Living Stones, Chosen and Precious
1 Peter 2:2 – 10
Once again today we find Peter is speaking to the young Christians. He says, like newborn babies who crave milk for nourishment in order to grow stronger by the day, so too do spiritual newborns crave pure spiritual milk for their spiritual nourishment so that their faith may grow stronger through it and that they may grow in their salvation.
Peter tells us that faith begins with that first taste of spiritual milk, once you have tasted it you know that the Lord is good. For new believers that first taste is a life-giving and a life-changing event. For all new believers that first taste comes as personal revelation, we all come to God in our own way and in our own time.
Peter says that if we are to continue to grow into our new faith that we need to continue to come to Jesus. As you come closer to him, you find the Living Stone chosen by God and precious to him.
So we come to him, the Living Stone of God, the stone that gives life and sustenance to man. Jesus Christ is the Living Stone because he is resurrected from the dead and lives forever as the Eternal God.
As the scripture says “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, the foundation upon which all us stand. And the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to those you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
For God’s church the cornerstone, which bears the weight of the whole structure is Jesus. God himself has selected this stone, deems it to be of great value, and has laid it in its place. Therefore, those who trust in him will be secure in their salvation through the church of Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the precious cornerstone. He is precious to God who chose him and placed him in his position. It is through him that God accepts our sacrifices. Jesus is precious to his people, because he is a sure foundation and through him they have access to God.
Jesus is the one rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to God and as the living God, he is the source of life to all who place their faith in His perfect, once for all, substitutionary sacrifice.
And because of growing in him and through him, you also are like living stones, and you are being built into a spiritual house, a spiritual temple, to be made a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
D Marion Clark tells us that “As you come to Jesus, the living Stone, you become Living Stones, Life giving stones if you will. As you come closer the Jesus there is a transformation which takes place; you become like Christ.
It is not that we have become perfect like Christ; indeed, Peter is writing about unChrist-like behavior; but a spiritual work has been done within us to make us acceptable to God like Christ. How so?
Peter goes on: you are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. As building stones, we are being used as building material for a spiritual house.”
A shift is taking place in Peter’s address to his readers. Up to this time he has spoken to them as individuals. As individuals they were each born into a new hope. As individuals they are to live holy lives and love one another. As individuals, Christ redeemed us.
But now, we have become Living Stones, Chosen and Precious and as individual stones, we are being built into one building, one spiritual house. It is the house of the Lord, or as Jesus once said, his father’s house. We together are a dwelling place of the Lord; we are his temple.
So if we are going to be a spiritual temple for God’s presence, and if we are going to be a holy priesthood and if we are going to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, then we must day by day, hour by hour come to Christ. It is by coming to Christ that believers enter the realm of spiritual privilege.
Through the Living Stone, through Jesus Christ, believers are not merely passive onlookers but are active participants in service. We are not just participants, but a special kind of participant, set apart as His priests! It is not just the pastor or the elders. No, Peter says all of us. It is a “priesthood of all believers.”
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus Himself is the cornerstone, on whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
There is a famous story from Sparta. A Spartan king boasted to a visiting monarch about the walls of Sparta. The visiting monarch looked around and could see no walls. He said to the Spartan king, “Where are these walls about which you boast so much?” His host pointed at his bodyguard of magnificent troops. “These,” he said, “are the walls of Sparta, every man a brick.”
The point is clear. So long as a brick lies by itself it is useless; it becomes of use only when it is incorporated into a building. So it is with the individual Christian. To realize his destiny he must not remain alone, but must be built into the fabric of the Church. Therefore the walls of the church, the walls of the temple are made up of every man and woman, every Believer is a stone, we are all Living Stones, Chosen and Precious.
Now I suspect that you have heard the phrase “Dr. Livingstone I presume”. The legend is that it was the famous greeting of Henry Morton Stanley upon locating the noted missionary David Livingstone in Africa. Dr. Livingstone had committed his life to be one of the Living Stones in the wall of the holy temple of believers, priests to the world one and all.
When missionary David Livingstone, died alone in the heart of Africa, his native porters found him kneeling beside his bed in prayer. They cut out his heart and buried it in his beloved Africa. Then they took his body and handed it over to the British authorities. It was transported back to England and he was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey amid the mourning nation.
A brass plate in the floor marks the spot, and a scripture tells the tale. As Jesus said “Other sheep have I which are not of this fold, them also I must bring.” Such was his noble epitaph for a committed missionary to a far off land. However, he had another others and one of Britain’s periodicals said it best. Across its front page in banner headlines it wrote: “Granite may crumble, but this is LIVING STONE!”
Hear the Good News my Friends…………
The word cornerstone is used most often to refer to the large stone placed in the foundation at the main corner of a building. Even today if you were to go to Jerusalem, to the Wailing Wall, the only remnant of the Temple of Soloman, you can still see the mammoth stone that was carefully and purposefully placed to keep the building solid and perfectly aligned. That was done by man. For believers, for Christians, for temple of God the cornerstone upon which we are all kept solid and perfectly aligned in our faith, works and purpose is Jesus Christ!
Charles Spurgeon said that in coming to Jesus as the foundation we become a temple; coming to Him as the Holy One of Israel we become a holy priesthood; and resting in His sacrifice we also offer spiritual sacrifices to God.
Coming close to Him, we grow up in all things and become perfected in Christ Jesus. As we grow in our faith and faithfulness we learn to lean more on Christ, press more and more heavily on Christ, and depend more and more upon Christ than ever before.
In this way, you know, some stones seem, by long abiding and pressing together, to cleave to one another, they seem unite together until they appear to be no longer distinct, but one mass. He says notice in an old Roman wall and you cannot distinguish the mortar from the stone. You cannot tell where the stones were joined; they have grown to be one piece.
