Romance the Stone!
I Peter Chapter 2
Part 2 of series on Peter
Thesis: We as Christians should seek to romance the precious stone like we seek to romance the lovers in our lives.
Scripture Text: 1 Peter 2:1-25
1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
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. 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, “
8and,
“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.
9But 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. 10Once 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.
11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
13Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
18Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God. 20But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
23When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Video Illustration: From Groundhog Day from Video’s That Teach- Field and James
Page 80.
Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is a Pittsburgh weatherman who is annually (and reluctantly) sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the Groundhog Day celebration. After reporting the groundhog’s weather forecast, Phil and his crew head out of town only to be forced to return because of a blizzard. The following morning, Phil discovers it is once again February2, and he must relive his entire day in the town he has grown to despise.
This Clip Start 44:44 to 46:19
Phil asks his producer, Rita (Andie MacDowell), what she would like out of life. The conversation turns to what qualities she would like in a mate. She describes the perfect man-someone so perfect he couldn’t possibly exist. Eager to win her affection, Phil sarcastically tells her he nearly fits her description.
Point of Clip:
Phil decides in the movie after a dismal starts to try to do things right. He discovers that no matter what he does he continues to relive this day over and over. The point I see in this picture is he keeps getting the opportunity over and over again to do things right. When he does romance the girl the right way and lives his day the right way he then gets the blessing of moving on into the next day of his life. Would it not be nice to be able to get the opportunity to repeat a day until you got it right especially when it comes to romancing the one you love!
Introduction:
Romance – is defined as to court or to love and or to woo!
The thought of romance conjures up many thoughts in people’s minds. Romantic love stories, things like heroes and their beauties. Romance brings imagination of a love adventure. Women love this word – they desire this state of being. They desire to be romanced swept off their feet. Romance novels are sold in the millions every year. Romance movies are always flocked to by 100,000 of people every year.
The top 24 are listed below:
1. Titanic
2. A Walk To Remember
3. Pretty Woman
4. Ghost
5. Sleepless In Seattle
6. Gone With The Wind
7. Bridges of Madison County
8. An Affair To Remember
9. Love & Basketball
10. City of Angels
11. Love Story
12. Romeo & Juliet
13. Serendipity
14. Message In A Bottle
15. Officer And A Gentlemen
16. 50 First Dates
17. You’ve Got Mail
18. The Way We Were
19. Moulin Rouge
20. When Harry Met Sally
21. Something’s Gotta Give
22. Ever After
23. Pearl Harbor
24. Notting Hill
When we talk of romance many people look within and sigh from their deep rooted emotions. Romance is what impacts this world. People dream of romantic encounters and moments of bliss. Even the guys do this!
John Eldredge in “The Sacred Romance” tells us this about romance, “When I was a boy, I loved to jump from our haymow onto the backs of steers feeding at the hayrack directly underneath. The ensuing bareback ride was always an adventure of the highest order. I also loved to watch The Mickey Mouse Club on television, just to have a moment’s intimacy with Annette Funicello. I am still partly convinced our eyes met a time or two and she smiled at me. These two boyhood passions for adventure and intimacy often came together in my fantasies in a story in which I would rescue Annette from the bad guys and escape with her into the mountains where we would live happily ever after. I would be her hero. She would be my beauty. And we would always be ready to fight the bad guys again whenever the world needed us, side by side. Whatever form each of our intimate adventures has taken in our fantasies, or in ‘real life,’ this Sacred Romance is set within all our hearts and will not go away. It is the core of our spiritual journey. Any religion that ignores it survives only as guilt-induced legalism, a set of propositions to be memorized and rules to be obeyed (20).
We have experts who travel around and tell us how to be more romantic in our marriages. Romance is not just something that happens they say. They tell us that romance takes effort and hard work. You have to be intentional in romance building. It requires determination on our part to see that the romance stays blazing in our marriages.
In our text today we are looking at the importance of each of us Christians making the decision to romance the Stone. We know that Peter refers to the Stone as Jesus Christ. He is a precious stone a living hope the one who is the cornerstone of all relationships.
