living stones

Sometimes in the midst of all the busyness and activity that goes on in the life of the church we forget who it is that we are called to be and what our real mission and purpose is as the church so it’s good for us to hear passages like this one from 1 Peter because this reminds us what it is we are to be about. Did you hear our mission statement in these verses? It’s found in 1 Peter 2:9.


We are a chosen people – we are a body of people chosen by God for one special and unique purpose and that is to declare the praises of God who has called us out of darkness and into his wonderful light. On the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit filled the disciples and in many ways really created the church, the very first thing that happened was that the followers of Jesus began to declare to the world all the wonderful works of God. It says in Acts 2:12 that people from around the world heard the disciples speaking about God’s deeds of power in the own native language. So what from the very moment the church was formed, her purpose was to share with the world the truth of God’s amazing grace and power and love. We are to proclaim to the world that it is through the love and grace and power of Jesus Christ that we have been brought out of darkness and into the light of a new life.

Now the reason we are make this difference is so that others can also experience the fullness of life that comes when they enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We share what God has done in us so that others can experience the power and love of God in them. If we go back into the Old Testament, we see that this is not just the job of the church, it has always been the job of God’s people. From the moment God chose Abraham and made the promise to make him into a great nation – a holy nation and a chosen people you might say – their job was to be a blessing to the people around them, look at Genesis 12:2-3.
All the families of the earth were to be blessed through the nation that was chosen by God to come forth from Abraham.

This purpose for God’s people was affirmed again in Isaiah 42:6-7. The people of Israel were to be a holy nation who would not live for themselves but be a light to the nations and the people around them. They were to draw them out of the darkness of this world into the light of God’s love. The purpose given to Abraham and to Israel is now extended to the followers of Jesus. We are to declare God’s power and love to the world and not just talk about how our lives have been changed as we have come to experience the fullness of life with Christ – but we are to invite and call others into this wonderful place of faith and trust in God.

Now what I like about Peter’s letter is that he doesn’t just tell us what our purpose is, he shows us how to become this in the world today. If we want to become God’s chosen people then there are things we need to embrace and things we need to reject. What we need to embrace is spiritual milk that will nourish us - look at 1 Peter 2:2.

This spiritual milk is the word of God. If we look back just a few verses to the end of chapter 1 we see that before Peter talks about spiritual milk he has been talking about the word of God which endures forever. It is the word of God which nourishes us. It is the word of God which feeds us and strengthens us and so we need to embrace God’s word and make it an ongoing part of our daily lives. So how do we get to that place where we actually long for, hunger or crave the word of God because many times reading the Bible seems more like a chore, it’s more like eating broccoli and brussel sprouts that rich creamy milk? Can we even get to that place where we really do long for and enjoy reading God’s word? I think we can, but it will take some discipline and maybe some new ideas.

If reading the Bible is a chore for you, or if it has become a stale and dry exercise then try reading it at a different time, or in a different place or maybe even from a different translation. A number of years ago there was a new version of the Bible that was published and it was written in more of a contemporary story format and so I decided to read the history of the Old Testament not as a study, but like a story. I tried to read it like a novel where I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. It made the experience fresh and new and I got to the place where I really did want to just read more. I also don’t think we will crave the word of God until we get to a place where we are experiencing it every day. Once it becomes a daily part of our lives we will want it to continue to be a daily part of our lives and the more we read, the more we will want to read, and the more we read the stronger our faith will become. Like drinking milk, we may not notice the changes, but in time we will grow stronger.

This past week I did the funeral service for Mike Greninger who was the son of Chuck and Gerry Greninger. Chuck and Gerry’s other son, Gene was here for the service and Gene is probably a little taller than I am and I asked him if his brother Mike was as tall as he was and he said yes. So I asked Gene where they got their height because if you know Chuck and Gerry, they aren’t very tall. Gene laughed and said, well Dad had a milk route and so Mike and I would travel with him so everyday we drank a lot of milk, I guess it did some good. If we will drink the spiritual milk of God’s word everyday – it will do us some good, as we read God’s word we will grow stronger in our faith. Studies have shown that the #1 catalyst for spiritual growth is the reading and reflection on God’s word – that is the spiritual milk that nourishes us in life and faith.

