Pastor's Message, April 12, 2015 - Some Assembly Required

April 12, 2015

 Some Assembling Required  

Spiritual Privileges & Freedoms

(1 Peter 2:4-10)

 

Many believers view the Christian life more from the standpoint of spiritual duty rather than spiritual freedom. We tend to be preoccupied with the temporal pressures of what we view as obligations and do not cherish the lasting privileges & freedoms God has given us to enjoy.

 

I worried that some often think of those privileges & freedoms:

§  as blessings reserved only for heaven,

§  to be appreciated only in the presence of God and Christ

§  In that place of perfect joy, peace, harmony, unity, rest, knowledge, and wisdom.

 

As Christians, we have to know who we are.  We have to stop letting the world tell us who we are.  We are children of God.  We are saints.  We are being sanctified.  We are secure.  We are holy.  We have royal blood flowing through our veins.  That’s who we are!  There are those who are not acting like they should act because they don’t remember who they are!

 

In this passage of 1 Peter 2 starting at verse 4, the apostle Peter emphasizes the richness of the privileges & freedoms that we as believers already have in Christ. 

 

1 Peter 2:4-5 (NASB)

As Living Stones

(4) And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, (5) you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

 

When we come to Christ – as believers we enter the realm of spiritual privilege & freedoms. Jesus Himself, with Peter and the other apostles as eyewitnesses, called people to abandon the turmoil of their sin and come to Him in faith and experience true soul rest.  We want to cry out that call every week here at CCF – for people to come to Him in faith!

 

Matthew 11:28–29

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”. 

 

Because of Christ our once troubled soul is at peace.  Are you here today with a troubled soul?  Do you need peace? 

The stone talked about in verse 4 is living in that it is personal.  He is a life-giving stone.

 

Peter used the metaphor of a living stone to identify the One to whom believers come—Jesus Christ—and to launch his discussion of spiritual privileges & freedoms. Stone (Greek - lithos) sometimes refers to a carved precious stone, but usually it means “building stone.”

 

As we look at verse 5 – I can break down some of the privileges & freedoms we have as being children of God.  The verse tells us that we have:

Ö      The privilege of Union with Christ

1 Peter 2:5a

You also, as living stones

 

Ö      The privilege of Access to God as Priests

1 Peter 2:5b

are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood

 

Ö      The privilege of Access To God Through Spiritual Sacrifices

1 Peter 2:5c

to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

 

As Christians -what are our spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ?

The New Testament sets forth several spiritual sacrifices for us: our bodies, our praise, our good works, our possessions, our converts, our love, and our prayers.

 

God remains the infinite, inexhaustible source of all goodness, visible in the beauties of creation and is experienced in His mercy toward sinners.

James 1:17 (NASB)

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

 

His ultimate and most generous goodness is the gift of redemption from sin, which culminates with eternal life. The apostle Peter wanted us to continue to focus on God’s goodness, which has been granted in all spiritual privileges & freedoms. In 2:4–5 he affirmed for us the first two privileges as union with Christ and access to Christ that is expressed through us as we are being made a holy priesthood as we offer spiritual sacrifices.

 

In verses 6–9b Peter presents four more spiritual privileges for us as believers to understand.

 

1) Security in Christ

1 Peter 2:6 (NASB)

For this is contained in Scripture:

“Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone,
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

 

In that verse you see Jesus as a choice stone, God’s chosen one.  And He is not only a choice stone but a precious corner stone.  Precious meaning “unequaled in value, “costly”, or “irreplaceable.”  When we put our trust in Him – we will not be disappointed.

 

Romans 10:11-13 (NASB)

(11) For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” (12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; (13) for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

So 1) we have Security in Christ – next

 

2) Affection for Christ

 

1 Peter 2:7-8 (NASB)

(7) This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,

“The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the very cornerstone,”

(8) and,

“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”;

for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

 

He told the Jews in

John 8:42

If God were your Father, you would love Me

 

In the Upper Room Discourse, He told the apostles,

John 14:21

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him

 

Later in the Discourse Jesus told them,

John 16:27

 “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father

 

Believing in Christ and loving Him are therefore inseparable privileges & freedoms. 

1 Peter 1:8-9 (NASB)

(8) and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, (9) obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

 

Only those who believe manifest a surpassing love for Christ.  I hope you have that kind of love for Him today! I do…  I thank Him everyday

 

But in contrast to that - those who do not believe do not and will not love Christ.  (Blinded by the Light…) Blinded by the light
Revved up like a deuce (in tennis; a throw of two in dice games, bad luck.  Informal: the devil
Another runner in the night
Blinded by the light 

 

We are God’s creation and He dictates to us why we exist and can tell us what we are designed to do.  He gives us our purpose. 

