Have you been invited? Have you accepted the invitation? (1 Peter 2.4-12)
I remember sending out invitations for our wedding, how difficult it was to cut people out. We had a budget, we couldn’t afford to have everyone we loved there, we had to pick a few.
How wonderful it is to be invited. An Invitation reveals a lot of things:
You are welcome;
You are loved;
Your are important;
You have access;
You belong;
You have rights;
You are chosen;
The Gospel is the invitation that God has given to us, he has sent His only Son to earth to die on the place of sinners, he was buried, and that he was raised from the dead, all according the what God has spoken through the prophets.
Now, Jesus has many times extended invitations to His people: Come to me… Follow me... I’m the door, if you enter... I am the way... He revealed himself to be the bread of life, and those who feed from him will never go hungry... Those who drink from Him will never go thirsty.
There is a verse that says: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” This gives us a picture of some sort of divine selection. Let me put this in a simple way: “While it is God’s will for all to be saved, not everyone submits to God’s will”. But once we have submitted to God, we become His chosen.
I. What are we chosen for?
a) To come to Him; (v4);
This coming is a constant coming. It does not refer to a initial Salvation “coming”, it is a constant drawing near into His presence. You may think this too much of a privilege, and it is true, we can come at any time, we are invited to come all the time.
b) to be living Stones in His Holy temple; (v5)
Many of the names give to Christ are a characteristic of God’s people.
i.e. – Son / sons; High Priest/priests, King/kings, Lamb/lambs, Living Stone/living stones.
These are stones cut into shape for building materials, not just boulders or fieldstone randomly gathered. We must each ask, “Am I willing to be shaped and used as a living stone for God’s purposes?” Too many Christians seem to want to be the whole temple or to take Christ’s place as the cornerstone.
And “are being built” meaning that God is doing the building. The “house” that God builds is the church, and so Peter was seeing Jesus’ words fulfilled in the churches to whom he was writing to.
Believers are not left alone in the world; God lives among them in the spiritual home that he is building, only to be completed when Christ Jesus returns.
c) to offer sacrifices of worship;
Not only we are living stones, as we form the spiritual temple on which God lives in, we are also priests which serve God and offer Him spiritual sacrifices.
The Old Testament priests offered animal sacrifices in the temple; God’s people offer sacrifices too, but these are “spiritual sacrifices.”
What comprises these spiritual sacrifices? The answer is found in other New Testament letters:
• “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1). We offer ourselves and our wills to God’s control.
• “Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). We offer love, to God and to others.
• “[The gifts the believers had sent to Paul] are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God” (Philippians 4:18). We offer our money and possessions freely to help spread the gospel.
• “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name” (Hebrews 13:15). We center our lives around continual praise to God.
• “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:16). We do good and share freely with others.
We see from Scripture that every part of our lives—our jobs, activities, recreation, attitudes, giving, outlook, goals—should be given as a spiritual sacrifice to God. When we learn to please God and follow his directions and guidance, all we do delights him.
The sacrifice of ourselves is acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We are imperfect and sinful, yet we are made acceptable to God because of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice of himself on our behalf. Only because of Christ have believers received this high and holy calling to be living stones and a holy priesthood in the spiritual house of God.
A BEAUTIFUL HOUSE
Peter portrays the church as a living, spiritual house, with Christ as the foundation and cornerstone and each believer as a valuable element.
Paul portrays the church as a body, with Christ as the head and each believer as a contributing member (see, for example, Ephesians 4:15–16).
Both pictures emphasize community. One stone is not a temple or even a wall; one body part is useless without the others.
In our individualistic society, we can easily forget our interdependence with other Christians. When God calls you to a task, remember that he is also calling others to work with you. Together your individual efforts will be multiplied. Look for those people and join with them to build a beautiful house for God.
When we look to us here in Park Baptist Church, how do we see ourselves being used by God to build us up?
Do you include yourself in? Or do you only see pastor Andy, or even perhaps the leadership. Or those who are already working?
You have a part to play, you were chosen, you are a living stone in this building, a member in this body, with a valuable and useful potential in order to bring what edification.
Don count yourself out, easily, but do come in.
2. We have become His special people.
But you are a chosen people, again chosen, special people. Set apart by God, invited to be in His presence.
This verse contrasts the privilege and destiny of believers with that of unbelievers.
What makes us chosen, is because we have not rejected the cornerstone, the foundation on which we are built.
Who is the cornerstone? Jesus Christ.
V7, Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.
THE ROCK AND CORNERSTONE
No doubt Peter often thought of Jesus’ words to him right after he confessed that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God”: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” Mat 16:16-18.
What is the stone that really counts in the building of the church?
Peter answers: Christ himself.
What are the characteristics of Christ, the cornerstone?
• He is completely trustworthy.
• He is precious to believers.
• Though rejected by some, he is the most important part of the church.
3. A holy nation and a special people.
1. We have been set apart for God.
2. Our sins have been purged.
3. We can live in God’s presence daily.
When a father puts a youngster on his knee, gives a hug, and tells how much he loves that child, neither one of them doubts the message: “Of all the children in the world, you are special, you are mine!” Later, that child crawls into bed at peace with the world.
God gives us the same tender treatment. If not a bounce and a squeeze, surely the equivalent in peace and affirmation: We are God’s special people.
Face tomorrow’s troubles assured that your heavenly Father goes with you each step. Don’t worry. Rest well tonight.
4. With a specific purpose
a) To declares the praises of God.
We are chosen with a special purpose—to glorify and praise the one who has called them out of the darkness of sin and of their hostile surroundings into the light of eternal life.
We are called to “declare” who God is and what he has done, specifically the act of salvation.
We proclaim him by
• conducting our lives so that they manifest his character, and
• telling others of the salvation he accomplished for us and of his work in our individual lives.
Invite them to come to church!
Give them a devotional book!
Share a verse or testimony of how God had blessed you or spoken to you in that week, or so.
But sometimes, sharing can be really hard? How do we proclaim God’s praises in a hostile world? Or a work place? Be creative, our actions speaks louder than words. Perhaps, you can not offer a Bible, an invitation to church, or a testimony, but they can know God through your consistent living. They can know God by you showing them how God is precious to you. V12.
Today we were reminded of the wonderful and special invitation that God has given us through Jesus. And what it means to be chosen by Him, and How is the outwork of our Salvation.
Now, You may feel special for being invited, but have you been chosen?
You may feel special that you were invited to a party, have you attended it?
Take part, come as you are, and let God transform your life.
Perhaps you are still undecided?
But where do you stand?
You are either in or out! The invitation has been given!
Take part of it!
