Rejection is never pleasant, but when we face it, we need to remember to consider the source. Just who is it who has rejected me? How important is their opinion really, and is it even correct? In times of rejection, we have to remember to assign the most importance to those who have an opinion that truly makes a difference in the grand scheme of things.
As we’ve been studying the letter of 1 Peter, we’ve been listening in on one side of a conversation between the Apostle Peter and some Jewish believers in Christ who were facing rejection because of their faith. In our passage for today, Peter is going to remind these believers that the reality about them was precisely the opposite of what other people might have been saying about them. It was also precisely the opposite of the way that these believers themselves may have been feeling about their status and role in this world.
Though they were objects for rejection in the eyes of some people, they were objects for honor the eyes of God. Let’s see how Peter develops this thought today in a way that would’ve been particularly special for these Jewish believers – by appealing to numerous passages from the Old Testament.
1. God sees you as an object of honor and part of a new work He is doing in the world (vv. 4-8)
Let’s read through these verses first in order to get the full context before we take a bit of a closer look at these word pictures [READ vv. 4-8].
The main word picture in these verses is that of God building a temple. Temples, both in ancient times and today, are considered to be the dwelling place of a god – or, at the very least, the place where human beings can have some access to the deity who is worshiped in that temple. So the idea is that we as Christians collectively are the dwelling place for the living God.
According to the text, the cornerstone for this spiritual temple is none other than Jesus himself. Now when we read the word “cornerstone” here, we shouldn’t think of what we sometimes call a cornerstone today, which is usually little more than just a piece of decoration for a building. Modern cornerstones typically make no difference whatsoever for the shape or the stability of the structure, and they may actually be the last feature of the building that’s put in place.
But in ancient times, a cornerstone was precisely the opposite – it was the very first stone that was laid, so the rest of the building was literally built around that stone. That stone would dictate the shape of the rest of the building, so it had to be a stone that was quarried well to ensure that it set the proper angle for the walls that would be built around it.
So Jesus is the first and most significant stone in this spiritual temple. Now, to us, that’s no surprise, but according to the text this fact is a bit ironic because Jesus had already been rejected for precisely that role by some other people. Historically, the religious leaders of the Jewish people in the first century – like the Pharisees and Sadducees – were the first ones to reject Jesus, but since that time everyone who has rejected him would fall into this category of those who do not believe, those who have stumbled and have disobeyed the word.
Now before we go on to look at a twist in this word picture in verse five, let’s step back and make sure we understand what Peter is doing. He is setting up a contrast between two different groups of people – those who believe in Jesus and those who do not. What he’s emphasizing is that the true reality of life is exactly the opposite of what the unbelievers thought it was. They had rejected Jesus; they had considered him unworthy to be the cornerstone for their lives, and so, they had rejected not only Jesus but they were also rejecting those who followed him.
But in the eyes of God the Father, Jesus was certainly not an object to be rejected because he was chosen and precious. And since Jesus is a person worthy of honor in the sight of God, those who believe in him are likewise considered to be worthy of honor. We are destined for honor according to verse seven, and we will not be put to shame according to verse six.
So Peter’s basic message to his audience was, “Look – those who have rejected you because of your faith have gotten it all wrong! They think you deserve shame and disgrace, but in the eyes of God – the one whose opinion truly counts – you are honorable and will not receive shame from him, but praise.”
One application of this message for us is to make sure that we always allow God’s opinion of us to define the way that we think about ourselves, not the opinions of others. Here’s the truth for you to hang onto throughout your life – other people may lie about you, but God never does. So if his word says that whoever believes in Jesus will not be put to shame, that’s the truth! You are not destined for shame, then, but for honor! If other people call you a fool because you embrace Christ, that’s a lie, because God the father embraces him and calls him chosen and precious. Other people may lie about you, but God never does! Everything he says about you in his word is true.
We need a healthy dose of this today because of the increasing rejection we are facing in our country for following Christ and upholding Christian values. Christian ethics about the family and sexuality are being openly mocked and rejected today, so much so that the narrative in the media and in our wider culture is that you are obviously a hateful bigot if you still live by and promote such values and standards. This situation seems likely to only increase, so we need this reminder today that those who reject us because of our faith and its teachings have gotten it all wrong! Their opinion could not be more wrong, because God, who defines right and wrong and has made reality, considers us objects for honor because of our faith in Christ. We are not and will not be rejected by the One whose opinion truly matters, so even if we have to deal with rejection from others for a little while, we have to remember that their rejection of us is based on a lie, not the truth.
Now, a moment ago, I mentioned that verse five presents us with a bit of a twist in this whole word picture of a spiritual temple. The twist is this – not only are we the spiritual temple, but we are the priests of that temple as well, able to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. I bet that comment was very significant to the Jewish believers who first received this letter, and they probably appreciated it more than we might – at least initially.
