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A CHOSEN PEOPLE, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION

1 Peter 2:1-9

Key Verse: 9

This letter was written to the Christians of five cities in Asia that were going under heavy persecution. Apostle Peter wanted to teach these believers how they should overcome such tribulation. And his teaching was based on 2 foundations: what they had received and what new identity they had. What had they received? Chapter 1 describes the great salvation, the most treasured blessing we ever received. Let's read verses 3-9 of chapter 1 in turn. Peter's message is clear: although they were rejected, persecuted and humiliated by the powers of this world, in fact, they were the objects of God's own redeeming grace, having the salvation of their souls, new life and a living hope in the kingdom of God with an incorruptible inheritance. Therefore, they should rejoice even in their suffering.

Now, in this chapter, Peter reveals 4 aspects of our new identity, of those who have been born again and live now as Christians and followers of Jesus.

First, new born Christians need to be always growing spiritually. When we are born again, the bible compares us with newborn babies. But in Hebrews 5, the author says that we cannot live continually as spiritual infants, but that we must grow, abandoning inexperience and immaturity through the practice of God's word. Spiritual growth comes only through the word of God.

Let's look at verse 1. Spiritual growth happens first by getting rid of our old habits and sins. What sins is Peter referring to? Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander are sins that affect our relationships with others. But these are bad influences that come from our old desires, worldly priorities, empty competition and superficial relationships. But we are not the same. In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through Jesus Christ. Peter says in 1Peter 1:14: “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: Be holy, because I am holy.”. But why is it so important to first get rid of all impurity in order to grow spiritually?

It is very interesting how Dani only likes bad food: chips, salty food, fried food and sweets. But not only are these foods bad nutritionally, the biggest problem is that they inhibit the desire to eat healthy food. Likewise, old habits and sins occupy our minds, hearts and time, like bad foods that take away our desire to eat what brings us health and growth.

When we clean our hearts and minds of all that is evil, then we can wholeheartedly desire the genuine spiritual milk. Let's read verse 2 together. Spiritual milk symbolizes the word of God. Genuine means that which has not been contaminated. Genuine spiritual milk represents the Bible itself, unchanged, without adding or taking away a single verse; the complete and immaculate Word that comes from God.

From my own experience, I tell you that a newborn baby doesn't care if it's 3 o'clock in the morning or if its mother is busy or sick. You can't convince or negotiate with a newborn baby to eat something else; they never go on a diet. The baby won't stop crying insistently until it gets its milk. This is because, for the baby, drinking milk it’s not a hobby or a particular preference. It is a matter of life and death. When a baby doesn’t have its mother's milk and doesn't grow, it gets sick. We Christians become spiritually ill and discouraged when we don't desire genuine spiritual milk; our minds get filled with all kinds of malice, with old thoughts and worldly desires. We study, work and live in this world. We are attacked by its influence and we can get tempted by all the things this world can offer. We start to give up fighting against our old habits and desires. And we stop desiring the milk that once was our most precious treasure. How can we go back again? How can we continually grow?

Let's read verse 3 together. I'm a very annoying coffee drinker. I developed a taste to evaluate taste, aroma, acidity, body, sweetness and bitterness. Good coffee doesn't need sugar, milk or cream; because its taste doesn't need to be altered. Every day, I wake up earlier to prepare my coffee. Although the clinics that I work offer coffee, I can't drink just any coffee. Once you experience which coffee is really good, you can no longer drink low-quality coffee and will always crave the best. In the same way, if we have already experienced how good the Lord is, how great is His forgiveness and love through the cross of His Only Son, we naturally refuse and rid ourselves from old sins and desire the genuine word of God. We stop growing spiritually because we forget how good and loving our Lord is. May we every day remember and appreciate the goodness and the great salvation that we received from of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Second, we are living stones that build God's spiritual house. Let's read verses 4-5. The most used word in this passage is “stone”.

A curious fact is that the Colosseum was rebuilt several times and needed constant renovation, because people often stole the stones from the Colosseum. We think that stones have no value. In fact, the stones on the ground, with no specific form or function, are worthless. But the stones that build a house or monument are extremely expensive and precious. Do you know why? Because there is a lot of work and labor involved in preparing these stones. Obviously, it's impossible to find ready-made stones in the perfect dimensions for construction. Also, these stones are not on the surface of the earth, but must be extracted. These stones are extracted, sliced, worn, polished and brushed into a specific shape, suitable for construction.

