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. 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.”

 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,”

 and

       “A stone of stumbling,

        and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

The call to be a Christian often entails things that we do not expect or fits with a life of comfort. We gravitate towards minimal effort and also the deferring of responsibility, yet hoping for great returns. We love the “best bang for the buck” idea and the “am I my brother’s keeper?” mentality. The approval of the Father becomes offensive when it does not come in a way we approve of and Peter presents two pictures of the Christian life to keep us from backsliding into such thinking.

Peter’s description of living stones being built up into a spiritual house and becoming a royal priesthood complement each other best when thought as two sides of the same coin.

As stones when set in a house do not go anywhere, Christians ought not stray from their Master but consistently fullful their role. However, we are not mere inanimate objects but active participants in the worship that takes place within the house. The call to be a holy priesthood is a call to every believer. We do not come expecting to be excused from the responsibilities demanded of worship. The role of a priest is to offer up their life as spiritual worship at the cost of exposing sin, losing dignity, and defiance of pride.

Given this high bar that Peter lays out, it may not even be the most distasteful requirement to our flesh. What was the reason for stumbling? What was so offensive to the builders?

It was the fact that the stone they rejected eventually became the cornerstone. But it is not an issue of the quality of the stone as much as which stone it was. The reason it was initially rejected is because the builders wanted to be the stone themselves. There is a profound rebellion in wanting to have our own house and being the main priest – it is the notion that we do not need anyone else, we do not need God.

A shared glory is no glory for the sinner. The irony is that when we receive the Father’s honor by submitting to what He says and share it with the body, it is more real and surpasses anything we can hope to achieve on our own.

“Happiness only real when shared.” -Christopher McCandless