The Priesthood of All Believers, Part Two

Christ is our only foundation. What is the foundation upon which your life is built? Is it false philosophies? Is it materialism? Is it pleasure by all means? Is it the idea that all religions are of equal value? If your life is founded upon the sand of falsehood, in due course it will fall with a great crash. It is time to investigate seriously the structural texture of your life. We must examine our foundations. Why? Only a life built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ will stand forever. Soon the storms of life will come against us. The rain will come down, the streams will rise, and the winds will blow against the structures of our lives. First Peter 2:4-8 tells us what the true foundation is upon which our lives can be built for permanence, lasting peace, and joy.

A False Foundation

If you ask the question, “What must I do to be saved?” there is a popular answer. The Roman Catholic church would say, “Look to the church and the priesthood of the church in which salvation is deposited by Christ. Look to the sacraments of the church. Jesus Christ built the church upon the foundation of Peter the apostle. He gave him the keys of the kingdom, meaning the authority to admit people to the kingdom of God and to put people out of it–authority to give life and the authority to condemn. This Peter, the foundation of the church and the one to whom Christ gave the keys of the kingdom, became the pope of the church of Rome, so salvation is to be found in the Roman Catholic church, because Peter was the first pope in Rome.”

According to the Roman Catholic church, then, salvation is to be found in that church where there is a successor to Peter, and within that church’s priestly class. This salvation comes to a person through the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance and extreme unction without reference to the subjective condition of the priest or the recipient of the sacraments. New life is created by baptism, brought to growth by confirmation, continually nourished by the sacrifice of the eucharist, and healed and cured of all weaknesses and disease by the sacraments of penance and extreme unction. The Roman priests alone are mediators because sinners cannot themselves draw near to God through Christ and obtain pardon and grace, but can only secure those blessings through the intervention of the priests of the Roman Catholic church.

In the Roman Catholic system, the priests are sacrificers who offer the real body and blood of Christ to God as an expiation of the sins of the people. They are intercessors with the power to forgive sins. They have the power of life and death. They possess the keys of the kingdom, meaning the highest power over people. This view reduces people to a state of absolute subjection and denies them access to God.

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ secured access to God for us by his literal, bloody sacrifice of himself, a sacrifice which the scripture declares to be unrepeatable, final, effectual for all time, and available to all who believe. The Bible says that every believer, without the human mediation of a priest, can with confidence come to God immediately in the name of Jesus Christ, our only High Priest, who has forever accomplished our eternal redemption and sat down on the right hand of God the Father. The Reformation declared this great freedom of access to God by every believer, and therefore, the Reformation broke the yoke of slavery for us. The Reformation destroyed the sacerdotal machinery of salvation and the religion of the medieval times, which taught that salvation could be bought and paid for.

Coming to Him

Speaking, then, of this access, 1 Peter 2:4, says, “as you come to him.” In the Greek it is a present participle, “coming to him.” And we must understand that Peter is not speaking about coming to Peter or the pope or the temple or the church or Jerusalem or Rome. What does it say? Coming to him.

Verse 3 tells us who this “him” is: “Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. . .” Who this Lord whom we have tasted and found to be gracious? Peter is quoting Psalm 34, in which “the Lord” means Jehovah, God the Savior, God of the covenant. Here St. Peter clearly identifies the Jehovah of the Old Testament as Jesus Christ. Peter, as well as other New Testament writers, gives Jesus the title “Lord,” which in the Old Testament was the title of the saving God, Jehovah. So he is not talking about coming to a pope, a priestly class, a certain pastor, or a particular church. We are coming to the Lord of the covenant, the Lord who is able to save, mighty to save. We are coming to Jesus Christ, the one who died and was buried, and on the third day according to the Scriptures was raised up by the glory of the Father, who ascended into the heavens and is seated on the right hand of God the Father. We are coming to Jesus Christ who is the Sovereign Lord of all, who is here by his Spirit: “If two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of him.”

Here we face a problem. How can anyone come to Christ if we believe in the doctrine of total depravity? That doctrine teaches that all are dead in trespasses and sins, that all are sinners and have turned away from God, that no one does good, that there is none righteous, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, that all are depraved, that all are wicked, that all are ungodly, that all are enemies, that all are sinners, and that all are without strength. How can any human being, then, come to this Savior, Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ? It is an absolute impossibility.

