The First Letter of Peter- 7

Subtitle: A New Spiritual People- part 4

1 Peter 2:4-8. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, January 4, 2026.

We continue in this section where Peter admonishes us to be a part of the new spiritual people that Jesus is making.  He has been doing this through a series of imperatives (commands) that have other admonitions attached to them.

As we pick up today’s portion of Scripture, Peter moves into another section that is not couched in the language of command.

Let’s get into our passage.

You are being built into a spiritual house (v. 4-8)

Peter switches from the image of a baby growing up in the family and needing the milk of the word.  This image now is that of a stone building.  We could describe these as an organic image and an inorganic image.  However, notice that the stones in this section are described as living.  This is not just a dead building.  This is a living building made of living stones.  However, I don’t want to get ahead of myself here.

Though there is no explicit command, there is an implicit one.  If this is what God is doing, then we need to cooperate with Him and keep it in mind in all that we do.

One last thing before going into verse 4.  The imagery of a spiritual house is very rich in the Old Testament.  First, a house was a way of referring to a family.  The building itself draws its importance from its aid in the growth of a family.  In Ruth 4:11, Rachel and Leah are described as having built the “house of Israel.”  This is not about a literal house.  They gave birth to the sons of Israel who themselves are the house of Israel. 

In fact, Christians enter into and become a part of the House of Messiah Jesus, the family that he is making.  This is not a family that is birthed in the natural, thus it is called a “spiritual” house.  We are not born into the Family of God by our natural birth but by a spiritual birth when we put our faith in Jesus.  This is a real work of the Holy Spirit.

The second image of a house is by further extension a reference to a dynasty.  The house of David can refer to his family, but it can also refer to the successive generations of kings that descended from him.

Thirdly, the temple in Israel was called a house.  We see an interesting word play on these images in 2 Samuel 7.  There, David wants to build God a temple, a house.  Up until then, the sacrifices happened at the tent structure called the tabernacle.  The presence of God was there above the ark of the covenant.  God questions David.  “Do you want to build me a house?  When did I ask you to do that?”  God then goes on to tell David that He would make David a house (a dynasty) and that one of His sons (Seed) would build Him a house (temple) for His Name.  Furthermore, God would establish the throne of this Son’s house forever.  Clearly, Solomon was not the fulfillment of this prophecy.  Instead, Solomon gives us a glimpse that falls short of one who would come and be the Greater Solomon (or the One Greater than Solomon).

Peter is picking up on this prophecy and its imagery.  Jesus was and is now building a spiritual temple out of God’s spiritual people.  We are individually and corporately a place where His Presence dwells.

Because every house, family, grows through the offspring (the Seed), we can also see the connection to the many prophecies of the Seed of the Woman who would crush the serpent’s head, the Seed of Abraham who would bless the nations, the Seed of David who would build a temple for God and rule forever, etc.

A Jewish person in the first century who heard these things would be troubled.  How could Messiah build a spiritual temple and let the natural temple Jerusalem be destroyed? 

Now, let’s look at our passage.  Peter describes believers as “coming” to Jesus as to a Living Stone.  So, before we even get to the building of this spiritual house, we see that Jesus is a Living Stone.  This is the merging of the two images surrounding a house, that of the Son of the Father and yet a foundational Stone to God’s spiritual temple.  Jesus is a spiritual stone that is not just alive, but full of the Life of God.  God’s source of life is within this Living Stone.

Peter then details that this Living Stone was rejected by men.  Of course, he is thinking of the rulers and elders of Israel as a group (some of them did believe) and also the larger group of society that followed them, though some did believe.  Jesus was essentially rejected by Israel as a nation. 

Peter then reminds them of how God saw that Living Stone.  God does not reject him. Rather, to God this Living Stone (Jesus) is choice and precious in His sight!  The idea that Jesus is choice is the idea of chosen by God.  He is what God has chosen.  The fact that he is precious refers to how much God valued him.  He is highly valued by God.

This is reminiscent of Psalm 2. There we have the rulers and nations of the earth complaining that they will not have God’s Messiah ruling over them.  However, God laughs.  “I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.”  He is not going to change His mind.  He has chosen this One.  This One is highly valued by Him.

So, we are coming to this Chosen, Highly Valued Stone (Messiah), which makes us living stones as well.  Of course, we are not a living stone in the same way that Jesus is.  It is his life flowing into and through us.  It is His Life taking up residence within us.  Like the branches connected to the vine in John 15, we need to be connected to Him in order to live and have life.

