1 00:00:00,350 --> 00:00:04,404 This is a reading from first Peter 2:4- 2 00:00:04,437 --> 00:00:07,440 12. 3 00:00:14,397 --> 00:00:16,082 As you come to him 4 00:00:16,082 --> 00:00:18,752 a living stone, rejected by men, 5 00:00:18,752 --> 00:00:22,105 but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 6 00:00:22,639 --> 00:00:27,827 you yourself, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house. 7 00:00:28,161 --> 00:00:32,365 To be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices 8 00:00:32,365 --> 00:00:35,368 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 9 00:00:36,052 --> 00:00:38,455 For it stands in Scripture. 10 00:00:38,455 --> 00:00:41,941 Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, 11 00:00:41,941 --> 00:00:45,145 a cornerstone chosen and precious. 12 00:00:45,445 --> 00:00:48,982 And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. 13 00:00:49,999 --> 00:00:54,721 So the honors for you who believe, but for those who do not believe. 14 00:00:55,255 --> 00:00:59,576 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 15 00:01:00,510 --> 00:01:02,612 And a stone of stumbling 16 00:01:02,612 --> 00:01:05,598 and a rock of offense. 17 00:01:05,815 --> 00:01:08,368 They stumble because they disobeyed 18 00:01:08,368 --> 00:01:11,121 the word as they were destined to do. 19 00:01:11,121 --> 00:01:14,457 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, 20 00:01:15,024 --> 00:01:17,510 a holy nation, a people 21 00:01:17,510 --> 00:01:21,297 for his own possession, that you may proclaim 22 00:01:21,381 --> 00:01:24,317 the excellencies of him who called you 23 00:01:24,317 --> 00:01:27,320 out of darkness into his marvelous light. 24 00:01:28,021 --> 00:01:32,092 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. 25 00:01:32,609 --> 00:01:37,197 Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 26 00:01:37,730 --> 00:01:41,551 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, 27 00:01:41,551 --> 00:01:47,307 to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. 28 00:01:48,091 --> 00:01:51,411 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, 29 00:01:51,744 --> 00:01:55,431 so that when they speak against you as evildoers, 30 00:01:55,849 --> 00:02:01,187 they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 31 00:02:04,891 --> 00:02:06,993 Hey, everybody, good morning and welcome 32 00:02:06,993 --> 00:02:10,647 to CCC, really, really glad that you're here. 33 00:02:11,214 --> 00:02:12,899 Thanks for coming. 34 00:02:12,899 --> 00:02:15,685 This is our fourth week of our ten week series. 35 00:02:15,685 --> 00:02:18,421 We are calling Rise Up. 36 00:02:18,421 --> 00:02:21,407 We're spending ten weeks in the book of first Peter. 37 00:02:22,225 --> 00:02:25,578 And first Peter was written to a group of Christians 38 00:02:25,578 --> 00:02:31,467 who are living in a culture that was antagonistic toward Christianity. 39 00:02:32,218 --> 00:02:36,022 It was a culture that was hostile toward Christianity. 40 00:02:36,923 --> 00:02:41,244 And what's wild is that this group of Christians in the first century 41 00:02:41,244 --> 00:02:46,649 ended up changing the culture around them, and it was amazing. 42 00:02:46,883 --> 00:02:48,501 It was breathtaking. 43 00:02:48,501 --> 00:02:51,504 And they did it with no political power. 44 00:02:52,138 --> 00:02:55,275 They did it with no economic influence. 45 00:02:55,291 --> 00:02:57,560 And of course, the question then is how? 46 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:01,764 Because a lot of us would love for our culture to be different. 47 00:03:02,182 --> 00:03:05,552 And it's frustrating because it seems like our culture is 48 00:03:05,552 --> 00:03:08,605 going from bad to worse, 49 00:03:09,622 --> 00:03:10,790 and we don't know what to do. 50 00:03:10,790 --> 00:03:14,277 That's why we're spending ten weeks in first Peter, 51 00:03:15,411 --> 00:03:19,916 because this group of early Christians, within about three generations 52 00:03:19,916 --> 00:03:22,919 changed the culture they were living in 53 00:03:23,219 --> 00:03:26,122 into a culture worth living in. 54 00:03:26,122 --> 00:03:27,740 And that's what we want. 55 00:03:27,740 --> 00:03:31,244 So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to First Peter chapter two. 56 00:03:31,261 --> 00:03:33,947 If you don't want to use one of our church Bibles. 57 00:03:33,947 --> 00:03:37,951 It's on page 953 and 954. 58 00:03:38,751 --> 00:03:41,754 And if you're not very familiar with the Bible, that's fine. 59 00:03:41,988 --> 00:03:44,841 We are going to put the verses up on the screen 60 00:03:44,841 --> 00:03:47,844 as I talk about them, so you don't have to worry about it. 61 00:03:48,378 --> 00:03:51,180 But I want to read the passage again. 62 00:03:51,180 --> 00:03:53,783 I love this passage, but there's a lot there. 