What is your life built upon?
You may try to build your life upon your family history, education or skills. You may try to build your life upon your experiences, fame or accomplishments. You may try to build your life upon your financial stability, good health, or good looks. There are many things you may try to build your life upon.
There is only one thing — one Person — that you can build your life upon that will give you rock-solid stability in this life and the life to come. Jesus is that Rock. Jesus is the Cornerstone. For the follower of Christ, Jesus is your Cornerstone.
1 Peter 2:1-8
1 So rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, desire the pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow by it for your salvation, 3 since you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 Coming to Him, a living stone—rejected by men but chosen and valuable to God— 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it is contained in Scripture: Look! 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 message; they were destined for this.
The Lord is good. The Bible tells us that we have tasted that the Lord is good (v3). The Lord is very good; He is good at the core of His Being. Everything that He does is good. Because He is good, we desire to be like Him in every way,
Therefore, we rid ourselves of things such as malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander (v1). We grow spiritually by allowing the Lord to teach us, fill us and guide us. Verse 2 uses the analogy of an infant with her mother to describe the way in which the Lord gives spiritual nutrients to us. The Lord is good.
The Lord is alive. In verse 4, Peter describes Jesus as a “living stone.” Jesus is not inanimate or dead — He is alive! He was rejected by men (v4) as Peter witnessed first-hand. Peter was there when Jesus was beaten, mocked and crucified. Peter was there when Jesus died and was buried. Peter was demoralized because he had denied Christ.
But everything changed when Jesus came back to life on the third day! Jesus sought out Peter to restore Him and speak words of forgiveness. A few weeks later, after Jesus had ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit filled Peter and he began to boldly proclaim the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Peter’s life was changed forever because Jesus is alive!
Jesus was chosen and valuable to God (v4). He was God’s “Plan A” to bring salvation to people, the plan that was in place before the beginning of time. Eternal life is possible because Jesus is alive.
The Lord is a builder. God is the great builder in your life. Here’s a great phrase to remember: no matter where you are in life, God is not finished working on you yet. He’s still building you into the person He wants you to be. According to verse 5, you “are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Personally, this means that God wants to make your life one of sacrifice and worship to God. Corporately, this means that you are part of an amazing spiritual house of worship, not tied to any physical location. We are a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (more on that next week).
The Lord is the cornerstone of your life. The cornerstone of a building is the first stone put in place, the rock that the entire building depends upon. Builders rely on the cornerstone to make sure that the building is strong and level. The cornerstone helps the building withstand storms. In the same ways, Christians depend on Jesus as the cornerstone of their lives. With Him as their cornerstone, Christians live a life of honor (v7), never being put to shame (v6).
Sadly, many people choose to reject Christ. They stumble over His death and resurrection (v8). Rather than believing in Him, they reject Him (v7). Our prayer for them is that they realize who Jesus really is, turn from their self-focused life, and trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Our prayer is that they would make Him the cornerstone of their life.
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