The Living Stone

“THE REJECTED STONE”
I Peter 2:2-10 (The Message)
Faith United
April 20, 2008


I read this quote recently in a magazine
called Faith At Work:
It’s called “3$ Worth of God:”
It says, “I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please,
not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep
but just enough to equal a cup of warm mile
or a snooze in the sunshine
I don’t want enough of him to make me love a black person
or pick beets with a migrant
I want ecstasy, not transformation;
I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.”

I think a lot of people want to know,
what does Jesus do for ME?
Why should I believe or even follow this Jesus person
who lived over 2000 years ago?
What’s in it for me?
And a lot of people that want to sell books
or seats in an auditorium
will tell you that Jesus will reward you
for believing in him
Some guys on TV will even tell you
Jesus can make you rich
or drive away all your problems
or make your life easier
if you just send in a donation
in the name of Jesus

What do I get out of it?

Others will simply tell you
you better follow Jesus if you don’t want to wind up in hell
So the motivation to follow Jesus
would be to simply avoid pain and punishment
Yet I wonder how deep their relationship with Jesus is
if they’re just loving him out of sheer terror
as if they are abused children

It’s pretty normal for us
in our culture
to want to know what’s in it for ME
What do I get out of it?
And how much do I have to put in
in order to get something out of it?

We are a culture of comfort, after all
We want to pay our money
and get something in return
We want to buy a book
that will tell us how to stop being afraid
or depressed or angry
or a book to answer all the questions we have
about the meaning of life
about what is right and good
and the right way to vote
Well, I’ll tell you, Jesus disappoints people
he did then,
he does now
because he doesn’t come looking for someone
who just wants something out of him
but he comes looking for someone
who wants to give something
who want to be a part of something bigger than themselves
something that gives their lives purpose and meaning
in the midst of so much meaninglessness

A lot of people are selling God these days
a lot of them don’t even mention Jesus
because Jesus makes things too complicated
Especially if you read his Gospels --
if you read what he said, what he did
what he taught…
because all of that can be very disturbing
for anyone wanting an easy way

One of my professors in college
once told me during a time
when I was kind of floundering,
not knowing what to do
he just told me, “read the Gospels
Read them all; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Get to know who Jesus was and is
what he said, what he did
what he wants us to do and to be
Read with an open heart
and ask God to challenge you
to know Jesus better
and discover what that means for YOUR life…”
I did
because this was a professor I trusted
a person that embodied the very presence of Christ
in himself and in his life
So I read the Gospels very carefully
Got to know what Jesus was all about
and I won’t kid you,
what Jesus asks is impossible
It’s not comfortable, it’s not easy
it’s not even natural
But I’ve learned over the years
that just because it’s hard
and just because it goes against my natural tendencies sometimes
doesn’t mean it’s not what I’m called to strive for

Love your enemies?
Pray for those who persecute you?
I can’t do that
Forgive someone that has crushed my heart
or someone else’s that I love?
Forget it !
And yet I know that just because I don’t like it
or I don’t want to do it sometimes
that doesn’t mean I can ignore it

I guarantee that if someone ever did anything
to hurt my husband or child
my natural response would be to want to kill them
Not to forgive them
and see them as a broken human being – no way
But just because that’s my human response
doesn’t mean that that is what Jesus would want from me

What Jesus asks is impossible
and so a lot of people forget about it
They just say, well, I believe in Jesus, and that’s enough
I’m covered
But I don’t believe Jesus really cares
if you just say you believe in him
that you believe he is the Son of God
Anyone can say that
In fact, he said once,
“Many people will say Lord, Lord,
who will not enter the Kingdom of God.”

Jesus wants more than lip service
and that’s where he trips us up
Peter says he’s the stone that makes people stumble
and the rock that makes them fall
We didn’t learn that in Sunday School, of course
The Greek word that Peter uses in this letter
is Skandalon,
which means stumbling block
Peter calls Jesus a Skandalon, stumbling block

Michael Card, a Christian singer, who in fact wrote
the song I always sing at funerals at the end,
also wrote a song called “Scandalon.”
In it, he says,
“he (Jesus) will be the truth that will offend them one and all
a stone that makes men stumble
and a rock that makes them fall
Many will be broken so that He can make them whole
and many will be crushed and lose their own soul.
Along the path of life there lies a stubborn Scandalon
and all who come this way must be offended
to some He is a barrier, to others he’s the Way
for all should know the scandal of believing…
It seems today the Scandalon offends no one at all
The image we present can be stepped over
could it be that we are like the others long ago
will we ever learn that all who come must stumble?”

Will we ever learn that all who come must stumble?

Jesus is not easy
Some people try to make him easier than he really is
by watering down what he said and did
or just ignoring what he said and did
and focusing instead on the fact that he died
as if that’s all he did

But the Gospels go to great lengths
to tell us, from four different perspectives,
some of what he said and did
in the short time that he was on this earth
And the Gospel of John assures us that
he did much more and said much more
than we can ever know

So what’s the big deal about Jesus?
Before Jesus,
God was some frightening power on the top of a mountain
that struck sheer terror into people’s hearts
No one wanted to approach God
They saw him and heard him in the thunder and the lightning
He was kept apart from them in the Holy of holies
in the temple
lest people die of absolute terror
at the presence of God
So Jesus comes
to show us the face of God
in a way that doesn’t knock us flat on our face

You want to know what God is like
you look at Jesus…
God, I believe, is a lot like Jesus….

