1 Peter 2:1-10. Unity and Mission
Last week we spoke about how the Holy Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, opens up wide the lives of we disciples. We believe in one God, they are fully unified.
This week we look at what might happen in the life of the church if we were unified in the same way that God is unified.
To do this we need to get close to the fire. When we are cold, we move close to the fire and say, ‘we are warming ourselves by the fire.’ We are actually not doing anything of the sort; we can’t warm ourselves at all. It is the fire that we have drawn close to that warms us.
So today’s reading from 1 Peter is pretty much about the nature of the church, the people of God. Its unity, and its set apart-ness, which is what the word ‘holy’ means. He begins though, by making some comments to us as individuals.
He writes “Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.” In the light of the fact that God has already made us a group Holy and unified, what is he specifically referring to I wonder?
All of these flaws in our character Peter is drawing on here are ones of nursing grudges against a particular person or against society as a whole. They come about because we do not see ourselves as unified or as part of a common group separate but in-the-world, but as a pure individual separate from the rest of the church.
Being set apart means being different and separate, but we can live this separateness in one of two ways I believe.
Unfortunately, one way that some Christians live out this separateness is by becoming morally superior and see non-Christians as evil and destined for hell. This truly grieves our Lord, I believe. It is simply untrue, God loves these people as much as he loves you.
Peter is saying ‘rid yourself’ of all of these things. He does not give any other option than to repent of them. To turn away from them.
Another way to live out this life of being set apart for God, is to get closer to the all-consuming fire and be warm toward others; without judging or condemning. To be always motivated by an unremitting love, compassion, and understanding towards those who differ from us.
This is the hallmark of spiritual growth which is what Peter means when he writes of craving pure spiritual milk. The pure spiritual milk that causes us to grow is the grace and mercy that flow from Christ to us. We can’t warm ourselves! All of us are what we are purely by the Grace of Jesus Christ and what he achieved on the cross. As Paul writes, ‘If I boast, I boast of Christ.’
So it is from this humble acknowledgement that Peter now begins to talk about us in the plural, as a community of believers, the church.
So as a community we come to the living stone, the rock of ages, on this basis alone, and we ourselves become living stones that “let ourselves be built into a spiritual house.” A solid stone house filled with many living stones.
We are many stones, but one house. We are one, but we’re not the same, we carry the weight of all the other stones.
Notice Peter says, “let yourselves be built.” In other words we don’t try to build ourselves, but we let ourselves be built by God. A stone can no more build itself into a house than I can warm myself.
And what is this house that all of us allow ourselves to be built into? Nothing less than a Holy Priesthood!
Some groups have interpreted this to mean that we are all priests and so there is no need for churches to have a priest or pastor or minister. We are all equal, aren’t we? Well, yes, we are all equal, I am no more worthy than anyone else just because I wear a dog collar. But that is not what Peter means here. We are not all called to be priests or pastors any more than we are all called to be nurses or teachers.
What Peter means is that corporately, as the church, we as a unified body have a priestly role. But what does that mean in practice?
The root of the word ‘priest’ comes from the Latin word meaning ‘bridge-builder.’ The priest is a bridge: we forge a bridge for God to come to the people and for people to come to God. So in this sense our parish here has a priestly role. We are the bridge between God and the communities in which we live.
Peter tells us how to do this in v.5: by “offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus.” But again we are forced to ask, ‘what does this mean?’
I think firstly we as a unified body must keep ourselves close to the all-consuming fire of God. By doing this we become equipped through the Holy Spirit to be this bridge. God uses circumcised hearts, not ritual observance, to bring about his perfect will for all people.
Meeting together is really importance. Our worship of God is the storehouse where we get our spiritual food from. When we meet together in Church on a Sunday to worship, we then become the bridge for our communities into the very throne room of God.
But all that has a purpose, and that is so we are empowered and equipped to love and serve our neighbours. In both the OT and the NT, spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God are to look after those who can’t look after themselves.
There are as many ways to do this as there are stones in the stone building. We, as a Holy people or Priesthood, as the bridge to and from the true and living God, give this life to the communities in which we live in whatever way we can. The Holy Spirit will put people in our lives that God would have us help. It’s as simple as that.
Never think that you can’t make a difference. I’ve said this before, but the biggest socio-psychological problems in western nations can be boiled down to people feeling that they have never been listened to. Ever. In their whole life. They feel misunderstood. If that is correct; there is a great place to start. Let me pray …