Look Around
I Peter 2:4-10
1 Peter 2:4-10
4 As you come to him, the living Stone-- rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--
5 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.
6 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."
7 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,"
8 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.
9 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.
10 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.
(NIV)
What is the 3rd largest nation on the face of the earth?
1) China 1,335,200,000
2) India 1,175,410,000
3) The Nation of FACEBOOK.
If you put all the Facebookers together in one place, there would be over 350 Million people, all gathered somewhere in cyberspace. The United States of America has a population of only 308,340,000. In the Nation of FACEBOOK, we choose our own Facebook towns, some with populations of over 1000 (thanks for being my Facebook friend) and at least within our Facebook community, we are the mayor. We preside over our neighborhood of Facebook friends, some residing on the other side of the world while others are under our roof. We update our Facebook neighbors on our status and respond to their posts, like meeting at a global backyard fence.
Why? We have a need to belong, to connect, to fellowship, to support and be supported. It is as old as the Voice governing the Garden Who said,
"It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
(Gen 2:18 NIV)
A certain man responded to his insurance company this way following an accident: I am writing in response to your request for additional information. In block #3 of the accident form, I put "trying to do the job alone" as the cause of my accident. You said in your letter that I should explain more fully, and I trust that the following details will be sufficient. I am a bricklayer by trade. On the date of the accident I was working alone on the roof of a new six story building. When I completed my work, I found that I had about 500 pounds of brick left over. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which fortunately was attached to the side of the building at the 6th floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out, and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 500 pounds of brick.
You will note in block #11 of the accident report that I weight 135 pounds. But to by surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rather rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming down. This explains the fractured skull, and broken collar bone. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were 2 knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately, by this time, I had regained my presence of mind, and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of my pain.
At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground, and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel then weighed approximately 50 pounds. I refer you again to my weight in block #11.
As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, and the lacerations of my legs, and lower body area. The encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell onto the pile of bricks, and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked.
I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the bricks, in pain . . . unable to stand . . . and watching the empty barrel six stories above me . . . I again lost my presence of mind and let go of the rope. The empty barrel weighed more than the rope, so it came back down on me, and broke both my legs.
I have decided to never work alone!
Did you know that Jesus is a bricklayer? The Best bricklayer ever known. He could snap His fingers and make buildings appear out of nothing. But
Jesus has chosen
to never work alone.
He has chosen
to include YOU!
1 Peter 2:4-5
4 As you come to him, the living Stone-- rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--
5 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.
(NIV)
This spiritual house is called,
“The Church of God”
and, when you committed your life to Christ, you became a vital of part of the construction. You are part of the woodwork, or better, the stone work He is using to build His Church.
The first time Peter heard the word, “Church”, he was walking around Caesarea Philippi.
Matthew 16:13-18
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
(NIV)
You are going to built what? Your Church? In Caesarea Philippi we are surrounded by ancient ruins of once beautiful temples to every idol you could think of. And Jesus says He’s going to build a Church! Yes, He is building His Church, but not out of cold, dead rocks, but out of living stones!
Peter and the rest of Jesus’ disciples knew that this could be the start of something big!
The word Jesus used for “church” was
“ekklesia”,
the called-out or chosen ones.
A Strong Foundation is necessary.
1 Corinthians 3:11
11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid,
which is Jesus Christ.
(NIV)
1 Peter 2:6-8
6 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."
7 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,"
8 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.
(NIV)
Quality Materials are necessary.
Verse 9
You are…
a chosen people – selected by Jesus to be a living, vital piece of this temple
a royal priesthood – having the privilege, responsibility, and authority to bridge the gap between man and God that sin has created
a holy nation - a Holy Christ is building a Holy Temple out of Holy Living Stones
a people belonging to God – A God-possessed people,
peculiar to the world around them, but precious in the sight of the Master Builder
And this Temple has a Purpose:
that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
How? Look Around!
Our clothes dryer at home has an automatic feature that I wish were never installed: a sock eater. Invariably, the dryer has a ravenous hunger for certain socks. The socks went into the laundry as a pair, but came out as a solo act.
Some things are only good in pairs, like socks…or clapping hands. Did you ever try to clap with only one hand. Even feet help us move better if there are a two of them.
God has designed even the human body for cooperation. Shouldn’t we believe the Spiritual Body of Christ is designed that way, too?
On April 26, 2008, the Western Oregon women's softball team played against Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. During the course of the game, Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky hit the first homerun of her college career. She dropped her bat and started to make her way around the bases. In the midst of all the excitement, she forgot to tag first base. When the first base coach brought the mistake to her attention, she quickly turned around. To everyone's horror, her right knee buckled. Crying, she tried her best to crawl back to the base. Tucholsky's teammates were warned that if they touched her, she would be called out. The umpires also noted that if her coaches opted to call in a pinch runner, the homerun would only count as a single.
You can probably imagine the shock everyone felt, then, when Mallory Holtman, the opposing team's first baseman and career homerun leader for Central Washington, turned to the umpire and said, "Would it be okay if we carried her around the bases, and she touched each bag?" When the umpires gave their approval, Holtman and teammate Liz Wallace picked up Tucholsky, crossed their hands beneath her, and carried her to second base. Once there, they lowered the injured player and gently touched her foot to the bag. They did the same for third base and home plate. The crowd erupted into a standing ovation.
Western Oregon went on to win the game, eliminating Central Washington from the playoffs.
When later asked about the good deed, Holtman said the decision to help out her opponent was simple. She felt Tucholsky deserved the homerun, because the ball cleared the fence. In her own interview, Tucholsky said, "It's amazing, what they did…I hope I would do the same for her in the same situation."
God is building His Church to work together, so that He alone gets the credit! Are you doing anything to sabotage His building efforts? Are there attitudes, unforgiveness, a lack of cooperation with a brother or sister in the Lord which is causing decay and destruction in the Body? Take care of it NOW!
