As Living Stones

Introduction

Time is relative. Time moves at different pace depending upon different factors. Time moves at a different pace depending upon your age. Let’s just be honest about it. The older you get, the faster time goes. And I figured out why it’s that way. Because when you’re over the hill, you go faster going downhill. It’s hard to believe that it’s the middle of July already, 2024. My reminders of that, we have various reminders of that. My reminders of that have to do with our annual theme. You’ll remember that our annual theme is how firm a foundation. Talking about how important it is to have a good firm foundation to our faith. And so we’ve been talking about that theme this year, but I’m reminded that we’re already more than halfway through this year, and therefore halfway through, or more than halfway through with our theme.

But we’re not just doing an annual theme, as you know. We have four sub themes, four quarter sub themes. And so we’re already, shockingly to me at least, now into our third quarter of this year. That seems unthinkable, but it’s true. Our first quarter, we talked about Christ as the cornerstone. There is no foundation without Jesus Christ. Our lives, our very existence, and surely our faith is built upon Jesus Christ. And so we talked about Him as our foundation, as the chief cornerstone to our faith, to our existence to the church, and really to everything. In our second quarter, we talked about the foundation, our foundations of our faith. We talked about really just faith itself and those things fundamental to our faith and to our belief and to our existence as Christians and as a church that should be the foundational things upon which we can build our faith and grow.

But now as we enter into this third quarter, in talking about how firm a foundation, we want to talk about ourselves and our role in being a part of this structure that God has built and is building.

And to be a living stone. And so would you turn with me to the book of 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2 will be our text this morning. We’ll be looking at other passages of Scripture, but we’ll be coming back to 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 4 through 10. And so it’ll do yourself good to maybe put your bookmark or a finger here, as we’ll always be coming to 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 4 through 10. I want to talk about our role in this foundation, in this structure in the temple of God, in talking about what it’s like to be living stone. Let’s read our text and then we’ll expound upon that this morning. 1 Peter chapter 2. We use this text really as the beginning of our theme.

When Peter talks about Jesus as that chief cornerstone, but look what he goes on to say. 1 Peter 2, verse 4, beginning, coming to him, that’s to Jesus, of course, as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, that’s what we want to talk about this morning. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it’s also contained in Scripture. Behold, and I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious. But to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

They stumble, being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. But you, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light, who once were not a people, but now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

But then he goes on to say that we too become living stones in this building. Obviously, in this text, he’s talking when referencing Jesus as the chief cornerstone and us as being living stones as well, contrasting the old Testament temple to the New Testament temple. And so before we get into the points that we want to uh elucidate this morning, let’s do a little bit of a rehearsal on the concept of the temple. It all kind of started with the tabernacle. Before the tabernacle, man worshiped God in really non-structured tabernacles. They built altars to worship God. But there at Mount Sinai, God gave Moses instructions to build this tabernacle. It was the first temple of sorts. It was the first structure that was built. It was built and patterned in the way that it was because at this time Israel had no permanent dwelling place.

And so it needed to be portable. And so it was taken down and rebuilt everywhere that they went. And it, even though it was portable, it became a permanent place of worship for a while at least when they get into the land of Canaan. But we know the story that David, the second king of the United Kingdom, that David says, I need to build a house for God, a permanent structure where God can be worshipped. But God rejects the idea that David would build it and says, No, your son Solomon can build that temple, and that’s exactly what happens. And so Solomon builds, again, under the instruction of God, builds this temple that becomes the permanent dwelling place of God that replaces that kind of temporary mobile structure of the tabernacle.

And so we reference this as, call this sometimes Solomon’s temple. Now, the titles that we’re giving the temple in no way are to indicate that they’re not God’s temple. We understand that, but it’s called Solomon’s temple simply because he was the human being who built and oversaw the construction of that temple. Because of Israel’s wickedness years later, God would carry them away into captivity, and a part of that judgment involved the destruction of that temple. And so Solomon’s temple is destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army, and they’re carried away into captivity. About 70 years later, they come back into the land and they rebuild the temple. And so we sometimes call this the second temple. Under the instruction or the leadership of Zerubbabel and Ezra, a second temple is built.

