Bible Passage: 1 Peter 2:4-6
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: May 7, 2023

Bulletin May 7 (Confirmation), 2023

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

At the center of Jewish worship life in the Old Testament was the Temple in Jerusalem.  The first Temple was built at the time of David’s son, King Solomon.  It was a magnificent structure!  The Most Holy Place, that sacred inner room where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, was overlaid with about 20 tons of pure gold!

There is an interesting detail given to us about the construction of the Temple.  The Temple was built out of massive stones.  Solomon had 80,000 men assigned to quarry the stones for the building of the Temple.  Each stone was cut to its exact dimensions while at the quarry and then transported to the construction site.  The Bible tells us, While the building was under construction, only stones that had been finished at the quarry were used in the building.  No hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the building while it was under construction. (1 Kings 6:7)  That is a marvel of engineering and craftsmanship!  Nobody builds with cut and quarried stones any more.  Too costly and labor intensive.

Nobody…except God.  That is what our text is all about today.  How God builds using stones.  To be more precise, God builds using The Stone…and the Stones.

 Peter is writing to some 1st century Christians who may have been tempted to look longingly back at the Temple and long for the “good ol’ days.”  They were Christians under assault for their allegiance to Jesus.  None of this happened when they were just good, Temple-going Jews.  Judaism was accepted and tolerated in the Roman Empire.  Christianity not-so-much.  Peter wants to direct them away from the old Temple of stones and the old priesthood that hustled and worked within those stones.

He reminds them that they as Christians have come to the Living Stone.  This is Jesus.  He calls Jesus a “living” Stone.  Peter likes the word “living.”  He began this letter by saying:  Praise be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a LIVING hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)  Oh, Jesus was stone-cold-dead when they placed him in his tomb on Good Friday.  But he rose again.  And this resurrection becomes the thing that animates us!  Certainty and confidence live within us!  Certainty and confidence that we have an inheritance in heaven. By calling Jesus the “living” Stone, Peter wants us to remember the resurrection of Jesus.

Peter tells us something else about this Stone.  He was rejected by men (v. 4).  The word that is used means “to reject something after careful examination.”  I bet that happened a lot in the building of the Temple.  I bet stones were cut at the quarry and the stone-cutter looked it over and said, “Nope.  This one is no good.”  Maybe you’ve done that.  You are making a stone path in your backyard.  You pick up a stone.  You examine it from every angle.  Many stones are rejected because they won’t fit.  People did that with Jesus.  They examined him from every angle.  Not much to build their Messianic hopes on.  They tossed him on the “reject” pile.  A tragic and eternal mistake.

But this Living Stone, rejected by people, was chosen and  precious to God.  This is the Stone God about which God said, “That’s the perfect one!”  Peter quotes from Psalm 118 where God spoke about his plans for this chosen and precious Stone:  See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone. (v. 6)  God has quarried, cut, and laid the first stone of a magnificent building.  It is plumb and level and perfect.  It will set the lines and support all the stones that will rest on it.

And where does God get the stones that go on top of the cornerstone?  You!  You also, like living stones, are being built as a spiritual house. (v. 5)   Our cornerstone is Jesus.  His pure and holy life, his substitutionary death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead – they are the foundation beneath us.  They are what give us stability in life and in death.  The faith of every Christian rests upon Jesus – and nothing else.  The Living Stone alone makes us living stones.  His resurrection means resurrection life for us.  The Living Stone once declared, I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.  (John 11:25)  That is what it is to be “living stones” built on the Living Stone!

Peter describes us in another way.  He says we are built into a holy priesthood in order to bring spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (v. 5)  To appreciate Peter’s words here we must think back to the priesthood of the Old Testament.  The priests were a small group in Israel.  They were the sons of Aaron from the tribe of Levi.  They were on duty at the Temple.  There, among those stones, they offered the bloody sacrifices each day – lambs and bulls and goats and doves and pigeons.  Now, built on Christ, the Living stone, we are a new priesthood.  Each and every one of you!  You all offer sacrifices to God.  Not bulls or goats.  Paul said to the Romans, Therefore, I urge you… in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices. (Romans 12:1)  YOU are the sacrifice you offer!  And there is that word again… “living.”  Your head, your hands, your heart, your time, your treasures!  Consecrated.  Offered to God.  Pleasing to God because you do what you do through Jesus Christ. 

This section ends with a most comforting promise:  …the one who believes in him will certainly not be put to shame. (v. 6)  Shame is a powerful, horrible thing.  Sin brings shame.  Humiliation brings shame.  Jesus Christ is the end of shame!  You never need to be ashamed to confess:  Christ is my cornerstone!

Amen.