The Story: We can’t fulfill our callings in Christ if we insist on dragging with us the baggage of the world. And we can’t fulfill those callings apart from the spiritual nourishment of the Word of God. Peter says we need to keep our perspective straight. When we came to Christ we came to One Whom the world rejected because He was not like them. The world hated Christ, but God finds Him chosen and precious. How can we continue to want to be like them and insist we are one with Him? Would we rather be chosen and precious to our worldly neighbors or our sovereign Father? Life in the world is building on sand; no sure and lasting foundation supports the various worldviews of the unbelieving world. Jesus, on the other hand, is a Living Stone, a sure Foundation and Cornerstone. We should expect, since the world rejected Him, that we, being built together on that Stone, will grow into an edifice that the world will likewise reject, at least, to some extent. So why are we surprised when “fiery trials” erupt around and against us (4.12)? But since each believer is a living stone in the new temple the Lord is making of His Church, we should seek to make the fullest possible contribution, so that this new temple, all its varied stones held together in the Spirit (Eph. 2.19-22), can give the sacrifices of thanks, praise, worship, time, and treasure that God can use, through Jesus Christ, to advance His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

The Structure: In short, Peter is saying, if we’re spending all our time fretting and fussing about unbelievers not liking us, or seeking to do us ill; and if that situation is causing us to “downplay” our identify in Jesus a bit and to “up-play” our identify with our worldly neighbors; if that’s the case, then our lives are out of focus. This is not how grace operates in the redeemed. New focus – the temple of the Lord. New foundation – the living Christ. New objectives in life – contribute to the work of the Lord. New driving force – all things to the glory of God! “If”, that is, we’ve tasted of the grace of the Lord.

How much of this newness is evident in your life today?

Each week’s studies in our Scriptorium column are available in a free PDF form, suitable for personal or group use. For this week’s study, “The Power of Grace: 1 Peter 2.1-12,” simply click here.

T. M. Moore

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.