 

If we operate outside of our reason for being, that’s when we experience problems.  Walking in the purpose God designed for us is how we fulfill our unique reason for being.

 

3) Appointed By Christ

1 Peter 2:9a (NASB)

But you are a chosen race,

 

We have been given the blessing of being appointed by Christ!  We are a spiritual people elected by God Himself.

 

The apostle Peter again drew his terminology from an Old Testament passage:

Deuteronomy 7:6-9 (NASB)

(6) For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

 

(7) “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, (8) but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (9) Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

 

4) Dominion with Christ

 

1 Peter 2:9b (NASB)

a royal priesthood, 

All those who believe in Jesus as Messiah and trust in Him alone for salvation receive the privilege of becoming royal priests

Revelation 5:10 (NASB)

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

 

As we come to understand and walk in these spiritual privileges & freedoms - from having security in Christ, Affection for Christ, appointed by Christ and that we have dominion with Him, we ought to be thrilled into abundant praise and worship.  And He wants us to teach our children these things! To share these things with those who don’t know Him!

 

As we dig into the rest of verse 9 and 10 we see 5 additional spiritual privileges and freedoms that He has given us.

 

5) Separation to Christ

1 Peter 2:9c (NASB)

a holy nation,

 

The word nation translates ethnos, which means “people,” as an ethnic group.  Holy (hagios) means “separate” or “set apart.

 

God sets apart believers primarily to have a relationship with Him, and service to Him flows out of that relationship.

 

Years earlier at the Jerusalem Council, Peter said this:

Acts 15:7-9 (NASB)

(7) After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. (8) And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; (9) and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

 

6) Possession by Christ

1 Peter 2:9d

a people for God’s own possession,

 

Again, this foreshadows the truth of Peter’s statement that Christians are now a people for God’s own possession.

 

7) Illumination in Christ

I Peter 2:9f

who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 

 

Throughout history unbelievers face two kinds of darkness: intellectual and moral. 

Intellectual darkness is ignorance—the inability to see and know the truth, whereas moral darkness is immorality—the inability to see and do what is right.

 

The darkness Peter refers to here is the second type—the sinful state of unbelievers who are trapped in the spiritual darkness of Satan, the prince of darkness.

 

 Unbelievers are children born in the darkness. They not only walk in the darkness, they love the darkness.

 

However Peter reminds us that Christ has sovereignly, powerfully, and effectively called us out of darkness.  The positive side of Christ’s calling sinners out of darkness is that they are also thereby called into his marvelous light.

 

8) Compassion from Christ

1 Peter 2:10

for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

As unbelievers, the Gentiles knew no compassion from Christ—they once were not a people. But now they had become the people of God, because they had received His mercy.

 

Mercy is synonymous with compassion and essentially involves God’s sympathy with sinners’ misery and His withholding from us the just punishment for our sins

 

9) Proclamation of Christ

1 Peter 2:9e

So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him

 

Finally, God has provided His kaleidoscope of spiritual privileges for believers for one overarching purpose: that they may proclaim the excellencies of Christ. There is no higher privilege than to be a herald for the gospel.

Herald means messenger, bearer of news, and harbinger.

 

1Timothy 1:12-17 (NASB)

(12) I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, (13) even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; (14) and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. (15) It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.  

(16) Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. 

 

(17) Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

So to recap today’s message - in 1 Peter 2:4–5 he affirmed the first two privileges as union with Christ and access to Christ

 

So in verses 6–10 Peter presented nine more spiritual privileges for us as believers to ponder.

1) Security in Christ - 1 Peter 2:6

 

2) Affection for Christ - 1 Peter 2:7-8

 

3) Appointed by Christ - 1 Peter 2:9a

 

4) Dominion with Christ - 1 Peter 2:9b

 

5) Separation to Christ - 1 Peter 2:9c

 

6) Possession by Christ - 1 Peter 2:9d

 

7) Illumination in Christ - I Peter 2:9f

 

8) Compassion from Christ - 1 Peter 2:10

 

9) Proclamation of Christ - 1 Peter 2:9e

 

So besides having union with Christ and access to Christ - these are the privileges & freedoms that we as believers already have in Christ. 

 

Would you like to receive and experience these privileges and freedoms today, April 12, 2015?