Sunday 3rd May – Stop Running – Pastor Robert Voigt
1 Peter 2:2-10
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – 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. 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. But to those who do not believe,
‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,’
and
‘A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.’
They stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 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.
“Dear Father, bless me as I read this sermon, so that I may hear your Word of grace, and respond with thanks and praise – and with a Spirit-led desire to live my life for you. Amen”
The text is the epistle reading for today: 1 Peter 2:4-5, & 9
4 You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.
5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
At around 6 years of age, through trial and error, I found one day that I could run faster than my dad. From a safe distance I smiled. I won’t disclose Dad’s immediate words, but he went on to say that at some point I would have to come back to the house, and then my fate would be decided. It only took me a few more races with my Dad to realize that there was a downside to my superior pace, and I stopped running away. Getting the punishment over and done with straight away was far less painful than having Dad stew over my waywardness for a few hours.
There are many stories of children running away. I’ve heard quite a few of them. For 5 years I had a lot to do with street kids through Fred’s Van in Adelaide. Many of them ran away from home because of abuse. But many of them walked out because they refused to accept limits and discipline. They preferred to sleep under a bridge or in the streets than be told what to do.
Now parenting children, or if you don’t have any, mentoring them is a really difficult task. But the goal, for most parents is that they help their children to grow up loving them, obeying them, respecting them, and then becoming responsible adults in society who will repeat the process with their own kids. Sadie and I have a very loving and close relationship with our children (and their partners) & grandchildren, which is so precious to us. Nothing would hurt us more than for them to reject our love and the relationship to be broken.
And in a very simple way, that leads us into the story of God and his relationship with all humanity. God created Adam and Eve “in his image” so that they could be in a special relationship with him. And he created them to be in a special relationship with each other as one flesh to form the basis of a family.
But when they ate that forbidden fruit there was really only one major consequence. They broke that unique and beautiful relationship with God – and with each other. They used to walk in the garden with God. But now they ran away and hid!
And the rest of the OT is the story of God chasing after his people, crying out “Come back!” He longed for that original relationship again, even though the Israelites turned away from him and ran to other gods again and again. But God promised that he had a plan to bring them back to him. He never stopped loving them. Look at some of the names he gave to his people.
In Isaiah 62 God calls them “his bride” that he rejoices over. In Hosea 11 he calls Israel “a child” that he loved and “my son”.
In Isaiah 5:7 he calls them both a “vineyard” and a “vine” he delighted in.
In Jeremiah 30:22 God called Israel “my treasured possession”, “a kingdom of priests”, and “a holy nation”.
The people never had any reason to doubt God’s love, and yet they kept running.
And that is what the original sin is: REBELLION! When punished, the people turned back to God – for a while. But then were unfaithful again.
God shows his frustration really well through the prophets. In Ezekiel 16:32 God said, “You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!”
In Hosea 1:2 we read: “When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, ‘Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”
And yet, God never stopped loving them. In Hosea 11:8 we hear the pain in God’s words, and look into his heart.
Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go?’!
Rebellion is still at the heart of every sin today – people still run away from God. They turn to other gods, although we’re more sophisticated these days and don’t have idols of stone or wood.
Humanity was incapable of remaining faithful. From Eden onward we had a heart turned to rebellion, and there was nothing we could do to win back that original relationship with God – or with each other. And God knew that, so from the first promise he made to Adam and Eve, and then to Abraham, God provided the only possible way back to him – through his Son, Jesus. Jesus’ words on the cross, “It is finished”, were not a cry of relief that the suffering was finally over. It was the cry of victory. The plan was completed. The debt was paid in full. Salvation had been won for the whole human race. And the resurrection of Jesus was the proof of that.
An author once wrote: “The cross was not the moment God decided to love us. The cross was the moment God proved he always had.”
And now see what our new relationship with God is really like. We are not running away, but coming to Christ (1 Peter 2:4 – You are coming to Christ) – the Greek word is “approaching”. Through Jesus we can come to the throne of grace to receive mercy, forgiveness and the assurance of God’s eternal love.
We are now called “living stones” in God’s new temple. We are called “holy priests” because we can approach God directly, and go to others on behalf of God. And because of Jesus, and because the Holy Spirit lives in us, what we offer to God pleases him!
John, in his first letter wrote:
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!”
And as further proof of God’s love the apostle Paul said, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” We are in the presence of God thanks to Jesus, and the Spirit renews our relationship with all other Christians by making us a valuable part of that body, of which Jesus is the head.
Therefore there is no need for us to run away when we sin – as we will continue to do until we die. We don’t need to be afraid of God’s punishment. Jesus took that on himself “once for all”. If we believe in Jesus as our Saviour, we live in grace – in God’s love and forgiveness. So now hear our text again as people who are in a special relationship with our God.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
from of old your ears have not been open.
Well do I know how treacherous you are;
you were called a rebel from birth.
4 For I knew how stubborn you were;
your neck muscles were iron,
your forehead was bronze.
5 Therefore I told you these things before they happened
so that you could not say,
‘My wooden image and metal god ordained them.’
That is who you are!!!
I invite you to read these words as your own.
God is not shocked by my struggle with sin. He is not counting my failures so he can decide when grace runs out. Sin was dealt with “once for all” at the cross.
I am not saved by how good I am.
I am saved by faith through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Therefore my motivation to obey God is not fear of hell.
My motivation is that I am
- A chosen person
- A royal priest
- Part of a holy nation
- God’s special possession
And now, declared righteous and holy, and yet still a sinner who ‘misses the mark’, I will try to live, with the help of God,
“declaring the praises of him who called me out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
The grace and peace of our God, Father, Son and Spirit, be yours always. Amen.
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