Os Guinness tells a story of an experience in a Pyrenean village.
A farmer had tied an enormous load of wood onto the back of a donkey. However hard the farmer whipped the animal, it could only stumble along, getting progressively slower and slower, until it sank down in exhaustion under the burden. Still the farmer whipped the poor animal. Os saw this as a parable of how some Christians treat their faith – they say, “Believe this”, “Stop doubting”, “Act in faith” and continue to try an whip their faltering faith into action until, finally,
it collapses an can go no further.
Have you ever felt that way? Your pushing along just trying to make this Christian walk happen and you find, you have to push harder and harder as time goes along, but compared to how your Christian walk used to be. It seems like you are not getting anywhere anymore – no matter how hard you push.
If you have ever felt that way? Your life in Christ doesn’t have to be that way. But that’s how a lot of us live it, don’t we? If we have experienced that in our Christian life, it might have a little to do with how we as Americans view life. We highly value working hard and getting it done on our own, plus, we highly value being independent.
In and of themselves, those can be highly valuable attributes, good things that serve us as we live our lives out. On the other hand, we take our experience in this American life, and apply it to our theological understanding of the Bible, and this leads to misunderstanding, which leads to a frustrating walk with Christ . In other words we assume the Scriptures are saying things, that they are not and it is hard to see through our assumptions because our assumptions match our experience and we as Americans value experience most of all.
Our culture reinforces our assumptions about life and we become blind to the truth. That’s hard to hear – but its true.
The Art Collector
A famous art collector is walking through the city of Philadelphia when he noticed a mangy cat lapping milk from a saucer in the doorway of a store. He does a double take. He knows his stuff. And this saucer is the real thing.
He knows that the saucer is extremely old and very valuable, so he walks casually into the store and offers to buy the cat for two dollars.
The storeowner replies, "I’m sorry, but the cat isn’t for sale."
The collector says, "Please, I need a hungry cat around the house to catch mice. I’ll pay you 20 dollars for that cat." And the owner says "Sold," and hands over the cat.
The collector continues, "Hey, for the twenty bucks I wonder if you could throw in that old saucer. The cat’s used to it and it’ll save me from having to get a dish."
The owner says, "Sorry buddy, but that’s my lucky saucer. So far this week I’ve sold sixty-eight cats."
Ahhh…Assumptions – how much have they cost us in life? I don’t know how many times I have pick up something at the hardware store, only to go back and try again, because the what I bought, “looked” like what I needed, but it didn’t work.
In our Scripture today, we can read it and make assumptions about what it says and those assumptions can frustrate our Christian walk.
Let’s start with verse 1. Therefore, rid yourselves of all…and Peter gives us a list of vices. As we know, this was written in ancient koin Greek, (A pain of a language to learn) and that old language is sometimes difficult translate.
To give us as modern readers a sense of what Peter is truly talking about.M ost English bibles like the NIV, which we read from today
translates this as if it is something you need to get to work doing - Get rid of these things! Other translations like the ASV or KJV, translate it as if it is something you are in the process of doing - Your getting rid of these things. Though one can translate it either way, it gives the impression that you have a lot of work ahead of you– and you better get cracking. As you read the chapter you could get the idea that you have to eliminate malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander to build a spiritual house, and that is not what Peter is getting at here. He is really talking about the past – in the sense – what has been done in your life as a Christian convert, not what needs to be done in your life.
What Peter is saying literally, and Youngs translation I think says it well is: Having put aside, then….and lists the vices. Today, in everyday English we would say “having gotten rid of”, as, it is already done.
The word used here in the Bible, is a word that specifically means, throwing off dirty clothes and the image for us is this: I’ve been out in the garden working hard, digging, mowing the law, getting dirty, and, well, I don’t smell so good. So I go inside to take a shower, I throw those clothes a side and get cleaned up…..I tell you what, I am not, going to put those clothes back on because no matter how clean I am
no one else is going to know it – or care. See, Peter is saying: Since you have given your life over to Jesus Christ, he has made you clean – holy, as Peter puts it, because of God’s action - this is important God’s action – not your action.
"So, having been made holy, having gotten rid of these things crave pure spiritual milk" (verse 2).Everything that he states after verse 1,
assumes you have moved on from your old lifestyle.
Why does he say, Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk? Isn’t that a bad thing? Paul talks about growing up and moving beyond milk.
But again, that is not what Peter is getting at here. In Scripture, milk is not always a bad thing, remember the Hebrews looked forward to a land of milk and honey when they were wandering in the Sinai desert.
Milk, biblically, can be a desired thing. Here Peter uses it as a symbol of growing spiritually, common in Jewish thought of the day and emember – Peter is Jewish.
The image given is that of a newborn who instinctively seeks milk. Infants just know all about it, don’t they? They get hungry, and away they go. Peter parallels this in a spiritual sense to us. We who have become spiritually new should seek spiritual milk. This use of milk is directed not at the nutritional content of milk, but at the taste of milk – the sweetness. Milk was highly prized in the ancient world especially fresh sweet milk. Verse 3, "now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."
We see this all over Scripture, for example in: Psa. 34:8 "Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him."
In total this is not about eating, but the quality of something. In fact it can be synonymous with eating for the sake of enjoyment of food. What is experienced then, is the Lord’s goodness and kindness. For as we saw in Chapter one, God came to us first, and chose us – giving us a living hope.