63 00:03:53,783 --> 00:03:55,818 And we had to read to us once. 64 00:03:55,818 --> 00:03:56,703 Let me read it again. 65 00:03:56,703 --> 00:03:58,888 So it's fresh in your mind that I'll give you the three points 66 00:03:58,888 --> 00:04:01,491 that I want to cover this morning together. 67 00:04:01,491 --> 00:04:03,660 Here it is. What Peter says. 68 00:04:03,660 --> 00:04:08,364 This begins in verse four as you come to him, him being Jesus, 69 00:04:09,198 --> 00:04:13,019 a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God 70 00:04:13,019 --> 00:04:17,090 chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones, 71 00:04:18,024 --> 00:04:22,729 are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, 72 00:04:23,329 --> 00:04:27,867 to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 73 00:04:27,867 --> 00:04:29,035 For it stands in Scripture. 74 00:04:29,035 --> 00:04:32,038 Behold, I'm laying in Zion a stone, 75 00:04:32,238 --> 00:04:35,008 a cornerstone chosen and precious, 76 00:04:35,008 --> 00:04:38,011 and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. 77 00:04:38,161 --> 00:04:41,748 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe. 78 00:04:42,231 --> 00:04:45,118 The stone that the builders rejected has become 79 00:04:45,118 --> 00:04:48,721 the cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of a fence. 80 00:04:48,721 --> 00:04:53,393 They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. 81 00:04:53,843 --> 00:04:56,212 But you are chosen. 82 00:04:56,212 --> 00:05:00,266 Race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 83 00:05:00,900 --> 00:05:05,238 a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies 84 00:05:05,238 --> 00:05:09,359 of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 85 00:05:09,592 --> 00:05:12,595 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. 86 00:05:12,662 --> 00:05:15,798 Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 87 00:05:16,466 --> 00:05:20,003 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, to abstain 88 00:05:20,003 --> 00:05:23,690 from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. 89 00:05:24,207 --> 00:05:27,060 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, 90 00:05:27,060 --> 00:05:30,029 so that when they speak against you as evildoers, 91 00:05:30,029 --> 00:05:33,032 they may see your good deeds and glorify 92 00:05:33,032 --> 00:05:36,419 God on the day of visitation. All right, 93 00:05:37,670 --> 00:05:38,037 here are the 94 00:05:38,037 --> 00:05:41,057 three points that I want to pull out of this passage. 95 00:05:41,057 --> 00:05:45,528 These are the three things that Peter told a group of Christians 96 00:05:45,528 --> 00:05:48,531 like us to remind us 97 00:05:48,948 --> 00:05:52,769 so that we could live in a culture that was antagonistic 98 00:05:53,269 --> 00:05:56,089 and hostile and actually change the culture. 99 00:05:56,089 --> 00:05:59,342 I the first point is what Jesus is for 100 00:05:59,342 --> 00:06:02,362 us, what Jesus is for us. 101 00:06:02,395 --> 00:06:06,082 The second point is what we are for Jesus and the third point is, 102 00:06:06,716 --> 00:06:10,703 what it means to the world, what Jesus is for us, 103 00:06:10,703 --> 00:06:14,123 what we are for Jesus, and what it means for the world. 104 00:06:14,123 --> 00:06:17,460 First, what we are for Jesus. 105 00:06:17,727 --> 00:06:19,262 Oh no, what Jesus has for us. 106 00:06:19,262 --> 00:06:22,315 This is verse six, for it stands in Scripture. 107 00:06:22,315 --> 00:06:25,318 Behold, I'm laying in Zion a stone, 108 00:06:25,401 --> 00:06:28,371 a cornerstone chosen and precious. 109 00:06:28,371 --> 00:06:30,990 And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. 110 00:06:31,941 --> 00:06:32,809 It's a great verse. 111 00:06:32,809 --> 00:06:38,664 It's a it's a really it's an interesting image for Peter to pick, 112 00:06:39,632 --> 00:06:44,337 like when he's going to talk to them about Jesus, remind them about Jesus. 113 00:06:44,337 --> 00:06:48,357 Seems like he could say, don't forget, Jesus is your Savior. 114 00:06:48,357 --> 00:06:50,093 Jesus is your Redeemer. 115 00:06:50,093 --> 00:06:52,428 Jesus is your Lord. 116 00:06:52,428 --> 00:06:55,431 But instead he says, don't forget, Jesus is 117 00:06:56,332 --> 00:06:59,335 your stone, your cornerstone. 118 00:06:59,719 --> 00:07:03,990 And what he's doing is he's using an image from ancient architecture. 119 00:07:03,990 --> 00:07:07,460 If you were going to build a house, you started with a cornerstone, 120 00:07:08,244 --> 00:07:11,697 and the cornerstone would be the most expensive stone 121 00:07:12,198 --> 00:07:17,036 in your whole house because it needed to be the strongest stone. 122 00:07:17,036 --> 00:07:20,039 That's why it's called a precious cornerstone. 