Turn, if you would, with me to the book of 1 Peter. As we return to this book after a couple weeks absence, and my absence, 1 Peter chapter 2, we're looking at just two verses, verses 4 and 5. One of the last times my family went to the beach here in the last few weeks, there were several large rocks near us. We just happened to be in a place where somebody had put some rocks or some rocks had appeared there of some sort and they weren't small. They were about this big, you know, not just little pebbles. And at the end of our time at the beach, Xander started putting those rocks together like a little wall. But you know they easily fell down. Because he didn't necessarily find just the right rock to put in just the right place. And so they might have fallen over. Well, just the right ones need to be put in just the right places to build anything. In this passage, Peter is reminding us of the most important rock to put in place, and that rock is Jesus Christ. Follow along as I read in the context here, a reminder that Peter has talked about Jesus. He's talked about our faith. He's talked about the need for community to love one another and to put off things that hinder that process of loving one another. And we come to this passage. He says, as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious. You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. As we consider these two short verses, let us bow briefly in prayer. Lord, we pray that your word might shine through us because we have ears to hear it and hearts to receive it. We pray, Lord, that it might shine through us because you have made us living stones. That is, you have made us those who have faith in Jesus Christ and are now a part of your house, your household of faith. We pray, Lord, that you would change us and mold us by your Spirit this day, that all of us might seek to please and honor you, not just with our lips or our presence here this morning, but with our very lives. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. God is building something right here. He is building something that is special and important and powerful and something that cannot, in the end, be torn down. Though the world has seen the perfect stone upon which to build a solid house with the best foundation, that stone has been thrown out for substitutes. Some people think, It's politics that build a house. Some people think it's sports that build a house. Some people think it's pleasures that build a house. Some people think that it's us. We are selves out of our self-help and abilities that can build a spiritual house. But the Scripture reminds us that the house on the foundation can only stand if it has the living stone chosen by God. You see, we broken sinners are unable to serve as the foundation ourselves. In our broken world, other philosophies and religions and different opportunities, these things cannot build a house that will stand. We have been led by the Holy Spirit to the perfect stone. Not because we were the best builders. If you know anything about me, you know you don't want to hire me as a construction guy. I'm not a builder. If I were to build a house, you wouldn't want to live in it. It would fall apart. And many of us don't have the gifts, the tools, or the abilities to build that perfect wall, even of small stones on the beach. but the Holy Spirit can lead us to the living stone. You see, because Christ is the living stone, we must first come to Him. Not just come to Him once, but keep coming to Him again and again and again. And we must also become like Christ, because we too, in Christ, are made living stones. First of all, it says, as you come to Him. It's an assumption, a presupposition. We're being reminded in the context of this text that if you really have tasted that the Lord is good and you long for that pure spiritual milk, the Word of God, the Gospel, then, verse 4, you are coming to Him. Notice it says in this translation, the ESV, as you come to Him. In other words, if you are longing for that spiritual milk, if you are saved by the grace of the gospel, you have and are coming to Him. Now why? First of all, the context. Verse 3, it said, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good, you come to Christ because He's good. He is good. Now, interesting that Jesus himself, when it came to the word good, he had been addressed by a rich young man who said, what good deed can I do to have eternal life? And Jesus had said to him, Why are you talking about what is good? There is only one who is good. In other words, the guy was saying, what can I do? What deeds can I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus had said, there's only one who's done good deeds enough to do that. And of course, he was referring to himself. He is good. There's anybody else who can be described in that way, perfectly good, inheriting heaven because he has fulfilled the law of God and is righteous. You see, when you are coming to Jesus Christ, you are coming to the one who can give life because he's not only good, he's also living. Look at what is described to you as you come to him, a living stone. He's the one who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. If you want to have eternal life, you can't do it on your own. You have to come to Him. You have to come to Him because He's the living stone. All the other stones are dead. The stones of Muhammad and Buddha, the stones of drugs and sex, the stones of all the things of society around us, of politics and religion and entertainment and all those things, those stones are dead. The only living stone is Jesus Christ. If you don't come to Him, you don't have life. But notice what the world does with this stone. As you come to him a living stone rejected by men, he is humanly rejected. If you were to go out now and go to the highest