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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Section - Chapters 2 The
Living Stone And A Peter
shifts his thinking a bit in these next few verses.
He says in verse 4, “as you come to Him – the living Stone …
you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house and a
holy priesthood”. Peter
compares Jesus to a stone, the corner stone to be exact.
Jesus is the cornerstone of a building in which we are regular
stones. You might call us
bricks, and Jesus is the corner cement block in the foundation from which
the house is built.
Peter
therefore uses an analogy of a house to describe the community of
Christians. Each brick is
joined together to build the structure.
Each brick is important. If
one brick is out of place, the structure of the building becomes week and
unsafe. I believe the reason why Peter compares the community of Christ to
a house is to emphasizing the importance of Christians being properly
joined together in good
relationships with each other. Another
reason why Peter might have used the house analogy is because Jews often
called families by houses, as in, "the house of David".
The word "house" relates to the family, and so it is with
the family of God. The family
of God is like a house, that is, "the house of God".
When I use the term "house of God", I certainly don't
mean a building that we call a church, as is often the way we use this
term. The "house of
God" is the "family of God". He
also describes us as a “holy priesthood”.
Now the Jews of his day would understand that in Jewish tradition,
not everyone is a priest. Yet
Peter is saying that in this new tradition that follows Jesus and not the
Law of Moses, everyone is a priest. The
point to be made here is that we all have equal access to God.
The role of a priest was to represent people to God, and God to the
people. This is no longer the
case. Because of the Holy
Spirit within us, we are all priests.
We can all come before God on our own.
We need no man to represent us.
Jesus in fact is constantly representing us to His Father.
This idea would have been very disturbing to the Jewish priests as
you might well imagine. Their
livelihood and status was being challenged by the gospel of Christ.
The
doctrine of “the priesthood
of the believer” as it is known has been challenged many times
throughout the ages. The whole
role of the priest in the Catholic church is based on the false premise
that we need a person to stand between us and God.
This aspect of Catholicism
is not New Testament thinking. Many
cults over the centuries have done the same with charismatic leaders who
claim a special place before God. This
too is not New Testament. thinking. Whether
it is a cult or the Catholic church (which some have called a cult), there
is no need for a priest. We
should also understand that that a pastor is not a priest.
A pastor cares for the people of God, he does not stand between his
people and God. It is
important to understand that the people a pastor cares for belong to God
and not the pastor. Many times
you might hear a pastor use the term “my people”.
Those whom a pastor cares for are not his people.
They are God’s people. This
should make a major difference in how he treats those in his congregation.
Also, being a priest and a pastor are two very different things.
Back
to verse 4. Peter tells his
readers that the Stone was rejected by men.
The Jews were the ones building the house.
Jesus came to the Jews as the corner stone and these builders
rejected him, rejected the stone and threw it away.
But the rejection of Jesus did not mean the end of the building
process. Peter says that even
though the Jews rejected Jesus, God chose Him.
Thus a new building is being built which includes Gentiles and Jews
alike who have given their lives to Jesus.
Concerning
being priests, Peter says that “we offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God”. These spiritual
sacrifices are not animal sacrifices as the Jews were used to.
What are these “spiritual sacrifices”?
Well first of all, our lives should be one big sacrifice, as Paul
says in Rom 12:1 and 2. Then
beyond that, anything we do in the name of Jesus is a spiritual sacrifice.
But remember, it must be done in the name of Jesus, and that does
not simply mean attaching Jesus’ name to something we do, no matter how
spiritual or Christian we may think it is.
Doing something in the name of Jesus means to be doing that thing
as Jesus’ representative. We
are doing it in His place since He cannot be here in a physical body.
So if there are things that He would not do and we are doing them,
then those things are not done in Jesus’ name.
We are only to do what Jesus has authorized us to do. Peter
quotes from Isa. 28:16 to back up his point. He quotes, “I lay a stone
in In
verse 7 Peter says that this cornerstone is precious to the believer, just
as He is precious to God, as seen in the Isaiah prophecy in the last
verse. Indeed for all
Christians, Jesus is very precious. Peter
quotes Psa. 188:22, “the stone that the builders rejected has become the
capstone” (or corner stone). The
builders are acting as fools since they rejected the most important stone
in the building process. Peter
quotes one last time from Isa. 8:14 to further his point.
