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Doug's Saturday Night Devotions

Peter 2:7-8

     Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”  They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

     Continuing the metaphor of Jesus as a stone, Peter now quotes Psalm 118:22 and then compares the contrasting effects this great stone has on believers versus unbelievers.  To believers and saints Jesus is our precious stone.  He is the gem of our life.  He is our foundation stone, and when we base our life and eternity on Him, we are not disappointed.  But if we will not take Him as our foundation stone, He will become to us a stumbling stone.  If we are “disobedient to the word” we will fall.  The things we held dear to us, those things to which we entrusted our security will fail us and we will fall – and how great and terrible that fall will be (Matthew 7:27).  Jesus said the same thing, only His picture is even more terrifying.  He said, “Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder (Luke 20:18).  The choice is simple and the effects are clear.  We either treasure Jesus as our precious foundation stone or we will fall upon and be destroyed by the rockslide of Jesus’ judgment.   

Doug's Saturday Night Devotions

I Peter 2:6

     Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

     Peter quotes for us here Isaiah 28:16.  He had alluded to Isaiah’s passage in verse 4, but now in verse 6, he quotes Isaiah more fully.  Initially, Peter called Jesus “a living stone,” and here he expands that thought by reiterating Isaiah’s description of Jesus as the chief cornerstone.  Jesus’ teachings, His example, and our relationship with Him are to be the foundation on which we base our lives.  Jesus is here said to be “elect,” that is He was chosen by God to be the best possible means, indeed, the only possible means by which to accomplish His purpose of reconciling man to God.  He is “precious.”  He is worthy of selling all we have to gain Him (Matthew 13:46).  Everything about Jesus is precious to us.  What He has done for us, the love He has shown for us, the plans He has for us, and the thoughts in His heart as He considers us are all precious.  Psalm 139:17 says, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!”  Oh how precious He is to us!

     The verse ends with the promise that those who put their faith in Christ “will by no means be put to shame.”  We will not begrudge our sacrifices to Him, nor will we be disappointed by His rewards to us.  Some things seem to be of great value, but after investing time, money, and effort, we are ashamed, or at least disappointed, by how little we gained from those investments.  But the more we give to gain Christ, the more devotion we show to Him, the more precious we find Him to be.  We will not ever be shamed by our commitment to our Lord.  Our physique, our acquisitions, and even some of our relationships will become less and less precious as we grow older, but Jesus, our chief cornerstone will continue to hold His value in our eyes.  Yes, we find Him more and more precious the longer we know Him and the more we invest in His service.  As we fling ourselves in faith to serve the Lord our God, we are filled with confidence that we have chosen well.  We will have no shame now or later that we have made Christ the love of our life.

Saturday Night Devotions

I Peter 2:5

    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.

     Remarkably, we are now given the same title given to Jesus in verse 4.  We are to be “living stones” just like our Savior – strong and solid, able to bear the weight of the needs of others, but living and active, not sedentary or unfeeling, looking to move about in service to God and others. 

     We are not compared with pebbles in a stream, unnoticed and anonymous, but we are rocks that are being “built up a spiritual house.”  Just as many great and small stones are used in building a house, so we are together built into the walls of God’s spiritual house, the church.  Whether small and nice-looking, or massive and weight-bearing we all come together to form the body of believers known as the church.  The purpose of our bond together as a church is here mentioned – we are to “offer up spiritual sacrifices.”  We cannot talk about worship and coming to Jesus as in verse 4 for very long before sacrifices must be brought up.  We are invited to “draw near to God (James 4:8)” and “come to Jesus (Matthew 11:28 and verse 4 above)” – but we cannot do so without sacrifice.  We cannot be right with God without Jesus’ sacrifice for us, nor can we be right with God without our sacrifice for Him.  Here we see that our sacrifices are acceptable to God – not because of our merit, but because of the merits of Jesus Christ.  It must be our ultimate aim to make ourselves acceptable to God.  A thinking man can come to no other conclusion.  And the key to becoming acceptable to God is written briefly here:  make spiritual sacrifices which God finds pleasing.  What are spiritual sacrifices?  Scripture answers for us.  Hebrews 13:15 says, “We bring the sacrifices of praise.”  Psalm 51:14 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart – these, O God, You will not despise.”  Proverbs 15:8 says, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.”  Proverbs 21:3 says, “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to The Lord than sacrifice.”  So then we see that praise, contrition, brokenness over sin, prayer, and righteousness are the spiritual sacrifices that please God the Father.  Since making ourselves acceptable to God must be the highest aim of all thinking individuals, let us make all effort to make these spiritual sacrifices which, through Jesus, are pleasing in God’s sight. 

 

Saturday Evening Devotions

I Peter 2:4

     Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.

     Let us come to Jesus.  He is here described as “a living stone.”  He is strong and secure.  He is sure footing for us in tumultuous times and He is bedrock and firm by which we may lay our life’s foundations.  Matthew Henry says, “He is called a stone to denote His invincible strength and everlasting duration.”  But though He is a stone, He is not hardened or aloof from our troubles – He is a living stone – He feels our trials and our emotional pains, and tenderly cares for us in distress.  What a magnificent picture!  Jesus is a stone – He is our foundation stone, by whom we can base our life’s priorities and ambitions (Isaiah 28:16).  He is a living stone!  He is gracious granite not unfeeling flint -- He concerns Himself with our needs.  When reminded of His strength and stability and eternity as a stone, and his empathy and caring and eternity as “a living stone” we are shocked by the next line: “rejected indeed by men.”  We shake our heads and wonder how anyone can intentionally reject this picture of Jesus, so great a Savior.  The next line reassures us: “Chosen by God and precious.”  Jesus is rejected by men, but He is precious to God the Father.  We are right to esteem Jesus so highly.  We are right to reject the example of those who reject Jesus.  God the Father has chosen Jesus and so have we.  God the Father finds Jesus precious and we heartily agree.  He is our Living Stone.  We have placed our life’s foundations on Him and have never and will never be disappointed