Participants: Tom Shepherd & Deyvy Rodriguez
Series Code: PBOTB
Program Code: PBOTB00007A
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00:22 Welcome once again to "Books of the Book."
00:24 We're very excited that you're able to join us 00:27 in this program to study the word of God. 00:29 I invite you to get your bibles, a piece of paper and pencil 00:33 to take notes as we look into the word of God for answers. 00:36 And with us is Dr. Tom Shepherd. Yep. 00:39 And, Dr. Shepherd, you come from Andrews University 00:41 which is in Michigan, is that right? 00:43 That's correct. 00:44 You teach New Testament interpretation? 00:48 If you had a favorite Bible, 00:50 obviously in the New Testament, what is that? 00:53 A Bible book in the New Testament? Bible book. 00:56 Well, you know, I guess I'd have to say 1 Peter right now. 00:59 It's...really...theology. 01:02 I guess you can see I'm kind of 01:03 passionate about it as we talk about it. 01:05 But it's just--I've just been overwhelmed with 01:08 its wonderful interconnection of theological ideas. 01:13 And each time I come back to it 01:15 to look at a new aspect, 01:19 I was asked to write a paper on 01:20 Biblical anthropology from 1 Peter. 01:23 And I followed that through 01:26 and saw things I hadn't seen before. 01:28 It's like you always see new things 01:31 as you open the word of God. 01:32 Yes, and again you're very passionate about this book, 01:34 about teaching it and-- Yeah. 01:36 And explaining it and we are, 01:38 in fact, studying the Book of 1 Peter. 01:40 And last time, we've been talking about 01:41 all these different metaphors that Peter uses 01:45 and so maybe you want to continue--Yes. 01:48 Now we're coming--this section we're gonna read today, 01:51 we're gonna look at today is 1 Peter 2:4-10. 01:54 1 Peter 2:4-10 is our passage. 01:57 And this is the ending of the first section of the book. 02:01 And the first section of the book 02:03 tends to focus its attention on who the Christian community is 02:09 and defines us, describes us, 02:12 uses all these different metaphors, 02:15 all these different concepts, all this great theology 02:18 piled up one on top of the other, 02:20 so as to shall we say protect the Christian, 02:24 a wall, to protect the Christian 02:27 against the lure of the pagan world around them 02:34 and we can say today, the pagan world around us 02:37 that tries to reach in and grab us. 02:40 So it has this wonderful, you know, pictures. 02:44 Now this is the last of the metaphors instance. 02:47 It's not a mixed metaphor now. 02:48 It's not a dual metaphor but it's one last metaphor 02:51 that he's gonna describe in explaining 02:54 who the people of God are. 02:55 And that's in 1 Peter 2:4-10, 02:57 so that's where we should read right now. 02:59 1 Peter Chapter 2 and verse? Verses 4 through 10. 03:04 "Coming to Him as to a living stone, 03:06 rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. 03:11 You also, as living stones, 03:12 are being built up a spiritual house, 03:15 a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices 03:19 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 03:21 Therefore it is also contained in the scripture, 03:25 "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, 03:27 elect, precious, and he who believes on Him 03:31 will by no means be put to shame." 03:33 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious, 03:37 but to those who are disobedient, 03:39 "The stone which the builders rejected 03:41 has become a chief cornerstone," 03:44 and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." 03:49 They stumble, being disobedient to the word, 03:53 to which they also were appointed. 03:56 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 03:59 a holy nation, His own special people, 04:03 that you may proclaim the praises of Him 04:05 who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, 04:09 who once were not a people but now are the people of God, 04:14 who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." 04:20 Well, that's quite a passage, isn't it? It sure is. 04:23 The way it describes this, 04:26 this passage shows the divide between people, 04:33 people who honor and who value Jesus Christ 04:41 and people who do not honor and do not value Jesus Christ. 