Christians are like these stones. We are cut, worn and shaped to be part of this building of God's house. God chooses us, disciplines us and shapes us according to His will, because He has a plan and a vision for how we should be prepared. God didn't choose us to be like precious stones, like diamonds, very beautiful, but only for display. Much more than that, He chose us as stones, and has prepared us to build a house of God; a temple where the Spirit of God inhabits and His glory is fully revealed.

Are you being cut, prepared and molded in your life? This process causes us pain and discomfort, but it is so that we may fit in and be part of God's spiritual house. It is a great privilege to be chosen and to be personally prepared as a piece of God's spiritual house. May we accept the Lord's loving discipline, which prepares us to be useful stones that build His house. Amen.

Third, we are founded on the precious Cornerstone, Jesus Christ. Let's read verse 6 together. At that time, the cornerstone was the most precious and important stone, because it was the first stone be laid for a building.

In today's engineering terms, this would be the foundation. The foundation serves to balance structural loads and one of its main functions must be the bearing capacity of the entire building. What kind of loads and burdens do we have as Christians? As we saw earlier, we are stones that are being cut and shaped to fit into a building. And this process is painful. Not only that, but in this new life and identity, we are continually entangled by sin. We fail and fall. We get tired and overwhelmed during our new life, when we face our shortcomings and failures. Sometimes, we may feel useless. We also get lonely. But when we come to Jesus Christ, our precious Cornerstone, he bears all our burdens. He helps us to carry our crosses and He reminds us, that is by grace that we are saved, not because of what we did or will do. His love heals us and His forgiveness and grace give us rest and peace. And because of this, we can run this race of faith with confidence. As the apostle Paul said: "we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed". Because we have a firm foundation in our unshakable Cornerstone, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The second most used word in this passage is “precious”. The passage says Jesus is precious firstly to God, and then, to us. Jesus is the Son of God. Having Danielle as my daughter, made me feel and understand what it means to love something that is more valuable than my own life. If my house was on fire, there is absolutely nothing that would me make go inside to get it; only my daughter, because she is precious to me. That means that my life wouldn’t be the same of meaningful without her. But when she is not well behaved, this feeling goes down a bit. Jesus is the perfect obedient only Son of God. God loved Him more than he loved Himself. He was precious to Him. But He gave His Son to die for us. Why? Because we are precious to Him as well. We are so precious to Him, that He made His own Son suffer and laid the foundation for us to be saved. That’s why, anyone that believes and trusts in Jesus Christ, our chosen and precious Cornerstone, the Son of God, will never be put to shame. God will exalt and glorify those who believe in Him. But to those who reject him, they will fall.

Across the street from my building, a luxury condo is being built. It will have 45 floors, a tennis court, heated swimming pool, sauna, children's playground, dog playground, gym and barbecue grills for each apartment. My building has three floors, no elevator, no air conditioning and no gym or swimming pool. We all want and value aspects that are pleasant and visible to the eye. But the most important thing is the foundation that we can't see. Lives built on the foundations of the world seem to be very beautiful. They're like beautiful houses and luxury condos; but these are built on a rotten and condemned foundation. Let's read verses 6-8 in turn.

If our foundation is in money, career, power of this world, knowledge or people’s recognition our house will collapse, and the bible affirms that the final result of all the possible foundations of this world is shame. This is because all these things appear majestic, but the reality is that none of them will stand. God's word is absolute and decrees that whether in this world or the world to come, all those who are not founded on God's chosen and precious Cornerstone, Jesus Christ, will be put to shame and will stumble and fall into destruction. But in Him, we will be exalted and for this, He is our greatest preciousness, the foundation. May we all firm our lives on the Rock that will never put us to shame, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Fourth, we are royal priests of God. Let's look at verse 5. The goal of our growth is to be and live as a holy priesthood. According to the Bible, the priest was the mediator between men and God and was the most important figure in that society. It was God himself who created this position. But why was this position so necessary and important in God's eyes? Because of God's holiness. That is, God is so Holy, so High and Omnipotent and Perfect, that He is totally separate from men, who are fallen and in the midst of sin. In other words, God is actually unreachable. But God wanted to be close to his most beloved creation and for this reason, he chose certain men, who through specific rituals, were purified in a special way so that throughout their lives, they could approach God on behalf of the people. They would offer sacrifices that symbolically forgave people's sins. In other words, the people depended on priests to be saved.