Now another way to embrace the word of God is to study it with God’s people. If you think about it, when Peter was writing they didn’t have their own personal bibles so when the word of God was read it was at synagogue or in the temple. It was read corporately where people could later discuss it. It is important for us to read God’s word together and have times to discuss what it means and how we can live it out in our lives.

Now Peter says that we should not only long for the word of God, but we should long for Christ himself. Look at 1 Peter 2:4. We need to come to Christ who is the living stone who gives us life. I love this image of Jesus as a living stone because in so many ways Jesus really is that living stone who gives us life. Think about it, Jesus was laid in a grave – most likely a stone cave that then had a stone rolled in front to seal it. That grave was like a giant rock – completely sealed and without life, and yet from that grave, from that stone – God brought forth life and from that stone God gives us life. When we come to Jesus we begin to find life for ourselves and the most effective way to call others to experience the life we can have in Jesus is to simply live out that new life God gives us with authenticity, power and love. When people see the life of Jesus in us, when people see that we are living stones – that the darkness of our lives has been turned into hope and joy and life – they will want to know more and they are going to want to experience this living stone for themselves.

I invite you to think about how God has brought life or hope or joy into your life. We need to be able to see how God has brought us out of darkness and into life if we are going to be able to share it with others. Maybe the darkness we have experienced was a sense of having no clear purpose in life and then the light God gave was a clear calling to a higher purpose - giving our lives a sense of direction and mission. Maybe our darkness was feeling like there was no worth or value to our lives and the light was understanding that because we are children of God we have value and our lives are important. Maybe our darkness was simply feeling weighed down by the reality of our own sin and brokenness and failures and then the light came when we understood that we are completely forgiven. Whatever the darkness of our lives has been, we need to be able to define for ourselves how God has led us from that darkness into a new life or maybe a better way to say that is how God is leading us from darkness into life because there is still darkness that we struggle with and God works every day to bring us into his light.

So we need to embrace the word of God and we need to embrace the living stone – Jesus Christ, but there are also some things that as a chosen people and a holy nation that we need to reject. Look at 1 Peter 2:1.

What we need to reject are specific attitudes that only work to destroy our relationships with others. Did you notice that all of the attitudes listed here have to do with how we interact with others? Malice is an evil desire to inflict harm or suffering on others. Guile is being deceptive in our dealings with others. Insincerity, envy and slander all have to do with how we put others down or try to make ourselves look better then they and what all of this says to us is that how we treat one another makes a difference to God. As God’s people how we treat one another matters to God. As a holy nation we need to be different than the people around us and part of that difference is to be honest and authentic with one another. God wants us to be sincere and humble and kind. The greatest impact we will make on the world will not be made during the hour or two we are together on Sunday – it’s going to be in how we treat people Monday – Saturday. Our attitude towards others at work, in the community, at the store, at the park, on the roads and watching our children play sports will make the biggest impact for the kingdom of God.

I am amazed sometimes that we think it’s ok to hold on to envy, slander, pride or even malice towards one another either in the church or in the community or even in our family and we think it’s ok, or that God doesn’t really care. The truth is that God can’t use us as his people if we aren’t willing to reject these attitudes. Let me say that again, God can’t use us as us to our full potential if we are not willing to reject these attitudes. We can’t praise God with a heart full of envy or malice, so as we embrace Christ we need to embrace the mind and heart and attitudes of Jesus which means that we need to reject any and every attitude that puts others down.

Now let’s be honest here and say that having this kind of heart and mind and life is not easy – you might say that it is near to impossible, and if we are trying to do this on our own – it is imporssible, but you know, Peter addresses this very issue in this passage. Look at 1 Peter 2:5. It says we are the living stones who need to allow ourselves to be built up – we don’t build ourselves up – we don’t become a holy nation or God’s people on our own, it happens as we allow God to work in us and through us. God is the builder who is able to work in us and through us as we embrace Christ and his word and reject the attitudes that aren’t of God and this happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us.

