Sermon Text: 1 Peter 2:4-10
Date: May 7, 2023
Event: The Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A
1 Peter 2:4-10 (EHV)
As you come to him, the Living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious, 5you also, like living stones, are being built as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, in order to bring spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For it says in Scripture:
See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who believes in him will certainly not be put to shame.
7Therefore, for you who believe, this is an honor. But for those who do not believe:
The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,
8and,
a stone over which they stumble
and a rock over which they fall.
Because they continue to disobey the word, they stumble over it. And that is the consequence appointed for them.
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10At one time you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. At one time you were not shown mercy, but now you have been shown mercy.
Build Wisely
Over the last year or so, we’ve gone through a lot of different decisions with our remodeling work around campus. Many decisions had to be made because what we found when doing demolition was not what was expected (or hoped) to be true and other times it’s the debate of what is the best option in terms of plan and materials. Should the bathroom floor be vinyl or ceramic tile? Should the walls have a smooth or textured finish? Should the paint colors be striking or neutral? Should there be one combined furnace and AC unit for both the Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall or should we have two separate units? And if two, where will we put them? Should the hillside in the parking lot be graded to be stable or have a retaining wall?
Our prime driver in these decisions, as we worked with the contractor, has been bang for the buck—we’re not looking to do the most expensive things possible, but also recognize that the cheapest path forward right now is probably not the best option long-term. So, the decisions have largely come down to what we can economically do that will last for a long time. What can make this space a place to worship our Savior and enjoy fellowship with each other for many years while at the same time not bankrupting the congregation?
For many of those decisions, there is no right or wrong answer, but you do have to make a choice because you can’t do three different things at the same time. So, you try to make the best decision you can and commend it to the Lord for his blessing.
But these are not coinflip decisions. No one is just saying, “Well, I know nothing about this, let’s just throw darts at the wall and see where they land.” No, the decisions are informed. They are based on our research or on asking people more in the know than any of us are. You can’t make good decisions without being informed at least a little bit. If you’re going to build and do a good job, you must build wisely.
In our Second Reading for this morning, God gives us a picture of a building being built to compare to you and me, the church. In fact, this is a common picture that God uses throughout the Old and New Testaments to describe his people. God builds us, but once you have been brought to faith, you are part of that building and reinforcing project. When it comes to your spiritual life, far more than any physical building or renovation project, you want to build wisely.
Peter begins our reading this way: As you come to him, the Living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious, you also, like living stones, are being built as a spiritual house. What is the goal of this building project? That you and I are built as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, in order to bring spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God.
And this is quite a monumental undertaking because by nature we were not holy at all. By nature, we are corrupted by sin completely and totally. And because of that sin corruption, we can’t do anything to please God. Nothing an unbeliever does or says or thinks is ever acceptable to God because it is completely ruined by sin. So, how does this happen? How does the change take place?
Peter quotes from Isaiah 28 when he says: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will certainly not be put to shame. And then he comments: Therefore, for you who believe, this is an honor. In our midweek Lenten worship about two months ago, we heard Jesus talk about this cornerstone prophecy. The cornerstone was not an ornamental part of the building in those days, but a crucial component of the building. A well-cut, strong cornerstone placed at the start of the walls would ensure a square, stable building. But a cornerstone that was weak or whose sides were at goofy angles would mean a really, really questionable building that was potentially a great hazard and a waste of time and resources. The cornerstone was absolutely critical if one wanted to build wisely.
When it comes to our spiritual state, we as people come up with all sorts of ideas of how to make things better. “If I do this this way, God will be happy with me.” “If I check these things off of a list, God won’t be so upset with me.” “If I do this for this person, I’ll start to get rid of that guilty feeling I feel over here.” We think this way because we want to believe that our spiritual problems are things we can fix, that our sin is something we can remove if we just scrub hard enough or in the right way. We start trying to build this spiritual house, but a house built like that is built with an incredibly wonky cornerstone. It’s soft and weak; it’s cattywampus and means the walls of the building go all over the place. It will not stand or endure.
Jesus made some pretty exclusive claims in our Gospel for this morning: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus claims exclusivity as the way to heaven; he claims exclusivity as the one and only Cornerstone on which our spiritual houses can be built. Why?
Peter commented on this as he continued his Old Testament quotations regarding God’s Cornerstone: But for those who do not believe: The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and, a stone over which they stumble and a rock over which they fall. Not building with God’s Cornerstone doesn’t mean that it goes away. Building with something different just means that God’s Cornerstone is a hazard on your construction site. If Jesus is not the basis of your spiritual life, he is something you’re tripping and falling over.
Those who ignore God’s Word, who ascribe many paths to heaven, who think all “good people” will end up fine after this life are faceplanting over God’s Cornerstone. Peter says of people building in this way: because they continue to disobey the word, they stumble over it. And that is the consequence appointed for them. Ignoring God’s Word, or actively rejecting it, leads to this spiritual stumbling and ultimately disaster. It’s not like a little trip that you get up and brush yourself off from; it’s a dire fall that means eternal condemnation as the consequence for choosing to ignore God’s Cornerstone and building foolishly.
If my confidence for eternal life or spiritual health or anything else comes from my own piousness and assumed God-pleasing behavior, I’m building a horribly unstable building. It will fall down and take me with it.
To build a spiritual house wisely, you need Jesus. Peter describes the one built with Jesus as the Cornerstone this way: You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. At one time you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. At one time you were not shown mercy, but now you have been shown mercy.
It's frustrating to think that there’s no way for me to solve my sin problem. It’s a helpless feeling to know that any way I chose to build my spiritual house, on my own, will end in disaster. But God doesn’t look at that situation and say, “Wow, it really stinks to be you” and then turn his back on us. No, God gave us what we needed. When we needed mercy, he showed us mercy in Jesus’ work on our behalf. When we were helpless, he rescued us. When we were without a cornerstone, he placed himself as the root and foundation of our lives.
Yes, it doesn’t feel great to know that by nature we cannot do anything to save ourselves and that any plans we make, any walls we build, will collapse and fail. But you don’t have to figure this out for yourself. God has done it for you. He has given you Jesus as your Savior, as the one who brings complete forgiveness for every sin. You build a spiritual house on him, not in an effort to fix your relationship with God, but built wisely and joyfully because Jesus already solved all of those problems.
So, as you continue to build that spiritual house, base it all on Jesus, the one who is our only and complete rescue from sin, death, and hell. We have been rescued from every evil, not because we are so wonderful, but because our God is so merciful. He has made us into his church, called us out of darkness, made us his people, and shown us mercy. If you build on him, you build wisely. Lord, help us to always build our spiritual lives like this, dependent completely on you as the one who lived, died, and rose to free us from sin. Amen.
