First Peter, chapter two, you
all been enjoying the series? Been good? You awake? Awesome. The cool thing about
the series, for me, has been knowing
that we've not only been studying on the weekend. But we've all been going
through it together throughout the week. And if you're just
now jumping in, basically we are setting
aside eight weeks to be formed spiritually by
the same passage of scripture as each other. So we're taking different
texts on the weekend. But then, in addition to that,
we've put together a really cool journal you
can get for free at FreshLife.church/onepeter,
that will allow you to study it every single day,
throughout the week. And it's been really,
really remarkable. But if you are just
jumping in now, this a good place to jump in. So first Peter
chapter two, and I'm going to read to your verses one
through five, and then versus 9 through 12. It says, therefore, laying
aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and
all evil speaking, as newborn babies desire
the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
if, indeed, you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to him, as
to a living stone, rejected, indeed, by men, but
chosen by God and precious. You also, as living
stones, are being built up a spiritual house,
a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Then jumping down
to verse 9, but you are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you
may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light, who once were not a people,
but are now the people of God, who had
not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you, as
sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts
which war against the soul. Having your conduct
honorable among the gentiles, that when they speak
against you as evil doers, they may, by your good
works which they observe, glorify God in the
day of visitation. I want to preach to you
from these verses, a message that I'm calling home away
from home, home away from home. I'll never forget. When I was in Bible college,
who was a few occasions where maybe students whose
parents didn't live super far away would invite
me over for dinner. And they could hardly
say the sentence. Would you like to? I was like, yes. What time should I be there? Right? And if I knew then what I know
now, I would have then said, is there anything I could bring? And when they inadvertently
said, no, we've got it, I would have brought
something anyway. That's called manners, right? Listen up, young people. No one ever taught me that. And this is the thing my
wife has is so good at, like always knowing
to bring something. Always show up with
something in your hand. And don't show up early. These are the rules, right? And don't stay too long. Leave them wanting more. You're like, but I have
such a winning personality. You especially need to
leave them wanting more. I think five to
seven minutes late is kind of a sweet
spot to show up, because I know on the
hosting side of things what a tornado of activity
it is to get ready for them to come over, so that
when they show up you can appear like, I've just
been lying here eating chips and guacamole for hours. What took you so long? As you're like trying to catch
your breath from shoving toys into crevices in your home. You know what I'm saying? And you're sort of like
the last 15 minutes, oh my God, oh my God,
oh my God, oh my God. And then, finally, at that
time, when they don't show up, it's this huge gift. OK, we have five extra minutes. What else can we? Because we were just in triage
for the last hour, you know? And I could actually
do a couple of things. So that kind of-- that's a little gift, right? God bless you. Here's five extra minutes. But that person who shows
up 20 minutes early, like, what are we going
to Eat You're like, I'm going to eat you, right? Is there anything I
could do for help? Yeah, you can leave, and
circle the block a little bit. That'd be great, right? And so, anyhow, I'd
show up for dinner. And it always felt so nice to
not be eating college food. I remember my Bible college,
the only thing barely edible was the salad bar. And that was debatable fresh. I'll have a crouton tonight. Thank you very much. That was so tough. And I'd eat maybe a little
bit of cottage cheese. It was just like,
I don't even know. This looks like
it could kill me. And you know, then I
bought a hot plate. I bought a little burner
hot plate in my room. And I would make ramen noodles,
dinner for one, yay me. And then I got so sick of ramen
noodles, anybody been there, I started eating them dry. I would just put the
seasoning in the packet. Anybody ever been there? It's like, this is going
to be better than cooked ramen noodles. Like, thank you, Maruchan. See what I'm saying? And so the home cooked,
I'm not in my dorm. I'm not in a room surrounded by
male bodies, and just smelly, and just, oh my gosh. And I had my one
roommate who I'm pretty convinced didn't
shower the whole semester. And his name was Gilbert. And, anyhow, it's
just God bless him, wherever he is in
the world, Gilberto. That's what I called him. I called him Gilberto. And my nickname for him was BO
Gilberto, just a smelly affair. So being in a home, being in a
home for me, it wasn't my home. But it was a home