Within Judaism, most of those Jewish people could not have been priests because the priesthood was open only to members of the tribe of Levi. Only the Levites had that honor – it was not available to anyone else. But within Christianity, every Christian is called a priest, and in this verse, we have that position because we are each able to offer the sacrifices of the New Covenant to our God.
According to the New Testament, we could say that the sacrifices we offer are the acts of obedience that we perform for God. We do not simply offer animals, but rather we offer our lives themselves as sacrifices, with all of our goals and dreams and aspirations and hopes. We place all of these things in the hands of the Lord and dedicate them to his glory.
Now why did Peter add this little twist into his word picture? Why did he also point out that we are not only the temple of God but the priests of that temple as well? I think perhaps he did it to show that Christianity is not in any way deficient compared to other religions.
Christianity was very different from all of the religious activity that surrounded these Christians in the Roman Empire. It was very different from both Judaism and the worship that was practiced for the Greek and Roman gods because – outwardly at least – it lacked the three main elements of worship in all of those religious systems – namely, a temple, priests, and sacrifices. Christianity has no temple, no central place where we must go in order to have access to God. It has no priesthood, at least in the sense of some believers having unique access to God that isn’t available to all believers. And we offer no animal sacrifices.
Now I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the people who rejected these Christians to whom Peter was writing made fun of the believers for these things. They probably thought that Christianity was deeply flawed because it didn’t have the external trappings of the other religions in the Roman Empire. But according to Peter, Christianity was not lacking in any way compared to these other religions. We do have a temple, a priesthood, and sacrifices, they are just different and in fact superior to the elements of those other religions. Our temple is not limited to just one place; it can be found everywhere! Our priesthood is not just a small group within our fellowship – it is the whole group! Our sacrifices are not offered once and then gone forever – they can be offered again and again, and they have much more power to actually bring about change in the world.
So despite what these believers may have heard from those who rejected them, neither they nor their religion were deficient in any way. They were objects of honor in the sight of God, and they worshiped in a manner that was far superior to that of everyone else around them.
But not only does God see us as priests to serve Him…
2. God sees you as a messenger of His glory (vv. 9-10)
I think verses 9-10 would have been deeply moving for these Jewish believers because they are so rich with allusions to the Old Testament. Each of the titles we find here had been used of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament [READ vv. 9-10].
Peter’s point in these verses is quite clear—as members of the Church, this new spiritual temple, they were living out the role that had been given to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. Remember—these Christians were apparently from a Jewish background. Many of their family members had perhaps been telling them that they had betrayed the people of God by following Christ. But as we saw before, their opinion could not have been further from the truth. They were God’s people precisely because they had embraced Jesus by faith. They were now living as the people whom Israel was supposed to be all along.
Now lest we think that a passage like this means that God is finished with the nation of Israel, as though He has cast them aside completely, we need to understand that other passages in both the Old and New Testaments teach us that this is not the case. God still has big plans for the nation of Israel, but when their leaders rejected Christ, the nation could not be used by God in that condition. So God has ceased to carry out His work through them for a time, but He will once again use them in a great way in the future.
Perhaps a sports analogy will help clarify their status and their relationship to the Church of today. Every sports team has its starters, the players whom the coach wants to have on the court or the field for the majority of the game. But if the starters aren’t following the game plan or they’re not performing well, the coach will take them out for a while and put in the subs.
You can think of Israel as being kind of like the starters. God’s desire for them was that they would follow his game plan, his commandments, and that they would accept the Savior whom he was sending to them. Unfortunately, they chose to reject him, though God in his foresight and wisdom used even that rejection to bring about good, since it brought about the death and resurrection of Christ.
But since the people of Israel did not follow God’s game plan, He has put them on the bench for a while, so to speak. Today he is accomplishing his work through people who are defined not by a single ethnic identity but by faith in Jesus Christ. We are presently carrying out the role that was meant for Israel, but just as every coach wants to get his starters back in the game, God has plans to carry out his work through Israel once again.
So we are not permanent replacements for the nation of Israel, but for now we have been given this great task that is laid out at the end of verse nine – to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. This is why God has called you and me and put us into the game, so to speak. This is his intention for his great work of salvation in us – that he might also do a great work through us.
These privileges we have of being destined for honor and of being a special people in the eyes of the Lord have not been given to us just for our own benefit and enjoyment. With these treasures comes a tremendous task – the task of being God’s messengers and ambassadors in this world. How keenly are we aware of the excellencies that God has put on display by calling us out of darkness into light – traits like his goodness, justice, holiness, mercy, grace, and love.
Christian, never forget – other people may lie about you, but God never does! They may reject you for your faith and thus communicate ideas about you that are not true. So do not walk in that rejection; do not let it define the way that you think about yourself. Rather, walk in redemption. Live as a child whom God treasures and wants to use to do a great work in this world. Look at yourself at all times in that light, and then live to proclaim the excellencies of the one who has called you into that light from out of the darkness.