What’s Next: The Cornerstone, “I Got a Rock,” – What’s Next Part IV

Sermon Title: What’s Next: “I Got a Rock”

Good News Statement: Jesus grounds us in a firm foundation

Preached: Sunday, May 07, 2023, at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): 1 Peter 2:2-10 Today’s scripture reading comes from Peter’s first epistle to the followers of Christ: chapter two verses two thru ten. In this particular passage, we are reminded that Christ is the rock of our life, the cornerstone upon which everything is built…

² Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴ Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and ⁵ like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in scripture. “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

⁷ This honor, then, is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected  has become the very head of the corner,” ⁸ and “A stone that makes them stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people,  but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

Psalm 31 – Prayer and Praise for Deliverance from Enemies

¹ In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me. ² Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me. ³ You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me; ⁴ take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge. ⁵ Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God…. ¹⁵ My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. ¹⁶ Let your face shine upon your servant;  save me in your steadfast love.

This is the Word of God for the People of God; And all God’s people said, “Thanks be to God.”

 

Introduction:

Where do rocks like to sleep? In bed-rocks

How do geologists like to relax? In rocking chairs, of course

What did the rock want to be when it grew up? A rock star

What do you get when you mix together a geologist and  a musician? Rock music

“What comes next?” What comes next, for us as disciples and as a church, after the resurrection of Jesus, after the stone has been rolled away, after the women return to tell the disciples that Jesus has risen and they must meet him in Galilee, and after Jesus appears to the disciples who have chosen to lock themselves in a room? What comes next is embracing a living hope that offers you a light at the end of the tunnel. What comes next is remembering what Jesus has done for you. What comes next is praising the Lord for what he is doing for you. What comes next is taking time to offer someone love, either through a phone call, a text message, an email, a card, a hello, or even through a hug.  What comes next is realizing that Jesus is not only your shepherd, who is going to lead you back when you go astray, but that he is the guardian of your soul who experiences the ups and downs, the healings and pains, the joys and sorrows, and the laughter and tears of life.

Last week we read these words from First Peter 2:21 and 25, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps….For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (1 Peter 2:21, 25). By knowing that Jesus is the guardian of you souls, and through his resurrection, I remind you that Jesus will bring you healing, he will care for you, he will love you, and he will protect you all the days of your life. And now we must realize that through the resurrection of Jesus, his guardianship is more than walking with us: his guardianship is our rock, our refuge, and our fortress. Jesus’ resurrection offers us a firm foundation to stand upon, but are we willing to be the rock that Jesus needs us to be?

 

Body:

What is the primary Biblical image Jesus’ disciple Peter used to describe Jesus? You might think Messiah, Savior, Lamb of God, Shepherd, Guardian. To our surprise, Peter mentions these descriptions, but these are not the descriptions that Peter uses to challenge us. Instead, Peter portrays Jesus is the Cornerstone, the rock. Whenever I think about rocks, three things come to mind. First, the word rock appears in scriptures approximately 154 times. Second, I think about those days that I went with my father and brothers to the baseball diamonds for church softball games. Starting in June and lasting through the middle of August, before school would start up again, several churches from the area would get together on Monday and Tuesday evenings to play a few games of softball. Before I was old enough to appreciate the game, I would walk around looking at the gravel searching for fossils, searching for unique rocks. By the end of the evening, my pockets would be full of what I deemed as “cool” or “unique” rocks and so would the backseat of my father’s 1986 Nova.

The third thing that comes to mind when I think about rocks, is the scene from a classic Halloween movie featuring a group of children dressed up as a witches and ghosts. This movie has been airing on television for many years: the movie is It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. During trick-or-treating, this particular group of children go from house to house receiving handfuls of candy: “I got five pieces of candy, I got a chocolate bar, I got a quarter,” and Charlie Brown says, “I got a rock.” The scene continues, “I got a candy bar, I got three cookies, I got a package of gum,” and then Charlie Brown says, “I got a rock.” And then, as participants involved in this movie, we are hoping that things will change for Charlie Brown. We listen one last time, “I got a popcorn ball, I got fudge bar, I got a pack of gum,” and, from under his holey sheet, we hear the disappointed voice of Charlie Brown say, “I got a rock.”

Sometimes in life, we find that one cool and unique rock that we put in our pocket: we place on a shelf, place outside in our garden, or set it on our front steps. But sooner or later, that rock disappears or we forgot all about it. Other times, we find ourselves continually receiving rocks while everyone else gets candy, popcorn balls, and packages of gum. We say, “I got a rock.” When we want to keep the rocks, we lose them; but when we want to get rid of the rocks, we keep getting more. Today, I remind you of a special kind of rock that we sometimes misplace and forget about; and the wonderful thing about this rock, is the fact that it will always find a way into our life. This rock is Jesus, who is our refuge, our fortress, our firm foundation, and our cornerstone; and he is the rock upon which we say with Charlie Brown, “I got a rock.”