If we go back to the Pentecost story, it was the Holy Spirit that worked in the disciples and helped them declare the wonders of God in many different languages. The followers of Jesus didn’t do this on their own, they simply allowed themselves to be filled and used by God. Are we willing to allow God to work in us? Are we willing to allow God to work through us as his people? To become God’s people we need to not only embrace Jesus Christ and his word and reject all the attitudes that drive us apart, but we need to allow ourselves to be built up and filled and then used the Holy Spirit of God. So let us become a holy nation, a royal priesthood, God’s own people by allowing ourselves to built up into a spiritual house of living stones.

There's Power in Seeing Jesus

Where do we go when we know that we have failed God? What do we do when we realize that our faith is defined more by doubts then determination? At the beginning of my sophomore year of college I was filled with doubts about myself and my faith and I knew I was disappointing God and so what I did was run. I stopped going to my Bible Study and I stopped going to church because I was ashamed, afraid and filled with doubts and fear. I wonder if Thomas might have felt the same way. Thomas wasn’t with the rest of the disciples when Jesus first appeared after the resurrection and while we don’t know where he was or why he wasn’t there, I wonder if his failure to stand with Jesus during his arrest, trial and crucifixion was so painful for Thomas that he just couldn’t be around his friends. Was he so filled with shame and doubt and fear that all he could do was run.


If we go back in John 11 we find Jesus talking about going to Judea because his friend Lazarus was sick. The problem with going to Judea, however, was that in Judea Jesus was a wanted man. It was just few weeks before this when Jesus was in Judea and the people tried to stone him and so the disciples remind Jesus that going back there right now would be dangerous, but Jesus was determined to go., and so after the decision was made it was Thomas who finally said to the rest of the disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. Thomas was bold in his desire to follow Jesus even to the death, but later when the opportunity finally came for Thomas to stand with Jesus during a dangerous time, Thomas ran. He failed and I wonder if the reality of his failure filled him with so much shame and doubt about himself and Jesus that he just couldn’t be around his friends.

There are many times in life when we are filled with doubts not just about God but about our ourselves as well and at those times it can be hard to be around others and our first instinct might be to run, but one of the things we learn from Thomas is that when doubts come where we need to be the most is among God’s people. Think about it, if Thomas had stayed with his friends in those days after the crucifixion he would have been there when the risen Jesus appeared. If Thomas had stayed with the people of God through his doubts and fears he would have been blessed by seeing Jesus and he would have found answers to his questions, forgiveness for his failures and hope for his heart and life. If I could say one thing to those who have been confirmed today it is this – there will be times when questions, doubts, fears and failures may cause you to want to run away from God and the church, but don’t run because I can tell you confidently that you will be blessed and you will find answers if you stay connected.

At some point Thomas returns to be with his friends and when he arrives and hears from the disciples that Jesus is alive his doubts just persist, he simply can’t believe that Jesus is alive because he had seen with his own eyes Jesus crucified, dead and buried. In fact Thomas’ vision of a dead Jesus is so strong that he will not be able to believe that Jesus is alive unless he can see with his own eyes. Thomas was going to need to see the pierced hands and side of Jesus in order to believe. Now what I love about this story is that while Thomas had all these doubts and questions and while he was stubborn in his lack of belief and faith, he didn’t leave his friends during that week and the disciples didn’t ask him to leave either and what this tells us is that it’s ok to have doubts and questions and it’s good to share them with one another.

Think about what that week must have been like with Thomas and the disciples all together? Peter, Andrew, James and John had all seen Jesus so they try to convince Thomas that he is really alive and yet Thomas holds firmly to his conviction that Jesus is dead. I can only imagine the passionate debate that must have taken place that week and yet that debate didn’t drive the disciples apart – it brought them together and our questions need to bring us together. The truth is that we all have questions and doubts about our faith.

Is Jesus really God? Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

Is Christianity true? Is it the only true religion?

