The Rock that Doesn’t Roll
(I Peter 2:4-10)
1. "Children’s Letters to God" series, actual authentic letters written by kids to God:
"Dear God, I read the Bible. What does ’begat’ mean? Nobody will tell me. Love, Alison."
"Dear God, did you mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident?" - Norma
"Dear God, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that okay?" - Neil
"Dear God, thank you for the baby brother but what I prayed for was a puppy." - Joyce
"Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up." - Bruce
"Dear God, please send Dennis Clark to a different camp this year." - Peter
"Dear God, I think about you sometimes even when I’m not praying." -Elliot
"Dear God, I bet it is very hard for you to love everybody in the world. There are only 4 in my family and I can’t do it." -Nan
"Dear God, I didn’t think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday. That was cool. –Eugene
(source: sermon central)
Main Idea: The Christian has decided to build his life on Christ, the Corner Stone.
TS----- Let’s prove that it is so and talk how this truth affects us.
I. JESUS is The Corner Stone (4-9)
A. This Corner Stone Can Do What Other Gifts CANNOT (4-7a)
Frank E Gaebelein: "There is fair evidence that ’Rock/Stone’ was a messianic title among the Jews as well as among Christians
1. He is a gift that is PRECIOUS to God (4)
2. He transforms us into GEMS (5)
3. If we have Him, we can be PROUD for eternity (6)
4. We will VALUE this gift as our most precious possession (7a)
• Like a rock, He gives stability
• He is alive, and participates in life with us
• He makes something valuable out of us…
B. Not Everyone APPRECIATES This Gift (7b-8)
1. To some, He is a source of DISASTER (7b-8a)
2. They have no INTENT to line up under Him (8b)
3. This is their DESTINY (8c)
Back in the days when the old West was being settled, there were a lot of pioneers who made their way over the Oregon trail. When they got to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, they found a stream a little too wide to cross in one step. So they "two-stepped" across by using an ugly lump sticking up out of the water in the middle of the stream.
As the years passed, other pioneers settled in that area, built their cabins, strung fences and plowed the fields. One man built his cabin near that same stream. But he had a problem -- his door flapped in the wind. To solve his problem, he found a heavy lump in the middle of the stream. So he carried it to his front step and it became a door stop.
More years passed. Railroads were built across the nation, more people pushed west and modern cities sprang up. A nephew of the old pioneer went east to study geology at a large university. He returned home during vacation. Lo and behold, on the front porch of his uncle’s cabin by the stream, he found not just an ugly lump, and not just a heavy lump, but a lump of pure gold, the largest gold nugget ever discovered on the eastern slopes of the Rockies! It had been there for three generations, but everybody saw it in a different light, some as an ugly lump, some as a heavy lump, but only the nephew saw it for what it really was -- a lump of gold.
The same thing is true of Jesus. The same Jesus whom others have seen as a stumbling rock was actually a very precious stone. The foundation is the most important part of any building. The chief cornerstone is the most important stone. (Alan Smith, Sermoncentral)
The Christian has decided to build his life on Christ, the Corner Stone.
II. This Cornerstone PROPELS Us Into God’s New Covenant (9-10)
A. Peter Uses OLD Covenant Imagery (9a)
1. A CHOSEN people
What does it mean to be chosen? A chosen people group vs. chosen individuals placed into a group…
2. A royal PRIESTHOOD (see also vs. 5))
What do preists do?
3. A holy NATION
Gentiles included with believing Israel
We are grafted into Israel; in the End Times, End Time Jews will be grafted back in
We are blessed because we are believers in Jesus associated with Israel through the Jewish Messiah…God has not forsaken the Jews, but rather included us in their ranks
4. A people BELONGING to God
Doesn’t everyone belong to God? What is unique here?
B. Our PURPOSE (9b-10)
1. To GLORIFY God (9b)
(1) Danger: Church life can become an end in itself; preservation, growth, activity
(2) "The praises" ( aretai ) often mean his "self-declarations" or his manifestations to men (cf. TDNT, 1:457-61). So then the church is to "advertise" (Selwyn, p. 167) the noble acts of God in history and thus make him known. Specifically, the Father ("him who called" [cf. 1:15]) is revealed by Jesus in his death and resurrection."
Frank E Gaebelein
2. To be TRANSFORMED (9c-10a)
What God must do….regeneration
3. To be containers of God’s MERCY (10b)
The believers destiny is to show off God’s mercy and grace
The Christian has decided to build his life on Christ, the Corner Stone.
Conclusion
1. What sort of condition is your life in?
2. Change: inevitable; but Who is Lord of Your life? Society? A set of rules you inherited from your forefathers? Your emotions/feelings? Or is it impossible to answer the question, you are in such a chaos?
