1 Peter 2:2-10
How many of you remember that old Prudential Insurance commercial? There was this beautiful background scenery of mountains and the Rock of Gibraltar was right in the middle of it. You remember that Jingle that they had? “Get a piece of the rock” (sing). It was the best insurance. You could stand on this rock for all of your insurance protection needs. The scripture from 1 Peter this morning talks about another rock. . . a living rock. . . a cornerstone to Christians. That rock has a name and its name is Jesus. I don’t know about you. . . but this rock is the one I want to trust in times of trouble. When I need assurance in life. . . it is this stone that I turn to. . . not some insurance company that makes promises they would rather not keep.
This feeling of trust in my “foundation” is eloquently put in a poem from my favorite author, Ray Foss; it is called A Foundation of Love. It reads:
In the beginning
there was God's love
upon this strong foundation,
this rock, all else stands
God's love, His ever hopeful grace
we can depend on, we are assured.
God will open wide
Her arms of love, ready
to welcome us
when we return home.
Upon this strong foundation
we build our lives
of purpose, of service,
spreading the Creator's love
Building Your church
It is upon this Rock that I take refuge.
What is this Rock. . . this living stone. . . that Peter talks about? Well. . . let’s take a look at Peter’s letter to get a glimpse of his understanding of this Rock and Living Stone. How does this letter relate to us as Christians today? This is a Pastoral letter written by the apostle Peter to the exiles in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Scholars say that the letter was actually written by one of the disciples of Peter. They used Peters name because they wanted to establish the claim that its teaching reflects that of Peter. The letter addresses a critical situation. The people had become marginalized and abused since their conversion to Christ. The society they once belonged to now treats them as an unwelcome, even dangerous sectarian movement.
This reminds me of how we as Christians are unwelcomed and abused in many circumstances in this world. Some of our friends look at us differently after we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior. They call us Jesus freaks, they are afraid to be “themselves” around us because they are afraid that we will “start preaching” to them. We are ridiculed and made fun of for our beliefs. The letter offers realistic encouragement and instructions to Christians attempting to live faithfully in such a situation.
The writer talks about Christ being like a stone, a foundation to build one’s life on. He calls Christ the living stone. Not cold and motionless like a rock but is the life giving quartz we need in life. As the scripture states “as you come”. . . it represents the circumstances under which believers are being built into a “spiritual house”. As the believer comes to Him. . . they are being built. . . being made into. . . the body of Christ. The passage shows the difference. . . the contrast. . . between mans thing of value and God’s thing of value.
++ Man rejected the stone as if it were dead and worthless
++ God has chosen this stone as living and valuable.
These Christians, like Christ and ourselves, are rejected by the world around them but they, and we, are elected. . . chosen. . . and are precious in God’s sight. Christ is the living stone and Christians are living stones as well, full of life and life giving.
Stones are built into houses, but houses are also temples, and in temples holy priest offer spiritual sacrifices. Spiritual sacrifices are surely a reference to the whole shape of the faithful life. . . the life of holiness. It underlines the close relationship between what God has done in Jesus Christ and what God is doing in these Christians and is still doing today through believers.
All Christians are living stones, built into the edifice. But the cornerstone is Jesus Christ. He is the cornerstone because the whole building rests on Him. He is the cornerstone because the building takes its design from Him. Ergo. . . no Christ. . . no building. The chosen and precious turns the allusion in verse 4 into and explicit citation.
++ Christ is chosen - reminds us that the whole pattern of salvation is part of God’s electing plan from the beginning centering in Christ but including all believers.
++ Christ is precious - reminds us of the pervasive distinction between valuable and tawdry goods, the things of heaven and the things of this world.
God’s faithfulness requires responding faith. Those who have faith know that the stone is precious but those who do not have faith, the same stone is not a cornerstone. . . they reject the stone and lay it aside. . . as if it was worthless and it becomes a stumbling block in their lives.
You know. . . all this talk about rocks has gotten me thinking. This reminds me of the transforming work of God in our lives. You see. . . metamorphic rocks are rocks that have “morphed” into another kind of rock. These rocks were once igneous or sedimentary rocks. Now. . . how do sedimentary and igneous rocks change?
Well. . . the rocks are under tons and tons of pressure, which fosters heat buildup, and this causes them to change. If you examine metamorphic rock samples closely, you’ll discover how flattened some of the grains in the rock are. We as Christians. . . as living rocks. . . are put under pressure at times from the “outside.” We are in the process of being formed into. . . being morphed into. . . the likeness of Christ. We may feel the heat at times but it is in those times when we are being shaped into what God would have us be in Christ. . . not what the world would have us be without Christ. We are being built into God’s temple so that we may become ambassadors of Christ. It takes many shapes and sizes of rocks to build a house but they all fit exactly where the “plans” have put us and are all equally important to the whole building. We become a “new kind of rock.” God is continually at work in our midst and is ever building the character of the church and of the individuals who are followers of the Way.
The scripture from 1 Peter this morning reminds us of the difference between Christians and non-Christians is not that we see different things differently but that we see. . . we view. . . the same things differently. We both see Jesus Christ, the rock. But as Christians, the rock we see is the cornerstone, that living stone, of our lives as individuals and as a community. But. . . non-believers just simply reject the rock. The difference between the two views of the same scene is faith.
In this letter from Peter, they great story that feeds faith is absolutely public. It is a word that is declared aloud about the deeds seen clearly. The story of Jesus is not hidden. The language about Jesus is not esoteric, confined to insiders, like the secret languages of lodges or clubs. But when different people hear the very public story, each responds differently. Those who hear the story in faith praise God for God’s wonderful deeds while those who do not hear the story in faith laugh and stumble.
All Christians are called by God to a royal priesthood and all are called to offer sacrifices. Not the sacrifice on the alter (as they did long ago. . . that final sacrifice has already been made by Christ Jesus) but the sacrifice of faithful obedience and the life of love that goes with it. The sacrifice that Christians are called to live is a life without malice, guile, insincerity, envy or slander which 1 Peter 2:1 says we have to put off with our faith.
For believers, Christian identity is our identity. Christian community is our community, and Christian family our family. Especially in a time of ongoing racial tension, Christians (not Caucasians, African American, Hispanic, or Asian people) are a chosen race. For Christians that take 1 Peter seriously, the line on the application that asks for race ought to filled in: “Christian.”
I would like to end my sermon with another poem by my favorite poet. It is called Stones for the Kingdom, it really embodies what the body of Christ should be.
Each of us, irregular stones,
living stones, for the kingdom
each with a place, a part to play
to build up the foundations, the walls
the body of Christ, revealed, proclaimed
living in the church, in each of us together
quartz and sandstone, onyx and sapphire
clay and coal, diamonds and granite
Everyone has a niche, a spot
in the wall, the building
the living stones,
brothers and
sisters of
the cornerstone
our Lord Jesus,
the rock
on which we stand
May we always be that living stone for Christ’s Church, may we always know that we are precious and chosen in God’s eyes, and may we always do our part for the Kingdom of God here on earth. As Christians. . . our motto. . . our slogan. . . in life should not be “Get a Piece of the Rock” but “Become a Piece of the Rock.”
AMEN
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