The first time Peter mentions Jesus as the Cornerstone is shortly after Pentecost, after Jesus’ resurrection and the Holy Spirit came filling the disciples like tongues of fire. Peter and John were dragged before the religious leaders to explain how they had healed a man. With the courage of the Holy Spirit, Peter boldly proclaimed in front of the very same religious leaders that had just put Jesus to death, that the man was healed in the name and power of Jesus and then he quoted Psalm 118:22: Peter said, “He [Jesus] is ‘the stone that the builders rejected, which has become the chief cornerstone.’”[i] As the chief cornerstone, Jesus is the foundation to our salvation.

In our day and age, unless you’re a stone mason, you probably don’t think much about cornerstones because most of our houses don’t have a cornerstone. We have poured concrete foundations, and studded walls. But in the 1st century Israel the primary building material, or at least their foundation material, was stone. And the most important stone in the whole house was the cornerstone. The cornerstone was the first stone to be laid in construction. It became the foundation upon which all the other stones were set. The cornerstone had to be the perfect stone and set just so because if it was off, even a little bit, the whole building was off. Those who are in construction know how frustrating it can be when a foundation is not plumb.

Peter tells us Jesus Christ is the stone that was rejected. He was rejected by the Jews, he was rejected by the Gentiles, the Romans. When Jesus took the sins of the world upon himself, even his own Father rejected him, at least for a little while: Jesus cried from the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” (Mark 15:34; Psalm 22:1). But we know that Jesus was never alone: God raised him up and placed him as the Cornerstone. He is the foundation; there is no other foundation upon which we can build our lives upon. Because Jesus was raised, our foundation has been given more strength, longer durability, the will to withstand life’s battles and struggles. Peter tells us no one can avoid the cornerstone, you are either going to trip and stumble over it, and reject him, or you are going to accept him, and build your life upon him. Jesus is everywhere in your life: wherever you go, whatever you do, he is the cornerstone either you stumble over or accept. The one thing you can’t do is ignore him. He will always find a way to make you say, “I got a rock. I’ve got Jesus.”

1 Peter 2:5 reads, “…Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood.” Peter is giving us a choice. First, are we willing to build on Christ as the cornerstone? Are we building on Christ as the cornerstone or on some other foundation? Building on Jesus means we put our faith in him, but it also means we set our lives according to his. We line our lives up according to his life. We become a spiritual house. When we allow Christ to be our cornerstone and line our lives up with him, we can boldly and faithfully proclaim the words of the Psalmist, who writes in the thirty-first Psalm, “In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me. Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me. You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me; take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God” (Psalm 31:1-5). Be a rock of refuge for me. I commit my spirit. Redeem me, O Lord.

Second, will we allow God to work on our rough edges to be built into God’s spiritual house, to become a holy place, a living sanctuary that is tried and true? Stones that come out of a quarry usually aren’t ready to be used for building, at least not right away. They need to be chiseled and formed to fit the location the mason wants to place it. Without taking the rough edges off it makes it difficult to set it stably on the foundation. It is also difficult for any other stones to rest next to it or on top of it.

Even when we are saved by God through Jesus we still have some rough edges in our life, our mouth, our attitude, our anger, our self-centeredness, our pride. They still haven’t been changed yet. Jesus has given us new life, he has forgiven us our sins, but our attitudes and behaviors haven’t caught up with our new life yet. We require a process of chiseling off our rough edges. We can’t do this on our own, but we can allow God to do it. As we were reminded last week in reading Peter, God said, “be holy because I am holy.” In our new life in Christ we are meant to be set apart for him, that’s what it means to be holy, set apart for God. Our life should reflect the Cornerstone, we are citizens of God’s kingdom. So we must each ask ourselves, “Am I willing to be shaped and used as a living stone for God’s purposes, am I allowing God to take off the sharp edges which do not reflect him, so he can fit us into where he wants us, to be built into a spiritual house, to be the church that He needs us to be, to be a disciple for the transformation of the world? As we pray to have those rough edges removed from our life, it’s important to pray the following words, “My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love” (Psalm 31:15-16) and guide me to become your living stone.

As living stones building on Christ the Cornerstone, we should notice that we are not alone. God wants to be involved in the shaping and molding process of our life. God is building a spiritual house within us and around us (v. 5). One stone does not make a house. One stone can’t even make a wall.[1] The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to Ephesus about how we, together, are built on Christ the cornerstone to become God’s holy temple: “So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone; in him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God” (Ephesians 2:19-22). Together we become God’s new living temple. We become the place where God lives by his Spirit.

We are a part of something so much bigger than ourselves. We are part of a great movement of God’s Spirit which the Bible calls the church. The church is not this building, the church is the people of God: “The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people” (We Are the Church, United Methodist Hymn #558). God chooses to work through the church, the people, because He sees the gifts and talents that each of us have. That’s why Peter goes on to say in 1 Peter 2:10, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people…” (1 Peter 2:9).

