Sermon May 2, 1999 Chosen Living Stones based on 1 Peter 2:4-10
Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Several science fiction stories are based on the plot of a rock being a living being. I can recall a couple of episodes of Star Trek where what the people thought was a dead rock is actually a living being which, of course, attacks them. The main reason this plot works is that we do not expect a rock to be alive. Stones and rocks are dead objects based on all our experiences. Yet, in our text today Jesus is identified as a "living stone." We too, because we are His, are called living stones.
Stones are quite naturally understood as dead. We even use the expressions "dead as a stone," and "cold as a stone." Since they are without life, they have no way to generate warmth. Shakespeare wrote of this in his play King Henry the Fifth. A dead body was discovered and this is how it was described: "I put my hand into the bed and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone; then I felt to his knees, and they were as cold as any stone, and so upward and upward, and all was as cold as any stone." A stone is something which is cold and dead.
Our situation without the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ can also be described as being like a stone. Our stubbornness in sin makes us stubborn as a stone. Our future is also as bleak as a stone. A stone is dead, and it is not going to make itself alive. So, we too are dead in our trespasses and sins. We are dead, and unable to make ourselves alive. We are stuck in our sins and unable to break free. Dead as a stone.
Our God is a merciful God, however. He came to rescue us dead stones. Unable to save ourselves, we are fully dependant upon Him to do the job. He did it by coming to take on human form, live a perfect life and die on the cross. Then He was buried. Dead as a stone.
It is unfortunate that some people think of Christ as dead today. They dwell on the fact that He died on the cross and get stuck there. Children need to be instructed so that they know that Christ is not dead. Yes, He was dead. He was cold and dead as a stone. Yet, on Easter He arose again. He came back to life. Now, this One who shared many qualities of a stone while dead gained a new adjective. Christ is not a stone, but a "living" stone. One who was dead as a stone, but is now alive. Peter thus calls Christ the living Stone in our text.
This living Stone is the one who frees us from our dead state of sins and trespasses. The living stone gives us life and salvation. He frees us from death's hold.
The first verse of our text describes Christ like this: "the living Stone-- rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him." Not only is Christ a living Stone, but He was rejected by men. This refers to His crucifixion, where Christ was rejected and suffered the punishment for all men. All sins of all people were heaped upon Him and He was rejected upon the cross.
This is also a reference to Christ being rejected as the Savior by so many people. "For many are called, but few chosen." "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." There will be a majority of people, when all is said and done, and when Judgment Day arrives, that rejected Christ. We may generalize to say He is the living Stone who is rejected by men. They will miss the boat then, for there is no other way to the Father, as our Gospel lesson tells us.
However, despite Christ's rejection by men, He is still our Savior. What is important for us is not His popularity among other people, but as our text says, that He was "chosen by God and precious to him." This speaks of Christ, the Messiah being chosen by God to serve His special purpose. That purpose was to save us from our sins. Since this purpose was so important to God, Christ is precious to Him.
This speaks of Jesus according to His human nature. Of course, Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and being true God, He did not choose Himself. Rather, God chose to take on human form in the man Jesus Christ. That man was chosen by God and precious to Him. Jesus Christ is at once possessing a human and a Godly, that is, divine nature. He was chosen according to His human nature.
This living Stone has gifts with which to bless us. The text explains when taken from the beginning and then skipping down to the second verse. "As you come to Him, the living Stone...you also, like living stones, are being build into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Jesus is the living Stone which in turn makes us living stones.
As we receive the gift of forgiveness we are turned from our cold and dead, stone-like state, to that of a stone, alive. We are turned from the state of being dead in our sins, lost and condemned. Christ makes us alive. Further, we have the greatest sense of being living stones still to come, as we await the resurrection. Just as our Lord was dead, but is now alive and lives and reigns to all eternity, so we too will be brought to life following our deaths. Christ will return and raise all people to life, but we who have come to the living Stone will be blessed with an eternal, abundant, blissful life. Those who reject the living Stone, Jesus Christ, will instead be given the punishment of eternal death. They will be raised only to die eternally. Come to Christ, and He will give you life forever.
Peter's epistle says earlier: (1Peter 1:3) "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." We who were dead stones are given a new birth into a living hope. And also, (1Peter 1:23) "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God." It is the Word of God, active in Christ Jesus which gives us birth again. The Word was active in the creation of the world, as God spoke and it was so. The Word breathed into the man and made him alive. The Word gives life. Through that Word, Jesus Christ, in the flesh, we are given new life, as we are made living stones.
Shakespeare again provides a quote on this idea. "I have seen a medicine That's able to breathe life into a stone, Quicken a rock, and make you dance..." This quote from the play, All's Well That Ends Well, speaks of that medicine which breathes life into a stone. We are dead stones, without Christ to breathe life into us. The living Stone, Jesus Christ, is our medicine, to bring us life.
In the Gospel lesson Jesus identified Himself as "the life." He doesn't just give life, He is life itself. He also says, "I am the resurrection and the life." (John 11:25)
(John 1:4) "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." The greatest blessing is to be made into a living stone.
When these living stones are combined, they form a spiritual house. It is "the church of the living God." (1 Tim 3:15) God builds us into a spiritual house, His temple, where He dwells in us and receives our sacrifices. No longer are sacrifices of animals, required in the Old Testament, needed today. They pointed to Christ's great sacrifice which was coming. Now we simply offer our praise and thanksgiving for what we have already received through Christ. Our sacrifices do not earn us a thing, but are rather given in response to the gift we already have through Jesus.
Peter turns to the Old Testament to support his statements. He says, "For in Scripture it says..." and then quotes or paraphrases three passages in the next three verses. Isaiah 28:16 appears first, "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." This shows us Christ as the precious cornerstone. He serves a key role in the building and is chosen for that role. This stone is one in whom we should trust, for in doing so, we will indeed not experience shame in the end.
"Now to you who believe, this stone is precious." This statement again confirms the value of Jesus Christ for us. We believe in Him and He blesses us with life and salvation. That makes Him a precious stone for us. To contrast this with those who do not believe Psalm 118:22 is quoted. Peter introduces it by saying, "But to those who do not believe," and then the quote: "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone." Many reject Christ, which is like a builder passing over a stone. The builder determines that the stone does not meet his expectations and so he leaves it behind. Then this stone ends up in the most important part of the building. This brings the builder to shame. Those who reject Christ as Savior, will find that the day He returns to judge they will bow to Him as Lord. The rejected stone becomes the chief stone.
The next verse refers to Isaiah 8:14 as it expands this point on those who reject Christ. For those who reject the living Stone, He becomes, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." Those rejecting Christ are rejecting the Gospel message. So Peter goes on to say, "They stumble because they disobey the message-- which is also what they were destined for." They will stumble and fall in the Judgment. They will fall into eternal condemnation. This is the punishment God has chosen or destined for those who reject their Savior. To those who refuse to believe, their rejection is fatal to them.
In the next verse we see the wonderful state we are in with our God. We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people belonging to God. We hear Exodus 19:5-6 echoed here which says: "'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'"
The verse from our text also gives our purpose in existing: "that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." Our reason for being created is to bring praise to God.
The final verse gives us again the wonderful source for our praise. We praise God because of what He has done for us. In that last verse we have a reference to Hosea 2:23, which says: "Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!'" Without Christ we are nobody's people. With Christ the living Stone, we are God's chosen people. He chose that all who believe in Christ would be forgiven and saved. We are therefore blessed with God's mercy. Without Christ, there was no mercy, but now we have received mercy, through the living Stone, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.