1 Peter 2

If we have tasted that the Lord is good, then we have experienced heaven's best gift. The God of the Jews has called a chosen people for eternity. We are to be His holy resurrection temple. He dwells within us even now. Christ is the Cornerstone of this temple, and we are being built up as living stones in this great house of God.

These are wondrous hints of the perfect life that is reserved for us now in the heavens. Since we have this life as a certain hope through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we should live now in the heavenly manner of life that Christ has set for us an example worthy of our complete emulation. We cannot die for anyone's sins, but we can turn away from all that displeases God, and we can offer up our lives in the pattern of Christ-like love.

Since we have such extraordinary blessings guaranteed to us in Jesus, there is really no need for us to have a heart of hatred, a life of pretense, or habits of worldliness that are only insults against our Savior who already rules from heavenly realms. If we are alive in Christ and have some measure of desire for His Word, by this nourishment we will grow as Christians and be further prepared for the destiny that is ours in Christ. The Lord is good to us. He is more than able to work all good within us.

The manner of life that Jesus lived for us on earth was powerful for our salvation and an example for our own lives. The life that He lives now in heaven has become the source of any good that can come from our lives now and forever. Christ is the Rock of our salvation in every way that can be imagined, and it is through Him that we offer all of our praise and obedience to God as the temple of the Holy Spirit and the priesthood of all the faithful.

The Old Testament prepared us for a Messiah who would be the Rock of our salvation. Because Jesus was chosen and most highly valued by God, according to the eternal arrangement between the Father and the Son, all who trust in Him will not be put to shame. In fact, we will be valued by God just as the Father esteems His own Son, for we are together with the Lord Jesus as the temple of which He is the Cornerstone.

This same Stone that is the key to all our happiness is for some a rejected stone, and a stone over which men have stumbled, to their own destruction. May the Lord keep us and our families from such a horrible destiny.

The church is to be the chosen Israel of God. Our Head is both King and Priest, and we are a royal priesthood in Him. We will reign with Christ, and in Him we represent one another for mercy's sake before the throne of God. What the prophets wrote of so long ago has now happened. We are proclaiming the excellencies of the One who has won for us realms of heavenly light. We were once not the people of God, but now we belong to the Lord. We were once objects of God's wrath, but now we have received His full mercy.

Yet we do not yet live as resurrected beings in the Lord's final Promised Land. Heaven is our home, and Jesus does maintain our citizenship there, but like others before us, we are exiles who must live faithfully in the countries where God has brought us here below. Though we live in Adam's world, we want to live here by the Word of heaven's God.

We will not be most fruitful by trying to be just like everyone else in the world around us. We need to turn away from “passions of the flesh,” which refers to anything displeasing to God, whether immoral affections or showy religion. Though some may promote these passions as strategies for spiritual success, they are instead weapons against us and against true Christian spirituality, which is quiet, patient, and kind. We want to be honorable in all that we do, and full of gentle acts that can be genuinely appreciated by those who we want to serve. Maybe some will speak against us as evildoers. We may not be able to change that. A crowd of Jews shouted “Crucify Him!” at our Lord. That has not happened to us yet. We need to avoid self-justification, defensive thoughts, and any trumpeting of our own achievements. Be more and more engaged in those deeds that will remain entirely unnoticed by those your flesh wants to impress, and give it all up to God as an offering dedicated to His Son's greatness. This is the only safe way of life. Of course, people will see your good deeds, but let that be of no consequence to you.

Daniel lived in exile, and he managed to be very fruitful there. Joseph served Pharaoh and did good things as a stranger in a land where he was honored. Some of the governments we live under are not the best, but we are not secret revolutionaries or noisy partisans. We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven trying to live respectfully during our brief years in a world that is in such great need of renewal.

God has put rulers in place. Wherever possible we should focus on quiet submission and worthy living. Noisy Christians who get tangled in a web of immorality or insurrection greatly harm the cause of the kingdom, though they may insist that they are the only ones in the church living boldly for Jesus. We are servants of the King who died on a cross. We could live in an unjust system where people are bought and sold and still do good with all respect.

If we suffer for doing good, so did Jesus. It is an opportunity for gospel grace if you are mindful of the death of Jesus when you endure sorrows while suffering unjustly. God sees this. He knows what you want now and forever. Our King is powerful. Come back home again to Him every day. He will help you to live the life of faith.