We could call this Zerubbabel’s temple or Ezra’s temple, but it’s most often referred to as the second temple that was replacing that Solomon’s temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonians some 70-ish years before. By the time we get to the first century in the New Testament, at the time of Christ and the apostles, the temple that is there is often referred to as Herod’s temple. Now, the second temple is still there, but Herod the Great remodels the temple. The temple hasn’t been destroyed like it had earlier, but it is, it goes a major overhaul, a major remodel, and so we sometimes reference the temple in the first century as Herod’s temple. It’s really still the second temple, but because of the overhaul, the remodeling by Herod the Great, that sometimes we will reference that as Herod’s temple that was existed there in the first century.

1. A Living Temple Is Just Better

Those are the dwelling places of God. Those are the places of worship under that old covenant. And that’s what Peter is referencing, or the Holy Spirit through Peter is referencing when he says, but we are living stones. As opposed to that physical structure that had those physical inanimate stones that we are now living stones in a spiritual dwelling house in a spiritual temple. And so let’s talk about that concept of us being living stones in the temple of God. And let’s make some points of comparison or more properly, some points of contrast between that old covenant temple and the far better temple that exists today. One thing that we can, first observation that we can make is that a living temple is just better. Living is better than non-living.

Living is better than inanimate always. Physical is better than spiritual spiritual is better than physical. And so this temple is better than that old temple. Now that was a hard concept for the Jews to accept, but the old covenant temple was never intended by God to be the end. We talked about this more that this morning in our Bible class when the Hebrew writer was talking about that old tabernacle, that old temple, and he mentioned in it that the sacrifices that were offered there, the blood of bulls and goats, could never take away sins. But that was those weren’t perfect sacrifices. That should have been a major clue to the mind of even those old covenant ancient Jews. That God wasn’t finished with that. Because if God made something and instituted something that wasn’t perfect, that should be a major clue that God’s not finished with this yet.

We referenced the creation scene. And you’ve heard this so many times when it says in the creation, God did this and it was good. God did this and it was good. But when God created man and man was alone, it said it was not good. Clue, God wasn’t finished. And so when God made the temple, the old covenant temple, and the sacrifices that were offered in that weren’t perfect. They couldn’t take away sins. They couldn’t reconcile man to God fully. Big clue, God’s not finished. This isn’t what God says intended. This is not where God is going to stop. That was a difficult concept for the Jews to accept, but it should have been clear in their minds that that was not the end all be all.

2. Living Stones Can Praise God

This new temple, this new covenant temple is better for so many reasons. Living is better than non-living, spiritual is better than physical. And it’s personal now. It’s not an inanimate, cold structure. It’s a living, an active and personal temple to God. And that makes it better. But what does it mean that this temple, our new covenant temple of which we’re a part, what does it mean that it’s a living temple? Well, let’s talk about that. Well, one thing it means is that these living stones can praise God. Now, the old covenant temple was a place where God was to be honored and praised. But the new covenant temple isn’t just a place where God can be praised, but that this temple praises God itself. That the living stones within this temple not only are a place to praise God, but we praise God.

Are you still there in 1 Peter chapter 2, where he says that we’re coming to Him as living stones? Skip down to verse 9, when He says, as in contrast to that old system, he says, You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his only his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. In verse 5, he had called us living stones. In verse 9, he says, We are the priesthood. We are the stones in this temple, and we are the priesthood who enters that temple, and we are to offer that praise. The stones themselves offer praise to God. Do you remember the story? You remember the story when Jesus walked here upon the earth toward the end of his life when he was coming into Jerusalem, and his followers gave him what we call the triumphal entry.

They laid down those palm branches and they praised him. Hosanna, they praised him, and his detractors, as they always did, found fault with that and wanted Jesus to rebuke his disciples for using those words of praise. You remember the curious statement that Jesus made about that praise and how appropriate it was.

