Sermon Notes

1-3 So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God. 4-8 Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent: Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion, a cornerstone in the place of honor. Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation will never have cause to regret it. To you who trust Him, He’s a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust Him, the Stone the workmen threw out is now the chief foundation Stone. For the untrusting it’s...a stone to trip over, a boulder blocking the way. They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted. 9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do His work and speak out for Him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference He made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. 11-12 Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when He arrives.

In July, 64 A.D., a fire broke out in Rome and the entire city was engulfed in flames. Hundreds of public buildings and thousands of homes were burned to the ground. Thousands were left homeless. Emperor Nero set that fire in order that he might rebuild the city in a way that he thought would establish his name in history.
The people were incensed; they were ready to revolt and overthrow Nero. So, he sought a scapegoat that he could blame for the fire. He settled on Christians. As a result, Nero began a series of persecutions against Christians. Believers were dipped in tar and burned as torches to light the gardens of Nero when he threw an outdoor party. They were tied to his chariot and dragged through the streets of Rome until they were dead. They were fed to lions; they were tied up in leather bags and thrown into water so that when the leather bags shrank, the Christians were squeezed to death. It was during this time of the outbreak of the persecution of Christians in Rome that the epistle was written.
Authorship of the letter is open to debate, with many modern scholars arguing that the sophisticated Greek, mature thought, and historical context suggest it was written by someone using Peter’s name as a pseudonym. The Early Church Fathers attributed authorship to Peter, or at the very least to a scribe who was familiar with Peter’s life. Regardless of authorship questions, canonicity of the epistle was accepted as early as the 2nd century A.D., and the book was formally canonized in the mid 4th century A.D.
The first chapter of the epistle urged Christians to maintain their faith in severe suffering, knowing that our present conduct should be based not on our present experience, but on our future hope. Our lives should be characterized by obedience (I Peter 1:14, 22), holiness (I Peter 1:14-16), godly reverence (I Peter 1:17-21), and mutual love for each other (I Peter 1:22–2:3).
In this lesson, Peter moves from the individual dimensions to the corporate dimensions of our spiritual walk. Peter encourages believers to grow up together, as a building. With this, he spells out our calling and purpose. The text divides into three sections—each with its own emphasis, but all interrelated.
• Verses 4-6, The relationship of the trusting to the “Stone.”
• Verses 7- 8, The relationship of the untrusting to the “Stone.”
• Verses 9-10, The relationship of the trusting with each other, fostered by our relationship with the “Stone.”

1-3 So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.
Only one imperative is found in these verses: “Drink deep of God’s pure kindness.” Previously, Peter spoke of salvation as initiated by means of the Word. Now, salvation is listed as the goal toward which obedience to the Word moves us.
Our purification requires putting off those things which enslaved us during the time of our ignorance and unbelief (Galatians 5:13-26; Ephesians 4:17-24; Colossians 3:1-11). These negative character qualities are hostile to agapé; they are contrary to an appetite for the Word and the growth the Word produces. We cannot harbor malice and practice guile, hypocrisy, envy, and slander and still desire the Word. To be full of these evils is to fail to have an appetite for the milk of God’s Word.
Peter emphasizes the relationship between the truth of the Word and love for one another. Some Christians belittle an accurate knowledge of the truth while heralding the benefits of love. But these two things are co-dependent (I Timothy 1:5).
Peter presents love as the goal and the result of our obedience. Our obedience to the Word is the foundation for Peter’s command to love “fervently” (persistently) from the heart (I Peter 1:22).
*Failure to love is evidence of disobedience. Obedience is the prerequisite to love. The solution to a lack of love is a return to obedience to the Scriptures (Revelation 2:1-5). Love not only comes first as an incentive for obedience, but it comes last, as the result of obedience.
Peter also expects obedience to the truth, love, and growth only from those who have truly been born again. Trust in Him, as God’s only means of salvation, and be saved (Romans 10:8-11).
4-6 Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent: Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion, a cornerstone in the place of honor. Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation will never have cause to regret it.