academic institutions of our society and you were to say that Jesus is the only way to live a productive life is to be in Jesus Christ, what are they going to do in those academic institutions? Laugh you out the door. If you go to a sports program and you sell them, oftentimes you tell them, the most important thing about my athletic program is that I glorify Jesus Christ with my body, my words, and my actions in all of my life. There are going to be some other athletes that roll their eyes because they have rejected that concept. If you go into the workplace and you tell your employer that the most important thing about your secular job is that you glorify Jesus Christ in whatever you do in the workplace, many of those businesses will say, this is a crackpot. I don't know if I want him on my team. You see, the world rejects Jesus Christ. By and large. Not everyone. That's why you're here today. Perhaps some of you, most of you, hopefully, I hope all of you have embraced Jesus Christ, but the world has rejected Him. And so when we come to Christ, because He is humanly rejected, it is fraught with danger to come to Christ. at least from the world's perspective. It can be costly. You can lose friends. You can lose finances. You can lose jobs. You see, when you build on the wrong place, at the edge of a cliff, I just mentioned, you know, we've been at the Grand Canyon. And I thought when we were going in this house that had been there for almost a hundred years, it was built right on the edge of the canyon. My wife and daughter didn't go in that house. And we saw pictures of when they were first building it, and it was jutting out over the edge with these little poles stuck in the ground. And I thought, boy, that would have been an act of faith for some people to go over in the construction area of that house. It's fraught with danger to go in the house of Jesus, because the world has rejected him. And it is costly to follow him. But on the other hand, if you don't make that choice to follow Him, you have not come to Him, then you don't understand His status before God. He says he might be rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious. He is divinely chosen. In other words, when Jesus says, you cannot come to the Father but by me, he's recognizing this was God's plan. He was fulfilling the Father's plan of salvation. If you don't come to Christ, you don't have life, even though it is costly and hard. He is divinely chosen. He is also divinely honored, or esteemed, or the word precious, costly. It's that word that was used earlier in the book to talk about the blood of Jesus. It's costly and precious. That's what we've been bought with is the blood of Christ. And Jesus Himself is precious to the Father. He's honored and esteemed so that even now, right now, He's sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. He is the one being in the universe that has accomplished salvation for all of God's people. He is the most honored and precious person ever. And if we say, because the world rejects Him, then we're going to suffer if we come to Him, and we don't come to Him because of that, then we're missing out on the One that has been divinely honored and chosen from before the foundation of the world. Peter has made it clear that Christ is crucial both for life and for security. He's trying to encourage these Christians in a suffering time who are experiencing oppression and persecution from those Jews who rejected Jesus. as well as from those Gentiles around them who think that they're crazy and they come in and they have persecuted them and they're going to be persecuted terribly under the Roman Empire. And so Peter is telling them the only way to have life and security is to come to the Living Stone. But once you come to the Living Stone, your life changes. You yourselves, Peter writes, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house. You see, once you come to Christ, you become like Christ, a living stone. When we become like Christ, we become alike Him in several ways. We become alike Him, first of all, in community. Notice the difference here. It says that Jesus was the living stone, or a living stone, singular. He's the one honored and precious and chosen by God. There is one living stone in that sense. The rest of us can only be like him. We can't be Jesus. We can't be a God. Some religions will teach you that if you're just good enough and you follow the right rules, you will be so much like Jesus, you might have your own world someday. You might be your own Savior. You might be like Him so much, you'll be a God yourself. But that's not what Scripture teaches. But it does say we will be like Him in certain ways. And part of that is how we are in community. You see, Christ is the Chosen One. Christians are chosen plural. And the context of this passage emphasizes that. He's already said in chapter 22 of chapter 1, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly. from a pure heart. He's already said in verse 1 of chapter 2, put away all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander. Those are all things that are described of how we relate to other people and community. Stop doing those things and start doing the things that please God in loving one another. You see, if we are like Christ, it is not consistent for us to be a freelance Christian. to be someone who's not a part of a church. That's not God's design. The context of earnestly loving each other and taking off sinful actions and attitudes which hinder community remind us that God is building us into a people. We are not separate. What good is a stone if you just leave it on the ground over there? He's putting those stones together in a house that will be built to glorify Him. And so as we are alike in community, we are also alike in conduct. What kind