both personally and as a community through God’s grace.

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Text: 1 Peter 2:1-10

Theme: Believers mature both personally and as a community through God’s grace.

Date: 08/14/2022 File Name: 1_Peter_05 Code: NT21-02

The verses before us are all about growing in our faith. If we are in Christ, and we are, then there ought to be a natural desire to mature in our knowledge of God and the things of God. Peter has just spent chapter one telling us that we are to be hopeful, holy and reverent believers. How do we get there? In chapter two he begins to provide the answer.

I. SPIRITUAL MILK

“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (1 Peter 2:1–3, ESV)

1. there are certain behaviors that are just unbecoming of a Christian

a. Peter opens this portion of his letter listing attributes believers are to put away

1) there are certain non-Christlike attributes we are to shed as if we were taking off dirty, soiled clothing

2) the verb-form tells us to do once for all ... Peter is encouraging a complete break with his reader’s former way of life

b. these were believers who had come out of paganism, and sins such as malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander where simply built into the society into which they were born

A. BEHAVIOR UNBECOMING A CHRISTIAN

1. Peter lists five attitudes and behaviors that believers were to root out of their lives — any one of which could impair Christian brotherhood or stymie Christian witness

a. malice — a general term for evil or wickedness that included all the godless actions of paganism

1) Paul would tell the Thessalonian believers, “Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:22, ESV)

2) more specifically it’s an ill-will toward others that is bent on inflicting injury

3 ) it’s a harmful intent toward others

b. deceit — a word that literally means bait and came to mean entrapment

1) believers should not defraud others by trickery

c. hypocrisy — a word that comes out of Greek theater and means two-faced

1) it’s a word that also came to mean counterfeit — a person who pretended to be something he or she was not

2) Peter is essentially telling his readers to be transparent in their relationships with one another, and in their interactions with unbelievers

d. envy — this is any attitude that begrudges what others have or have accomplished

1) envy covets what others have and longs for another’s misfortune

e. slander — literally evil speaking — it’s the gleeful gossip that assassinates another’s reputation or character

2. obviously this is not a complete list of sins, but they are attributes that were particularly prevalent in pagan culture, but should not be prevalent in church culture

3. the new birth demands a new way of life

a. Paul wrote to the believers at Corinth that, in Christ, we are a new creation — the old has gone and the new has come

b. being a new creation means getting rid of old attributes and actions belonging to our old, unconverted life

B. BEHAVIOR BECOMING A CHRISTIAN

1. Christians should desire spiritual milk with the same innate desire that a baby desire mother’s milk

a. Peter illustrates a spiritual truth with an everyday event

1) newborns want and thrive on milk

2) the word desire that Peter uses expresses intense yearning or craving for something

2. in like manner, believers are to intensely yearn for pure spiritual milk

a. in other words, believers are to crave the Word of God

b. consistent reading, and study and application of the Bible leads to a sanctified life

1) by it we grow in our faith moving toward spiritual completion

c. at the end of vs. 3 Peter quotes Psalm 34:8 — since you have tasted that the Lord is good

1) all who have tasted Christ will want more of Christ, and to have more of Christ means to yearn for the words of Christ revealed in the Scriptures

II. SPIRITUAL HOUSE

“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For 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.” 7 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,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.” (1 Peter 2:4–8, ESV)

1. believers become living stones when they come to the living stone who just happens to be the cornerstone

a. it’s a tremendous passage that reveals several important characteristics of cornerstones

1) 1st, it’s the first stone laid — all of the dimensions of the rest of the house are projected off of the dimensions of the cornerstone

2) because it was the first stone laid it had to be the most perfectly cut stone

a) what the cornerstone was determined what the building became

b) the line of the cornerstone became the lines of the house

A. JESUS IS THE FOUNDATION OF HIS CHURCH

1. this goes without saying, but it’s a truth that needs to be reiterated time-and-again lest the Church forget

a. Peter tells us that this cornerstone was rejected by men

“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” (John 1:11, ESV)

b. but he was chosen and valuable to God

“and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”” (Luke 3:22, ESV)

c. men dismissed and repudiated him, but God appointed him as Messiah and vindicated his redemptive ministry through the resurrection

d. but Peter tells his readers that Jesus is the honored cornerstone and if we put our trust and faith in him we will never be put to shame

ILLUS. Peter’s Jewish readers would have gotten this better than his Gentile readers. The Apostle is quoting Isaiah 28:16. In its original context Isaiah is condemning Israel’s leaders for making an ill-advised alliance with Egypt in rebelling against Assyria. Isaiah pointed to Israel’s true source of security — God, Himself. Those who put their trust in Him will never be ashamed that they did. They same is true of those who come to Christ.