Meaning that he was so worthy of praise that it could not rightfully be suppressed.

That old covenant temple was built as a structure that was to honor God. But that cold, inanimate, lifeless building could not praise God. Could not come close to praising and honoring God the way that you and I, as living and active and personal stones can. Let’s never forget that that’s what we’ve been called to do.

Praise God. And let’s never forget this, and that’s part of the points that we’re going to make as we go on, is that that praise is not to be limited to the four walls of this auditorium. Yes, we gather together on the first day of the week to praise him. We sing songs of praise to him. We bow our heads in prayer, praising his name. We honor him in the Lord’s Supper. We even honor him in our Bible classes and our sermons, and we praise God here. But let’s understand that as living stones in this temple, we have been called to be His sanctuary. We have been called to be those who praise God every day of our lives. Let us not be silent. Let us do what we’ve been called to do, and that’s to praise Him.

3. Living Stones Can Grow and Improve

You know, if you have a stone in a building, and that stone has some flaws, that’s just too bad, isn’t it? That stone’s weak. If that stone’s cracked and crumbling and not what it ought to be, that’s just too bad. I’m no engineer. I’m not even a construction guy, but but it seems to me that if you’ve got that stone in a building, you’ve only got two choices. Number one is you live with its imperfection, you live with its flaws, or you take that stone out, throw it out, and replace it with something else, something better. But the beauty and the benefit of a living building, of a living stone, is that we can grow. We can improve. And so if I’m a stone in this temple of God that’s intended to be the dwelling place of God, that’s intended to be the praise source of God.

And I’m not what I ought to be. That I’m cracked or crumbling, or weaker than a stone in a structure ought to be.

And not only does that happen to me as an individual living stone, but as I do that, and hopefully as all the other living stones in this structure do that, then the building itself grows and improves. Look here. Are you still in 1 Peter chapter 2? Notice we started in verse 4. Coming to him as to a living stone. Verse 5, you also as living stones. But notice how this chapter started. Back up a little bit. 1 Peter 2, verse 1. Therefore, therefore, laying aside all malice and deceit and hypocrisy, envy and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. If indeed you’ve tasted that the Lord is gracious, coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.

You also as living stones. I don’t know that I made that observation that in the context of this foundational passage, speaking of Jesus as a living stone, and us being living stones in this temple, it all started with the idea of growth. As newborn babes desire the milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, coming to him as a living stone. Being, it’s all talking about growth. That these stones, it’s another way that living stones are better than non living stones, is that we can grow, that we can improve. Notice what Peter says in that famous passage in his second epistle. In 2 Peter chapter 3, we notice how he ends his second epistle. Second Peter 3, the very last verse, verse 18 says, but grow.

Grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now, forever and ever. Amen. Grow. Grow in the grace and the knowledge. It seems to me that if we’re a part of this thing, if we’re a part of the temple of God, that we’re one of these living stones. And if we’re not dynamic, if we’re not growing and improving, then we’re defeating what Christ has called us to do and to be. That we’re not a better temple than that old temple. That God made us living stones, and this was one of the purposes for making us living stones, is so that we could grow. That we could change and improve.

Grow in the grace and the knowledge. Grow in your knowledge. That’s pretty easy to understand. One of those certainly those things easier said than done, but easy to understand. Grow in your knowledge. We should constantly be growing. We need to be people of the book, that we’re growing in our knowledge of God’s word. But understand that knowledge in the New Testament conveys much more than just this accumulation of facts. It has to do with this idea of our knowing God. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. It means growing in our understanding, in our relationship to Him. But he begins by saying, growing in the grace. How do we grow in grace? You ever thought about that? Growing in knowledge? Oh, I get that part, but what does it mean to grow in the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

The way I figured it can only mean two things. It means I grow in the grace that I receive from Jesus. That I get more grace. But I don’t know that that’s really what he’s saying when he says grow in the grace. Get more of God’s grace. Because for my understanding of the book of Romans, the only way I can get more grace is through more sin. And I don’t think Peter is saying do that. Go sin more so that grace may abound, because again, Paul had said in Romans 6, verse 1, God forbid that you do that. That’s not the way we’re to grow in grace. And so it seems to me the second option would be the correct one when he says, grow in the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

That he’s saying, you grow in your grace. In the grace that you show to others. You love as he has loved, you forgive as he has forgiven. You show mercy and grace as he has shown mercy and grace. How many passages of scripture teach that? And I’m to be growing in that. I hope it can be said by God Himself.