away from home. And I remember one time,
they had little kids. I don't really even
like little kids. Daisy, I love you, just
like normal little kids. As far as like my upbringing,
I never really had little kids. And I was playing
with little kids. I'm like the fun uncle. I was just so excited to
be in a home situation. It's kind of like camping. Camping, it's not your home. But it kind of is funny to make
a little home in the woods. And the camping thing
is just a funny thing. I head one comedians say,
we work hard, 47 weekends, 48 weekends, 49 weekends a year,
so we can take a week or two and go pretend like
we're homeless. That's what we do when we're-- here' my miniature house. Here's my miniature area
where I hang out in. And we go camping. We went this week, if that's
what you want to call it. We take so many
things now that I feel like I'm just like
this far away from having to rent a U-Haul to go camping. But it's fun, because you
have moments like this. I brought a little clip. [BABY NOISES] There's no spiritual
import at all. I just wanted to show
you that clip of my son running around and falling
over, because that's what he did for two days. We were mostly concerned he was
going to do that into the fire or to the Dutch oven. Please don't die, please
don't die, please don't die. He did escape once. We found him. He wasn't far. He hadn't eaten much. But camping is a funny
thing, because the whole time you're kind of dreading
having to deal with the after effects of camping. Like, your clothes are going
to smell like smoke for a year. I feel like I still
smell like smoke, and just getting all
the things sorted out. Here's where the
lawn chair goes. And here's the things. And the Yeti cooler
has to get cleaned. And for me, it's really
just like, how fast can I do this so I can take a shower? Is anybody with me at all? Like, I was talking to someone. They go, no, I just dump
everything into the garage. And I go shower. I wouldn't enjoy
the shower thinking of all the things I got to do. I still want to be smelly when
I put things away so I can really-- as I get that filth
off me, I really want to-- you're like, why are
you telling me all this? Here's why. Here's why, honestly,
because what Peter's trying to
get us to see is that, just like
when you're camping you've created a little
home that you're in, it's not your real home. It's a little home you've
made away from home. Home away from home, that's what
he's saying this entire life is. That's what he meant when he
said, I beg you to see yourself as sojourners and pilgrims. You all, he's saying
we're just happy campers here on this planet. And I know maybe you
got a fifth wheel, and you can't relate
to any of my struggles. And you're like, I got
a solution for you, bro, Winnebago. That's great. You might have a Winnebago
situation going on in this life. But for the best of us,
we're just passing through. This life, this earth as it
presently is, is not our home. Peter wants us to see that
if we're Christ followers, we have heaven to
look forward to. Dawn is coming. That's our true home. And he wants us to
keep our heart there, and to keep our focus there, and
to keep our priorities there, and to keep our treasure there. Remember, you're a sojourner. You're a Pilgrim. You live on this earth. But you can't stay here forever. It all goes back into
the box at the end. This idea of being the richest
person in the cemetery, that's no lofty quest. Keep your heart
focused on heaven. Keep your treasure
focused in heaven. That's what he's saying. We're resident aliens. A resident alien is someone
who lives in a country. They just haven't become
a citizen of that country. They live there. I've got friends who
have naturalized. I've got a friend who was
just telling us the other day, he's like, I'm a citizen now. I had to say the Pledge of
Allegiance and everything. I was like, they
actually do that? That's kind of cute. And I lived overseas for one
semester of Bible college. I was in York, England. And I had this flatmate
who was British. And I made it my entire
goal the whole time to get him to disavow the
queen and pledge allegiance to the American flag. I did it constantly. I was peppering him. I'm like, but turn
your back on the queen. Like, what's that all about? Like, monarchy? And the last day, he put
a pair of cowboy boots on that he bought, I
don't know where from. Because he thought that's
what he thought maybe you had to do to become a
citizen of this country. And, as God as my witness,
as Eddie stood up there, and he said pledge
allegiance to the flag. And I was like, bro,
how quickly you turn. Then I was like the devil. Like, I jumped on him for
abandoning his country. I'm going to tell on you. Get you kicked out, bro. That's treason. You could get hung in
Hyde Park for that. But what Peter's saying
is we're resident aliens, because when you are born,
you become a citizen. And we were born again. When we became Christ followers,
first Peter chapter one, we were born again
into a living hope. It was made possible
because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So as citizenship
began, Philippians says, our citizenship is in heaven. That's where our Savior is. And he's coming back. So we need to keep our hearts
