1 Peter 2:4 – 5 “As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, 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…”
STONES!!! Anywhere you go in Israel and in much of the Middle East, stone is the main building material. Perhaps there were forests, back before nations began conquering other nations. But read the Old Testament and you will see that one of the chief means of damaging a country was to cut down its forests. Lacking any other material, people turned to stone for their houses, and even sometimes for the furniture inside those houses. While Jesus and his earthly father Joseph have been described as being carpenters, it is far more likely that they were “teknikon,” that is, artisans who could work in any material, including stone.
The people to whom Peter was writing knew all about stone, including which type of stone you might use for a foundation, which kind you might use for an olive press, which kind would be strong enough to floor a courtyard, etc. Now Peter is referring to two kinds of living stones here: Jesus, the Rock, the One True Living Stone, “chosen and precious in God’s sight,” and anybody who would follow Jesus. Peter is comparing those who follow Jesus to living stones and implying that their faith and their obedience form the walls of a spiritual house.
While nobody had to be instructed about stones, Peter’s next statement must have been confusing… “Offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” At that point, people must have been scratching their heads. Nobody had to tell these people about offering animal sacrifices. There were even animals for sale in the outer court of the temple so that the faithful wouldn’t have to struggle to obtain an appropriate animal. But now Peter is telling them that he is not talking about an animal sacrifice but about a spiritual one. Huh?
Way back in 1 Samuel 15:22 – 23 God used the prophet Samuel to tell people what he wanted: “But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination (witchcraft), and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry.” God is looking for people who will listen for His voice and obey Him implicitly.
Imagine for a moment that you are building a retaining wall at the back of your garden. You have carefully selected stones that will fit together perfectly and the wall looks great! And then suddenly one stone close to the bottom suddenly wiggles out of position, hops out of the wall, and rolls around on the ground. And if that weren’t weird enough, this stone can even talk. “Whew!” the stone exclaims, “am I ever glad to get out of that wall! Being in that position was really cramping my style!”
“But,” you ask, “what do you think you are going to do now that you are no longer part of a wall? How much good are you if you are sitting on the ground all alone?” “Well,” replies the stone, “at least I am F*R*E*E* FREE!!!”
“But, free for what?” you ask, scratching your head. “Before, you were part of the foundation for a wall that would have stood for many years and would have made the garden look great. Now you are simply an isolated rock. What good are you by yourself?”
“Hmm,” muses the stone, “I don’t know. I guess I can trip people.”
“Only if someone is foolish enough to walk in the wrong direction. And I can pick you up and move you out of the way so you are quite unlikely to cause a problem.”
“Well, I can roll around,” replies the stone.
“The garden is flat,” you answer. “I don’t think you are going to get very far.”
“Hmm,” muses the stone again. “This isn’t going to be as much fun as I thought. Do you think you can put me back into your wall? I’m already missing the other stones.” So you put your wayward stone back into the retaining wall, where it settles happily and remains.
If we are willing to be part of a community of faith, we really serve as living stones. But if we insist that we don’t want to worship God, that we want to go our own way and rebel, we are as foolish as that rock that wiggled out of the retaining wall. God created us to worship and adore Him. God created us to be part of a community of believers. When we rebel, we hurt those around us and deprive them of the joy and help and encouragement we might have brought them, but we ourselves are the biggest losers. Rebellion against God means that we are no longer living stones, but dead cold rocks that will never fit into any spiritual house.
We all have choices. Today, do you choose to be a living stone, or a dead cold rock?
PRAYER: Father God, we want to be your living stones. Help us to follow hard after you all the days of our lives. Give us hearts of obedience so that we will choose your ways and not our own. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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