of conduct does he describe? First of all, holy. Remember, Peter has already said in this passage, chapter 1, he said, because I am holy, you too must be holy. We must be holy. We must be set apart. We must be different from the world. The hot button topics of the world are not necessarily going to be our hot button topics. The things that the world is so concerned about, gaining wealth and power and influence, we're not going to be so concerned about. We're going to be interested in being separate in that sense. But at the same time, we have to live in this world, don't we? And so he says, in the world, but not of the world, is what we talk about theologically. And as we are in that world, our conduct is holy. We take God's Word seriously. We seek to follow His ways and not our ways. Our words are important. Do we have filthy language? I hope not. It's not holy before God. Do we have filthy thoughts? They should be cleansed before a holy God. Are our attitudes to please ourselves before God and our neighbor? These too must be mortified, as the old theologians used to say, that is killed off because we want our conduct to be holy. He also describes us as a priesthood. Not just holy lives, holy conduct, doing right things, but a holy priesthood. Now, these are Old Testament terms when we think of a priesthood. What does a priest do? On one hand, the priest was a guy who offered the sacrifices. The priests were the guys who also were reminding others of the power and glory of God. They were intermediaries. They were those who would be in the place between God and the people. And as they offered those sacrifices, they were appeasing God's wrath for sin. Now, we can't do that like the Old Testament priests did, because Jesus has fulfilled the sacrificial system. There has been one sacrifice for all time. It's done, complete, finished. So in that sense, there is one mediator between God and men, the Lord Jesus Christ. But on the other hand, We are the ones who can tell the world about the gospel. We are the ones who have the privilege of being those who introduce people to Christ, who introduce people to God, who now has reduced the barrier, gotten rid of the barrier because Christ has died on the cross for His people. And now we have access to the throne of grace. Our prayers are part of our priestly duty. Our actions are part of our priestly duty as we seek to be the salt and the fragrance and the light of the world as Scripture tells us. It is so very important that we do these things, but it is also a tremendous privilege that we have the opportunity to do these things. You see, we are to be priests in the sense that we are introducing people to God and the good news of salvation that they too might experience the grace of Jesus Christ. I came home and on one side of the road past our house, there were a bunch of orange barrels down the road. It's time for Carolina Forest to see construction. That strip of road that probably should have been four lanes for a long time has been two lanes. It's very difficult to navigate because you have to kind of put on your accelerator to get out on the road sometimes during busy traffic. And so engineers have a plan to widen our road in Carolina Forest. One of the toughest parts is a low spot. It's a low spot that's really swampy and they've cleared out the trees and the brush from that area and it's a big muddy mess because of all the rains we've had this weekend. And I thought, and I've wondered, and I'm going to be looking over the next few months or a couple years, however long it's going to take, and I'm going to wonder, how are they going to build that particular place? Is it going to be mostly bridge-like, or is it going to be building up from the earth? What is it going to be? Engineers have been working on this problem. Every part of the materials and plan is important. If they don't follow the plan that works, the road is going to fall apart. If they don't follow the plan that works, it's going to crumble, it's going to cause problems, and it's going to be an issue from this time until they solve all of the problems. You see, every stone in God's building, just like every part of the materials and plan of that place, that swampy place in Carolina Forest, has to work just right and has to be fruitful, and they must follow the plans. So too, this house that God is building, Every stone in the building is called to be holy. Not just the pastor, or the Sunday school teacher, or the worship leader, or whoever. Every stone is called to be holy. Every stone is called to love one another, and to love one another earnestly. You know, sometimes we think, hey, it's the pastor's job. If somebody's been missing for three weeks, it's the pastor's job to go out and get them. Yes, it is. But it's also everybody else's job, because we together are to earnestly love each other. Every one of us is called to participate and to contribute, because these are living stones. There's nobody to be dead. You know, we're not called to come and sit like, as Wayne Mack calls it in the book we're using in Sunday School, a pew potato. You know, we're not called to just come for an hour and just have our presence here and that's it. We're called to be living stones. Those who make up this church who are to be priestly and holy in their contributions to God's kingdom. And that's the next thing we're alike in. were alike in our contributions. He says, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Now we could go through what it means to have a spiritual sacrifice. David said a contrite heart is like this. So it's partly our attitudes. We also are reminded that it's not just the actions we go through, it's the way we live our lives, it's how it's always been in Scripture. The prophets were always calling out the priests and the prophets and the