But Peter exposes something incredible. Now, through Jesus Christ, all believers and disciples of Jesus Christ are royal holy priests of God. And what does this mean?

First of all, we have full access to the Father. As holy priests, Peter is exposing that we don’t need intercessors or ritualistic sacrifices and other priests to come to God. This was impossible before. God is the Almighty and Holy God. No man could survive in His presence. But now, God accepts us, as priests, as people marked by the blood of Jesus Christ. This means that now, we can be sure that we will receive mercy and grace in time of need. When we pray, God will closely listen and answer our prayers. Hebrews 4:14,16 says: "Having therefore Jesus, the Son of God, as the great High Priest who has entered heaven, let us hold fast our confession. Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.". Praise Jesus, that gives us full access to our Father in Heaven. Amen.

Secondly, as royal priests, we are chosen and special people to God. Let's look at verse 9. This means that out of all races, all nations and all peoples, God will set us apart especially, to love and keep. Why? God chose us to be holy, to live as a holy nation. God chose us to be with Him, in His holy presence, to see His glory. Jesus in his last prayer before the cross, prayed what he most wanted: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” (John 17:24). But not only that, God chose us to be His special possession. God bought us. He paid the highest price through His only Son. God has all rights upon our lives. We are chosen not because we are good. We were chosen before we were saved; when we were enemies of God. Therefore, we are chosen, only because God is merciful and good.

So why is this such a glorious and most precious blessing in our lives? Because one day, when we finally rest from this world, when we pass through the armies of heaven and we see the glory of the angels that are singing and praising the Lord, when we get to the throne of the Holy God and we see Jesus that has eyes like blazing fire and his face shining like the sun, when we see that we have absolutely nothing to offer to Him in His glory, when our hearts get totally filled with the fear of the Lord, Jesus may say: This is my chosen one; this is my holy priest. Believe it, this is the highest privilege and blessing to be chosen by our God. Amen.

But every person that is chosen, is also called to service. The grace and privilege of the priesthood oblige us to live up to our calling. The priesthood demanded self-denial, devotion and the sacrifice of one's life. And this service was not for themselves, but for the people. In other words, the purpose of their lives was to mediate, pray and intercede for lost men to God. Let's read verse 9 again. We are not called to live for ourselves, but to proclaim the praises of Jesus Christ, who saved us and brought us out of darkness into His wonderful light. May we testify, praise and proclaim the gospel as a royal priesthood, praying and interceding for lost men, declaring the praises of Him, who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. Amen.

This year was very tiring for me. I started a new residence, I was asked to be the new leader of my cell group, I served the Discipleship program and my work was very demanding throughout the year.

I was tired physically, mentally, but above all, spiritually. I realize that I stopped growing spiritually, I stopped craving genuine spiritual milk like I used to and my heart was filled with old desires and ambitions. As a result, my identity began to blur: dentist, Dani's father, one leader of the church? But in all these foundations, I was unsatisfied, insecure and disappointed. But while preparing this message, the word "precious" touched my heart. I was reminded of how precious is the salvation and the new life I have received. But more than that, I could remember how precious is my Lord Jesus Christ. The Most Holy Son of God who came into this world for me, who loved me, who considered my life more valuable than his own and who hoped for my redemption. He is the one I have not seen, but I love him; I believe and rejoice in him. I rejoice to be chosen by Him, to be saved and to be called to proclaim His goodness, His love, His forgiveness, His death and His resurrection. I rejoice to be part of His church and to be personally prepared by Him to build His house.

I’m not tired anymore. When I came to my Lord Jesus Christ, God's precious Cornerstone, I found peace and joy in my spirit again, complete satisfaction, trust and hope in Him. He calls me to live as a holy priest, interceding for lost souls in Brazil, Canada and the whole world. I pray that I may live as a royal priest, proclaiming the virtues of Jesus Christ, who has called me out of darkness into his marvelous light. Amen.

On this last day of the year, let's meditate and confess how precious our King Jesus Christ is. The precious cornerstone who became flesh, saved us, bought us and chose us to be his royal priests and holy nation. May we always draw near to him, the chosen and precious cornerstone, with our pains, challenges and weaknesses. In this new year, may we grow spiritually, being shaped like living stones founded on the Cornerstone and living as royal priests who proclaim the virtues of Jesus, who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Amen.

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• 1Peter2a_Msg_2312_JoshuaPark.docx

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