The Gospel Must Be Preached

God made a way for us to come. In accordance with God’s own divine plan we are told that God commissioned people to preach the gospel. Through the gospel God calls people to come to him, to fellowship with him, and to enjoy life and peace with him. Peter mentions this in 1 Peter 1:12: “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.” What we need is not a pope nor a priest to give us sacraments which operate ex opere operato , without reference to the subjective condition of the priest or the recipient, somewhat mechanically and automatically. What we really need is someone preaching the gospel–that Christ died for our sins and was raised up for our justification. That is very important.

The gospel was preached to these people. In 1 Peter 1:22 we read, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” They could obey the truth, which was the gospel preached to them. And in verse 25 of the same chapter Peter writes, “And this is the word that was preached to you.” In other words, the gospel must come to dead people. Oh, they may be very active, very accomplished, very learned people. But until they are born again, they are dead, totally insensitive to the eternal verities and realities. But to such people this gospel call comes and God says, “Come! Come to me.”

Born Again Ones Come

What else must take place for us to come to him? First Peter 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope. . .” And in 1 Peter 1:23 Peter tells us, “for you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God which was preached to you.”

The dead must be raised up! He who calls you through the gospel also causes you to be born again. Once you are born again, you able to come to him and trust in him. Look at 1 Peter 1:21: “Through him you believe in God. . .” You see, faith is a coupling. You are connected to God by faith, and that faith is the result of your being born of God. In 1 Peter 2:7 Peter says, “Now to you who believe. . .” meaning not just the first time you trusted in Christ, but as you continue to believe as a Christian. But first the gospel call must come, and in that context God in his great mercy causes us to be born again through the Spirit. Our eyes and ears are opened, and we are sensitized toward heaven. We are able to turn our eyes upon Jesus. Before we could not do it, but now we can. Now we understand.

Additionally, in 1 Peter 2:1-3, we are told that as we come to him, we must put away all wickedness, all guile, all hypocrisy, all envy, and such, and that we should crave as newborn babes the spiritual, unadulterated milk which is the word of God. If you are born of God, you will be sensitized toward eternal things, put away sinful habits, and come to him. What are some ways we can come to him? We come to him by reading the Bible. We come to him through prayer. We come to him by coming to church to hear the word of God in which Jesus Christ is placarded as Christ crucified and raised up, as our Savior and Lord. And as we come to him, we are enamored and charmed by his glory, transcendence, and majesty.

How Do We Come?

Praise God for this glorious access we have to God! Coming to him, proserchomai , is a technical religious word Peter used which speaks about drawing near to God. In Psalm 24 David asked, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?” and we know that Jesus Christ, the great High Priest, did ascend. He offered himself to God as the perfect, final, acceptable sacrifice, and now he is bringing many people with him who are now able to ascend to the hill of the Lord through him. So when Peter says “coming to him,” he uses this word to mean a religious exercise of drawing near to God to hear his word, to worship him, to offer spiritual sacrifices to him. We see this word several times also in the book of Hebrews. To fully understand this idea of coming, let us examine three verses from the gospel of John. In John 6:37 Jesus said, “All the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” But in John 6:44 Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Jesus speaks of people coming to him, but there is total inability to come to God on our own. We see this all the time. Why does your child refuse to love Jesus Christ? Why is he arrogant, disobedient, wicked, and passionate about everything else except God? What is the reason? That child is not born again. No one can come to Jesus Christ unless the Father draws him, and that drawing is through new birth.

In John 6:65 Jesus said, “This is why I told you no one can come to me unless the Father enabled him.” So there are a lot of people who do not come to Jesus Christ, and that means many who do not come to the Father, because it is only through Jesus Christ that anyone can come to the Father. But as Jesus said in verse 37, all those the Father has given him will come.

Who Comes to Christ?

Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me. . .” Let me tell you, those who are the elect of God are the Father’s gift to the Son. Only the chosen ones, the elect of God, will in time be given new birth and ability to come to God. Their eyes will be opened and they will become so fascinated with the Bible, with the gospel, with Jesus Christ, and with heaven. They will be so fascinated with the love and great mercy of the Father that they will devote themselves to the service of this Father and his Son. Many people will not come, but some will come. Why? They are drawn by the Father through effectual calling and regeneration.

