LIVING STONES (second: Standing in Similes). 1st Peter 2:5 Living stones are shaped and ready to be used in the creation of a great building God is making – the Church. These stones are different from natural rocks that don’t fit with others and must be held in place by mortar. As newborn babes, we have been given a new nature as children of God. Living stones are a simile referring to the position believers in Christ occupy. We share in Christ’s resurrection; “raised with Him to walk in newness of life.” He, the Living Stone, has been raised from the dead, and we have received our new life from Him. He is “the life-giving spirit” to whom we have come, and together we form a spiritual house.
The temple was built with stones that were cut and shaped at the quarry to fit together. The new temple, which is the body of Christ, the church, is composed of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who are being built together into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit. How greatly we should appreciate the place God has put us – in the temple where God dwells! The more we participate in God’s way and in the privileges of being in this temple, the greater the quality of the temple becomes.
The spiritual house is composed of all believers in Christ who make up the dispensational church that began on the Day of Pentecost and remains on earth until the Lord comes. It is contrasted with the physical temple, a beautiful, lifeless building made of perishable materials. The church is built of living stones. Both were the dwelling place of God on earth, but one was the shadow of the other, a visual reminder of the real, living, vital, functioning entity.
“A holy priesthood” is different from the Old Testament priesthood, which was limited to the tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron. Now, all who are born again into God’s family are a spiritual priesthood. Each one has the privilege of offering spiritual sacrifices to God. In this “holy priesthood,” sacrifices of praise, good works, possessions, service, and self are acceptable to God. Any sacrifices that reflect God’s holiness and are offered through our Great High Priest are acceptable to Him.
Look at that young lady; she has come alive! She was as hard as a rock, like a stone she did lie, without interest in God of any apparent kind. No evidence of life – seemed like she would never find Christ or salvation, but it has come to pass; she surrendered to God, accepting Christ at last. Now a living stone, she wants to please her Savior. She can offer spiritual sacrifices by doing good to a neighbor.
He was such a loner until God saved him by grace. He is back home now – not wandering from place to place. It seems he understands he is part of a spiritual house and finds that there are other people whom God Himself chose to be part of a “house,” a dwelling place for Him where believers come together and bring spiritual offerings. A spiritual sacrifice that is acceptable is our money and goods. God is exalted with needs met by those who sacrificed what they could.
There is something unique about being part of the family of God. Along with all the saints, a believer is a member of the holy priesthood. Spiritual sacrifices rise from all around the world when Christians offer the sacrifice of praise as a flag unfurled, and the world, lying in darkness and despair, hears the words of a hymn and wonders at such a priesthood so different from their own. The unbelievers can learn when we offer the sacrifice of praise. The holy priesthood of believers is an example of God’s grace.
"Spiritual sacrifices" offered by a "holy priesthood" are acceptable to God. The priesthood of all believers means that each one has direct access to God. Priests are to reflect the holiness of God and of our "Great High Priest." The spiritual sacrifices we have to offer are not insignificant when we are true worshippers. Priests also intercede for others before God and represent God before others.
We are to offer spiritual sacrifices, be intercessors, and represent God before other people. Some spiritual sacrifices we are to offer include money, material things, praise, thanksgiving, doing good, and obedience to God’s will. We offer them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Mediator. Even when we offer ourselves as living sacrifices by laying aside all we are and putting ourselves at His disposal, following Him, trusting Him, and being led and guided by Him, it becomes acceptable through Jesus Christ.
Our High Priest offers acceptable sacrifices of what we bring to Him as gifts and sacrifices on our behalf [Heb. 8:3]. There is the sacrifice of a consecrated body [Rom. 12:1], a willingness to do what is impossible for a natural man. Audible praise [Heb. 13:15] is a sacrifice when we deliberately take time to think praiseworthy thoughts about God. The sacrifice of temporal goods [Heb. 13:16] indicates that labor has been expended to meet others' needs. Gifts to the Lord's servants [Phil. 4:8] are sharing what we have for a specific purpose. The sacrifice of thanksgiving [Ps. 107:22] puts into words gratitude for the blessings we have received. The openness to let our emotions show produces the sacrifice of joy for God's mercies [Ps. 27:6]. The sacrifice of contrition [Ps. 51:7] produces genuine repentance. Righteous living before the Lord, refusing to compromise with what is wrong, is an acceptable sacrifice. The sacrifice of one's own self [2 Tim. 4:6] means that the pain of reproach, suffering, and perhaps death is involved. Better than any physical sacrifice is the sacrifice of obedience [1 Sam. 15:22], a direct response of love to our Father.
All believers are priests, and each has a unique role to fulfill according to the guidelines of God’s word. Some have been given one gift, while others have more than one or a combination of gifts. Not all gifts involve public speaking or public recognition, but all are needed in the life of an assembly of believers to maintain order and to function properly as a public testimony to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the needed gifts are supplied by God to edify, educate, and encourage the local fellowship of saints. Gifts are given for the benefit of others. Also, the Gospel testimony of an assembly needs a variety of spiritual gifts God gives to bear an effective public testimony to the men, women, and children around us.
SIMILIES. A pilgrim passing through this land is never sure just where he stands. Other folks who live around here have not been troubled about going there, where the pilgrim knows his home is in Heaven, because he has been born again – he is a “newborn babe!”
To tell some people that you are a stone that lives and breathes the air of home, where Jesus lives and the Father waits –Why, they would think you were too late; when sense was passed out, you were out to lunch. It is hard to explain the divine touch that made me a “living stone!”
To some, a priest is a man in black who walks about with his face so slack. They don’t know if he is here or there. But a royal priesthood represents and shares God’s blessings and His words of life. He passes on hope in times of strife because he is a “royal priest!”
Strangers and pilgrims have their faces set toward the home of the Savior they once met; when in sin’s dark hold, they found relief, and were blessed abundantly by saving grace. So now, on their way through this desert land, they move with a steady pace and staff in hand, because they are “strangers and pilgrims.”
On their journey, though, to the home above, they are called to serve the One they love. They serve their Master by serving men, providing for needs and helping when they can. The time they spend serving the Lord will, in the future, have a sure reward: They are “servants of God.”
Problems arise on this journey from those who don’t want the true Gospel. Some saints will suffer through all their years, and others less; yet each one bears the burdens of loss, pain, or grief. But the day is coming for sweet relief: For the “patient sufferers!”
We are not perfect; we will all need help. And shepherds over the Savior’s flock are there to bring back those who stray afar and recover them from where they are to where the Chief Shepherd keeps the soul safe – and where each one can fulfill his role, as a “recovered sheep!”