By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist Church
June 9, 2024 – 1 Peter 2:4-12
Who are you? Over the last twenty years, our world has become obsessed with identity. If you are of European descent and were to time travel back a couple of hundred years – your identity would be focused around your class, and then your family, and then your character, and then your occupation. Women’s identities were much more limited. It was focused on your ability to attract a husband, and then your identity focused around your family.
There wasn’t a whole lot of thought given to identity because, in some ways, you were born into it. If you were a working-class man, then there was a high likelihood that you would take on the profession of your father.
Things changed with the industrial revolution. Women’s rights were being fought for. The real catalyst for change was World War 2. Women, for the first time, worked in factories, drove ambulances, and became an important part of the workforce. When the war ended, many women refused to return to their former roles as housewives.
Women were not equal in the workplace, but they were in the workplace. The world was changing. Society became mobile. It used to be that you would live close to where you grew up. But travel became easy, and people moved to where the jobs were.
But now, instead of doing what your father did – you had options. Women had options. The question to kids became – “what do you want to be when you grow up?” The cultural message to me growing up in the 1970s is that you can be whatever you want to be. If you just worked hard enough – you could be whatever you want.
It wasn’t true – of course. I don’t have the brains for some jobs. I don’t have the emotional temperament for other jobs. No matter how hard I worked, I would never make the NHL or the NFL. But notice identity is still focused on what you did.
The cultural messaging caused a lot of problems with self-esteem. If you were told that you could be anything – but intuitively, you knew that wasn’t true – then you felt like a failure. There must be something wrong with me because I can’t seem to be what I want to be.
At the same time, the radical feminist movement was shaping culture. Now, if feminism is that men and women are equal and that men and women should have equal pay for equal work, then I am a feminist. But in the 1990s, the radical feminist movement was saying that there is no difference between men and women. Men are the cause of all evil in the world. Opening a door for a woman became a political statement. It was a weird time.
What came out of this was that men didn’t know what it meant to be a man. We didn’t want to go back to a time when being a man meant never showing feelings – except for maybe anger. Women weren’t sure how to be women. Do I have to become a man to compete in a man’s world? The question of identity had moved to the inside. But we were still given the message – you can be what you want to be.
Fast forward to the early 2000s – Gender and identity became political issues. There were cultural wars fought over being gay and straight. Now we are told that your gender is different than your sex, and you get to choose your gender. I have no idea where this story is going to end.
I know that the world is in a real mess. We are in the midst of an epidemic of suicides and drug overdoses. Many of those can be linked back to an identity crisis of some kind or other.
I know that identity issues are one of the most important issues of our day. When I mentor people, I know it is important to deal with identity issues first – because where you end up in life will depend a lot on who you think you are.
That is why today’s scripture passage is so important. This scripture has a lot to say to those of you who follow Jesus about who you are. It tells you who God says you are.
Part of growing up as a child of God is owning your God-given identity. Instead of you having to figure out everything – our call is to believe what God has said about us. One of the most important decisions of faith that you need to make after trusting Jesus for your salvation is trusting Jesus for your identity.
Now Peter was writing to a people for whom life was difficult. Life was hard. Persecution for their faith was real. He knew that they needed to know who they were in Christ. I think this message is just as important for us.
Peter has already touched on identity in Chapter 1. In verse 2, he tells us that we have been chosen by God. In verse 2, we are told that we have been given a new spiritual birth. In verse 10, he tells us that God’s grace is towards us. All the way through chapter 1, he has been telling us about our salvation. God has saved us. All those things touch on identity. But here in chapter 2, he is going to spend some concentrated time on identity because it is what we need to live well in this world.
****
I want to reiterate that what I am talking about is only for followers of Jesus. If you have put your faith in Jesus – then what follows is about you. If you haven’t, then your identity will be something else.
****
As a follower of Jesus, your identity begins with Jesus.
1 Peter 2:4 (NIV)
4 As you come to him, (Jesus) the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—
Peter is drawing us a really creative picture. We come to Jesus, “the living stone.” In our experience, stones are not alive. So, you have to picture something outside of your experience. This living stone, which in verse 6 he will call the cornerstone, is the foundation of the building that God is building.
Jesus – the living cornerstone – was rejected by humans. The idea is that he was assessed by the humans of his day – and they did not think that he had what it took to be part of the building that they wanted to build.