People throughout the world are drawing near to Christ. Rich and poor, men and women, Jews and Gentiles–they have been coming for a long time. They are coming while others are not coming. What is the difference? New birth. Divine choice.

In Matthew 11:27 Jesus made a very important statement: “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Coming to him means coming to whom? To Jesus Christ. He is the Savior–God’s gift to us. But no one can come to him unless that person understands who this Jesus Christ is. And the Son reveals himself only to certain people who then begin to understand who Jesus Christ is. Jesus continued in verse 28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” All to whom this revelation is given will come. And to those who come Jesus promises he will give rest, contentment, peace, tranquility, and joy. All sinners must come, and energized by the Father, given understanding into the Son, they will come.

Peter had to come. He was a sinner, wasn’t he? He had to come just like everyone else and so he could write in this epistle that we all are coming. But we come individually, on our own. No person can effectually bring another to God by dragging that person along. So if you are wise you will pray, “O God, give that person new birth. Reveal the glory of your Son into his heart until he will know Jesus is the precious one, the greatest gift of God to man.”

Coming to Be Built Together

When you come, you are coming to the living Stone, Jesus Christ. He is the foundation, the cornerstone, the capstone, in relation to whom you are built up into a spiritual house. Some people like solo Christianity. They will say, “I am a Christian because I love Jesus Christ, but I don’t know much. I don’t have any one church; I just come and go. I may choose to go to one place, but if I decide I don’t like this place, I will go to another place.” That is not what church means. We come individually, but immediately we are built up into a spiritual house in relation to the church corporate.

Americanism means individualism, but that is not how the Bible is telling us to behave. In the church of Christ, the individual is for all, and all are for the individual. It is a community built upon the foundation of the living Stone, Jesus Christ. Jesus is not only just the living Stone, but he makes others alive also. Adam was a living soul, but Jesus Christ, the last Adam, became a life-giving spirit, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:45. He gives life to you, and you are made alive. And as you come to him, you are built in relation to Christ the foundation and to every other person in the church.

That is what a biblical church is. It does not mean that I do my thing when I want how I want. I have been made alive by Christ, my eyes have been opened into eternal truths, into heaven, into God, into eternal life, into great salvation, into Christ my Savior, and therefore, I am drawn by the Father to him. And as I come, we meet with everyone else. The church is a community, an edifice, a temple, if you want to use that metaphor, and it is the most glorious temple ever built on this earth, because it is built not with gold or silver, but with Christ himself as the foundation. Christ is the builder of this temple and everyone in it is made alive in Jesus Christ. This temple sparkles. Why? Because the glory of God, the glory of holiness, rests in this temple. God’s church is the light of the world.

There is no solo business in the church. In Ephesians 2:19-22 Paul writes, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens. . .” meaning we are no longer hopeless, dead people, without God and without hope in the world, strangers. No, we have been made alive! He continues, “but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone,” that is, the foundation. “In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.” It is a beautiful temple, not made of stones, sixty-nine feet long, twelve feet wide, and thirteen feet high. Such stones were used to build the temples in Jerusalem. No, this temple is made of people, living stones, built on the foundation of the living Stone. “In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together. . .” Notice, you are coming by divine enablement and God is building you in relation to Christ and in relation to one another. You are not building yourself up. God is doing it. And finally, “you are being built together to become a dwelling place in which God lives by his Spirit.” That is the church–God living in us by his Spirit.

Christ Is the Living Stone

So we come to Christ, the living Stone, to be built upon him into a holy temple in which God dwells by his Spirit. But notice in 1 Peter 2:4 Peter says this Stone is rejected by men. Peter uses a perfect passive participle meaning that people have rejected this Stone in the past and it is still being rejected.

What is Peter referring to? He is talking about people’s reaction to Jesus Christ. When the gospel is proclaimed, who is placarded? Jesus Christ, the God/man who died for our sins and was raised again, exalted by the Father, the Sovereign King of the universe. And those who hear the gospel, the builders, inspect Christ like those inspecting a stone. They look him over, this way and that way. They turn him over and look under him. They make a very careful inspection.

