Rid yourselves, therefore, of all
malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure,
spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the
Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone,
though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house,
to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ. For
it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” To you then who
believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,” and “A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble
because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the
mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:1 - 10 (NRSV)
The
King James Version translates “God’s own people” as “peculiar people”. That fits some of us rather well…don’t you
think?
Peter calls us a
“spiritual house” built up from little stones, who are modeled after the
Cornerstone, The Rock (Jesus). He says we were once living in darkness – the
darkness of sin – but God called us out with light, Jesus, who came into the
world to bring light to people steeped in great darkness. Our purpose as disciples of Jesus is to
pursue that light.
Peter says we are
chosen, royal, and holy; now he didn’t say that to give us “bragging
rights”. Rather God chose to set us
apart for His own purpose; that purpose is for us to tell the world about Him,
by the way we live, and by the way we love.
And that is the issue this morning – the way we live and the way we love.
The Way We Live
There are two major
considerations for the way we live
1.
Growing as part of Christ’s body
Peter said God’s
requirement for followers of Jesus was to “put aside” malice, guile, hypocrisy,
envy, slander, etc, and grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ. That phrase “putting aside” indicates
something that is done “once-for-all”.
It’s like taking off a garment, laying it on the ground, and never again
picking it up. In other words, we don’t
just cut-back on our malice and hypocrisy – we give it up altogether!
If we are to become
an exemplary part of the Body of Christ it will mean laying-aside all
self-centeredness. I have known some
saved people who are mean-spirited and just plain “hard to get along with”. Instead of letting the grace of the Lord
Jesus transform them into mellow and gracious people, it seems the longer they
live, the more demanding they become.
They make life miserable for everyone around them.
How can you prevent
that? You can do what Peter said:
Come to him, a living stone, 1 Peter 2:4a (NRSV)
The phrase “come to
Him” indicates a habitual approach.
Peter said we are to grow by [habitually] taking in the sincere milk of
the Word. That’s how babies grow…they
take in nourishment at every opportunity.
They eat habitually!
Is prayer and Bible
study habitual with you? As a pastor I
have often been in the privileged position of watching the last number of
months, days and hours of people who are getting ready to exit this world. One of the surest signs that the end is near
is when the person refuses food. An
appetite is required for health.
My friend, if you
want to be faithful to the Lord Who died for you, your appetite for growing
needs to be fed. If you don’t, it’s a
sign you’d rather live close to spiritual death than robust Christian life!
Our way of living as
part of the body of Christ at Mt Zion United Methodist Church is to grow by
feeding on the Word of God, and...
2.
Learning to fulfill God’s Commandments
Jesus gave a summary
statement of the 10 Commandments:
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew
22:37a - 40 (NRSV)
Jesus said that if we want to know what God expects,
love Him with everything you’ve got, and do that for your neighbor as well.
Peter also gave a
pretty graphic and interesting picture of what it means to fulfill God’s
commandments. He told about how God had
used the life and ministry of Jesus to be like a cornerstone.
A cornerstone is the
most important one laid in a foundation.
If it is crooked, the whole building will be like the Leaning Tower of
Pisa. But Jesus isn’t flawed in any way;
He is the perfect cornerstone. As His
followers, therefore, we are the bricks that build the spiritual house of
God. But it all lines-up according to
the cornerstone…everything hinges on being like Jesus.
What does it mean to
be a spiritual house of God? It means we
are to live obediently to all God’s claims on our lives. We are to live disciplined lives of service
to others. Each “stone” or “brick” in
the building of God’s house is to relate well to each other stone, so we can be
a lighthouse of God’s welcoming message to the whole world.
We are to become
like the chief cornerstone, Jesus. We
call it becoming Christ-like; we grow into the image of Christ by following
after Him. We don’t conform to the ways
of the world; we are transformed by allowing God to renew us and remake us.
I served a church
once where I was told that it was just a fact of life that sometimes, in order
to get the church moving, the pastor just needed to “fuss” at the congregation
a little in the sermon, and that will do it.
Now, without fussing
over that, let me tell you why I won’t do that.
I will not presume to take away your responsibility to respond to your
Savior. If all you are waiting on to
serve God is a little parental-like scolding, you are asking me to be God, and
that position is already filled.
But, worse than
putting me on a throne, you are putting yourself in the “disobedient child”
position – won’t serve until he’s fussed-at.