Jesus reminds Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James and John, and two others disciples of this when he appears before them after the resurrection on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias. They are more than just someone; they have been chosen by God as God’s own people. After getting tired of waiting for Jesus, they decide to go fishing, but catch nothing: they simple keep getting rocks instead of putting their faith in the Rock.  John 21:4-8 shares, “Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.” Because they trusted Jesus, the disciples’ nets were filled: they received more than enough. They received the cornerstone of faith and were reminded that they have been chosen by God to do God’s will.

John tells us this is the third time that Jesus appeared before the disciples after the resurrection (John 21:14). It took the disciples three times to realize that their faith didn’t have a strong foundation: it was lacking a cornerstone. Sometimes, it takes us three times, four times, or hundreds of times before we realize that not only are our nets empty, but that our faith is low and beginning to lean to one side: that our cornerstone is beginning to crumble due to the weight of stress, doubt, unbelief, worry, work, lack of answers, and the list could go on and on. If we don’t take time to recognize Jesus in our life, and to appreciate the rocks that are placed in our bag, our foundation will continue to stumble and fall (1 Peter 2:8).But, if you take to heart that Jesus is the cornerstone, our refuge, our firm foundation, then at least we have something stable in our life to lean on when life is tough, challenging, and overwhelming. Just imagine what your life would be like if you didn’t have a cornerstone holding up your foundation?

 

Conclusion:

Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter not just because he wanted to, but because he needed to in order to help us understand the importance of his work. In Greek, Peter is pronounced Petros which means “Rock,” as in “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Maybe he’s trying to return the favor. Come to the living stone. Come and let him build you into the house he’s trying to build. Be a stone, like him. A living stone. Part of the foundation. Part of the structure. Be a stone, a temple made of stone. Be a stone sanctuary; let worship take place in you. Just like Peter, we have the Rock inside of us: the faith of Christ, the strength of Christ, the will of Christ, the love, grace, mercy, and salvation of Christ. Because we have the Rock, Jesus Christ, abiding in us, we have a firm foundation to stand upon and to protect us from those stones that make us stumble.

Knowing that you have a firm foundation, a cornerstone, in your life, I encourage you to give praise because you have been chosen by Jesus, offer love to one another—live a life of love—do good and share with others the gospel, and pray each and every day to have your life built upon the Rock of Jesus Christ. Jesus is your living stone and without him, things would begin to crumble.

Psalm 118 states, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone (cornerstone); the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:22-24). Have you chosen to rest on the Cornerstone of Christ, to live a life knowing that no matter what happens, Jesus is still there holding you up and being your firm foundation? Allow Jesus to be your cornerstone, and remind yourself that with him in your life, there is always a starting point when things do crumble.

Maybe Charlie Brown was trying to teach us a lesson. In life, receiving a rock is more important than receiving a candy bar, a popcorn ball, a package of gum because it reminds us that Jesus is watching out for us. Charlie Brown received three rocks on Halloween. How many rocks do you need to receive before you realize that Jesus is the Rock, the cornerstone, in your life holding you up? What’s next after the resurrection, is building your life upon the Rock. Let it be so. Amen.

 

 Communion Transition

 

Closing Prayer:

            Let us Pray: Dear Jesus, through your resurrection, we are reminded that you are the rock of our faith, the living stone in our life, and the cornerstone of our church. O Lord, give us the strength to continue to build upon your foundation as we become the disciple that you need us to be. When we crumble build us back up, set us upon your foundation, and guide us to standing firm in your ways. All honor and glory is yours now and forever, Amen.

 

Benediction:

The next time you see a rock, remind yourself that Jesus is your rock: your refuge, your firm foundation, your fortress, your everlasting cornerstone. And take to heart that that cornerstone is not going anywhere: he is always going to be there because he has chosen you to be his people. May you be blessed knowing that Jesus is your cornerstone today and tomorrow. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, go, living and experiencing the resurrection of Christ in your life. And all God’s people said, Amen. Amen. Amen.

 

 

[1] The Early Church Fathers, when considering the concept of stones, recalled a story offered by The Shepherd of Hermas, the brother of Bishop Pius I of Rome (bishop from 140 to 155 CE). The majority of this story is an allegory—a story with a meaning—of a tower, which represents the Church. The tower is still being built—it needs more stones—and as stones are added to the structure, Hermas realizes that the stones are the people. Some are ready to be built into the tower, but others are not ready. At the end of the age, the Church will be complete and Jesus will return. We are the stones that help build the church of today and tomorrow; and Jesus is the cornerstone upon which we are laid next to. The church is still being built because people are still finding Jesus and still allowing him to be there cornerstone. It takes many stones to build a house and a church.

[i] Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:11-12).”