Tag: 1 peter

A Living Stone

What goes into building a strong structure? Time, energy, and a strong cornerstone. Together as the Church, we are all one strong structure that is supposed to uphold our faith with Jesus as our cornerstone. That means that we must see ourselves each individually as small building blocks.

As a stone to uphold a structure, how are we able to be good enough to work together as the church and have Christ as our cornerstone?

It may come to a surprise to some of us, but we are not perfect. Our Heavenly Father made us in His image, but sin has made us broken. When we are born into this world, we are made to be broken because of sin. How do we overcome sin and be in a relationship with Christ? We can’t, we can only believe in what God has done for us to be saved.

It is by faith alone through Jesus Christ that we come to know true salvation and the presence of the Holy Spirit. As we come to a relationship with Christ, He calls us to believe in Him. That means to believe that we are made broken and in need of a Savior. Jesus is that Savior, fully God and man. He is eternal with the Father and Holy Spirit. Because God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us, He brought His Son down to Earth to preach the “good news” and to become an eternal sacrifice for all. Therefore, Jesus came to Earth as a baby, died on the cross as a man, and was resurrected to give us eternal life.

When we believe in this, there is a change in all of us. We see lives to start changing and go toward the Word of Jesus. In 1 Peter 2:4-5, Peter says, As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you 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”. We come to Jesus broken and with a past. None of us are perfect or are called to be perfect when you come to a relationship with Jesus. We need a Savior and He wants us to be with Him.

Jesus makes us into living stones, building blocks, that will be rejected by others, but will make us into one whole structure. This structure is a royal priesthood that is in a relationship with Jesus. This structure is constantly growing and will continue to do so. The Church is unlike other structures or buildings, it will continue to transform each and every day. It will add more building blocks and become more refined, but always have a perfect cornerstone that allows the structure to never fall.

As the Chruch, let us grow more towards living like a royal priesthood and sharing the good news of the Gospel. Never forget that God’s grace is a blessing and gift towards us, that is worth sharing with everyone!

1 Peter Introduction

1 Peter is the first of two letters sent by Peter to multiple church communities in Asia Minor. He sends this letter specifically to the people he calls, “elect exiles.” These people were under the Roman authority and he calls them exiles because he knows that this is not their home.

 

A lot of this letter focuses on how they should respond to persecution. These people were under a lot of persecution and Peter knew that it wouldn’t stop so he encouraged them to remember Jesus. Specifically, he wanted them to remember how Jesus loved and even died for the sins of people who hated him.

 

Peter also took some time to speak to husbands and wives. In relationships that were unequally yoked he spoke to the wives saying, “ wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct.” (1 Peter 3:1-2) He also speaks to Christian marriages, making sure that husbands treat their wives as equals. (1 Peter 3:7)

 

The final chapters of the letter talk about suffering. Peter wanted these Christians to know that suffering was going to happen. It happened to Jesus and it will happen to you and me. This world is not home for the people of God, and the world is broken and full of sin which is why there will always be persecution and suffering.

 

The overarching principle of this letter from Peter is that as Christians we will come against persecution and suffering. As that happens we are to respond in a way that is honoring to God, which is why we have been given Jesus as an example. 1 Peter is made up of 5 chapters so join us as we dive into Chapter 1 tomorrow! Have an awesome Thursday!