Sermon for May 7,2023
1 Peter 2:2–3 2Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation— 3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
There are many mature people who do not taste that the Lord is good. They have made up their minds that the Lord doesn’t meet their expectations of a god. The minds of these mature people were made up from what has been told to them, and many times words were not used.
Listen to those who think marriage doesn’t meet their expectations, it was not words they heard, it was actions they felt. We as mature parents have raised a generation who did not listen to our words but watched our actions and decided going another direction might be better. And because of our actions we have helped in making God’s pews vacant.
We have soured the milk through our actions because many feel church should beckon to their agenda rather than God’s. How then should any of us feel that we have tasted the meat, and that we are capable of helping others taste the meat. Though we go to church, how diligent are we to not just learn God’s word, but graduate into journeyman’s status?
Should we now thank God for He is good? God has proven His goodness through His forgiveness. How long has God put up with mankind? Let us thank Him that He does not grow weary of our foolish and self-serving attitudes.
1 Peter 2:4–5 4As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
It is true, the closer we become to God the further we become to the world. We will be called fools for believing in God and believing the Holy Bible is the inspired word of God. While we still worship God our brother’s and sister’s, (or should I say our sister’s and brother’s), worship mankind’s ability to reason.
We have been chosen to be living stone for a spiritual house, and the spiritual house is the Kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, the one true church that brings all believers together. While the worldly will not even be the dirt God will build His House on.
Mankind has sacrificed many animals, food, and birds to God and to gods. These are sacrifices that were given for either absolution or given to please a false god that people feared. These sacrifices were temporary and therefore needed to be repeated over and over. But the spiritual sacrifice only needs to happen once for eternity. That is Jesus Christ was sacrificed for us and that sacrifice only needed to be done once for His forgiveness lasts forever.
However, Peter talks about we as a spiritual priesthood giving a spiritual sacrifice that will be pleasing to God through Jesus Christ. Our spiritual sacrifice that will be pleasing to God will be and is our praise and thanks, our undying worship and obedience to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
1 Peter 2:6–7a 6For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7aSo the honor is for you who believe,
There it is said, “7aSo the honor is for you who believe,” not so you can boast about yourself, but that you can boast in what God does for all true believers. We do not become a spiritual stone on our own. Rather the Holy Spirit leads us to be a spiritual stone who will be joined to the cornerstone Jesus Christ.
This is not just a confession with your lips but a true confession with your heart. To confess with your lips one must believe with their heart through genuine love for God and savior Jesus Christ. This is not a show of self-righteousness, but an action of putting into action what you have learned from Jesus Christ.
If you are self-righteous, you put others down to make yourself feel more important in your falsified walk. If you are truly righteous, then you walk humbly and help others do the same. If you are truly righteous then you know you are only righteous through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who died for our sin.
1 Peter 2:7b–8 7bbut for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
The world stumbles because it worships itself. The world is its own stumbling stone and will continue to destroy itself as it gets in its own way. But we do not have to worry about the worlds destruction for Jesus Christ said Himself, He has overcome the world.
We will receive a place in the spiritual house lead by the spiritual body and live on a new earth under a new heaven, and we will be led into eternal joy. God has not blessed us because we are good, God has blessed us because He claims us as His children forever.
1 Peter 2:9–10 9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
We are the believers humbled and thankful to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are bound to our God through Jesus Christ who brings us to Him for He loved us first.
Amen.