A house of hope – Part 1: A house of living stones

1 Peter 2:1-10

Big Idea: If you’ve tasted the goodness of the Lord Jesus, then crave His pure word as you come to Him, the living stone, and become living stones that praise his goodness.

1.      Throw away your poison and crave God’s pure milk

2.      Come to Jesus, the Living and Offending Stone.

3.      Become living stones that praise God’s goodness

A long time ago, I taught part-time as a piano teacher in my piano teacher’s studio at a place called Lansvale.

The studio is upstairs, and there’s a milk bar downstairs.

And so, every now and then, I would go there to grab a burger for lunch before my lessons.

Even though there’s a McDonald’s next to it, I would go to this little milk bar because the burgers there are much better.

The burger was bigger, and the ingredients were fresher; it was a much nicer burger.

Hmm, it’s actually hard to describe the experience of how good the burger tasted unless you’ve tasted it as well.

Here’s a description of the burger from Hundred Burgers, Valencia, the restaurant that was crowned best burger maker in the world in 2025.

They use “dry-aged beef freshly ground each day, paired with house-made demi-brioche buns baked fresh every morning. This careful balance between mature, flavourful beef, juicy patties, and soft, aromatic bread creates an exceptionally refined burger experience.”

Can you taste how good the burger is at? Does this picture help?

You might be more convinced now but it’s not quite the same as tasting the burger in your mouth, and experiencing the burger for yourself, is it?

In less than a month’s time, we’ll be celebrating Christmas.

You’ll hear Christmas songs and you will probably sing Christmas songs.

These are all wonderful songs describing how good God is.

These are beautiful descriptions of God’s goodness, but as good as these songs may be, if you haven’t experienced the goodness of God for yourself, then they are just nice tunes to you.

Just like the description of the burger, you are hearing and maybe even singing someone else’s description of experiencing the Lord’s goodness, but you haven’t experienced God’s goodness yourself.

How do we know whether we’ve experienced the Lord’s goodness?

That’s what we’re going to see as we begin the first in our Advent series.

We’re going to see why the Church is the House of Hope.

Today’s sermon will be Part 1: The house of hope is a house of living stones.

If you have your Bible with you, please open up to 1 Peter chapter 2, beginning from verse 1.

We’ll see three things:

1.      Throw away your poison and crave God’s pure milk

2.      Come to Jesus, the Living and Offending Stone.

3.      Become living stones that praise God’s goodness

Before we look into it, let’s pray, “Father, thank you for bringing us into your House of Hope. By your Holy Spirit, make your word alive to us so that we can experience your goodness for ourselves, as we come before Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.”

1.   Throw away your poison and crave God’s pure milk

In the first chapter of 1 Peter, the Apostle Peter tells us that we have been born again, not of the perishable seed but the imperishable seed.

Christians have been born again through the living and enduring word of God.

Through the word of God, Christians learn about Jesus, and it’s by believing in him that we have hope.

What must we do now that we’ve been born again?

Look with me at 1 Peter 2:1, “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.”

Get rid of all these things; they have no place in the Christian community, for they are like poison to the Christian community.

One of the most common injuries that children experience at home is poisoning.

Each year, more than 3,000 children are taken to the hospital because they accidentally swallowed some poison.

That’s why, as parents, teachers, caregivers, and KOG kids leaders, we take extra care to ensure that poison is out of reach for children.

We do not want our children poisoned.

Malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander are like poison to God’s people.

We mustn’t toy with them; we must eliminate them.

The word ‘malice’ refers to evil or wickedness.

I like the translation in the Chinese Bible for this: 惡毒.

It means wickedness, and they use the same word as poison in the description.

Evil is poisonous! The evil described here is an offensive attitude towards other people.

It’s holding a grudge against a person and adopting a posture that wants to cause harm to the other person. 

Deceit is speaking lies, either about oneself or about another person.

Though we might be surrounded by people who lie, the Christian mustn’t lie.

God made us to speak the truth and not to spread lies.

Get rid of malice, get rid of deceit.

Hypocrisy is a common symptom in liars.

It refers to people who wear masks; it’s a pretence to be someone good in front of other people.

You put on a public show of being a good person when in fact, you have evil intent for your audience.

Get rid of hypocrisy.

Envy is the feeling you have when you want something that somebody else has. It’s when you say, “I wish I had their house” or “I wish I had their influence”.

I remember going to visit a beautiful church with a friend, and he jokingly said to me, “Do you have church envy?”

He’s basically saying, jokingly, “Don’t you wish your church was as nice as this one?”

I thought to myself, no, not really;  don’t have church envy.

God, in His kindness, gave some people large churches and others small churches.

I thank God that I get to serve you all here in St Paul’s Kogarah.

