Screaming fans. Fat paychecks. Private jets. Caribbean villas. Roadies and personal assistants ready to serve you hand and foot. That’s my impression of what life must be like for a rock star. It sounds glamorous to be surrounded by people who keep telling you that you’re the greatest and that you can do whatever you want, but it’s dangerous - especially when you have the money to do whatever you want. That’s why rock star biographies with titles like “Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger” are the norm rather than the exception. So would you be surprised to hear me urge you this morning to live like a rock star? Yes, that’s the theme of our sermon today: Live Like A Rock Star. No, not like a Rolling Stone, but like the Living Stone, Jesus.
Jesus had a rock star following for the first half of his ministry. The people of Israel couldn’t get enough of his miracles. They followed him wherever he went and crowded into the houses he stayed in hoping to benefit from his healing power. They even enjoyed his teaching to a certain extent. But when Jesus made the exclusive claim that he is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14) – that without him sinners cannot see heaven, many turned away from him. This rejection had been prophesied explains our text from 1 Peter 2. “‘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).
Jesus is described as the cornerstone. This would have been the first stone masons would place in position when building. It was the stone that would govern the angles of all the other stones. And so if the masons didn’t choose wisely, the whole building was apt to fall down. In eternity God chose his Son to be the foundation for our salvation. Anyone who wants to survive death and live in the eternal happiness of heaven must build their life on Jesus.
Instead of building on Jesus, however, many tripped over him while trying to walk around or step over Jesus because they didn’t want to admit that they needed him. Some of these people like the Pharisees even started to lash out at Jesus and actively plot his death. But you don’t have to take a kick at Jesus to be guilty of rejecting him. When a mason is looking for the right stone on which to build, he doesn’t kick with disgust the stones he doesn’t think are worth using; he simply turns away from them. And yet that act of turning away from a particular stone is an act of rejection. Might we be guilty of that more seemingly mild form of rejection in our relationship with Jesus? We may not curse Jesus. We may not scoff when we hear about the miracles he performed as do many atheists. But if we think that just because we like singing Amazing Grace and are willing to confess that Jesus was one of the greatest men to ever live, this does not mean that we have built our lives on Jesus. To build on the Living Stone means to listen to and obey his Word. That’s the point Peter was making when he said of those who stumble over Jesus: “They stumble because they disobey the message…” (1 Peter 2:8b).
Is there any part of God’s message that you are disobeying? In the verses before out text Peter urged his readers to rid themselves of all deceit (1 Peter 2:1). So when you sell something on Kijiji are you up front about all its deficiencies or do you withhold information to make the sale? When your parents or your teacher ask why you didn’t complete your homework, do you explain that you were too busy with other homework while the truth is that you were too busy texting or otherwise fooling around instead of applying yourself? When you have failed again to be a patient parent and a thoughtful spouse, do you blame others rather than acknowledge your own lazy self-centeredness in the matter? God says that we should get rid of all deceit, but we’re like the child who thinks that getting rid of a toy at the supper table means putting it in his lap where he hopes no one will see him play with it later during the meal.
I have just mentioned one small part of God’s message to us, and yet it’s clear, at least in my own life, that I have not obeyed God when it comes to getting rid of all deceit. Have you? If not, I hope you’re squirming in your seat, for this is the effect that God’s commands should have on us. Jesus illustrated that point when he spoke of himself as the cornerstone and said: “He who falls on this stone (Jesus) will be broken to pieces…” (Matthew 21:44a). Wait. What? I thought Jesus our Savior, our Good Shepherd, was supposed to gently catch us when we fall into sin. That’s true. And so what Jesus is describing here is what first happens when people come to believe in him as their Savior. They first acknowledge, by the Holy Spirit’s prompting, that they are not the good person they once thought themselves to be. They acknowledge, as God’s Law has lead them to do with its commands and threats, that they are in big trouble for they have not lived lives of truth and love, but instead have been deceitful and conniving.
God’s purpose in convicting us of our sins is to break our sinful pride and trust in ourselves because he doesn’t want us to face eternal judgment. And such a day of judgment will come. Jesus himself said: “He who falls on this stone (Jesus) will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed” (Matthew 21:44). To reject Jesus by ignoring his Word is to invite the full weight of the Living Stone to come crashing down on you forever. So don’t turn away from Jesus. Instead listen to his Word and confess that you need the forgiveness he secured for you through his death on the cross. Sure, the unbelieving world may call you weak for believing in Jesus. They may laugh at all the time you spend here in worship. But your faith in Jesus is not misplaced. God assures us of that when he said in our text: “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” (1 Peter 2:6).
OK, but what does this all have to do with our sermon theme: Live Like A Rock Star? Listen again to our text. “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…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” (1 Peter 2:4, 5, 9). We who were once in spiritual darkness have now been brought out into the light. Not only that, we have been brought to life. Peter even says that we are now living stones. So what is our purpose in life? Not just to sit around and look pretty like a neat stone you found on a hike in the mountains and have polished and put on your coffee table. No, Peter says that we have been made into a royal priesthood that we may declare God’s praises.
Think of that imagery. What did priests do in the Old Testament? One thing was to serve the people by representing them before God. You now have that distinct privilege too. So instead of cursing and complaining about those difficult people in your life, pray for them and show them God-like patience. We’ll even have to do this for fellow believers because Peter says that God is using us living stones to build a spiritual house. In other words just as a mason will put one stone on top of another to build a stone house, so God is fitting us together to build his house. He has put us into close contact with each other that I may support you and you may support me. But because we all still have our jagged sinful-nature-edges we’re going to rub each other the wrong way from time to time. We’re going to find ourselves wondering why others aren’t more responsible like us, or more creative, or more friendly, or spontaneous, or whatever! But Peter didn’t say that God made us into living bricks, each one a virtual copy of the other. We’re living stones – each one of us unique, but each one with its place in this spiritual house built on the Living Stone, Jesus. God has brought us together to form a beautiful mosaic that testifies to his grace. So no, don’t live like a Rolling Stone thinking that you are the greatest (and why can’t everyone else see that?). Rather live like the Living Stone, Jesus who humbled himself and put the needs of others first.
You may not have a million followers on twitter or fly around the world in a private jet, but you are a rock star. You’ve been polished by Jesus’ blood, and you are now being fitted together with other living stones to declare God’s praises in the spotlight of his love. Stay firmly anchored on top of this Living Stone because in time your status as rock stars, real gems, will become apparent when Jesus returns. One of Peter’s fellow disciples saw a vision illustrating that truth. An angel said to the Apostle John: “‘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). Since you are rock stars, live like rock stars. Not the Rolling Stone kind, but like the Living Stone, Jesus. Shine with his love in all that you do that others too may come to build on the Living Stone, the rock of our salvation. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
In what sense is Jesus, the Living Stone, a cornerstone?
Explain: Taking a kick at the Living Stone (Jesus) isn’t the only way to reject him.
Peter told his readers to get rid of all deceit. How is deceit prevalent in your life? What steps can you take to get rid of it?
Explain what Jesus meant when he said: “He who falls on this stone (Jesus) will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed” (Matthew 21:44).
How exactly does the sermon text urge you to live like a rock star (not like a Rolling Stone, but like the Living Stone)?
Why is it useful to remember that Peter calls us living stones and not living bricks?
Memorize 1 Peter 2:4, 5 “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.”
