First Peter: Humility | Part 2: Foreigner — Transformation Nation

Transformation Nation – 1 Peter 2:4-10

Like the Old Testament Temple, the New Testament Church is to be God’s light to the world. Our bodies individually (1 Corinthians 6:19) and the Church collectively (1 Corinthians 3:16) are now the Temple of God to shine forth the Light of God! 

1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 

1 Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 

1 Peter 2:4-5, Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 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.

In the Old Testament, worshipers brought a sacrifice to a priest at a specific place. In the New Testament, we are the sacrifice, we are the priest, and we are the place! (See 1 Peter 2:5)

1 Peter 2:5, 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.

We individually are “living stones” God has used to build His Church, but Jesus alone is the cornerstone! 

1 Peter 2:6, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

Matthew 16:17-18, Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, [petros] and on this rock [petra] I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” 

1 Peter 2:7-9, 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 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 His marvelous light.

1)  As the Church, we are a chosen generation. In the sense Peter uses the word “generation,” it speaks of a group having come from the same source or same seed — the same family tree. “Generation” speaks of “regeneration” from having been “born again.”

2)  As the Church, we are a royal priesthood. Revelation 5:10, He has “made us kings and priests to our God…”

3)  As the Church, we are a holy nation. The word Peter uses for nation is “ethnos” as in “ethnic” group. We are part of a holy ethnic group having been born again (1 Peter 1:23) and have become “partakers of a divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

4)  As the Church, we are God’s own special people. The word translated as “special” implies that of ownership or a “personal possession” or “private property.” We are God’s personal people and purchased possession.

1 Peter 2:9, “…that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

The Church is God’s only plan to impact culture, transform communities, and change eternal destinies. Colossians 1:27, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

1 Peter 2:10, “who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

As those who have obtained God’s mercy, our purpose is to take God’s Son to all people so they too might obtain God’s mercy.