Why should I be envious? No, get rid of envy.

And finally, get rid of slander.

To slander is to speak badly of other people.

To slander someone is to deliberately dig up dirt about them and smear their name.

To slander is to sow distrust and even hate among God’s people.

It harms God’s people.

Get rid of slander; it has no place among God’s people.

Now, notice all these are social sins.

You are malicious to someone else, you speak lies to someone else, you perform your hypocrisy in front of someone else, you envy someone else, and you slander someone else.

These are sins that happen in a community setting, in a Church setting. Sadly, these are sins that we are in us; these are poisons that we are born with.

As people who have been born again in Jesus, we have to get rid of these.

They have no place in the life of a Christian, and God has no place for them in the Christian Church.

Instead of feeding on these poisons, the Bible tells us, in verse two,  to be “like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the Word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation.”

Newborn infants basically get all their nutrients from milk.

When it’s time for their feed, they’ll cry, they’ll get unsettled, until they get their milk.

They have a desire for milk; they crave for milk.

That’s what Christians are commanded to have: we’re commanded to have a craving for the pure milk of the Word.

In some Bible translations, for example, our Chinese Union Version, it’s translated as spiritual milk.

It’s definitely a possible translation, but since Peter uses another word that’s very clearly translated as “spiritual” later on in verse 5, I would lean towards translating it to mean desire for the pure milk of the Word.

Both translations convey the same idea: we are to crave the real spiritual food, which is the Word of God, that helps us grow in our salvation.

We desperately need the Word of God, whether we’re new Christians or mature Christians.

Every Christian needs to develop and keep this craving for God’s Word.

You want to get rid of the poison and you want to crave the pure word of God, if, according to verse 3, “you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

Once you’ve tasted that the Lord is good, you want to know Him better through His word.

You crave to know Him better. So much so that you don’t want anything to do with the poison of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, or slander. These things will disgust you because you see them as the poison that they really are.

Instead, you want to train your appetite, you want to develop a craving, a desire for the pure milk of God's word.

For when you hear it, when you ingest it, when it gets to your heart, you’ll get a taste, you’ll get to experience that the Lord is indeed good! 

One of the joys we have at the School of Christian Living is for each of the students to research a topic or a Bible passage to see what God’s teaching them.

It’s a joy to see them dive in and discover God’s truth for themselves, and even better when they share it with someone else.

Last week, Rupert shared what he learnt with KOGYouth while Peter was away.

I’ve had good feedback from it. Well done, Rupert!

What a joy it is to see our young adults helping the youth understand God’s word.

My prayer is that the young adults, the old adults, as well as KOGYouth and KOGKids, will all have a craving for the pure milk of God’s word.

How about you? Do you have a craving for God’s word? Or are you more interested in the latest slander?

Don’t give into the temptation to swallow the poison of malice and deceit.

Get rid of them and crave for the pure word of God instead.

That’s what you’re called to do if you have tasted that the Lord is good.

2.     Come to Jesus, the Living and Offending Stone

And if you have tasted that the Lord is good, you will come to Jesus, the Living and Offending Stone. Please turn with me to 1 Peter 2:4

“As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honoured by God—"

How does the Bible describe Jesus? He’s the Living Stone!

What a curious way to describe Jesus!

At first look, the two words seem to be contradicting each other.

Here’s a big stone I found around the church. Can you imagine anything as lifeless as a rock?

Think about it – a rock makes no sound, it doesn’t move. It’s just there.

But this is how the Bible describes Jesus – the Living Stone.

What does it mean?

Obviously, it’s not literal. It doesn’t mean that Jesus is literally a stone that happens to be breathing.

It’s a symbol of who Jesus is. Jesus is described as the living stone.

According to man, Jesus is just stone dead.

After men crucified him on a cross some two thousand years ago, they buried in a tomb.

To make sure that he stayed that way, they put a large rock in front of the tomb.

That’s what they thought of Jesus – dead, lifeless, and guarded by the same dead and lifeless rock.

Our world rejected him back then, and they still do.

But what does God think?

God sees Jesus as someone precious, someone he’s chosen.

Jesus is the One God had chosen to rule over his kingdom forever and ever.

And so, God reversed man’s evaluation.

Man killed Jesus and placed him behind a stone.

God raised Jesus to life and rolled the stone away.

The stone that once guarded Jesus’ body was once a symbol of hopeless despair.

It’s now a symbol of living hope, a symbol of new life, because it’s been rolled away for Jesus.

Jesus is not a dead stone but the Living Stone.

And as we come to Jesus, putting our trust in him, we become living stones.

Please look with me at verse 5:

“you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

As we come before Jesus, the Living Stone, we also become like him; we too, become like living stones.

