Jesus our Rock of Hope (1 Peter 2: 4-10)

Dave Hill
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We’re living in times that can feel uncertain, unpredictable and unstable. Think politics, Zimbabwe, Nice, Turkey, Germany. As Christians even if the world is falling apart around us we’re to be those who are characterised by hope.


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Peter is writing to a group of scattered, persecuted Christians to give them hope. They are unjustly suffering (1 Peter 2:19), suffering for doing good (1 Peter 2:20), being spoken maliciously against (1 Peter 3:16), and are having abuse heaped on them (1 Peter 4:4).

Knowing God is a rock gives them (and us) something secure and stable to hope in.


  1. Spend a few minutes flicking through the psalms. Find and share some verses that describe God as a rock.

  2. What do you think it means that ‘God is a rock?’. How does this affect your life?

  3. Read the passage (1 Peter 2:4-10), looking out for the descriptions of Jesus as different types of stone.


Rejected Stone (v4). “Rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious”

  1. Can you recall any times when people have rejected you because of your faith?

  2. You’re chosen and precious to God. Do you believe this? How does it help us deal with rejection?


Stone of stumbling and rock of offence (v8)

Unbelievers can stumble over Jesus and take offence at him. It’s OK and normal that some people will take offence at your faith and what you believe. It’s not easy to ‘go against the flow (think ice age!)’ but we shouldn’t water down what we believe or lower our morality in an attempt to not offend.

  1. What do the non-Christians around you find most offensive about your beliefs?

  2. Jesus wasn’t afraid to offend. What did Jesus do/say that his listeners took offence at?


Cornerstone (v7)

The rejected stone was in fact the most important stone, the cornerstone. A cornerstone (or foundation stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a building and all other stones are set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.

  1. What do you think it means that Jesus is the ‘cornerstone’?

  2. What does (or should) this look like in your life?


Living Stone (v4-5)

  1. Why does God want us to be built into a local church and not an alone stone on our own?