May 2, 1999
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
When I was a little boy, I was kind of bad. One time I was throwing stones at my cousins hiding in their back porch. They were girls. Since they were high up and I was below them, they were having more success with their throws than I was. So I got this big rock and tried to throw it up at them. And the only place it landed was right here on my forehead. The only thing I can remember was my aunt carrying me up the stairs to my mother who only found words to yell at me!
The Brick
There’s a story about a bricklayer who laid a brick on a bed of cement. With a precise stroke of a trowel, he spread another layer of cement and another brick is placed down. The foundations grew visibly. The building rose tall and strong to shelter people. Pretty soon the building is completed and the bricklayer wondered about that poor brick buried in the darkness at the base of the big building. No one sees it, but it accomplishes its task, and the other bricks need it. If we were these bricks, we probably would like to be the ones above the foundation, perhaps even high up near the rooftop for all to see. As long as we stand faithfully at the right place, we do our part in making the building strong and safe.
Jesus the Living Stone
When Peter was writing to new Christians who were scattered in Asia Minor, they didn’t know what part they had in the new church. Like bricks yet to be put in place, they did not know where they belonged. They had a lot to learn about living out their faith in a mostly pagan society. Peter knew it wasn’t easy to be Christian in this culture. These new Christians were like newborn infants. They have tasted that the Lord is good, but they were just learning how to drink milk.
These new Christians lived in a world full of “dead” stone idols. There were all kinds of Greek and pagan gods that they used to believe in. So Peter used the imagery of “living stone” to teach about Christ. Jesus the “living stone” was nothing like their old pagan gods. Jesus the living stone is precious and is chosen to be the cornerstone of God’s spiritual house.
Stones are opposite of something living. Some stones that are fossils contain residue of life before. Stones don’t move nor do they grow. They are just stones. That is why rock collecting is a great hobby. You don’t need to feed it or walk it every night. Some years ago, there was a funny craze going on about owning a “pet rock.” The best pet in the world! Because stones are dead things, they give a nonsensible meaning to Jesus as the “living stone.” It is in Christ’s death, dead as a stone, that we have the opportunity to come fully alive. Living stone is as nonsensible as “crucified Christ” or “resurrected
Lord.” The power of the resurrection is that all sensible explanations of what life is about are turned up side down so that even stones come alive.
Cornerstone
Jesus the living stone is also the cornerstone to our spiritual house. The purpose of the cornerstone is that it is the first stone to be laid down. From that point, the builders measure out the width and length of the building. The cornerstone must be in the right place for the rest of the building to be straight and tall.
When Jesus is the cornerstone in our lives, our lives are then measured out from his life. When we believe in him, we will not be put to shame. We will have our appropriate places and not be left out. As each brick has a place in the making of the tall building, with Jesus as our cornerstone, we all have our places in God’s spiritual house.
But Jesus as the cornerstone can also be a “stumbling block” for those who have heard and known Christ but rejects him. This is a hard lesson to learn. If God places a stone on the path and some find it helpful for their journey while others stumble, did God cause both the stepping stone for those successfully on God’s journey as well as the stumbling block for those who are lost? This is a hard lesson because we want to always believe that God is love and God loves everyone. The stones God places before us do make us stumble because of the tension between God’s will and human freedom. God is in pain when we reject him. He is in pain when we don’t want to see him as the cornerstone in our lives. Then Jesus is a stumbling block because we disobey his word and we fall. Rather than building our house on Jesus Christ, the cornerstone, we end up building our house on the sand of dead stone idols with worldly values. With any threat to our faith, our house will come smashing down. We must build our lives and houses on Jesus the cornerstone.
We are Living Stones
Peter declares that not only is Jesus the “living stone,” all Christians are also “living stones”—building blocks in God’s great construction project, as God builds up the true community of faith, the church. As living stones, we are a part of God’s construction project, acceptable as spiritual sacrifices in the making of the church. As living stones, we are bonded or cemented together through our commitment to Christ. How are we “living stones” today?
1. Living stones come in different sizes.
There was a certain person who decided to build a church. To insure strength and durability, the builder carefully selected stones exactly alike: same size, shape, and color. They were put in place with pride and confidence, but when the wind blew and the storm rose, the church was destroyed. Another builder decided to construct a church. Stones of different sizes, shapes, and colors were gathered. How could such a church survive? Strong cement was mixed and applied between the stones. When the wind blew and the storm rose, the church stood firm. Such is the power of mutual love.
