• Christ is the foundation for EVERYTHING
• Peter emphasizes the IMPERISHABLE quality that is Christ in chapter 1, and pivots to the FOUNDATIONAL quality that is Christ
  • Uses words like “milk” and “cornerstone”
• A foundation is something that everything else is built upon
  • Matthew 7:24-27, ²⁴ “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
• Christ does not make superficial change, but REAL and FOUNDATIONAL Change
  • Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
    • Physiological needs
      • Food –Psalm 107:5, John 6:27-35, Luke 9:16-17, Matthew 6:25, Revelation 3:20, Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 25:35, Revelation 7:16-17
      • Water – John 6:35, John 4:14, Matthew 25:35, John 7:38, Revelation 7:16-17, Revelation 21:6,
      • Rest – Matthew 11:28, Mark 6:31, Psalm 127:2, Hebrews 4:9-11, Psalm 23, 1 Kings 19:5
    • Security
      • Secure and Safe – 2 Thessalonians 3:3, Psalm 27:1, John 17:15, Psalm 9:9
    • Belongingness and Love
      • Intimate Relationships –Revelation 3:20, John 15:9, BRIDE OF CHRIST, 1 John 3:16, John 3:16, 1 John 4:19
      • Community – Acts 2:46-47, 1 John 1:7, Galatians 6:2, James 5:16, Romans 12:5, Romans 1:11-12, Hebrews 10:24-25
    • Esteem
      • Purpose – 1 Peter 1, Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1, Romans 8
      • Glory– Romans 8:17, John 17:22, Ephesians 2:6, 2 Thessalonians 2:14, 2 Timothy 2:12, Romans 15:17
    • Self-Actualization
      • Identity – NT writers mention our identity in Christ 160 times!
      • Living to full potential of self – 1 Corinthians 6:11, 1 Peter 1:2, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Romans 8:4, Galatians 5:22-23
    • Intrinsic Values
      • Living for beyond one’s self – 1 Peter 1, Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1, Romans 8

*If I do not understand, build upon, and find refuge in the foundation, it all sinks

*If your faith wavers, or you are in crisis, return to the foundation

You need to a strong foundation to a strong house

Therefore,

• Continuous thought from chapter 1
  • Peter just got done explaining the non-perishable, eternal glory and hope in Jesus, we “therefore” should have an appropriate response to this truth

laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word,

• What destroys churches?
  • Malice/unaddressed sin
  • Deceit/to bait or craft or undermine
  • Hypocrisy/ pretending or playmaking or “putting on a show”
  • Envy/ Jealousy
  • Evil Speaking/ harmful gossip

*Be HOLY! Be APART from the world. Do not act like the world acts at your secular job

• Babies have an immediate and instinctive desire for milk when they are born; so too, WE should have an immediate and instinctive desire for God’s instruction, calling, and purpose
• Desire or “to long for” is very strong here in the greek. Same word used in the Septuagint for Psalm 42:1
• 1 Corinthians 3:2-3- “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. ³ You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans [i.e. not holy]”

that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

• We should progress to hard food (Bible Study), but we should never tire of the sweet milk of our faith
  • Reverse Utility
• We need the milk of scripture to “grow thereby”
• If we have truly experienced and tasted God’s grace, then we can receive correction like babies receive milk because we know He is sweet

The Stones must be for the House to Be

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house,

• God is building something, and gave us the Spirit to act as vessels to accomplish it
• Peter’s idea is that God is building a church (house) with living stones (Believers) by coming to the ultimate Living Stone (Jesus).
• Just as we are “chosen/elected” (1 Peter 1:1; 2:4) to a purpose, so too are stones worthless alone but become effective if placed in their right place

*Remember: Peter was called “the Rock” to which Christ would build this house (Matthew 16:18). Peter wants to emphatically state that he is NOT the rock, but Jesus is!

*James and John seeked their own glory, then the Gospel of John reflects the glory of Christ —- Peter was called the rock, then his epistle reflects the Rock that Jesus is — All of us have misplaced foundations that we slowly get replaced by Jesus

*”The stone the builders rejected also refers to calvary which was a rock quarry from King Herod’s wall building, to which the mount Christ died were the “rejected stones” to build the wall, and yet became the cornerstone of everything!

a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

• Peter assigns the vocation and election of the church to the original vocation and election of Israel to be a “holy priesthood”- See Exodus 19:6
• A “priest” was identified as someone who had access to God, which we all do
• No single stone can functionally act as anything (multiple stones build an altar, multiple stones build a house of worship, multiple stones build a refuge). WE HAVE A COMMUNAL FAITH, it is NOT only a “Personal faith” or “personal relationship”

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.”

• We are precious because Jesus is Precious. We are living stones because we belong to The Living stone. God elected to build the house off of The Elect cornerstone
  • Jesus as a cornerstone in scripture:
    • Psalm 118 – The Cornerstone
    • Isaiah 8 – The Stumbling Stone
    • Isaiah 28 – The Foundation Stone
    • Daniel 2 – The Supernatural Stone
    • 1 Corinthians 10:4/Exodus 17:6/ Numbers 20:10/ Psalm 78:15-17/ Psalm 105:41 – The water giving stone in the wilderness

*We should “be holy because He is holy,” and be “precious stones as He is The Precious Stone”

An Unmovable Foundation those within it or those outside it

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.But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

• A castle is great for those taking refuge inside of it, but it is awful for those who try to conquer those within it

*The only thing that can move the Unmovable foundation of the church is the Unstoppable force that the foundation is built upon —–God!