Lesson 7: Holiness in action – understanding His plan

Read 1 Peter 2:1-25- https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1pe.2
 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,
5 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.
6 For it stands in Scripture: Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe – The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,
8 and – A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.

Have you ever been in a home in which a young child of about three or four years old lives? Did you ever get tired of hearing the question WHY? – repeated more times than you could count?


God never gets tired of our questions, of our longing to understand. He wants us to know much of His plan, though we are not able to understand it all while we live in human bodies which are unable to grasp it all. (For example, we are not yet even able to look into the sun, let alone see God in all His glory.) But the basics of His plan, as He has outlined it in the Bible, is something He does want us to understand. The whole of His plan we must believe by faith.

What is God’s plan that Peter gives us here? First, in Verse 4, we read about a living stone which was rejected by men but which God considered chosen and precious. This is about Jesus being rejected (John 1:1-11) when He came to earth the first time as a baby. But Peter also says WE are living stones being built into something. We also must expect to be rejected by people, just as Jesus was rejected and hated.

Verse 5 continues by telling us we are a holy priesthood for the purpose of offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. There was only one building on earth ever designed by God – the Tabernacle (Exodus 26-30). This Tabernacle was made of animal skins and fabric so it could be easily moved. Our verse says we are living stones. Stones tell us this house will be permanent. (See also Matthew 7:24-27.)

Verse 6 now describes Jesus as the Cornerstone – the part of the foundation which cannot be moved or changed without destroying the entire building. Since Jesus is eternal, so is His place as the foundation to which we as believers in Him are being added.

It is so easy for us to be drawn into the lie that God wants us who believe in Him to have pleasant lives here on earth; but the truth is, we will be rejected just as He was. We must not be surprised or despair over our trials and hardships. We must understand His plan – right now we are a building under construction.

*What promise does God give us in Romans 8:28 about the hardships we have here on earth?