I have recently been asking myself, "Do I really love and cherish Jesus Christ?" I have to ask this question because I know the selfish and sinful thoughts that flow through my mind and, truth is, many days I love myself more than I love Jesus. The Christian life is a fight between our flesh and the Spirit, a fight for love. God's Word constantly pleads with us to die to ourselves (though we are our first love) and live in Christ. If we are to fully die to ourselves, it will be because of the love that we have for Jesus. We must see him as a treasure (Matthew 13:44). I want to encourage Christians who are struggling in this fight for love by looking at two quotes found in 1 Peter 2:4-6. In this passage Peter writes, "As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious..." and then he quotes from Isaiah in verse 6 which says,"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." The two points I want to make are based on the description of Jesus being called "chosen and precious" in the eyes of God.
1. We must see Christ as precious if we are ever to treasure Him.
Precious is a word that people use to describe something or someone that they treasure. I use this word to describe my wife because I cherish and love her deeply. This is precisely why God calls Jesus precious; he cherishes him deeply and sees him as a treasure. While preaching on the passage from 1 Peter, John Piper said, "If the English language would allow I would use precious as a verb to describe my feelings for Christ." What he was saying is that seeing Christ as precious is the same thing as treasuring him. What would our lives look like if we truly saw Christ as our treasure? Let us be reminded that is how God sees him.
2. We must see ourselves in Christ as precious if we are ever to see that we are His treasure.
The second point that we need to see is that though God sees Christ as precious, he crushed him for the sins of his people. Think about it this way--even though Jesus is infinitely precious and treasured in the eyes of his Father, he punished him on our behalf. If we understand this reality it will have a massive impact on our lives. Why? If Christ was given on our behalf then God must really treasure His people! Whenever an OT reference is used in the New Testament it is always profitable to know where it comes from. In most Bibles you will find a footnote at the bottom of the page that will lead you to the OT passage. I'm saying this because Isaiah 28:16 (which is found in 1 Peter 2:6) uses the Hebrew word iqrth for what we have translated as "precious". Isaiah 43:4 also uses the same Hebrew word translated the same way. What is interesting about this word is that it is used in Isaiah 28 to describe Jesus, but in Isaiah 43 the word is used to describe God's people. Isn't it amazing that God would describe his Son and his people in the same way? We are precious in the eyes of God because of the life, death, and resurrection of our precious Savior.
Let these words from 1 Peter 2:9-10 encourage all believers as we celebrate the position that we have in Christ:
"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. 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."
1. We must see Christ as precious if we are ever to treasure Him.
Precious is a word that people use to describe something or someone that they treasure. I use this word to describe my wife because I cherish and love her deeply. This is precisely why God calls Jesus precious; he cherishes him deeply and sees him as a treasure. While preaching on the passage from 1 Peter, John Piper said, "If the English language would allow I would use precious as a verb to describe my feelings for Christ." What he was saying is that seeing Christ as precious is the same thing as treasuring him. What would our lives look like if we truly saw Christ as our treasure? Let us be reminded that is how God sees him.
2. We must see ourselves in Christ as precious if we are ever to see that we are His treasure.
The second point that we need to see is that though God sees Christ as precious, he crushed him for the sins of his people. Think about it this way--even though Jesus is infinitely precious and treasured in the eyes of his Father, he punished him on our behalf. If we understand this reality it will have a massive impact on our lives. Why? If Christ was given on our behalf then God must really treasure His people! Whenever an OT reference is used in the New Testament it is always profitable to know where it comes from. In most Bibles you will find a footnote at the bottom of the page that will lead you to the OT passage. I'm saying this because Isaiah 28:16 (which is found in 1 Peter 2:6) uses the Hebrew word iqrth for what we have translated as "precious". Isaiah 43:4 also uses the same Hebrew word translated the same way. What is interesting about this word is that it is used in Isaiah 28 to describe Jesus, but in Isaiah 43 the word is used to describe God's people. Isn't it amazing that God would describe his Son and his people in the same way? We are precious in the eyes of God because of the life, death, and resurrection of our precious Savior.
Let these words from 1 Peter 2:9-10 encourage all believers as we celebrate the position that we have in Christ:
"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. 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."
