During the Revolutionary war a young British soldier found himself separated from his unit, numb with cold and so far away from home. He stumbled from the woods into a small village. Going from door to door, he begged for a morsel of food and a warm fire. The doors were constantly slammed in his face. Discouraged, the young soldier searched until he found a large black kettle. He filled the black kettle with snow, then began to gather wood to build a fire. As the fire began to melt the snow the curious towns people began to watch from their windows. Soon the water was boiling and the soldier took 3 small smooth stones and very slowly dropped them in the water. With a spoon from his pouch he stirred the water. Every now and then he would dip a bit of the water out and taste it acting as if it were the best soup he had ever tasted. The curiosity of the towns people drew them out of their homes to gather around the soldier and his pot. As he dipped his spoon into the bubbling pot and tasted the soup, he told the people a few onions sure would make it taste better. An old man said he might have a few onions to spare. Soon after the onions were added to the pot, the soldier commented that a bunch of carrots, and say, about 20 potatoes would make it even better. Soon some of the towns people were back with their contributions for the pot. When the soup was done the soldier let the old man who made the first contribution have the first serving. Soon all the towns people were enjoying the stone soup. The young soldier replied, this is the best stone soup I ever had.
I hold in my hands four stones. As you can see these stones in and of themselves are nothing special. They are different in shape and size but they are merely stones. Did you know the Bible has a lot to say about stones?
▸ Jacob used a stone as a pillow the night he wrestled with God. (Genesis 28:11)
▸ Joshua set up memorial stones as a reminder for future generations of God’s power. (Joshua 4:3)
▸ David chose 5 smooth stones to fight Goliath, and only used one stone to defeat and kill him. (1 Samuel 17:40)
▸ Elijah took 12 stones to build an altar to God when he called down fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel. (1 Kings 18:31-32)
▸ There is a time to cast stones and a time to gather stones. (Ecclesiastes 3:5)
▸ Jesus told the Pharisees to let the one without sin be the first to cast a stone. (John 8:7)
▸ Jesus declared if we keep silent the stones will cry out praise to God. (Luke 19:39)
Perhaps the most interesting use of stones in the Bible is when Peter describes you and I as the Living Stones.
1 Peter 2:4-5 4As you come to him, the living Stone– rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him–5you 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)
What is God’s purpose for us, the Church, as He joins us together as living stones? I believe God is saying, "Unity and cooperation will accomplish much more than criticism and isolation." Just as the English soldier got the towns people to cooperate and bring together the ingredients to make a delicious stone soup, God will bring each of us together with Christ to make us a living stone soup which can satisfy the spiritual hunger around us. Let’s look at God’s recipe for Living stone soup.
Stone #1–The Living Stone
The Living Stone is Jesus. Peter describes Jesus as the one who was rejected by men, yet chosen and precious to God.
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (NIV)
Of Jesus the Living Stone Peter continues:
1 Peter 2:6-7 6For 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." 7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," (NIV)
For those of us who have accepted God’s great gift of love to us in Jesus, He is indeed precious to us. For those who have not yet made the decision to receive Christ, God has taken this Jesus, despised and rejected by men and made Him the cornerstone–He is before all, above all, our all in all.
God is making Living Stone soup, but the first step in the recipe is that you must personally come to the Living Stone, Jesus. Apart from the Living Stone we will remain lifeless cold ordinary stones; we must be transformed by the power of the Living Stone. Without Jesus the Living Stone all you can make is stone soup.
Stone #2–A Mind of Unity
1 Peter 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house. (NIV)
I’m not a builder; I know just enough about home remodeling to be dangerous–just ask Susie about the unfinished projects I have at home. . .but I am working on it! I have created my share of messes in the process of making our house what we want it to be. But I have learned this through all my different projects–ALL THE PIECES HAVE TO BE PUT TOGETHER IN ORDER FOR THE JOB TO BE DONE RIGHT.
Ephesians 2:19-22 19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (NIV)
In Christ Jesus each of us as individuals are being joined together, we are united as one. Individualism, independence and pride have no place within the Church God is building. It’s not me; IT’S US! With humility we are dependant upon God and one another to accomplish the purposes of God. We could paraphrase 1 Corinthians 12:18-27 like this:
>God has arranged the parts of His house, each of them, according to His divine blueprint. If the parts were all the same, where would God live? You know that the many parts are joined together making one building. The roof cannot say to the walls, “I don’t need you!” Nor can the door say to the floor, “I don’t need you!” Don’t be silly, we know that the parts of the building that may be small and unnoticed, like nails, are really indispensable. All of the part, those we can see as well as those we can’t we understand are necessary to make the house suitable to live in. According to His divine blueprint, God has put the members of His house together perfectly, so that there is no division in the building, but each of the parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now in Christ you are God’s house, and each one of you is a part of it.
Any of us who have made a kettle of soup know that many different ingredients are put in it to make it taste just right. A really good cook can probably tell you what’s missing when the soup isn’t just right. God gives us a mind of unity to make a perfect pot of living stone soup.
Stone #3–A Mind to Work Together
1 Peter 2:4-5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. . . (NIV)
As Living stones God makes each of us into priests to serve Him; we are called to serve the Lord. Each of us are called to do our part as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12. Without a mind to work together, the Church becomes ineffective. Are you serving the Lord?
In the days of Nehemiah the stones had been scattered from disobedience. The city wall lay in ruin, along with the lives of the people. Those who had returned from exile never thought they could rebuild the walls of Jerusalem until Nehemiah encouraged them to have a mind to work together to rebuild the wall. Nehemiah had spent time in prayer and had God’s plan to rebuild the city; he knew that if the people would cooperate and work together in unity that what seemed impossible could be done.
