A few weeks ago, Pastor Jim preached on 1 Peter 2:4-5. I have been mulling that over since then and have some thoughts about what he preached. I do not wish to trump what he said. I am merely expanding a little on what he preached.
1 Peter 2:4-5 says:
And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Christ is the stone that men rejected. Psalm 118:22 says this:
The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief corner stone.
This is a messianic prophecy about Christ. The religious leaders rejected Christ. They heard the claims that He made about Himself and rejected Him out of hand. They knew the writings of their forefathers...what we would call the Old Testament. They knew what was written about the messiah and his coming but Christ was a threat to them. He threatened their power. He threatened the hold they had over the people. He threatened their man-made traditions. They vehemently fought against Him and attempted to neutralize Him by putting Him to death. But, as we have seen in 1 Peter, Christ was "choice and precious in the sight of God." Christ was God the Father's chosen means to bring salvation to sinful men. Christ was shown to be God's chosen vessel for salvation through His resurrection from the dead. That's why He is a "living stone." He is not in the tomb but risen from the dead. He is alive and has a living relationship with His people.
As believers, we are living stones as well. We have the very life of Christ residing in us. And, as "living stones", we are "being built up as a spiritual house" through our relationship to Jesus. This is where I want to focus.
"Spiritual house" is terminology that is used to describe the church. When we place our faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sin, we become a "living stone" and are added to the "spiritual house" of the church. The Holy Spirit regenerates the dead sinner, thus bringing to life a once dead and stone cold heart. The once dead sinner, having been brought to spiritual life through the power of the Holy Spirit, suddenly realizes the severity of his situation before a holy and just God. He then flees to Christ as his only means of salvation from the penalty of his sin. Because of the work He did on the cross for the redemption of His people, Christ takes the now alive believer and places him, as a "living stone", into His "spiritual house", His body of believers known as the church.
Notice the wording in the text we are examining. The text does not say, "You also, as living stones, are building up a spiritual house." The text says, "You also, as living stones, ARE BEING BUILT UP AS A SPIRITUAL HOUSE." What does this mean? It quite simply means this: We, as believers, do not build the "spiritual house." We are BUILT INTO the "spiritual house" by the Builder of the house. Christ builds His house...we do not.
In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, Jesus asked His disciples who people said He was and they had a myriad of answers to this question. Verse 15 and following:
He said to them, "But who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it."
The Roman Catholic Church uses this text to say that Jesus just made Peter the 1st pope and that he is the fountain head of all succeeding popes. This post is not about the RCC and I am not here to bash the RCC but I will say that this doctrine falls flat on it's face with a little work.
The greek word for Peter is PETROS, which basically means a little rock or stone. The greek word for rock, used later in the text, is PETRA. This word means a rock, cliff or ledge. It is a big, solid rock. This text is saying that Jesus did not build His church on Peter, PETROS, the little stone. Jesus builds His church on the PETRA, the big, solid, foundational rock of Peter's confession of Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. John MacArthur says that Jesus is making a play on words here, saying that such a foundational, boulder-like truth came from the mouth of Peter, the small stone. I agree with this assessment.
That is how Christ builds His church. He builds it as the Holy Spirit brings dead sinners to spiritual life and they confess Him as the Son of the living God through faith by grace.
I say all of this to say this:
We do not build the church. The confession of Jesus as the Son of the living God builds the church. No amount of programs that is done, as a church, will build the church. Celebrate Recovery does not build the church. Small group home "bible studies", which are largely a pooling of biblical ignorance, do not build the church. A sermon series on the gospel principles found in the movie 50 Shades of Grey does not build the church. A vibrant "worship band", complete with a whole production and stage show, does not build the church. A large sampling of volunteer ministries that one can join does not build the church. This builds pride, for sure, but does not build the church. All these things put butts in pews and fills the "church building" but they do not build the true church. I have one more.
I may take some heat over this one but that is OK. It is simply the truth. I am going to paint with a very broad brush here because not all groups fall into the category I am going to put forth. In general, though, what I am going to say is true.
Large youth groups do not build the church. In fact, I would argue that they are quite detrimental to the growth of the church. For the most part, a youth group is led by a youth pastor that is not much older than the kids he is pastoring. He has no wisdom to give the youth. He is still a young kid himself. What he has is a plethora of techniques that he learned in seminary to keep kids entertained with a wishy-washy, law-filled, 7 minute pep talk at the end of the night. What he has is the social gospel. What he has is a whole host of progressive, liberal ideas about the Bible and what it says about God. Those ideas have been given to him by a whole host of progressive, liberal professors who do not like what the Bible says and do not know the God contained within the pages. Any attempt to present the gospel is extremely watered down, influenced by the progressive, liberal theology he has been taught. It is a gospel devoid of grace and stuffed with "Do better, be better." It is not the gospel. It is works and it is destroying our kids because they realize they can never do what they have been instructed to do. Eventually, over time, they realize they aren't "good enough" and never will be. They realize there is no way they can live up to the standard to which they have been yoked and they throw in the towel. By throwing in the towel, I mean they ditch Christianity all together. This is, quite simply, the truth. I have seen it happen with my own children.
The preaching of the gospel, which is the job of every believer, is what builds the church. When dead sinners are converted through the work of the Holy Spirit to bring them to spiritual life, Christ adds them to His "spiritual house"...the church. Christ builds His church through the regeneration of dead sinners who are cut to the heart because of their sin and flee to Him for refuge. That takes place through one way and one way only...the preaching of the gospel:
So faith comes through hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)
Anything other than that is the tickling of ears...and the entertainment of goats. Those things will fill a building. It will not build the church. Jesus does this.
The gospel...that's the foundation upon which the church is built.
