Dan Herold | 1 Peter 2:4-10 | 2/5/2017
(Sermon begins at 12:00)
Every now and then I receive a letter in the mail, and I’m sure many of you receive similar letters, that tell me that I am invited to an exclusive event. Usually the exclusive event is a sale at a car dealership, or sometimes it’s a grand opening of a store, and sometimes it’s an invitation to apply for a new credit card, or to buy life insurance. No matter what type of event it is the letter usually tells me how exclusive the offer is and that a very limited number of people are invited. It also almost always tells me that this offer is only good for a limited time. Those letters might be kind of exciting when you first see them, but after a while you realize that you keep getting those same exclusive limited time offers every month, if not more often.
In our second lesson this morning we heard Peter tell us about a VERY EXCLUSIVE group that we as Christians have been made a part of. He said,
“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.”
However, that group isn’t exclusive because only a few people are invited…God invites all people to come to him and be apart of his chosen people. This group is exclusive because, unlike those offers we get in the mail, there really is only one way into this group. Throughout history people have tried everything you could imagine to find another way in and they all have failed because there is only one way in, and that is through Jesus Christ who rose from the dead to be your only ticket into heaven.
How many of you have ever heard that claim that Christianity is an unloving religion because it is too exclusive or because it excludes people. Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t heard that particular attack, but it is a common one. If we look closely at Peter’s words here, though, it becomes obvious God doesn’t reject anyone. In fact he sends out his invitation to be his child, to even be a priest serving in his temple, to all people! Actually, it’s the sinful arrogance of mankind that rejects God and refuses his invitation.
In verse 6 of 1 Peter chapter 2 Peter quotes Isaiah 28:16 where God 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.”
In modern buildings the corner stone isn’t nearly as important as it once was, and often times today it’s just a decorative stone with the date the building was built engraved on it. In the past though, the cornerstone was the most important stone in a building. It was the stone that all other measurements in the building were based off of. If the cornerstone was crooked, every other line in the building would be crooked. If it was rotated just a little off center and the walls were built off of it, instead of a corner you’d have a big gap in your house. The cornerstone was the standard for every other stone after it to be laid.
And for us today who Peter says are stones being built into a spiritual house Jesus is the standard for us to follow. But, if you look at the world today, there are only two conclusions you can logically make. Either the cornerstone was crooked, or mankind rejected the standard set by that perfect cornerstone. And if you look honestly at yourself you have to confess that it is the second option. We haven’t followed Christ. We have not acted like the salt and light of the world Jesus tells us we are. We have gone off to build in our own direction and we have built crooked walls that are in danger of toppling over at any time.
That’s why Jesus had to die and rise again. Because we couldn’t follow God’s perfect model. We needed to be rescued from that wobbly house we built that was about to cave in and crush us. And Jesus did that for us! He gave himself up so that we could live. He died and rose again to give us life and to be our only ticket into heaven. And he did it as a free gift for all people of all places and of all times! He sent out an invitation that only God could send out. And to us that is the most precious thing we could ever hope to receive.
But Peter has something to say to those who don’t view that cornerstone which God chose as precious. He says to them,
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“The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.”
Essentially what he’s saying to everyone who rejects Jesus as their Savior is, “you rejected the one thing you needed the most.” To reject him would be like if you went to a party and at the door they asked to see your invitation and you said, “Oh, I threw it away, but you still have to let me in.” I don’t think that would get you into the party, and that sort of attitude probably wouldn’t get you anywhere with the host either. But those who reject Jesus, who reject the only one who died for their sins and rose again, reject their only ticket into heaven.
The image of the Jesus being a capstone shows us just how important he is. A capstone is the stone that goes in the very center at the top of an arch. It’s the stone that balances the weight of the arch and holds the arch up. If you take out the capstone the arch will fall down. So, if you reject the capstone and say, “Oh its just a regular old stone, I don’t need it,” then you are responsible for the arch following down on you. God chose Jesus to be our capstone, he put him in that place and gave him that responsibility. We had nothing to do with God’s choosing to send his Son to live and die and be our ticket into heaven…but if we arrogantly throw away that ticket then the blame falls squarely on us.
And that’s not all…rejecting Jesus as your Savior continues to have effects further down the road. Peter says that to those who reject Jesus, he now becomes a stone that causes stumbling and a rock that causes men to fall. Because once you reject Jesus he doesn’t go away. He stays in your path, but instead of being your ticket into heaven, now he’s the thing you constantly trip over. Once you take Jesus out of the place God put him in and put yourself in that place you find out that you can’t bear the weight and you begin to stumble and trip. And every mention of Jesus name makes you trip because you have decided that he can’t be what he truly is. Peter says,
“they stumble because they disobey the message.”
Not because God excluded them, but because they chose to disobey.
And then we come to the words I mentioned earlier…what some call the most beautiful description of what we are through faith in Christ.
“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.”
We are chosen by God, made priests in his church, we are a nation which has been made holy, we belong to God, we have been called out of darkness and into his wonderful light.
After you receive enough of those letters from car dealerships, and stores, and credit card companies they stop even having the appearance of something special. That’s because they really aren’t special. God doesn’t do that though…he doesn’t change the rules. And it’s not because he’s vindictive or trying keep people out of heaven…it’s because he is honest and trustworthy. His word never changes and you never have to guess what he means. He says plain and simple that Jesus Christ, his Son, died and rose from the dead to give us, who were dead by nature, life—and to be our only ticket into everlasting life in heaven.
As sinful people, we are all in the same boat. All of us are condemned by our sinful nature and all of us are invited to spend eternity with God in heaven. However, there’s only one ticket into heaven and that is faith in Jesus as your own personal Savior from sin. If you throw away that ticket you are the only one to blame, if you show up with your ticket in hand give thanks and praise to the one who sent you that ticket—to your Father in heaven who sent his Son Jesus to be your Savior. Give thanks to him who has made us what we are today. Peter tells us,
“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.”
So as people belonging God, let us declare the praises of him who has called us out of the darkness of sin and into his wonderful light by the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior and ticket into heaven—Jesus Christ.
Amen.