{"id":1066,"date":"2024-07-08T04:33:16","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T04:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chuckhilltoday.com\/?page_id=1066"},"modified":"2025-12-16T17:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T17:11:09","slug":"this-old-house","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chuckhilltoday.com\/index.php\/this-old-house\/","title":{"rendered":"THIS OLD HOUSE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

THIS OLD HOUSE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Peter 2:4-10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INTRODUCTION:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve ever visited (or studied historic places of worship), then you know there\u2019s something awe-inspiring about them. I\u2019ll never forget traveling with my parents to Europe as a young man (just having entered my high school years), and being able to see first hand the great Norte Dame Cathedral in Paris. It stands over 200 feet tall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, being able to enter the Vatican City in Rome \u2014 and witness the beauty and architecture at St. Peter\u2019s Basilica. It\u2019s an incredible Renaissance styled house of worship. Filled with the craftsmanship of Michelangelo and Raphael, and others. It stands nearly 450 feet tall. And is absolutely amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or even, St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral in New York City. It too is breath-taking. It\u2019s gothic towers and statues stretch into the sky. It\u2019s incredibly beautiful. It\u2019s massive as well \u2014 at almost 400 feet long, and 330 feet tall (at it\u2019s highest point). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To see any of these is a treat \u2014 and you\u2019ll never forget them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, on their best day \u2014 they are still just fixtures made of stone. A shell really. Nothing of genuine life. Just hard, cold, stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRANSITION:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there is a great contrast given to us in 1 Peter chapter 2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have your Bible<\/strong> \u2014 turn there with me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s here that Peter<\/strong> describes another fixture of worship \u2014 a temple<\/strong>, worthy of consideration. And beginning in verse 4<\/strong>, he writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Living Stone and a Chosen People<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 <\/strong>As you come to him, the living Stone\u2014rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him\u2014 5 <\/strong>you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 <\/strong>For in Scripture it says: \u201cSee, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.\u201d 7 <\/strong>Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, \u201cThe stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,\u201d 8 <\/strong>and, \u201cA stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.\u201d They stumble because they disobey the message\u2014which is also what they were destined for. 9 <\/strong>But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God\u2019s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 <\/strong>Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MESSAGE:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter tells us, in the full, biblical sense of the word \u2014 God\u2019s people <\/strong>are His temple.<\/strong> And more than that \u2014 we are His priests, called upon to present spiritual sacrifices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 In the Old Testament, God<\/strong> had a temple<\/strong> for his people<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 But, in the New Testament, God<\/strong> has a people<\/strong> for his temple.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realize, tonight may a bit of a review for some of you \u2014 but the truth found in this text are foundational to the way we view ourselves and the way we live our lives for Christ. Beyond that, I\u2019d say \u2014 the implications found here are deeply life-changing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the first point Peter makes here is this:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. BUILD YOUR LIFE ON CHRIST, THE LIVING STONE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 <\/strong>As you come to him, the living Stone\u2014rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him\u2014 5 <\/strong>you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, at the cornerstone of our lives \u2014 our spiritual sanctuary, these living temples of who we are \u2014 is Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter<\/strong> says, Christ is the great living Stone of our lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, while we know that to be true, I just want to focus for a moment on the paradox of that statement. He calls him \u201cthe living Stone.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this sounds like a massive contradiction in terms, doesn\u2019t it? A \u201cliving Stone\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically we we the word picture or symbol of a stone to be something dead. Something without life. Think about it. We say things are \u201cstone cold.\u201d Or \u201cstone dead\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this idea of a \u201cliving Stone\u201d seems to communicate something that we\u2019re not used to saying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Bible speaks often in this way when it describes Jesus. As the Christ, He is  our Rock<\/strong> and our Life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As our \u201cliving Stone,\u201d He possesses the qualities of both strength and life. Like a massive stone: fixed foundation, a fortress \u2014 He gives us something solid, steadfast, strong, massive, and immovable, upon which we might build our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet there\u2019s another side to His strength \u2014 and it\u2019s depicted by the word living. So, not only is He solid, but He\u2019s also warm, giving us vitality, and life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is the \u201cliving Stone\u201d \u2014 He is personal; He is a life-giving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, He is a paradox. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But He\u2019s always been that way. Consider what John says in John 1 about Him. He is the God (Spirit), who became flesh. He is both God and man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n