Presence Weekly 12/2/2024, "The Paradox of Our Purpose: A Contrast of Perspective"

2 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. ² Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 

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.” 

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 1 Peter 2:1–8.

As we discussed last week, understanding that our primary purpose is to seek the glory of God rather than ourselves inevitably includes a reorienting of our cravings. The importance of our cravings as they pertain to our nourishment is a crucial aspect of what Peter has to say about the paradox of our purpose. 

Individual versus Community

First, seeking the glory of God places us on a singular and corporate mission. Our calling to seek the glory of God is not just ours but is shared by all other Christians everywhere. This unity of purpose is clarified in our calling to participate in Christ’s mission of making all things new. While God has placed each of us in unique contexts with unique gifts, it is through the shared mission of our offering of foretastes of Christ’s coming kingdom through our unique settings that we bring glory to God. 

In the West, much of the past 100 years has produced a preference for individual autonomy and pleasure-seeking. When we look at Peter’s words, however, we see that he was grounding his readers not in their autonomous desires but in their corporate purpose. As members of Christ’s body, we are moved out of an individualized agenda and into a community-based endeavor of cooperation. 

Second, seeking the glory of God is something that we do based on where God has placed us. It’s easy to read past the phrase, “You yourselves are being built up as a spiritual house,” but we cannot miss this key component of our role related to God’s sovereignty. Contrary to much of what our present culture communicates, we are not in the driver's seat regarding our role in serving and leading in Christ’s mission of making all things new. Instead, it is the Father who has that role. He is the builder; we are the bricks. He is the director; we are the actors. This fits with Peter’s earlier statement that we are elect exiles “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” We do not work our way into our preferred role in the drama of redemption. Quite to the contrary, our Father is the one who has placed us where he desires for his purposes. 

While some might find this demeaning, it is actually the opposite. Personal autonomy and individual glory-seeking places all of the work and effort on the individual. Success and failure depend entirely upon each person’s efforts. What’s more, consider the implications of two different individuals or groups having conflicting understandings of their purpose. They are constantly working to outflank or undermine the other to advance themselves, even at the expense of others. 

The disciples provide an excellent example of this misplaced understanding and self-focused approach: 

³⁵ And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶ And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” ³⁷ And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” ³⁸ Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹ And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” ⁴¹ And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. Mark 10:35–41.

Peter is articulating a better way. Rather than bearing the burden of building our own kingdom, we can take comfort in the reality that we are being built into a spiritual house with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Just as he created a contrast in our cravings, Peter also drew a contrast between what we are being built into and who is doing the building.

Now, we can understand the paradoxical implications of Peter’s words: “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.”

A Critical (yet odd) Foundation 

Just as was true with spiritual milk, this spiritual house is, indeed, a real house and a better one than anything that we could build ourselves into. The spiritual house Peter is referring to is, of course, the Church. 

As is the case with any building project, the key is to have a good foundation. The foundation that Peter presents is Christ, the cornerstone. At this point, we might recall that it is Peter, the “rock” upon whom Christ said he was planning to build his church, who wants the elect exiles to understand that they are being built into a spiritual house, the foundation of which is not him but Christ. 

The imagery that he is evoking here is of a large, firm stone that is perfectly true and level. A stone that, as you build upon it, results in a building that is true and level. But, again, quite paradoxically, Peter points out something unexpected about this cornerstone: it doesn’t look like one! Jesus, for all the popular appeal of the social aspects of his mission, was a stone that everyone rejected. It was especially rejected by “builders” - who we should rightly understand as referring to the religious leaders of the day. 

Peter drives his point home by quoting a series of Old Testament passages. He starts with Isaiah 28:16, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes [“in Him”] will not be in haste [“put to shame”]. 

He then quotes Psalm 118:21-22, “I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. ²² The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

Peter ends this flurry with Isaiah 8:14-15, ^“And He will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.” 

No one understood that Jesus was a stumbling stone better than Peter. After confessing Jesus as Christ, Peter says that Jesus cannot be crucified (Mark 8). This is because Peter had other ideas of what victory in Jesus would look like and how the disciples were being called to bring glory to God.

Here is where the paradox of our purpose brings us the hope of the gospel. The gospel saves us from the futility of building ourselves into a house with a shaky foundation and a temporary legacy. Instead, it places us in a beautiful building with an unshakeable foundation. 

The people in the 1^st century are just like us. They didn’t want to be different or persecuted or thought of as insignificant. They wanted a legacy. Many of us have spent our lives in the public square trying to become someone or build something valued. Neither is improper unless they are disconnected from or prioritized over our God-given calling. When we do, as James and John did with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem, we will always fall short of the honor we were created to receive because we seek honor from people rather than our Father. 

Brick or Builder

There are many implications of embracing the brick rather than builder role of living stones being built into a spiritual house. 

First, we understand that the people that we work alongside, especially the Christians, were placed next to us by God. They are our teammates, not our competitors, and certainly not our enemies. They are fellow voices in a multipart harmony created to sing praises to our Father. 

Second, seeing ourselves as brick rather than builder reminds us of the importance of discipleship, ours and each other’s. Like any brick in a building, we bear a significant weight load over a long period of time. Our strength and integrity have implications not just for ourselves but for the whole building. Promoting the other bricks’ strength and integrity through their discipleship is also in our best interest. 

