Now you are the people of God

We all live from a story we believe to be true… whether we are conscious of it or not.

That story tells us about who we are and how we should expect people to act towards us.

It also tells us who Jesus is and what the church is.

The story you believe to be true is partially true, but only partially true.

Peter assumes that we have had an experience where we have experienced life with God, but also that we need to grow.

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

1 Peter 2:1-3

Peter reminds us who Jesus is… and how he was treated…

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—

1 Peter 2:4

It is very easy to see all that is wrong with the church. Every church is full of broken, immature and sinful people. There is also another reality that Peter wants his readers to glimpse.

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.

1 Peter 2:5

• Living Stones – The stones find their context in the spiritual house
• Holy Priesthood – Holy means set aside. A priest represents people to God and God to the people.

• Spiritual Sacrifices – Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Peter wants us to understand how Jesus becomes the fulfilment of the Old Testament, and that everything hinges on trusting him.

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.” (quoting Isaiah 28:16)
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,” (quoting Psalm 118:22)
and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.” (quoting Isaiah 8:14)
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

1 Peter 2:6-8

Peter now, by using a series of direct quotations from the Old Testament, directly links the church to the people of God in the Old Testament.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9-10

In contrast to the unbelieving “stumblers-over-the-stone,” Christians are the true people of God, who continue God’s purposes that began with Abraham and Moses. There is no passage in the New Testament that more explicitly associates the Old Testament terms for Israel with the New Testament church than this one.

Scott McKnight – NIVAC Commentary on 1 Peter

Peter is referencing passages like Exodus 19:5-6, Deuteronomy 26:18, Psalm 135:4. Hosea 1:6-11, 2:23

Peter now draws together the implications of all he has said so far, and lays the foundations for all he is about to say

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

1 Peter 2:11-12

We are in a battle, and its profoundly personal battle… it goes to the foundation of of our own motivations.

For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

Galatians 5:17

As we love Jesus and don’t let our self interest run our lives, we need to then work out what a good life that will be seen as good deeds by people outside the church.

How does this change your understanding of who you are, who Jesus is and who the church is?

Small Group Questions

1. When you hear the idea that “we all live from a story we believe to be true”, what do you think your story says about who you are and how others will treat you?
2. Where do you see that your “story” is only partially true? What experiences have exposed the gaps or limits in it?
3. Peter assumes we have “tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:3). What does that look like in your own life? Where have you genuinely experienced God?
4. Which of the attitudes Peter names (malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander) do you see most easily taking root in you—and what story underneath might be feeding that?
5. Peter describes Jesus as “rejected by humans but chosen by God” (1 Peter 2:4). How does that shape the way you understand rejection, disappointment, or misunderstanding in your own life?
6. What difference does it make to see the church not just as flawed people, but as “living stones… being built into a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5)?
7. Peter says we are a “chosen people, a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). How does that change the way you think about your role in everyday life—at work, home, or in your community?
8. Where do you feel the tension of the “battle” Peter describes (1 Peter 2:11)? What would it look like this week to live “such a good life” that others see something different?