there, keep our eyes there. But even though that's our
home and we're currently living here, we have
a home away from home. And guess what? We're doing it right now,
because as we gather together, he said, as living stones-- as we're assembled together,
we have a place to do life. We have a place to be. We have we have a place to
smell the smells of heaven, and to feel the
comfort of heaven, and to sort of get that taste
of heaven, and get that-- like, I know the dorms
is where I live. But I'm in the home
for that evening. We get to come into this place. We get to come together. We get to gather together
in the name of Jesus Christ. We get to do life in groups,
and serve together, and give together, and pray together. And as we come together,
stone upon stone, guess what? This is a holy habitation. There's nothing normal. There's nothing common. There's nothing ordinary. Christ is present in
our midst, able to heal, able to touch, able to save. This is an outpost of heaven
right here on planet Earth. Fresh Life is a place for us
to experience the power of God. Even though we're
far from home, this is our home away from home. And that's why, as we worship
Jesus, there are those moments, aren't there? Much like I felt
like I was homesick being a student, homesick. So that home cooked meal, it
caused me to feel something. And it engaged me
on a deep level. That's because all of us, listen
to me, are homesick for a place that we've never been. I came across this week, because
I was studying in preparation for this message,
a paper written by a student at the
Harvard School of Design. He was getting his-- he turned it in as his
master of architecture-- let me try that again, his
master of architecture thesis. That sounds intense. And as he turned it
in, it was basically a paper that was all about the
role architecture has played in our world ever since Adam
and Eve were driven out of Eden, because of course that was
the beginning of architecture. We lived in a garden. We lived in a perfect place. And we were surrounded
by the presence of God. But driven out from the
garden, what was Adam and Eve's immediate? They went and made a city. Mankind began to-- architecture
was our immediate solution. From that moment forward, we've
been constructing buildings. And he says in the paper, it was
kind of our defense mechanism for losing access to
the presence of God, to create a place,
to create a building, to create a structure. And, of course, this
came to an ultimate point in the Tower of Babble,
when they gathered together. And God had said,
scatter into the world. But they said, no,
let's stay together. And let's build a tower
whose top is in the heavens. And, literally, they
were trying to get what they had lost in
the fall on their own, ignoring what God
said to do, which was to get to heaven through
sacrifice, which ultimately pointed to Jesus. Man said, no, no we
can build our way. Construction, and
being architects, that can get us back to heaven. And, of course, it didn't work. He said, that building, and
all buildings from that moment forward, are
essentially attempts to replace the sense that
we lost of being at home. For it was not a
building that was home. It was being God's
presence at home. Notice what he writes. Let me not quote from
Kyle Dugdale, first time I've ever quoted a thesis
paper from Harvard University at Fresh Life Church. You guys, miracles do happen. He says, architecture
has struggled to mitigate the
effects of the fall. But the city is
a poor substitute for the Garden of Eden. Architecture performs,
at best, the role of a fig leaf covering
humanity's exposure. In the end, it is, perhaps,
not so much a cure, as it is an expression
of humanity's sickness. What is he saying? He's saying there's an essential
emptiness in all of our hearts, an ache that we can't shake. There is a yearning. There's a longing. And he's saying, it's possible
to try and build a bigger house, try and build more
square footage, better property, all in an attempt to feel a
sense of connection that we cannot experience except through
the presence and the power of God. And that is what
we're here to taste. That is what we come together
in the matchless name of Jesus to worship, and to adore him. This is not about us. We're here to make Jesus famous. And as we worship Jesus, as we
lift him up, something happens. But it's not just that
we sing a couple songs and listen to a
couple of sermons, because Peter says we
have to be stacked one upon each other, stacked one
upon each other as stones. And to the extent that we're
doing life as Jesus followers, but off in isolation,
what are we? We're just random rocks. We're just random bricks. You see bricks strewn
across the highway like they fell out of the
back of a pickup truck, that's not going to do anything. That's not going
to clothe anyone. That's not going to warm anyone. That's not going
to reach anyone. But that's so oftentimes how
Christians end up living, because of bad experiences
they've been through, or whatever it is
that would cause them, they do life in isolation,
instead of cooperation, and tragically miss out on
the power that's possible when we do life like
living stones stacked one upon each other, beside each
other, next to each other, and able to be built up into