And blessed is the Christian who, like a living stone, has continued so to come to the foundation of Christ and have become one as it were, that nothing can divide them, the Believer and Jesus Christ. As we continue to come to Jesus, and draw nearer to Him; nearer and yet nearer still, built up into Him, perfectly joined in one spirit. Then, and only then, shall our Christian life be perfected.
Friends you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once 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. Upon Jesus Christ as the cornerstone, you have truly become Living Stones, Chosen and Precious. Amen.
Chatham Circuit
St Louisville, Chatham & Liberty UMC
May 10, 2020
Fifth Sunday of Easter, Mother’s Day
Prelude
Bringing the Light
*Call to Worship
L: The Lord is our refuge.
P: We can find peace in God’s abiding love.
L: When troubles assail us, we call upon the Lord.
P: When joys abound, we call upon the Lord.
L: Welcome this day to God’s house, one of many dwellings of the Almighty One.
P: We thank you and praise God for his refuge and sanctuary. AMEN.
*Hymn: I Need Thee Every Hour #397, 3 verses
1 I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord; no tender voice like thine can peace afford.
Refrain: I need thee, O I need thee; every hour I need thee! O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.
2 I need thee every hour, stay thou near by; temptations lose their power when thou art nigh. [Refrain]
3 I need thee every hour, in joy or pain; come quickly, and abide, or life is vain. [Refrain]
*Opening Prayer
Gracious God , on this day of the festival of the Christian Home, the celebration of Mother’s Day, the witness to the eternal love of Christ, remind us that we are responsible for caring for each other. We are called to lift up rather than tear down; to support rather than abandon, to reach out when others have turned away. Give us hearts of love that, in all places and times, we may be a witness to the hope that is found in Jesus Christ. AMEN.
Recognition of Mother’s Day
Holy One, we come together this day celebrating the role that mothers have played in our lives. We thank you for the present love and the memories of our mothers and grandmothers. Open our hearts continually to your love through others. Keep us mindful of those for whom this is a difficult day. Help us to reach out to them. Jesus reminded his disciples that they always have a place in his heart and that there is a special place for them in God’s realm.
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 31:1 – 5, 15 – 16
In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God. My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.
The Lord’s Prayer
*Second Scripture: Acts 7:55 – 60
*The Apostle’s Creed UMH 881
*Gloria Patri UMH 70
*Message Lesson: 1 Peter 2:2 – 10
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you 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. For 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.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once 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.
The Message
Living Stones, Chosen and Precious
Bryan Moore
Hymn: Rock of Ages #361
1 Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee; let the water and the blood, from thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure; save from wrath and make me pure.
2 Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law’s demands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.
3 Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling; naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.
4 While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyes shall close in death, when I soar to worlds unknown, see thee on thy judgment throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.
Prayers of the People
Offering in Response to God’s Grace
*Doxology UMH 95
*Offertory Prayer
Lord, we thank you for the many gifts you have poured into our lives for those who love us and nurture us; for those who teach us to be loving people. Bless those people and bless these gifts that we may work for you, bringing healing and hope to our fractured world. AMEN.
*Hymn: Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus #514
- Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross; lift high his royal banner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory his army shall he lead, till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed.
- Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the trumpet call obey; forth to the mighty conflict, in this his glorious day. Ye that are brave now serve him against unnumbered foes; let courage rise with danger, and strength to strength oppose.
- Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in his strength alone; the arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own. Put on the gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer; where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.
- Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long; this day the noise of battle, the next the victor’s song. To those who vanquish evil a crown of life shall be; they with the King of Glory shall reign eternally.
*Benediction
Go forth in peace, dear ones. Bring hope to this world. Go forth in love; bring joy to this world. Go forth in the knowledge that goes with you, loving and guiding your steps. AMEN.
Closing
“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
Prayer Requests:
- Prayers for Sandy, Nancy’s sister
- Prayers for Dick and Mary Ann,
- Prayers for Bonnie and Gerald,
- Prayers for Sally and David
Birthdays this week
5/4 Bill Byrnes
5/5 Deb Soter
5/10 Wes Bennett
5/10 Brett Cliver
The Life of the Church Coming Events
May 13 – Bible Study, 2PM Telephone 508 – 924-5730.
Sermon Line:
The Sermon Line is 617-793-8516! Just call the number and a few seconds later the whole service will begin to play. You might want to put it on speaker because it is several minutes long. The plan is that at least until we can be in fellowship with each other again, that we will continue making the audio of the services available by noon on Monday.
Graduation:
St Louisville congratulates three high school graduates this year: Jayme Dutcher, Julianna McComb and Kallie Robinson. All of these young ladies are all members of our church. As soon as the restrictions get lifted, we will celebrate with a reception hour. We also want to give a shout out to Amber Ritchey, granddaughter to Carolyn Miller on her graduation.
Wedding Bells:
Brenda and Darren Bilger are pleased to announce the marriage of their daughter, Megan, to Kyle Barclay on May 9th. They are planning a celebration in August when the restrictions of the pandemic will be eased up. Congratulations to everyone and May God Bless this Union!
Words of Confession:
Patient and forgiving God, we come to you this day. For many there is a celebration of Mother’s Day and all that our mothers have given to us and taught us; but for some, these memories are too painful, of those who could not parent, who were afflicted. Remind us that your blessings are poured out in many ways, through many people. Give us the confident faith that reaches beyond our own lives to help others. Forgive us when we sink into our own selfishness and pettiness. For it is in those times that we turn our back on you. Bring us back to you, to the awareness of your eternal love.
Words of Assurance:
Christ, our cornerstone and our salvation, offers to us hope and comfort. On this Mother’s Day Sunday, this Festival of the Christian, help us to make our home in you. AMEN.