Jesus is never going to fit well with man-made religion.
But when God the Father looks at God the Son, he sees him as precious. He is the living cornerstone. It starts with Jesus, but look at what it has to say about you.
1 Peter 2:5 (NIV)
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the living cornerstone, but you who have come to Jesus are also living stones. Jesus being the foundation, and you, being the people of God, are being built into a spiritual house.
I am sure that as Peter wrote this, his mind flashed back to standing by the temple in Jerusalem. It has been a long time since I have been in Jerusalem, but I still remember standing by the wailing wall, the foundation of the old Temple. The stone blocks were huge. Think about the size of this communion table. They fit together to build the temple.
But Peter wants to make sure that we are not completely comfortable with this picture because he calls us living stones. We are something more than just a static edifice. We are part of the organic church.
Here is how the NLT puts it.
1 Peter 2:5 (NLT)
5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
You together are his holy priests. Priest had the role of bringing God to the people and the people to God. That is what the people of God are doing in this living temple. They are bringing God to the people and the people to God.
*****
Now, I need to hit pause on this passage to give you some background. Peter, as you know, was a Jew who grew up in Galilee. He grew up understanding that the Jews were God’s chosen people. He understood that he lived among a people who were the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant.
Genesis 12:1–3 (NLT)
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
This was part of Peter’s primary identity growing up. He was part of God’s chosen people. He was part of the people who God was going to use to bless the world.
But now Peter has been with Jesus. As we looked at a couple of weeks ago, he is writing to people non-Jewish people who are located in the country we would now know as Turkey. He is using this very Jewish, covenantal language to describe these very non-Jewish people.
He is saying that it used to be the priest at the temple who brought God to the people and the people to God. But now, those of you who are followers of Jesus – you are both the temple and priests. You are part of the old covenant – and because of what Jesus has done, you are part of a new covenant.
Your purpose as the people of God
1 Peter 2:5 (NLT)
And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
You offer spiritual sacrifices to God. You are not offering lambs and goats – but how you live is a spiritual sacrifice.
Romans 12:1 (NIV)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
How you use your body, how you use your stuff, and how you live are spiritual sacrifices that please God.
It is all about Jesus. Peter says you are either part of this temple or not.
1 Peter 2:6–8 (NLT)
6 As the Scriptures say,
“I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem,
chosen for great honour,
and anyone who trusts in him
will never be disgraced.”
7 Yes, you who trust him recognize the honour God has given him. But for those who reject him,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.”
8 And,
“He is the stone that makes people stumble,
the rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.
We choose this cornerstone, or we don’t. You are either part of what God is building, or what God is building is going to cause you to trip and stumble.
But then Peter gets back to your identity. For those of you who have chosen Jesus, this is what he has to say about you.
1 Peter 2:9–10 (NIV)
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
What Peter does here is place you and me in the same context as the Jewish people. He says, “I grew up understanding that I was part of God’s chosen people. But now, here is what I want you to know: church, you are part of God’s chosen people. Not only that you are a royal priesthood. You stand in the tradition in the heritage of the kings and the priests of God. I realize I am writing to five different countries, but you people of God are a holy nation. Your citizenship is in the Kingdom of God.
I want you to catch this last description of who you are. “You are God’s special possession.” Or, as other translations put it, “You are God’s very own possession.” He values you deeply, unreservedly.
If I could put these verses in the parlance of our day. Child of God, you are part of God’s chosen people. You belong. It is not hard to feel like an outsider in this world. There are some of you who may even feel like an outsider in church. But according to the word of God – you belong. Part of your identity is that of the chosen people of God. Don’t let anybody or your feelings tell you differently.
You are God’s very own. He looks at you as his special possession. You are valued by him. It is easy, in our world, to feel unappreciated, undervalued, and unseen. But you are valued by God. If the world tells you one thing and God tells you another, choose to believe God.
You were made the people of God for a purpose.
1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
One of your core purposes in life is to declare the praises of God. One of the pieces of your core identity is that you are a worshipper. You were made, praise God.
Notice what we are worshiping God for. It starts with what God did for us. He called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. Note that worship is to be declared. It is meant to be spoken out loud. One of the reasons we sing in church is that we are being who we are called to be – worshipers of God. But whenever you pray prayers of thanksgiving – you are declaring the praises of God. Whenever you state who God is, that God is good, and God is Faithful, and that God is kind – you are declaring the praises of God.