Is everything in the Bible true and do I have to follow it all?

Does God really care about me?

Can God forgive me for all the sins I have committed?

Do any of those questions sound familiar to you? While most of these questions were raised from our confirmation class, I was struck by how they also could have been asked by Thomas. Did Jesus really rise from the dead? I think that was the very question that Thomas and the disciples argued about for the week in-between Jesus’ visits. Does God really care about me? Can’t you imagine Thomas asking that? If Jesus cares about me then why did he show up when I wasn’t around? Why didn’t he come back again on Monday or Tuesday? Since Jesus didn’t appear to Thomas did that mean that Thomas wasn’t forgiven? Will God forgive him? Will God forgive us? These are our questions and they can’t drive us away from God and the church, they need to bring us together. What this story shows us that it is ok to have doubts and to ask questions because these doubts and questions can lead us to a deeper faith – isn’t that what happened to Thomas? Doesn’t he emerge at the end with a stronger faith and trust in Jesus because he kept looking for answers?

As we have already seen, one reason Thomas’ faith got stronger through his doubts was because once he returned to be with the disciples, he didn’t run away again and because he stayed with the disciples, he got to see Jesus. So instead of running from God when we have doubts and questions we need to turn to God and ask for his assurance and answers. Instead of running from the church and God’s people we need to run here and share our questions with others and together to look to Jesus for answers.

A second truth we find here is that when we look to Jesus – he will give us answers, that what this story is all about. Thomas said he needed to be able to see Jesus in order to believe and instead of cursing Thomas for his lack of faith – Jesus appeared and showed Thomas his hands and side. What an act of love and grace by Jesus. In the midst of all Thomas’ questions and his persistent doubt - Jesus shows up and gives Thomas the proof he needs to believe. Jesus comes with patience and understanding and gives Thomas what he needs to believe and God continues to give us what we need to believe. There is no doubt God can not speak to and no question God can not answer; on the contrary if we are honest with our questions and want to find answers - God will provide them, that is what we hear from in Jeremiah 29:12-14.

Not only will God give us answer but as we see with Thomas and hear from Jeremiah, God will reveal himself to us. God shows himself to us in ways that give power to our faith and passion to our lives. Jesus appeared to Thomas and it was the ability to see Jesus that changed Thomas forever. There was power in the vision of the risen Jesus that moved Thomas away from doubt and gave fuel and fire to his life. We believe that after seeing the resurrected Jesus, Thomas travelled east to what is now India to tell people about the risen Jesus. The power of seeing Jesus alive moved Thomas so much that he went to the ends of the earth and told people about the power of life over death and he shared his own story of failure and how there is forgiveness through Jesus Christ. There was power for Thomas when he saw Jesus and I believe that power can be ours because we can still Jesus.

We won’t see Jesus standing in front of us with his nail scarred hands, but we can still see him if we won’t run away and won’t give up and will open our eyes. We can see Jesus in God’s word because Jesus is the word of God, the word of God made flesh. We can see Jesus when we look in our own hearts and lives because the Bible says, Christ is in us. When we look deep in our hearts and find hope and grace and strength and peace we are seeing Jesus. We can also see Jesus in others. We can see Jesus in the love and grace of our families, in the compassion of our friends and the support of a church and community. We can see Jesus in those in need around us because Jesus said that whenever we serve the least of those among us we are serving him, so Jesus is in the poor and the needy and if we will open our eyes and the eyes of our heart we will also see Jesus in those we may not even like or love right now. Jesus is in our enemies and if we are willing to open our eyes and look for Christ in them, we will see him and the power of that vision will change our attitudes and our actions.

The story of Thomas tells us there is power in a vision of Jesus and we can have that power today because like Thomas we can see Jesus. Through the eyes of faith and a heart of love we can see the risen Jesus and when we see him we will receive the power and the grace to live a passionate and purpose filled life. So when doubts come, and doubts and questions will come, don’t run away from God and don’t run away from the church – run to God, run right here; and as we see Jesus, may the power of that vision fill us.