123 00:07:20,523 --> 00:07:23,876 And the reason it needed to be strong is because in ancient architecture, 124 00:07:23,876 --> 00:07:29,065 every stone then of your house would be leaning on the cornerstone 125 00:07:29,065 --> 00:07:34,170 and in one way or another, if you had a great cornerstone, you had a great house. 126 00:07:35,238 --> 00:07:37,340 If you had a weak cornerstone, 127 00:07:37,340 --> 00:07:40,343 your house was vulnerable. 128 00:07:41,210 --> 00:07:44,447 Jesus preached a sermon called the sermon on the Mount. 129 00:07:44,447 --> 00:07:46,249 It was his most famous sermon. 130 00:07:46,249 --> 00:07:49,252 It's found in the Gospel of Matthew. 131 00:07:49,252 --> 00:07:54,090 And at the end of that sermon, he sums it up by telling a story. 132 00:07:54,090 --> 00:07:57,093 And this is the story that Jesus tells. 133 00:07:57,443 --> 00:08:00,446 He says, everyone, then, who hears these words of mine 134 00:08:00,863 --> 00:08:05,968 and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock cornerstone. 135 00:08:06,769 --> 00:08:11,007 And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. 136 00:08:11,007 --> 00:08:16,162 But it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. 137 00:08:17,029 --> 00:08:19,849 And everyone who hears these words of mine does not do 138 00:08:19,849 --> 00:08:23,219 them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, 139 00:08:23,903 --> 00:08:27,240 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew 140 00:08:27,773 --> 00:08:30,393 and beat against that house, and it fell. 141 00:08:30,393 --> 00:08:32,395 And great was the fall of it. 142 00:08:33,412 --> 00:08:35,548 You get Jesus point, right. 143 00:08:35,548 --> 00:08:37,133 You're a lot of people, a lot of us. 144 00:08:37,133 --> 00:08:38,367 It's easy to do. 145 00:08:38,367 --> 00:08:42,355 We think if God really loved us, he would keep us out of storms. 146 00:08:42,355 --> 00:08:44,090 And that's what we hope God does. 147 00:08:44,090 --> 00:08:45,391 And I get that. 148 00:08:45,391 --> 00:08:47,126 But that's not what the Bible says. 149 00:08:47,126 --> 00:08:50,580 Jesus says the same storm is going to come to you. 150 00:08:50,580 --> 00:08:53,583 That comes maybe to your neighbor 151 00:08:53,599 --> 00:08:56,569 or to your friend at work. 152 00:08:56,569 --> 00:08:59,789 The difference in weathering the storm is not the severity 153 00:08:59,789 --> 00:09:04,644 of the storm, it's the solidity of the house. 154 00:09:05,461 --> 00:09:11,000 And this is what struck me is that everybody's leaning on something. 155 00:09:11,634 --> 00:09:14,637 Everyone has a cornerstone. 156 00:09:15,121 --> 00:09:17,957 Well, one of my family members, 157 00:09:17,957 --> 00:09:21,360 when they first got married, they bought these glasses. 158 00:09:22,128 --> 00:09:25,131 And the glasses lean, they're made to lean. 159 00:09:25,431 --> 00:09:26,182 They did just, 160 00:09:27,199 --> 00:09:28,284 I don't know, cracked me up. 161 00:09:28,284 --> 00:09:30,686 They didn't have kids yet, because kids would never. 162 00:09:30,686 --> 00:09:33,689 That would never be a good class for kids. 163 00:09:33,839 --> 00:09:35,758 And I was I was uneasy. 164 00:09:35,758 --> 00:09:39,078 And then, they, you know, I ended up by when they had kids, 165 00:09:39,078 --> 00:09:41,330 they bought regular glasses and they put these away. 166 00:09:41,330 --> 00:09:45,201 But the good news is, now I can use it as a sermon illustration. 167 00:09:45,201 --> 00:09:48,204 So ends up being okay. 168 00:09:48,437 --> 00:09:50,906 But every human being is like that. 169 00:09:50,906 --> 00:09:52,525 Every human being. 170 00:09:52,525 --> 00:09:53,276 You're like that. 171 00:09:53,276 --> 00:09:55,978 You lean on something, 172 00:09:55,978 --> 00:09:59,365 your friends lean on something that people around you lean on something. 173 00:09:59,432 --> 00:10:01,817 This is the kicker, though. 174 00:10:01,817 --> 00:10:04,103 You don't really know 175 00:10:04,103 --> 00:10:06,656 what your cornerstone is 176 00:10:06,656 --> 00:10:09,442 until there's a storm 177 00:10:09,442 --> 00:10:12,445 and storms will hit some people 178 00:10:12,812 --> 00:10:15,531 and other storms will hit other people. 179 00:10:15,531 --> 00:10:19,201 For instance, if you don't have any money in the stock market 180 00:10:19,735 --> 00:10:23,572 and the stock market crashes, that's a storm that won't impact you. 181 00:10:24,290 --> 00:10:27,743 But if you just retired and all your money is in the stock market 182 00:10:27,743 --> 00:10:29,662 and the stock market crashes, that's a storm. 183 00:10:31,197 --> 00:10:32,932 That's a storm. 184 00:10:32,932 --> 00:10:35,868 And the way you know, your cornerstone 185 00:10:35,868 --> 00:10:38,871 is how much you shake 186 00:10:39,538 --> 00:10:42,541 when you're in the midst of a storm. 