I Peter 2:4-10 * April 20, 2008 * Easter 5 * Pastor Pagels
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
See if you can figure out what the following statements have in common: “A leopard can’t change his stripes.” “A rolling stone is worth two in the bush.” “Wake up and smell the music.” “It’s like shooting monkeys in a barrel.”
These statements are all examples of mixed metaphors. A metaphor is a figure of speech that is used to make a direct comparison between two things (like saying that Prince Fielder is a mountain of a man). A metaphor becomes mixed when the speaker confuses or combines two metaphors that are commonly used to express an idea (for example, combining “silence is golden” with “ignorance is bliss” to come up with “silence is bliss”).
Mixed metaphors make people smile and English teachers cringe. Mixed metaphors aren’t considered good English, and they are almost always unintentional. I say almost because our text for this morning contains a string of metaphors, and Peter’s choice of words is not only intentional. His words are divinely inspired.
Within a single verse (5) Peter describes Christians as “living stones” and a “spiritual house” and “a holy priesthood.” Why did he pile up these terms? Why did he move so quickly from one
comparison to the next? Because he was communicating
with God’s people, people who shared a common faith, people who were being
persecuted because of their faith, people who desperately needed to be built up
in their faith.
Peter’s word-pictures might be difficult for us to understand, but they are beautiful nonetheless. Peter’s logic isn’t exactly easy to follow, but his overarching message is clear. Addressing believers of the first century and the twenty-first century, the apostle gives us the comforting reminder that…
CHRISTIANS ARE GOD’S SPECIAL PEOPLE
II. We function as a holy
priesthood
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him” (4). Peter’s first metaphor doesn’t have to do with Christians. Instead he gives us a picture of Christ himself, when he calls Jesus the “living stone.” Why that? Why a stone? Was he remembering the time when Jesus gave him the name “Peter,” which means “rock?” It’s possible, but it’s more likely that he was thinking of the Old Testament. In fact, Peter quotes three different Old Testament passages that make use of the same basic picture.
The first quotation comes from Isaiah (28:16), where the prophet writes: “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” (6). This stone is not a what, but a who. He was chosen by God. He is precious to God. And anyone who trusts in him will not be disappointed because this stone is the cornerstone.
Cornerstones aren’t all that important today. They are often inscribed with the date of a building’s construction. Sometimes they contain documents and mementos, but they are more decorative than anything else. Back when these words were written, however, the cornerstone was the building’s most important stone. It had to be straight. It had to be solid. If it wasn’t, the structure wouldn’t be stable, and it could even fall.
Borrowing from the words of Peter, borrowing from the words of a well-known hymn, Christ is our cornerstone (CW 528). He is our rock. He is the foundation of our faith. His Word is straight and true. He is precious to us, no, he is priceless to us. He is worthy of our trust and he will never let us down.
Peter’s second Old Testament reference (from Psalm 118) describes Jesus as “the capstone,” perhaps referring to the wedge shaped stone positioned at the top of an arch. Remove the load bearing capstone, and the wall will collapse. Remove Jesus from our lives, and we will collapse.
And unfortunately Peter knew of some people who had done just that. The capstone (Jesus) had been rejected by the builders, the religious leaders of the day. He wasn’t the kind of leader they were looking for, and so they threw him on a pile with all the other rejected rocks. Instead of accepting him, instead of appreciating him, Jesus became for them “a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall” (8)
Most of us have tripped over a rock at some point in our lives. That hurts, but it doesn’t complete the picture here. Imagine tripping on a rock that causes you to fall over a cliff, a fall that will end in certain death when your body slams into the rocks below.
That is the fate of everyone who rejects Jesus. That is the fate we deserve because we have rejected Jesus. Even if we have never put those three words together, even if we have never publicly declared, “I reject Jesus,” we’re still guilty. We are just as guilty of rejecting Jesus when we fail to stand up for him, when we misuse his name, when we disobey his word.
Because of our sin we are guilty. Because we are sinful we are dead, but Jesus
is living. That’s the message of
Easter. That’s the message of Peter. Jesus is alive. He is the resurrection and the life. He is the way and the truth and the
life. And he is “the living stone.”
