Jesus Rocked

What Did Jesus Do?

...come to Him, a living stone...
1Peter 2.4

Several months ago I lent a hand in building a retaining wall at a Boy Scout camp. Don't worry, the work was supervised by people who knew what they were doing, I was just a beast of burden. As the wall was being constructed I noted that, unlike other walls I have helped to build, these blocks needed no mortar to hold them together. When cut and shaped just right, rocks will rest securely, interlocked and solid. It takes know-how to build without mortar. Though I know it is popular to credit Jesus with being a carpenter, I believe he might have been a stonemason, because when Jesus built His Church, well, He rocked!

The Lord certainly knew about how important the right foundation is. When you build to last, you start with rock (Matthew 7.24-27). So it is hardly surprising that Christ chose Peter (From the Greek Petra, “rock”) to be the foundation stone upon which His Church would be constructed. With the right foundation your structure can stand up to rains and floods and winds and not fall. But even the mightiest-walled fortress will fall if it is built on sand. When Jesus began to build His Church, He rocked.

Of course, the right foundation is just the first step. If you want your structure to be solid and squared you need just the right block to begin your walls. This starting block is so important it has a name—the cornerstone. The proper cornerstone assures that the walls will be plumb and straight. Jesus didn't identify himself as a joist or a stud, but as the cornerstone (Matthew 21.42). Christ's church was built on rock, and began with the Lord himself the cornerstone. Jesus may have been a carpenter, but I tell you, there has never been a stonemason like Him. The Lord died on a cross of wood, but He lives in His Church made of stone.

It takes more than the right foundation and a perfect cornerstone if you are going to build something that will endure through the ages. Amazingly, this is where we come in. While Peter is the rock upon whom Christ chose to build, and Jesus himself is the Cornerstone, it turns out that we are the building blocks! More precisely, the Bible calls us “living stones” that are being built up into a “spiritual house”--the Church. (1Peter 2.5) Jesus rocked!

If you look closely, you will notice that there is no mortar holding the Church together. Rather, the Holy Spirit, who is the one who makes the stones come to life by faith in Jesus, is the power within the Church that holds everything together. If you have ever seen or experienced a church coming apart, and sadly many of us have, I believe an inspection would reveal a decided absence of the Holy Spirit in the “stones.” What stones need to do to remain alive is come daily to Him, the Living Stone who was “rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,” (1 Peter 2.4), otherwise the Holy Spirit will not long remain, and things will start to come apart. If your congregation is showing signs of the “stones” slipping and falling away, it is a sign of dying, and it is time to call upon the Spirit to start rocking to bring the Life back into stones. That's what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministrie.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4