Sermon Tone Analysis

Genius or Gimmick?

Have you every had an idea that was so incredible and so simple that by carrying it out it made you into a multi-millionaire over night?

Me neither!!

However, it happens all the time in this world!

Gary Dahl got sick and tired of hearing his friends complain about their pets.

So this advertising executive developed an idea that he would create pets that wouldn’t make messes, they wouldn’t chew things up, and they certainly wouldn’t have to go out in the middle of the night!

He took his idea and sold over 4 million of these perfect pets for $4 a piece and in about half year and made him an instant millionaire!

Maybe you remember or maybe you even had one!

A Pet Rock!

Interestingly, his company rights were sold and now it is making a comeback.

Most people would take that “for granite!”

The pet rocks of the 70’s were a gimmick as people tried to make and act like these rocks could be alive!

I don’t think that is was Peter was talking about in our text today!

Peter, the one Whom Jesus called the rock on which the church would be built makes a declaration in this passage.

1 Peter 2:

The Living Stone

Verse 4 describes Jesus as the living stone.

He is called the living stone to show His invincible strength!

He is called the living stone to show His everlasting duration!

He is called the living stone to show His servants that He is a sure foundation on which you and I can build our lives upon!

We have an invitation right at the beginning of this verse that is active saying “As you come to Him.”

I am reminded that my coming to Jesus is ongoing and I am united to Him at first and then continually drawn near to Him!

He was rejected by men but chosen by God and PRECIOUS to Him

Mercy comes to those who come to Him and they receive God’s grace!

In turn, we who come to Him are like LIVING STONES, being built into a spiritual house, a living super structure!

The Living Superstructure!

When I was in high school, my dad desired for me to be an engineer.

He had a business that would design and fabricate the steel trusses for agricultural buildings.

In fact I spent several summers working on crews that built these humongous chicken houses that utilized some of these steel trusses.

One thing I learned was that the pieces of metal could hold thousands of pounds of lumber and tin to provide a protective covering over the livestock keeping them safe from the elements, IF they were securely fastened to a strong foundation!

If there was no strong foundation, they would quickly collapse!

You and I are told in this passage that we are living stones, being built on THE LIVING STONE.

We are indeed likened to being a spiritual temple if you will that houses the Lord God Almighty Himself, if we are connected to the foundation of the Living Stone.

1 Corinthians 3:

Because of the indwelling Holy Spirit that resides in us, we are able to be like priests and offer our Lord spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to Him.

We are no longer dead in our sins and shortcomings, but we are alive to God through Christ!

We are a spiritual house that daily must be built up! WE must continually build on the foundation the Living Stone has laid for us!

The best sacrifices you and I can give are not enough!

But thanks be to the Lord Jesus Christ that our spiritual sacrifices built on and through Him at like a pleasing aroma to our God!

Peter quotes

Isaiah

However, to those that do not build their lives upon this sure foundation, the Living Stone will receive a

Large Stumbling Block

I have friends that dread the tourist season sometimes in the High Country.

You see these men and women that are first responders get many calls to some of our mountain trails because someone has been on a hike and stumbled over a large stone.

They often fall, and sometimes often fall to their death because of the stone from which they stumble!

Peter quotes

Psalm

What’s the difference between the cornerstone and capstone?

One writer put it this way:

In normal architectural theory, a cornerstone and capstone are usually two different things.

A cornerstone is a foundational stone that is placed first.

All the other stones are placed in relation to it and so its solid placement and solid resting place are key to the structure and survival of the building.

By contrast, a capstone is usually the last stone placed in a stone building.

It is the stone that finishes off the building and finally holds the completed walls in place or finishes off the appearance of the wall by being the last stone put in place.

This bothers me!

The capstone becomes a large stumbling block.

Just as Christ becomes a cornerstone on which other living stones are added to support, unite it, and adorn it, He also becomes a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence!

Those that are disobedient will take offence to the word of God!

There are those even in this world that are offended to hear Jesus Christ proclaimed as Lord!

They are offended with Christ Himself and His doctrine and the purity of His precepts!

The theologian Matthew Henry wrote : “The same Jesus who is the Author and Salvation to some is to others the occasion of their sin and destruction.

Those who reject Him as a Savior will split upon Him as a Rock!”

When Jesus was presented at the temple to the Lord as a baby, Simeon had a prophetic message

Luke 2:

It is a horrible passage to end a message on and it troubles me that I know there are folks under the sound of my voice that have not been building their lives on the Living Stone Jesus Christ.

In fact, there are some who are building there lives on selfishness, greed, and desire that are the opposite of what Christ has called us to be!

But I must tell you right now that you have Hope in Jesus Christ.

Jesus came that you and I can have life!

In fact,