Sermon: The Church: Spiritual House Under Construction
Bible Passage: 1 Peter 2:4-10
I. The Church is a spiritual house (verse 4-5)
1. God is the one who is building this spiritual house with two types of stones: Living Stone and living stones (verse 5)
2. Jesus is the Living Stone of this house (verse 4)
a. The term “Living Stone” refers to the foundation or key component of the house
b. Those who are not God’s elect reject Jesus and His followers (verse 4)
c. The stone image comes from the Old Testament—it has two referents in the OT
i. It refers to God
ii. It refers to the Messiah (future)
3. The believers are “living stones” of this spiritual house—i.e., community of living stones
a. The house is not complete, but “is being built” (verse 5)
b. These living stones are cut stones have their specified place in the spiritual house
4. The goal of the “living stones” is to be the “holy priesthood” for God
a. They offer worship to God that is enabled by the Holy Spirit
b. Therefore, it is a spiritual worship acceptable to God through Jesus Christ
c. The priest is someone who builds a bridge for others to come to God
d. Jesus followers have the duty and the privilege of bringing non-believers to God
e. The members of the spiritual house have a dual role:
i. Holy priests towards God
ii. Bridge between God and the world
II. The identity of the members of this spiritual house is further explain in verses 9-10 (cf. Exod 19:6 and Isa 43:20–21):
1. Chosen race
2. Royal priesthood
3. Holy nation
4. People for His own possession
5. God’s people
6. These are functional identities
7. These are all the designations for Israel (cf. Exod 19:6 and Isa 43:20–2)
8. To declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (cf. Isa 43:21)
9. As God formed Israel to praise him, now the church has been established to praise his wonders (Exod 19:6 and 1 Peter 2:9-10)
III. Observation:
1. Though the Temple is not mentioned here, the Temple language is reflected in this passage
2. There is no reference to the supersession/replacement, emphasis seems to be on this house
3. The Temple seems to provide a model or a prototype for the Church
4. The focus is on the corporate life of the believers, not necessarily individual believers
5. The church has a unique missional role
6. Though it is rejected, persecuted, it needs to be missional
7. They need to be missional by being different
Take Away:
The Spiritual House has two functions:
1. Exercise your priesthood towards God to offer acceptable worship
2. Be a bridge between God and the lost world