Verse 5 then speaks of the fact that we are being built into a spiritual house as living stones who are in connection to The Living Stone.  This “coming to” and “being built up as” is harkening back to when Solomon’s temple was built or when the 2^nd Temple was built.  Stones would be brought to the master builder on the temple mount and placed in the appropriate place.  Of course, Jesus as a Master Builder places us among his family who are both individually and corporately a spiritual temple of God.  This is what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 3:16. Don’t you know that you are the temple of God?

So, what is great about the temple?  It is not how great the stones are.  Rather, it is great because this is the place that God has chosen to place His Presence.  The Presence of God is there!  Why is His Presence there?  He is there to shine the light of God to the ends of the earth!

In keeping with us being a spiritual house (temple of God) we are also a holy priesthood offering up spiritual sacrifices to God that are holy and acceptable to Him.  Our sacrifices are no longer sheep and calves, but rather, they are the sacrifice of praise to Jesus.  They are the sacrifice of the desires of our flesh and the pride of life for the sake of God’s purposes.  They are the sacrifice of enduring persecution and mockery for His Name’s sake.  It is ultimately a whole life worship in sacrificing our whole life for the sake of His purpose.

What makes us holy and acceptable to God?  It is clearly not our perfection.  Rather, it is the perfection of Jesus and our faith in him that makes us acceptable.  Our service to the world as priests of God’s Messiah, Jesus, is not always accepted by man, but it is choice and precious in the eyes of God because it is done by faith in His Choice and Precious Living Stone.

In verse 6, Peter turns to make a case from Scripture for this.  He is not just making this up.  It is what the Scriptures foretold.  It was God’s plan all along to make a new spiritual people serving as His spiritual temple on earth out of the Jews and Gentiles becoming one people by faith in the One Living Stone.

He first quotes Isaiah 28:16. In that passage, God is rebuking the leaders of Judah.  Verse 14 says, “Hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem!”  He goes on to declare that He is going to lay down, i.e., establish or set in place, a tested and precious cornerstone in Zion.  Those who believe on this cornerstone will not be put to shame.  I know that the KJV uses the phrase “shall not make haste.”  The idea is that they will not be put to flight (shame) by enemies or by judgment from God.

The leaders were refusing to trust in God’s ways, so He would send a foundation cornerstone.  This sets up a situation in which everyone will need to choose.  Will I believe on this stone or not?  It doesn’t matter what man says or does.  What matters is what God says and does.  He will always have the final word.

Then, in verse 7, Peter stops to comment.  This stone is not just precious to God.  He is precious to us who believe in him.  The Messiah Stone has been given by the Father to His people.  Of course, when you give a precious gift, you hope for the recipients to understand and to treat it with the proper value it deserves.

This would not have been a surprise to any of the Jews.  What was a surprise is that there would be some who do not believe, who do not see it as choice and precious.

In verse 7b, Peter quotes from Psalm 118:22. This prophesied cornerstone shows up again.  We are told there that the builders would reject a stone, but that it would become the Cornerstone.  That is, they would be overruled by the Master Builder Himself, God the Father.  The builders would refuse to set, to install, Him in His proper place, but God would do it.

Peter then quotes from another passage, Isaiah 8:14. It starts by stating that Messiah will become a sanctuary, which is connected to the Temple.  However, to both houses of Israel, he would be a stone of stumbling and a stone of falling away.  Peter stops there, but let me take us further.

“14 Then He shall become a sanctuary; but to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, and a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  15 “Many will stumble over them, then they will fall and be broken; they will even be snared and caught.”

This is what Simeon was referencing when he described the baby Jesus in the temple.  “This Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against.” (Luke 2:34).

The warning is given by the prophet Isaiah so that people would believe and be ready.   Simeon and Anna were of those who believed the Word of God and were ready when Messiah appeared.  Jesus said, “Blessed are those who do not fall away because of me.”  He spoke this to the disciples of John the Baptist.

This brings us to our last point.

Peter explains in verse 8 that they stumble at Jesus the Messiah Stone because they are disobedient to the Word.  God warned them, told them in advance.  They have no excuse.  We shouldn’t blame God when we fail the tests that He told us we would have.

