Becoming Like Christ Through Fellowship (1 Peter 2:4-12)                                                        2009.05.17     Pastor Richard Yu

I’ve suggested that we can grow to be like Christ through a four-prong approach that includes Worship, Instruction, Fellowship and Evangelism. We have also followed a Biblical principle in trying to put this approach in a rather simple framework:  First, we become like what we worship; therefore we become Christ-like when we practice Christ-centered worship. Second, we become like what we feed our mind with; therefore we become Christ-like when we properly receive instruction in the Lord and allow the word of Christ dwell in us richly.

The third prong is about Fellowship. I am not referring to the kind of gatherings over coffee or meal, and structured around some program or activity, which is the format we usually see in our fellowship gatherings. What I mean by “fellowship” in the context of intentional growth to be Christ-like, is that we keep ourselves in the company of God’s people, we engage in the lives of fellow believers, and allow ourselves to be vulnerable and transparent so as to allow fellow believers engage in our lives.

"A man is known by the company he keeps" is a familiar proverb, which is an obvious lesson in human nature and relationships. Therefore we become Christ-like when we regularly engage in Christ-embodied fellowship with fellow believers.  But most importantly, we become Christ-like when we keep Him as our companion, when we consistently are in His company.

Many Biblical passages warn us against keeping bad company, e.g., Proverbs 4:10-19 and Psalm 1:1. On the other hand, Paul encourages Timothy to “pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22). Therefore to grow to be more Christ-like, our priority ought to be keeping company with God’s people; but not to the exclusion of non-believers.

But how would keeping company with God’s people contribute to our growth to become Christ-like? The answer has to do with the kind of people we are as God’s people. 1 Peter 2:4-12 speaks of two distinct features of the people of God – their character and conduct. In this passage Peter spoke of Christians collectively as God’s Temple but clearly had in mind the Solomon’s Temple, or the Temple built by Herod the Great in Jesus’ time. His intention was to associate the idea of the Temple with the church, and no doubt his readers would have caught on this idea.

The physical Temple in the past was God’s institution. The Temple was where God domiciled with His glory; the center of God’s revelation; what defines Israel; where the covenant was carried out; where the sacrifices were made to atone for the sins of the Israelites; and the pattern which pointed to the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate priest, the ultimate forgiveness of sin in Jesus Christ. We must hold all of these imageries in mind in order to appreciate what Peter says here.

I. The Character of God’s People:  (1) They are living stones. Christ is said to be the Living Stone. Peter calls him a cornerstone based on prophecies in the Old Testament (cf. Os. 118:22; Is. 28:16). The cornerstone constrains the building, it determines the angle of the walls.  The result of coming to him is that we are also shaped into living stones prepared for use in a spiritual building. Christ the Living Stone is the prototype for believers, who are also living stones, chosen by God.

(2) A spiritual house. As living stones, we are built into a "spiritual house." Christ builds individual Christians into a spiritual temple. Paul says "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you" (1 Cor. 3:16)? That's a reference to the local church, not to individuals. We also read in Ephesians 2:21-22 that Christians collectively are “joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord . . . to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

(3) A holy priesthood. Christians are not merely the passive building where God dwells; all of us are also the active participants in worship as priests.

II. The Conduct of God’s People:  (1) They are to exercise priestly ministry in mediating God’s grace and mercy to each other and the world. Every Christian has in Christ the right of direct access to God, as well as the privilege to intercede with God on behalf of others. Furthermore, this priesthood is to declare the praises of God to the world. Scripture tells us to confess our sins to each other; to pray for one another. That’s one way of how we mediate God’s grace to each other.

(2) They are to live such a different life style as to be noticed by the world.  We are to think and live differently about everything in light of who we really are in Christ. We ought to think differently about our time, our money, our vocation, our leisure, and our family. We die to ourselves so that we might live; we lose ourselves so that we might gain; we give ourselves so that we might receive.

We are influenced and shaped by the people who are in relationship with. To grow to be Christ-like we need to surround ourselves with like-minded people. What will you do to cultivate strong relationships with people of Chris-like character?