How can a stone be alive? Or how can a dead person come back to life? I don’t know, but I believe. Christians don’t know the answers, but we do know that Jesus is the answer. He has forgiven our sins. He has made us alive. And he has made us into living stones.
“You also, like
living stones, are being built into a spiritual house” (5a). When Peter wrote these words he was
probably thinking of the temple in
To get a visual picture of what Peter is talking about you
don’t have to go to
Christians are living stones. That’s an amazing picture. Peter could have spent a couple chapters explaining
what that metaphor means and how it applies to our lives. He could have, but he didn’t. Instead of focusing on the structure of the
temple, he challenges us to think of ourselves as people who serve in God’s
temple: “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” (5).
In order to understand this picture, let’s see if we can review the Old Testament priesthood in fifty words or less. The priests came from the tribe of Levi. They didn’t own land, so they couldn’t raise crops or tend sheep. So what did they do for a living? They led the people in worship. They offered sacrifices. They performed all kinds of priestly duties, but if you boil it down, the priests had one main job, to serve as the go-between between God and God’s people.
But if what Peter was saying is true, then every Christian is a priest. And if every Christian is a priest, then the priesthood (at least in its old form) is no longer necessary. It was a radical idea, but because of Jesus it was true. Because Jesus offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice every believer has direct access to God. Because Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins we are now holy to God. Because of Jesus we can offer our hearts, our hands, our lives as living sacrifices that are acceptable to God.
It’s interesting (and perhaps more than a coincidence) that
this subject comes up during the pope’s visit to the
Instead of telling the people, “If you want to get to God, you have to go through me,” instead of demanding, “If you want to serve God, you must pledge your allegiance to me,” Peter declared: “You are God’s special people. You are priests. You are a holy priesthood, created and commissioned to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God.”
And that was something the people needed to hear. The first Christians to read this letter needed to be reminded of their special status because at the time they weren’t feeling all that special. They couldn’t enjoy their relationship with God when they were constantly being persecuted for it. And understandably some of them began to wonder if being a follower of Jesus was worth it.
So is it? Is it worth the effort it takes to be a Christian? Is it worth it if you know that what you believe will make you unpopular? Is it worth it if you know that you will often be excluded because of your faith? Is it worth it if you know that other people will look down on you or make fun of you? I know how Peter would answer those questions. Without hesitation he would say: “Yes! Absolutely it’s worth it! And let me tell you why.”
It’s worth it because “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” (9). This verse introduces us to four more metaphors, four more pictures Peter uses to describe who and what we are.
We are “a chosen people.” We don’t have to share the same bloodline as Jesus. We don’t have to make a decision to believe in Jesus. We don’t have to lie awake at night worrying if we believe or not because we are a chosen people. God has chosen us to be his own. In baptism Jesus gives us the gift of faith. In communion Jesus gives us forgiveness in his body and blood. In the Word Jesus gives us the promise that nothing, I repeat, nothing can separate us from God’s love.
We are “a royal priesthood,” not just priests, not just holy priests. We are royalty. Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus is ruling in our hearts right now, and we look forward to the day when we will serve him and reign with him in heaven.
We are “a holy nation.” We aren’t perfect, but we are holy. We are a “communion of saints,” a gathering of people who are perfect in the eyes of God because God’s perfect Son died in our place. We are blood relatives, joined by the blood of Christ.
And finally, we are “a people belonging to God” (the KJV translates this phrase “a peculiar people”). We aren’t peculiar in the sense that we are strange, but we are different. We are different because sin and Satan no longer control us. We are different because we are God’s prized possession. He will always take care of us. He will always do what is best for us. And he will never leave us or forsake us.
That makes us look at ourselves differently. That makes us look at life differently. We now live to serve. We live to declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. We live to tell the world that God so loved the world, that Jesus is the Light of the world, that in Jesus there is hope for a dying world.
In the seven verses of this text Peter describes Christians in at least seven different ways. We are living stones who come together to form a spiritual house. We are a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a chosen people, a peculiar people. Every metaphor is different. Every picture is unique, and yet they are all tied together by a common theme: Christians are special. Christians, you are special. You are God’s special people. Amen.