You are Living Stones

(Addressing pet rock) “Roll over.  Come on, roll over.  Ok, if you don’t want to roll over how about going for a walk? Do you want to go for a walk?” (To congregation) “Can you help me?  I’m having some trouble with my pet rock, it won’t do anything.  It just sits there; it doesn’t roll over, or play, or even want to go for a walk.”   The problem with a pet rock is that it is just a piece of stone that is an inanimate or lifeless object.  All it can do is lay where it is put, be it in the middle of the forest, or in a river bed, or in the wall of a building.  We all know that rocks are not alive. They do not eat. They do not sleep. They are not a living creature.  Yet Peter calls Jesus the Living Stone and in turn says you and I are living stones.   So the question before us this morning is, “What does Peter mean when he says, you are living stones?” Obviously he must not be meaning that we are literal stones like my pet rock, does he?  Let’s talk a little about that this morning.

Take a look at an old building or wall built of field stone some time.  One thing you undoubtedly will notice in a very short amount of time is that the stones are different shapes and sizes.  Some of the stones are round, others jagged, some are flat, others fat, some are big, and others are small.  The builder of the house or wall chose each stone, different as they may be, to be a part of his structure.  In the same way we all look different, have different personalities and thoughts.   Yet, as living stones, we are all part of God’s House.

Being a living stone means God has chosen you to be a part of his house, one of his children.  However, you didn’t start out there.  Whenever a builder starts a building project, he starts by selecting the best materials for the job.  He picks concrete which will be the best foundation. He handpicks the lumber for the walls knowing they will be strong enough for the job.  Finally, he chooses the best rock and plants to beautify the property.

When God started his building project, you and I weren’t on the list of his approved materials.  Actually, we were on the reject pile, the pile of materials that were defective and useless. There is no greater shame, no greater form of rejection, than to be rejected by God.  We were rejected because we were steeped in sin at our births and daily sin against him.  We deserved to be on the reject pile.

Yet God chose us to be a part of his house.  He picked us up from the reject pile and placed us on Christ his Cornerstone. He did this not because we somehow became good, but because of his love for us.  Jesus died and rose that we may become living stones in God’s house.  God’s view of us changed when we were placed in his house.  Instead of being seen as rejected stones, we are now viewed as stones perfectly aligned with God.  God’s view of us changed when he founded us on Christ his Cornerstone.

God calls his cornerstone precious and chosen.  We too see Christ as precious.  He is precious to us because he is the reason we are a part of God’s House.  His perfect life is credited to us and his death paid for our sins that we may be living stones in God’s house.

Jesus is precious to us also because of God’s promise in verse six, “The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”   We have gone from experiencing the worst of shames, being rejected by God, to the assurance that those founded on Christ will never be put to shame.  Being a living stone in God’s house means that you never need to fear rejection by God, quite the opposite actually, you have God’s personal assurance that he will keep you as a part of his house.

Being a living stone also means that God chose you to be his for a specific purpose.  And please don’t take offence, but it has nothing to do with your looks, your personality, or how good you’ve been.  He chose you to be living stones in his house that you may proclaim his praises as his royal priest.

Peter here by inspiration calls all Christians, all those who have been baptized in Christ’s name, priests. Think back to Old Testament times and what was the job of a priest?  (pause) Their job was to offer sacrifices and act as an intercessor between God and his people.   People would bring sacrifices to God to atone for their sins and the priest would offer the sacrifice for the people and then proclaim God’s forgiveness to them.  The sacrifices they offered pointed God’s people to the coming Christ.

So how can Peter call us priests?  Christ already came and died and rose again.  So are we, as a whole kingdom of priests, supposed to go back to offering sacrifices?  Yes, only we are to offer a different type of sacrifice.  We are called God’s priests because we have work to do on God’s behalf, just as the Old Testament priests did work on God’s behalf.   The sacrifices that the priests of old offered were animal sacrifices. The sacrifices he desires from us are of a much different nature.

God desires his living stones to be living sacrifices for him.  He wants his living stones to live holy and pleasing lives to the Lord which proclaim God’s praises to the world.  We live this holy and pleasing life to the Lord by abandoning our old sinful way of life, realizing that sinful living has but one destination, and it isn’t heaven.

Peter reminds us this morning that we once were on that path.  We once did not know the mercy of God that we now experience.  Those were dark days, the days when we were on God’s reject pile. But now we have been brought from the darkness of that sinful way into the light of grace.  Our sins have been forgiven by Jesus.  The cross and the grave are empty, which assure us that our sins are removed and we are chosen children of God.

The message that we have been taken from the reject pile of stones and are now part of God’s house motivates our daily life.   Being chosen by God, motivates us to live holy and pleasing lives to him.  God not only chooses us to be in his house, but he also is the one who gives us the power to abandon that old sinful way of life.  When he built us into the wall of his house, he strengthened us with the Holy Spirit, to fight the old sinful nature and to daily turn from that old way of life, to live lives holy and pleasing to the Lord.

These new holy lives are pleasing to God only because of Jesus.  So when we flee from: addiction, anger, hard feelings, selfishness, greed, and sexual immorality, these are seen as good works and sacrifices to God.  Another way we offer spiritual sacrifices to the Lord is by living our lives according to his will.  Simply put, it is by being honest in our business dealings, loving when dealing with family, caring when dealing with the less fortunate and generous when giving of our time or finances to the work of the Lord.  These are but a fraction of the spiritual sacrifices that God views as acceptable to him through Christ.

God chose you to be his living stone so that you may proclaim his praises and Christ is equipping you to do this.  Some of you may be thinking to yourselves at this point, “I don’t know the Bible well enough to proclaim his praises.” Or “I’m not that good at talking, especially to strangers.  Perhaps God has another purpose for me.”  Hear now God’s word for you, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a person belonging to God.”  God doesn’t make mistakes.  He chose you and he purified you through his Son.  Stay focused on that and God will enable you to carry out his purpose for you, namely, declaring for all to hear, how good it is to be in his marvelous light.

I found this rock last week and brought it with me today to use as an example.  It has but one purpose - to assist me as an object lesson for the introduction and conclusion to this sermon.  You on the other hand are Living Stones in God’s House, chosen and paid for by Christ to be Royal Priests whose purpose it is to declare God’s praises to the world.  Live your lives today and everyday as Living Stones and Royal Priests in God’s house!  - Amen