Living Stones
Notes
Transcript
On July 16, 1790, the First Congress signed the Residency Act into law. This law called for the President to select a site on the Potomac River to be the permanent capital of the newly formed United States of America. President George Washington proceeded to chose a site at the convergence of the Potomac River and the East Branch River (what we know today as the Anacostia).
In 1794, a ceremonial stone was placed at the southern tip of the diamond shaped Federal District - below Alexandria, VA and that stone still stands today - inside a metal cage built into the seawall at the edge of the Potomac.
Each side of the diamond shape that we recognize as the District of Columbia is 10 miles long for a total distance of 40 miles. Starting with that ceremonial stone, surveyors placed a boundary stone at each mile marker - for a total of 40 stones. Many of them still stand today, most surrounded by a protective fence. Some are alongside busy streets, others are found in wooded areas, apparently some are found in church parking lots. Urban development claimed a few of them and at least two were damaged when cars ran into them. Yet a vast majority of them are still in place - some very weathered and damaged, but they still remain.
Stone makes for a good boundary marker because it stands the test of time. There is a permanence to stone. Wood rots, metals rust, but stone last.
The biblical writers understood this quality of stone and we find it used in several passages throughout the Bible as a metaphor for the Lord - the living stone. The permanent, unchanging, reliable, unmovable One who is that strong foundation onto which you can build your life.
For instance, in the Psalm 118 we find the Lord referred to as a cornerstone - Peter referenced a verse from this Psalm in his letter - but listen to the fuller passage,
This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
What does the Psalmist mean by “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?”
Peter explains it to us,
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,
The builder the Psalmist refers to in this passage is man, specifically, those who are building their own lives based on their own way. They build their lives in a way that suits them, that pleases them, and when they encounter Jesus he becomes a stumbling block. Some believe they live a good life already, that by their works they are made righteous and the God has to be pleased with them - and yet Jesus makes it very clear that no one is able to live a holy life, no one is able to get it right, and all we have to do is to compare ours lives to how Christ lived and it becomes clear that we all fall short.
This is what Paul describes in Romans 9:30-33
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Paul’s argument is this: the only way to righteousness, the only way to be holy, is putting your full faith in Jesus. Those who think they can obtain it by their own definition of being good and holy will not succeed.
The living Stone - not a dead rock - but the living Stone is Jesus Christ and you must build your life upon him. God has chosen Jesus to be our foundation - He is the one who is chosen and precious in the sight of the Father.
Again, Peter cites another Old Testament source, the prophet Isaiah, when he writes:
For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Peter goes on to call those who believe in Jesus “living stones”, and I remind you, the word believe in the Bible is an action word - it is not just, I believe in my mind that Jesus is Lord, it means I am committed to following Him with my thoughts, words and deeds.
Those who believe He is Lord, and allow Him to be Lord, are now living stones, strong, permanent, resolute beings who reflect the character of Jesus because of the intimate, close relationship they have with Him.
Yet before we can become the living stones that Jesus can use to build his spiritual house - which we will look at in a minute - we must first turn away from how we once lived before we believed.
Let’s look at the verse that precedes our passage today - the verse that launches Peter into his instruction.
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
Peter makes it very clear for the follow of Jesus, get rid of the old vices. There is no place for any of that garbage in what Jesus is building. And the vices that Peter hones in on are not things like idolatry, or fornication, or drunkenness.
He says Get rid of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
As One Biblical Commentary explains
Peter does not mention the grosser vices of paganism, as one might expect. Rather, Peter addresses the “community-destroying vices that are often tolerated by the modern church.”
1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition
1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition Put off Wrong Practices
As can be seen, all these sins aim at harming other people, whereas love seeks the good of others. There can be no spiritual growth as long as these sins are tolerated. They must be put off.
As the one who believes in Jesus rids themselves of the old, it would follow that they would crave what the Lord offers them - which is his Word by which they will grow. When Peter says “like new born infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” he uses the same word we find in the Greek version of the Old Testament - this word “long for” or crave - is the same we find in
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
Who are the living stones? Those who call upon the name of the Lord and who crave to be filled with His Word and to have it transform their whole way of being.
Going back to George Washington selecting the site of the ceremonial first stone - that cornerstone on which the boundary of our nation’s capitol would be set, so to do we see Jesus set as that chosen and precious cornerstone on which God is building His Spiritual House, His Coming Kingdom, and each stone added to the building is a living stone, a faithful believer whose character is being shaped to match that of the cornerstone.
As living stones God has placed us right where we are supposed to be and we are joined together as the Body of Christ. You were chosen for this time and in this place to be used by God for God’s purposes.
And what is that purpose?
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
To proclaim the excellencies of God. To praise him! To glorify Him!
You are not your own anymore. As Rick Warren famously stated in the first line of his book “The Purpose Driven Life” - it is not about you.
If you are a part of God’s spiritual house, then you are working with those you are connected with as royal priests. What does a priest do? Intercedes for the people in prayer and share God’s Word with the people.
That means we go out and make disciples. We meet people where they are and we listen to them, we lift up their needs in prayer, we provide comfort and encouragement and we share with them God’s Word for their lives.
And we do this with hearts aligned and obedient to our Lord.
Peter wraps up this teaching of who we are in Christ with one more warning...
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
This was the challenge facing the church in Peter’s day and the one we face now. The passions of the flesh wage war against each of us. We may understand that we are part of something greater - we have somewhat of an idea of what the church is supposed to be and that we are all brought together in this spiritual connection to live out and strengthen our faith - but we are also in a world were our vices can be easily fed - where we expect more than we receive - where showing love for one another is hard to do.
The only response to this is surrender. You have to surrender your whole self to Jesus and let him be Lord. It is true that you either receive all of Him or none of Him. He does not just want a part of your life - he wants all of it. Give it to Him.
For you once had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Amen.