Here is what I have learned. It doesn’t matter the style that you use to declare God’s praises – but it matters that you express worship. Whether you like country gospel, or hymns or modern choruses doesn’t matter. What matters is that you worship God from the heart. Spend some time every day worshiping God for who he is and what he has done. Part of your core identity is that of a worshiper.
But Peter goes on. He wants to remind you that you were not born into this identity, unlike the Jewish people who were Jewish because their parents were Jewish. Peter reminds us that we became God’s chosen people in a different way.
1 Peter 2:10 (NIV)
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Peter reminds them – that once you were not the people of God, but now you are. They became the people of God by grace through faith. They believed in Jesus, and God adopted them. He made them his very own.
He says that there was a time in your life when you had received mercy. There was a time in your life when you were going to get what you deserved. That all changed when you invited Christ into your life. It all changed when you received the gospel.
If you are here and you have never received Jesus into your life, then you are not part of God’s chosen people. You have not yet received mercy. But God extends an invitation to you to be part of his people.
You come through Jesus. Just like in Peter’s time, there are a lot of people who look at Jesus and reject him. But God invites you to make him your spiritual foundation. That means that you will trust him and not your own good works to have your sin forgiven. That means that you will build your life on him and what he says rather than what others say. You are giving your life to him – to become God’s possession. God and you will work all of what that means out as you walk with him.
He extends an invitation to you that you can belong to him. This morning if that is something that you would like to do, then I would urge to pray this prayer.
Lord Jesus, come into my life. Forgive me from my sins. I put my faith in you. I am going to build my life on you.
A sincere prayer like that is something that God honours.
Most of you here have prayed that prayer. Will you step into your full identity as the people of God? If God values you, should you not value you. Will you choose to be a person who declares the “praises of him called you out of darkness into his wonderful light?” Will you choose to worship regularly?
Will you own the fact that God owns you? You are part of God’s chosen people. That is who you are. You are part of God’s royal priesthood. You are built to bring people to God and God to people. You are part of God’s holy nation. You are God’s own special possession. He claims you. Will you own your identity? Will you say – That is who I am.?
Asbury Free Methodist
June 9, 2024
1 Peter 2:4-12
Owning your identity
CONNECT
Who are you? Over the last twenty years, our world has become obsessed with identity. If you are of European descent and were to time travel back a couple of hundred years – your identity would be focused around your class, and then your family, and then your character, and then your occupation. Women’s identities were much more limited. It was focused on your ability to attract a husband, and then your identity focused around your family.
There wasn’t a whole lot of thought given to identity because, in some ways, you were born into it. If you were a working-class man, then there was a high likelihood that you would take on the profession of your father.
Things changed with the industrial revolution. Women’s rights were being fought for. The real catalyst for change was World War 2. Women, for the first time, worked in factories, drove ambulances, and became an important part of the workforce. When the war ended, many women refused to return to their former roles as housewives.
Women were not equal in the workplace, but they were in the workplace. The world was changing. Society became mobile. It used to be that you would live close to where you grew up. But travel became easy, and people moved to where the jobs were.
But now, instead of doing what your father did – you had options. Women had options. The question to kids became – “what do you want to be when you grow up?” The cultural message to me growing up in the 1970s is that you can be whatever you want to be. If you just worked hard enough – you could be whatever you want.
It wasn’t true – of course. I don’t have the brains for some jobs. I don’t have the emotional temperament for other jobs. No matter how hard I worked, I would never make the NHL or the NFL. But notice identity is still focused on what you did.
The cultural messaging caused a lot of problems with self-esteem. If you were told that you could be anything – but intuitively, you knew that wasn’t true – then you felt like a failure. There must be something wrong with me because I can’t seem to be what I want to be.
At the same time, the radical feminist movement was shaping culture. Now, if feminism is that men and women are equal and that men and women should have equal pay for equal work, then I am a feminist. But in the 1990s, the radical feminist movement was saying that there is no difference between men and women. Men are the cause of all evil in the world. Opening a door for a woman became a political statement. It was a weird time.
What came out of this was that men didn’t know what it meant to be a man. We didn’t want to go back to a time when being a man meant never showing feelings – except for maybe anger. Women weren’t sure how to be women. Do I have to become a man to compete in a man’s world? The question of identity had moved to the inside. But we were still given the message – you can be what you want to be.
