“Alive to You, Dead to Me”
(1 Peter 2:4-8)
Series: Strength Through Adversity
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
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Take your Bibles and join me in 1Peter, chapter 2 (page 815; YouVersion).
A few weeks ago we began a series of messages through the Book of 1Peter. Peter is the disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ who was told by Jesus to, “strengthen the brethren (Luke 22:32).” And that’s what Peter is doing here in this letter. He is writing a letter to his brothers and sisters that they may find strength through adversity. We left off at verse 3 last week and, because we believe in preaching through books of the Bible, we pick up, then, at verse 4.
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Please stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God.
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,
5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”
8 and
“A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
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Pray.
Introduction:
There’s a phrase in this passage that sounds unusual to us if we have never studies this text before. Peter says in verse 5 that Christians are to, “offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.” We’ll take a closer look at that phrase in a moment but know for now that at the heart of that phrase is the idea of dying to oneself and living for God.
There is a song by Keith Green that came to mind as I studied this passage. It’s a song that describes the heart cry of a Christian who is going through a dry season, going through a time when the Christian just feels week and powerless and has lost something of the zest and zeal of Christian living, a dry period. Have you ever been there? I have, too. The song goes like this:
My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to You and dead to me
And I thought about that song because it describes the desire of every true believer. We really wish to be alive to God and dead to ourselves. And I believe this passage of Scripture helps us find renewal in Christ as we reflect on some actions to take to ensure we remain alive to God and dead to ourselves. I invite you to jot these down. Number one, we must:
I. Continually Come to Christ (4)
We come to Him first to be saved, but we must continually come to Him frequently throughout each day. Verse 4 begins with this participle that conveys continual activity. Peter writes:
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,
So before we talk about this phrase, “living stone,” which is a reference to Christ, note what we are to do. We are to continually come to Him, continually come to Christ. The answer to your dry seasons and times where you feel apathetic spiritually, the answer to those times is to continually come to Christ. You seek Him regularly through prayer, praise, worship, and the reading of God’s Word. Continually come to Christ.
Think of when you’re dry physically. You’re playing sports, or working out, or running. It’s critical to continue hydrating, to continually take-in water. If you don’t regularly drink water while you’re doing some physical activity, you’re going to get weak, dry, and drained. The same is true spiritually. You’re living the Christian life and it can be grueling at times. And if you don’t continually come to Christ, the living water (John 4:10-14), if you don’t continually drink from the well of Christ, you’re going to get weak, dry, and drained.
The preceding verse from last week is helpful, verse 3, “If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” This is salvation, tasting of the Lord, desiring God and delighting in God, thirsting for God the way a newborn babe thirsts for milk (verse 2). Once you come to Him in faith, you continue to come to Him in growth. Once you have “tasted that the Lord is good,” you go on tasting, “coming to Him.” We must continually come to Christ, drawing near to Him in worship.
Now, Peter refers to Christ there in verse 4 as, “a living stone.” When we stood to read the text a few minutes ago you’ll recall that Peter builds on this stone imagery, referring to Christ as the cornerstone, or chief cornerstone, the most important stone there is, a stone some come to and are saved, and a stone over whom some stumble and remain lost.
That’s why Peter says there in verse 4 that Christ is a stone some reject as inconsequential, unnecessary, or of no use. Like a brick mason rejecting a stone for his building and later discovering that that stone was the very one necessary for his structure, the most important stone for the building. Some reject Christ this way.
But Christ is not just a stone, Peter says He is a, “living stone.” Believers in the Old Testament came to the temple when they came to God. They came to a temple made of stones. Jesus Christ is far superior to a temple made of old, dead stones. He is a living stone. He was crucified, He was killed, He died. But He came back from the dead and He lives. He is a living stone. And we continually come to this living stone in prayer, praise, and worship.
Peter says Christ, this living stone, “is rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.” He is precious to the Father. The Father loves the Son. And because the Son is precious to the Father we who are joined to Him, joined to the Chief Cornerstone, we who are connected to Him, joined to Him are also, then, precious to the Father. For we died, and our lives are now, “hidden with Christ (Colossians 3:3).” We are “hidden with Christ,” clothed in His righteousness. The Son is precious to the Father and we who are joined to this living stone, we who are “in Christ,” are also precious to the Father.
We must continually come to Christ the way an athlete continually comes to the water cooler or, to borrow from Peter, the way a newborn baby continually comes to its mother for milk (1Peter 2:2).
Want to get out of your spiritual dryness? Continually come to Christ. Secondly:
II. Continually Live for Christ (5)
We don’t just come to Christ for strength. We then–on the strength of what we have received from Him–we then live out our lives for Him. So it’s not that we just soak-in all the goodness of Christ. We then live for Him on the strength of what we have taken in by our regular coming to Christ. Again, like an athlete who runs a race. He must continually come to the water stations so that he can take-in water, for what reason? That he may go on running!
So we continually come to Christ that we may continually live for Christ. Verse 5:
5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Peter says, “You guys–the church–are a living temple. It’s like each of you is a stone in the temple, but you are a living stone.” Each of us who is a Christian is a little living stone joined together to the big Living Stone–Jesus Christ. We are living stones because we have died to the old way of life, and we have been born again, raised to walk in a new way of life (Romans 6:2-4).
So Peter says, “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house.” Peter’s talking about the church here. A stone by itself is not a building. A stone needs other stones to be a building. And the stones needs a Chief cornerstone to be a sound building. So a stone by itself is not a building in the same way a Christian by himself is not a church.
