Bible study: May 27, 2026

Prayer  

As always, we'll begin with a prayer. Is there any great thing from the past week you'd like to mention for us to praise/pray about? Perhaps a prayer was answered since our last meeting, or maybe something wonderful happened that you want to praise God for by sharing with us? Afterwards, we can also discuss prayer requests for any challenges and for the people we know who are close to our hearts.

Praise

Christ Alone; Cornerstone

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame

But wholly trust in Jesus name

Christ alone, Cornerstone

Weak made strong in the Saviour's love

Through the storm, He is Lord

Lord of all

When darkness seems to hide His face

I rest on His unchanging grace

In every high and stormy gale

My anchor holds within the veil

My anchor holds within the veil

When He shall come with trumpet sound

Oh may I then in Him be found

Dressed in His righteousness alone

Faultless stand before the throne

Passage

1 Peter 2:1-10: The Living Stone and a Chosen People

Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. ² Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.  ⁴ Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and ⁵ like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in scripture:

“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,    

a cornerstone chosen and precious,

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

⁷ This honor, then, is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected    

has become the very head of the corner,”

⁸ and “A stone that makes them stumble    

and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. ⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

¹⁰ 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.

Ponder

1.      What warms your heart most by this passage/lyrics on first reading, and why?

2.      Peter brings up the Christian practice to “long for pure spiritual milk” here, but doesn’t Paul say the very opposite in 1Cor 3:1-3 when he says to stop with the milk of spiritual immaturity? And wait, doesn’t Hebrews 5:11-14 also say that? Are Peter and Paul disagreeing with each other here, or is something else going on?

3.      Peter says in verses two and three to "grow into salvation.” What on earth do you think that means? Aren't we already there?

4.      How does the image of believers as “living stones” [v.4-5] being built into a spiritual house challenge the way that you think about the church?

5.      In verse nine, Peter calls Christians a “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.” When you look at those three things, which one connects with you the most, and why? Also, how does it help us to share out lives together?

6.      In what ways does this passage challenge the individualism common in modern culture?

Purposeful Prayer

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