1 Peter 2:1 – 8
Peter the Rock
Jesus saw something in Peter. When Andrew brought his older brother to meet Jesus (John 1), Jesus looked at the big fisherman and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).
Later, standing at the source of the Jordan River (Caesarea Philippi), Jesus asked his disciples a question, (Matthew 16:13 – 20).
No wonder Peter is especially interested in figures of speech that use stones! Let’s spend some time looking at one of these this morning. It is an ancient prophecy that Jesus used of himself and the early Christians used of Jesus.
The Irrelevant Stone
For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 28:16)
So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” (Psalm 118:22)
and
“A stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense.” (Isaiah 8:14; see Romans 9:33)
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do, (1 Peter 2:6 – 8).
The word stone describes a hewn, building stone. It’s like the difference between flagstones and a polished granite kitchen countertop.
The interesting thing is, this prophecy is still true! The Jewish people of Jesus’ day rejected him and the people of our age also reject Christianity. As we talked about briefly two weeks ago, people today reject Christianity and Christ the foundation, because they feel Christianity is “irrelevant.”
What is relevant? What do people put their trust in? One answer is science and technology. Do you remember watching “Sci-fi Theater” on Saturday afternoons? No matter what the disaster, from giant, mutant ants to invaders from outer space, there was always a scene where everyone was running away, but they always had time to load the scientists into trucks. “Save the scientists!” Science will find a way to save us.
More recently, Matt Damon played an astronaut left for dead on the Red Planet. The character Damon plays, Matt Watney, concludes, “In the face of overwhelming odds, I’m left with only one option: I’m gonna have to science the **** out of this.“
That’s become a catch-phrase for solving all the problems of the world. In October, 2016, former President Obama was the guest editor for Wired magazine. Obama announced,
My favorite movie of last year was The Martian. Of course, I’m predisposed to love any movie where Americans defy the odds and inspire the world. But what really grabbed me about the film is that it shows how humans—through our ingenuity, our commitment to fact and reason, and ultimately our faith in each other—can science the heck out of just about any problem…
This progress also happened because we scienced the heck out of our challenges. Science is how we were able to combat acid rain and the AIDS epidemic. Technology is what allowed us to communicate across oceans and empathize with one another when a wall came down in Berlin or a TV personality came out. Without Norman Borlaug’s wheat, we could not feed the world’s hungry. Without Grace Hopper’s code, we might still be analyzing data with pencil and paper.
Not much room for God there, but before we dismiss Christianity as “irrelevant,” there is something science and technology haven’t tackled and it’s at the heart of all of the pain and suffering in our world today.
Silicon Valley can’t fix it. Genetics can’t change it. Sending a rocket to Mars won’t fix it either. It’s the problem at the heart of the human condition, sin.
Until sin is addressed there will always be evil. There will always be selfish people, broken relationships, pride, envy, anger,, hatred, prejudice and war.
The stone the builders rejected — ancient and modern — is the “cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”