187 00:10:42,708 --> 00:10:45,745 The level of your anxiety, the level of your fear. 188 00:10:46,829 --> 00:10:51,450 And there are all kinds of cornerstones that people use. 189 00:10:52,251 --> 00:10:55,037 They have, you a career can be a cornerstone. 190 00:10:55,037 --> 00:10:58,641 You lose your job, or your career goes in the dumpster 191 00:10:58,641 --> 00:11:01,644 and you feel yourself shaking. 192 00:11:01,644 --> 00:11:04,313 A lot of people make their kids cornerstone, 193 00:11:04,313 --> 00:11:06,982 especially here in this community. 194 00:11:06,982 --> 00:11:09,985 You know, I always think kids are terrible cornerstones 195 00:11:10,803 --> 00:11:14,290 because they grow up and they move away, right? 196 00:11:14,306 --> 00:11:17,309 They quit being your cornerstone. 197 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,763 A spouse, a great marriage 198 00:11:20,996 --> 00:11:25,551 is a wonderful cornerstone until it's not until something happens. 199 00:11:25,551 --> 00:11:28,487 You say, you know what I was thinking through this illustration? 200 00:11:28,487 --> 00:11:31,857 I was thinking about having different things up here that I could lean on. 201 00:11:31,857 --> 00:11:34,076 That would be obvious. 202 00:11:34,076 --> 00:11:37,947 Obviously not be able to bear my weight, but I was afraid I would fall over. 203 00:11:37,963 --> 00:11:41,250 It took me a while to get up and yeah, you guys would miss the whole point. 204 00:11:45,121 --> 00:11:47,990 But everybody's got a cornerstone. 205 00:11:47,990 --> 00:11:50,993 And if your cornerstone is finite, 206 00:11:51,977 --> 00:11:54,980 no matter what it is, a storm's coming. 207 00:11:56,399 --> 00:11:58,701 A storm's coming. 208 00:11:58,701 --> 00:12:00,753 It's going to wipe out 209 00:12:00,753 --> 00:12:02,521 your life. 210 00:12:02,521 --> 00:12:04,907 See? And that's what 211 00:12:04,907 --> 00:12:06,358 that's what Peter tells them. 212 00:12:06,358 --> 00:12:08,010 You do this, and you got to remember it. 213 00:12:08,010 --> 00:12:10,996 It's so easy to think of Jesus just as a savior. 214 00:12:11,447 --> 00:12:12,648 And that's great. 215 00:12:12,648 --> 00:12:15,234 I mean, Jesus, through his life, death and resurrection means that 216 00:12:15,234 --> 00:12:19,038 we don't have to count on our own goodness to get us reconciled to God. 217 00:12:19,038 --> 00:12:22,074 But Jesus did that for us. Wonderful. 218 00:12:22,258 --> 00:12:25,461 But what Peter reminds them of you're going to live in a hostile culture. 219 00:12:25,678 --> 00:12:27,596 Jesus has to be more than your Savior. 220 00:12:27,596 --> 00:12:30,416 He's got to be your cornerstone. 221 00:12:30,416 --> 00:12:34,286 And then no matter what storm comes your way, 222 00:12:35,371 --> 00:12:36,205 you will survive. 223 00:12:36,205 --> 00:12:39,692 Even the final storm of death itself. 224 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:45,264 I remember sitting with my mom when she was dying. 225 00:12:45,798 --> 00:12:47,867 I was holding her hand 226 00:12:47,867 --> 00:12:51,737 and she was in some obvious pain, and we both knew she was dying. 227 00:12:51,737 --> 00:12:54,740 She would actually die within the hour, 228 00:12:54,990 --> 00:12:59,311 but she had her eyes clenched shut and she said to me, Joe, 229 00:12:59,311 --> 00:13:02,064 tell me something good. 230 00:13:02,064 --> 00:13:05,067 Tell me something good. 231 00:13:05,217 --> 00:13:07,820 What would you tell somebody? 232 00:13:07,820 --> 00:13:08,921 What I told my mom. 233 00:13:08,921 --> 00:13:12,141 I quoted an old him that she would know. 234 00:13:13,259 --> 00:13:15,327 And I said, mom, 235 00:13:15,327 --> 00:13:19,698 there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. 236 00:13:19,698 --> 00:13:22,701 And sinners plunged beneath that flood 237 00:13:23,252 --> 00:13:26,071 lose all their guilty saints. 238 00:13:26,071 --> 00:13:29,058 My mom had her eyes still clenched shut, 239 00:13:29,391 --> 00:13:33,379 but she smiled and she said yes. Yes. 240 00:13:34,697 --> 00:13:37,683 What I was reminding my mom is not just that 241 00:13:37,683 --> 00:13:41,370 Jesus was her Savior, but that Jesus was her cornerstone. 242 00:13:42,121 --> 00:13:45,591 And even in this final storm, she was going to be okay. 243 00:13:46,375 --> 00:13:48,260 She was going to be okay. 244 00:13:48,260 --> 00:13:50,329 That's the first thing. 245 00:13:50,329 --> 00:13:53,732 Peter reminds us all what Jesus is for us. 246 00:13:53,732 --> 00:13:56,719 Then he reminds us what we are for Jesus. 247 00:13:57,052 --> 00:14:00,673 Good verses five and nine and ten sweat. 