04:48 I'm reminded of a story that happened some years ago 04:52 of a gem dealer in the Mid-West. 04:56 His name was Morgan Sonsthagen and he's located in Denver. 05:01 I've spoken to him by phone actually before. 05:04 And he was visiting 05:08 one of these gem dealer shows, you know, 05:15 where there were people showing there different things 05:17 that you could buy and everything, 05:19 different gems that you could, 05:20 you know, take an interest in and you hear of people buying-- 05:24 Trading too? Yeah. 05:25 Trading and people buying something and-- Call it a... 05:28 They find out- We call it a flea market, you know? 05:30 Flea market kind of thing. 05:32 And so Morgan Sonsthagen saw this stone that was being used 05:36 as a paperweight on somebody's desk 05:39 and it was this red, this reddish stone. 05:44 And he asked about it. 05:47 He says, "How much is that stone?" 05:49 "Four, going four." 05:50 And he says, that guy says, "No, it's just a paperweight. 05:53 I'm not selling this. It's just a paperweight." 05:55 He says, "No, I want to buy it. 05:57 How much will you sell it to me for?" 05:58 He finally bargained for a price of $50. 06:02 And he thought that he had a particular kind of stone 06:06 that he'd purchased for this $50. 06:09 Well, he turned out, he went back, 06:12 then they started looking into this stone, 06:14 figuring out what it was and it turned out to be 06:17 a rare reddish stone that's found in only like 06:20 one place in China or something. 06:22 And they took the stone. 06:24 They had it cut into different gems. 06:27 And it turned out the stone's value was like $3,000. 06:33 And he just paid $50 for it. 06:35 Somebody was using it as a paperweight, you see. 06:38 Well, that's kind of an illustration 06:40 of the way people may think about Jesus. 06:43 To some, Jesus is just a paperweight. 06:46 He's just, you know, He's there, the church is there, 06:49 and they could care less and they don't have-- 06:51 it doesn't make any important part of their life. 06:54 But to other people, He's precious, you know? 06:56 And He is a precious stone 06:58 that becomes the cornerstone of their life, okay. 07:03 So we look at the text and we see how Apostle Peter starts. 07:07 As you come to Him, 07:09 that's the Jesus Christ, a living stone. 07:12 You know, that's an oxymoron again, 07:14 a living stone, stones are dead 07:16 but here it's called a living stone. 07:18 Why is He called living? 07:20 Because He was raised from the dead. 07:22 He was raised from the dead. 07:23 A living stone, notice, rejected by men. 07:27 But in the sight of God chosen and precious. 07:31 Now we're gonna find a little bit later in this book 07:34 that this idea of being aware of God's value on things 07:41 is a very important part of Christian life. 07:44 It's a very important thing to keep you on the right track. 07:48 Valuing things in the same way God values things, okay. 07:52 He was rejected by men 07:55 but he was chosen and precious by God. 07:59 And says, you yourselves, that's the Christians, 08:02 you yourselves like living stones 08:04 are being built up a spiritual house 08:08 to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices 08:11 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 08:14 Okay, so he's been playing 08:16 on this whole idea of a spiritual household, right? 08:20 And you're the children of God. You've been born-again. 08:23 You're the babies at His breast. You are receiving life from Him. 08:28 He is your father, you know, the household metaphors 08:32 just keep piling on top of one another. 08:34 And in case, maybe you missed it, 08:37 He piles another one here 08:39 and this time it's actual house that is being built. 08:42 You could say a temple 08:43 but it's the house of God that's being built. 08:46 And the cornerstone is Jesus. 08:50 Now here's the question. 08:53 In terms of a house or a building, a great structure, 08:58 what is it about the cornerstone that's so important? 09:03 You would think that it is the foundation that's important 09:05 but now it says, like, the cornerstone-- 09:07 Well, okay. 09:09 You would think of the foundational, 09:11 foundation stone but think of the foundation 09:13 if you want to dig down and think about that. 09:15 Okay, but what's important about that stone 09:17 that first one that you lay? 09:19 Um, maybe because it was the first one 09:21 that was laid on the foundation? 