Third, and this requires perspective, we realize that we are just a brick alone, but when we see ourselves “as living stones being built up as a spiritual house,” we see a beauty and purpose that was not possible alone. 

When we come to Christ and experience the whole-life discipleship that God intends for us, we rejoice in the fact that He is the one building us into a spiritual house. 

One with a very special purpose. 

Questions for application

Seeing yourself as a living stone being built into a spiritual house, what decisions could you make to strengthen yourself and to strengthen the house? 

How does this clarify the implications of the cravings of the flesh vs craving pure spiritual milk? How can our cravings illuminate whose glory we are seeking? 

• Cabinet Agency: Servants and leaders at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, in their efforts to ensure the gifts given for Christmas are safe and will not burn your house down. 
• Think Tank, Lobby group, NGO: The staff at The Toy Association who advocate for and “lead the health and growth of the U.S. toy industry, which has an annual U.S. economic impact of $157.5 billion, and its more than 900 members drive the annual $41 billion U.S. domestic toy market.”
• Weekly delegation: The Congressional delegation from the state of New Jersey. 
• News: Staff at the Department of Energy who are working on the recently announced $30 million initiative to “accelerate the interconnection process for new energy generation through the introduction of artificial intelligence techniques through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The new Artificial Intelligence for Interconnection (AI4IX) program will develop partnerships between software developers, grid operators (including Regional Transmission Operators (RTOs) and Power Marketing Administrations), and energy project developers to modernize the interconnection application process and significantly reduce the time required to review, approve, and commission new generation interconnections across the country.” 
• Personal requests: For a couple dealing with two sick kids. For another couple who are both in consideration for high-profile positions in the new administration. For someone trying to close on their dream property. For someone who is dealing with the recent loss of a parent. For a staffer trying to finish up this semester’s academic work on their Master’s degree while juggling work and family. 

• Read this first → The C.S. Lewis Institute is offering a wonderful advent devotional that features daily reflections on passages from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, insights from archaeology and biblical history, and exploration of biblical prophecies and their fulfillment in the coming of Jesus the Messiah.
• Read this next → The Gospel Coalition has a spot-on piece that underscores and affirms why Faithful Presence considers vocational formation a part of whole-life discipleship, “You Already Work a Christian Job.”
• The Washington Post has a well-investigated article on the full-court press that occurred to shut down the “No Labels” initiative in the recent election and the lawsuits underway to hold people accountable.
• National Review has a must-read essay for new staffers in Washington, “One Thing New D.C. Staffers Must Understand about Their Jobs.”
• Mere Orthodoxy recently posted a very relevant piece on one of the key issues Christians must navigate in the public square, “Beginning Again With Power: The Problem of Bureaucracy.”

• Monday, Dec. 2, 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm ET, The American Enterprise Institute will host an in-person event, “America at 250: Natural Rights, the Common Good, and the American Revolution,” with Robert P. George, Yuval Levin, Adam J. White, and John Yoo.
• Prioritize this → Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2:30 pm—4:00 pm ET, Brookings Institute will host an in-person event to outline their insights on a policy roadmap from the Bipartisan Policy Center for the next administration, “Toward a potential grand bargain for the nation.” This event is in collaboration with the American Enterprise Institute and will address a different perspective from that offered by the Heritage Foundation’s much-discussed “Project 2025.”
• On Thursday, Dec. 5, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm ET, the Aspen Institute will host a hybrid event on “How Person-Centered Practices Can Advance Financial Security” as part of its ongoing efforts to increase flourishing and financial security across a larger number of socio-economic segments.
• Daily, 11:00 - 8:00 pm, The Downtown DC Holiday Market will occupy the street and sidewalk on F Street between 7th and 9th Streets, NW. Now in its 20th year, its bright lights bring Penn Quarter and Chinatown to life, providing a holiday spark to the neighborhood.
• Daily, 12:00 - 8:00 pm, The DC Holiday Market at Dupont Circle will feature 30-plus small businesses with artisans, boutique brands, worldwide handcrafts, and unique gift items from Nov. 22 to Dec. 15.
• Daily, Nov. 29 – Dec. 5, DC Cocktail Week features dozens of DC restaurants participating in this celebration of mixology curated by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington.

First released over 60 years ago, Harry Blamiers’ work, The Christian Mind: How Should A Christian Think, is one that had eluded me out of ignorance until recently. Blamiers was a friend of C.S. Lewis, who encouraged him to begin writing. Once he did, his works influenced a generation of Christian thinkers like Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, John Stott, Tim Keller, and Christopher Watkin.

Although written during the cultural upheaval of the 1960s, The Christian Mind remains a critical and helpful work for today because it is not primarily a diagnosis of secularism’s impact on society but a polemic against the secular reasoning of the Christian who seeks to respond. Blamiers’ argument is that Christians have mostly embraced an Enlightenment-influenced and reason-based approach to navigating culture. Without regrounding our minds in presuppositional, Biblical thinking about what is true and what to do, we are only delaying our own eventual decay into the ideological and cultural degradation that concerns us. Further, our evangelical (read: missional) response is likely to not only be inadequate but may actually be working against God’s redemptive plan. For anyone seeking to know how to categorize what is good, what is mission, what is broken, and what is evil, let alone the proper response - this book is an essential read!