1 Peter 2:2-10.                                   Grow up!!!                                         18/5/14

 {2) Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, {3} now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. {4} As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men 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 capstone," {8} and, "A stone that causes men 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, a people belonging to God, 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.

 As times get rougher and tougher for us as Christians who are seeking to be true to God and his Word, we are here called on to grow up in our salvation. Surely we here have tasted that the Lord is good: Jesus died on the cross for us and rose again for us; we have forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. That being the case; let us grow up! We have every reason now to stand up and get on with being the kind of people that God would have us be, despite the difficulties and hassles. Let us not allow ourselves to be distracted from that which is right and true. Let us not get bogged down and avoid being who we are as God’s people, simply because things are not going the way that we think they should and are given a hard time for it.

 Are we going to let every little sour word from someone, a difficulty, or even persecution get to us? Are we going to allow the world and its thinking out there to guide us in the way we think and act? Are we going to allow the devil, the world and our sinful selves to drag ourselves and our church down? Here I am thinking of myself as much as anyone else. We need to take careful note of the message that God is giving to his Church through Peter. Remember here Peter is writing to people who are being given a hard time. They are not yet being fed to the lions, but things are fast heading in that direction.

In the face of that God says to them and to us; ‘grow up.’ Grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. Face whatever is before you with confidence and certainty. Stand up and be the Christian that you are because of Jesus. Don’t let the world out there and rejection by other, or whatever, turn you into ‘wimps’ and grumpy people. Get on with being and doing what you were saved and called to do. As the Australian saying goes; ‘don’t let the b****s get you down.

 But here I am the first to acknowledge that this is easy to say, but not so easy to live. It is tough and rough when others have a go at us. The temptation and desire is to get even. We feel as though we have to make it right and not let them get away with it. We need to clear our good name. We want it to be seen that we are right and good. So how can we forget all that and be able to get on with things, without letting it get to us? How can we hold our heads up and keep on doing and being a good Christian without letting it get to us?

 Here it is interesting what he begins by saying to us in this regard. 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. Don’t go looking for all kinds of strategies, knowledge and development of our human strength and character, or whatever to help us. He says, be like babies and rely on mother’s milk. In other words go back to the basics. Go back to relying on the one who gave us our life in the first place. Go back to recognising and holding before our eyes the fact that Jesus Christ has forgiven us and given us life and salvation.

 Hold firmly to those basic truths that God has given to us in his Word, the Bible. Accept what he has to say there as that which he wants us to know and hold to. Then we will be given the nourishment and strength that we need in order to go forward confidently and boldly. There we are continually reminded of the importance and centrality of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

 Remember that no matter what we face we are now connected to him who was rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him. This Jesus died for our forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. He has ensured that no one and nothing can separate us from the love of God. So even if our reputation is smeared; so what? Even if we have been the cause of the problem, we can look to Jesus Christ with repentant hearts and know that we are forgiven and we can beg for forgiveness ourselves from the people we have offended.

 At the same time, we now recognise that Jesus himself was rejected and killed but he still became the ‘capstone’ which holds it all together. This Jesus also tells us, that as his followers, we too will be rejected and cast aside by many, even within the church. As we seek to do what is right, we too will offer spiritual sacrifices; being rejected by others, but used by God to bring about good. So through life we are simply encouraged to look to Jesus as the ‘capstone’ and seek to do what he wants and then leave the rest to him.

 Now as well as that, this reading reminds us that Jesus and our standing up for him will be; "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. Many do not want to hear of Jesus and his death on the cross. They want to live for themselves and their wants and desires. So when Jesus Christ and death for our sin is held up, that will be an offence to them. They will reject the message and the person giving it. So too when we stand up for these key truths of his Word, people will be offended and offensive.

 Now it is quite remarkable then, that we actually grow up as we look away from ourselves to the Lord Jesus and as we trust in him. Just as he was rejected and seen as not being of any use; in fact harmful to the cause, yet was, and through that rejection and death on the cross became, that which holds everything together, in so far as our Christian life is concerned.

 The same also, now, he says, will happen through you and me. Since we are built into his Church and as we too, hold to Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, we too will be rejected and yet be the avenue of good. The more we grow up into Jesus Christ, the more he will help us bear up under whatever circumstances we might face. In him we find all that is needed for this life and the next.

 In our difficult times we learn to rely on him first and foremost for our salvation, but also to get through those times knowing that our Lord is with us and will bring good out of the situation. We will then be given the confidence to have that certainty that he will get us through those times and ultimately take us to be with himself in heaven.

 It is then, in and through Jesus Christ that we, even with our weaknesses and frailties, are told that we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God; once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy.

 That last point is very interesting and important. Till Jesus came along in our lives, we were nobodies. Yes, that is all of us. In other words, none us can stand up and think we are OK and that people should take notice of us, if it were not for Jesus Christ and the salvation that he brings. None of us can stand in our own goodness. We all deserve to be given a hard time. Yet, now we have received mercy. Now God is at work in our lives and through what we say, do and go through; no matter how small and trivial or seemingly poorly we have done things. God himself is at work. He will bring good from our lives, despite.

 So now we can stand tall and confident, even though we are given a hard time, or even seemingly ignored. Because God is there and at work in our life as a congregation, we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. Each of us and all of us together, are important and valuable; part of God’s Church at work in the world, bringing good in the midst of difficulty and hardship.

 Let us grow up into this; into Jesus and his Church; trusting in him and his mercy: Craving after this pure spiritual milk because we have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him. For it is there alone that we have that which is good and basic for our lives; and also that which enables us to stand up against all that is thrown at us. And when it is us who have inflicted difficulty on others by not holding to these basics, let us turn back with repentant hearts and seek his forgiveness and help to make things right again.

 

So be strong, and look to our Lord Jesus at all times and he will give you the help and strength that you need. To him be glory and honour, now and always. AMEN.

 Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish