In the late ‘70’s, the rock band, Pink Floyd came out with a hit song that school kids loved. The chorus, which was sung by a school choir, went like this: “We don’t need no education. We don’t need no thought control…Hey teacher! Leave those kids alone...All and all you’re just another brick in the wall.”
There’s some debate concerning the last line of the chorus but I always understood it to mean that if you willingly believe everything your teachers tell you, you’re just another brick in the wall. You’re a conformist who must not be very bright because you’re not willing to think for yourself. No, students shouldn’t just swallow everything that they hear from their teachers. For example I had a teacher in Grade 9 who insisted that God could have created the world through the process of evolution. Sure, God could have done it that way but according to the biblical record, he didn’t. Of course there are many who will accuse you of being just another brick in the wall if you believe everything you read in the Bible – especially the claim that Jesus is the only way to heaven. But Bible-believing Christians are not just another brick in the wall, neither is Christ. Let’s find out what that means as we turn to our sermon text.
According to several house-building websites I checked, foundations are the most difficult and important part of construction. A foundation that might work here in St. Albert where it is relatively dry, probably wouldn’t work in Vancouver because of wet weather and soil conditions. So if you’re intent on building your own home, it’s best to consult the experts before laying your foundation. Get the foundation wrong and the rest of your house is doomed because the walls and roof won’t have the support it needs to stay standing.
The Apostle Peter explains that the same thing is true of our eternal salvation. He wrote in our text: “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’ ” (1 Peter 2:6-8a).
Many people feel that their own goodness can be the foundation of their salvation. But according to the Bible, that’s like building your house on sand. And so Peter reminds us that Jesus is not just another brick in the wall. He’s not just another path up the summit of salvation. Christ is the cornerstone, the only foundation that will lift us up to heaven. Jesus himself made that clear in our Gospel Lesson when he said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Jesus is the only sure foundation of our salvation because he is the only one who measured up to God’s standard of perfection. Trusting in ourselves or another like Buddha is like standing on an empty cardboard box you’ve painted to look like a rock thinking that it will support your weight and help you reach higher heights. That’s a recipe for disaster. In fact Peter reminds us that while all those who trust in Jesus for forgiveness will receive unlimited blessings, all who reject Jesus or simply ignore him will receive unlimited curses. You can’t simply step over Christ the Cornerstone as if he’s a brick that fell off the mason’s wheelbarrow. He’s much bigger than that. If you try stepping over him, you’re going to trip and fall flat on your face. And what’s worse, Jesus himself will come crashing down on you on Judgment Day (Luke 20:18). Don’t treat Jesus like another brick in the wall – like another guru you can choose to listen to or ignore without consequences.
While Christ is the cornerstone of God’s temple, he’s not the whole building. What do you suppose the rest of the temple is made out of? Marble? Gold? Listen to Peter again: “…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 Peter 2:5).
God is building his house out of you and the Christian sitting next to you. It’s no wonder he calls us stones instead of bricks. Bricks are all the same shape, size, and color. No two stones are alike, however, not even stones cut from the same rock. God delights in this variety. He enjoys bringing us together to become a dazzling mosaic for his glory (Mark Jeske).
This building technique is a blessing for us. I’m not very good at fixing things so if the church maintenance was left to me, you would end up with a furnace that doesn’t work and doors that remain broken. Thankfully we have a few pillars here who look after those things. Likewise you might not be musically inclined, but we’re blessed with several rock-solid musicians (and some up-and-coming pebbles) who enjoy playing the piano and other instruments for church.
What gifts has God given you? How are you using them for the benefit of God’s people? There is no ornamental stone in God’s house – stone that just sits around and watch others work. You may feel like another brick in the wall when you come to church on Sunday morning and sit there for an hour while I talk and others play the piano and organ. But you’re not a brick. You are a living stone so get rolling! Serving each other to God’s glory is what God has made you to do.
To get that point across Peter used another analogy in our text. He said that we are a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices. Just as Aaron’s descendants had the privilege of busying themselves in the temple offering sacrifices every morning and evening, God has called us to be priests who now offer spiritual sacrifices instead of animals ones. An example of such a sacrifice is when you willingly stand at the hot stove flipping pancakes while the rest of your family devours them. Sure, you would like to actually sit down and eat the pancakes too but out of love for your family you willingly serve them like a short order cook until they’re all done eating. Or perhaps out of love for your family you watch your younger siblings while Mom and Dad get some yard work done. Sure you’d like to be off playing doing your own thing, instead you sacrifice your time to help out the family. When you do that to God’s glory you’re showing yourself to be a living stone, a royal priest.
But let me make it clear that sacrificing your time for others doesn’t make you a royal priest or a living stone. You already are these things, explains Peter. How did we become this? It wasn’t because God saw anything pretty in you or me. A miner will descend into the dirty depths to retrieve diamonds because they’re worth something. But when God’s Son came down here he only found worthless grit. Still he scooped us up, sacrificing his life as he did and washing and polishing us with his blood. Just how precious are we now? Look at what an angel showed the Apostle John in the book of Revelation. What follows is a symbolic description of believers. The angel said, “‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal” (Revelation 21:9-11).
You are not just another brick in the wall! You’re a gem, a jewel, a precious living stone in God’s temple. There is no excuse for laziness or self-pity thinking we have nothing to offer our fellow living stones. You already shine with God’s love. Simply direct that love at others and so they may see God’s brilliance and learn that they too are not just another brick in the wall.
I don’t know what Pink Floyd had in mind when they sang: “All and all you’re just another brick in the wall,” but Peter’s words are clear aren’t they? Christ is the cornerstone of our salvation, and built on him Christians are living stones in God’s temple. Show off your God-given beauty this week as you praise the Rock of our salvation with your words and deeds, for Christ is just another brick in the wall and neither are you. Amen.
