By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
May 03, 2026
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Click to read in Swahili
Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili
1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV)
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. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk.” I am often floored by the use of language that the writers of our scripture use. They have a way to verbally construct an image within out minds that with only a few words can explain a concept that would take me an hour to get across.
Peter tells us that we should be like a newborn infant, longing for the pure spiritual milk. I want you to just imagine what that looks like. Unfortunately today we do not have infants among us, as they have grown up and now they run around and help us sing. But we remember just a couple of years ago, when they were at that age. An infant longs for milk every couple of hours. They long for it. This verb long, is not merely a desire, it is a feeling of deep necessity, something so needed that one cannot keep quiet until the need has been met. We understand that longing if we have ever been around a baby. They let us know what they need, and when they receive what they need, they quiet down, they are at peace, they grow, and mature.
This is an amazing image of the spiritual life. This is how we begin. Just like a infant we do not know anything. We make a lot of noise. We get food and we end up throwing it across the room and wearing all over us. But little by little something gets inside, it begins to nourish us and we grow. We begin to see beyond the words on the pages. We begin to see them enacted and lived around us. The words of scripture are not supposed to remain on the page. They should become who we are. They should become what we do. We are to embody every aspect of scripture, to grow into them.
There is another word image that scripture has used to describe this concept. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
In this Moses is telling us that the word, the law, the commandments, or the teachings of God should become so much a part of you that you literally cannot speak without the teachings of God coming out of your lips. You cannot sit down to relax within you house without the teachings of God becoming like your recliner, giving you the rest your body needs. You cannot raise a child without the commands of God reflecting to them. Those commandments should wrap themselves around your arms like a shirt you wear in public, it should hang down over your eyes like the hair upon your head. Everything about you should be filled with the teachings of God.
It truly is a beautiful images composed on the pages of a book. And the various writers expand this even more. John wrote this in his Revelation of Jesus Christ, “Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” (Revelation 13:11-17)
I want us to consider what these words are painting before us. In the first written by Moses, the commands of God are to be embodied in every thing we do. In the second the words of or the name of the beast is written upon humanity. It is his teaching that they embody. So often we are told not to take the mark of the beast as Christians, we think that it is an end times prophecy but in reality it is the inverse of God’s teaching. It is the kingdoms of men replacing that of God. It is and has always been part of this world. For those that are found within the kingdom of God, they embody the teachings of God in all they do, but those within the kingdoms of the world embody the desires and the teachings of that kingdom.
Peter tells us in this second chapter of this letter to put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. To put away all the teachings of this world. And like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk. Long for the justice of God. Cry out for grace and mercy to flow freely into our bodies so that we can grow into that being we were created to become, and image bearer of God.
I have begun today with some fairly heavy concepts, but this is the human experience. This is what every person upon this earth must endure. We were born within a rebellion, we find ourselves living within a battlefield caught within the crossfire between the beast and a lamb. Some of us will become the embodiment of the beast, while others will clothe themselves in Christ. Those are the only two options, we can embody the rebellion or bear the image of the creator.
Peter tells us to cast off or to put away, rip off and remove the dead skin of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. And to put on instead something different. To become like a newborn infant crying out for milk. We should long for the teaching of God, and clothe ourselves in them, seek the things of Christ as if our very existence depends upon it. And we should do this because we have tasted the things of Christ. We know that his life, and lifestyle is good.
Peter then continues by saying, “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, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
I want us know to consider the idea of living stones. I want us to think of them not so much from our frame of reference but from the mind of the ancient world. The culture of Israel, was similar but different from ours. The things they had available to them were slightly different. We often read scripture and see that Jesus was the son of Mary, and she was married to Joseph the carpenter. We get this translation because of the culture surrounding England when they were translating the first English Bible. The actual term is builder or handyman, in most cases it would have been used as a reference to stonemason instead of carpenter, but more people in England in 1611 were familiar with carpenter instead of stonemason, because to build in stone was a luxury, where stone in Israel at the time of Jesus was common. It was a luxury in first century Israel to have something made of wood, because there was not an abundance of trees in Israel. Stone was a common building material for Peter, and for the people Peter was writing to in Asia Minor. These early Christian knew stone work, they carved cities within the rocks and lived underground to hide from persecution and I assume heat.
They used stones to build their houses and communities. They also used stones to build walls for defense. The temple of God was also constructed out of cut stone. I mentioned that Joseph was likely a stonemason. Tradition says that he worked on the temple during Herod’s expansion project. I do not know if this is accurate, but it is interesting.
Peter says that we are to put away the things of this world, and to long for the nourishment that comes from Christ. He then calls Jesus a living stone. Each of those concepts of stone: the home, the community, the protection, and the worship, are wrapped up in this one idea. Jesus became, he embodied, or he became the living incarnation of all these things. In Jesus we find rest. In Jesus we find safety from danger. In Jesus we find access to God. He is the living stone, but he is rejected by men.
I began with putting on God’s lifestyle, and how Moses described it. How it marks us through our words and actions and how everything revolves around God. I then showed how the mark of beast is not something to be feared necessarily, but it is a life and lifestyle lived contrary to lifestyle of God. We are either marked with God, or with the beast of this world. The worldly systems look at the things of God and they reject it. They look at the teachings of Christ and they say that it is weakness.
