Honored and privileged (I Peter 2:4-8)

We're looking this week at ways that believers are special. We are honored as Christians, and we have privileges that we may not spend a lot of time thinking about!
Last time, we talked about the privilege of continually, daily, coming to our Lord, whether in prayer, worship, or study.
Today, let's look back at our focus passage and zero in on verse 5:

you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (I Peter 2:5)

As believers, we are being compared to living stones that are being built into a house. To understand this, think again about Christ being the first living stone; He is the foundation of the house. Jewish Christians might have been puzzled by this from Peter. After all, they would be thinking about the temple, the Old Testament house of God, and that was made of dead stones. There was no life within them.
But in the New Testament, the new covenant with believers, God's temple is the living people of God. Let's look at a passage that is pretty familiar to all of us:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)

Paul was chiding the Corinthians for sexual impurity, but the concept he lays out here is important. Here is another verse where Paul hammers home his point:

This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel    after that time, declares the Lord.I will put my laws in their minds    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,    and they will be my people. (Hebrews 8:10)

Instead of tablets of stone within the walls of the temple, God's new covenant meant that the laws would be within us. We will be His people, and we will be built into the house of God.
Is this getting any clearer? Or have I muddied the water? (Grin)

What a privilege to be the temple of God! To have His presence daily!
Let's look at some practical applications here.....
Because we are the temple of God, we need each other.
Oy vey, such a truth! How many times have I been stirred to repent or to rejoice because of what y'all have written, either in the comments, or in personal correspondence! You see, stones aren't of much use by themselves. Just like modern-day bricks. They are of little usefulness alone, one at a time. But when used alongside other bricks or stones, their usefulness is maximized. In the same way, we were not called to walk in the faith alone. We need one another. In another part of Corinthians, Paul compares the believers to parts of the body, and says we can't function well without each other! We can much more easily complete the mission that God has called us for, if we work together!

Also, because we are the temple of God, we should realize that the process of building is ongoing; it's not yet complete. Like new homes being constructed, we are in a continual process of building. Some folks say with a grin, "God's not finished with me yet!" And there is a truth there.....let's not get discouraged when we see sin or failure in the church. Let's not give up on ourselves when we see sin or failure in our own lives. Don't quit....don't give up. It's a process. We are being built into the temple of God.

I've heard an illustration of the unity of believers in geometric terms. Don't worry, I wasn't that good at math or geometry; I'm not going to go all professorish on you! But think about this: a triangle. Believers are on two of the corners, and Christ is at the peak. If we are working our way closer to Christ at the top, we are getting closer to one another, too. Folks who spend less time with God, will be the ones who find more to complain about, and more to be upset about. If we focus on getting closer to Christ, we will find more joy with the other members of the house of God. (Just sayin'.)

Another application is this -- because we are the temple of God, everything we do can be worship. This would have been a real stretch for Peter's believers who read this letter....they were accustomed to traveling to the temple to offer sacrifices to the Lord. But in the new covenant, we are the temple, and everything that we do can be done for His glory.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (I Corinthians 10:31)

Lastly, because we are His temple, we need to be holy. Wow, we could camp here and study for quite a while. (Grin) In the Old Testament, everything in the temple was set apart as holy. Even the food, the curtains, the cups for drinking. Now that we are the house of God, we need to learn more about this concept. Here is what Paul told the Ephesians:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  (Ephesians 3:16-17a)

Here I go again, getting nerdy about the words....Christ was already dwelling in their hearts, because they were believers. What is Paul talking about?  In the original language, there were two words for "dwell," and that is where the difference is. One talks about dwelling as a visitor, and the other means to dwell as a resident - to always be there.
Is Christ "at home" in us? Or does He feel like a visitor? What do I mean? I think in many believers' lives, and in some churches, Jesus may not feel at home, but feel like a visitor. Their lives aren't fully in His will; they are not within the Spirit's control and guidance. Christ is not consulted about their careers, their friendships, their courtships, nor their entertainment. He is not treated as the owner of the home, but as a visitor. Remember in Ephesians when Paul tells them not to "grieve the Holy Spirit"?  All of us can grieve the Spirit by our thoughts, our actions, and our words. So we need to seek to make Christ at home in our lives, by practicing holiness.

Are there things in our lives that we can think of that would grieve the Spirit? That would make Jesus feel uncomfortable, instead of feeling right at home?