When it says that they were appointed to this stumbling, we should not read this as if they had no choice.  It is not as if they wanted to serve Messiah, but God wouldn’t let them.  Rather, they are appointed to stumble because they refuse to listen to the teaching of God.  We can choose to reject God’s Word, but we do not get to choose where that takes us.  Of course, one who stumbles can recognize their error and get back on track.  Saul of Tarsus is one such person.  But if we refuse to acknowledge our error, then the Stone of Stumbling becomes a Stone of Falling Away.

Ask yourself this.  Is Jesus no longer a Stone of Stumbling?  As Christians, we can fool ourselves into thinking that this was only for the Jews.  Yet, Hosea 14:9 is still true today.  “The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.  It is not enough to be in the right group, saying the right things, and headed in the right direction.  The Word of the Lord is given as a litmus test.  Do you trust Him, or do you trust yourself more?  The Pharisees would have said that they were embracing God’s Word and doing it.  Yet, those same Scriptures were given to prepare them for Messiah.  We cannot co-opt God’s word for our purposes and think that He will be okay with that.  Our challenge is not to do the same thing as the Pharisees.  Our challenge is to believe the Word of God and respond to the goading of the Holy Spirit with faith.  Otherwise, we will just be another group exalting the traditions of our fathers over the top of God’s Word.

New Spiritual People 4 audio

Our Great Joy in Jesus

1 Peter 1:3-9.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 09, 2017.

Today we will spend some time in a passage that focuses on the joy that we have as believers in Jesus Christ.  It is easy to let the things of the world around us drag our hearts down into a dreary drudgery.  We see individuals rejecting the gospel and plunging down the “wide way,” and we see the nations of the world rejecting the ways of God and pursuing their own ways.  In the midst of this is the onslaught of both individual and political evils that continue to tear the world apart and create massive suffering.  So I want us not to forget about the world’s plight, and yet not to be infected by a spirit of hopelessness.  The follower of Jesus has nothing to hang their head over.  We are never defeated or losers.  We are the true overcomers as we keep our eyes upon Jesus and the mission that He gave us.

We Give Thanks to God

In verses 3-5, Peter starts out by thanking God for His blessings and yet he is also reminding the believers of the blessings that they have.  And so, we do have much to be thankful for, and it all finds its source in God the Father.  He is the architect of creation, and the giver of life and all its wonderful aspects.  Am I thankful?  And, do I take time to thank God?  We should wake every morning and recount the amazing blessings with which God has surrounded us.  He has been good to us and grateful thanks should be the foundation of our daily life.

In fact Peter uses the phrase, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  It could also be translated as “Praise the God…”  Our praise is the proper acknowledgment that is actually due to God.  All creation should praise Him, but not all of creation does.  Of course giving God His due praise speaks to those who are not doing so.  But to us who do praise Him, it should not be about duty and obligation.  It should be about gratefulness and thanks.  Our thanks and praise rises up to God in the midst of a world that takes God’s goodness for granted, and a spiritual realm that has a rebellion against Him.  The devil and his angels believe that they can do better than God and are ungrateful for His decisions.    We are those who have rebelled against the rebellion, and have put our faith in Jesus.  We are not under the shadow of judgment, but can see and recognize the goodness of God.  Because of this, we are the recipients of the greater treasures that God is in the middle of giving to those who trust Him.

Peter particularly points out the “abundant mercy” of God.  He is not obligated by justice to give us mercy.  However, He is kind, loving, and merciful.  Salvation always begins with the mercy of God and we must never forget that.  His holiness and justice would come against our lives and bring us to account and to punishment.  But in His mercy, God makes a way for us to be saved from punishment.  He holds out the offer of eternal life to those who will trust Him.  So what are some of these mercies?  Peter lists some for us.

He uses the phrase, “He has begotten us again.”  This is very similar to the phrase used by Jesus in John 3:3, “You must be born again.”  We are all born physically and because of the will of two humans.  Yet, we are not spiritually alive.  Thus all humans are in need of being “born again,” but not physically.  This second birth is a spiritual birth and is because of the will of God, not man.  Even though we are alive to the world around us, we are spiritually unable to recognize and interact with the God who created us.  If we were to use the analogy of a still birth, we can think of it like this.  Though a still born physically exists, they cannot interact with the physical world around them.  Similarly, though we do have an inner spirit, it is still born towards the Holy Spirit of God.  It will never be able to sense and interact with God unless a spiritual miracle occurs. The analogy is not perfect, but it does help to see what the Bible is saying.  This is called being born again.  So to compare the two births we have this.  Physical birth is the first birth, caused by humans, in which we are able to interact with the physical world.  Being born again is Spiritual birth, a second birth, caused by God, in which we are able to interact with the Spirit of God.  What a blessing and mercy this is.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  In John 1:12-13 we are told that such a birth makes us the children of God.  “But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

