Building Blocks

Building Blocks
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
(1 Peter 2:5 - KJV)
 
If you spend much time in a garden, you will inevitably have to deal with rocks.  It seems as if the earth grows rocks.  I plant beans, cucumbers and tomatoes and the soil grows rocks!  Most of these rocks are discarded into piles to be thrown in a ditch or down the hill.  Some however will be used to outline driveways, construct mailboxes or even build houses.  I’ve always been amazed at rock houses.  I marvel at the craftsmanship that goes into taking a bunch of irregular, mismatched stones and turning them into a building.  It would seem to me that before these stones could be used for construction, someone would need to take some time smoothing out the irregularities, knocking off the rough edges and making them fit with their neighbors.  But rock houses are not always build this way.  Our Scripture lesson this morning reminds us that the church of Jesus Christ is much like these rock houses.  God does not wait for us to have all of the jagged edges smoothed or the rounded corners removed before he uses us to build his church.  The classic example of this is the Apostle Peter.  Peter was the antithesis of what you might think an apostle of Jesus should be.  He was inarticulate, often said the most inappropriate things, and when the chips were down he took off running.  Peter was certainly a stone which by all rights should have been rejected.  Thankfully, this is not how God works.  God chose Peter to be the foundation of His church.  On the banks of the Sea of Galilee Jesus reinstated him (John 21:15ff).  And we all know Peter went on to be a central figure in the emerging church.  I guess if there is a moral to all of this it would be if you see yourself as unworthy to be a part of God’s kingdom, if you believe yourself to be too stained, too rough to enter into a relationship with your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, just think back on Peter.  If God was willing to use Peter, there is absolutely no one who is beyond redemption through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Thanks be to God!