In the beginning of this letter from Peter to the church in Asia Minior, he tells them to put their hope in their salvation
because the church was being persecuted, and he urges his people to live holy as God is holy. Peter was setting his people up to be different.
One the most disasterous things about the modern day church is that we fight to make everything comfortable, but if we’re not careful we can actually encourage the work of the enemy in someones life. We should be encouraging them to press all the more into Jesus when things completely fall apart.
We Will Be Hated When We Follow Jesus
1 Peter 2:4-10
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 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 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.”
7 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,”
8 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.
9 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. 10 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.
Peter is NOT saying, “oh guys, I’m so sorry that you’re dealing with this.” He’s actually preparing them for the worst, and saying, "Look... Jesus was perfect, and HE was rejected."
Some of the truth that we stand on as Christians, will in fact make us hated.
Everything that the world says is good, and that God says is bad, we need to stand AGAINST those things.
Everything that the world says is bad, and that God says is good, we need to stand FOR those things.
Our only choices are:
1. Side with God and be rejected by people
2. Side with people and reject God
God Changes People
1 Peter 2:9-10
9 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.
So he’s reaffirming everything he’s said in the first chapter, but then he goes on to remind them of the process:
10 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.
All of us were once not a people, but now if we know Jesus, we are the people of God. All of us once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy. When we forget that, and we start acting like we’ve always had it together, we are fully playing into the hands of the enemy.
We need to remember that we are surrounded by pagans who are not the enemy, but are being deceived by the enemy. This is NOT an “us vs them" thing.
Peter does not call his people to retreat, and does not call them to comfort. He equips them to press into the darkness, to press into the broken people, and to impact the pagans with the love of Jesus. We need to do the same.
