Stones are a nuisance especially when Gardening
Visit welsh family farms and they will tell you of the generations who went before them clearing the fields of stones and rock – the stone wall boundaries are the evidence.
Lesotho digging trenches for laying cables – ground was so stony – it was a real nuisance
Added difficulty was the inadequate tools and the blistering sun
When it came to digging 3ft holes for the uprights to a climbing frame everyone was feeling demoralised before the start.
The team detailed to do this were getting really fed up, took two days to get three of the five holes dug. The following day they were to be involved in activities I was not involved in so that morning I grabbed one of the spades wrapped as sock around the inadequate handle, fitted my teeth and decided to make a start on a hole on my own.
A hour later I joined them down at the lake. “given up already?, they said. No ‘Finished’ I said – and here’s the hole to prove it – Pic
The spot where I had to dig miraculously didn’t have two much stone!
In 1 Peter 2:4-8 the word stone appears six times in five verses with a ‘rock’ thrown in for good measure.
As you come to him, the living Stone–rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him– 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. For in Scripture it says:
‘See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.’
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.
But to those who do not believe,
‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,’ and,
A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.’
They stumble because they disobey the message
–which is also what they were destined for.
For us, stones are simply a nuisance they get in the way.
But for a first century Jews who knew the Scriptures, the very word stone carried a double promise.
First the great hope of Israel was that the true God Yahweh, would return to Zion, Jerusalem at last, coming back to live forever in the temple – once, that is, it had been properly rebuilt so as to be a suitable residence for him.
What’s that got to do with a stone or a rock? Well, there was a long tradition of speaking about the temple being built on the rock or the cornerstone. Find the right stone and you may be on the way to building the new temple ready for God to return.
Second, the word stone in ancient Hebrew is very like the word for son. In fact just as our word son has three out of the five letters of stone, so the Hebrew word for son ben has three out of the four letters of the word stone eben.
Jesus himself seems to have used this play on words at the end of one of his most famous stories (Mark 12:1-12) the story is about the Vineyard owner sending servants to get his money, the tenants beat and killed them and eventually he sends his son, whom they also kill. Jesus is talking about himself as the son who had been sent. But Jesus’ punchline is about the stone quoting Psalm 118:22 and thereby alluding to the same passage of Isaiah Peter quotes here in verse seven. ‘ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
How do the stone and the Son join up? Well, in another famous biblical promise, much quoted in Jesus’s day, God promised David that his son would build the temple in Jerusalem, and that this Son of David would actually be the Son of God himself (2 Samuel 7:12-14). The Royal Son (Ben) of God will build the temple, says this prophecy. Yes, continues Isaiah: and he will do so on the proper stone (eben).
Jews had started reading the passage in Isaiah, it seems, as the ‘chosen precious cornerstone’ no longer a physical stone, but a human being, the coming King, upon whom Israel’s God will build something quite new. Certainly that’s how Peter understands it in verse six. And this certainly is what the early church came to believe.
Are you finding this complicated? That’s OK, it is. But once you get get hold of these two promises that Peter puts together – God’s promise to send His Son, and His promise to build a house where he will come to live forever, then with the two held together, the rest of the passage makes sense.
For Peter, obviously, Jesus himself is the stone and the new temple is already being built up on him. He is the Living stone V4. Peter is thinking about Psalm 118:22. In that passage, the builders discard one particular stone because it doesn’t seem to fit, only to find that when they get to the very top of the wall, right in the corner, they need a stone of exactly that shape. Jesus was rejected by his own people, Peter is indicating, because he didn’t fit with the plans they had at the time, but God has shown him to be the most important stone in the whole building, the one who wouldn’t fit anywhere else because only the most exalted place would do.
Of course the Jews who should’ve been the very ones you got this didn’t, they didn’t see it at all, hence Peter like Paul uses texts from Isaiah and the Psalms to back up what they’re saying.
What has all this got to with identity?
One more thing before we answer this
The Jews didn’t get it but it’s vital that we do. What Peter says about Jesus is crucial for all Christian life and devotion. Think about the people that you would describe as being most precious to you. Now, would you use that word about Jesus? Is he precious to you?
Hold on to that thought!
Do you know who you are? We are often asked to prove our identity. I have to wear this Lanyard when I am at the Summit Centre to prove who I am and to prove that I have a right to be there and right to wear the uniform.
For the Jews, their whole identity was tied in with the temple – because they had the temple they could say they were the people of God. A physical building was their identity.
Peter is writing to churches, to Christian communities, scattered across Asia Minor. He was writing with a specific purpose, to get it firmly in their minds their identity, that they too, were part of the new temple. God is no longer to live in a temple in Jerusalem, but in the ‘spiritual house’ which, made up of ‘living stones’, is being ‘built’ all over the world.
God’s purpose is to fill the whole world with his glory rather than just one building. (see Numbers 14:21 Psalm 72:19). He is doing this through a new type of building, one made of people. He has chosen to dwell in his people. Paul’s interpretation of this same truth is to refer to the church as the body of Christ.
read v 9-10
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. 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 stresses this point in going to yet another passage from the old Testament Hosea 2:23, he quotes this in v10. The people who went before ‘we’re not a people’ and now they are ‘Gods people’. The people who had ‘not receive mercy’ now ‘receive mercy’.