He quotes, “a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that
makes them fall”. What do
these words mean? There are
few people in this world that don’t believe in the existence of some
kind of god. Few are
criticized for this belief. It
is not hard to imagine the presence of a Supreme Deity in the universe.
But what does make men trip, or stumble, in both their intellect
and emotions is the existence of Jesus as being God in human flesh.
This bothers many in our world today.
They simply have a hard time getting around this idea of God in
human flesh. So you can say
that they “stumble over Jesus Himself”. Peter
goes on to say that people stumble “because they disobey the message”.
The message is the gospel that these early Christians were
proclaiming. Once again, it is
Jesus, and the message about Jesus that trips men up.
Peter says that this is “destined” to happen.
I think Peter simply means that if one continues to reject the
message, the only logical consequence is the fall of those people.
The ultimate fall will come on the Day of Judgement. In
verse 9 Peter mentions 3 things that the community of Christians are.
They are; a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
Then besides that he says, we all “belong to God”.
The belonging to God makes us these things. We
are the new chosen people of God for this age.
No longer is the Jew alone God’s chosen people.
In fact in Old Testament times the Jews were meant to be a picture
of what the people of God should look like, although they failed at this.
Yet in New Testament times the Gentiles have been called to be part
of God's family. Still, at the
end of this age, all the Old Testament prophecies about Once
again Peter uses the term “royal priesthood”.
We all are priests. There
is no longer a group of select men who stand before God in our place.
We all have a right to stand before God on our own that is based on
the one great sacrifice. We
are a “holy nation”. You
and I may be citizens of an earthly country.
You may be a Canadian, but if you are a Christian then you also
have citizenship in another country, another kingdom.
You are citizens of the We
are these three things so that we can “declare the praises of” God.
Peter says that we have been called out of darkness into light.
If this is truly the case then, we should stand out as being
somewhat different than those who live in this present darkness.
We need to understand what makes us stand out as different.
It is not the clothes we wear.
It is not that we do or don’t do certain things.
Our Godly character makes us different.
We don’t do the things of darkness.
Put us beside a person from the darkness, everyone should notice
the difference. Peter
continues by saying that we weren’t always citizens of the Understanding
the fact that his readers live in the In
verse 11 he says, “I urge you as aliens and strangers in this world”.
Once again Peter views Christians as being aliens and strangers in
this world. We are citizens of
God’s Kingdom, yet while living in kingdoms of men, we are aliens, even
strangers. I once lived in the
Many
of us have not felt so alienated by those living in the kingdoms of men.
This is due for a few reasons.
One reason is that we are too much like the world in the way we
live to notice any difference. Another
point to be made is that Christianity has had a marked influence on the
Western World. This means that
even non-Christians have outwardly lived like Christians in many respects.
But as the Western world moves away from this Christian influence,
we will see a difference between us and them. Peter
says to “abstain from sinful desires that war against the soul”.
It is very clear that sin brings a measure of separation between us
and the Lord, or between us and anyone we sin against, as far as that
goes. But sin also wars
against our souls. It fights
against the peace we have in Jesus. All
that is a part of our soul because we are followers of Jesus is being
disrupted when we sin. Sin
tries to fight the good things within us.
Sin wants to take charge of our souls, and destroy us.
Peter says to stay clear of sin.
It is like what Paul speaks of in Romans 7.
The flesh is at war against both our spirit and the Holy Spirit.
It's a constant battle. Peter
ends this section by saying, “live such good lives among the pagans
that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good works
and glorify God on the day He visits us”. (ch. 2:12)
These Christians were being accused by all sorts of people from all
sorts of places. Peter was
telling his readers that even with all of these accusations their good
works should be evident. They
may not be acknowledged now,
but on the Day of Judgement people will notice them and will glorify God
as a result. We must note that
even though they acknowledge your good works then and even glorify God,
that will not bring them salvation. It
will be too late for them. The
fact that non-believers will glorify God on the Day of Judgement tells us
something about that day. Paul
was right when he said that “every knee will bow and confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord”. (Phil 2:10) Every
man and woman that has ever lived will bow their knee and make this
confession. They will also see
those of us who have been saved and at the point in recognition to our
good works, they will also give glory to God. Yet
for these people it will be too late.
