SCRIPTURE: 1 Peter 2: 2-10
TEXT:5 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. THEME: Be encouraged knowing who we are with God. INTRODUCTION One of the hardest mission fields to be a Christian in, is at home. These are the people who know us the best and have the hardest time seeing us as people who have changed. Our telling them that we have been transformed does not have as much meaning if our actions and behaviors don’t look like they have changed for the better. Being sheltered in, or safe at home, keeps us apart from our church community that supports, encourages, and enriches our lives. So, while we are apart from each other, we have to remember who our God is, who we are through Jesus, how God sees us and who we are when we are together as a community. The second chapter of 1 Peter covers a lot of material. It is a letter addressed to Christians who have moved from their homes to neighboring countries. Being a Christian has given them a new spiritual beginning, but in addition to this, these Christians are now having a new physical beginning in another country. SCRIPTURE No matter where we are, we get our bearings of who we are and how we are to live from Jesus. Jesus is like a cornerstone that is placed on a piece of property from which the rest of a building is oriented to. Right angles, from this elevation, whether we are level, how far or how near we are is all in regards to cornerstone; the foundation, the standard of Jesus. When I lived on the mainland, every so often we would go to the coast and look across the Pacific towards Hawaii, remembering family, friends, food, communities, what was familiar, the mountains, the surf, the flora and fauna and life in another way. We would touch the water and think, “this is the same ocean that is touching our islands. There was a sense of connectedness. For these dispersed Christians away from home, turning towards Jerusalem must have given them a sense of centering, remembering who they were, giving them confidence of living differently in a foreign land. To keep their identity in Christ while assimilating to a different culture. This has been the greatest challenge for the People of God, whenever they traveled in new territory or settled to what was foreign to them. When they were insecure, they were vulnerable to the influences of others, instead of being influential with their unique culture and relational beliefs in God. The first thing Peter wants them to remember is who they are and who God is. Peter describes their experience of God as tasting. When my family lived on Molokai, we tasted their foods; inamona, enenui poke with chop chop limu, steamed taro with condensed milk, akai or raw liver, 5 day old poi with dry fish, hi hi wai cooked over a hibachi with Kau-bi sauce, and a lean kalua pig where the fat is melted into the meat. We tasted goodness, just as God could be tasted in the lives of these people, in their culture and in their churches. We can remember our experiences with God with thanksgiving, like the good things we eat. We can keep a faith history to remember God’s goodness, even when what we are tasting at the present time is bitter and sour. We remember our stories with God that have brought us out of darkness and called us to adventures of faith and light. The newness of our lives has us participating in the works of God in Creation and amongst the created. We are living stones built into a spiritual house with Christ as our cornerstone The church rocks with praise, worship, and thanksgiving to God. The church rocks with tasting, building, and helping. The church rocks with gratitude of majesty, miracles, and wonder. The church rocks with people, prayer, and caring for who God brings to us. The church rocks…. rock. With Christ as our cornerstone, God is wanting to dwell among us. Like in the garden, like with the incarnation, like with the Spirit within us and with us now. Be encouraged because of who we are to God; Get our bearings from the Christ as Cornerstone: a living spiritual house, a holy priesthood, our worship being acceptable to God, chosen by God, precious to God, God’s own people, and recipients of mercy. This is who we are, This is who you are. Don’t forget it. Be encouraged by this. Systems of greed, deception, power, manipulation, ego and control find God’s system of truth, love and compassion; a confounding conundrum. Greed operates from such a narrow, selfish perception that it has no concept of love or value for other lives. It is to this world we are called to proclaim a life lived as children of God. APPLICATION We have new life with Christ as we learn about God’s profound love for us. We are affirmed in knowing we are chosen and special to God. We are God’s kids, who can go directly to God just as we are. We are a community people in fellowship with God, who bring our experiences with God where ever we are and with whomever we are with. How does the church, together and apart, live as living stones built into a spiritual house? Living stones are a holy priesthood connecting the world with God. Think of everything that a priest does, as what we can do for our self and what we can do for others, to help them connect their lives with God. Then together we can fellowship with God as our parent and Jesus as our friend. This is our proclamation as a Holy nation, as God’s own people. Of how to live like Christ, of how we can live with God. This is what builds us into the Spiritual House. We are living stones. The Church is organic as it rocks. We are a living community of newness. We position our lives according to Christ. Our orientation is in regards to Christ. We live out what we have tasted and experienced with God. We live with joy, we have gratitude, we venture in faith and dispel darkness with light. CONCLUSION There is a lot of stuff in 1 Peter, but the theme of a new beginning because of being loved by God and loved by Jesus, changes and transforms our life. We are encouraged to keep on living in this newness because we are God’s people, built, like rocks into a spiritual community. God wants to dwell with us and is connect with each of us as a holy priesthood. We are acceptable to God, we are a holy nation, we are chosen and precious as Jesus is precious. And when we are apart, sheltered in, or have moved away it is hard to live with the same fervor. So, we set our bearings on the standards of our living, to Christ, our cornerstone. We can taste the goodness of God even in a foreign land. We are a living stone built into a spiritual house, A church that rocks its rocks, and whose rocks, rock the church. Knowing who we are to God helps us to keep the changes we have made, no matter where we are, and be an example for others to venture to change and be transformed and built into the community with God.
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