An Appraisal From God
1 Peter 2:4 - 10
Introduction – You know America is a wonderful place. One of the things I like best is that we are not afraid to laugh at ourselves. And there are plenty of things to laugh at these days.
We are probably the only people on earth who spend thousands of dollars on cars so that we leave them in driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
Or have you noticed that when you go to the bank, the doors are always wide open, but the pens are chained to the counter.
And I still haven’t figured out why we need handicapped parking places in front of the skating rink or Braille lettering at the drive up ATM machines.
Sometimes I think we need to sit down and take an honest look at ourselves to see why do what it is that we do. It’s like we need to take an appraisal of ourselves.
When you are in the market for a home one thing you learn a lot about early on is appraisals. Unless you have all cash you need, the value and worth of the house have to meet the asking price based on the opinion of an appraiser for your loan to be approved. Often the owners will be sure to point out the various improvements they might have made to the property to insure that they are not overlooked and the proper value is assigned to the home.
Have you ever wondered what would happen to you if you and your life were appraised? If God, who is completely able to look in every nook and cranny of your life, was to appraise you right now what kind of qualities would He find that would add value to your life? We might not think of it to much about it, but God is in the appraisal business. The one difference is that He doesn’t just make His appraisal on what you have done to your life better, but on what He has done and intends to do with your life. As a matter of fact the Bible speaks a great deal about this kind of evaluation in both the Old and New Testaments.
In Jeremiah 29:11, God’s Word says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
In Colossians 1:12 the Bible tells us that in Christ we have been “qualified [you] to share in the inheritance of the saints of the kingdom of light.”
These are just a couple of the many special blessings God has designated for us. This might tell us something about our relationship with God. God doesn’t get mad and ticked off at us every time we do something dumb and trip over our own feet spiritually. He is a loving Father and we are precious in His sight.
In this passage Peter takes great pains to remind us that God sees in us great potential and for us great opportunity. This morning lets take a few moments to see what God sees when He looks at you.
I. God’s Appraisal of Us in Christ (2:4, 6 – 8)
I have a friend who told about a time he and his wife were trying to sell their home. When the real estate agent came they told him that there were several things that they were taking out of that house for their new one. After the list got fairly long, the realtor reminded them that their house had lost tremendous value because of the things they were taking.
When God begins to look at our lives we have nothing of value to show Him unless the cornerstone of our live is Jesus Christ. God’s appraisal of our lives is based solely on the atoning work of Jesus Christ. To us an evaluation isn’t complete unless the total person is looked at. To God it is never an issue of strengths and weaknesses or even good or bad—it is all about being redeemed or not.
Isaiah 64:6 points out the big picture in all of our lives; “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."
All the efforts of men will never be enough to find favor with God, we know that, yet there are so many who by their actions think that personal goodness is enough.
Remember how Peter described what Christ is to our lives, “a chosen and precious cornerstone.” I think he is wanting us to clearly understand that if we fail to
get first things first—nothing else matters. Isn’t it odd that there are so many good people, who think
they have got it figured out. I hope that this morning your hope for eternity is not in what you’ve done, but in what Christ has done for you.
Without Christ we have no foundation that allows us to stand in the presence of God.
II. God’s Appraising You in Christ As… (2:5 – 10)
Living Stones (2:5)
Do you remember when pet rocks were the big fad? They were advertised as being the best pet anyone could have. You bought them, took them home and if you never looked at them again it wouldn’t matter. They would still just lie around and not be a problem. We are not to be like that before God, some people think that being saved is the end of all things, when in reality it is a beginning.
God sees us as “living stones” that are being built upon Christ into a spiritual house. In 1 Corinthians 3:9 we are told, “For we are God’s fellow
workers, you are God’s field, you are God’s building.”
Every time a person confesses and believes in Jesus Christ, it’s like another stone is being taken from the pit of sin, is purged and added to the spiritual dwelling of God.
We are to be God’s Holy and Royal Priesthood. We have been set aside to for work of God. Understand that in the Old Testament a priest had two distinctive roles.
They were to represent the people before God. and they were to represent God’s will to the people.
If we are to fulfill the role God has given us then we must be seeking God on be on behalf of others, and we need to be bolding telling them about God’s love and forgiveness.
We must never forget that we are the chosen generation of God
Do you remember when you were a kid and you would get together with your friends to play games. Usually there would be a captain chosen and they would pick who they wanted on their team. Everyone wanted to be picked first because that meant that you were the most valuable.
We have been chosen by God to be His people, and God sees in us an indescribable value. We need to remember what Israel came to know about God because it is meaningful to us. In Deuteronomy 7 we read,
“God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.” God didn’t choose us because we impressed Him with our works, or with our sincerity, or our intellect. He chose us because we willingly turned our hearts to Jesus.
We are God’s Holy Nation
I heard someone say once that America was God’s chosen nation, I don’t believe America is any more God’s than any other place in the world.
Peter is talking about the church—those who have been born again. Christians are called to be a separated nation of people seeking do the will of God in all things.
“If we seem out of step with the world, it is because we march to the beat of a different drummer. We sing a different national anthem, and pledge allegiance to a different flag, because our citizenship, our true citizenship is in heaven.” - Charles Swindoll
Conclusion – God is looking over our lives very carefully, He is looking to see His purpose in your life. Ask yourself, when God looks at me does He someone who is living in Christ, as everything He intended for me to be? If not, why not come clean with God, and give Him your heart and your all today?