What we are talking about when we say that we must romance the stone is that we must have Spiritual Intimacy with Jesus: McLemore defines it this way:
When two people are brimming with the love of God, have the mind of Christ, and commune with the Holy Spirit, they have the potential to develop still another kind of intimacy and, with it, a deep bond. They can talk about the things of the Spirit without lapsing into clichés, and they radiate the glow of the Lord on their faces. Such intimacy is not some vague sense of oceanic spirituality. Nor is it the dry sharing of doctrine. It is the powerful communion that emerges among those who know and love the Lord. If I had to come up with a single definition of a psychologically healthy person, a positive as opposed to a negative definition, it would be having the capacity for emotional intimacy. If I had come up with a definition of what it means to be a complete person, it would be having the capacity for spiritual intimacy. Spiritual intimacy is, in truth, emotional intimacy that is centered on Christ” (27).
T.S. – So how do we romance the precious stone Jesus with our lives? Let’s look at three things we must do to develop spiritual intimacy with the Lord according to 1 Peter 2.
I. Romance the stone by getting rid of toxic substances in your relationship.
a. 1 Peter tells us that we must rid ourselves of toxic substances that pollute and poison our relationship with Jesus.
i. Truth is if we allow toxic substances to affect our relationship with Jesus it will also affect all of our other relationships as well.
1. Robert Harris stated, “If one first gives himself to the Lord, all other giving is easy.” Contributed to SermonCentral PRO
ii. We must root out of our lives the following according to Peter: The definitions below were taken from Webster’s Dictionary.
1. Malice - Desire to do harm to another, ill will towards others.
a. If a person carries malice in his or her heart it will affect them personally and it will impact their other relationships as well.
2. Deceit – The act of representing as true what is known to be false.
a. Deceit breeds lies and mistrust in a relationship. When trust is lost in a relationship then the relationship is damaged.
3. Hypocrisy – A pretending to be what one is not.
a. I had one woman come to me after I performed her marriage very upset that her husband had changed over night. Prior to their marriage she never saw him drink or smoke until their wedding night. She was heart broken because she felt her husband had been a hypocrite in their courtship.
4. Envy – A feeling of discontent and ill will because of another’s advantage, a resentful dislike for another because they have something you desire.
a. This self-centered emotion can cause great harm to others. I think of some recent events were one parent in a break up takes the lives of their children so that the other one cannot have them.
5. Slander – The utterance in the presence of another person of a false statement or statements, damaging to a third person’s character or reputation.
a. This to me is the most common form of toxic behaviors that destroy relationships.
i. It is also called gossip – back biting and the like.
b. As you can see this list of toxic actions are to be rooted out of the life of a Christian so as to strengthen their personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
i. The Christian because of their salvation experience and their spiritual intimacy with Jesus be behaving in a manner that is loving and not toxic.
c. A Call to Discipleship taken from “Jesus in Blue Jeans” by Laurie Beth Jones:
“In this country, it is not only improper—it is technically illegal to be served with a dirty plate. Salad bars post signs indicating that the health department requires that each time you step up to the buffet, you must do so with a clean plate.
Yet every day many of us step up to God’s banquet with a dirty plate, and then wonder why we aren’t served. Jesus, too, insists on a clean plate for everyone.
Jesus could not have motivated his team if he had not given each of them a clean plate. Former prostitute? No problem! You will become my example of precious, holy love. Former coward? No problem! You will become a legendary leader. Former skeptic? No problem! You, Paul, will go on to declare the Gospel in new and exciting ways. No more lingering germs or stains. Clean plate. Clean plate. Clean plate.
The danger in having the grunge of resentment on your plate is the poison that can come from it. Are there some unwashed portions---even on the underside? Are we harboring grunge-filled resentments or clumps of baked-on anger as we continually ask for second helpings? Have we forgiven ourselves?
It finally occurred to me that the only one hurt by the grunge on my plate is the person who eats from my plate…myself. If I hold on to it, thinking that the other person is being punished, thinking that I’m being noble, thinking that I have the right too, thinking that I cannot live without, I am wrong.
That’s why Jesus said we had to get rid of it—not only so the object of our anger could be set free, but more importantly, so we can.
Every one of the people Jesus worked with—those who walked forward—was given a new, bright, robe of righteousness to wear and very clean feet. No left over sins, unwashed resentment, or half-baked disappointments, lingered on the plates that Jesus handed out.
Jesus said, “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.” (John 13:8). Jesus gives cleans plates. Contributed by: Greg Buchner
d. Jesus and the Word commands us rid ourselves of anything that would hinder or destroy our romantic courtship with Jesus.
T.S. – Once we have rid ourselves of toxic waste that destroys relationships we then need to decide to grow up in our spiritual life with the Lord.
