As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight,Come to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious.To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious,
3 sermons cite this verse
… well listen to what comes right after so come to Jesus the stone chosen by God and then listen let yourselves be built like living stones into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Now, that couldn't be any clearer. So Christ is the cornerstone. Okay, got that. And now you, his followers, you, members of his body, to choose a different metaphor, but you are to be built into an edifice of living stones based upon the cornerstone of Christ. It's a slightly different metaphor from head and members, but it's cornerstone and living stones making up a new and true temple. Ah, now the attentive reader will remember in the Gospel of John when Jesus says, I'm going to tear down this old temple and in three days rebuild it, referring to the temple of his body. Now we understand what the church is. We understand what those priests, those early temple priests understood. that in Jesus and his church, the work of the temple is brought to fulfillment. …
… If I were to write a title over this message, this Lord's Day, it would be Living Stones. Join me in 1 Peter 2.4. Come to him a living stone, though rejected by mortals, yet chosen and precious in God's sight. and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ for it stands in scripture see I'm laying in Zion a stone a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame to you then who believe he is precious but to those who do not believe the stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner and a stone that makes them stumble and a rock that makes them fall they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do this is the word of God for the people of God may we pray eternal God our triune God we've sung your praises lifting our voices up as a spiritual sacrifice now we wait before your word your God breathed word beyond these walls around this planet by the billions other people are hearing this word this very day and so we also hear it. …
which God lives by his spirit. And that's a perfect parallel to what Peter says in his epistle. Peter says this, come to him, the living stone rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious to him. You also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house. For in scripture, it says, see, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone. And the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. See, Peter and Paul are saying the same thing. There's a lot of things, a lot of ways to understand the church, and every metaphor tells us something different. Because Jesus is a shepherd, we're sheep, we're the flock. That tells us something. We're not looking at that tonight. Because Jesus is king, we're told here, we're citizens. That tells us something. We don't look at that tonight, all right? Because God is our father, Jesus is our brother, we're family, we're children. …