Introduction:
A. The story is told of a baby rabbit who was orphaned.
1. Fortunately, a family of squirrels took it in and raised it as if it were one of their own.
2. This adoption led to some peculiar behaviors on the part of the rabbit, including a tendency for it to scurry around like its step-siblings instead of jumping around like a rabbit.
3. When the rabbit grew up, it went through a bit of an identity crisis (don't we all).
4. So the rabbit went to his squirrel step-parents to discuss the problem.
5. The rabbit confessed how he felt different from his squirrel step-siblings and wasn’t sure he should be a squirrel or a rabbit; he was just so confused and forlorn.
6. His step-parents response was: “Don't scurry, be hoppy.”
B. I know that’s pretty corny, but I want us to spend a few minutes thinking about our identity.
1. What is our self-concept? Do we know who we really are?
2. Do any of us suffer from an identity crisis, or low self-esteem?
3. Today’s section of First Peter has a lot to say about our identity.
4. What Peter tells us should be a cure for anyone’s identity crisis.
C. Let’s look at the text and mine some powerful truths about who we really are in Christ.
I. We are Living Stones
A. Peter began this section, saying: 4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him - 5 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.
6 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.”
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. (1 Peter 2:4-8)
B. Peter points us to some amazing and life-changing truths in this section.
1. Peter declares that there is only one Savior - Jesus Christ, and there is only one spiritual building - the church.
2. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the church – and as the cornerstone He is the perfect stone on which the whole church rests and takes its shape.
3. Peter declares that He is the Living Stone because He was raised from the dead and lives with God in heaven.
4. Peter also called Jesus the chosen stone and precious stone of the Father.
5. Nevertheless, in spite of His chosen and precious status before God, He was rejected by men.
C. Jesus was not the kind of Messiah the Jews were desiring and expecting, so they stumbled over him.
1. The real cause of this Jewish stumbling was their refusal to submit to the Word of God.
2. Had they believed and obeyed the Word, they would have received their Messiah and been saved through Him.
3. Of course, people today still stumble over Christ and His cross.
4. But regardless of people’s reaction to Christ, He is who He is – He is the Living Stone, Chosen and Precious to God.
D. And here’s the wonderful news for us – if we do believe in the Living Stone then we become living stones who are being built into God’s spiritual house.
1. Every time someone becomes a Christian, another stone is quarried out and put in place.
2. It may look to us that the church on earth is a pile of ruble and ruins, but God sees the total structure as it grows – God is the architect and builder.
3. What a privilege it is for us to be part of God’s building that ultimately houses God’s spirit.
E. Peter wrote this letter to believers living in five different provinces, yet he said that they belong to one “spiritual house.”
1. There is a unity of God’s people that transcends all local and individual assemblies in both time and space.
2. What God is doing is so much bigger than any individual person or congregation at any point in history.
3. And you and I are privileged to be added to God’s glorious, spiritual building.
4. Paul said it so well in Ephesians 2:19-22: Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
F. So who are we? We are living stones built upon the chief cornerstone rising to become a holy dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit! Praise God for that!
II. We are a Chosen People
A. Look again at First Peter 2:9-10: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 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.
B. All of us are familiar with the joy of being chosen and the pain of being rejected.
1. That’s true whether we are talking about dating and marriage or team sports.
2. I remember as a kid, standing in a line against the baseball backstop as teams were being chosen.
3. I don’t remember being a first choice, I do remember fearing that I might be the last one chosen.
C. One of the wonderful realities of the Christian life is that God has chosen us and we are a special possession of His.
1. The Apostle Paul explained it like this: For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will… (Eph. 1:4-5)
2. Just as God chose Israel of all the nations of the world to be the people of the Old Covenant, so now God has chosen we who believe in Jesus Christ, to be His people and His possession.
D. What is your most prized possession?
1. Is it a piece of jewelry, or furniture?
2. Is it a car or a fishing rod?
3. No matter what it is, it has great value to you, either monetarily or emotionally.
4. As a prized possession, you take great interest in it and are very careful to protect it, right?
E. The same is true with God and His prized possession – the members of the church.
1. He chose us and adopted us and we are special to Him.
2. God takes a special interest in us and is careful to protect and provide for us.
3. God, of course, has great plans for our future with Him.
F. We must never forget who we are:
1. #1 – We are Living Stones being built into God’s spiritual house.
2. #2 – We are Chosen people, God’s special possession.