We as Christians will bow our knees and acknowledge Jesus as being
Lord with great thanksgiving. For
the non-Christian, they will make the same acknowledgement, but only
because they have now seen that He is indeed Lord.
They will fall before God in fear and horror for their fate that
awaits them. You and I as
Christians will be eternally thankful on that day as we fall before the
King of Kings. Submission
To Rulers And Masters (ch. 2:13 - 25) After
Peter tells his readers to do good in order that their accusers would
praise God on the Day of Judgement, he now tells his readers to submit to
“every authority instituted among men”. (ch. 2:13)
He goes on to say that we should submit to the king and governors.
Why does Peter think that such submission is important?
Because God has sent these men to punish people who are doing wrong
and commend those who are doing good.
We
have to note a couple of things here.
First, we are to submit because the state is there to punish the
evil doer. The job
of the state is to keep civil peace through laws that would punish people
who commit a crime. So if you
submit to these rules, and don’t do evil, you do well, and you are
submitting to the authorities. The
problem is that in most societies, ours included, the state has more
involvement in the lives of its people than simply keeping civil peace.
Governments tend to make all sorts of laws that have nothing to do
with punishing criminals and keeping civil order.
So you might think that when Peter says to submit to the
authorities, he is thinking in terms of “doing good”, not doing evil.
Possibly other laws that have nothing to do with civil order did
not enter his mind. Of course
this is speculation. I don’t
know for sure. An example of
such laws that go farther than simply keeping
peace is the marriage laws that are changing in western nations.
No longer do we have Biblical based marriage laws.
We as Christians should now begin to think seriously what this
change means to us and how we should respond.
It
was Peter himself that asked the Jewish leaders whether he should obey
men, rather than God. So it is
clear that in Peter’s mind, he would obey the civil authorities the best
he could, but when civil law came in conflict with God’s ways of doing
things, Peter would choose God’s way first, thus disobeying the civil
authorities. We
also should note that Nero was the Supreme leader of the Peter's
execution alone should tell us that there was a limit to how and when he
would obey the civil leaders. If
he had obeyed the civil leaders to the fullest extent, he would not have
been killed. It is clear that
when God's law came in conflict with Roman law, Peter chose God's law to
lie by. In
verse 15 Peter tells us that “it is God’s will that by doing good you
should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men”.
Peter’s estimation of secular man was pretty low.
He called them foolish and ignorant.
Yet if Christians lived a good lifestyle before these foolish men,
these men would have no logical grounds
to criticize Christians, other than their belief in Jesus. So it is
very important for Christians today to live lives that would not bring
criticism upon them or the church. If
there is to be critical words said about Christians by non-Christians,
then such criticism should be a result of our trust in Jesus, not because
of stupid things we do. Sad to
say, much of our criticism today is not over the fact that we trust in
Jesus but over foolish things we do and say. Peter
then goes on to say, “live as free men”.
These words are somewhat significant in light that in any
dictatorial rule, freedom is fairly restricted.
Yet Peter feels Christians are free.
We are free from many things. We
are free from the punishment of sin. We are free from bondage from the Law
of Moses. We have the ability
to be free from a sinful lifestyle. The
list could go on. Yet some
Christians in these times were misunderstanding what freedom meant.
They carried this freedom farther than it was meant to be.
Some were thinking that they were free from civil authority.
Peter was trying to readjust their thinking on this point. So
“live as free men, but don’t use your freedom as a cover up to do
evil”. Christians are not
free to do every and anything that comes into their minds, including
disobeying civil law. Being
free from our sin and its results enables us to be free to serve God.
Sin separates us from our Lord and when that is taken out of the
way, we are united with Him, and able to serve Him as we should.
So freedom has its boundaries.
Peter thus says that we are indeed free to serve Jesus by
respecting everyone, loving the brotherhood of believers, honouring the
king, and fearing God. All these things go to make up an honourable way of
living that needs to be seen by the world. I
often think of Billy Graham in respect to these things.