The first verse of Scandalon says
“The seers and the prophets had foretold it long ago
that the long awaited one would make them stumble
but they were looking for a king to conquer and to kill
who’d have ever thought He’d be so meek and humble?”
We’re still looking for someone to conquer and to kill
we still want to believe that there will be someone
who will bring God back to our country
But if you read the Old Testament,
God was always lamenting that the people wanted a king
trying to tell them that a king would not solve
all their problems
in fact, a king would create more problems for them

and God urged them through the prophets
to see God as ruler of all
even over kings and empires and governments

But the people wouldn’t listen
and we still don’t listen
Sure, I know we need a president, and we will get one
But that president will be just that --
a president over a human-made government
To say that any of those candidates
is the one chosen by God
or an appointed leader of God
is a very dangerous thing
Even the kings and leaders in the Old Testament
were just that, kings and leaders
who sometimes did what was good in the eyes
of the Lord,
and sometimes, they made God’s heart break
King David, a man after God’s own heart
murdered and committed adultery!

Government leaders have always been flawed
and to expect anything more of them is dangerous
It’s all about Jesus
whatever we do--,
whatever gives us passion,
whatever gives us meaning in this life
as Christians, we are the people of God
by ourselves we are nothing
because we are called together to be the people of God
together with all the crazy people that have been called before us
and being the people of God
doesn’t make us any better than anyone else
it’s gift… it’s pure gift
and with this gift comes incredible responsibility
We are to look to the one who called us in the first place
who came down the frightening mountain of God
in the form of a man
that could have blended into the crowd
He didn’t come with a holy glow around him
he came looking like one of us
But he showed us the face of God
as he spoke, as he healed
as he challenged his people
he never took the easy way out
and he never promised a comfortable way
But he did promise us a life everlasting --
a seat with our name on it at the heavenly banquet --
but the joy and the gift of that seat
is not something we have to wait for
the joy can begin now
as we sign up to be members at Jesus’ table

Don’t do it if you don’t really want it
don’t do it if you expect Jesus to make your life easier
don’t do it if you’re afraid of standing out
or looking like a fool
or sometimes being misunderstood
Jesus was rejected from the beginning
because people wanted him to be what he is not
and they still do
they still try to make him into their image

Many of us are still looking for a king
to conquer and to kill
and yet we get the one who appears meek and humble
while the power in him
is the power of love and compassion and mercy
a power that is not always valued in this society

So don’t ask what Jesus can do for you
rather, the Gospels remind us,
as Peter reminds us in his letter,
ask what YOU can do for Jesus
with the life that you’ve been given
He is the living Stone
the source of our lives
By our world’s standards, he’s not all that impressive
he might have even be called a wimp
or a softie
and be thrown out, or tossed aside, like a rejected stone
But Peter reminds us that what we reject
God puts in a place of honor
“present yourselves as building stones for the
construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life…”
Vibrant with life…

Why do we come here?
What are we looking for?
What do we find when we come here
as a part of this community?
What is it that we find in here
that we can’t always find out there?
Here we find the stone that makes some stumble
and the rock that makes them fall
Here we encounter the one who often trips us up
and challenges us to be different
to lay aside what comes naturally
and reach for the things that are higher
and with the Jesus that we come to know
we are called to be a holy people
after the example of Christ
“Be God’s instruments in a world that’s hungering for his grace
his love, his mercy
do his work and speak out for him
tell others of the nigh and day difference he made for you
bringing you from nothing to something
from rejected to accepted …”
If we’re to be like Jesus
and to take him seriously,
we have to say we believe with our very lives
we have to reach out to those we may not want to help
we may have to think about things from Jesus’ point of view
and not our own
we have to feed the hungry,
clothe the naked, set free those who are oppressed
in body and in spirit
we are called to set the captives free
and help them come to know that they, too
are beloved of Jesus
we are called to set more places at the table
to strive and pray for the vision
that Jesus has of our world --
a world governed by peace
a world where all people are free and safe
and loved and empowered to be all that they are created to be

To follow Jesus
is not easy
it’s not always comfortable
To really get to know who he is and what he wants
can be a scary thing
because it more often goes against our natural inclinations

Have you tasted the goodness of God at all in your life?
I hope so
I hope it’s not all a head trip
or just a lot of words that you learned in Sunday School
I hope you have had the opportunity
even if only in moments
to taste the goodness of God
to experience God’s love and grace in your life
to know God’s mercy and empowerment
If you’ve had a taste of God
then I hope you’ll want to make it possible
for others to taste the goodness and mercy of God as well
Because the stone that the expert builders threw out
is the very stone that God uses
as the cornerstone
the foundation of the power of God
at work in the world
It’s not a far off eternity
that we long for
we can taste the goodness of God right now
and we can live our lives with that taste in our mouths
as we long for the fullness of God’s glory someday
“For you are the ones chosen by God,
chosen for the high calling of priestly work,
chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work
and to speak out for him
to tell others of the night and day difference
he made for you—bringing you from nothing to something
from rejected to accepted…. “
Thanks be to God!