I Peter 2:1-12

What’s my place? What’s my purpose? What’s my calling? Don’t we all ask these questions? We often look to other people to answer these questions; our identity is formed in our interactions with other people and as we reflect, so to speak, off of others we get a concept of who we are and where we fit. We are told that what we need is self-esteem or confidence. According to I Peter 2 our place is certainly one which will cause us to be strong and capable; our calling and purpose are certainly ones which inspire a complete self-image, but it should all be forgotten.

We are told in verse 5 that we are ‘living stones’ being built up into a spiritual house by God himself! In this position we can by no means be moved. We are a royal priesthood! How great is that?! In verse 9 we are said to be a holy nation, that is a nation set apart for the relationship of communion between God and man (see Hallowed Be Your Name). This is our place! We were created to enjoy a fellowship with God, a close abiding and communion with him as we enjoy his presence and glory. And we are told here that that is exactly what we are. What a place to be, what a calling.

But really, daily, practically, what does that mean? In verse 5 Peter writes that we are made a spiritual house, a royal priesthood, so that we might offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus. Well what does that mean? The key phrase is “through Christ Jesus.” We are not called to go out and live the life of a monk, or sell all we have, or to do any other act which our minds may come up with that seems to be a sacrifice. It is only the sacrifice that is done through Jesus that is true sacrifice.

You see, we do rock; we are living stones being built up as the house of God, we are royal priests, we are a chosen people, and it is all because we are in Christ. So forget yourself. This is about the body. You weren’t created as an island and you were not called to Christ so that you can get to heaven; you were called so that built upon Christ you might be built upon to be God’s dwelling place.

That still doesn’t answer the practical question: what does that mean for me? In verses 1 and 2 we are told to put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. These things are certainly not what is desired; but again, what is the practical standard that defines that? Our positive command is to grow up! To long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it we may grow up to salvation is to be our aim. What is spiritual milk? It is that life which is in Christ. That is why he adds “–if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” This life of the living stone that we are to be built upon, this priesthood, this spiritual sacrifice, it is the daily, constant tasting of God’s goodness.

This is diametrically opposed to the way we want to live in our flesh. Our constant aim as sinners is to make ourselves good; to be all we can be; to make the best of ourselves. We do this because we have a distorted concept of good, for goodness is being the conduit through which the sacrificial love of God flows. God is the creator of all things and the author of all good, to be without God is to have no concept of true goodness; and to try to be good is only self destruction, for we only entrench ourselves in the death that is the absence of God’s life: that power to be in constant communion with him (see Evil Defined).

So that’s the sacrifice we make as priests; we sacrifice our own bodies and lives so that all we see is who Christ is and how we might be him to those other stones being built upon us in the body of Christ. The ultimate sacrifice of Christ is exactly that. He became man so that as man he might be the first of the living, human stones who support all the others as we are made once again into the dwelling place of God. This is everlasting joy and peace, no matter what is going on in the world around, because it does not depend on what others are being for you, Christ is all for you, it depends on what you are being for them! . And not you, but Christ who chose you, called you transformed you, birthed you anew (chapter 1) and is now building you right where you belong and were purposed to be: surrounded with other people who need the life that you have been given.

You rock, now forget it.