248 00:14:00,723 --> 00:14:05,394 It says, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up 249 00:14:05,394 --> 00:14:09,298 as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, 250 00:14:09,865 --> 00:14:14,637 to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 251 00:14:15,387 --> 00:14:19,675 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 252 00:14:20,359 --> 00:14:24,213 a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies 253 00:14:24,496 --> 00:14:27,867 of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 254 00:14:28,617 --> 00:14:31,287 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. 255 00:14:31,287 --> 00:14:36,408 Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 256 00:14:37,109 --> 00:14:37,943 It's so interesting. 257 00:14:37,943 --> 00:14:41,931 Another this is another time where he chooses particular words. 258 00:14:42,414 --> 00:14:43,799 Now they're very religious words 259 00:14:43,799 --> 00:14:47,336 that the phrase spiritual house is actually the word for temple. 260 00:14:47,903 --> 00:14:51,173 So he he goes through this list of words and saying, 261 00:14:51,390 --> 00:14:54,660 you're talk about a temple and sacrifices 262 00:14:54,660 --> 00:14:59,815 and priesthood twice a royal priesthood proclaiming the excellencies of him 263 00:14:59,815 --> 00:15:02,818 who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 264 00:15:02,818 --> 00:15:05,237 You're a holy nation. 265 00:15:05,237 --> 00:15:08,457 The reason that's so interesting is that in the first century, 266 00:15:08,457 --> 00:15:11,610 the Roman Empire was very tolerant of religions. 267 00:15:11,610 --> 00:15:12,444 For the most part. 268 00:15:13,729 --> 00:15:15,497 But they persecuted Christians 269 00:15:15,497 --> 00:15:18,651 because they didn't believe that Christianity was a religion. 270 00:15:19,618 --> 00:15:22,621 They actually thought Christians were atheists. 271 00:15:22,771 --> 00:15:26,308 And the reason they thought that is because Christians didn't have temples, 272 00:15:27,559 --> 00:15:30,379 Christians didn't have sacrifices, 273 00:15:30,379 --> 00:15:33,382 Christians didn't have priests that went between them. 274 00:15:33,832 --> 00:15:36,835 And God Christians. 275 00:15:36,919 --> 00:15:40,673 And the reason that they thought that they weren't a religion is because 276 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:44,093 every religion understood that there was a chasm. 277 00:15:44,727 --> 00:15:48,981 There's a gap between God and human beings that has to be bridged somehow. 278 00:15:48,981 --> 00:15:50,399 That's why there were temples. 279 00:15:50,399 --> 00:15:52,167 That's why there were sacrifices. 280 00:15:52,167 --> 00:15:55,170 And but Christians came along and said, oh, no, 281 00:15:56,121 --> 00:15:59,124 Jesus has closed the chasm. 282 00:15:59,458 --> 00:16:01,977 So now we have direct access to God. 283 00:16:01,977 --> 00:16:03,896 We don't have to go through any mediator. 284 00:16:03,896 --> 00:16:06,899 It's Jesus that's our mediator, 285 00:16:07,249 --> 00:16:09,835 and we call God Father. 286 00:16:09,835 --> 00:16:11,387 It was remarkable. 287 00:16:12,421 --> 00:16:14,757 But here Peter uses all those 288 00:16:14,757 --> 00:16:18,260 same words to describe Christians themselves. 289 00:16:18,927 --> 00:16:20,462 He said, but you're a spiritual house. 290 00:16:20,462 --> 00:16:23,666 You're a temple because God now lives in you. 291 00:16:23,699 --> 00:16:25,768 You're a royal priesthood. 292 00:16:25,768 --> 00:16:29,388 You you are the ones who proclaim the excellencies of him 293 00:16:29,388 --> 00:16:32,691 who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 294 00:16:32,691 --> 00:16:34,593 You're a holy nation. 295 00:16:34,593 --> 00:16:37,046 Was he doing 296 00:16:37,046 --> 00:16:39,114 what he was telling 297 00:16:39,114 --> 00:16:40,099 the Christians? 298 00:16:40,099 --> 00:16:42,151 Was that 299 00:16:42,151 --> 00:16:45,871 they were the ones that God was going to use. 300 00:16:45,871 --> 00:16:47,156 Every single one of them. 301 00:16:47,156 --> 00:16:48,207 One of the things that's interesting is 302 00:16:48,207 --> 00:16:51,210 Peter doesn't tell them, listen, I'm coming into town. 303 00:16:51,210 --> 00:16:52,044 I'm an apostle. 304 00:16:52,044 --> 00:16:53,429 Get people together. 305 00:16:53,429 --> 00:16:54,329 I'll preach. 306 00:16:54,329 --> 00:16:56,215 Of course, that's the way it works. 307 00:16:56,215 --> 00:16:57,716 That's not what he does. 308 00:16:57,716 --> 00:17:02,421 What he says is you all are the ones who will be like priests, 309 00:17:02,971 --> 00:17:07,059 who will tell people what God is, what God has done. 310 00:17:07,076 --> 00:17:10,079 You know, there are two important religious roles in the Old Testament. 311 00:17:10,679 --> 00:17:13,432 There is the role of the priest, the role of the prophet. 