Living Stones on a Firm Foundation
Text: Is 28:14-18; I Peter 2:4-10
Theme: Live your identity
Doctrine: church built on Christ
Image: rock structure
Need: confidence and trust in God's work in the church
Message: live your identity
Living Stones on a Firm Foundation
Is 28:14-18
Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the grave we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.” So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the grave will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.
When I was in high school our gym class took some curling lessons. This was incredibly fun for a bunch of dare devil 17 year old boys trying to outdo one another. They gave us these little plastic things for the bottom of your shoes so that you will be able to slide better on the already incredibly slippery ice. These were meant to help you slide along while you swept the rock for a team mate. Well, we thought it would be cool to put one of those things on each foot and see who could stand the longest after running and jumping on the ice. Well, when most of us ran and jumped onto the ice, our feet went flying out from under us and we landed with a heavy thump on the ice.
The trickiest thing for many of us was learning how to step onto the ice. It proved to be extremely difficult to master this without looking like a fool flailing about for balance. You had to step out onto the ice, committing your whole momentum to the movement and slide out on the foot you placed down. If you had any hesitation, and placed the foot on the ice while trying to keep your other foot on the walkway, you were sure to fall flat on your rump. There was no half way commitment, you either stepped out and trusted the ice, or you stayed on the walkway.
In the passage from Isaiah which we read this morning, we hear that God wants the Israelites to trust in him completely. There is no half way commitment. They could not trust his protection, and something else. God accuses the rulers of Judah of creating a false hope. “You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the grave we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.” (Is 28:15) Now, I am sure that the rulers were not using these exact words, who admits that they have made a lie their refuge, that they have put their hope in something that they know is false? If you have doubts about the truth of something, or its trustworthiness, there is no way that you are going to put your faith in it. The rulers of Judah, however, have allowed themselves to trust in a lie. They have convinced themselves that they will be safe, even though this is not the case. They have tried to have one foot in faith in God, and the other foot in their own ability.
This prophecy most likely refers to the fact that the people of Judah had decided to put their trust in the protection of Egypt against the treat of the Babylonians, as Israel had against the Assyrians. The overwhelming scourge that sweeps by is the army of Babylon coming to invade the territory of Judah. We read about the rebellion of Zedekiah, the king of Judah at this time, in the book of Ezekiel.
“Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Say now to the rebellious house, Do you not know what these things mean? Tell them, behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took her king and her princes and brought them to him to Babylon. And he took one of the royal offspring and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath (the chief men of the land he had taken away), that the kingdom might be humble and not lift itself up, and keep his covenant that it might stand. But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and a large army. Will he thrive? Can one escape who does such things? Can he break the covenant and yet escape? “As I live, declares the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant with him he broke, in Babylon he shall die. Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war, when mounds are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives. He despised the oath in breaking the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand and did all these things; he shall not escape.” (Ezekiel 17:11-18)
God had placed a judgement on Judah because of the evil that its fathers had done. He took its nobles into exile and set up a subject king. From this king, Zedekiah, he demanded tribute be paid regularly. This judgement and lack of freedom was God's way to ensure that the people would again become dependant upon him. This was his way of forcing the people to become humble and not raise themselves up. The people of Judah had trusted in things other than God for their fulfilment for too long, so God was going to humble them through punishment.
Even after the initial shock of this punishment, they did not turn to God. They did not learn the lesson of the land of Israel who had fallen to the empire of Assyria not long before. Instead of learning from their mistakes, they chose to repeat them. King Zedekiah of Judah turned to the Egyptians for help, just as King Hoshea of Israel had done. God, however, does not allow this rebellion to continue, and he sends the Babylonian army to completely destroy Judah. The destruction is recorded in 2 Kings 25:.
“On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had gone over to the king of Babylon. But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.” (2 Kg 25:8-12)
The people of Judah trusted in something that was not God, and they failed. Their covenant with death, their plan which was doomed to destruction, was annuled. The city of God was completely destroyed. The people of God were removed from the promised land. When the overwhelming scourge came, they did not prevail.
When we trust in things other than God, we will fail. When we trust in our own ability to make great lives for ourselves and those we care about, we will never see true happiness. In Will Smith's recent movie The Pursuit of Happyness we travel with a man who works with all his might to become rich. One day as he is walking down wall street a man pulls up beside him in a Ferrari. He asks the man what he does that he could afford a car like that, and the man says he is a stock broker. This creates a relentless drive in Chris Gardner, the real life character in the film, to He overcomes all sorts of obstacles, including living on the street with his young son and being thrown into prison, to get a job as a stock broker, to excel at his job, and to become extremely rich. The moral of this story seems to be that true happyness, meaning wealth and lots of things, is available in our lives if we have the guts and gumption to work hard enough for it.
