SERMON | 1 Peter 2:2-10 | A LIVING HOPE - 4. "Like Living Stones" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Sellersburg United Methodist Church in Sellersburg, Indiana.

SERMON | 1 Peter 2:2-10 | A LIVING HOPE - 4. "Like Living Stones" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Sellersburg United Methodist Church in Sellersburg, Indiana.

There is a freedom available to you through our resurrected Lord.

When you remember, and spend time remembering regularly, that you are a living stone being built into a spiritual house alongside Jesus Christ and every person who seeks to follow him as Lord, you are awakened to freedom.

We don’t have to be right when we are free.

• it is God who makes us stand or fall
• we become people of grace, mercy, and love
• Are people who always have to argue their point living a life you desire for yourself?

We don’t have to make sure everyone else thinks like we do when we are free.

• we don’t have to understand why people think the way they do
• we can simply trust that they are serving a divine purpose, too.
• Are people who try to control how others understand things living a life you desire for yourself?

We don’t have to make sure and balance the scales of justice for ourselves.

• People are people
• we can live with a rhythm of forgiveness and not be controlled by vengeance and self-righteous judgment
• Are people who keep score really living a life you desire for yourself?

Where do you see life lived in such a way that you desire for yourself? 

Who do you know who has the freedom of Christ in a way that appeals to you?

Because someone who doesn’t play by the rules of being right, being controlling, and being self-righteous in their judgment is absolutely perplexing to those who are still living life in the dirt.

When you come across someone who doesn’t play the game of the world, it stands out.

People have no idea what to do with them, do they?

Except…except…those who are desiring to live life beyond the dirt.

When you’re pining for something more out of life, you notice it when you find it.

I wonder, are we living the type of life that stands out in such a way for others?

Are we living a free life as a living stone in such a way that people can see it in us?

Are we living it out loud?

Are we living it in every way we can all the time we can?

As Peter said, if we have tasted the goodness of God through our Lord, then we  desire more…because that is how it works.

He is risen!!

Jesus Christ was resurrected that Easter morning…

and Jesus Christ has been resurrecting us ever since…

Jesus Christ is freeing us from the dirt of our old life and into something  entirely different

So…go and live the resurrected life.

Leave the old life behind you to remain in the dirt.

Live as a living stone…a flesh and blood temple…so that we may experience the presence and work of God in and through each other in the way we love and show mercy.

Be an entirely different group of people—a kingdom of priests for God—to the world around you that others may come to know of the freedom and truth you have found.