312 00:17:13,432 --> 00:17:17,519 A prophet stood between God and people and would tell them the truth of God. 313 00:17:18,170 --> 00:17:20,823 A priest stood between people and God, 314 00:17:20,823 --> 00:17:26,061 and would bring people to God so that he could connect them with God. 315 00:17:26,512 --> 00:17:26,762 Right. 316 00:17:28,247 --> 00:17:31,250 What Peter says here is that 317 00:17:31,850 --> 00:17:35,270 we become we become the role of priest and prophet. 318 00:17:36,288 --> 00:17:38,841 And I know some of you grew up in a Catholic tradition. 319 00:17:38,841 --> 00:17:41,393 I'm not talking about priests the way you think of priest 320 00:17:41,393 --> 00:17:44,480 when I when you when you think of the prophetic role, think of truth. 321 00:17:44,897 --> 00:17:47,900 When you think of the priestly role, think of of love. 322 00:17:48,901 --> 00:17:51,737 Most of us are heavy on one and light on the other. 323 00:17:51,737 --> 00:17:54,139 Some of us don't mind telling the truth to anybody. 324 00:17:54,139 --> 00:17:56,642 We just will bring it out right. 325 00:17:56,642 --> 00:17:57,743 But we're light on love. 326 00:17:57,743 --> 00:17:59,812 Other people are so heavy on love. 327 00:17:59,812 --> 00:18:02,064 They never speak truth to anybody. 328 00:18:02,064 --> 00:18:05,067 Never tell anybody about Jesus. 329 00:18:05,868 --> 00:18:08,003 But what Peter said is that if you're going 330 00:18:08,003 --> 00:18:11,807 to change your culture, you got to be both prophet and priest. 331 00:18:12,841 --> 00:18:13,459 One of my favorite 332 00:18:13,459 --> 00:18:16,462 stories I've only told this once, 333 00:18:16,528 --> 00:18:18,647 here, 334 00:18:18,647 --> 00:18:21,350 when I was first 335 00:18:21,350 --> 00:18:25,337 on staff here at Ksdk, I was part time because we were very small church. 336 00:18:25,337 --> 00:18:28,557 My full time job was being that the chaplain 337 00:18:28,557 --> 00:18:32,177 and the head of the Bible department of Cog Christian Academy 338 00:18:33,328 --> 00:18:36,932 and, one year a student transferred in named Stacy. 339 00:18:36,932 --> 00:18:39,968 And Stacy didn't want to be at CVC. 340 00:18:41,069 --> 00:18:44,523 I don't know what was what forced her to come, but she didn't like it. 341 00:18:44,523 --> 00:18:46,558 She particularly hated Bible class, 342 00:18:46,558 --> 00:18:50,362 and even more, her Bible teacher, whose name was Mrs. 343 00:18:50,362 --> 00:18:52,080 Engle, 344 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:54,049 and I would meet with Stacy every once in a while, 345 00:18:54,049 --> 00:18:56,301 and she would tell me how much she hated Mrs. 346 00:18:56,301 --> 00:18:57,686 Single. 347 00:18:57,686 --> 00:19:00,289 And then when she was a senior, I found out that she was Mrs. 348 00:19:00,289 --> 00:19:01,824 Engel's, student assistant. 349 00:19:03,175 --> 00:19:04,459 And I was 350 00:19:04,459 --> 00:19:07,563 met with her, and I said, Stacy, is this true that you are Mr. 351 00:19:07,563 --> 00:19:09,681 Single Student Assistant? 352 00:19:09,681 --> 00:19:11,950 Why are you trying to poison her? Coffee? 353 00:19:11,950 --> 00:19:13,952 What are you doing? 354 00:19:13,952 --> 00:19:16,939 And she said, no, let me tell you why 355 00:19:17,639 --> 00:19:19,825 I hated her. 356 00:19:19,825 --> 00:19:21,810 I made sure she knew I hate her. 357 00:19:21,810 --> 00:19:23,428 I was terrible to her. 358 00:19:23,428 --> 00:19:26,431 I made sure everybody in the classroom knew I hated her. 359 00:19:27,482 --> 00:19:27,933 And then. 360 00:19:27,933 --> 00:19:30,202 And Stacy's parents were divorced. 361 00:19:30,202 --> 00:19:33,956 She said around Thanksgiving, my mom kicked me out of the house. 362 00:19:33,956 --> 00:19:36,325 My dad wouldn't take me in. 363 00:19:36,325 --> 00:19:36,959 And when Mrs. 364 00:19:36,959 --> 00:19:40,762 Engle found out about it, she invited me to her home for Thanksgiving. 365 00:19:42,447 --> 00:19:45,450 And then Stacy said, this will never forget this. 366 00:19:46,218 --> 00:19:49,221 She said, Pastor Joe, I didn't go, 367 00:19:49,972 --> 00:19:51,557 but I've loved her ever since. 368 00:19:53,609 --> 00:19:54,409 Priest and prophet. 369 00:19:54,409 --> 00:19:56,879 Truth and love. 370 00:19:56,879 --> 00:19:59,748 I saw Stacy just a few months ago, 371 00:19:59,748 --> 00:20:00,716 and she told me. 372 00:20:00,716 --> 00:20:05,671 She reminded me of that story and she said, Now I'm married to a Christian man. 373 00:20:06,238 --> 00:20:09,324 My kids go to BCA, my kids love Jesus. 374 00:20:09,324 --> 00:20:11,310 All because it goes back to that. 375 00:20:11,310 --> 00:20:14,062 You want to change the culture. 376 00:20:14,062 --> 00:20:17,032 You really want to change the culture. 