1 Peter 2: 4-8….Corporate living.

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
So the honour is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offence.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

Comment: Jesus is here referred to as a living stone, in fact the corner stone. The word cornerstone is used in lots of contexts but here is in relation to a building – a building of people. In fact the collected people of God in whose midst and in whom Christ lives. In old buildings there was often a foundation stone which was not the cornerstone but was a stone on which someone’s name and about whom some notable thing was inscribed. I am sure that Christ’s name could well be put on the foundation stone of the above living building. However a cornerstone was different – it was the first stone laid and so positioned that it marked out the way the building should be built. And surely Christ is that to His church. Jesus as is stated here is not the cornerstone for many people to build on but a ‘rock of offence’ – they would never choose Him as the basis of their lives. There is a lot of Old Testament language used about believers. Remember that a priest is ‘a go-between’ between God and mankind – and believers are meant to be the ‘go-between’ with their godly actions and words; and with the ‘once for all’ sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, the sort of spiritual sacrifice talked about here is the life dedicated to God as a living sacrifice to His honour. Rejection causes the destined result of stumbling.

Prayer: Help me to fit in perfectly where You want me in Your building. Thank you for not demanding perfection, but please help me to strive for it.