Peter says that, if Jesus is the “living Stone,” then we are “living stones,” being built into a dwelling place of God, from which ministry is conducted and spiritual service is offered.
Ancient Hebrew Scripture spoke of the Savior to come as a “stone” (Daniel 2:34-45). Peter had heard Jesus refer to Himself as the “Rock” spoken of in Psalm 118:22 (Matthew 21:42). That He is referred to as “the living Stone” is an intended contrast to the lifeless objects that were worshiped in ancient times.
But Jesus is alive! He has been raised from the dead, proof that He is precious in the Father’s sight. As Peter has already said, we have a “living hope,” based on our trust in a living Lord whom God raised from the dead (I Peter 1:3).
Peter contrasts God’s estimation of Jesus with that of the world. In the sight of the Father, He is precious, God’s chosen One; the blood that He shed for our sins was precious (I Peter 1:19). Unbelievers view Him just the opposite way—worthless, useless, to be rejected.
Because Jesus is “the living Stone,” those who put their trust in Him also become “living stones.” We share in the life and the ministry of our Lord. Peter’s words are very similar in symbol and meaning to those of Paul, in Ephesians 2:19-22. The statement, in verse 6, emphasizes the blessing which comes to those who trust in Jesus as God’s precious stone, and those who reject Him will regret it.
*We must make a choice—to either place our trust in God or in the things of this world.
7-8 To you who trust him, he’s a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust him, the Stone the workmen threw out is now the chief foundation Stone. For the untrusting it’s...a stone to trip over, a boulder blocking the way. They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted.
Peter indicates that while there is honor for those who believe, there is dishonor for those who do not. The rejection of Christ by unbelievers and their resulting doom is the fulfillment of ancient Hebrew scripture (Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 8:14). Unbelievers stumble to their own destruction because they disregard and disobey the Word of God, which bears witness to the promised Messiah, which we know to be Jesus.
9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference He made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
Note several things about these verses:
• The emphasis is not on individual believers and their individual blessings and responsibilities, but on the corporate body of Christ. When we come to salvation by a personal trust in Jesus Christ, we become a part of a body of believers. As such, we have both a privileged position and a task to which we are called.
• Corporate descriptions of the Church are tied to descriptions of a spiritual Israel (Exodus 19:5-7; Isaiah 43:19-21). Peter wants his readers recognize the connection between the God of their ancestors and the God who has wrought this wonderful work in us now, through the fulfillment of His promise.
• The work of God, through Christ, is transformative—internally (we are changed), interpersonally (we are bound to each other) and externally (we are charged to collectively change the world).
While trusting in Jesus is for the good of the believer, the emphasis is not on our blessings, but on God’s glory and our duty to proclaim God’s excellencies. We are not to be self-centered, but God-centered. Jesus is the One who is precious in the Father’s sight. We are saved by His mercy and grace, chosen and called to proclaim His wonders.
11 Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul.
The concept of the world not being our home was a familiar one to Peter. It had been introduced early in ancient Hebrew Scripture, where Abraham was a sojourner in the promised land, a land he never owned in his lifetime (Genesis 12:10; 17:8; 23:4). Israel sojourned in Egypt (Genesis 47:7; Deuteronomy 25:5). Even when God delivered the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage and brought them into the land of promise, they were still “sojourners” on God’s land (Leviticus 25:23; I Chronicles 29:15). The writer to the Hebrews describes all the Old Testament saints as aliens or sojourners (Hebrews 11:13-16).
*Those who have trusted in Christ for salvation and fixed their hope on the grace He extends must be increasingly aware that they have changed their citizenship. Before, we were outsiders with respect to the kingdom of God, but as believers in Him, we are now, “fellow citizens with the saints.”
Then, Peter urges that we keep our ego out of the way of our spiritual development and maturity. At the root of this counsel is this truth: “Ego is not overcome by human effort and asceticism. It is only overcome by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Jesus does not appeal to us on the basis of our humanity. Rather, He calls upon us to—by the aid of the Holy Spirit—rise above our humanity, deny our egos and follow Him. Rather than appeal to our sense of materialism, Jesus tells us to give up our attachment to things (Matthew 6:19-24). When the disciples sought power and prestige for themselves, Jesus spoke to them about servanthood (Mark 9:33-35; 10:35-45).