what God has been seeking to build, his house. It's always been about his
house, pointing forward ultimately to my father's house
where there are many mansions. But in the meantime,
this is the house of God. It's our home away from home. And there are many
benefits to doing life planted in the house of God. I've picked out five. If you're taking
notes, jot them down. Number one, that was
a big fly on my Bible. It's a place to belong. It's a place to belong. The house of God is
a place to belong. And isn't that, ultimately,
what we crave, to be known? I think one of our
great fears, maybe we've never articulated-- you know,
when we think about our fears, we think about claustrophobia,
or arachnophobia. I've got a crazy
wicked fear of snakes. People say they're
fear of public speaking is almost paralyzing at times. And I think, honestly,
one of our big fears is the fear of being invisible. You're like, no, that's a
super power I wish I had. No, it's not. It's not. Maybe there are situations,
you creepy pervert. But what am I talking about? That's the loss of the filter,
third time out the gate, sorry about that. But it's kind of true,
if you think about it. If someone's like, would you
rather fly, or be invisible, and someone says invisible,
I'm not dating you. I think we really are, though,
afraid of being invisible, that we could walk
into a room and no one would notice us, that we could
be hurting and have no one see. I talk in my book
Through the Eyes of a Lion about
a day where I sat having an epiphany in
a Starbucks in Seattle. I was highly,
highly new to grief. And we had come as
a family to Seattle to just take a little
bit of time to heal. And we stayed down by the water. And I would walk every morning
along the Pike Place Market before it opened. And there was sort of an
eerie fog over the bay. And I just felt so much sadness. And it seemed to be a good
place to be sad, the gray skies, and the cold weather. And I found myself
sitting in the Starbucks having a cup of coffee, and
trying to do my devotions, honestly trying to
believe any of this, and trying to feel anything
that resembles faith. And I felt myself in a freefall,
just doubting, and feeling fear, and feeling just almost
crippling levels of separation anxiety with my
little girl in heaven. And so in that moment, I
looked around the room. It was packed. Every table was occupied. Every place at
the bar was taken. And I was having one of the
worst moments of my life. And no one could tell. And I thought, man, not one
person here knows how sad I am. And then the epiphany
was, how many times had I sat next to people who
were at the end of the rope, but I hadn't had a clue? And you know what? Not one person that day ever
asked me how I was doing. And it would have been rude
of me to try and get them to. That's not what a
Starbucks is for. But that's what
the Church is for. This is a place to belong. You belong here
if you're hurting. You belong here if you're mad. You belong here if
you're angry at God. You belong here if you don't
understand any of this. You belong here if you don't
believe what we believe. This is a place where
you are welcome. You are cared for. Listen to what I
believe about you. I believe you were made
in the image of God. I believe you have value. I believe that you
are not your guilt, not your sin, not your
shame, not the hard things you have been through. You are a person who
Jesus died to save. You are a person who
God has a plan for. He cares about you. You are not smart mud, or
a monkey wearing pants. You were divinely
created, knit together caringly in your mother's womb. You don't have to believe that. I believe that for you. And I believe that God has
great things in front of you. I believe that we are
the people of God that are called to come alongside
you, to speak life over you, to speak your real
name over you, not worthless, or stupid,
or weirdo, but love, and chosen, and
called, and equipped. I believe you have a royal
destiny over your life. You are not common. You are not ordinary. You are destined for impact. You come up in here,
you belong here. You are cared for here. You're celebrated here. You can tell us your fears here. This is a safe place to do life. We will be the people around
you, strong when you are weak. And then you can be
strong when we are weak. We got your back. We're going to
raise your arms up. We're going to pray for you. Rain or shine, we're going
to be gathering together to lift up his name. You can come up in here. On the worst day
of your life, when there's a funeral,
when there's a wedding, this is the church
for all seasons. If you're in spring, or you're
in summer, you're in winter, you're in fall, we'll
do life with you. And I'm telling you first
hand, the church is there. On the hardest times,
the most trying times, the most beautiful times,
God's people have rushed in. This is a place where you're
not going to be invisible if you're willing to
let us into your life, if you're willing to get
involved, and get into groups, and get onto a team, if
you're willing to let us know your name. You can come and you can go out. That's possible anywhere. But if you're willing
to be vulnerable, this is a safe place to do it. The home away from home,
