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. ~ 1 Peter 2:5
Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle Peter is introducing us to eternal life which is the very life of the Lord Jesus Himself. In context, he has written of our living hope. He has also written of "having been born again" and he incorporated figurative language like "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word."
In the previous verse Peter had written, "Coming to Him as to a living stone." It is the cornerstone that maintains the symmetry for the building. If the angle of the cornerstone is the slightest off alignment, the building would be insubstantial. If the cornerstone is not cut just perfectly, the building would collapse. So, the cornerstone, as the reference point for the whole building, must be strong. This is why the Lord Jesus is not only precious to God, but as we will see in just a couple verses, He is precious to us because He is prefect and He is God.
Today's verse begins with: "You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house." This figure of speech underscores the fact that the Christian life is all about our relationship with the Lord Jesus Himself. And, the odd thing is we know Him best through our sufferings. This is the case because relationships were meant to be reciprocal, interactive and they bind us together through mutual experiences. And, the more arduous the experience, the deeper our relationships will be with those with whom we go through those hard moments. Real life, eternal life is experiencing Him who is life who died to give us life. And, the products of life are meaning and purpose and stability in the midst of all the storms of life.
It was Viktor Frankl who once wrote, “If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering.”
It is only when we are entertaining the deeper questions of life which come out of our deeper struggles that we discover what is really real. Due to the myopic nature that we inherited from Adam, we default so easily to the shallow unless something happens that shakes us out of our narrow-mindedness. When this happens, we are positioned to entertain eternity with the right questions.
Peter then confirms the fact that the role of the Living Stone is to build up the living stones. A huge principle is tucked away here which is: When we come to the Lord Jesus who is the Living Stone, we become living stones. When we come to Him, we get to know Him and we learn how to follow Him. And, over time, we become more and more like Him. He sets the angles. He gives the direction because He is all about building people up, and, He builds us up with the truth.
The implications of all of this are incredible. The Lord Jesus Christ who is God, lives in and through all who have and will ever believe in Him as our Savior. As a result, He loves, He speaks, and He serves through us. He even worships God through us. His life in us is eternal and will never leave us. His life in us works all things together for our good. He also is the One who conforms us to Himself. He is in us, available for every need, every trial, every possible circumstance of life. The expression of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ both in and through our yielded lives is evidence that we have accessed His life and we have eternal life.
In today's verse we learn that as a result of being born again we are a part of "a holy priesthood." This means that everyone who trusts in the finished work of the Lord Jesus is now a priest unto God. The Old Testament contains two passages that predicted a coming day when all of God’s people would be priests; those passages are Exodus 19:5-6 and Isaiah 61:5-6. Those prophecies were fulfilled in Christ as He removed that which prevented us from being the tabernacles of God's presence. Interestingly, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are called priests in five different passages in the Revelation.
As priests of God, we "offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God." The footprint of the life of the Lord Jesus in us shows up in our lives as a "spiritual sacrifice." In essence, the Lord Jesus Christ is the source of our sacrifices which include our lives, our praise, our prayers and our work unto the Lord. Our spiritual sacrifices are actions motivated by our desire to glorify God. This happens when we turn our backs on the self life and we choose to be defined by the Lord Jesus Himself.
