Peter: Lively Stones Make a Spiritual House
/1 Peter Chapter 2
Malice
Matthew 6:33-34
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Acts 8:22-23
22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. 23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
Romans 1:16-23
Romans 1:29
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Malice is an adjective that describes a deep condition of the heart. It’s synonymous with evil in general, and it’s directly related with rejection of God’s truth! Peter says lay it aside. It’s the ways of an evil world, it’s of the spirit of error, it’s the opposite of the good that comes from the Spirit of God.
Lay aside malice but desire, like a baby, the sincere milk of the word.
Desire= crave, lust after
Sincere= pure and unadulterated
1 Peter 2:2 ESV
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
The word of God allows the Christian to receive the nutrition needed for growth. Without it, the believer will not advance to a young man or adult in the faith.
Have you ever seen a baby crying for milk? Screaming, and you’re feverishly trying to stick the scoop of powder in so you can shake it up. You’re fumbling, baby screaming, and finally, you give it to the baby and they hold it so tenderly, and with complete contentment, they look at you with eyes of gratitude.
V3 “If so be” If so be that you actually have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. If you haven’t then you need to get saved. I can’t save you, but I can keep telling you about it, and I can inform you that once you are, you will know, because the Holy Spirit will give you the deposit and the word of God will start to taste oh so good!
A cornerstone in ancient construction was the foundation upon which the building was founded. Instead of a cement slab, it was a cornerstone. Jesus is the foundation of the spiritual house that God is building. Just as a literal tent was erected and a literal house/ temple was built to house the presence of God, in the New Covenant, God is building a spiritual house, a place where His presence can live, a place where He can be found on earth.
The cornerstone was rejected by men, but chosen and precious in the eyes of God. The Spirit calls us stones also. He is the Living stone, and when that stone touches us, we become lively stones. Lively meaning life. It’s the word Zoe in the Greek, and it means He breathed His life on you and in you. You were dead and now you’re alive. You’re a lively stone and you, and you, and you, and me, and God is building a house where His presence can dwell, and He is the head and we are the body and His church is the house and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
God’s house is on the move again church. It was in a tent where it could move and then it became a stationary structure in the temple and people would come to it, and now it’s both. We, as lively stones come to this place, and He is in us, we bring Him with us. He brings people here, and when we’re all here, maybe it functions like the temple, but when we leave it’s more like the tent of meeting. Wherever we go, church is about to take place. Wherever we go, revival is about to break out. Any minute, any day, any place, it’s about to happen. He’s about to pour out His Spirit! Expect Him to move church!
Priesthood- you’re a holy priesthood.
Hebrews 7:26-27
26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
The Old Testament priest made intercession for the people through sacrifice, that’s what they needed. They needed to be cleansed from their sin, an exchange from sin to righteousness. Their work of intercession was never done, because the blood of bulls and goats cannot remove sin. His work is Is the sinless man who died for all sinful men, and now, in His exalted state, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, ever making intercession for you, for me.
Now, under Him, we are made a royal priesthood. The people of God, the body of Christ, offering up, spiritual sacrifices to Him (Romans 12:1).
He laid a cornerstone in Sion— Zion is the highest hill in Jerusalem, the hill upon which the temple of the Lord was built in the city of God’s choosing. The city named Jerusalem, the city of peace. But the stone He’s talking about here is not the literal stone upon which the temple was built. The stone He’s talking about here is the stone, the rock, Christ Jesus. There is a heavenly Jerusalem that awaits the saints of God. The writer of Hebrews speaks of it:
Hebrews 7:26-27
Hebrews 12:22-23
22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Confounded—dishonored, disgraced, ashamed, blush
This isn’t the kind of blushing where some pretty girl tells you that she thinks that you are cute or good looking, or vice versa some attractive dude tells you that you are beautiful. No! This is the blush of shame. That spot where you thought you were right and you were so bold about it, but come to find out, you were wrong, and it’s that direct moment when your consciousness realizes that you were wrong and embarrassment and shame floods you, hormones are released that increase blood flow to your face, your face is reddened and depending on how serious the situation, other emotions are to follow, heartache, sorrow, a desire to get right, or embarrassment turns to bitterness and the heart is hardened and the neck is stiffened and rebellion enters in. There is coming a judgment day, and everyone will face Jesus, and if we let the Living stone touch us now, if our glorified body blushes, we may blush for joy, but we will not blush for shame. Oh God let us help others. Let us be used by you to help them not experience the bad blush, only a good blush. Please Lord!
