To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout the earth, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance. You are invited to come to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting and pray. (8:30 PM EDT Wed., Oct. 10, 2001)

"As you come to him, the living Stone-- rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him." This passage is, first of all, about Jesus (which is something you can say about most of the bible). Jesus is the living Stone who is chosen by God and precious to him. He is the one through whom we are able to offer acceptable sacrifices to God (v5). In fact, he is the one through whom we are able to do anything at all that is acceptable to God.

Jesus is the stone which God is laying in Zion -- the cornerstone upon which everything else that has any lasting value is built (v6). He is the one about whom God spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament in many, many places -- and also when he said through the prophet Isaiah, "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone."

Jesus is the one about whom the psalmist spoke in Psalm 118 when he said, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone." The psalmist also says this: "The LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes!" (Psalm 118:22,23) Jesus is also the one about whom Isaiah wrote, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall."

This passage is, first of all, about Jesus, the living stone. Jesus is the living stone. He is life. Life -- the condition of being alive -- was made through him. How often his words, "I am the way and the truth and the life," come up. There is nothing that is alive that isn't alive because Jesus is alive.

This passage is, first of all, about Jesus. Beyond that, it is about men and their relationship to Jesus. Peter, speaking by the Holy Spirit, talks first of all about men in general. Referring to Jesus, the living stone, in verse 5, he says, "rejected by men," and in verse 8, quoting Isaiah, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message." (And what is the message? It is this: that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus -- through the sprinkling of his blood and the sanctifying work of the Spirit. We are not saved by what we do or don't do, but by whom we trust. This is the message that causes men to stumble.) So Peter talks first about men in general. And then he talks about us -- those who trust the living stone and will never be put to shame (v6).

We also, are living stones. We also are chosen as God's elect. We are made alive through Christ -- not just with physical life, which we had from our conception, but with true life that lasts forever. We know Jesus and he knows us.

As living stones, we are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. One thing this tells us is that we are priests who serve God. In the Old Testament religion, only Levites could be priests. And of the Levites, only the descendants of Levi's son, Kohath could be priests. And of Kohath's descendants, only those descended from Aaron could be priests. If you sinned, only a priest -- a descendant of Aaron -- could make a sacrifice before God for your sins. And even that didn't really take away your sin, because the blood of bulls and goats doesn't take away sin (Heb. 10:4). Only the precious blood of Jesus can do that. Through Jesus, the Aaronic priesthood has now been done away with. In effect, we are all priests. Each of us can go directly to God. Jesus is our high priest and he intercedes in our behalf.

I think that we take the fact that we can go directly to God somewhat for granted. Maybe we need to put ourselves in the place of the Israelites in the Old Testament. The high priest entered the most holy place and made an offering of blood for his own sins and for the sins of Israel once a year. If he didn't do it right, he was struck dead. That very thing happened to two of Aaron's sons when they made an improper offering. But the offering our high priest made was absolutely proper. There could not have been a more perfect offering. As a result of the blood of Jesus, we can approach the throne of God with confidence.

We are all priests -- a royal priesthood, according to verse 9. But I think that there is something in verse 5-- "you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." -- there is something in verse 5 that may be more important than the fact that we are each priests before God. In fact Peter didn't say that we are each priests, but rather that, "You (plural) are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood..." His emphasis is on the "spiritual house" and on the "holy priesthood," all of us together rather than on each of us individually. In our individualistic society, we tend to think about individuals and our individual relationships to God. But Peter (and Paul, and others) talk about all of us together. God is taking individual living stones -- each of us -- and building a spiritual building. To use the apostle Paul's words, we are one body with many members. Each member has a function in the body. No one is indispensable. I'm not going to elaborate on what this implies, but think about it and pray about it. Think about communion, fellowship and serving Christ together.

We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light (v9). Again, Peter is referring to us collectively, not individually -- a nation, a priesthood, a people. God purpose is for us to declare his praises. He called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. He deserves our praise and honor and worship, and we will willingly give it.

There's a song we have sung. I can't quite recall the name of it right now, but we sang it at our Christmas service last year. One of the lines in the last verse refers to people having "the hope of heaven or the fear of hell," and then says, "but the bride will run to her lover's arms." We, collectively, are the bride of Christ. If you think in terms of "hope of heaven or the fear of hell," you need to adjust your thinking. What will you do when you come before Jesus? Will you think, "I hope I made it into heaven, but I'm afraid I might go to hell?" I'll tell you what I think. Not a chance! The bride will run to her lover's arms!

Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God; once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy (v10).

Everything that Peter wrote is the word of God. It's all absolutely true. Pray for us to have it written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Pray for us to know the love and mercy of God from moment to moment. Pray for us (the whole church) to know what it means to be built into a spiritual house and, as a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices to God.

Come and let's pray for each other as well as for the whole church. Come and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Love them.

Love in Christ, Dean

PS: If you absolutely can't make it to the prayer meeting, send your prayer requests back to me by e-mail and we'll pray for them.