we're not home yet. We're bivouacking here, y'all. We don't have canvas and poles. This is flesh and blood. But in this life in
exile, as resident aliens, this is a place
where you belong. And it's a place for you
to grow, a place, secondly for you to grow. Isn't that what Peter
had on his mind? You're a baby. That's how you got your
new citizenship born again. But you need as a
baby now to grow. It's cute when a baby's selfish. Man, that little
selfish little idiot. It's cute. We're like, oh that's so cute. That baby is so selfish. It's so cute. And, yet, when a 30-year-old
does that, not so cute. So you got to take some of that
baby stuff and set it aside. You see, growing
old is not optional. Growing up is. And that's why Peter
says, it's in the text, he says, you've got
to lay aside malice, all of it, deceit, all of
it, hypocrisy, all of it, envy, all of it,
slander, every kind. You got to get
rid of that stuff. I love that he says, all
of it, every bit of it. It's because no matter how
much of it you laid aside, you're going to find
some more tomorrow. Like, I thought
I got rid of all. I have more in my pocket. I'm still so selfish. And you got to keep, as you
find it, setting it aside. As you find it, set it aside. You've got to declare war
on your sinful desires, because they've already
declared war on you. Life is lot of
game to be played. It is a war to be waged. And you have an enemy,
an active enemy, who wants to destroy you,
who wants to chew you up, who doesn't want you to
walk in God's calling, who doesn't want you to walk
with the light of Christ in your eyes, who
doesn't want you to have the power of the
Holy Spirit at your back, who wants you to be
given over to every sin to do whatever you feel. He wants to destroy
your relationships. He wants to destroy
your marriage. He wants to destroy your family. He is not afraid of cheap shots. He's not afraid of
going below the belt. He has never once
played by the rules. And he's not going to start now. He wants you to be addicted. He wants you to be in despair. He wants you to live
for yourself, because he knows what you need to know. Your own glory isn't glory. But the glory of the matchless
name of Jesus, that is what taps you into a better
and bigger story than just your little life. So he wants you to
hang on to your malice, hang on to your envy,
hang on to your jealousy, hang on to your
vindication, and your self pity, and your
justification, and your, I'm OK, because I'm not
as bad as so and so. Therefore, I feel OK in this. He wants your life
to stay small. He wants you to stay petty. But if you want
to grow up, you've got to man or woman up, and
lay some of those things aside. And keep doing that,
and keep doing that. There are things that
have to be set aside. But for that to happen, you
need to be seated beside-- I love that he
immediately pivots to the analogy of
the house again. Set aside your
stone, seated beside. You see, a stone gets sat
next to another stone, and then another
stone is on top of it. So, yeah, we need to grow. But we don't grow alone. We need each other to grow. We need each other's prayers. We need to know that
we're going to have to come before each other and
answer those tough questions. How are you doing? How is this area gone? What's happening here? And to the extent that you
run away from those things, you'll stay immature. You'll stay where you are. If you want to grow,
you've got to own up. Yeah, that is not cool. Yeah, I'm super sorry. I'm going to do life together. We're going to own
up to our failures. We're going to own
up to our faults. That's how iron sharpens iron. The secret to setting
aside all those things is who you're seated beside,
to lean into each other, to lean into one another, to
realize that wasn't loving, that wasn't kind. I shouldn't have blown
off my commitment to serve at that
worship experience, and not been there,
and left you hanging. I shouldn't have done that. That wasn't cool of me. To the degree that we're able to
own up to our failures, and go, I'm hurting here. I need prayer here. I need help here. We'll actually be
able to grow together. Growth is all
about what you eat. Yes, Peter says you need to
eat the milk of the word, with the urgency of a baby,
with that commitment of a baby. You watch a baby eating, man,
they're all in on that meal. If you have that passion
for God's word, you'll grow. Jeremiah the prophet
put it this way. Your words were
found and I ate them. And your word to me was the
joy and rejoicing of my heart. But I have found it's
not just what you eat, it's also who you eat
it with, and knowing that we're going to be asking
and answering the question. How has your time
been at first Peter? What you've been learning? What God's been speaking to you? There's something about that. If you're struggling
doing the soap thing, then I would
encourage you to get into a relationship
with a friend where you're going to text each
other, maybe your application. You're going to talk
to each other what your prayer was that day. You're going to, in some
way, go through the soap in an interactive way so there's
some sort of accountability. All right, let's text each
other once we've done it. And you tell each other
our favorite part about it. What was our verse we
picked for that day? Something that causes you to