III. We are a Holy and Royal Priesthood
A. Peter mentions a couple of times in this section that we are a priesthood – holy and royal.
1. In the Old Testament period, God’s people had a priesthood; but today, God’s people are a priesthood.
2. Each individual believer has the privilege of coming into the presence of God.
3. We no longer have to approach God through any other earthly person acting as a priest, but only through our Savior and Mediator, Jesus Christ, who is in heaven.
B. As a holy priesthood, Peter said that we are to be “offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5)
1. The primary function of the Old Testament priests, as they ministered at the tabernacle and then the temple, was to offer animal sacrifices to God.
2. But Jesus became the final blood sacrifice necessary for our salvation.
3. Now the only sacrifices remaining for the priesthood of believers to offer up are spiritual sacrifices.
C. The New Testament mentions a number of spiritual sacrifices that we Christians should be offering as a holy priesthood.
1. First, we ought to be offering ourselves and our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1-2).
2. Second, we ought to be offering a sacrifice of praise to God (Heb. 13:15).
3. Third, the good works we do for others is an offering (Heb. 13:16).
4. Fourth, the money and other material things we share with others in God’s service is also a spiritual sacrifice (Phil. 4:10-20).
6. Finally, the people we bring to Christ are sacrifices for His glory (Rom. 15:16).
D. As a royal and holy priesthood, it is important that we maintain a set apart and holy position in the world.
1. As I’ve said before, it’s like a boat – the boat is supposed to be in the water, but the water is not supposed to be in the boat.
2. Separation is not isolation; it is contact without contamination.
3. We must not be isolated, because the world needs our influence and witness; but we must not permit the world to infect us or change us – we must be holy.
E. So who are you? You are a royal and holy priest. How about that!
1. We believe in the priesthood of all believers.
2. We believe that all of us have equal access to God, and are employed to be God’s servants.
3. Being a holy priesthood doesn’t mean that we all will play the same role in the church, but it does mean that God wants us all to play a role – to be active in service according to God’s will.
IV. We are a People with a Mission
A. All the privileges we have been talking about today that have to do with our identity – living stones, chosen people, holy priesthood – carry a big responsibility.
1. That responsibility is the mission of revealing the praises of God to a lost world.
2. Look again at verse 9: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
3. The verb translated “that you may declare” means “to tell out, to advertise.”
4. Our lives must be a living advertisement for the virtues of God and the blessings of the Christian life.
5. Our lives must radiate the “marvelous light” into which God has graciously called us.
B. Peter explained in the next verse: 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. (1 Pet. 2:10)
1. That’s the marvelous conversion and transformation that has taken place in our lives.
2. We used to be out, and now we are in – We use to not belong, and now we do.
3. And why have we been allowed in?
a. Is it because we are great and have done great things? Is it because we are holy and good?
4. No it is because of God’s mercy – God’s grace and forgiveness through Jesus.
C. That which we have received is something that we should want to share with others.
1. Recently, I filled my bird feeder with seed.
2. I’ve been watching for the birds to begin using the feeder, but none have come yet.
3. See, I neglected the feeder all summer, and so the birds have given up on me.
4. But I know that all it is going to take is one bird to wander by and check out the feeder.
5. Once one bird stops and finds seed, I know that he will be telling all his friends, and I’ll be back to needing to refill the feeder every couple of days.
6. It’s not in the nature of a bird to keep all the seed for himself – he is going to quickly tell other birds of his discovery.
D. The same should be true of us, right?
1. We have made a great discovery – We have discovered the love and grace of God.
2. Now we know who we are, and why we are here, and where we are going.
3. We are living stones.
4. We are chosen and special possessions of God.
5. We are holy and royal priests.
6. And we are a people with a mission.
E. Let me end with an interesting story of the famous German philosopher Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher. He did much to shape the progress of modern thought in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
1. One day as an old man he was sitting alone on a bench in a city park.
2. A policeman, thinking that he was a vagrant, came over and shook him and asked, “Who are you?”
3. The old philosopher sadly replied, “I wish I knew.”
4. Sounds like a philosopher, “I’m not sure who I am or if I even exist!”
F. Praise God that none of us have to have an identity crisis.
1. Praise God that we can know exactly who we are in Christ.
2. Praise God that He has given us a wonderful identity in Christ – Chosen, Consecrated, and Commissioned.
3. We are God’s special possession, with a royal position, and a holy purpose.
4. Let’s be sure to know WHO we ARE, and then LIVE like it.
Resources:
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, 1 Peter, by John MacArthur, Moody Publishing, 2004
The Bible Exposition Commentary, 1 Peter, by Warren Wiersbe, Victor Books, 1989
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 1 Peter, by Edwin A. Blum, Zondervan, 1981
