NIV 1 Peter 2:1-10
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-- 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. 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." 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, " 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. 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. 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.
In 1984 Bruce Springsteen wrote a song titled “Like a Rock”.
The song went like this:
Stood there boldly
Sweatin’ in the sun
Felt like a million
Felt like number one
The height of summer
I’d never felt that strong
Like a rock
I was eighteen
Didn’t have a care
Working for peanuts
Not a dime to spare
But I was lean and
Solid everywhere
Like a rock
My hands were steady
My eyes were clear and bright
My walk had purpose
My steps were quick and light
And I held firmly
To what I felt was right
Like a rock
Like a rock, I was strong as I could be
Like a rock, nothin’ ever got to me
Like a rock, I was something to see
Like a rock
And I stood arrow straight
Unencumbered by the weight
Of all these hustlers and their schemes
I stood proud, I stood tall
High above it all
I still believed in my dreams
(Comment a little about the song,)
Since then you have heard the music and seen the words “Like a rock” on a television commercial. Remember which one? (pause) Chevrolet. The inference of this commercial is that Chevrolet trucks are tough and lasting “Like a Rock”. We need to be like a rock; question is: What kind of rock are you?
In our scripture text Peter tells us to become “living stones” or rocks. How do we get to be a rock? Crave spiritual milk. Like a baby desires mother’s milk. Why? So we can grow to maturity and declare the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Crave is not wanting here and there, it’s to desire deeply, yearn, want it really bad.
What if we ate like physical food like we take in spiritual food? What would we look like 6 months from now? Would we have starved to death or would we be full and plump?
Some of us seek milk of other things: possessions, jobs, health, or comfort.
These things are not pure milk – won’t last, they get in our way of becoming a rock for the Lord
The Word of God lasts forever.
Result of the pure milk of God’s word is that we taste that the Lord is Good.
God feeds us, nourishes us, nurtures us, and grows us more in his own image.
NIV Colossians 3:16-17
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Christ is the cornerstone of the building – foundation rock - built by God himself, the first rock laid. For us to be like a rock this passage says we have to get rid of the things that hold us back;
malice (hatred that lasts, wishing someone ill will),
deceit (mislead, two faced),
hypocrisy (sin God hates above all others), (mask to hide real self, puts on a show),
envy (wants what someone else has, no peace/happiness because of wanting, if you have it and I don’t I will burn yours and we will be even),
slander (criticize, judge, grumble, makes us feel better than them, justify ourselves, he made me do it).
The reason we need to get rid of these things is they keep us from loving other people. If we don’t love other people then we won’t share the good news with them. If we don’t love other people then we won’t really care whether they go to heaven or not. We can’t love other people like God wants us to if we don’t appreciate what God has done for us.
We are all on our way to becoming a rock of some kind.
Need to strip off malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander
Like a rock called a diamond; when you first see it, it looks just like another rock, nothing special. But when we chisel off the slag and impurities and shape it and polish it then we have something of beauty – it shines, sparkles, harder than steel and has great value.
(credit: Preachers Outline and Sermon Bible)
What kind of rock are you? Are you the kind of rock that someone picks up and skips across the lake? You have to be just the right kind – not ordinary gravel, a little flat so it can skip, not too large; and then you get thrown. When I do that it’s really fun and I get a lot of pleasure out of it. Janie and Matthew enjoy when they watch and others like it also. The problem is that it is just so temporary, and after the last skip of the rock it sinks to the bottom never to be seen again.
Are you the kind of rock that I used to find when I was a little boy? I used to go the creek just below my house. I never took any bait. I went to the shallow part of the creek and looked for fairly big rocks. They usually were partly under water and partly out of the water. I would pick them up and usually find a treasure underneath; a crawfish that I could use for bait to catch fish. Are you hiding a (gift) for catching fish? Are you just sitting on it not doing anything with it? Have you gotten enough “milk of the word” to love your neighbor so much that you must share Jesus with him/her?
Are you like a rock in the wall I used to have? Most of the rocks were just fine and the wall looked good, however, in a few places the mortar holding the rocks had deteriorated and the rocks were loose. The wall was falling down in those places. Has the material that holds you in place been deteriorating? Has your resolve, zeal, desire, or dedication gotten away from you? Are you allowing the wall to fall down? The cornerstone (Jesus) is depending on you to do your part.
We go to Jekyll Island to vacation just about every year. They have an old bridge that you have to raise and lower each time a ship comes or goes. It doesn’t work very well. It once got stuck in the up position and it took three months to fix it. Everybody had to take long way from the Island to Brunswick. It took about an extra ½ to ¾ of an hour to make the trip. They finally got tired of it and began building a new bridge. They had to sink new pilings in the water for the new bridge support. They went under the water and dug in the earth in the ocean floor. They poured concrete in the hole they dug. Little by little they kept building forms and pouring concrete and finally you could see the piling above the water. They didn’t stop there, they kept building forms and pouring concrete in sections until that piling stood about 200 feet above the water. But it still didn’t do anything. They built other piling just like it across the ocean. Then they spanned each piling with a section of concrete, and together they made a bridge. Now the pilings are useful; they hold up a bridge. It didn’t happen all at once; it has taken two or three years.
This is what God wants of us. No one of us can be a whole bridge on their own. Together we can be a great church. We can stand strong.
Like a rock, we were strong as we could be
Like a rock, nothin’ ever got to me
Like a rock, we were something to see
Like a rock