be eating it with somebody. Like, a meal alone is
always a shameful thing. You gotta do it at times. But whenever I eat
alone, I'm like, I know I'm not
having good manners. It's just there's something
so different about eating a meal by yourself than eating
a meal with somebody else and enjoying that time together. Martin Lloyd Jones
was a famous preacher in London in the 20s, and 30s,
and 40s, and going forward. And what was interesting was
during his time of ministry, preaching could be recorded. That came into existence. I came across this
last week a tape set of the first sermon
I ever gave, 2001. This is two months
before September 11th. And I'm preaching
my little heart out. I played the tape for my family. And they're like,
you sound weird. I'm like, that's the tape. But it's a funny
thing because that wouldn't, at certain
points in history, have been a possibility. Of course, they
could write it down. That's how we're reading
first Peter, but recording. And Martin Lloyd
Jones was really resistant to the idea at first. He eventually gave in,
and allowed his sermons to be recorded, and thus
duplicated and spread around, and the world is better for it. And I've read his sermons. And, in fact, I
preached a series once called controlled burn. And a lot of it came from
some of the transcripts I read from his sermons
about his encountering the Holy Spirit. And it really lit
a fire in my life. But I think the book was
called Surprised by Joy. But, basically,
someone said, well, why are you resisting
us taping your sermons? And he said, because
it's not just about listening to the message. It's about listening to
the message together. He said, if you go listen
to this message by yourself somewhere, it will not
have the same impact it would have on you
sitting in a room full of other people going
through that message together. And there is something there. And I think that there is a
good, obviously, church online. But I think it's always
going to be better if you can be listening with other people. I'm telling you,
it's always going to be a more powerful
experience if in cooperation you eat the message. It's not just what you
eat, it's who you eat with. It's a place to grow up. That's what the church is. Thirdly, jot this down, it's a
place to be a part of something bigger than yourself. What I can do, what I can
accomplish, what you can do, what you can
accomplish, will never be even close to what God
can do through us all. Think about it. Think about the
millions of dollars we've been able to
give away together. You have your five
loaves and two fish. I've got mine. We all put them in together. And the multiplication
happens in his hands. It's after we put it in his
hands, then it goes out. It's powerful. I'm telling you
something about that. You think about the
fact that this weekend, we had the chance to do
ministry in 13 cities. I couldn't do that. We could do that. Think about flourish. Think about the
Church in Deer Lodge. Think about Mary Market. Think about the life
change happening on Fresh Life on television,
the thousands upon tens of thousands, upon
tens of thousands who will listen to
this message this week. I'm telling you. Think about the
watch party happening this weekend in Charlevoix,
Michigan, Jared and Ashley, you rent a movie theater
every single weekend to gather people in Michigan for
people to watch this message. We praise God for
what's happening in Charlevoix, Michigan,
because you're gathering. But that's what we
can all do together. And it's-- I'm just going
to say it like I want to. Who's going to stop me? We will never be able to do what
God called us to do without you because we won't
have the stones. We won't have the stones. If you're not a
part of it, we'll always have missing stones,
because you're living stones. And to the extent that you're
doing off life off by yourself as a random rock,
you're not going to be plugged into
the power of what God is doing in the local church. It's the only human institution
ever personally founded by Jesus Christ, who said,
I will build my church on this rock. And the gates of hell will
not prevail against it. So come to him,
the living stone. And you watch as he turns
you into a living stone. We become like
whatever we come to. We become like
whatever we come to. And if we come to Jesus, who
is a rock, we become rocks. Ask Peter, whose name was Reed
Simon, until he came to Jesus. And he said, I shall
now call you Rocky. Yo Adrian, I shall now call
you Peter, Petra, rock. You come to Jesus,
you become like Jesus. That's why the word Christian
means little Christ. We came to Jesus, we
walked away like Jesus. And as we grow, we
become more like him. Not just the stone,
a living stone. That's the craziest
kind of stone. We literally use the word stone
when something is really dead. And beyond life, we
say that's stone cold. Stone cold, there's
no life there. That's a rock. That's the furthest
thing from life. Why does he choose to
use stone as it's what he wants to make us living like? Because it's impossible
for humans to make a stone come to life. But not with God. So let me ask you,
what in your life is so far gone that God
could never bring life there? You would say, it's stone cold. It's dead. There's no life. There's no pulse. I'm telling you, give it to him. You watch him bring
