March 27, 2017 (Monday)
My sermon yesterday was from 1 Peter 2:4-10, in which we are taken on a tour of God’s Temple, which is the church. The old temple was a structure made of building materials, but the new temple is spiritual.
Just as the old temple had a chief cornerstone, so does the new. The old cornerstone was a capstone strategically placed so that the rest of the stones depended on it for their strength. The new cornerstone is Jesus Christ and our faith in Him as Lord and Savior.
The old temple was made of stones, laid one upon the other, so that all of them were dependent upon each other, giving them stability. The new temple, the church, is made of living stones, people saved by the grace of God in Christ.
Under the old system, priests attended to the sacrifices offered to God by worshipers. Blood was shed and life was given up in the form of animal sacrifices. We are now “a kingdom of priests,” and those types of sacrifices have been replaced with spiritual sacrifices–the “sacrifices” of praise and thanksgiving, as well as doing good in the Name of Jesus and sharing generously with others.
Peter’s explanation of the new order is echoed in Hebrews 13:15-16, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased.”
1 Peter 2:4-10 NIV:
As you come to him, the living Stone–rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him–you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message–which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.