2. to come to him means to thoroughly trust him

a. to trust in Christ is more than merely admiring his teachings, it’s more then appreciation of his ethics, and it’s more than just accepting the historical facts of his life, death and burial

b. it means shifting the center of your gravity to him

1) that means having to put all your trust in him

c. to become a Christian doesn’t mean you just change your mind ... it doesn’t mean you just believe in a new set of doctrines — it’s throwing yourself down upon the cornerstone and being dashed to pieces

“And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”” (Matthew 21:44, ESV)

1) it is better to be broken than to be crushed

2) if the sinner’s pride ... if his self-sufficiency ... if his self-righteousness ... if his right to himself is not “broken” upon the cornerstone, than that person does not truly understand faith and repentance

3. your cornerstone sets the course of your life

a. Peter says in vs. 7-8 that Jesus is either your cornerstone or he is a stone to stumble over

b. if your cornerstone is crumbling, or not cut to true square, then your life will be crumbling or out of kilter

““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”” (Matthew 7:24–27, ESV)

c. the problem in this parable is not the flood ... floods come, floods happen

1) the issue is the foundation and what it’s resting on

B. WE ARE PART OF THE SPIRITUAL HOUSE JESUS IS BUILDING

1. because of our relationship with Jesus, Peter writes that every believer is a living stone

a. God is taking these living stones and using them to build a spiritual house for his Son to dwell in

1) the phrase you yourselves is an emphatic in the language of the New Testament and puts the emphasis on each believer — each and every believer has in integral part of what God, for Christ’s sake, is building

a) it’s Peter writing you yourselves!!! (exclamation point)

2) it means that no stone in the building is any more important than another, save for the cornerstone

2. this spiritual house that God is building is better thought of as a household — that is a spiritual family

a. but notice this — it’s a spiritual family all made up of priests!

1) in fact, this family is a holy priesthood

b. if you remember, Israel’s priests were set apart to represent God to the people and the people to God

c. and they were to be morally pure so they could approach God directly

1) those things are true today of God’s “household of priests”

ILLUS. We testified to it this morning when we sang B.B. McKinney’s hymn Let

Others See Jesus in You. The second line reads

Your life’s a book before their eyes,

They’re reading it through and through

Say, does it point them to the skies,

Do others see Jesus in you?

3. as a holy priesthood, our calling — regardless of our vocation — is to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ

a. the verse begs the question, “What are ‘spiritual’ sacrifices?”

1) Your Body - Romans 12:2

a) we are to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, which is acceptable to God

b) we are to crawl up on the cross daily, and offer to our Father our complete self

c) as someone once said, the only problem with live sacrifices is they can crawl off the cross and so every day offer yourself to the Lord

2) Your Praise - Hebrews 13:15

a) we are to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God”

b) our verbal praise from a grace-filled heart is a spiritual offering unto God

3) Your Good Works and Possessions - Hebrews 13:16

a) our generosity to the cause of Christ and those in need are spiritual offerings

4) People You’ve Helped Lead to Christ - Romans 15:15-16

5) Our Ministry to Other Believers - Philippians 4:18

6) Your Prayers - Revelation 8:3-4

a) In these verses the prayers of the saints are seen rising unto God as a sweet smell in His nostrils

b. these are all spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God

III. SPIRITUAL PEOPLE

“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 called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 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.” (1 Peter 2:9–10, ESV)

1. from God’s perspective there are two races (literally offspring) of people — sinners and saints

a. in His sovereign election God has chosen a people for Himself, and has taken the initiative in Christ to bring us to Himself

1) this initiative began when God made clothing of skins to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness, and it only ends when the last person in these times gives their life to Christ

2. God has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light and while we wait for the consummation of God’s created order, we are to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you

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