EXPLORE THE TEXT

Living Stones (1 Peter 2:4-8)

Application Point:

God calls believers to be His representatives in the world.

4 As you come to him,
a living stone-rejected by people but chosen and honored by God-
5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house,
are being built to be a holy priesthood
to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For it stands in Scripture:
See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.
7 So honor will come to you who believe;
but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected-
this one has become the cornerstone,

8 and A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over.
They stumble because they disobey the word;
they were destined for this.

Reflect:

review Peter’s use of “living stones” in this epistle.

Draw a building silhouette on the board.
Instruct the group to add elements presented in the text
(built with stones, open roof, sacrificial altar, cornerstone, rejected stones on the ground).
When everything is represented, invite the group to explain the significance of each element.

• Individual stones (believers) signify community.
• Cornerstone (Jesus) is foundational to the building.
• Roof was open to allow every stone (holy priesthood) access to God.
• Altar (sacrifices offered to bring glory to God).
• Scattered stones (unbelievers) rejected by the builder.

Ask:

• What do we learn from the passage about our purpose as believers?
• How does understanding our identity in Christ help us to mature in Christ? (PSG, p. 34)

Transition:

Peter concluded with a description of the Asian Christians who displayed the glory of God through their sufferings.