Nehemiah prayed for success, planned for success and prepared the people for success. As the work progressed we find this report:
Nehemiah 4:6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. (NIV) “the people had a mind to work.” (KJV)
The book of Nehemiah tells how the people worked together in unity even in through opposition from their enemies to rebuild the walls. It is an example showing us how the cooperation of willing minds will result in the work of God being accomplished.
You and I as the Church cannot work together in a spirit of unity and cooperation if we are living individual lives of isolation. God must do something supernatural within us.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV)
What does it mean to be conformed? It’s to be influenced from outside, to be squeezed into mold or cut out by cookie cutter making you like the world. When we let our minds be conformed to the behavior of the world so we are more concerned with looking out for #1, we will find ourselves living isolated lives–cooperation ceases and unity is broken.
James 4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? (NIV)
Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (NIV)
We can see in our national headlines the power of unity to fulfill a common goal. Each of us will never forget what happened September 11, 2001. Out of that terrible day we saw our nation join together in unity. President George W. Bush had the support of the nation as he led the nation into the war against the terrorist who murdered so many innocent Americans. Let’s go get ’em!
But now nearly 9 month later we’ve started pointing fingers. What did our president know before the attacks? What could the government have done to prevent the terrorist attacks? The unity that was born through terror is unraveling. We have forgotten who our enemy is.
The same happens within the church. We can so easily begin to point fingers at other "sheep;" we become critical of the "shepherd." All the while we forget that we have a common enemy outside the walls of the church. Satan seeks to "steal kill and destroy". Let’s not forget who the enemy is.
Our minds must be renewed–transformed. The mind (our understanding of who we are) must be renewed by way of the Spirit. The difference between worldliness and godliness is a renewed mind. The difference between a growing and dying church (numbers & spirit) is a renewed mind.
Praise A/G, nor any other church, will never have a mind to work together unless our minds have been renewed. Like Nehemiah and those who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, having a mind to work requires that we each are willing to do our part in the work of the church. Our church cannot be built by any individual; WE MUST WORK TOGETHER.
I am concerned about our church. Humanly speaking some of our problems may seem impossible to overcome, but again that’s humanly speaking. With God nothing is impossible; He has not put us here to fail. Rather, He wants to work in us and through us to make an eternal difference through our church in our community and world.
There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a frail old man. As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea. The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water. He asked him, "Why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?" The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. "But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish," exclaimed the young man, "How can your effort make any difference?" The old man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to safety in the sea he said, "It makes a difference to this one."
We need a “starfish ministry” that says, “I will do my part making a difference in the lives of others.” Perhaps you have noticed that we don’t have a lot of children attending our church, and yet we are literally surrounded by children. Each of us have children and youth that we can influence through our lives, but are we willing to do it? God is asking us to begin praying, to begin building relationships, to begin ministries to change a generation. If we are going to see the church grow, then some of you will have to be willing to work with children and youth having vision beyond what can be seen. If we have no place for families with children, then we won’t reach families with children.
Let’s allow God to renew our minds giving us a mind to work together. We will see that as we each do our part, God is making a delicious “Living Stone Soup.”
Stone #4 …… A Mind of Sacrifice
Cooperation continues when you and I live sacrificial lives. We’ve too long lived individual selfish lives of wanting what we want. It is time to sacrifice.
1 Peter 2:4-5 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)
Our idea of sacrifice is giving up something that we would rather keep; it’s a painful and agonizing decision to sacrifice anything. Time, money, possessions–these things belong to us; we’ve earned them. Is that what a sacrifice is –painfully giving up what belongs to us? No!
The Bible talks about our sacrifice as what we offer to God. Considering what God has already done for us, is anything too much to offer to the Lord? Oswald Chambers has described a sacrifice as a love-gift of the very best that I have. A love gift–is there anything I would want to hold back from God?
What is the very best thing you have? Isn’t it your very life? Your life–that is your person, who you are–is the only gift you can give to God that is eternal. When we learn to give our very lives to God, then giving our possessions, or money is no big deal. When we give God the eternal, then the temporal stuff is easy. Have we–the members of the Church, the body of Christ–forgotten what it really means to offer an acceptable sacrifice unto the Lord? Have we stopped offering our lives as living sacrifices?
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. (NIV)
To be a living sacrifice means you are willing to take the place of the victim. Now doesn’t that sound like fun! That’s why living sacrifices often what to climb off of the altar. But that’s the point; we need a radically renewed way of thinking.
Who became the victim for you? His name is Jesus. He took your place and mine upon the cross. Each of us deserved to die, but He took our place. And now He is asking us–His church–to become the victim in our world. To lay down our rights without complaining, to give and then give some more, this is what the Bible calls our “spiritual act of worship.”
Let’s not focus on what we think we have to give up. Someone has said, “I will gladly give what I cannot keep to gain that which I cannot attain.” We can do nothing to earn eternal life; it is the gift of God. Let’s learn to focus upon what God has given up for us to make forgiveness and eternal life possible .
Ephesians 5:2 And live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (NIV)
Can we smell the sweet-smelling aroma of "Living Stone Soup" as God stirs together these four stones kettle?
Conclusion: Stones are often used to throw at one another. This morning God is asking us lay down the stones of independence and criticism. Will we come together in unity, with a mind to work together and a willingness to sacrifice to become “Living Stone Soup”?
