Jesus, The Rock Series

1 Peter 2:2-10 -Tested stone

Greetings: The Lord is good and his love endures forever! You are my witnesses.

There is a marble rock range in Jabalpur (India). There are several colors and layers. People make beautiful souvenirs out of it. I ordered one souvenir to make a family tree to present to my In-law. I packed it in the luggage and dropped at the counter in Jabalpur airport and received it in Chennai in broken pieces. There are many stones that are not worthy to be trusted. Jesus is the rock, solid rock, to be trusted.

Introduction:

Christ is described as a stone in both the Old and New Testaments. This metaphor depicts among other attributes, His strength, His reliability, His stability. This idea of Stone is first mentioned in Genesis 49:24 as the Rock of Israel by Jacob (2 Samuel 23:3).

The Hebrew word for STONE is EBEN, Samuel used this concept and called EBEN-EZER after defeating the Philistines. EBEN-EZER (STONE OF HELP- 1 Samuel 7:12). He is our Ebenezer Through poverty, through wealth, through sickness, through health, at home, abroad, on the land, on the sea, in honor, in dishonor, in perplexity, in joy, in the trial, in triumph, in prayer, in temptation.

“HITHERTO hath the Lord helped us!” More trials, more joys; more temptations, more triumphs; more prayers, more answers; more toils, more strength; more fights, more victories; and then come sickness, old age, disease, and death (Austin Precept).

Peter remembers that Jesus told him that you are PETROS (stone) in NT. So, Peter experienced the Lord’s preciousness, therefore in his epistles, he wrote of five precious things: the precious stone, which is the Lord Himself (1 Peter 2:4, 6-7); the precious blood of Christ (1:19); the precious promises (2 Peter 1:4); the precious faith (1:1); and the precious proving of our faith (1 Peter 1:7). Christ as the living stone for God’s building not only possesses life but also grows in life. Precious means Costly, excellent, bright, clear, prized, rare, glorious, splendid, highly valued, and influential. Indeed, all of these attributes are He, all of these and so much more! He is precious, and most excellent in our lives ...prized, highly valuable, glorious, splendid, beloved, and dear.

Today, I would like to leave with you three aspects of Christ as stone. Jesus is a TRUSTED Stone, Jesus is a TESTED Stone, and Jesus is a TOUGH stone for the unbelievers.

1. JESUS THE TRUSTED CORNERSTONE

Peter uses the metaphor of stone in his first letter, addressing believers as those who are coming to Christ as to a LIVING STONE, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God. Jesus Is the CORNERSTONE as trusted to build god’s house. We are building our lives and hopes on him. Christ is the supreme preciousness of all-inclusive Christ. We must pay attention to Christ, and to God. When we come to Christ, the living stone, He makes us also living stones, transforming us with His stone nature to make us solid, firm, and suitable for God’s building.

In a building, the cornerstone, the foundation stone, or the corner pillar holds the entire building, and the cornerstone joins two parts of the building. Christ is the precious cornerstone for the joint of God’s building. Christ is the Chief Cornerstone (Psalm 118:22-24; Romans 9:33; Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11-12; Ephesians 2:20), joining us as believers from different backgrounds and nationalities together to be one in Him for God’s building.

The Israelites understood that God was not just one source of strength and protection. He was their only strength, their only hope, and their only refuge. There is an implied supremacy here that points to the ultimate sovereignty of God. Jesus taught that those who listened to His teachings and applied them to their lives were like those who build their house on a solid foundation (Matthew 7:24-29; Luke 6:48).

Pope John Paul wrote an article about Witness. He says, what does it mean “to be witnesses”? What does it mean to “give testimony”? It means: uniting oneself to Christ to “see the Father” (John 14:9) in him and through him. But at the same time, “to be a witness” and “to give testimony” means “to read in Christ the mystery of man.” It means “to be human”: to read in him the meaning and sense of his own humanity, “to draw from him” under the action of the Spirit of Truth, which in turn continually “draws” from him (John 16:13–15).

Christ in his unique and unrepeatable humanity is a gift for all. He is not only the “mirror” in which the human being can see deified humanity but also a gift that deifies the humanity of those who welcome him. In this way, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, we become “sons in the Son.” He said that our witness continues till the last man of the world of the last generation to know the unknown God, ignored God, denied God who has revealed himself to humanity through Jesus Christ. So, “Woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). Let’s continue to witness for Christ.