Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from 1 Pet. 2. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Peter wrote in our text: “So the honor is for you who believe.” Do you consider it an “honor” that you have Christian faith? The unbelieving world in which we live, does not consider it an “honor” or even “honorable” to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They look at Christian faith as merely a “religion,” and consider that religion is only necessary for the weak people. Strong people, intellectual people, well-educated people have left religion behind and do not need it. This includes a rejection of Christianity.
- We think this wrong, and pitiful, that anyone would reject so great a gift of forgiveness, mercy, life, and salvation. So we speak of Christ’s love to others – how could we not, if we truly believe in God’s wondrous love for all people. And when we do speak out, we are pushed back by those who consider all religion as weak and dishonorable. And in popular culture – the entertainment we view in movies, on television, on the internet, on news programs, Christianity is often diminished and treated as a pitiful and misguided notion.
- How much of this “cultural” view of Christianity has penetrated our own thinking, perhaps our subconscious view of people who have Christian faith? It has some effect, I’m sure, and for some Christians it has poisoned their minds so that they reject a Christian life – disputing and rejecting certain teachings of God’s Word, drifting away from worship and the hearing God’s Word, and finally forsaking altogether the life of the church, the fellowship of God’s people.
- We who wish to remain loyal to God, and firm in faith, must continue to band together and to “EMBRACE THE HONOR OF FAITH.” We must uphold this honor – and uphold one another by honoring those who have also believed, our fellow Christians. It is hard to properly weigh the value of our dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and to honor them highly enough. To help prevent the decay of Christian faith, Peter urges us to:
I. Always Long For The Pure Spiritual Milk Of God’s Word, The Gospel
Text: “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. . . . Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.”
Statement: It is hard to imagine that anyone associated with the church would not have “tasted that the Lord is good.” This is the whole of the life of the church – tasting the wondrous goodness of the Lord, His mercy, His forgiveness, His love, His salvation, His free gift of eternal life, and the assurance of His blessing upon us now and forever! I suppose it is possible, that some have been part of the church, but have never consumed God’s goodness because of unbelief. This would have to be considered among the most tragic things, to be in close proximity to the “water of life” and yet to refuse to drink of it!
Application: I trust that you have “tasted that the Lord is good.” And I trust that you continue to crave the “pure spiritual milk” of God’s Word. This is the antidote to the spiritually erosive influence of the world around us, to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. And if we do this we will grow in our faith and trust in God, and we will have a greater sense of “THE HONOR OF FAITH,” the honor which is for you who believe.
Transition: As you might expect, the Word of God places the dishonor not on those who believe, but rather asserts that:
II. Sadly, The Unbelieving Stumble On Christ, Condemning Themselves And Bringing Dishonor Upon Themselves
Text: “But for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,’ and ‘a stone of stumbling and rock of offense.’ They stumble because they disobey the Word, as they were destined to do.”
Statement: God’s gift of love to the world, His own beloved Son Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world, Who has healing power and authority – how can it be that anyone would reject such a gift? How is this to be viewed as “honorable,” this ingratitude that is buttressed by self-deception and lying? Such may be honored by their own kind, but certainly not by God. And there is no question that their miserable being and horrid future is of their own choosing, indeed, their own insistence.
Application: We can understand and empathize with them – our sinful nature is filled with the same kinds of obstacles to faith, and we have our weaknesses and doubts. But through God’s Word we can see this for what it is – nothing positive or valuable, but something dangerous and damnable. So rather than embracing such thinking, we rather repent of it with deep and sincere sorrow, that our darkness is such that we could actually consider rejecting God’s gift in Christ, and His newness of life. And this provides us with new opportunities to “taste that the Lord is good,” to experience His patient, enduring, long-suffering, and eternal mercy and love for us.
Transition: And as we grow in faith through the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word, we come to appreciate more fully that:
III. Believers Are Honored To Be God’s Temple, His Spiritual Priests
Text: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession.”
Text: “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.”
A. It Is Our Honor And Privilege To Proclaim God’s Excellencies, To Share His Love And Salvation With Others
Text: “that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him Who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.”
B. It Is Our Honor And Joy, Knowing God’s Love And Gift Of Salvation, To Be His People
Text: “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.”
C. And Always At The Center Of Our Joy Is The Assurance That We Live Constantly In God’s Mercy
Text: “Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Statement: Embracing the honor of faith is not finding honor within ourselves; just the opposite, it is marveling in the wondrous work of God in bringing us into His marvelous light, to faith in Jesus Christ. It is not so much focusing on some “status,” but rather rejoicing in what the power of God’s love is able to accomplish in us. It is rejoicing in the blessed life of faith which God has given to us, which brings honor and glory to Him.
Application: This continues to grow stronger within us as we drink in God’s love through the pure spiritual milk of His Word. The more we sense and grasp the honor that God bestows upon us through faith, the more we will crave His pure spiritual milk! And the more accurately the words of Peter will fit us, that we are His people who proclaim the excellencies of God to all the world – both in our words and in our way of life.
Conclusion: Unbelieving people can continue to conceal their moral depravity behind intellectual arguments against “THE HONOR OF FAITH,” but they cannot deny the effects of God’s love in the lives of His dear people. We see that in the flood recovery, that “it is always the Christians who do the rebuilding.”
It is the pure spiritual milk of the Gospel, and the faith which God has blessed us with, His embrace of goodness, mercy, and love which creates, empowers, and compels such a life – which is indeed honorable! May God enable us to grasp these things, so that humbly and reverently we also “EMBRACE THE HONOR OF FAITH.” Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.