Obeying God’s commands should be the uppermost thing on your mind – not
just because our mission statement says it – or the pastor pitches a fit in the
sermon – but because the commands of God are not awful and odious; He is a
loving God Who gives commands that are for our health and joy! Obey Him because you love Him, not because
the preacher fusses at you once in a while!
Obey Him because you’ve chosen to live that way.
So that has to do
with the way we live, and also…
The Way We Love
Rick Warren is the
author of “The Purpose-Driven Life”.
Before he wrote that book he wrote “The Purpose-Driven Church”. In that first book Warren says that “…the key
issue for churches in the twenty-first century is church
health, not church growth.[1]
I believe Rick
Warren is correct, and I say to you that the health of this church [or any
church], spiritually-speaking, will determine its growth!
So, preacher, how do
you determine the spiritual health of a congregation? Peter said it’s our appetite for two things…
1.
Our Appetite for Missions
Appetite for missions;
does that mean going to South America or Africa to be eaten by savages? No…at least not at first!
Peter said that
God’s purpose in bringing us out of the darkness of sin and choosing us to be
his own priceless possession was so that we would proclaim God’s mighty
acts.
To “proclaim God’s
mighty acts” means telling others about Jesus…proclaiming Bethlehem, Golgotha
and Armageddon…
·
Bethlehem – He
came to us;
·
Golgotha – He
died and rose to save us;
·
and Armageddon –
He’s coming back for us.
One sure sign of a
healthy church is that we not only remember we are supposed to
go around telling everyone who will listen that Jesus saves, but that we
actually do it!
Some folks think
they cannot possibly be doing missions unless they travel at least 100 miles
from home. My friends let me tell you
something – you cannot possibly be ready to do missions anywhere until you are
willing to talk to your neighbors.
Don’t put the cart
before the horse here – you shouldn’t sign-up for a trip to Honduras or
Mongolia, or anywhere, if you’re not willing to go witness to lost people under
the shadow of our own steeple.
Do you recall Jesus
telling us about missions, saying we would be His witnesses? He said we should go to Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.
That is a spiral that started right where they were in Jerusalem, then
worked outward to the surrounding neighborhoods, and finally spread around the
globe.
That, my friends, is
a circle that starts with the closest place to your own home. You don’t start with a mission to the far
corners of the globe; you begin with what God has put in front of you!
We need an appetite
for missions, and…
2.
Our Appetite for Ministry
What is the
difference between missions and ministry?
Well, there is a difference, but, it is like the old song has it…love
and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage…you
can’t have one without the other.
"Missions"
is telling others about Jesus – Bethlehem, Golgotha & Armageddon. Ministry is meeting the needs of people in
the name of Jesus so they will know Jesus cares for them.
Peter called us a
“royal priesthood”. He was quoting from
Exodus:
Now therefore, if you obey my
voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the
peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is
mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. Exodus 19:5 - 6 (NRSV)
A priest is a
mediator, a go-between. The pope, who is
the head priest of the Roman Catholic church, is called in Latin pontifex – bridge-builder. Ministry is being that priest, a
bridge-builder between Christ and people who need Christ.
Peter asks us to
look at what has happened to us.
· We have been called out of darkness into light;
· We were nobody – God made us precious;
·
We were under
condemnation of sin – God came with mercy.
Do you get the
picture that this is all about us being totally helpless in the grip, the jaws
of sin? And Jesus came to set us free.
Charles Lowery[2]
tells of …a young boy who lived in south Florida who had a bad day at
school. His house was on a lake and when
he got home, he just hit the water and began to swim.
A neighbor saw what
was happening and called 911. His mom
saw him and dove into the lake. The
alligator and his mom arrived at the boy about the same time. There was a tug-of-war, but his mom won.
When he was released
from the hospital the news media was there, and they asked to see the scars
from the alligator. The young boy showed
his arm where the alligator had clamped down on him. But then he told them they needed to see the scars
on his other arm. Then he pulled back
his sleeve and showed them the nail scars from where his mother wouldn't let
go.
To be as lost as
that whole picture tells us we were – and to be found in the nails-dug-in sovereign
protection of God Almighty is truly an act of grace.
And for that grace
there can only be one response…love. It
is the act of dedicating our entire lives to His service.
No comments:
Post a Comment