life out of that stone. We all get to be living stones. We were like rocks. But in God's hands,
we've come to life. He ripped out that
heart of stone. He replaced it with a
beating heart of flesh. And what we can do together,
it always extends your reach to be a part of the
church, because you have the arms of
all God's people multiplied that can
do more through us than we could ever
see him do alone. Fourthly, it's a place to
make sense of rejection. These Christians
were starting to feel weird for being followers of
Jesus, getting made fun of. Persecution had shown up. And it was only
going to get worse. So he addresses this
idea of rejection when he says, in verse 4, you
came to him as a living stone. You're being rejected by men. But don't worry. You're being chosen by God. And then he goes on to
say, don't forget about Jesus, who was the living stone. And he was rejected. But he's become the
chief cornerstone. He was rejected. But look how it
turned out for him. So we bring our
rejection to God. We bring our pain to God. Here's what's happening at work. It's hard, it's hard, it's hard. And we go hey, don't forget
what happened to Jesus. That's pretty much
church every week, guys. Like different
versions of, hey, like I know that's really
crappy right now. But, hey, remember
what happened to Jesus? And, in fact, William
Baker put it this way. I love this. He said, rejection
is much easier to cope with when you remember
the greatest person who ever lived was also rejected. You're like, OK. Church is a safe place to
make sense of rejection. Look, you ugly cry every week. I don't care. Bring it, bring it, bring it. You're mad. You're coming. You could barely move. That's cool. Get in here. Bring your rejection. Don't run from God. Run to God. He can handle your anger. He can handle your fear. You're not going
to scare us away. Bring your rejection. This is a safe place
to make sense of it. Lastly, church, the house, the
home away from home, is a-- I feel I feel so much
about this message. And I love this
part of the most, except for the first four. It's a place to welcome others. The house is a place to
welcome among others. There's this thing
called the turn, I always think about when
I get in an elevator. When I'm standing
waiting for an elevator, I'm just hoping for mercy
from heaven for this elevator to have room for me. And you push my little button. I stand there. And the doors open. And all the people, I see it
on their faces, annoyance. They just a few floors ago were
in the same position I was in. But now I'm like, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I impeded your
journey to the bottom. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And I get in the elevator. And they're kind of like,
like they look at each other like, oh, I guess we can
make room for this idiot. Like they act all put out. You know what I'm saying? Like if you have suitcase,
or like 19 kids like I do, get in kids, there's room. There's room. I'm always like,
there's room for us. There's room for us. Let's ask them. Come on here. Come on, buddy. And they're always
like, OK, fine, this is the last
time, though, right? And then I do this, right? Ready, here we go. I get in the elevator. And I turn. And the moment I turn
and the doors close, I'm now one of them. And I've felt it 1,000 times. Ding. Come on, can you
believe these people? Because as the doors open,
I'm now the one going, really, you need to go
somewhere in our elevator? Because we've been here for
at least 10 feet together. I guess we can make
room for this moron. Let's never be a church
that does the turn, and all of a sudden thinks
that grace ended with us. Let's never be a church
that does the turn, and now that we say, we forget
that just 10 feet ago, we were the ones asking for mercy. We were the ones
hoping for grace. Let's always remember
that we got to make room. We got to make room. We got to create some
more seats at the table. This doesn't end with us. It's always going to be a thing
where there's space for more. That's why he says
in all of your pain, in all of your making
sense of rejection, in all of your growing up, and all
those things that are needed, and the church has a
place for all of that, he says never forget-- verse 12, I love this so much-- he says, to live honorable lives
as you mix with unbelievers. Even though they might accuse
you of being evil doers. They might say this
about the church, and that about
corporate religion, and that about blah, blah,
blah, and Pastor Levi's nine Lamborghinis, and
his elevator bat cave that probably
brings the helicopter in, whatever they're going
to say about the church, and the Crusades, and
the Salem witch trials. They're going to
say all that stuff. It's going to happen. It happened to Jesus. But they will see
your beautiful works, and have a reason to glorify
God in the day he visits us. Most theologians believe
he's talking about the day that these people
you work alongside, live alongside, go to school
next to, stand before God. That's the day he visits us. Dawn is coming. The people in your
life are going to stand before
God to be judged. And he says, maybe you could
live such a beautiful life, even in the face of people who
