In our study of 1 Peter, I’ve been thinking about 1 Peter 2:4-8. Last time I paraphrased part of this to help us all see more clearly what the passage is saying. I’m not going to tackle the whole thing today, but I want us to get started on it. Let’s start with this:
“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 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.”
Peter is saying that when we come to Christ, we are coming to Him as a living stone. Why would he call Jesus a living stone? In thinking about this, I remember that Jesus called Peter a rock. Remember? In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Both the Matthew passage and the verses we are looking at here in First Peter view the rocks and stones as part of the building process. Specifically, they form the secure foundation for the structure.
When we came to Christ, we came to the right place because Jesus Christ is our rock and our firm foundation. In fact, we learn that Jesus Christ is the main cornerstone of building we call The Church. Not the building where you go to worship, but the body of believers that make up “The Church.” And Jesus is the “living stone” because He is alive! He is not a dead object like a rock. He is the living Savior. Look at what Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians: “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:19-20).
If you have come to Christ by faith and trusted in His saving work on the Cross, you have come to the surest foundation of all, Jesus, the chief cornerstone. In addition, you yourself have become part of the structure of the Church itself!