12 Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when He arrives.
This exhortation provides us with several important principles pertaining to true spirituality as it relates to our public piety:
(1) Our piety is to be public. We do not have the option of a strictly personal faith. Our love for God and for our neighbor requires attitudes and actions open to public scrutiny.
Jesus expected His disciples to stand apart from the world in which they lived. He taught that it is impossible to be a true disciple and not be noticed as “light” in a dark place. Jesus did not oppose demonstrating righteousness before men; He opposed the public display of religious rituals (prayer, fasting, almsgiving) rather than godly conduct in our relations with men. Jesus was rebuking acts of Pharisaical self-righteousness performed to gain the praise of men and not the praise of God. They were seeking the praise of men now rather than awaiting divine reward in heaven. Jesus calls for His disciples to live out His righteousness in their daily conduct. This may result not in worldly praise, but in persecution. They should, nevertheless, persist in their new-found righteousness, rejoicing that their reward is their future hope (Matthew 5:10-12).
(2) Our conduct in this world should be a praiseworthy piety. Peter tells us our conduct is to be “exemplary.” In Greek, there are two words for good. There is agathos, which simply means good in quality; and there is kalos, which means not only good but also lovely—fine, attractive, winsome. That is what Peter emphasizes here. Peter is saying is that the Christian must make his whole way of life so lovely and so good to look upon that the slanders of his heathen enemies may be demonstrated to be false.
(3) Living a praiseworthy life does not mean we will be praised for it. Living piously will not always result in peace (Matthew 10:34-36; Romans 12:18). Living a godly life may result in drawing some to faith (I Peter 3:10-15). But Peter indicates the ungodly may unjustly accuse and attack Christians because of holy living.
Goodness threatens evil doers. Jesus was regularly accused by the Pharisees (Luke 5:28-32; 13:10-16). The Gedarenes asked Jesus to leave their village when He exorcised a host of demons from a man (Mark 5:1-5, 14-17).
Some react poorly to displays of righteousness because those displays threaten their way of life, exposing it as sin (I Peter 4:1-5). When light exposes darkness, darkness strikes out against the light (John 1:6-13; Ephesians 5:3-14).
(4) In eternity, God will be praised for the very deeds for which we may now be persecuted. It is not we but God who is praised, because He is the One who has worked in us both to, “will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).” No longer will the wicked be able to call good “evil” and evil “good.”
*Standing before God, we must acknowledge the truth and give God the praise which He alone deserves.
Peter shows us another way hope enables and encourages us in suffering. We not only endure suffering now looking forward to the glory to come, but we also endure suffering now because of the praise which accrues to our Lord by our excellent behavior.
Persecution does play a part in the proving of our faith. When we persist in doing good even though it results in persecution, we demonstrate our faith. And when our faith is proven, God, the source and object of our faith, is praised. We do not behave excellently just because it is the pathway to present peace and prosperity, but because it is the way of faith which results in praise and glory to our Lord. We should live godly not just in hope of our blessings, but in the hope of His praise and glory!

In this lesson, we learn who we are and what God has purposed for us to do. It is appropriate that we find our value in the price which Christ paid to save us. But we must understand that this is a value restored, a value redeemed—which became necessary because it was a value that we discarded. God saved us because He thought we were precious. He saved us although we were sinful, defiled, and useless. Thus, let us not come to this passage only to find ourselves, to estimate our worth. Let us come to it overwhelmed by His worth and God’s grace in saving us through His precious blood.
Let us learn from Peter that we dare not accept the value structure of this world. The world does not esteem the Lord Jesus Christ. The world does not see Him as precious. God views Him as precious, though the world thinks Him worthless. And if the world could so badly appraise the worth of our Lord, why do we look to the world for approval and a sense of self-worth? We can only learn what is truly precious from God, not from our unsaved peers.