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DAVID'S EMAIL BIBLE STUDY:
POST-Christmas
NOTE
: New theme starts next week, "The Absolute Essentials of the Christian Faith".
A. BACKGROUND...St. Peter wrote two letters to 1st century churches. He foresaw persecution ahead and urged those early Christians to persevere, hold on to their faith, believe in the Resurrection, and be good through whatever comes. A new movie is coming soon, Martin Scorsese's "Silence", about the persecution of Christians in Japan 400 years ago. The heart of the movie is if, how, and why we should stay faithful no matter, an eternal and universal question. An old question asked, "If it was illegal to be a Christian, and you were arrested, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" Peter's goal is to get us convicted.
C. SUMMARY ...Using Biblical imagery about stones, Peter calls Jesus a LIVING stone, and then challenges us to be living stones. Church is not an inanimate object, faith is not an idea, and religion is not an institution. We are to be fully ALIVE as a church, a faith, a believer. Peter reminds us that Jesus was "rejected", like a sculptor might reject one block of granite or marble for another. But Jesus, the rejected stone, becomes the corner-stone, cap-stone, foundation-stone of God's whole Kingdom. And we share in that. He concludes by elevating us Christians from a tiny, rebellious movement into ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, a CHOSEN PEOPLE, and a HOLY NATION.
D.
KEY POINTS:
1. LIVING stones is a paradox (two unlikely things, both true at once) not a contradiction (if one is true, the other can't be). Peter dares us to have the qualities of a substantial rock/boulder/stone AND the qualities of life/breath/spirit. I remember Star Trek's Mr. Spock embracing a gigantic stone to better understand and communicate with it. Peter says that is not science fiction, it is us. We are both
rock and
alive. Sadly, much of Church history has focused on structure, architecture, and building. Too often we have lost the
spirit of the
thing. As "living stones" we emulate Jesus Christ who managed the paradox of being both at once. Jesus is the "foundation", the "cornerstone" of God's hope for the world.
2. HIGH PRAISE, we are "a royal priesthood, a chosen people, a holy nation" (verse 9). For the Jewish Peter to use such Jewish concepts to describe Christianity is high praise indeed. God chose Abraham to become a people. Israel was meant to be a holy nation, made holy by their shared covenant with God. Israel was to be guided by a tribe devoted to the priesthood. Such lofty goals are now part of Christianity's DNA. Take it as a compliment and challenge. Are we up to it?
3. "PECULIAR People" is how the old King James Bible translates part of verse 9. Let's embrace that! To be Christ-like is to be peculiar, to be different from how others talk, think, behave. For too long churches emphasized our differences as "we don't drink, dance, smoke, or wear lipstick". Peter is calling for something deeper. Our treatment of one another, our attitude toward others, should be peculiar. Biblical lists like the Beatitudes (blessed are the meek, pure, peace-makers), the Fruits of the Spirit (love, gentleness, kindness, self-control, etc), indeed the whole Sermon on the Mount (don't lust, don't be angry, turn the other cheek, love your enemies, pray simply, be forgiving) present a Christian radically different from the norm. The best at anything always are.
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