This is the kind of lie that many of us buy into. We place our hope for a better future, not in our faith in God, or in the community of believers of which we are a part, but in our bank accounts, or our retirement funds. We hope that if we can work hard enough, and save enough money, and get good health insurance, then we will be happy when we get older. We can retire from our work. We can travel around and see the world. We can live comfortably and finally enjoy our lives in relaxation and joy. We look forward to, and long for the day when we can say to all commitments, including those of the church, I have put in my time. I no longer need to help out there.
The problem is, when we look for happiness and satisfaction in these things, we are bound to be disappointed. We will not be satisfied with these things, or relationships, or so called freedom because none of this will fill our longing for God. All of it is tainted with sin. Though it is sweet as candy and may satisfy for a while, it leaves us hungry for more. The more we pursue these things, the worse we feel.
Our World Belongs to God stanza 17 says that; “All spheres of life—marriage and family, work and worship, school and state, our play and art—bear the wounds of our rebellion. Sin is present everywhere—in pride of race, in arrogance of the nations, in abuse of the weak and helpless, in disregard for water, air, and soil, in destruction of living creatures, in slavery deceit, terror, and war, in worship of false gods, and frantic escape from reality. We have become victims of our own sin.”
By placing our hope for fulfilment in things which ultimately will not satisfy, we doom ourselves to failure, we make a covenant with death and become victims of our own sin.
When Judah made a pact with Egypt, they became victims of their own sin. They were thrown out of the promised land to humble them, and cause them to rely on God. In the middle of this statement of judgement God gives a message of hope. “So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.”
Right in the middle of this judgement against Judah and its rulers for looking elsewhere for protection the Lord promises that he has laid a stone in Zion which will provide a sure foundation for those who trust. For Isaiah, this stone is trust in God and in his word, in his promises. In Isaiah 7:9 the Lord said to Ahaz king of Israel, “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” In Isaiah 30:15 God says, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”
The stone that God laid in Zion was his promise and covenant with David. God said to David, “your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ” This promise is what gave hope to those who trusted in God. This promise is the firm foundation of God's redemption because this promise was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.
In the middle of the our own judgement we have the promise of redemption. As it says in Our World Belongs to God stanza 18, “In all our strivings to excuse or save ourselves, we stand condemned before the God of truth. But our world, broken and scarred, still belongs to God. He holds it together and gives us hope.” Our world, broken and scarred, still belongs to God. Even though we have pursued our own ends and have done more damage than good it seems, God is still in control. Even though we are unable to provide the fulfilment we so desperately seek, God is still pursuing us. Even though every aspect of our lives is tainted with sin and despair, God gives us little glimpses of hope that all is not lost.
If we trust in the stone which is laid in Zion, in the plan of salvation which was set before all eternity, then we can stand secure in the face of danger. Then we will be made into living stones built into a magnificent temple to God. Listen to the word of God from 1 Peter 2:4-5.
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pt 2:4-5)
When we come to God through Christ, we are no longer the people we used to be. We are no longer the marred, rough, coarse stones useless for anything, but we are shaped, and moulded, and fashioned into blocks useful for building God's kingdom.
Peter goes on.
“For in Scripture it says: “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.”
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Pt 2:6-10)
If Christ is precious to us. If Jesus is the most important thing in our lives. If we are able to honestly look at our selves and say that everything we do is directed to the glory and honour of God, then we are know that we are a part of God's people. Because those who follow Jesus are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” We are not our own, “but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to [our] faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.” (Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1)
We are chosen, not to live in isolation from one another. We are chosen not for individual happiness. We are chosen as a community. We are knit together in the one Body of Christ. We are living stones placed upon the chosen and precious cornerstone laid in Zion. Against this building, nothing will prevail. As it says in Our World Belongs to God stanza 37;
“In our world, bent under the weight of sin, Christ gathers a new community. Satan and all his evil forces seek whom they may confuse and swallow; but Jesus builds his church, his Spirit guides, and grace abounds.”
Put your trust in God, and he will satisfy you. You may not have all the things that you think you want, but you will come to realise that they are not worth anything in the long run. Give your whole lives to Jesus, young, old, or in between. When we seek for fulfilment elsewhere we will not get it. It is a plan doomed to failure, a covenant with death.
So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who trusts will never be dismayed.
Amen