Built Up as a Spiritual House

[Sue J Love]

“Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:1-5 NASB’95)

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the living God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – was born into this world as a human baby, conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a young woman named Mary. While he lived on the earth he was fully God and fully human (God incarnate), and he was without sin. And while he lived on the earth he performed many miracles, and he preached repentance (death to sin) and obedience to God as necessary components of believing faith in him.

But, although he did good for the people, and not evil, the religious rulers in the temple and in some of the synagogues hated Jesus because he claimed to be God, which is who he was/is, because he was healing people on the Sabbath, because they were threatened by his temporary popularity among the crowds of people, because he did not “kowtow” to their traditions, because he preached repentance and obedience to himself, and because he confronted them in their sins and in their hypocrisies. They did not like that.

So, they plotted out his murder. They had him arrested on false charges, beaten nearly to death, given a mock trial, and had him hung on a cross to die as though he was a common criminal. But in his death on that cross he put our sins to death with him so that, by God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in him we will now die with him to sin and walk in obedience to his commands in holy living, of the Spirit of God, in the power of God, for the glory and praise of God, and for our salvation and eternal life with God.

[Isaiah 53:1-12; Matthew 26:26-29; Luke 17:25; John 1:1-36; John 6:35-58; John 8:24,58; John 10:27-33; John 20:28-29; Romans 5:8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 9:5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 2:9; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8-9; Hebrews 2:14-15; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Peter 1:1]

Now Jesus did not remain dead. On the third day he rose from the dead victorious over sin, death, hell, and Satan. So, as those who profess faith in the Lord Jesus, we are to die with him to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands in the power of God, by the Spirit. All malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander and immorality are to be put out of our lives, by the Spirit, as we willingly die to those sins, and as we willingly walk in obedience to our Lord, by the Spirit. For this reason Jesus died and rose from the dead.

And not only are we to put all sin to death in our lives, by the Spirit, in the power of God, so that sin is no longer what we practice, but godliness and righteousness, in walks of obedience to our Lord, are what we now practice, but we are to thirst after righteousness, and we are to long for the purity of the word of the Lord to be applied to our daily walks of faith. For in this way we continue to grow in our faith and in our salvation to maturity in our Lord and in our surrender to him to do the will of God he has for us to do.

And, by faith in Jesus Christ, not only do we become one with Christ by faith in him, but we become part of his spiritual body to which all who are of genuine faith in Jesus belong. And we are biblical Israel (both Jew and Gentile by faith in Jesus Christ), and we are his church, his spiritual building. And we are to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Our lives are now to be surrendered to the Lord to do his will, to follow in his ways, and to minister to one another as Jesus does with us.

Therefore, sin is no longer to be what we practice. For if sin is what we practice, deliberately and habitually, and if walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands are not what we practice, we will die in our sins, and we will not have eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips professed. For faith in Jesus, which saves, is not lip service only. We must die with Christ to sin and now obey him and his commands, in practice, or we do not have salvation from sin nor do we have eternal life with God. It’s the truth!

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Lead Me Gently Home, Father

By Will L. Thompson, 1879

Lead me gently home, Father,
Lead me gently home;
When life’s toils are ended,
And parting days have come,
Sin no more shall tempt me,
Ne’er from Thee I’ll roam,
If Thou’ll only lead me, Father,
Lead me gently home.

Lead me gently home, Father,
Lead me gently home;
In life’s darkest hours, Father,
When life’s troubles come,
Keep my feet from wand’ring,
Lest from Thee I roam,
Lest I fall upon the wayside,
Lead me gently home.

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Built Up as a Spiritual House
An Original Work / April 11, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love