What makes you part of a team? Is it putting on the jersey? Or is it something more, like the loyalty of a Chicago Bears fan born in 1982 who is still waiting for a Super Bowl win since 1985?
What makes you part of a family? Is it DNA? Your last name? Ask a foster dad who welcomed a two-week-old baby boy into his home and, 461 days later, became that little boy’s forever family. He’ll tell you he will never get over the fact that he gets to be that boy’s dad.
We all long to belong to someone or something. That desire is rooted deep in our hearts, and it’s a good thing, because God placed it there. In 1 Peter, the apostle writes to a scattered group of believers and reminds them, and us, that you might be scattered geographically, but you are not scattered spiritually. You are part of the family of God.
Scattered, but Not Alone
Peter’s first readers were a diverse, dispersed group of Christians meeting in homes and finding their true belonging in Jesus Christ. The family of God was forming, and for 2,000 years it has kept growing. Today the church is more diverse and scattered than ever, from Africa to Asia to the farthest reaches of the Amazon. What we share is the same identity. We belong to our one true Creator, and we belong to one another.
So what changes when we belong to God? In 1 Peter 2, Peter gives us four answers. Those who belong to God have new desires, a new foundation, a new identity, and a new purpose. What we crave, what we build our lives on, how we see ourselves, and what we live for all change.
New Desires: What We Crave Changes
“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.” (1 Peter 2:1)
That “therefore” points back to chapter 1, which ends with a call to love one another deeply, from the heart, a love born in us through the enduring word of God. So this list doesn’t exist in a vacuum. These are the enemies of sincere love. Malice desires someone’s harm. Deceit manipulates. Hypocrisy puts on a fake version of yourself. Envy resents what someone else has. Slander uses words to tear someone down. If we’re honest, we’ll each find ourselves somewhere on that list.
Under the surface of every one of these sins are misplaced desires. When sin entered the world, it broke our relationship with God, with ourselves, with the world, and with one another. Even a good desire for justice can twist into revenge. We don’t just live in a broken world. We are broken.
So how do we rid ourselves of these things? Just try harder? That isn’t Peter’s point:
“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” (1 Peter 2:2)
No parent has ever had to wake a newborn at 2 in the morning and convince them to want milk. Babies cry for it. They crave it. Sin has distorted what’s inside us, but God, through His word, realigns our hearts to mirror His. We’re called to put away what poisons us and to crave what nourishes us.
Time With Jesus, Not a Box to Check
We’re really good at satisfying our bodily cravings, but we often neglect our souls. How often do you eat? How often do you feed your soul? Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” So do you crave God’s word? And if not, why?
Maybe Scripture reading has become a box to check. When that happens, it turns lifeless and joyless, or it becomes an academic exercise that engages the head but not the heart. Ladies, if a guy takes you on a date just to check a box, is it really a date?
The invitation is to approach Scripture as time with Jesus: slowing down, lingering, asking questions, reflecting, and simply being with Him. One family in our church started a tradition this summer. After dinner, the girls are sent off with these words: “Go spend 10 minutes with Jesus.” Scripture isn’t like any other book. It’s holy, sacred, and living. And as nourishing as Sunday’s message is, it was never meant to be the meal for the whole week.
Peter even chooses the word “pure” carefully. First-century merchants used it to describe a product that hadn’t been watered down. Not everything that claims to nourish you will. Peter calls us to crave the real thing: regular, daily time with God in His word.
The goal is maturity, not staying an infant. You can’t grow in God without God. Think of summer flowers. Skip watering for a day or two and they start to wither, but watered daily, they stretch toward the sun. You weren’t made to stay spiritually dormant. You were made for a vibrant life in the Lord.
Tasting What We Haven’t Seen
Peter adds, “now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:3). He’s echoing Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” but he leaves out one word: see. His readers hadn’t seen Jesus, yet they had tasted His sweetness. As he wrote in chapter 1, “Though you have not seen him, you love him.” Eyes aren’t needed when the heart comes alive.
These believers were on the brink of intense suffering. The letter was most likely read before a fire broke out in Rome, and historians record that Nero blamed the Christians. They were tortured, crucified, and burned alive. Yet they didn’t collapse in fear. They professed Christ all the more, and for two and a half centuries of persecution, the mightiest empire in the ancient world could not rid itself of Christianity.
How? Because once your heart has tasted Christ, you’ve found your home. You can lose all things, but if you have Christ, you have everything. And you don’t have to wait for heaven to experience Him. The door to the most precious relationship in the universe is wide open to anyone who enters by faith. It’s not so much about a list as it is about nearness to Jesus, who restores and heals what is broken inside.
New Foundation: What We Build Our Lives On Changes
“As you come to him, the living Stone, rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.” (1 Peter 2:4–5)
In the first century, the cornerstone wasn’t decorative. It was the most important stone in the building. Every wall and every course was aligned to it, so it had to be perfect, square, and true. And God says, “That is my Son, Jesus.”
So Jesus isn’t something we tack on to an already built life. Our thoughts, desires, hopes, and dreams are all meant to align with Him. He will ask for your whole life, and He is worthy and trustworthy.
But to those who reject Him, Peter says, this stone becomes “a stone that causes people to stumble.” Jesus was rejected and killed, just as the prophets foretold, yet God purposed it so that the sins of the world could be laid on Him. Peter had already preached this to the very leaders who crucified Jesus: “Salvation is found in no one else” (Acts 4:12). This passage doesn’t ask, “Who do you think Jesus is?” It asks, “What will you do with this Jesus?”
New Identity and a New Purpose
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
These were once descriptions of Israel. Now they’re declared over anyone who belongs to Jesus. And this identity isn’t earned. There’s nothing we can do to draw ourselves to God. He is holy, and we are sinful. But Jesus draws us near to the Father, an act of mercy, love, and grace freely received by faith. In Christ, you are God’s prized treasure.
And it all leads somewhere: “that you may declare the praises of him.” Our new purpose is to make much of God, so that our lives put Him on display for others to see.
Your Next Step
The real invitation is in verse 4: “As you come to him.” If you haven’t yet given your life to Christ, today is the day. You don’t have to clean yourself up first, any more than you clean up before taking a shower. His arms are wide open.
And if you already follow Jesus, the Christian life isn’t a one-time move toward Him. It’s a continual coming to Him, again and again, to receive afresh His forgiveness, mercy, hope, and peace, and to find in Him what we so often look for everywhere else. This week, sit with these questions:
- What do I crave most right now, and how often am I feeding my soul?
- How can I approach Scripture this week as time with Jesus instead of a box to check?
- Is there anything in my life that’s not aligned with the Cornerstone I’ve given my life to?
- Do I see myself the way God sees me: chosen, royal, holy, His treasure?
- Where could God be more on display in my life this week?
Join the Journey This Sunday
You were made to belong, and in Christ, there’s a place for you in the family of God.
Experience Mosaic in person this Sunday at 10:00 AM. Come as you are, grab a coffee at the café, and discover what it means to be part of the family of God. We would love to meet you there.
