Jesus Christ the Cornerstone

Click here for the audio message of 1 Peter 2:1-10

Our Scripture this morning really focuses on Christ and the role He plays in our life. Last time we saw that we are a new creation in Christ. The Christians new life cannot grow unless we get rid of the sin in our life.

So we need to get rid of all malice, that is evil stuff that comes from inside our hearts. We get rid of hypocrisy. We get rid of envy. We get rid of slander. So we get rid of all that stuff.

But we don’t just leave that area of our heart empty. No. We fill it with the Word of God. To grow in our faith we must have a desire for God’s Word like a baby desires milk.

We read the bible. We study His Word. We apply what we learn from Him to our life everyday. And we grow, from babes to mature men and women.

We eliminate sin, desire God’s Word and grow in our faith. We need to remember the life God has given to us, not just our earthly physical life, but out eternal spiritual life as well. We ask God to help us remove that sin in our life and give us the strength to resist the temptations of this world.

When we are saved we get a taste of God’s grace in realizing what Christ did for us on the cross. And we can come to Him as a living stone. When we come to Him, we come with the intention or desire of staying with Him.

We don’t come to Him just to help us through a certain situation and then once everything works out we go back to our old lifestyles. That is not the case at all. We come to Christ and desire to follow Him for the rest of our lives. We remain in His presence.

As we know Christ is to be the Cornerstone of our lives. When building a house you spend a lot of time on the foundation so the rest of your house will stand. Our Spiritual houses our built on Christ.

We are called living stones. We are so closely united with Christ that the characteristics of His life should be evident in our lives. We build our life on Him. Christians are little Christ’s. When people look at us and our lives they should see Christ.

Christ is the perfect model or example of a life to follow. He is perfect. He lived like us, yet without sin. Even though we will never reach perfection in our earthly life, we are to still strive toward that goal.

Then why does Scripture tell us that Christ can be a stumbling block and a rock of offense? How can this be? How can Christ cause someone to stumble?

Christ is the way to our salvation and eternal life. But when someone rejects Christ, then they are rejecting the Gospel and Christ will be a stumbling block to them. They will either trip over the rock or the rock will crush them. Either way they will be judged for their rejection of Christ.

Peter tells us that, as believers, God has given us a special role to play. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We are God’s own people so that we may tell others about His grace, His mercy, and His love.

We know that God chose the nation of Israel to be His chosen people during the Old Testament times. But they rejected Him so God chose us, followers of Jesus Christ to be His chosen people. We are to carry out His work in this world now.

We are a royal priesthood. Again Peter draws from the Old Testament priests. Only the priests were allowed into the Holy of Holies, which represented the presence of God. When Israel rejected their Messiah, they temporarily forfeited this privilege. I do believe they will get this privilege back again during the tribulation, however.

Today, the Church, the body of Christ is a royal priesthood. We all have access to the presence of God. We serve God and one day will rule with Christ.

God calls us His own. We are children of God. He hears our prayers. He cares for us. He watches over us. He calls us His own. We belong to Him and He wants us! We are the people of God.

God usually spreads His grace and mercy on everybody. The sun shines and the rain falls on believers and non-believers alike in this world. But we as believers have experienced His unique and saving mercy and grace at our salvation.

What a wonderful thought that is. And I think sometimes we forget about it or maybe even take it for granted. Maybe because many of us received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior so long ago.

Maybe we have lost some of that enthusiasm and commitment you had when you first became a follower of Christ. And I think part of that has to do with our society today. Everything seems so complicated. We are in such a rush.

There are so many demands placed upon us. We run out of time. We get tired. And usually it is God’s work that gets shoved aside. We need to rekindle that love, that enthusiasm, that commitment for Christ.

We need to spend time in God’s Word. We need to spend time in prayer. We need to eliminate or at least minimize the worldly distractions. We need to constantly evaluate our life from God’s perspective.

Ask yourself, Is what I am doing glorifying God? Is there something else that I can do that would glorify God more?

Look at your priorities and make sure your life is built on that Cornerstone.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we thank you for sending us Jesus Christ and making Him the Cornerstone of our lives. Help us to grow and pattern our life after His. We thank you for making us your special people.

Help us to carry out Your will here on earth. Strengthen us and guide us as we journey in our faith.

AMEN.