Fast forward to the early 2000s – Gender and identity became political issues. There were cultural wars fought over being gay and straight. Now we are told that your gender is different than your sex, and you get to choose your gender. I have no idea where this story is going to end.
I know that the world is in a real mess. We are in the midst of an epidemic of suicides and drug overdoses. Many of those can be linked back to an identity crisis of some kind or other.
I know that identity issues are one of the most important issues of our day. When I mentor people, I know it is important to deal with identity issues first – because where you end up in life will depend a lot on who you think you are.
That is why today’s scripture passage is so important. This scripture has a lot to say to those of you who follow Jesus about who you are. It tells you who God says you are.
Part of growing up as a child of God is owning your God-given identity. Instead of you having to figure out everything – our call is to believe what God has said about us. One of the most important decisions of faith that you need to make after trusting Jesus for your salvation is trusting Jesus for your identity.
Now Peter was writing to a people for whom life was difficult. Life was hard. Persecution for their faith was real. He knew that they needed to know who they were in Christ. I think this message is just as important for us.
Peter has already touched on identity in Chapter 1. In verse 2, he tells us that we have been chosen by God. In verse 2, we are told that we have been given a new spiritual birth. In verse 10, he tells us that God’s grace is towards us. All the way through chapter 1, he has been telling us about our salvation. God has saved us. All those things touch on identity. But here in chapter 2, he is going to spend some concentrated time on identity because it is what we need to live well in this world.
****
I want to reiterate that what I am talking about is only for followers of Jesus. If you have put your faith in Jesus – then what follows is about you. If you haven’t, then your identity will be something else.
****
As a follower of Jesus, your identity begins with Jesus.
1 Peter 2:4 (NIV)
4 As you come to him, (Jesus) the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—
Peter is drawing us a really creative picture. We come to Jesus, “the living stone.” In our experience, stones are not alive. So, you have to picture something outside of your experience. This living stone, which in verse 6 he will call the cornerstone, is the foundation of the building that God is building.
Jesus – the living cornerstone – was rejected by humans. The idea is that he was assessed by the humans of his day – and they did not think that he had what it took to be part of the building that they wanted to build.
Jesus is never going to fit well with man-made religion.
But when God the Father looks at God the Son, he sees him as precious. He is the living cornerstone. It starts with Jesus, but look at what it has to say about you.
1 Peter 2:5 (NIV)
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the living cornerstone, but you who have come to Jesus are also living stones. Jesus being the foundation, and you, being the people of God, are being built into a spiritual house.
I am sure that as Peter wrote this, his mind flashed back to standing by the temple in Jerusalem. It has been a long time since I have been in Jerusalem, but I still remember standing by the wailing wall, the foundation of the old Temple. The stone blocks were huge. Think about the size of this communion table. They fit together to build the temple.
But Peter wants to make sure that we are not completely comfortable with this picture because he calls us living stones. We are something more than just a static edifice. We are part of the organic church.
Here is how the NLT puts it.
1 Peter 2:5 (NLT)
5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
You together are his holy priests. Priest had the role of bringing God to the people and the people to God. That is what the people of God are doing in this living temple. They are bringing God to the people and the people to God.
*****
Now, I need to hit pause on this passage to give you some background. Peter, as you know, was a Jew who grew up in Galilee. He grew up understanding that the Jews were God’s chosen people. He understood that he lived among a people who were the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant.
Genesis 12:1–3 (NLT)
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
This was part of Peter’s primary identity growing up. He was part of God’s chosen people. He was part of the people who God was going to use to bless the world.
But now Peter has been with Jesus. As we looked at a couple of weeks ago, he is writing to people non-Jewish people who are located in the country we would now know as Turkey. He is using this very Jewish, covenantal language to describe these very non-Jewish people.
He is saying that it used to be the priest at the temple who brought God to the people and the people to God. But now, those of you who are followers of Jesus – you are both the temple and priests. You are part of the old covenant – and because of what Jesus has done, you are part of a new covenant.
Your purpose as the people of God
1 Peter 2:5 (NLT)
And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
You offer spiritual sacrifices to God. You are not offering lambs and goats – but how you live is a spiritual sacrifice.
Romans 12:1 (NIV)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
How you use your body, how you use your stuff, and how you live are spiritual sacrifices that please God.
