PASTOR'S MESSAGE

 

The Living Stone

1 Peter 2:4-10 

One day two factory workers got to talking and the one man said: “I know how to get some time off from work.”  “How are you going to do that?” asked his coworker.  So the man proceeded with a demonstration.  He climbed up into the rafters, and started to hang upside down.  Pretty soon, the boss walked in, saw the worker hanging from the ceiling, and asked him what on earth he was doing?  “I’m a light bulb” answered the guy.  “I think you need some time off,” said the boss.  So, the man jumped down and walked out of the factory.  Immediately, the second worker began to walk out too.  With a frown, the boss asked:  “Where do you think you’re going?”  To which the man replied:  “Home.  I can’t work in the dark.”

In a funny way, that story reminds us that we all depend on one another.  When we work together, we rely on the unique talents and abilities of each individual to get the job done right.  If even one person is missing, it has an effect on all the rest.  No where is the more apparent than in the Christian Church.  God created us to be the body of Christ, working together as a unit.  And dear confirmands, as you make your profession of faith this morning, being confirmed as a communicant member of this congregation, you will become a part of that body, where each of us is to use our unique talents and abilities, our spiritual gifts, to build one another up and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That’s what St. Peter was talking about in our Epistle lesson for today, when he said:  “AS YOU COME TO JESUS, 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.”  In other words, you and I as God’s people are like stones that God has formed together to build the Church.  Notice that Peter doesn’t call us bricks.  After all, bricks are the same shape, size and consistency.  But St. Peter calls us stones, because stones have a wonderful variety to them, just like people.  They come in all kinds of colors and forms, with unusual facets like each of us has.  And God blends us all together with our different characteristics to form the temple of His Church.

The problem is that stones, by nature, are dead and lifeless.  They have no power or ability of their own to do anything.  And that’s what you and I are like in our sinful flesh.  For example, a museum in Italy houses four partially finished statues by Michelangelo.  They were intended for the tomb of Pope Julius, but the artist left them unfinished.  He called them ‘The Captives.’  They are blocks of marble with a hand or a head protruding, as if the figure was struggling to be released.  People who see these works can sense the struggle embodied in the figures.  It is as though they were trying to break out of prison to become what they were intended to be, but never fully realized.

In our confirmation instruction we learn that by nature we are all slaves to sin.  We are like those stone statues, held captive to our wicked desires and unable to get free on our own.  We exhibit that in the way we frequently quarrel with one another over the stupidest things, or selfishly put our wants first to the detriment of others, or struggle over who’s in control of things.  In that way, our sin imprisons us and prevents us from being all that God wants us to be.  And the end result of our sin is the eternal prison cell of God’s wrath and punishment.  Which is what St. Peter was referring to in our text, when he said:  “THEY STUMBLE BECAUSE THEY DISOBEY THE MESSAGE – WHICH IS ALSO WHAT THEY WERE DESTINED FOR.”  What he meant was that the disobedience of our sin has us destined for the ultimate stumble or fall; namely, the condemnation of eternal death in hell.

However, God in His infinite mercy and grace destined us from something much better.  He destined us for eternal life in His heavenly kingdom.  And that make that a reality, He sent His son Jesus Christ to release us from our slavery to sin and to rescue us from the imprisonment of death and hell.  In our text, Peter refers to Jesus as the Living Stone, who was chosen and precious to God.  A living stone is not a natural rock, but one cut for special use, like a precious gemstone.  And that’s exactly what Jesus is like.  He is our supernatural Savior, who was chosen by God, hewn by His love, if you will, to bring us the precious gemstone of forgiveness and salvation. 

It is no accident that in Scripture the altar itself was made of stones, pointing forward to the Altar of the Cross, where Jesus our Living Stone died to destroy the power of sin and death, and shed His blood to wash away all our unrighteousness.  As a matter of fact, His cleansing blood is the mortar that holds us all together as the Church.  And He is the Living Stone, because He not only died to release us from our sin, but He also rose again triumphantly to transform us from dead, lifeless rocks into living stones, alive with His forgiveness and salvation.

That’s what St. Peter was getting at in our text, when he said that now:  “YOU ARE A CHOSEN PEOPLE, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE BELONGING TO GOD.”  That’s the translation of the Old Testament phrase, God’s treasured possession.  Dear Confirmands, that’s what you are now like to God, because of Jesus Christ and what He did at the cross and grave.  You are God’s treasured possession, because He has made you holy and sinless in the blood of Christ.  You are like a beautiful, precious gemstone to Him, because you have been justified by grace, declared righteous in God’s sight through faith in Jesus Christ.

I recently described it to my adult instruction class in this way.  It’s like God is the proud Papa, who has your picture in his wallet.  And He takes it out every chance He gets and shows you off.  He says, “That’s my boy.  Isn’t he great!  That’s my girl.  Isn’t she beautiful!  They’re perfect, absolutely perfect and I love them!”  You see, that’s what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  Not because of anything good or holy in us, but because in our Baptism He has united us to Jesus the Living Stone, and for His sake God declares us perfect and holy!

Dear Confirmands, that’s why it’s so important that you remain united to Jesus the Living Stone.  Confirmation is not a graduation away from Jesus, it’s the beginning of a closer walk with Him.  And the only way that can happen is if we keep on using the Word and Sacraments by the daily study of Scripture and weekly worship in God’s House.  I think that’s what Peter was getting at in our text, when he called Jesus the cornerstone and the capstone of the Church.  The cornerstone is the foundation stone of the structure.  It’s the point of reference for the straightness of the building.  If it’s off a little bit, the walls wind up being crooked.  So, if we are not connected to Jesus by being in His Word, our lives wind up being crooked.  Likewise, Jesus is also the capstone, which is the top stone of an arch that holds it together and keeps the building from crumbling in on itself.  Only by being in Sunday School and Bible Class, Worship and prayer can we be united to Jesus, who holds our lives together and keeps us from falling apart!

It is said that Martin Luther had a maid in his house named Elizabeth, who, contrary to his wishes, left his service and became so wicked that she gave her soul to the devil.  Not long after, she was stricken with a serious disease and became very despondent.  At her request Luther was called to her bedside.  When he arrived, Elizabeth confessed to him that she felt very sorry for what she had done and also revealed to him her greatest grief, namely, that she had given her soul to the devil.   “That is nothing,” replied Luther.  “Listen, if you had given all my clothes to a stranger when you were still in my service, would that have been a valid transaction?”  “No,” answered the maid.  “Well,” Luther replied, “thus it is here.  Your soul does not belong to the devil, but to Jesus, your Lord.  You cannot give away what does not belong to you. Go therefore to your Lord and ask Him to receive again what belongs to Him; but cast the sin that you have committed back on the devil, because that belongs to him.”  The maid did as Luther advised and soon thereafter was found happy and calm.

Dear Confirmands, that is the Good News of the Gospel.  When you were Baptized, God placed you as a living stone in His House, connected to Jesus the Living Stone.  And He will never throw you out or cast you aside, as long as you remain united to Jesus by faith.  In fact, He is working each day to strengthen and confirm you in that faith, as you regularly make use of the Word and Sacraments.  May God the Holy Spirit empower and enable you to do that, so that you may use your unique talents and abilities, along with all the rest of us, to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, for Jesus’ sake.  Amen

 

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