Who are You Made to be in Christ?
1 Peter, Day 9
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- 1 Peter 2:4-10, ESV
"Who do you think you are, anyway?"
You might hear these words from someone if they think you're being a bit too opinionated or pushy with your point-of-view. But this is a good question for us think about. Who do we think we are? The standard Christian answer to this question is usually, "I'm a sinner." That may sound humble and biblical, but it's a very limited and distorted understanding of who we are in Christ, and it actually threatens to undermine our faith in the power of the Gospel.
When we began looking at 1 Peter, we saw that we are "elect exiles," chosen by God and not at home in this world. Here in 1 Peter 2, Peter unpacks our identity in Christ more richly. He combines several different central images from the Old Testament to weave a powerful portrait of Christ and His people.
The image begins with the Temple, the centrally important place of worship for God's people for hundreds of years before Peter wrote this epistle. Jesus is the living stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious. Quoting from Psalm 118, Peter says Christ is “The stone that the builders rejected, [which] has become the cornerstone,”
So, even as Christ was rejected by the Jewish religious leaders (the builders) and was nailed to a cross by the Romans, He was - on that same cross - being made by God into the chief cornerstone of a new, living Temple. Jesus' death and resurrection, which won salvation for all of God's people, made Him the foundation stone of a new place where God is glorified - a living Temple we call "the church."
As we come to Christ by faith, we are made into living stones - just like He is - that form the new, living Temple of God. We are joined to Christ and to one another as a new place for the display of God's glory. So, you are more than a sinner; you are a living stone in the new Temple of God.
Yet Peter says even more: Not only are we living stones, but we are also "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession." We are chosen by God, made heirs of God and priests, who together form a new holy nation, the people for God's own possession.
What is God's purpose for us in this new identity? It is "that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light."
If you believe in Jesus Christ, you are so much more than just a sinner. You have been called from the darkness of sin into the marvelous light of God's love and favor. You have been called to proclaim His excellencies, to worship Him as a priest, to glorify Him as a living Temple stone. That's a pretty amazing identity and a glorious purpose - so let's live it!
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