Pastor Tom Johnson, August 23, 2020
“Let the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). Amen.
Jesus promises that he will build us up on the rock of who he is as the Messiah, son of the living God. As we see from our reading from Isaiah, Scripture tells us to look to the rock from which we were hewn. Let’s look to the rock of our redemptive past—out of which our salvation was chiseled—from which God has sculpted our renewed life in Christ. As our reading from Isaiah reminds us, it is rooted in creation. God carved out a garden paradise from the lifeless and rocky earth.
God called Abraham and Sarah to be the bedrock of the people of God whose descendants would outnumber the stars. And so we should remember the other quarries from which God dug us out from. You’ll remember the exodus from hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt. Each Hebrew generation was born into a life-sentence of stone-cutting and brick laying under the tyrannical pharaohs. But God delivered his people—through the wilderness into the promised land. There he provided the manna—the bread of heaven. There in a desolate place he provided water that flowed from the rock. The Apostle Paul tells us that this miraculous bleeding of a rock which gave life-sustaining hydration to God’s people is a manifestation of the Messiah to come—Jesus Christ (1 Cor 10:4). His life-blood sets us free from sin and its tyranny.
When God made his pact with the Israelites, he etched the Ten Commandments into tablets of stone. His Word was written in permanence beginning with his declaration that he is the Lord their God who brought them out of the house of bondage. When the newly emancipated slaves crossed the river Jordan on dry ground into their promised land, each of the twelve tribes stacked a large stone together into a heap. It was a memorial so that their children would ask, “What do these stones mean to you?” They would get to retell the story of God’s goodness and salvation.
When God finally gave the okay to build a temple to Solomon, it was a huge step forward. For generations, the priests served in the Tabernacle—a very large tent that was essentially a portable Temple since they were a nomadic people. Building a Temple made of stone gave God’s people more permanence and a structure that could not be easily moved or destroyed. It was a reminder of God’s presence with his people—always. Yet, even Solomon at its dedication said in his prayer, “heaven and earth cannot contain you, O Lord, let alone this Temple” (1 Kings 8).
“Look to the rock,” the prophet says. “Upon this rock I will build my church,” Jesus says. These are words meant to bring comfort and security to us—especially in our time of need. We need the rock when all other ground is sinking sand. We need the rock when everything around us seems to be in chaos and confusion. I don’t think I need to convince you that these are uncertain times—confusing times—chaotic times. It seems that the wind from all directions wants to carry us away into its own agenda. And the ground beneath us is sinking sand, unsteady—like a nightmare where the faster you run, the slower and heavier we sink down. In uncertainty we have the security of God’s love for us. In chaotic times we have the continuity of the assurance of God’s grace and presence in our lives. In the confusion of this world we have the clarity of the Gospel.
The rock is not human leadership or tradition. We are unwise to put all our faith and trust in mere flesh and blood. Just a few verses after Jesus praises Peter’s confession, Peter lets us down and he lets Jesus down. Jesus even says, “Get behind me, Satan” to him. Peter is not the rock. No mere mortal is. As Jesus told Peter, flesh and blood do not reveal hope and salvation to us—only the Rock Jesus does through the gift of faith. Jesus promises us that he will build us up on the bedrock of who he is as true Messiah. He is our immovable Cornerstone. Jesus alone went to the rocky outcropping called Calvary or The Skull. Upon that rock, he alone carried the full weight of all our sin. There he surrendered his life and purchased our forgiveness and eternal life on the Cross.
Jesus assures us: nothing will hold back his work of building us up—not death, the grave, or even hell itself. “The Gates of Hades will not prevail.” Jesus already broke through the bars of death—as the stone rolled away from the tomb attests. The rock is not any church building just as the Temple could never contain God. Our not being able to physically gather together for months has been painful. But it has always been enlightening. It has been a blessing to see how strong the mortar of Christ’s Spirit is that binds us together. It has been a joy to witness Jesus, our true Messiah, gather us together under the Word—by the Holy Spirit. No virus—no earthquake—no gale force wind can take that away. The Rock is Christ. He edifies you and me every time we pray together, hear the Word together. He strengthens the bond of his Spirit that unites us to each other and to him, our Cornerstone. Our hope, our security, and our joy is found in him, our Rock.
Built on the Rock the Church shall stand
Even when steeples are falling.
Crumbled have spires in ev’ry land;
Bells still are chiming and calling,
Calling the young and old to rest,
But above all the souls distressed,
Longing for rest everlasting.
(“Built on the Rock” LSB 645, v. 1)
No comments:
Post a Comment