4. Each Stone Is a Dwelling Place of God

That I’m not the Christian that I used to be, that I’ve grown. And I hope that God will be patient with me in my cracks and flaws and imperfections as a stone in his holy temple. That he allow me his grace and his time to grow. As a living stone, who’s praising him in his holy temple. Another way in which a living stone is better than the old stones of that old covenant temple is that each stone is a dwelling place of God. That’s a concept we understand that that old covenant temple was the dwelling place of God. It’s called that so many ways. It was visualized the cloud that represented God’s presence descended upon that temple. And when God was displeased with them before he destroyed the temple, that cloud ascended and left, meaning I’m not here anymore.

This is just an empty shell of a structure. That was God’s presence, God’s still true of the newelling place among his people. The temple is God’s dwelling place today. But there’s a difference. And a better difference.

That God is not just dwelling in us corporately. Because we are all living stones in this temple. God dwells within each one of us. That emphasizes the individual nature of Christianity as opposed to Judaism. And so our faith, our praising God becomes more portable for lack of a better word. Remember Jesus talking to the woman at the whale in John chapter 4, when she asked the question, who’s right in their worship? Jews or Samaritans? And Jesus said, Well, you Samaritans worship in this mountain, we worship in Jerusalem, but a time is coming when neither there nor here will man worship, but everywhere. You see, this temple is better. Because man can worship God in this living system everywhere and anywhere. But it’s also better because God dwelling in each individual living stone of this temple.

Means that just as it did in our growth and improvement, that it means this temple is dynamic. It’s not limited to one location. That we take a little bit of the temple of God with us wherever we go.

To our jobs, to our schools, in our homes, in our communities. Everywhere, we are the temple of God. Look at a couple passages in the book of First Corinthians. The Apostle Paul will use this concept of the temple in two different, not completely different, but two different senses in the book of First Corinthians. Look in First Corinthians chapter three, first of all. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, he is talking about the church and how it is being built up as a spiritual building. And he makes this conclusion about building in this building and not destroying it. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 17, if anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Speaking of the church as a collective as a whole, he says the church is a temple.

Taken as a whole, as a collective, we are the temple. And by the way, let’s not miss that very strong warning. It’s God’s temple. And if you destroy or you defile his temple, God will destroy you. But then look over in chapter six.

And he’s going to talk about the temple in a slightly different way. First Corinthians chapter six. This time look at verse 19. Or do you not know that your body? Talking about individual sins that he’s just been talking about, that we as individuals can practice with our physical bodies. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you’re not at your own, for you’re bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God. So in chapter 3, he says, taken as a whole, every living stone, taken together, we are the temple of God. But then in chapter 6, he says, You individually are the temple of God.

Your body is a temple of God. God dwells within, not just within us collectively as a church, but God dwells within you individually. Living stone is far better than those cold, lifeless stones of that old covenant temple. Because what the Holy Spirit is telling us is that as living stones, we don’t just come to church, we are the church. And when we leave this building on Sunday or Wednesday night, we go back home, or we go into our community, or we go to work, we go to school, wherever we go. We’re still the church. We are to be the church. We are to be the temple of God. We are to be the dwelling place of God. We are to be those living stones that praise God wherever we are.

Conclusion

It’s not limited to Jerusalem. It’s not limited to 3940 South Bumby Avenue in Orlando, Florida. We are living stones. And so let’s be the temple of God. That better temple as living stones, called to praise God and called to be the dwelling place of God in a living and dynamic way. That old testament temple could not dream of being.