The religious authorities of Jesus’ day were builders. They inspected Jesus Christ. They sent people to listen to follow him everywhere, to ask him questions. The Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, elders, priests, members of the Sanhedrin, Annas and Caiaphas–they all examined Jesus. They looked at him again and again, hearing him, analyzing him, judging him. What did they conclude? That Jesus was a Samaritan, a wine-bibber, a friend of “sinners,” a glutton, demon-possessed, a blasphemer, despised and rejected by men. So these authorities heard the gospel, but they rejected it saying, “This Stone is worthless. We cannot build with this Stone.”

Have you done that? Is Jesus Christ still rejected by you? You may have come to church and read the Bible. Your parents may have taught you about Christ. Did you reject him, taking this Stone and throwing it into the rubble pile? Now, the builders who reject Christ are still building. They have other stones. All religions of the world are building, finding all kinds of stones to build with. They have human philosophies and human ideas, which they consider worthwhile, but they reject the one whom God the Father sent to the world for our salvation.

Yes, these builders saw Christ’s miracles, heard his teachings, and even heard that he was raised up from the dead. But they did not accept him.

The Stone the Builders Rejected

In Acts 3:13-15 Peter spoke about the rejection by the builders of this Stone, Jesus Christ. “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate. Though he had decided to let him go, you disowned the Holy and Righteous One, and asked that a murderer be released to you.” In their estimation, Barabbas the murderer was worthy, but they rejected Jesus.

Oh, we get upset about these people rejecting Jesus Christ, but isn’t that what we do when we refuse to believe in him? Look again at 1 Peter 2:4. The text tells us this Stone was “rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him.” Think about that. When you reject Jesus Christ, you are rejecting God who considers him to be chosen and precious. God the Father looks upon his Son, and in his analysis he is precious and priceless. This Jesus is chosen before the foundation of the world, from all eternity, to be the Savior of his people. He is precious to God.

God the Father gives Jesus the highest valuation. In Romans 8:32 Paul says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up. . .” God gave up his own Son, whom he values with the fullness of heavenly valuation. Concerning him that the Father said, “You are my Son whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). And again God spoke of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, “This is my Son whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matt. 17:5). What about us? What are we doing with this one? Are we still looking him over and coming to the conclusion that he is worthless? Are we rejecting him? As we read this, is there a sense of mocking in our hearts? Are we impressed by Ph.D.s., by cars, by silver and gold, by palaces and jewels, by charismatic sex symbols, but not by Jesus? When we look at Jesus, does there rise within us a certain rejection of this precious one whom God estimates very, very highly?

Precious and Chosen by God

What was God’s estimation of his Son? In Hebrews 1 the writer tells us, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe.” Do you see the high valuation? God has appointed his Son heir of all things and the Creator of the whole universe. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory,” meaning he is God, “and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things”–all created things in the universe– “by his powerful word” (Heb. 1:1-3). This one gave you existence and sustains you every moment of your life. Your heart is beating now because of him. That is God’s valuation. This one is God.

In the book of Colossians Paul writes concerning Jesus Christ, “He is before all things and in him all things hold together. And he is the Head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things. . .” (Col. 1:17-20). And in Colossians 2:9 Paul writes,”For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” That is the preciousness of Jesus Christ.

Have you thought about Jesus Christ in this way? And let me add, he is also the foundation stone laid in Zion by God the Father. Peter writes, “For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame'” (1 Peter 2:6). He is the foundation stone, the precious stone, the cornerstone, the head stone, the capstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be ashamed. That means assurance of total salvation. This verse tells us that there is no other stone given by God through which we can have salvation.

Have You Come to Him?

Have you come to him? You may have already lived a long life, and may have even gone to church all your life. But if you say you are a Catholic, I say it means nothing. If you say you are Protestant, I say it means nothing. If you say you have been baptized as an infant, I say it means nothing. Even if you say you have been baptized as an adult, I say it means nothing. My question is, have you come to him? To do that, you must be given new life. If you have been given new life, you will come to him, trust in him, and rest in him. When your valuation of Jesus Christ corresponds to the valuation given to him by his Father, I would say that you have been given new birth.

We are told in 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 that Satan has “blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Is this true of you? If so, I pray that God will make his light shine in your heart to give you “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Then you will value him as precious. You will come to him, trust in him, and be saved for eternity. Amen.