By the way, this is a reminder that the church is made up of people. The church is not made up of dead bricks and stones. The church is composed of living stones, living people. This building here is not the church. This building is where the church gathers. The church herself is the people of God, living stones coming together for worship.
And so there is also a stress here on the notion of “community.” A living stone by itself is not the church. A living stone needs other living stones. We need other people. We are relational beings who come together as living stones connected one to another, each of us connected to the main, Living Stone, the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ.
The idea that one can be a thriving Christian by separating himself or herself from others is unbiblical. To voluntarily stay at home rather than coming together as the body of Christ and uniting together with others as an active member of the body of Christ is wholly unbiblical. Someone says, “Well, I’m a Christian but I don’t believe in the church, I don’t believe in organized religion, or I don’t believe in membership, these are unbiblical statements. A stone by itself is not a building. We need one another.
Now, Peter goes on in verse 5 to say that Christians are, “a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
In the Old Testament believers would bring animals to God’s temple to offer them as sacrifices. And the believers did not approach God directly, they gave those animals to the temple priests and the priests would offer the animals as sacrifices to God, killing the animal and burning it upon the altar. Doing this illustrated, among other things, the idea of death to sin and devotion to God.
But now, through the power of the Gospel, the altar in the temple has been replaced by the death of Christ and His shed blood. And the temple priests have been replaced by you and I, by Christians, holy priests.
So Peter is saying here, “You guys–you Christians–are living stones and you guys are your own priests. You don’t need another person acting as a priest. You are priests yourselves and I want you–not an animal–I want you to sacrifice yourselves each and every day. You are a spiritual sacrifice. You die, not an animal. You die to yourself and devote yourself to Me. Die to yourself by laying aside your personal, selfish pursuits and live for Me.” That’s the idea of our being living sacrifices, alive to God, dead to us.
It’s much like what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
So we’re to continually come to Christ that we may continually live for Christ. And you are an acceptable living sacrifice to the extend you continually die to self.
So you are a living sacrifice when you die to doubt and live to trust. You are a living sacrifice when you die to your self-interests and live for the interests of others. You are a living sacrifice when you die to insisting on having your way, and live that others may have their way. You are a living sacrifice when you die to demanding an apology and live to forgive others. You are a living sacrifice when you die to hoarding your wealth and you live to give your wealth away. You are a living sacrifice when you die to lust and live to love. You are a living sacrifice when you die to your will and live for God’s will.
The sacrifices acceptable to God are acceptable to Him–last part of verse 5–“through Jesus Christ.” This is the only way, through Christ. Many people are trying to please God through some other means, human effort or good works, or some other religion. They have this inner sense of God from nature and from their conscience and they are trying to please Him. They are offering up sacrifices to Him. They are sincere, but they are sincerely wrong. They are offering up sacrifices to some notion of god, but the only sacrifices the One True God of the Bible accepts are those that come to Him–last part of verse 5–“through Jesus Christ.” The only way our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God is, “through Jesus Christ.”
We must continually come to Christ. We must continually live for Christ. Thirdly, we must:
III. Continually Trust Christ (6-8)
By this I mean to trust that the Lord knows what He’s doing. Trust that living for Christ is the right thing to do, especially when you suffer and are persecuted. Trust that your living for Christ will be worth it all in the end.
Peter now cites or alludes to three different passages in the Old Testament that refer to Christ as a stone, or the chief cornerstone. Verse 6:
6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture (Isaiah 28:16),
“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
That last phrase means that living for Christ will be worth it all in the end. Peter writes, “He who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” The idea is, “He who believes on Him will not be disappointed,” or as one paraphrase puts it he, “will never have cause to regret.” There will be no ultimate disappointment or embarrassment for having trusted Christ. You’ll not regret it. So go on trusting Him. Believe that He is in control and He knows what He is doing.
Remember the historical context of this letter. Peter is writing to Christians who are being persecuted for their faith. He intends to strengthen them. He wishes to show them that God is in control of everything and that they’re going to be all right. He says, “Continually trust Christ. He who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame. You may face difficult days now at the hands of your oppressors, at the hands of unbelievers, but you will not be disappointed that you lived for Christ. It will be worth it all in the end.” Furthermore, those who are persecuting these Christians will answer to God for it. Verses 7-8:
7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious (literally, “The honor is to you, the believers”); but to those who are disobedient,
“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone (Psalm 118:22),”
8 and
“A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense (Isaiah 8:14).” They stumble (the unbelievers who persecute you, they stumble over the stone of Christ), being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
That last phrase, “to which they also were appointed,” means that God is not surprised by those who disobey the Word and persecute Christians. God is sovereign over all actions, even the actions of unbelievers when they persecute Christians. He holds all things in His hands and declares the end from the beginning. Nothing surprises God. These unbelievers freely rejected Christ and they will give an account of their rejection on Judgment Day, but their free rejection and rebellions is compatible with God’s sovereign will and ways.
Continually come to Christ, continually live for Christ, continually trust Christ. He knows what He is doing and He always does what is right.
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Stand for prayer.
While you’re standing, think again of this stone imagery. Jesus Christ is the Living Stone. He is the chief cornerstone. And Jesus Christ is also a stone of stumbling. You either run to Him as a stepping stone, running to Him for salvation, or you stumble over Him, rejecting Him as Lord. This morning run to the stepping stone of the Lord, die to yourself and live for God. Let’s pray.
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