1 Wherefore laying aside all
malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the
Lord is gracious. 4 To whom coming, as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5 Ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 6 Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious:
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. 7 Unto you therefore which believe
he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the
builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8 And a stone of stumbling, and a
rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient:
whereunto also they were appointed. 9 But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew
forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvellous light: 10 Which
in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1
Peter 2:1-10)
There is a great Stone at Mount Horeb from which God made life-saving waters
gush forth to the thirsty Children of Israel in the Wilderness. Behold, I
will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the
rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. (Ex 17:6) - the same Mount Horeb upon
which Moses had heard the Voice of God speaking from a Burning Bush. (Ex
3:2) It was the
same Mount Horeb at which the Children of Israel stripped themselves of gold
ornaments and other unnecessary accoutrements of wealth and gave for the
building of the Tabernacle of God in the Wilderness by Horeb. (Exodus
33) I consider Mount
Horeb, standing before Mount Sinai (Mount of Judgment) to be the Mountain of
Mercy. Its great Stone from which water gushed represents our Lord Jesus Christ
who was that same Rock that followed the Children in the Wilderness. And
were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the
same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank
of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. (1
Cor 10:2-4) In
another sense, that great Stone Mountain represents the Mercy Seat of God - our
Lord Jesus Christ.
There is something of the nature of stone that has a permanence far beyond the
ordinary, but that Chief Cornerstone (which is Christ) is more than ordinarily
permanent - it is Eternal.
Before we approach the Rock of our Salvation, we must heed the words of St.
Peter: "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have
tasted that the Lord is gracious." Have we known that the Lord is
gracious? Of course, we have if we have received forgiveness of our prolific
sins and redemption from the wages for those sins which is death.
Therefore, we must reflect that grace in our living.
The Living Stone
To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen
of God, and precious. In the physical world in which we live, there is no
organic, or living, stone. All stone in our world is made, as are we, of clay.
There is no life in our worldly stones, and there is no life in those who are dead
in trespasses and sins. (Eph
2:1) But there is
an Eternally Living Stone on High which is Jesus Christ! It is this Stone
to which St. Peter makes reference as a Living Stone! Though the only Living
Stone to appear unto men - for all others were dead - and the only one of
merit, it was rejected by those who despised God as revealed in the Law and the
Prophets of old. Israel had created their own god who would conform to their
own values and mores much like the modern Church of our day. The modern church
has rejected the Moral Law of God and has preferred Mammon and all that the
license of Mammon offers - homosexuality, abortion, drug culture, drunkeness,
etc.
Earthly Stones
The stones of this world are rolling stones in every sense - they have no fixed
position in the same way Jude describes the sinner as wandering stars. So, too, have our fallen churches
arrived at that sad definition of Jude: Woe unto them! for they have gone in
the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and
perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity,
when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are
without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming
out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of
darkness for ever. (Jude 1:11-13) A wandering star is a meteor
with no fixed orbit destined to burn and perish in the atmosphere of another
body.
Unfortunately, evangelists in the nations abroad have come to place great
authority in the deception spewed out by these modern churches who teach their
youth to bring the discordant values of the world into their worship scene -
jumping and yelling (as if God were deaf) and playing musical scores that more
properly fit into the night club environment than the Holy Place of God.
Christ is that One Living Stone, and all who are in Christ are part and parcel
of that Living Stone - 'chips off the old block,' so to speak! Ye also, as
lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The sacrifices of
the Christian is not how much wealth we return to God, but of how much of
ourselves we give! In that Temple that is Christ, there is a 'YOU-shaped' void
that only you can fill. God has a purpose from each of His Elect, and a place!
Here follows a precious text of Scripture that is both beautiful and
enlightening: Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay
in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but
unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the
same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of
offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto
also they were appointed. I would like to relate and illustration of the
Great Pyramid at Giza that my father told me to explain this last passage.
Illustration
The wise architects who designed and planned the construction of the Great
Pyramid took many pains to see that every minute detail was considered (and
there are far more than the scope of this illustration); That portion of the
pyramid below the earth is an inverse replica of that above. Much like our earnest
plea in the Lord's Prayer. Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven.
The engineers even designed each stone and the place it should occupy in the
vertically decreasing levels of the Pyramid. Each stone was cut to the
specifications of the designers before the construction ever began. Once the
stones were quarried, they were dragged, one at a time, to the scene of
construction. There was one great stone that seemed prematurely placed near the
base that kept getting in the way of the buildings in bringing other stones to
the pyramid. They found it necessary to grudgingly work around this Stone which
became a Stone of offense and of cursing.
As the Great Pyramid neared completion, all that remained to add was the
Capstone. To their great sorrow, the workmen determined that the Stone of
Offense around which they had stumbled and cursed was the Capstone which had
been designed by the architects before construction. But now it was to late to
place this massive stone atop the pyramid, thus today the Great Pyramid at Giza
is missing its Capstone. I am afraid the modern church as well is missing its
Capstone and Chief Cornerstone!
It takes a miracle of God to make an inorganic, non-living stone awake to life.
But that is what God does for us. We who were dead in trespasses and sin have
been made alive through the mercy and grace of God - and none of our own doing!
I suppose if I had to reveal my favorite verse of the Bible, it would come
close to being the last one that I read, for these following are very dear: 4 But God, who is rich in
mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might
shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man
should boast. (Eph
2:4-9)
St. Peter's benediction to today's text is equally beautiful and wonderful for
expression: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who
hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past
were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy. We are made, by the grace and unmerited favor
of God, a living stone occupying our particular place designed by the Great
Creator in the Temple of God. We are living stones because we are connected to
the Living Stone which is Christ!
The only Rock music sung in Church should be "Rock of Ages, cleft for
me!"
