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.
2. JESUS THE TESTED STONE - Isaiah 28:6
Jesus is the rock. Jesus is a tested stone. The word "tested or tried" bears three meanings in Holy Scripture. Sometimes it means to elect or choose, sometimes to prove or put to the test, and sometimes to approve. This stone is a foundation firmly established for God’s building in Israel. We can enjoy Christ as such a firmly established foundation today.
This world is shaky and uncertain because they don’t believe in this tested stone. This is because they do not have Christ as a foundation stone, a foundation, on which to stand. As Christians, we have Christ as a crown upon our heads and as a rock under our feet. This rock is firmly established for God’s building among His people. Christ is a tested stone that has been tried and which is trustworthy.
Christ as a stone was tested during the thirty-three and a half years of His human life. From the time that He became a man, He was tested every day of His earthly life, and He had no failure. He is perfect, complete, solid, and strong. He is fully qualified to be our foundation because He has been tested. Christ is the tested stone from His birth to His death on the cross, and He was found sinless, perfect, complete, solid, and strong.
2 Samuel 2;22-23 explains the rock of Salvation as our God. God is the rock of salvation (Deuteronomy 32:11,15, Psalm 18:31, 144:1; 61:2, Isaiah 44:8). He lifted me up and put me upon the solid rock (Psalm 40:2). Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal (Isaiah 26:4).
3. JESUS, A STUMBLING STONE (1 Peter 2:7-8)
Peter did not stop with the positive effects and blessings but he also touches the negative side of things. Why not just stay positive and good effects of belief, rather than go on to the negative and unbelief? Here Peter says that not believing in Jesus is like rejecting the stone that God has laid as the cornerstone. If you believe in this stone, you can't lose; and if you disbelieve in him, you can't win. Human unbelief does not frustrate or defeat the ultimate purposes of God.
C.S. Lewis said once: "We all serve God inevitably, but it makes a great difference whether you serve like Judas or serve like John." John Piper said, ‘In the end, God is triumphant in our belief and our unbelief. He is triumphant in our obedience and our disobedience. Human beings, whether good or evil, rejecting or accepting, believing or unbelieving, cannot thwart the ultimate purposes of God.’ Christ is a stumbling block to human pride, human sins, desires, plans, and selfishness.
Jesus is a STONE of stumbling and Rock of offense (Gk = skandalon literally is that part of a trap on which the bait was laid when touched caused the trap to close on its prey). "They stumble because they disobey the Word and to doom, they were appointed." Jesus explained in this passage "he who falls on this STONE will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." (Matthew 21:42-45).
In Daniel 2:31-49, we read of a great "STONE cut out without hands" which struck the statute representing the Gentile kingdoms, crushing them into oblivion. Then "the STONE that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." The STONE is Christ, who will return as the victorious King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).
STONE - Nothing could be more lifeless than a stone. Selected and displayed in a prominent place, however, a stone can bear a message and almost become personified. Archaeologists have uncovered several circles of stones (some with eyes or hands on them) almost certainly representing witnesses to covenants or other religious rites.
Conclusion: From Genesis to Revelation, we see Christ is portrayed as the Saving Stone, the Slighted Stone, the Stumbling Stone, the Smiting Stone, and the soon-coming Sovereign Stone.
People living all around you are looking into you. Live such a good life. By doing good you stop foolish people saying stupid things about you. Live as servants of God (1 Peter 2:16). God is pleased with a person who suffers after doing good. (1 Peter 2:19, 20) Jesus was insulted but he never insulted them. Christ suffered but he didn’t threaten (1 Peter 2:23). Examine and experience how good is the Lord (1 Peter 2:3). They stumble because they don’t believe in him, in his words, in his destiny (1 Peter 2:8). What are the reasons for your inability to pray: unclear thinking and uncontrolled self (1 Peter 3:7)?
