The Stone the Builders Rejected is the Most Important After All
Now to you who believe, this
stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected has become
the capstone" 1Peter 2:7
When Valerie and I were in New Mexico last year, one of the places I insisted
on visiting was Roswell.
For those of you who are not so inclined, Roswell is ground zero for UFO
folklore. It was near Roswell in 1947 that a rancher says a flying saucer
crashed on his ranch. Since then, Mulder and Scully have been out there looking
for the truth.
What is absolutely amazing to me is that people go ga-ga over something called
SETI, "search for extra-terrestrial intelligence"; listening on satellites
and huge radio telescope dishes for a message from beyond, and are willing
to believe almost anything about life on other planets. But the same people
will totally ignore a thousands year old message from the supreme extra terrestrial
intelligence that has been sent specifically to them, showing them the secrets
of life--and eternal life at that!
Kind of nuts if you ask me.
So why was I in Roswell, you might ask.
Simple.
I think science fiction is fun. I go to Disneyland too and enjoy it but know
Donald Duck is not a real person.
And I am not going to base my life or anything about my behavior on it, other
than paying ten dollars admission to the UFO museum. By the way they had
a rubber dummy in a glass case named "Harold".
Imagine! The cheek!
Peter quotes Psalm 118:
The stone
the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
It's an interesting quote. The thing people think as useless turns out to
be the most important.
Of course we know all kinds of stories about someone finding some valuable
book or painting in a garage sale that the original owner thought was just
junk.
But is this just a curious piece of folk wisdom like, "you always find the
thing you are looking for in the last place you look."
Of course once you find it why go on looking, but you get the idea.
No, this is more than the Bible's version of Murphy's law.
What helps us to get it is to understand the context.
The people Peter is writing to have experienced or about to experience persecution,
some to the point of martyrdom.
In other words, they are going to pay dearly standing up for a belief system
their culture and community have rejected.
But Peter's and God's word of encouragement is "keep on track. That is the
only way that leads to life. All other paths lead to destruction."
And not only that; but remember, the world has a perverse sense of values.
It rejects anything from God and embraces almost anything not of God.
Which of course brings you to the point of asking, "what is that all about?"
What that is all about is the basic predicament of humanity.
People will turn the notion of looking for life beyond earth into an article
of faith and totally ignore a message from beyond that has their name on
it. What's up with that?
It's called the sinfulness of humanity.
Apart from the Holy Spirit's work in us, we would prefer anything to following
our Creator.
Have you seen the advertisements for Ben Stein's movie, "Expelled"?
I have and I am going to see it for sure.
His thesis is that virtually any teaching or indoctrination is welcome in
our culture except the Biblical message.
In fact he is saying that those who most loudly preach the message of being
open minded are in reality totally closed minded when it comes to anything
about the God of scripture.
This is coming as something a shock to those of us who grew up in an era
when the Bible was actually read in schools.
Of course it should not be a shock. The marriage of culture and Christian
faith has always been something of a shotgun wedding except in those moments
in history when there have been genuine deep and widespread revival.
What Peter is saying to us is,
Hang in there. You are on the right track.
Don't expect the culture around you to approve or applaud. It won't
But in the end the very thing that everyone else ridicules will be like
owning the Van Gogh you found at a garage sale.
There is a somber note that Peter interjects in the next verse.
He quotes Isaiah saying that Jesus will be
a stone
that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.
Why in the world would Jesus want to be something that causes people to stumble
and fall?
He doesn't but remember his words in Luke and Matthew where he says, "do
you think I came just to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you but a sword."
What Jesus did and is doing is not just a bit of touch up on an otherwise
salvageable project.
The sin of humanity is like a deep crack not just in the superstructure,
but in the foundation and the very bedrock the building is built upon. When
cracks appear in the plaster, you can't just paint over them. The whole building
is unsound and ultimately condemned. You need to make plans to move out.
Folks don't like to hear that.
We have a lot invested in doing business as usual.
A few years back city engineers told the congregation at Oak Bay United Church
that their building was structurally unsound, could not be repaired economically
and the occupancy permit was revoked.
You can imagine the business meeting when the congregation got that bit of
news!
They had poured their lives and their money into that building.
I have been in it and its a great building and by all appearances seemed
fine.
But after the shock of the news they did as they were told.
I can imagine some grumbling, but they moved out.
Imagine if they had refused and we had an earthquake some Sunday morning
during worship.
So they did the only thing they could do. At great cost to themselves they
chose the route of prudence.
They may never have an event that will vindicate the soundness of their decision.
But to have the roof fall in on their congregation would not be the kind
of vindication anyone would want either.
Jesus says, folks, make plans to move out.
This world and its culture are not going to last. Don't hitch yourselves
to that wagon.
That is a stumbling block to many who have bet the farm on what they see
here and now.
And it is quite a statement of faith to say you believe in what you can't
see yet.
It all comes down to who you trust.
The builders rejected the stone because they could not see any value in
it.
As Stan Caffy prepared for married life, he and his bride-to-be
cleaned out their respective garages and sold everything to Goodwill. Between
the two of them, they sold an assortment of clothes, bicycles, tools, computer
parts, and a tattered copy of the Declaration of Independence that had been
hanging in Stan's garage for the last decade.
Stan's trash turned out to be another man's treasure.
That particular version of the Declaration of Independence was a rare copy
made in 1823. A man named Michael Sparks spotted it, and he purchased the
document for $2.48. Sparks later auctioned it for $477,650.
Not a bad profit.
Caffy, the previous owner, was later quoted as saying, "I'm happy for the
Sparks guy. If I still had it, it would still be hanging here in the garage,
and I still wouldn't know it was worth all that.”1.
Regardless of what I have to give up to side with Jesus, I know the best
is yet to come.
Whatever the price is, it is small in comparison to what is in store for
those who take him at his word.
Preached April 20, 2008
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian Church
Victoria, British Columbia
Notes
1. Associated Press, "Sold! One Declaration of Independence
Copy," MSNBC.com (3-23-07);
Online Resources Consulted
http://www.preachingtoday.com/
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