The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People

• The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People
• 2 Peter 2:4-10
• V 4. (Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.)
• Jesus is the foundation upon which our relationship with God is built, to come to God in any other way is to trust your eternal life on a foundation that shall crumble when faced with the reality of who Jesus is. He is a living stone that embraces us when we place our faith in Him. A foundation is not the end of a building but a beginning, so that when we receive salvation through Christ, we go on to build a life centered on Christ that interacts with God, through Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Rejected by men, is a reference to Israel’s rejection of Him as the Messiah, which is a direct reference to a quote from Psalm 118:22: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.” Any church which is built upon any other foundation is built upon a shaky foundation that shall crumble under the reality of who Jesus is.
• Jesus is God’s choice to be savior of the world, chosen as the founder of the church and the foundation on which it rests. Chosen by God before the foundation of the world was laid. We know that Jesus is precious in the sight of God, “This is my beloved Son,” Matt. 3:17, those who choose Christ as their redeemer as just as precious.
• V 5. (you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.)
• To think that stones can live is something I am sure none of us think is possible, yet too many think that the church is a physical building, and all their resources go to the upkeep of the building, this is all and good, but it can and does get taken to an extreme. Christ is the foundation of the church a living cornerstone upon which the spiritual house is built upon. This spiritual house is the holy family of God, built upon the living Christ. As each stone of a building rests upon the foundation, and in turn relies upon the stone laid before it, held together with mortar, so does the church of Christ, rest in the salvation received in Christ, built upon the saints that came before us, and cemented together by the word of God. Christ is not only the foundation upon which this church rests, but He is its life blood, flowing through the spiritual building causing us not to act alone, but as one grand temple in which God is worshiped and He manifest Himself, as He did in the temple in Jerusalem. The metaphor is a direct link to the temple and its worship, and the temple an illustration of the spiritual church to come.
• So every stone, or son and daughter, is a spiritual sacrificer, or priest, offering up praise and thanksgiving through Christ, who being the spotless one, and only mediator between God and the church holy and acceptable to God. Therefore such sacrifices, being offered up in the name, and the merit of His Son, are all acceptable in His sight.
• V. 6 (Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” )
• Jesus was called a chief cornerstone because this is the stone that was laid at an angle where it becomes both the foundation of a side and an end wall. The scripture is saying that Jesus was the foundation of the faith of the Old Testament saints, as well as the gentiles. This cornerstone adorns the building, as well as supports it, for Christ lives in the church as one to draw others to it, and as its chief instrument to adding to it. Peter returns to the same thought that he stressed in verse four, when he talks of Jesus’ election, remember that Jesus was God’s choice as savior. All that come to God through Christ will be accepted, for how can God who has chosen Jesus as a savior, refuse any who come to Him through the precious blood of Christ.
• Some translation use confounded instead of put to shame, I feel this is a better translation. There are three things that confound man and put him to shame; disappointment, sin, and judgment. All these will cause us to stumble in our walk, but faith overcomes them all. Granted it is hard to understand while you are going through times when you struggle in your walk and as this time drags on, but faith in Christ overcomes it. We may even be put to shame in the eyes of man, as we suffer man’s judgment, but God who is faithful to forgive us, encourages us in that same faith. “But God”, are two words that should encourage us in our walk, as we struggle in the disappointments of life, but God is there to left us up, as we struggle in sin, but God is there as a light to lead us out of that sin, as we struggle with the judgment of man, but God accepts us and welcomes us into His home.
• V.7, 8 (Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” and “”A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. )
• It is funny that we carry around pictures of children and are so quick to tell others, with great pride of their accomplishments, but yet we keep Christ tightly tucked away in the corner of ourselves that we call private. Our faith is far from private, what Jesus has done for us, is to be shared with all, in our testimonies, and witness. He has saved you from eternity separated from the Father, and yet we keep it to ourselves. It is funny as I began to share my faith with others on the dock at work, how many other Christians I worked beside that I would have never known about. I meet many people who I feel are different in their mannerisms, and I have to wonder what makes them different? As we begin to share our faith and our love for Christ, we realize we share a common bond that our lives are built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. He has become not only the author and finisher of our faith but the center of our faith, our joy and our hope. Jesus is a precious stone that we do not wear on our finger, or around our neck, yet He should shine in each of us that others will see the difference in us.
• A stone has another quality that we all have found out as we pick ourselves up and examine the cuts on our knees; it is a point of stumbling. Stumbling, falling, and being broken is the consequence of disobedience or unbelief. Because of God’s love for us He allows us to stumble and fall in order that we can be picked up. It is God who reaches out to us in our hurting and brokenness, to lift us onto the rock of Jesus Christ that He may become the foundation of our lives. 1 Corinthians 1:23 says; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.
• The Jews were looking for a great ruler in their Messiah who would rid them of Roman oppression, and when Christ came meek, lowly, and impoverished; not seeking worldly glory they were offended at Him. The rest of the world saw it as foolishness that Christians would place their hope in the hands of a man crucified.
• Those appointed to stumble, were not decreed to disobey, that they might stumble, fall and be broken. They stumble and fall through their unbelief and thus their unbelief and fall were of themselves, so out of the consequence of this were appointed to be broken; this is God’s work of judgment. Man can not be lifted up unless he first realizes he has fallen.
• V.9,10 (But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who were once not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.)
• We were a lost people, lost in sin, and lost to God. Again, but God because of His mercy and grace has chosen us from sin and placed us upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, and because of this relationship we grow in faith and have become a holy nation, and God’s own. We did not become chosen and become the elect of God, until we obtained mercy, so those who walk without mercy, are one commitment away from an eternity with or without God, Jesus will become either a stumbling block to them or a firm foundation. We as a royal priesthood must reach this world for Christ, and be there to encourage all to come to the cross.