So why has God made us spiritually alive?  Peter says it is for the purpose of receiving a “living hope.”  Regardless of what our lot is in life because of our physical birth, our spiritual birth leaves all of that in the dust.  All that we might hope for in this life will one day be taken away from us.  Thus it is a hope, but a dying one.  Our spiritual birth gives us hope of things that cannot be taken away, even in physical death.  If a person is born into royalty or a family of great power, that is nothing compared to being born again in Jesus.  Even, if I have been born into squalor and have little hope in the things of this world, in Christ I have a living hope that is so much greater than anything this world can offer.  Peter further describes this living hope.  It is a living hope because of “the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  It is living because it is based upon the living Jesus.  He is alive and can no longer die.  Similarly because our hope is in Him, even if we die physically our hope cannot die because it is in one who cannot die again.  Even more than this, we believers in Jesus are promised a day of Resurrection in which we will fully join Christ in that state of eternal life through a body that cannot die and a spirit that dwells in the presence of God every second.  Thus even our physical death because an entering into the presence of the Lord of Life.  What a living hope we have in Jesus!

Peter also describes this living hope as “incorruptible,” and “reserved in heaven” for us (vs. 4).  It is called an inheritance because there is a future aspect to what God is giving us.  Yes, I have eternal life already, but I have not received all that eternal life has to offer, yet.  Thus he uses the word “hope.”  We are already experiencing some of His promises now and thus the hope that is future is already “living” within us and blessing us.  Peter uses several words to show that this hope is secure for the ages.  It is incorruptible, and will not decay or go bad.  There is no expiration date on the promises of God.  It is also “undefiled.”  It is a hope that is untainted by the sin and rebellion of this world.  No matter how much the rebels of this world hope in a Utopia, it is a defiled hope.  They will continually slam up against the reality that the hope is tainted by the sin of mankind and the fallen angels.  Lastly, Peter says that it doesn’t “fade away.”  It is a hope that will not lose its luster and beauty.  This world fades and dims, but our hope does not.  It is reserved in heaven for us.  Thus it is safe in God’s hands, and guarded by none other than God Himself.  If God be for us who can be against us?  On this earth our inheritance and blessings are always in danger of others who may want to steal it, but the inheritance of God cannot be touched by any, not even the devil himself.

However, God does more than just guard our inheritance.  In verse 5 it says that we ourselves are guarded by the power of God.  The same God who guards our inheritance is also insuring that we can make it to that inheritance.  The word “kept” in verse 5 is similar to the word “reserved” in verse 4.  They both have the sense of guarding something.  However, the word in verse 5 adds the sense of a military guard.  It has a higher sense of protection to it.  Thus God stations His forces around us, to ensure that we make it to the day of inheritance, which is the completion of our salvation (notice the future sense of salvation in this verse- more on that later).  The only thing that can derail it is our own faith.  Satan cannot win by destroying us physically, financially, or emotionally.  But, he uses those things to try and destroy our trust in God.  Now, God doesn’t just put a carrot in front of us.  He also protects us along our way to make sure that we will be able to dine upon it.  All of this is “through faith,” our faith in Him.  This living hope and inheritance from God cannot be earned or purchased by the power of this world.  It can only be the gift of God to those who trust Him.

Our Thanks Endure Even Our Various Trials

In verses 6-9, Peter acknowledges that Christians go through difficult things, even though they have much to be joyful.  It is easy to be so focused on making people look happy that we can forget that there is a time to cry, and a time to mourn.  We must deal with the difficult things of life, not by shutting them down, but by overcoming them.  They devil is trying to disqualify us through those trials and tests of life.  But God allows them for the purpose of proving that we qualify and ultimately making us stronger.