377 00:20:17,032 --> 00:20:20,519 You got to be the ones that will be priests and prophets, 378 00:20:21,503 --> 00:20:23,939 where people will come to you to know truth, 379 00:20:23,939 --> 00:20:26,341 but they'll come to you because you will in love. 380 00:20:26,341 --> 00:20:29,244 Bring them to God through Jesus. 381 00:20:29,244 --> 00:20:32,247 That brings my final point, which is what we are 382 00:20:32,931 --> 00:20:35,934 for the world, or what happens to the world. 383 00:20:36,835 --> 00:20:39,838 So I started this by saying that 384 00:20:40,339 --> 00:20:43,041 this is a small group of Christians 385 00:20:43,041 --> 00:20:45,360 who ended up changing their culture, 386 00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:49,698 and they did it without political power, without economic means. 387 00:20:50,749 --> 00:20:50,999 And the 388 00:20:50,999 --> 00:20:54,002 way they did it is they created a counter culture 389 00:20:54,803 --> 00:20:57,806 that was characterized by a few things. 390 00:20:57,956 --> 00:21:00,809 The first thing was that Christians were 391 00:21:00,809 --> 00:21:03,812 incredibly resilient people, 392 00:21:04,379 --> 00:21:07,499 that what people would watch with Christians, they would go through storms, 393 00:21:07,499 --> 00:21:10,619 but they went through storms in a different way than anybody else. 394 00:21:10,619 --> 00:21:13,021 Because Jesus was the cornerstone. 395 00:21:13,021 --> 00:21:17,876 In acts chapter 16, there's a story of the apostle Paul with a guy named Silas, 396 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:20,912 and they get arrested and beaten 397 00:21:20,912 --> 00:21:23,899 because they were telling people about Jesus, and they're thrown in jail. 398 00:21:24,983 --> 00:21:26,218 And then this is the verse. 399 00:21:26,218 --> 00:21:27,653 This is what it says. 400 00:21:27,653 --> 00:21:32,841 It says around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns 401 00:21:33,025 --> 00:21:36,144 and then this phrase and all the prisoners were listening. 402 00:21:37,262 --> 00:21:40,165 And I have in the margin of my Bible, I wrote, no kidding, 403 00:21:41,216 --> 00:21:42,768 because no one 404 00:21:42,768 --> 00:21:47,456 had ever heard anyone get beaten and thrown in prison and sing hymns. 405 00:21:47,456 --> 00:21:50,459 But they were incredibly resilient. 406 00:21:51,109 --> 00:21:54,029 The other thing, the second thing was that 407 00:21:54,029 --> 00:21:58,100 every Christian declared the excellencies of Jesus, 408 00:21:59,401 --> 00:22:02,304 that every one was 409 00:22:02,304 --> 00:22:05,390 somebody that would talk about Jesus. 410 00:22:05,607 --> 00:22:09,211 And the early church was known for what they were for, not what they were against. 411 00:22:09,211 --> 00:22:12,381 They didn't rail against the culture of the Roman Empire. 412 00:22:12,381 --> 00:22:15,384 What they did was say to people, you got to know Jesus. 413 00:22:16,435 --> 00:22:19,438 You got to just just come just see. 414 00:22:19,921 --> 00:22:23,842 Because he called me out of darkness into his marvelous light. 415 00:22:24,559 --> 00:22:29,097 In John chapter one, there's the story of Philip, who became a disciple. 416 00:22:29,097 --> 00:22:30,565 But when he first met Jesus, 417 00:22:30,565 --> 00:22:33,752 the first thing he did was he went to find his friend Nathaniel. 418 00:22:34,403 --> 00:22:38,490 Now, Nathaniel was a little snarky, and when Philip told him about Jesus, 419 00:22:38,907 --> 00:22:42,811 Nathaniel responded, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? 420 00:22:43,578 --> 00:22:47,399 And what Philip said to his friend was this just come and see. 421 00:22:48,867 --> 00:22:49,851 And Nathaniel did. 422 00:22:49,851 --> 00:22:52,854 And then Nathaniel became a disciple as well. 423 00:22:53,688 --> 00:22:56,058 But the last two things 424 00:22:56,058 --> 00:22:59,094 are really captured in verses 11 and 12. 425 00:22:59,811 --> 00:23:00,862 What it says is belove. 426 00:23:00,862 --> 00:23:04,232 I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions 427 00:23:04,232 --> 00:23:07,219 of the flesh which wage war against your soul. 428 00:23:07,369 --> 00:23:11,239 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak 429 00:23:11,239 --> 00:23:14,426 against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds 430 00:23:14,943 --> 00:23:17,929 and glorify God on the day of visitation. 431 00:23:18,930 --> 00:23:21,716 He mentions two things. 432 00:23:21,716 --> 00:23:24,719 There are two ways that Christians stood out 433 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,923 against the culture of the Roman culture. 434 00:23:27,956 --> 00:23:31,309 One was how they handled sex and the other was how they handled money. 