mock you, and ridicule you, and would never go to church
with you, or so they say, would never believe
like you believe. But you live such a beautiful,
and kind, and gracious life that there is going to be joy on
the day they stand before God, the idea being they gave
their life to Jesus in part because they did
life next to you. Come on. Let's keep having
a spirit that says, let's make room for
just a few more people. And so what do we do? Here's our posture
with the world. We're going to
abstain from the evil, but not shame the evil doers. We're going to be resident
aliens, but respectful aliens. We're going to love the
culture we live around. We're going to-- and if
you come back next week, we're going to talk
about what this is going to look logistically
in some different areas. Many people agree,
this is the hinge. This verse that we
just hit is the hinge from which all of the
rest of first Peter flows. So it's just going to
get better and better as he unpacks what it looks
like to live beautifully. That's the rest of the series. Dawn is coming, great. Life sucks sometimes, cool. But here's what it looks
like to live beautifully as resident aliens. It's going to be great. But our hope is, our heart is,
that more people would come to Christ, and that we would
welcome them in, welcome them in, and make room for
them at the table. Let me end here. And if you're seated, everyone
just jump up to your feet. We're going to close
with this thought. We become like living stones. And this was all made
possible because of the one who was struck as a stone. I want to end with this
idea from Exodus 17. The children of Israel
were in the wilderness. And they were thirsty. And they had nothing to drink. And so God told Moses to
take the staff in his hand and to strike the rock. And because the rock
was struck, the Bible says that water opened up
from the side of the rock, and flowed out. And they were able to drink it. We come to Jesus today,
and we're able to only because the
rock was struck. And that was what happened
when Jesus was hanging there on the cross. God and his wrath poured out
the striking rod upon him. The Bible says, all our
sin was laid upon him. He was struck. He was wounded. He was pierced. His back was torn
up with a whip. The reason the waters
of forgiveness can flow, and the waters of hope can
flow today, that if you're here and you've never received
Jesus, if you never asked him to come to you-- I'm not asking about religion. I'm not asking about
church attendance, or you know like three
Bible verses, great. It's not about knowledge. It's not about performance. It's about your relationship
with Jesus Christ. And if you've ever
made that decision, let me just tell you something. He was struck for you. As he hung on that cross,
you were on his mind. He's never been surprised by
a bad thing you've ever done. He knew then about the worst
thing you would ever do. And he loved you. He paid for it anyway. And he would've died for you
if you were the only person to ever live. So now, I want to give you
an invitation, like I would if I said, hey, would
you just come over to my house for dinner
on Friday night? And I want to invite you over. But my invitation doesn't
presuppose you're accepting it. So you have to say, yes, I
will come and accept that. So I want to give an
invitation to anybody who would like to give
your life to Jesus Christ. Just a simple gesture saying,
would you like to pray? Would you like to
ask for forgiveness? Would you like to be
included in a prayer we're about to have where
you could have an exchange between
your heart and heaven? So let's all bow our
heads and close our eyes. Thank you, God, so
much for your love. Thank you for your
life poured out. Thank you that you're
the rock that was struck, and because of that the waters
of salvation flow freely. We can become like
living stones, and see the dead parts
of our hearts and lives spring to life, but only
because of what you've done. As we're praying now with heads
bowed and eyes closed, and I'm asking the Holy Spirit would
be touching hearts and drawing people to yourself,
if you're here, and you've never
said yes to Jesus, you've never responded to
him, and your heart's heavy, if you're honest, you don't
have an answer for what's going to happen to you after
you die, you don't have peace. You don't have that promise of
a relationship to fall back on. You don't have a living hope. But you can, because we
have a living savior. If that's you I'm talking
to, and you sense your heart almost beating faster like
God's calling your name, I would say that he is. And I would say, respond to
him while this call today, because we don't know
what tomorrow holds. There may be a
chance down the road where you could make
this exact decision. But this could be
your final opportunity to get right before God. I encourage you to
receive that salvation. Say this prayer with me. I'm going to pray it out loud. Pray it out loud after me. Mean it in your heart. And God will hear you. The church family
is going to pray with us to show that we
accept you into our community. Say this. Say, dear God, I
know I'm a sinner. I can't fix myself. Please come into my heart. Make me new. I give my life to
you in Jesus' name.