II. Romance the stone by growing in your relationship to Him.
a. The way we grow is by taking in nourishment which helps us to build muscles and also develop in maturity in other ways as well.
i. The same is true in the spiritual realm 1 Peter 2 tells us that we must feed on Jesus spiritual nourishment so that we can grow up spiritually.
1. Jesus is called the Bread of Life and He is what we should feed on so that we grow up in the faith.
2. We cannot grow spiritually unless we take in spiritual nourishment into our lives.
a. Milk in the natural builds strong muscles
b. Spiritual milk also builds strong spiritual muscles.
ii. We as Christians nee to determine that we are going to learn to better romance the precious stone Jesus by maturing and growing in our relationship with Jesus.
1. In other words we decide to grow up spiritually by feeding on His Word.
a. By learning what to do and what not to do so that we please the one we love.
b. Peter reminds us that we need to remember to feed on the very nourishment of Jesus because of our position in Christ. Truth is our positions in Christ were given to us as gifts because of our new relationship with Him and because they were free we should desire to please and feed on Him more.
i. We are a holy Priesthood
ii. We are a royal priesthood
iii. We are chosen by God
iv. We are part of the holy nation
v. We belong to God
vi. We have received mercy.
1. Knowing that we have these honored positions should compel us to feed more on Jesus.
a. It should influence us to want to spend more time with the one who loves us.
b. In any romance the key to a deeper and stronger relationship with someone is that you spend more time with that individual.
2. When you are in romantic relationships and someone gives you gifts you have a deeper love for that person.
a. Gifts given in relationships revels to the other person how much you love them.
b. Jesus gave us gifts because He loves us. God sent his Son because He loves us.
c. We have done nothing to deserve these gifts they are given because love compels them to be given.
c. We should be driven by love to want to romance the stone with our commitment to the relationship and our willingness to give gifts to the gift giver.
i. We should ourselves offer gifts to the one who loves us by giving him spiritual sacrifices.
1. Ghandhi--Worship without Sacrifice
In a conference with the British Government, Ghandhi said that human beings must take great care not to be molded by external forces that can destroy their lives, their families, their community, and their nation. He called these forces “The 7 social sins”
1. Politicians without moral character
Can you think of anyone like this?
2. Riches without working for it
Do you know anyone who fits this?
3. Business or commerce without morality
Have you ever been ripped off by someone in the marketplace?
4. Pleasure without conscience
Our nation allows the murder of unborn human beings just for a few moments of pleasure.
5. Education without moral principles
Have you ever heard the credo “the world is filled with educated derelicts?
6. Science without a commitment to humanity
Would you agree that technology is growing at exponential rates but we are far behind in our moral commitments to humanity in which technology is made to serve?
The 7th social sin is the one that Ghandhi referred that hits us right between the eyes.
7. Worship without Sacrifice
Contributed by: Rick Stacy
2. I believe that the problem with a lot of Christians today is their unwillingness to give back to the gift giver any gifts of sacrifice.
a. I look at the church of Jesus Christ and the problem that I see is Self-centered Christianity.
b. Christians want a one sided relationship with the Lord. You give to me but I will not give back to you because I want everything I have for myself.
c. The point here is we should desire and want to decide to abstain from anything sinful that would hurt or damage our relationship with the one we love. This means being selfish too!
d. We should live with such a romantic love for Jesus that our lives are filled with living good and living Godly.
e. When we love Jesus and make a commitment to Him then we live for Him. We do things that please Him not things that hurt Him!
T.S. – Once we have matured and grown up in the faith we will act like Jesus wants us to act and that is by submitting to those who are in authority over our lives. This type of lifestyle will please the one who we love.
III. Romance the stone by submitting to others.
a. We actually will romance the stone Jesus more by submitting to others.
i. Peter tells us that our love relationship with the Lord directs us to learn to die to self and to submit to others.
1. The more we love Jesus the more able we are to die to self.
2. The closer more intimate with Jesus we are the more able are we to submit to others in life.
b. Who are we as Christ lovers suppose to submit too?
i. We are to submit to all authority put in place by men
1. Kings – Presidents – government leaders
2. Governors – Police officers
ii. We are to lives as servants of God and servants of men.
