God is building His house!
”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.“
1 Peter 2:4-5 NIV
What is He building?
God is building us into a Spiritual House. We will understand from this passage in 1 Peter 2:4-10, what He is building. We will see that there is a foundation, a building, blueprints and purpose.
FOUNDATION
In Singapore, we are constantly building, isn’t it? We know before anything can be built, a foundation needs to be in place.
In ancient building technique, the cornerstone of the foundation would be the first stone to be put in place. This stone needs to be well- shaped, and solid, and of just the right size. That’s because on this single rock, the builder will build all the rest.
Peter quotes from the Old Testament (Isaiah 28:16) here. ”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.”“ 1 Peter 2:6
Christ is God’s chosen cornerstone and it is from Him that everything takes reference. He is not just any stone - Christ is THE living stone and is the cornerstone of God’s spiritual house and we are to be established ON Him.
BUILDING
What is this building made of? People.
We are the building blocks of God’s spiritual house. “... you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood,…”1 Peter 2:5 NIV
Just as Christ is the living stone, we are like living stones being assembled into a spiritual house. It is clear here that we are not meant to be isolated stones. Alone, we can simply exist, but together we are built into something more magnificent – God’s spiritual house.
I love that the picture is that of stones, rather than concrete or bricks. Stones are each different. And it is God, the master builder, who knows how to fit us all together.
What kind of building are we then? A Spiritual House. Spiritual is Pneumatikos (characterized by the Holy Spirit, especially of the mature Christian life) The term for house here in Greek is Oikos (which is a house where families dwell).
So God is building a household of families comprising Christians who are matured by the Holy Spirit. That is what God is building. We are placed in spiritual family, a community in Christ, where we love one another sincerely and deeply (1 Peter 1:22).
BLUEPRINTS
God has not left us unaware of how He is building. He has given us His blueprints. THE WORD.
Peter in talking about Christ as the living stone, cornerstone, quotes from the Old Testament. Augustine that “In the Old Testament the New is concealed, in the New the Old is revealed”.
Peter makes a case from the Old Testament that Christ is the cornerstone (Isa 28:16, Ps 118:22, Isa 8:14). God had already shown in Scripture the blueprints.
And if we want to build this spiritual house, we must follow the blueprints.
PURPOSE
And finally we must know why God has built this spiritual house.
“... to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.“
1 Peter 2:5 NIV
So Peter makes it very clear by using priestly imagery from the Old Testament. We are to be priests, offering living sacrifices to the Lord. And what are these sacrifices? We are to offer our lives to Him as living sacrifices.
”Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.“
Romans 12:1 NIV
Furthermore, the role of the priest is also to be intermediaries. Priests represent God to the people and they represent the people to God. ”… that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ” 1 Peter 2:9 NIV
CONCLUSION
”In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.“
Ephesians 2:19-22 NIV
God is desiring to build a spiritual house made up of his people, to be a place for Him to dwell. Are we building what He desires? Or building with our own agenda? We need to ask ourselves these questions.
May we join the Great Architect to build what is on His heart.