“The People of God” 1 Peter 2:2-10

1 Peter 2:2-10

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Pastor Tom Johnson, May 14, 2017

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Peter describes God as Architect, Christ as Cornerstone, and Holy Spirit as Builder. The Architect has a perfect plan and design. Christ is the only solid foundation—his death and resurrection the Stone that puts it all together. And we are being built into a spiritual house by the Word and Spirit. Peter is mixing metaphors: a building campaign, light and darkness, and milk! Peter assumes we have had a taste of God’s goodness. “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” But let that taste be so tantalizing, he says, that you hunger for more—like a newborn infant. Our hunger should create a longing for growth together.

Have you ever seen—or more accurately—heard a newborn long for milk? They do not patiently put their request for milk in a suggestion box. They do not just ask for milk, they demand. It must happen now! They have a strong sense of urgency! And so we should yearn for the rich, satisfying, and nutritious Word of God. It reminds me of the foreigners who ask, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Or the hymn line, “Foul I to the fountain fly, Wash me Savior, or I die.” “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so my soul yearns for you, O Lord.” “We do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” So we long for the milk of the Word.

If Peter can mix metaphors, I’d like to as well. Milk is food and drink. It not only has all the nutrients we need but also keeps a child hydrated. It is the fuel needed to build Christ’s Church. Our hunger and thirst for Scripture unites us in purpose and strength. It is the mortar that binds us together as living stones. And sometimes we occasionally need some tuck-pointing. And so the Word and Spirit can get in there between the stone work and strengthen our bonds and integrity.

When Peter talks about stumbling, he is also quoting Jesus—Christ is the Cornerstone. We can either build wisely and securely on him or we stub our toes and trip over him. The foundation stone is the Person, life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And Peter warns us not to get tripped up over him. That is, to fail to understand who he is—eternal God and fully human. Our minds cannot fully grasp the truth of this—and it can trip us up. This Cornerstone taught us the fullness of what it means to love God with our whole being and to love one another as he loved us. He came to give his life on the Cross and rise again for our forgiveness and purchase a place for us in heaven. To trust Jesus is to build on Christ our Cornerstone. And we do so by faith. This is the One who says, “Believe in God—trust in God; believe—trust in God and me.” He is building his holy house in heaven and on earth. Peter wants to draw us into this vision of what God is doing. He wants to win us to become participants and benefactors. And so he not only wants to elevate our understanding of God’s Word and the Word made flesh—Jesus—he wants to elevate our understanding of ourselves.

And so he says, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” God chooses us—he calls us—he draws us to himself as helpless newborns and are immediately given the milk of his Word. We are adopted into God’s royal family. We enjoy the priesthood of all believers. We have been set apart for a purpose. We are the people of God. We have been called out of darkness into his light. Through Word and deed, we get to proclaim the might acts of God. And what God has done for us, he wants to do through us. We crave and nourish one another on the milk of God’s Word. We build upon the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ. And we reach out to the world.

Sinclair Ferguson, a Scottish pastor told a group of pastors about the day when he met Queen Elizabeth. He was pastoring a church in Glasgow. The queen flew in with her two young grandsons, William and Harry. They were 6 and 4 years old. When the queen landed with her two young princes, Pastor Ferguson was at the front of the line to meet them. The cameras and microphones of the press were two far down the line to capture what happened next. Queen Elizabeth turned around, stooped over, put her index finger into the breath ones of her two grandsons and said, “Royal children, royal manners.” She did not say, “Obey me and I will love you.” Nor did she say, “Don’t embarrass me in Scotland.”  She said, “Royal children, Royal manners.” In other words, “You are royalty. Be who were born to be. Live out your calling. Let your behavior be a reflection of who you truly are.”
 “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”