1. We show the world that we are servants of God by showing proper respect to people.
a. Respect there is a good word for today!
b. Respect for our National leaders! There is not a lot of respect today for national leaders or for people in authority positions today.
c. The power of respect: From Stories For Preachers
i. During the Olympics an Iraqi weight lifter by the name of Raed Ahmed made the decision to defect to the United States. What made him to decide to switch sides, so to speak, and join the "enemy"? He told reporters that one reason was what he witnessed during the flag bearing ceremony at the Olympics. He and his countrymen had been told to turn their heads away from President Clinton. They had been warned that he and former President Bush wanted to destroy Iraq, and that Clinton is the enemy. Ahmed broke the rules and looked at President Clinton during the ceremony, and he couldn’t believe what he saw. When Iraq was introduced, Ahmed saw Clinton standing and applauding. He said, "I know that if the games were in Iraq, Saddam Hussein would not clap for the U.S."
d. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Respect:
i. Respect is of great importance in everyday life. As children we are taught (one hopes) to respect our parents, teachers, and elders, school rules and traffic laws, family and cultural traditions, other people’s feelings and rights, our country’s flag and leaders, the truth and people’s differing opinions. And we come to value respect for such things; when we’re older, we may shake our heads (or fists) at people who seem not to have learned to respect them. We develop great respect for people we consider exemplary and lose respect for those we discover to be clay-footed; and so we may try to respect only those who are truly worthy of our respect. We may also come to believe that, at some level, all people are worthy of respect. We may learn that jobs and relationships become unbearable if we receive no respect in them; in certain social milieus we may learn the price of disrespect if we violate the street law: “Diss me, and you die.” Calls to respect this or that are increasingly part of public life: environmentalists exhort us to respect nature, foes of abortion and capital punishment insist on respect for human life, members of racial and ethnic minorities and those discriminated against because of their gender, sexual orientation, age, religious beliefs, or economic status, demand respect both as social and moral equals and for their cultural differences. And it is widely acknowledged that public debates about such demands should take place under terms of mutual respect. We may learn both that our lives together go better when we respect the things that deserve to be respected and that we should respect some things independently of considerations of how our lives would go.
e. There is a crisis in our country and moet peipople do not even see it! It’s a lack of respect of others and especially for those in authority positions.
2. We are to submit to our brothers and sisters in Christ by loving the brotherhood of believers.
a. McLemore states, Being holy has a great deal to do, therefore, with the nature of relationships: ‘For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen’ (1 John 4:20). Jesus said, ‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another’ (John 13:34). Without love toward others, there is no intimate communion with God (see 1 John 3:10; 4:7-12) (McLemore, Toxic Relationships & How to Change Them).
3. We are to submit to God by fearing God
a. Proverbs tells us that the beginning of wisdom is to fear God.
i. Proverb 1:1-8:
1. The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young—let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance—for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
4. We are to submit by honoring our king or our national leaders.
a. Today we don’t honor our leaders we disrespect them and call this democracy! Or we call it Politics!
b. We rip on them discredit them and we actually think this pleases God.
iii. We are to submit as slaves to our masters
1. We are to show respect to our employers.
a. What is your reputation at work?
b. Truth is --we are to show them respect even if they don’t deserve it.
2. When we are conscious of the fact that God is with us at work our performance should draw attention to us.
a. We are told in Scripture to do all to the glory of God. This means at work too!
b. Truth is we must do good at work to be a witness for Jesus.
c. We will however suffer because of our good stands but be of good cheer God will reward you one day in Heaven before the entire Universe.
iv. We are to submit like Jesus did. He is our example.
1. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
a. Jesus did not insult those who ripped on him.
b. He stayed quiet and put his trust in God!
2. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
3. Therefore since we have returned we need to act like one who has spiritual intimacy with the Lord! We need to make sure we submit because this is what the Lord wants us to do.
Conclusion:
Peter in chapter 2 challenges us to romance the stone the right way and in so doing impact the world around us with our good lives. He compels us to romance the precious stone Jesus by doing three things with our lives:
1. Get rid of all the toxic behavior that pollutes and destroys your life and affects your relationship with Jesus and also with others.
2. Determine that you are going to learn to better romance the precious stone by maturing and growing in your relationship with Jesus.
a. In other words you decide to grow up spiritually by feeding on His Word.
i. By learning what to do and what not to do to please the one you love.
3. we must decide to change our attitude to one of servant hood -- to submission to authorities and in doing so we actually romance the precious stone Jesus.
a. Could you imagine what this world would look like if every one decided to submit to one another out of love?