Ordinary believers like you and me can become like Jesus; we can also become living stones, precious to God!

And as living stones, we are being built into a spiritual house.

The building that’s described here is not just any house, but a temple.

The temple is where people in the Old Testament come to meet and worship God.

And so, here in 1 Peter chapter 2, the Bible is saying that as people come to Jesus, they become like living stones which make up God’s temple.

As the temple, we become the place where people come to meet and worship God.

That is, believers who come to Jesus become the place where people come to meet and worship God!

Jesus, of course, is the one true Mediator between God and men.

We can’t bring people directly to God.

You can only come to know God and worship God through Jesus.

But as a people who come before Jesus, craving to hear his Word together as his Church, we become the place where we invite others to come and meet Jesus for themselves in his Word as well.

Through the preaching and proclaiming of the gospel, the world can come to the Church, hear about the life-giving message of Jesus, and experience the goodness of God for themselves.

If people want to meet with God, they can come to the Church, the spiritual house, and together we will lead them to the Lord Jesus.

We are living stones, being built together as the House of God, as we come before Jesus, the Living Stone.

Jesus the Living Stone is also the cornerstone.

Look with me at verse 6, “For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion,

a chosen and honoured cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

The whole House of God is built on Jesus, the chosen and honoured Cornerstone.

We rest solely on Jesus Christ alone; there is no other foundation for the Church but Jesus Christ.

Those who put their trust in Jesus don’t need to fear being put to shame on that great and final Day, when God gives his final judgement on the world.

At the end of the day, at the end of the Final Day, only God’s judgment counts.

Those who put their trust in Jesus will not be put to shame.

However, until then, there will be those who will try to put Jesus and his people to shame.

Look with me at verse 7-8, “So honour will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected—this one has become the cornerstone, and A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over.”

Rejecting Jesus and refusing to believe in him is devastating for two reasons:

Firstly, it’s a mistake.

It’s a mistake because rejecting Jesus is like builders rejecting the cornerstone of the house.

The cornerstone of the house is the first stone that you lay down as the corner of the foundation.

It’s absolutely vital to get this right because this stone controls the design of the building and holds the building structure together.

Rejecting Jesus means rejecting the key person God has chosen to be the cornerstone of his creation.

When a person rejects Jesus, they are in fact making the most fundamental mistake.

They have rejected the cornerstone of creation.

Second, to reject Jesus is to make a self-destructive choice.

Rejecting Jesus brings danger because he’s a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.

They fall because they disobey God.

How do we obey God? By accepting and believing in Jesus.

How do we disobey God? By rejecting Jesus as your Lord and Master.

To reject Jesus as your Lord and Master is to reject God’s rescue offer in Jesus the Saviour.

How do you see our Church here in Kogarah?

Maybe we see the church as a group of scattered stones.

We come together once a week and scatter throughout the week, doing our own thing.

We might get together on Sundays, but we scatter ourselves throughout the rest of the week.

Sometimes, we might even see the church as a stepping stone.

We use the church to get what we want.

It might be some sort of benefit, like friendships, or good music or just plain enjoyment.

If we don’t get it, we simply skip to the next church. We do church-shopping.

But what do we see here in this passage?

The church is a house of living stones.

We are united to one another in Christ, and together, as one body, as one people, we tell people that Jesus Christ is the true Life-giver, that he is the Living Stone of God.

God sees Jesus as chosen and precious, and God sees the Church built on Jesus the living stone as chosen and precious as well.

Do you see the Church the way God sees the Church?

Do you see the Church as God’s House of Hope for a hopeless world?

Or do you see the Church as the world sees the Church, and as your sinful self sees the Church?

It’s through the Church that God shows the world there is hope beyond the grave, that there is hope beyond this world.

Let’s see the Church as God sees us, his spiritual house, built on the foundation of Christ, the Living and Offending Stone.

3.     Become living stones that praise God’s goodness

If you have tasted the goodness of God, you’ll have a craving for God’s word, you will be living stones being built together to become the house of God and you will be living, singing stones that praise God’s goodness.

Please look with me at verse 9.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”

You will be living stones that shout to the world the praises of God.

A few weeks ago, AC/DC, the Australian rock band, performed in Australia for the first time in over a decade.

Any ACDC fans here?

Their first concert was in Melbourne and the concert was so loud that their sound waves triggered earthquake detection equipment in the city.

Someone who lived 10 kms away from the city said that he heard the concert from there.

The rock band ACDC and their fans were loud, very loud.

But you know what, we, the living stones, or living rocks, should be even louder than AC/DC the rock band.

We ought to be even more passionate, more committed, and more thrilled than the biggest rock concerts in the world because of how good God’s been to us!