It is all about Jesus. Peter says you are either part of this temple or not.
1 Peter 2:6–8 (NLT)
6 As the Scriptures say,
“I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem,
chosen for great honour,
and anyone who trusts in him
will never be disgraced.”
7 Yes, you who trust him recognize the honour God has given him. But for those who reject him,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.”
8 And,
“He is the stone that makes people stumble,
the rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.
We choose this cornerstone, or we don’t. You are either part of what God is building, or what God is building is going to cause you to trip and stumble.
But then Peter gets back to your identity. For those of you who have chosen Jesus, this is what he has to say about you.
1 Peter 2:9–10 (NIV)
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
What Peter does here is place you and me in the same context as the Jewish people. He says, “I grew up understanding that I was part of God’s chosen people. But now, here is what I want you to know: church, you are part of God’s chosen people. Not only that you are a royal priesthood. You stand in the tradition in the heritage of the kings and the priests of God. I realize I am writing to five different countries, but you people of God are a holy nation. Your citizenship is in the Kingdom of God.
I want you to catch this last description of who you are. “You are God’s special possession.” Or, as other translations put it, “You are God’s very own possession.” He values you deeply, unreservedly.
If I could put these verses in the parlance of our day. Child of God, you are part of God’s chosen people. You belong. It is not hard to feel like an outsider in this world. There are some of you who may even feel like an outsider in church. But according to the word of God – you belong. Part of your identity is that of the chosen people of God. Don’t let anybody or your feelings tell you differently.
You are God’s very own. He looks at you as his special possession. You are valued by him. It is easy, in our world, to feel unappreciated, undervalued, and unseen. But you are valued by God. If the world tells you one thing and God tells you another, choose to believe God.
You were made the people of God for a purpose.
1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
One of your core purposes in life is to declare the praises of God. One of the pieces of your core identity is that you are a worshipper. You were made, praise God.
Notice what we are worshiping God for. It starts with what God did for us. He called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. Note that worship is to be declared. It is meant to be spoken out loud. One of the reasons we sing in church is that we are being who we are called to be – worshipers of God. But whenever you pray prayers of thanksgiving – you are declaring the praises of God. Whenever you state who God is, that God is good, and God is Faithful, and that God is kind – you are declaring the praises of God.
Here is what I have learned. It doesn’t matter the style that you use to declare God’s praises – but it matters that you express worship. Whether you like country gospel, or hymns or modern choruses doesn’t matter. What matters is that you worship God from the heart. Spend some time every day worshiping God for who he is and what he has done. Part of your core identity is that of a worshiper.
But Peter goes on. He wants to remind you that you were not born into this identity, unlike the Jewish people who were Jewish because their parents were Jewish. Peter reminds us that we became God’s chosen people in a different way.
1 Peter 2:10 (NIV)
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Peter reminds them – that once you were not the people of God, but now you are. They became the people of God by grace through faith. They believed in Jesus, and God adopted them. He made them his very own.
He says that there was a time in your life when you had received mercy. There was a time in your life when you were going to get what you deserved. That all changed when you invited Christ into your life. It all changed when you received the gospel.
If you are here and you have never received Jesus into your life, then you are not part of God’s chosen people. You have not yet received mercy. But God extends an invitation to you to be part of his people.
You come through Jesus. Just like in Peter’s time, there are a lot of people who look at Jesus and reject him. But God invites you to make him your spiritual foundation. That means that you will trust him and not your own good works to have your sin forgiven. That means that you will build your life on him and what he says rather than what others say. You are giving your life to him – to become God’s possession. God and you will work all of what that means out as you walk with him.
He extends an invitation to you that you can belong to him. This morning if that is something that you would like to do, then I would urge to pray this prayer.
Lord Jesus, come into my life. Forgive me from my sins. I put my faith in you. I am going to build my life on you.
A sincere prayer like that is something that God honours.
Most of you here have prayed that prayer. Will you step into your full identity as the people of God? If God values you, should you not value you. Will you choose to be a person who declares the “praises of him called you out of darkness into his wonderful light?” Will you choose to worship regularly?
Will you own the fact that God owns you? You are part of God’s chosen people. That is who you are. You are part of God’s royal priesthood. You are built to bring people to God and God to people. You are part of God’s holy nation. You are God’s own special possession. He claims you. Will you own your identity? Will you say – That is who I am.?