To the person that exercises faith in the truth, Jesus becomes the most precious possession on earth. His presence is something that He will allow us to possess. He becomes the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price. To those who reject the truth, He becomes a stumbling block. This is God’s plan. Jesus is the head of the corner. He is the foundation of God’s intervention for rebellious, sinful man. I don’t believe that God predestined people to be disobedient, reject the word and stumble. Instead, I believe that He gives His word, knowing that some will believe and some will reject. The ones that believe will see Jesus as precious. Those that reject will stumble and this is the appointment of the people’s: one or the other. There is no in between. Yet, in His grace and His mercy, He who rejects today, may still have hope tomorrow, as long as there is breath in the lungs and time on the prophetic clock, there is hope for a soul to go from unbeliever to believer and from rejector to embracer of truth— I believe that, and that is why I preach!
The people of God are seen as a special people group. Their unity and togetherness is based on the commonality that they have believed in the word of God. They are a royal-priesthood. This makes believers different than the Levitical priests of old. They were of the tribe of Levi. From Levi came no king. Jesus is a priest after a new order. The order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a king-priest. We have been given the delegated authority of the Christ to operate as a co-regent with our king. We have been given delegated authority to operate under the dunamis of God. To pray and intercede, to believe God for the miraculous and to take authority over the works of darkness.
We are peculiar in that God has created us and separated us out from the rest of the world as a people that belong directly to Him. Our purpose is to operate as kings and priests within the kingdom realm that He has translated us into. He called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light and our purpose is to show forth praises to Him. The gentile nations were not previously the people of God— Israel was. We were not previously the people of God—other Christians were but thank God a believer somewhere, somehow told us the truth. Thank you Lord for sending someone to tell us the truth.
The Greek word means literally "to make around," that is, to make something and then to surround it with a circle, thus indicating ownership. The same verb is used in the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 43:21 which reads, "This people have I formed for myself." The word "peculiar" today usually means "odd, strange." But it is not so used here. The Greek word speaks of the unique, private, personal ownership of the saints by God_Wuest
People that are ignorant of God and ignorant of sin continue to engage in the lusts of the flesh. We also know that Christians, at times, do the same, but Peter implores us not to. He calls believers “dearly beloved” the lusts of the flesh is what the world offers, but we are not of the world. We are a royal priesthood and fleshly lusts wage war against our souls. When war is waged against our souls, it will affect our faith, it will affect our mindsets , and fleshly lusts will definitely affect our emotions.
Keep your manner of living honorable among unbelievers. When we live right before them, even though they talk bad about us, they will know that our faith is sincere, they will remember our works and on the Day of visitation—they will glorify God. The idea here for visitation is actually talking about the overseer ἐπισκοπή episkopē. The text is describing the day when the unbeliever will finally believe in Christ and accept Him as the overseer of their soul. When they receive Him and are cleansed, they will remember your honorable life, and they will be thankful that you lived a separated life for the Lord!
Believers are instructed to live their lives in an honorable way: We are to respect the governing authorities that are in place, honor. Our behavior will also silence foolish men. Whenever we are slandered by people for our faithful living, we must be reminded that the slanderers are ignorant. They do not know our Lord. Our prayer is that one day they will.
One thought about Peter saying to obey governors, authorities and laws that are in place. I would also like to point out that this is the same man that preached Jesus, got arrested for preaching Jesus, was freed from prison, and went back and preached again.
We are also instructed to respect the authority of those we work for. He specifically states that we are expected to respond properly to our bosses that are froward (σκολιός skolios; from the base of 4628; warped, i.e. winding; figuratively, perverse: — crooked).
If we respond like the world and are buffeted (to rap with the fist: — buffet.) then we will not receive praise from God for it, but if we are well doers and live our lives honorably in the eyes of God, according to His word, then this is acceptable in the eyes of God— the Greek here for acceptable is charis— grace/graciousness.
Jesus left us an example on earth of suffering for righteousness. Example—ὑπογραμμός hypogrammos; from a compound of 5259 and 1125; an underwriting. His example is written. He had no sin, He had no deceit (guile). He trusted and committed Himself to the Father, the Father judges righteously. It is obvious from these thoughts that God is pleased and takes notice of what will last in eternity.
His example brought obedience to the point of death, the death of the cross. He bore our sin in His body on the tree. He healed us with the stripes of the lichtor’s lash.
We were like sheep going astray (πλανάω planaō; from 4106; to (properly, cause to) roam (from safety, truth, or virtue): — go astray, deceive) we were deceived, but His word and grace drew us back and we had our own visitation. This is why He wants us to live honorably before men. It is His will and desire to do the same for them. The very one that hurt you the worst, is the one He wants to save.