Peter believes that all God’s promises to Israel have been fulfilled in the Messiah, Jesus himself, and that therefore all who belong to Jesus had now been brought into that people of God, that true temple. One true God was now living in them! The temple has been rebuilt not in Jerusalem but all around the world that is the great truth in which everything else in this letter will depend.
If we find it’s hard to keep up with a bewildering range of scripture references which Peter is pouring into the letter at this point, Think what it was like for ex-pagan converts in Rural Turkey in the first century, without many books or other aid to understanding and think what a responsibility we have, privileged as we are, to stretch our minds to understand these enormous truths and to teach tomorrow’s church to do so too. Only by being firmly anchored in the truth of who Jesus is, and who we ourselves are as his followers will we be able to live in the way the rest of this letter urges us to.
We cannot make the mistake of thinking that this building is the be all and end all. It is a valuable resource but what Jesus is most interested in is a ‘live’ building, the people of God, and he is passionate that this building gets bigger and bigger and bigger the Church of Jesus Christ the body of Christ the holy nation of people belonging to God.
The reality is there are so many who do not see themselves as being that. We are called to make it known in our time in our circumstances and this was the message that Peter had for this great community of Jesus people and it’s the same message that he had for us we rejoice in who we are, we praise God that we are now part of his family and we recognise that we are called to grow this family.
Group Notes
First Thoughts
A lanyard usually bears an ID card. It tells everyone who the wearer is: name, job title, and who they represent. But it also communicates something of the wearer’s purpose.
As the people of God, we too have an identity and a purpose which we carry with us at all times and in all places. Our letter-writer, Peter, considered these foundational for confident living in a complex world. This session explores how Peter helped those early Christians discover the riches of their new identity and how it could radically change their perspective on the challenges they faced.
Read – 1 Peter 2:4–10
4As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – 5you 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. 6For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ 7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,’ 8and, ‘A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.’ They stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were destined for. 9But 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. 10Once 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.
Focus on the Theme
1. Think about a role you fulfil outside of church activities during a typical week, for example, looking after kids, work, volunteering, running your home. If you were designing an ID card for that role, what would it say for ‘location’, ‘job title’, and ‘purpose’?
What Does the Bible Say?
2. In 2:4–10, Peter describes the Christians he’s writing to in several different ways. Either as a whole group or in pairs, identify the different descriptions he uses. What aspect of their Christian identity was Peter wanting to help them grasp with each one?
3. Their identity was based on Jesus and what he had done for them. How does Peter encourage them to keep trusting Jesus in 2:4–6?
4. Take a look at Exodus 19:5–6.
What phrases or ideas has Peter borrowed from Exodus and applied to the Christians he is writing to? Why might he have done this?
5. The first readers of Peter’s letters were living in the Roman Empire. What challenges might they have faced in maintaining their Christian identity described in 2:9–10?
Early Christianity in the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was huge, spanning significant chunks of Asia, Europe, and Africa. There was enormous diversity within it: groups of people with differing customs, cultures, and gods. This created an ongoing challenge for the rulers of the Empire: maintaining peace and social cohesion. Generally speaking, emperors maintained a policy of religious tolerance, allowing local people to continue worshipping their local gods. Back then, most people believed that if you didn’t worship the local deities, they might become angry and ruin your harvest, or send a nasty plague, or kill you – so allowing people to continue their regular worship was a smart move, politically speaking.
In addition to worshipping their local gods, subjects of the Empire were required to pay homage to Caesar by declaring that he was ‘Lord’. Going above and beyond in emperor worship increased a city’s likelihood of receiving financial or political favours. Failing to do so, however, would bring the wrong kind of attention.
Going Deeper
6. Exodus not only speaks of what God saved his people from (slavery in Egypt), it also speaks of what God saved his people for (to be a people who would know him and make him known). But what does God say about their identity and purpose when they were in exile, in Jeremiah 29:4–14? What does this show us about the identity and purpose of God’s people, wherever they are and whatever the circumstances?
7. Why do you think Peter focuses on their identity so early on in the letter? Why not just focus on telling them to live good lives?
Living it Out
8. Which aspects of your identity as God’s ‘chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession’ are a particular encouragement at the moment? Why is that?
9. Like Peter’s first readers, there are probably people on your frontline who don’t believe in Jesus or think he’s particularly special. In what way might the truths that Peter has dwelt on help you be more confident as a Christian on your frontline?
10. What’s your takeaway from the discussion – a truth to celebrate, a fresh insight to embrace, a distorted perspective to repent of, a commitment to offer, an action to take?
Prayer Time
Take a few moments just to reflect again on how you have been affirmed in your identity and purpose through the discussion. Thank God for what has encouraged you.
In pairs or as a group, share one implication of your discussion for your frontline, and pray for each other.
Some Terms!
Spiritual house (2:5)
Israel longed for a renewed, more glorious temple. The community of Jesus-followers (made up of Jews and Gentiles) has become the place where God’s glory and presence dwells.
Chosen people (2:9)
Even though they were predominantly Gentiles, through their relationship with Jesus they have become part of God’s people, part of Israel’s story, fully wrapped up into God’s rich purposes for the world.
Royal priesthood and holy nation (2:9)
All of God’s people share in the privilege and responsibility of reflecting God’s holy character to the wider world and helping bring people into relationship with God.
Theme and Questions from LICC booklet
– 1 Peter ‘Confidence in a Complex World’ by Joe Warton