So let’s look first at how the trials of life can grieve us for a little while.  Do not make light of the emotional side of trials.  They are difficult and tend to weigh us down with an internal heaviness.  God does not call us to be unfeeling automatons, or robots.  As we grieve and yet remind ourselves of the goodness of God, our faith in God can be deepened.  We can also understand the depths of God’s love towards us.  Trials also help us to see the depths to which our enemy will stoop in order to try and disqualify us.  If we shed tears in this life, then we can shed them knowing that God sees them and will keep a record of them.  He will right every wrong and then bring us to a place where we will cry no more and have pain no more.  And, on that day, He will reward us for those tears and pains of this life that we endured while hanging on to the promise of eternal life, our living hope.  The enemy, however, wants to drown us in our sorrows and difficulties.  He wants us to blame God for our pains, so that we will lose faith in God and walk away from our inheritance.

Peter reminds us in verse 7 that these tests prove our faith.  Have I really trusted in God?  If God stepped in and removed every difficult thing in our life then we would never truly know if our faith is founded on solid ground.  In a sense many people say, “God I trust you, if You keep everything from hurting me.”  This is not trust.  Yet, Job said, “Even if God slay me, yet I will trust Him!”  Some follow Jesus because of what they obtain in this life: people who care for you, and love you, among other comforts of life.  But what about when I lose all of those things?  Like John the Baptist sitting in prison about to lose his head, we can begin to question and waver in our faith in Jesus.  Thus the picture of trials being a refining fire is used by Peter.  The trials are called various because there are innumerable ways to be tried in this life.  Some are seductive, with hidden motives, and we can enjoy their presence to some degree.  Others are brutish, with the obvious motive to overwhelm and destroy us.  Typically we do not enjoy these.  But our faith, Peter says, is more precious than gold.  We are tempted by things that are really not as precious as we think.  The truth about our faith will be made clear at the “revelation of Jesus,” which is His Second Coming.  This will be our glory and honor in the day that He returns: we world will see that we belong to Him.

In verse 8 He commends them for their faith and love for Jesus.  They are keeping their eyes on Jesus even in the face of trials.  Peter had seen Jesus with his own eyes.  But then Jesus was taken into heaven and now Peter no longer can see Jesus.  He must use the eyes of faith, trust.  Even harder it is for those who had never seen Jesus in the flesh.  They are taking the witness of Peter, and the Holy Spirit.  They have come to love this Jesus that they have learned about.  They are not about to be scammed out of the inheritance they have in Jesus.  So also, keeping our eyes upon Jesus, we await that day when He will split the clouds and return to earth.  Even if I die, I do so keeping my trust upon the one who said, “He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.”  Our love for Jesus is birthed in the love that He had for us.  He died in my place even while I was still a rebel against Him.  He did so to make an inheritance for me with Him.  He paid the price that I might sit with Him at the Father’s table.  He purchased us back from the place of slavery to which we had sold ourselves.  And, He does this to make us His beloved ones.  In the words of Paul, “[love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails. 

So this love that Jesus has for us and that we have for Him fills us with a joy that is inexpressible and full of glory.  In the face of our own death, His death and resurrection assures us that He loves us and will keep His word.  The daily joy that we have as a Christian should never be based upon the earthly joys and comforts that we have.  Yes, we should be thankful for any such things that we experience.  But they must never be the foundation of our joy.  The foundation of our joy is the relationship of love that Jesus has given to us.  As the old song says, “I’ve got something the world can’t give, and the world can’t take it away!”  It is called inexpressible or unspeakable because it goes beyond the ability of words to fully express.  Not that we don’t express our thanks, but that they too fall short.  “O, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemers praise, the glories of our God and King, the triumphs of His grace.”  So we continue to describe to people that which can never be fully expressed.  Such is the joy of the believer.  It is also described as “full of glory” because it is given by God Himself.  Glory is often described as brilliant light in the spirit realm (within Scripture).    God has given us Himself and the glorious shining of God sits at the center of our heart and life like a blazing sun.  Thus our joy and faith in Him, which is set on fire by the blazing glory of God, cannot be extinguished by the devil. 

In the midst of such glorious joy, Peter says we are receiving the salvation of our souls.  In fact this is part of the joy.  I may endure a difficult trial, but it is part of me receiving something much better.  Verse 5 speaks of our salvation in the future, but verse 9 speaks of it as a present thing.  That is because we are in the process of receiving a salvation that will one day be completed at the second coming of Christ.  Thus we can look back to the day that we began receiving salvation, we can look around at our current salvation, and we can look forward to its completion at the Second Coming of Christ!  Amen!

Our Great Joy audio