In verse 9, we see four reasons for us to be living rocks that proclaim the praises of our God!

Firstly, we are a chosen race.

We’re no longer people defined merely by our nationalities, our race, or our social status.

We are a new race defined by our union with Jesus.

We are called a chosen race, a people God himself chose to be his own.

Secondly, we are a royal priesthood.

We are priests that belong to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

It’s through us as priests that people will come to know God the King.

Thirdly, we are a holy nation.

We are a people set apart for God.

That’s what we’ve put in our vision statement.

God gathers us to build and to nurture a nation that lives and breathes the gospel of Jesus Christ.

God has gathered people who believe in Jesus to be a holy nation.

That doesn’t mean that only members of this Church will enter heaven.

It certainly doesn’t mean that anyone who’s an Anglican will enter heaven.

But what it does mean is that for those of us who confess that Jesus is Lord and confess in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we’ll be representatives of what the kingdom of heaven is like.

Our Church will be like an embassy of the Kingdom of heaven, speaking on behalf of Jesus, the King of the Kingdom of heaven, and showing them who he is like.

And so, those who come to Jesus will be a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

Fourthly, we are God’s own.

That’s who Christians are.

Though in the eyes of men, we appear weak, fragile, and even foolish.

In reality, in God’s eyes, we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.

We were once nobodies; we were once not a people.

But now, having received God’s mercy, we are a new people.

And because of God’s mercy, because of what God has done for us, we’ll sing praises to God, we’ll continue to give thanks to him.

Singing praises to God is what we were made to do.

We will sing and shout at the top of our voices to proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

Christians are saved to declare God’s excellence; we’re called to declare how great God is.

As living stones, we praise God for Jesus, we tell people how great God’s been to us in the Person of Jesus.

We proclaim God’s goodness to all those around us, so that they too can come and taste that the Lord is good for themselves.

One of the great joys of Christian conferences is singing praises to God together with hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of Christians from diverse backgrounds.

It’s great to sing at the top of your voice with other Christians who have also tasted that the Lord is good.

If you get a chance, come to CMS Summer School to hear God’s word preached and proclaimed but to also sing together with thousands of Christians as we proclaim the goodness of our Lord together. 

In three weeks’ time, our Church will have a Christmas concert where we will sing many songs to praise God for sending His Son Jesus Christ to us.

Would you invite your friends to come and hear us proclaim how good Jesus is?

I’ve invited people from the Mobile Pantry as well as the children from KOGWorx already.

Please pray that we will have 100, 200 and even more to come and join us together in praise of our Lord Jesus!

How do I know whether I’ve experienced the Lord’s goodness? 

How do I know that I’m not only reciting someone else’s experience, much in the same way a friend or even a critic describes what a burger tastes like?

How do I know the Lord’s goodness for myself?

If you have experienced the Lord’s goodness, if you have tasted that the Lord is good, then you will obey the command to get rid of every poison that makes you malicious and deceptive towards God’s people.

Instead, you will obey the command to crave pure spiritual milk of God’s word.

If you have tasted the Lord’s goodness, You will come to Christ, the Living Stone, and join with other Christians to be living stones that are being built into the house of God.

If you have tasted that the Lord is good, you will want to be the house that proclaims God’s goodness to all the world.

You will obey Jesus, even when men reject you, just as they had rejected Jesus.

You will obey Jesus, knowing that ultimately, you will not be put to shame on the last day.

This will be your hope.

You will become God’s house of hope in a world that desperately needs to know God’s hope.

You will want other people to know the goodness of God because you have tasted the Lord’s goodness for yourself.

If you have no desire for others to know God’s goodness, no craving for God’s word, then my prayer is that you will come before God and ask Him to show you a taste of His goodness.

My prayer is that you will come to know the goodness of the Lord Jesus for yourself.

If you’ve tasted the goodness of the Lord Jesus, then crave His pure word as you come to Him, the living stone, and become living stones that praise His goodness.

Here are three questions to help us think more about what we learnt from God’s word today:

1.    What poisons do we as a Church need to get rid of (according to verse 1)? How?

2.    Why are we more concerned about whether we’re rejected by men than being stumbled by God?

3.    How will you proclaim God’s goodness as God’s house, the Church, this week?

If you’ve tasted the goodness of the Lord Jesus, then crave His pure word as you come to Him, the living stone, and become living stones that praise His goodness.

Let’s pray, “Dear Lord Jesus, by your Holy Spirit, please help us taste your goodness. Please get rid of all the poisonous sins inside of us, all malice and all deceit, and let us crave for the pure milk of your word instead. As we come together as your people, make us into the House of God, the house of hope for a hopeless world. May people come to you through our ministries and our meetings, that they, too, may come to taste that the Lord is good. Amen.”