1 Peter 2:4-5
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 to God through Jesus Christ.
At Jesus’ baptism, in Matthew 3:17 after the dove came to rest on Jesus, the Father spoke over Him saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Similarly, in the writing of Isaiah, the Father again spoke over the Son, saying in Isaiah 42:1, “Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.” This “living stone” that is rejected by mortals is indeed chosen and precious in God’s sight. Psalm 118:22-23 prophesies this rejection, saying, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” The builders were the Jews who did not receive their Messiah and had Him crucified.
Indeed, Christ is the chosen and precious cornerstone of the new Temple, the Body of Christ filled with the Holy Spirit. In His rejection Jesus became the cornerstone of His holy church. This new Temple replaced the old Temple tended by the Levitical priesthood. With the cross, Jesus became the final temple sacrifice for sin once and for all. The duties of the Levitical priesthood came to an end, as Jew and Gentile alike only find forgiveness for sin through faith in thr e Messiah and surrender to His Lordship. No longer is the blood of animals needed to atone for our sins before the Father. Christ offered His own precious blood on our behalf and stands as the high priest of His new Temple.
In this verse in 1 Peter, Peter implores us to let ourselves “be built into a spiritual house.” We are to let God, through the work of His Holy Spirit in us make us living stones built into the house of His new temple, His Church and Bride. In Matthew 16, when Jesus asked his disciples, “who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, saying, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus told him this faith and sight came from the Father. Then, in verse 18, He said, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” Just like Peter is the rock on which the church is built and Christ is our high priest and cornerstone, we are to become stones in this house by taking up our role as God’s holy priesthood. In the Old Testament temple, the light in the temple was always tended by the priests and lit by the oil in the menorah. That light is now the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, tended by the faithfulness of each one of us as His priests.
The Old Testament priests had the duty of making atoning sacrifices for the people’s sins. Now that our high priest has accomplished that for us, we continue the practice of making sacrifices as priests of God in a different way. Peter tells us to “offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.” How do we do this? What is our sacrifice? Let’s look at the parable of the two houses in Matthew, one built on rock and the other on sand. Matthew 7:24-25 states, “Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.” So we see, that obedience to the words of our Lord is a spiritual sacrifice we make to God through Jesus Christ. This obedience can only come through diligent study of His words in the scriptures. It also comes through obedience to His Spirit’s will and call within us.
Another sacrifice we are called to make is to deny our self, the passions of our flesh and the pride of the world and our life, and carry our cross. We learn what these things are by studying the scriptures: things like coveting and envy, materialism and malice, insobriety and drunkenness, anger and putting others down- things that war against the Law of the Lord, the Law of Love. Jesus said, that the Law of Love summed up all the law and the prophets: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, strength, and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 describes what Love is in detail and is worth reviewing regularly to take inventory of ourselves and see if we are walking faithfully to His Law.
Let us return to our scripture and make note of one other detail that is very important. The last line says that as priests and living stones that are being built into His spiritual house, we are to “offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.” It is important to consider that these sacrifices we have discussed are only to be offered through the work of His Spirit. When we are faced with temptation coming by way of the world or our flesh, we are exercising discerning vigilance of it, and we build our “Spirit-muscles” by reflexively turning to God immediately. When we turn to God, we are inviting Him to blow in the breath of His Spirit in that tight intense moment when our will just wants immediate satisfaction of the wrong desires. When He blows His breath over us, we too can breath and release our will for Him to do His work. We can offer our sacrifice through Jesus Christ!
For example, we can deny our self-will in the moment of intense temptation by turning to the Word of God to see if God might reveal a word to us. We can turn to Him in prayer to see if He might speak to us or give us revelation or insight. We can listen to a praise song to turn our spirits over to worship and praise- to fix our minds on the things of the Spirit, the noble and excellent and praiseworthy as He shows us in Philippians 4:8. We can strive to think of at least three things for which we are grateful and take a moment to thank Him for these gifts of grace. He may just meet us in our moment of need. He may help to bear our burden as He promised in Matthew 11:28-29 saying, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
How exciting it will be to receive a refreshing from the Lord rather than indulging our flesh! How exciting it can be to carry our cross if we but turn to Him! Working out in God’s gym can be so rewarding if we offer our sacrifices through Jesus Christ. Let us then remember the principles in this precious verse. Let us be living stones allowing God to do His work in His bride and build us into a spiritual house so that we can be His holy priesthood. We serve a most faithful high priest. What greater honor is there than this! God’s calling for His children is high and noble. Let us offer our spiritual sacrifices with joy and gratitude for God’s generosity. And finally, let us praise God for the precious principles He has revealed to us through His apostle Peter and His Word. Thank You Lord! Let us put our high priest and King on the throne of our life so that we can walk in His intimate Love and praise Him for His faithfulness. Thank You Lord! You are Great and Mighty!