What Makes You So Special?
I Peter 2:4-12
Intro:
1. ILL: Dad’s Flagstone Fireplace
2. ILL: Playing with a Lego set.
I. v4-10 - God is Building You into a Temple
A. This temple is the church.
1. I Cor 3:16-17 - Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
a. We together are the church.
b. God’s Holy Spirit lives here among us.
c. As God’s temple, we together are sacred property.
2. II Cor 6:16 - We are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
a. God lives & walks among us.
b. We are His special people.
3. Eph 2:19 - Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household . . .
a. Although you are a foreigner & alien in this world, this temple is where you belong.
b. You are part of God’s household. You fit in here! Jn 14:2-3 - I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
4. Heb 3:6 - But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
a. Lord Jesus is the one in charge.
b. We are the Lord’s house as long as you remain faithful to Him.
B. v6 - Lord Jesus is the chief cornerstone.
1. Eph 2:20-22 - . . . built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
2. Cornerstone (ἀκρογωνιαῖος) = at the extreme angle or corner; so chief cornerstone of a building.
3. v7 - He was rejected by the world as not being suitable enough.
a. He didn’t come from the right family.
b. He didn’t teach or obey the right “pet” doctrines.
4. v8 - The world stumbles over Him because they don’t accept the gospel message of salvation.
C. You are a living brick! Living bricks are:
1. Holy royal priests.
a. v5 - Holy (ἅγιος) = Sacred, holy, set apart for a special purpose.
b. v9 - Royal (βασίλειος) = royal, kingly.
2. v9 - Chosen. Why would God choose you?
a. v10 - Because you needed to be accepted - God made you His people, a holy nation belong- ing to Him.
b. v10 - Because you needed mercy - God provided that mercy by forgiving you all your sins.
II. v11-12 - How Can You Become a Usable Brick?
A. As a royal priest, you offer spiritual sacrifices. This is done . . .
1. By Teaching - Rom 15:16 - Be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of pro- claiming the gospel of God.
2. By Mediating between God & other people (in the world). That’s what priests do!
3. By Offering your body as a living sacrifice in worship - Rom 12:1 - Therefore, 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.
4. By Renewing your mind, your thinking. - Rom 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.
B. As a chosen people, don’t stumble over the chief cornerstone.
1. v8 - You must obey the message & accept Jesus as Lord.
2. v5 - You are usable for God’s building purposes because you are teachable.
C. As an alien & stranger to the world, abstain from sinful desires.
1. v11 - Sinful desires (ἐπιθυμία) = passionate longing, lust.
2. v12 - Those in the world may ridicule your straight lives now but will eventually commend it when the Lord comes again!
So - what makes you so special?
You’re a brick God is molding into His Holy Temple!
So - be a usable one!
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