Scripture tells us that true religion protects the widows and the orphans. These were the words written by James the brother of Jesus. True religion, true faith protects widows and orphans, this is coming from a man that had once told the crowd that his brother was out of his mind. Yet once he tasted that the lord is good, something changed within him. He became known as James the Just. He became the most well respected leader within the church in Jerusalem, and he gave his life for his faith. He once rejected Jesus, called him a mad man, and then he went to the grave proclaiming the gospel of Jesus.
Widows and orphans are what James focused on, but there is another group of people that is spoken of often within the pages of scripture, the foreigner. Scripture speaks of these groups because these are the groups that are often excluded in worldly kingdoms. In ancient cultures the family was extremely important. We think it is important today, but in the ancient world the family was not only a place to live and raise children. It was your community, your career, it was your hospital, and your social safety net. Everything needed to survive was to be found within your family. What happens when that breaks down?
When the husband died, the widow was left with nothing. She could not just go out to start a career because that was not an option available to her. All the property would legally be transferred to the husband’s heir. In a perfect world this would be the eldest son, and that son would keep the family intact and care for his mother. But there were rare occasions where the widow did not yet have children, and everything her husband had was transferred to his brother or the next nearest living male relative . Once that brother had possession of the property he could do whatever he thought was right. And the care of his brother’s wife may not be high on his list of priorities. Often women in this situation lived on the charity of others, or they would submit to exploitation in every form just to survive.
Orphans are similar. In Jewish law a child would be someone under the age of thirteen. Once they became a teenager, they would begin to work as an adult and were no longer under the direct care of the parents. This does not mean you no longer have to listen to your parents, because in that culture honoring your father and mother was required until your parents died. You were an adult meaning, if you were a daughter you could be given in marriage at that age, and if you were a son you were required to join you father in the family business. You were no longer a child but an active participant in the survival of your community. But if your father died before you came to that age, you did not have rights because you were not yet an adult. If your father had property that land would be given to your uncle to manage until you came of age to inherit the property. You and everything your family had owned went to a relative to manage.
This system usually worked out, but there is a vulnerability. What if you father did not have enough property to raise your uncle’s children and you? You became a source of financial difficulty and you could be sent away to satisfy a debt. To become a widow or an orphan means that you exist at the grace of those around you. You are vulnerable. You are not necessarily an asset, but you are a liability. The foreigner is also vulnerable.
Boarders in the ancient world were not exactly as they are today. Yes there were laws about where plots of land were, but in reference to nations there were no boarders. Instead there was influence, and most of that influence resided in the extent you could exhibit force. The Roman Empire stretched from Britain to Spain, down into Northern Africa, and across into the Middle East today. They might say they reached beyond that, but even Israel was questionably ruled because they did not have a firm hand of control, which is why they often treated the people so violently. For a foreigner to come into the land it could mean one of to things. The first is an army was approaching. And the second there was a famine and this person had lost everything. People usually do not move unless they have to. If you were able to provide for your family doing what you loved to do there would be no need to leave home. The only reason to leave home is if you cannot do that. Your homeland is either unsafe or lacks the opportunity. The foreigner within your land does not have property, they do not have status, they do not have a family to fall back on. Their continued existence requires mercy and grace.
If you were to read through scripture you will see these three groups mentioned often. And I know I am sounding political right now, but it is important. God judges the nations and the people of nations based on justice. Justice is often determined by how we treat the widows, orphans, and the foreigners within a nation. You see this written in the teachings of the prophets over and over again. The kingdoms of humanity often turn away from these because there is no profit only extra expense.
But Jesus is a living stone. He once taught, “come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” He once commanded his disciples not to exclude the children but to let them approach because any that receives a child receives the kingdom of God. Jesus became the community, the protective wall and the place of divine acceptance for the weary, he became the place of refuge.
Peter goes on and says, “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.” And he goes on by quoting the words of the prophet by saying “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Jesus began the work. That is the meaning of the cornerstone. It is from that one stone that the entire structure’s foundation is set. Jesus is the living cornerstone, and we are the living stones that align with him to build the church. We together with Christ, become the place of rest for those that have had a hard day. We together with Christ, become the wall of protection surrounding those that are vulnerable. We are the living stones laying along side Christ to build up the place of worship and together we become the church.
I want us to think about what it means to be a living stone. We are to be common places of comfort. We are to be the strong fortress for those that are threatened. We are to be a lighthouse attracting and warning those out in the darkness of the danger that surrounds them.
Do we protect the widows, the orphans, the foreigner? Are we stones or are we like those in Jesus’s day rejecting the precious stone that is Christ. Do we reject his direction, his teaching and his grace?
The world stumbles because they reject the teachings of God. They were born into a world of rebellion. Their words, their actions, everything about their lives are focused on that. They are marked. They live in fear and are easily swayed because their foundation is not built on the standard of whose image they were created. They broke that stone and everything built upon their ways will eventually come crashing down.
But we, we have been marked, we have been sealed, we have been formed to a different life. We might face rejection and ridicule, but we are living stones, built upon the rock of Jesus Christ the son of the living God. We are members of his living temple and church that the very gates of hell cannot overpower.
We stand at a crossroad, and we must choose a path forward. What will we be? And whose name will be etched into our lives? Will we put away all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander and be living stones? Or will we remain marked by the beast?
Previous Messages:
Endure
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
Ransomed to Love
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
Born Again to a Living Hope
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
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