Many well known Christian evangelists are often criticized
for dishonourable things they do.
Billy Graham at times may be criticized for his trust in Jesus, but
seldom for a dishonourable lifestyle. In
verse 19 Peter gives the same advise to slaves as Paul does.
He tells slaves to submit to their masters, even if they are
unjust. The reason why
Peter tells slaves to submit, even to unjust masters is because “it is
commendable if a man bears up under the pain of
unjust suffering because he is conscious of God”.
Is Peter being masochistic? Has
Peter got his mind too much into the suffering life?
Should he begin to think more positively in order to get out of
such suffering? Whatever the
answers to these questions are, Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, says
“it is commendable” to go through unjust suffering.
This is not really the attitude of many Christians today. Peter
gives the reason why people can endure such suffering, and that is because
they sense “the consciousness of God”.
Once again, many of us are not conscious of God in our lives.
If the Holy Spirit lives within us we should sense His presence. No
wonder we can't endure hardship and suffering as Peter suggests here. Peter
clearly states that if a slave is beaten for doing wrong, that is not
commendable. Yet
if he is beaten even when doing good, and holds up under that
injustice, then God says that is commendable. In
verse 21 Peter states why unjust suffering is commendable in the sight of
God. The reason is because
Jesus Himself endured unjust suffering.
If our Leader shows us the example, then we should follow.
Peter backs up his point by quoting from Isa. 53:9 that says, “He
committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth”.
Jesus stood before His accusers with little words of self defense.
The
idea of “enduring unjust suffering” is a strong point of many groups
over the centuries. Many pacifists who do not believe in going to war are
strong on the point of enduring unjust suffering without any self defense.
This is somewhat of a debatable issue.
We know at times that Paul stood up for his civil rights.
He appealed to So
at times standing up for one’s civil rights is appropriate.
Yet there may be times where you might not be able to stand up for
any civil rights. Paul had the
choice at this one juncture of his life.
Other Christians in Paul’s day did not have the choice.
They were unjustly persecuted, even to death.
Any self defense was not offered to them.
Therefore they had to endure this injustice. Both Paul and Peter
were eventually unjustly killed. My
conclusion is that we stand on Biblical grounds when we defend ourselves
if that is possible. But if
that is not possible, we need to endure the injustice, knowing Jesus is
with us. In
verse 23 Peter continues on with the example of Jesus when he says,
“when they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He
suffered, He made no threats. Instead,
He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly”.
Peter says that Jesus endured unjust suffering.
Instead of standing up for Himself, and instead of retaliating, He
trusted in God His Father. The
same should be true of us in those times of unjust sufferings.
We give ourselves to the presence of God in our lives and trust
Jesus in those hard times.
We hand our situation over to Jesus, knowing that even in the worst
case, we will still have Him. In
the rest of this chapter Peter paraphrases Isa. 53.
He notes that “Jesus bore our sins in His body”.
On the cross Jesus was punished for our sins.
Yet something more than that happened.
He bore both the sins and sicknesses in His body.
His body became unrecognizable
as a human being because He actually became our sin and our
sickness. (Isa. 52:14) Knowing
this, we should die to sin. If Jesus actually became sin for us, and if we
continue in sin, then the fact of the matter is that Jesus became sin for
nothing. Since Jesus died for
our sins, we should then die to our sins. Peter
continues by saying that because of his wounds, we are healed.
This healing, at least in my thinking, is both physical and
spiritual healing. Some say
that healing was not a matter that was taken care of on the cross.
It appears to me that Peter felt healing was taken care of on the
cross. Also,
much like Isa. 53 Peter calls his readers “sheep that have gone
astray”, but now they have been “returned to the Shepherd and Overseer
of their souls”. Note that
Peter calls Jesus a “Shepherd and an Overseer”.
Shepherds, overseers, elders,
and pastors are all the same function in the church.
These are 4 different names for the same job.
(KJV adds a fifth word - bishop).
So we may have earthly pastors to care for God’s people, but
there is one Pastor (Shepherd - Overseer) that is far above these earthly
pastors. Once again, earthly
pastors cannot claim the people they care for as their own.
They are only minding the flock in the place of the Great Shepherd.
The flock belongs to Jesus.
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