435 00:23:32,511 --> 00:23:37,466 When he says abstain from those passions, what he's saying is 436 00:23:37,883 --> 00:23:40,886 what happened with Christians is that Christians, 437 00:23:40,952 --> 00:23:43,939 they treated sex as if it was sacred 438 00:23:44,189 --> 00:23:47,426 and they would only have sex with their wives or only have sex 439 00:23:47,426 --> 00:23:51,146 with their husbands, and they never had sex outside of that, 440 00:23:51,146 --> 00:23:54,149 which was completely different than the Roman Empire. 441 00:23:54,182 --> 00:23:57,469 The Roman Empire was wildly sexual. 442 00:23:57,469 --> 00:24:01,256 They would have sex with anyone and everyone at any time, 443 00:24:02,507 --> 00:24:05,477 very much like our culture. 444 00:24:05,477 --> 00:24:07,195 But the other way that Christians were known 445 00:24:07,195 --> 00:24:10,198 as they were very generous with their money. 446 00:24:10,282 --> 00:24:12,868 They did a lot of good deeds and good. 447 00:24:12,868 --> 00:24:15,871 A lot of good deeds cost some money, 448 00:24:16,338 --> 00:24:19,291 and that's what people notice there. 449 00:24:19,291 --> 00:24:22,277 Archeologists discovered a letter 450 00:24:22,427 --> 00:24:26,398 back from the first century where the writer describes Christians. 451 00:24:26,398 --> 00:24:28,867 And this way the writer described him. 452 00:24:28,867 --> 00:24:31,736 He said Christians open their table 453 00:24:31,736 --> 00:24:35,423 to everyone, but close their bedroom to anyone. 454 00:24:36,708 --> 00:24:39,110 They open their table, which was their generous 455 00:24:39,110 --> 00:24:42,113 with their money. 456 00:24:42,330 --> 00:24:45,317 But their pure with their sexuality. 457 00:24:46,017 --> 00:24:46,318 Listen. 458 00:24:46,318 --> 00:24:50,672 What what happened in the first century was that Christians gathered 459 00:24:50,672 --> 00:24:53,658 and they started to create a counter culture. 460 00:24:53,725 --> 00:24:56,728 And when someone would meet a Christian, what they realized is that there was 461 00:24:56,728 --> 00:25:01,199 something different about them, about the way they weathered storms, 462 00:25:01,850 --> 00:25:05,720 about the way they talked about Jesus, about 463 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:09,107 the way they handled their sexuality, the way they handled their money. 464 00:25:09,508 --> 00:25:12,511 And it made the people around them 465 00:25:12,594 --> 00:25:15,447 hunger for something they didn't even know they were hungry for 466 00:25:16,948 --> 00:25:17,249 this. 467 00:25:17,249 --> 00:25:18,083 And if we're ever going 468 00:25:18,083 --> 00:25:22,454 to change this culture and believe me, this culture needs to be changed. 469 00:25:22,470 --> 00:25:25,590 It starts with us and it starts with us 470 00:25:26,608 --> 00:25:30,078 becoming a chosen race, a royal priesthood, 471 00:25:30,078 --> 00:25:33,415 a holy nation, a people for his own possession. 472 00:25:33,899 --> 00:25:36,751 That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you 473 00:25:36,751 --> 00:25:39,738 out of darkness into his marvelous light. 474 00:25:40,021 --> 00:25:42,624 Once you were not a people, but now you were God's people. 475 00:25:42,624 --> 00:25:45,227 Once you had not received mercy, 476 00:25:45,227 --> 00:25:47,996 but now you have received mercy. 477 00:25:47,996 --> 00:25:51,483 Let's be that kind of church, and let's change this culture 478 00:25:52,067 --> 00:25:55,070 into a culture that's worth living in. 479 00:25:55,136 --> 00:25:57,722 Would you pray with me, 480 00:25:57,722 --> 00:26:01,209 father in heaven, we are so grateful for, your word. 481 00:26:01,409 --> 00:26:04,379 Grateful for what Peter wrote 482 00:26:04,379 --> 00:26:06,481 and how surprising 483 00:26:06,481 --> 00:26:09,651 it is to me that he didn't just talk about 484 00:26:09,651 --> 00:26:13,788 Jesus as being our Savior, not our Lord, but as our cornerstone. 485 00:26:13,788 --> 00:26:14,873 I know there are a lot of people 486 00:26:14,873 --> 00:26:17,959 that are going through different storms right now right here. 487 00:26:18,710 --> 00:26:21,663 I pray that you would help them lean on you 488 00:26:22,697 --> 00:26:25,700 even as the storm rages around them. 489 00:26:26,251 --> 00:26:29,237 I pray that you would make us an oasis, 490 00:26:30,372 --> 00:26:32,057 a different kind of culture. 491 00:26:32,057 --> 00:26:35,427 So when people walk in here, they realize that something 492 00:26:35,427 --> 00:26:41,066 is radically different and it incites in them a hunger 493 00:26:41,066 --> 00:26:44,069 for something that they didn't even know they were hungry for. 494 00:26:45,203 --> 00:26:48,440 Make us into a chosen race, a royal priesthood. 495 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,443 The people after you, 496 00:26:52,043 --> 00:26:55,046 and let that change our culture into what you want it to be. 497 00:26:55,397 --> 00:26:57,782 We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.