09:23 Yes, okay, the first one. 09:25 And it would have to be extremely strong, 09:28 wouldn't it? Mm-hmm. 09:29 Extremely strong, not only that 09:31 but when you lay the very first stone, 09:36 it sets the direction to the house. 09:40 That way, that way, and that way, okay. 09:45 So the cornerstone wherever you put the cornerstone, 09:49 gives you the total direction of the house. 09:51 The total geographic location of the house 09:55 is all set by that one stone 09:57 because it's right at the corner. 09:59 So it has all three dimensions in it, see. 10:01 So that becomes that which defines the house, 10:06 defines the house, so that's why the cornerstone 10:08 is so important, you see. 10:10 Jesus defines the house. 10:12 He defines Christian faith and everything is built on Him. 10:17 If it's not built on Him, it's not Christian. 10:20 So it becomes defined by its relationship to Him. 10:23 Now he quotes from the scripture 10:24 and we want to read that scripture. 10:26 It's from the Book of Isaiah and it's actually 10:28 two passages in Isaiah that relate to this. 10:30 So you will read one, I'll read the other. 10:32 The first is in Isaiah 8:11-15 10:36 and the other is in Isaiah 28:14-17, both in Isaiah. 10:40 Isaiah 8:11-15, that's where we'll start. 10:46 "For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand, 10:49 and instructed me that I should not walk 10:51 in the way of this people, saying, 10:53 'Do not say, 'A conspiracy,' 10:56 Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, 10:59 nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. 11:02 The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hollow, 11:05 let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. 11:09 He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling 11:13 and a rock of offense to both the house of Israel, 11:18 as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 11:21 And many among them shall stumble 11:24 and they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken." 11:28 All right. So here you have 11:31 a description of the people of Israel 11:36 going the wrong way, you see. 11:38 And he says to them, don't be afraid 11:40 of what they fear, nor be in dread 11:43 but you're supposed to honor the Lord of hosts. 11:45 You're supposed to fear Him. 11:47 He'll become a sanctuary and it says a stone of offense 11:51 and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel. 11:54 It's really a sad kind of a depiction here, 11:57 the very people of God going the wrong way, 12:00 stumbling over the stone instead of building upon it. 12:02 Now if we could turn to Chapter 28, 12:05 we get some similar ideas. 12:07 Isaiah 28:14-17. Isaiah 28:14-17. 12:12 It says this, "Therefore hear the word of the Lord, 12:14 you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. 12:20 Because you have said, 12:22 'We have made a covenant with death, 12:23 and with Sheol we have an agreement, 12:25 when the overwhelming whip passes through 12:28 it will not come to us, 12:30 for we have made lies our refuge, 12:32 and in falsehood we have taken shelter. 12:35 Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, 12:40 a stone, a tested stone, 12:43 a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation, 12:46 'Whoever believes will not be in haste.' 12:49 And I will make justice the line, 12:51 and righteousness the plumb line, 12:53 and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, 12:56 and waters will overwhelm the shelter." 12:59 What an experience. 13:01 They were going the way of lies 13:03 and notice God says that He has laid a precious cornerstone 13:06 and he will make justice the line 13:09 and righteousness the plumb line. 13:10 Now the plumb line is what you hold up here 13:13 and it shows you that all of your structure 13:15 is built along the same lines as the cornerstone. 13:19 And so God's plumb line is truth 13:22 that is being laid down to take 13:24 and make sure that the measurements are following 13:26 the precious cornerstone that has been laid by God. 13:31 Well, that's very interesting, 13:32 this metaphor that Peter is using 13:35 and I think we should continue hearing 13:37 more of these metaphors that Peter has. 13:39 We're gonna take a short break, Dr. Shepherd, 13:41 and we'll be right back after these messages. |
Revised 2014-12-17