You see the long time that it took mixing the strong cement that held the odd shaped stones together was the love that emerged when we are different. We can’t just take every stone for granted like we were the same size, shape, or color. When we recognize that at FCBC, we come in different sizes, shapes, and colors, but we also have the commitment to love each other, respect each other’s traditions and gifts, and also be opened to learning from each other, then our church won’t be blown down, but will stand firm.
I know that the brickwork that we have on our outside walls was designed that way, but I would also like to see it as symbolic of the different sizes and shapes of the people who are here. Some of us stick out just like the bricks because we are different.
2. Living stones are alive.
Like Jesus who is the “living stone” that brings life to death, we too are invited to be a part of God’s construction crew. We are alive with Christ as our cornerstone, to build up the church as God’s custom designed community of faith. Jesus did some marvelous things but he only reached a comparative few during his lifetime. The church constructed with living stones has reached, healed, fed, and saved hundreds of millions. With Jesus as our head and cornerstone, the spiritual house of the church continues to bear witness to Jesus Christ as Lord.
It has been said that Michaelangelo would search the quarry near Florence, Italy, for just the right piece of marble for his works of art. A particular sculpture would call for a particular piece of rock. One day, a friend observed Michaelangelo examining a particular block of stone. “What are you doing?” asked the friend. The sculptor quickly replied, ”I am seeking to release the angel within the stone.” For Michaelangelo, that stone was truly alive.
We are truly alive. In each and every one of us, there is something special, something unique, something very divine in us because we are living stones in Jesus Christ as our cornerstone for life. Being alive, we must treat each other with deep respect and honor, treasuring what God has created in us as a special gift that we share within God’s house.
3. Living stones are stuck together.
As living stones, we are built together into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. When we worship together, we offer spiritual sacrifices and gifts to each other. Through Christ, we continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, “the fruit of lips that confess his name.” The lips at FCBC frequently speak praises to God’s name that we don’t easily understand. Some of us speak English better than Chinese. Some speak Chinese better than English. As living stones, it doesn’t matter what lips we use to praise God’s name. As long as we praise God’s name together, God is pleased.
God also expects living stones to not neglect to do good and to share what we have with others. When we go and help those who are in need;
those who need English skills to survive in America;
those who need child care so that people can go to work;
those who need a day camp program so that their kids might learn how to get along;
those who need counseling for being a minority in a western society,
When we go out and help those in need, we are doing good as living stones stuck together with a mission.
Peter said, we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people. We were once in darkness in knowing that Jesus is the living stone, but we have been called out of darkness into marvelous light to proclaim his mighty acts to the world.
The Living Stones of FCBC
God has blessed our church for almost 120 years. Our faithfulness in trusting God to lead us into ministry during all these years has demonstrated that the spiritual house that we have on the corner of Waverly Place and Sacramento Street is built strongly on Christ and therefore, pleasing to God.
We have been given a tremendous amount of gifts and resources to be living stones in Chinatown and San Francisco because we know that whatever we do, God is the builder here. This is not any human construction project. In a few months from now, our retrofit and renovation project will be underway. Besides building a spiritual home, we will also be building a new and improved physical home. And once again, we must have faith in God that he is the builder here. This is not a human project.
When we begin worshipping at the Gordon J. Lau School on Washington Street during the construction, it will feel strange and unfamiliar. Some of us may even feel uncomfortable and perhaps even disillusioned. But we must remember that we are “living stones” not only alive here in this building, but wherever we might be. Wherever God calls us to serve, our lives are testifying to Jesus Christ crucified that he is alive. Our resurrected Lord is the Living Stone.
House to Our Home
When we build a house with living stones, this house becomes a home. We used to feel like foreigners and aliens, but now we are a part of a secure house that has become a spiritual home. Peter said, “Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
As Christians formed together into a close-knit community through the spiritual power of Christ as the living stone, we undergo a miraculous transformation. In our Scripture lesson for this morning’s worship, we read that we are like “newborn infants,” but at the end, we are nonetheless, “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.”
Remember that rock that I was trying to throw up at my cousins? I probably felt left out or something and they were making fun of me. They probably shouldn’t have done that. But I shouldn’t have thrown the rock that only landed on my head either. In God’s spiritual house in heaven as well as on earth, there is no rock throwing at all. We are all part of God’s royal priesthood, holy, and God’s own people!
Today we celebrate Christian Family week. When we leave worship this morning, we will have a sidewalk tea to fellowship and support each other as one big Christian family with the name, “First Chinese Baptist Church.” Continue to be “living stones” with Jesus Christ in our hearts as we proclaim he is Lord.
Let us pray.
O Gracious God, we give thanks for the privilege to be call your family. Strengthen our faith in you and our trust and cooperation with each other as “living stones.” Bless each of our families and may we live faithfully in your grace. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.