Jumping back to verse one. Usually when we see a list of vices in Scripture, there is a parallel call to adhere to paired virtues but we don’t see that here do we? Instead of a list of virtues to replace the vices. We see a call to dependence on God, in verse 2. That old way of life is behind you, thrown aside like dirty garden clothes. Now that you are clean, holy, turn away from those clothes - malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander and instead depend upon God.
When you read this first verse did you think it was more about what you had to do, than what God has already done for you?
4 -5, Peter then shifts from our spiritual seeking to how God makes our lives secure and How God honors us. In verse 4 he tells us Jesus is the living stone that was rejected. Jesus the living stone is like the living hope in the last chapter. He is active for us today, tomorrow, the next day, and forever.
The stone being rejected is a quote from Psa. 118:22 The stone the builders rejectedhas become the capstone; NIV.
NRSV gives a better sense of the Hebrew: Psa. 118:22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
When I lived in San Antonio there was a lot of building going on and limestone was used in building a lot. It was everywhere. Dig a hole and chances are – limestone. I had a chance to watch some of the stone masons in action. These guys were very fast in their work. As they built a wall, or a stone facing on a building, they would take a stone from the pile of stones, look it over to see where it would fit in any of the open spaces and bam, place it and move on to the next stone. Every so often they would take their hammer and give a chip here or there.
But rarely would they cast a stone aside. They were so efficient in their work, they could spot weakness in a stone with one glance. They knew a defective stone almost instinctively. The cast off stones were not given a second look.
In the time of Jesus, stone was the building material. Builders would start with the perfectly square cut cornerstone. Set it just right, and build out from that point. If the stone was a little off, the building would be crooked. So the builders look very carefully at that first stone,
because if they pick the wrong stone, at some point they will have to tear down the whole thing.
So we see in psalm 118:2 that Jesus didn’t look like what was expected, and so he was set aside, by the Jewish authorities of the day.
He was overlooked in the building of their spirituality. But God, not only approves of Jesus, but values him. He picks him up out of the cast off pile – and places him in a place of honor. Jesus is the cornerstone – in other words what we are to build our life off of, just like the ancient stone masons.
Now is says there in verse five building a spiritual house, of a house – yes, but more specifically, a temple. Though we read house, in context, Peter I speaking of a holy place, like a temple, rather than a residence.
A house is a residence, where we are in charge, we call the shots and Jesus is our guest, who we treat well, but we are still the owner of the place.
I think that might be how most Americans see Jesus in their lives.
A temple is a sacred place, where Jesus is in charge. Jesus calls the shots and we are not a guest, but a worshiper. Though Peter is using the word house his imagery is taken directly from the Septuagint
which clearly Peter is working from for he quotes it throughout this chapter. Remember – the Septuagint is the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament.
Now, a house can be a monument to ones self – not a temple – this is to God. What Peter is trying to say is God is building you spiritually, not as a monument to who you are, but for himself.
This inscription was taken from a large monument in a cemetery in Springdale, Ohio “Here lies Jane Smith, wife of Thomas Smith, marble cutter. This monument was erected by her husband as a tribute to her memory and a specimen of his work. Monuments of the same style 350 dollars.”
The man gave the appearance of building a monument to his wife. But he was building a monument to himself. We as humans are not naturally living stones, we become these upon our conversion to Christ. When we as Americans see verse 5 we see individual stones. Peter does not picture as individual stones, that would be foreign thinking to him. Peter pictures us as collective stones. Stones are living, for we, are now alive in Christ and since Jesus Christ lives among us and herefore impregnable – unlike physical temples (churches) so the worshiper is ultimately safe. The stones not only form the temple, but also the priesthood (verse 5, 9). We are the worshipers of Jesus. We are those who serve Jesus. We are so connected with Jesus, that he lives within us, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Also as with the stones Peter is not talking about you being an individual priest, but all of us as a community of priests
Notice in verse 5 he talks about spiritual sacrifices, even more notice how that sacrifice is acceptable to God. No by my actions, but because it is through Jesus Christ, so even worship and praise is dependent on Jesus for acceptance. Spiritual sacrifices move away from the physical found in Judaism. But this is anticipated in the OT.
Psa. 51:16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psa. 141:2 May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
Hos. 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
These sacrifices are spiritual because they are inspired by and offered through the Holy Spiritnot that they are nonmaterial,for sharing material things with others is a form of sacrifice when I give financially to the poor, I am being sacrificial.
In verse 8
We see Jesus is like a stone that people must pass by in their search for spiritual fulfillment. This stone will effect them either they will accept this stone as worthy (verse 7) or they will reject this stone and thus stumble. The difference in our encounter with Jesus is due to their faith
to stumble is a failure to believe we can recover from a stumble and believe. The concept is this: God forces the issue. All of these references in this passage are more to corporate destiny than to individual destiny.
Holy nation, ( verse 9) not an individual. This emphasizes our special position as a corporate body of believers – to announce his deeds in our lives to others based upon what God has done. Even, and especially when, they rejected us.
Upon our first reading of this passage we might get the impression that God want us to work hard on virtues to be built up spiritually. We also might get the impression that God is a part of my spiritual house.
But it is just the opposite. God has deemed you holy – whether you deserve it or not; through Jesus you have cast off those old vices – they’re old news; through Jesus you are being built into a holy place as part of a worldwide community of faith, where you are not a guest – but a worshiper. Jesus is the cornerstone. He’s who you depend on to make it. Not yourself. For even our spiritual sacrifices are not acceptable when we do them on our own, but only acceptable through Jesus Christ. God does it.
But we are not to be spiritually lazy. The Apostle Peter will clarify that for us in the coming chapters. For now keep this in mind….
10 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.