leaders, not because they weren't always following the rules and regulations. A lot of times they were outwardly, but they were doing it in such a way as if they were gaining in their own popularity and power, oppressing others, and were just going through the motions. You see, it's a spiritual sacrifice. Yes, I understand it can be sacrificial to give money. Yes, and that's important. We need your money for the church to operate. But he's not talking about money, and of course we're not talking about animals given in sacrifice because we don't do that anymore. Jesus' blood covers all. But the contributions are in every part of the church's work. Whether it's ministry in teaching, ministry in missions, ministry in worship, ministry through music, ministry through visiting others in the hospital, whether it's ministry through looking out at the needs of the poor around us, whatever it is, we need all of those contributions because that's our job, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And these contributions won't be accepted unless the last thing happens. Now, as a pastor, you know that pastors have to have alliterated points sometimes. So I had trouble coming up with a fourth C. We have alike in community, alike in conduct, alike in contributions. We're also alike in consanguinity. Everybody got that spelled on their outline? Our origin is the same. Consanguinity has to do with our origins. Sometimes it has to do with our blood ancestors, but here it means our origin. You see, if it's not in Christ, it's nothing. What makes our spiritual sacrifices acceptable? Is it that I just am sacrificing so much? Is it because I have the right attitude? Is it all about me? No, it's through Christ. It's only through Jesus Christ that our spiritual sacrifices are accepted. Jesus said, apart from Christ, we can do nothing. That's why down the road from us, there might be somebody living in our community who's a better giver than me, who has given to their community in much more powerful ways, might have more money to give, might have more time to give, might have been giving better than me in all kinds of different ways for the support of our community, but if they've not done that through Jesus Christ, it will not stand forever. That's why we can say so-and-so is a good person, but if we mean they're a good person because they do good works for the society around them, then we have to say a good person can end up in hell. Because if it's not through Jesus Christ, their sacrifices and their duties and their good deeds will not be accepted by the living God. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. Constantly. What does this passage remind us? coming to Him. We are coming to Him. We are coming to Christ in every situation. We're coming to Christ when things go well and we're cheery and we see the majesty of the Grand Canyon. We come and we praise God because of what we've seen. At the same time, when we come to the time in the hospital when the doctor has told us that we only have a few months to live because we have cancer, maybe leukemia or something like that, and we come in that time and we realize that everything is bearing down upon us and we look at the life around us, we come to Christ because He is the one who gives life. Constantly we come to Christ in every situation and we seek to be like Christ. This pleases God. Not that we are so wonderful or we're using things so much because of our gifts and talents and abilities, but because through the power of the Holy Spirit in Christ, we're coming to Him. You see, this empowers the church through the Word and the Spirit for these words. Unless the Lord builds the house, the builder builds in vain. Psalm 127. This passage reminds us what we do is so very important. Our job is to be involved in the community that God is building called the church, made up of living stones that are like Jesus Christ. And in our society around us, they're going to look at us and say those things are not important. They're going to reject Christ. And in the process, they're going to often reject us. And they're going to say that we're crazy, unimportant, or something along those lines. But at the same time, what's going to happen to change the world? what God wants. Not me. Through His people, the church. That's where the change comes because it comes one soul at a time. A person who has begun to change because they recognize they're a sinner and need God's grace. They need to put off the things like malice and deceit and hypocrisy that have been just a powerful vice grip on their lives for all this time, and now they come to Christ and these things are being removed because of the power of the Holy Spirit in the Word by the power of Jesus Christ. You see, we seek to be like Christ, not so that we can tell the world how good we are, but so we can tell the world how good He is. What a privilege to be made up into a house built by God. as we consider these things. And also remember how that's made possible this morning as we celebrate the Lord's Supper. Let's bow in prayer. Lord, you are building your house. It's your house, not mine, not an elder's or a deacon's or a Sunday school teacher's or a leader among the women or Sunday school people. Lord, it is your house for your glory, for your kingdom. Lord, we pray that you will help make us holy. We cannot do this on our own. We pray that you will help us to do the things you have called us to do with the talents and the gifts you give us by your Holy Spirit, that we might offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to you through Jesus. We pray, Lord, that the power of this house, that will withstand the enemy, At the same time, we'll bring others as living stones into this house and community together. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.