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Happy New Year!
May God’s blessings be upon you and your family!
God has been good in 2024. God will be also good in 2025.
Let us trust God. Everything will work out for good.
Even though there may be difficult times, God will give you the strength and the wisdom to deal with difficulties.
Not only that, he will work out everything for good for you.
This year’s theme is “Be the Rock.”
I would like to focus on two things. One: Being a Rock. Second: How to live as a Rock.
In today’s passage, Peter said this.
…like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)
He said, “Let yourself be…”
Being the Rock is about who you are, not about what you do.
You are the Rock. Nothing can shake that away. That’s who you are. God made you be the rock.
Your understanding of who you are is the foundation on which you can build your life.
If you think you are the rock, then you will live like the rock. You will have the firm foundation for your life.
If you think you are chaff, then you will be easily scattered.
That was what the Psalmist said.
The whole book of psalms begins with the statement about two kinds of life. Life like the rock that is deeply rooted. And life like the chaff that is easily scattered.
First, life like a rock…
They are like trees
planted (rooted) by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper. (Psalm 1:3)
Life like chaff…
… (they) are like chaff that the wind drives away. (Psalm 1:4)
If your understanding of who you are is not clear, you cannot have an authentic existence. You cannot be firmly rooted.
See – You can only be who you are. You don’t have to pretend to be who you are not.
Not only your identity, but your understanding of your identity is very important. Everything flows from your understanding of who you are.
Don’t let others tell you who you are.
You don’t need to be so concerned with what they say about you. Do they really know you? No, they don’t.
They judge you with their limited knowledge they have about you. And many times, their limited knowledge is filled with their own prejudices.
Jesus did not let others dictate his life.
He was rejected by people and that was Ok with him. Because he knew who he was.
Peter knew about this very well and so he said.
Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight… (1 Peter 2:4)
Chosen and precious in God’s sight…
Rejection was a part of Jesus’ life in this world.
When he was born, there was no happy birthday… Herod tried to kill him. Unfortunately, so many innocent babies were killed instead. He was rejected by Herod.
During his life time, his life was full of rejections. They even accused Jesus of being demon possessed. The cross was the ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ.
He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. (John 1:11)
So even if you feel rejected, not understood, and abandoned, don’t ever doubt yourself.
You are chosen and precious in God’s sight.
This is what Peter proclaimed.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people… (1 Peter 2:9)
That’s who you are.
A chosen race. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. God’s own people.
To be honest, Peter himself was not like a rock.
He was flaky and flimsy. He made a commitment that he could not keep. He denied Jesus even three times because he was scared of people’s rejection.
But Jesus chose him and told him that he would be the rock.
He used to be Simon. But Jesus gave him a new name, Peter, which means the Rock.
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:18, 19)
What a wonderful proclamation about a person.
Peter was not that great yet. He didn’t have a solid understanding of who he was or who Jesus was. He didn’t even know what he wanted.
Right after Jesus’ proclamation about Peter, there is a strange interaction between Jesus and Peter.
From that time on, (after Jesus’ proclamation of Peter) Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ (Matthew 16:21-23)
Can you believe it?
Right after Jesus said that Peter would be the rock on which he would build his church and he would give him the key of authority, Jesus said this.
You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things. (Matthew 16:23)
That’s life.
There is no hero. There is no one who is so great that he or she is flawless.
You are not that strong. You are not flawless. You are not a superman or a Wonder Woman. You are as flimsy and flaky as Peter was.
When Jesus said to Simon, you will be the rock. What he meant was I WOULD MAKE YOU the rock.
God will make YOU a rock on which God will build a beautiful life.
Don’t doubt yourself. No matter what people may say, you are a precious living stone.
So, the first point is about your identity. The second point is about how to live as the Rock.
You will face many difficult challenges in 2025 as you did in 2024.
You may encounter storms in your life. Your circumstances may not be so kind to you.
Don’t be so easily influenced by your circumstances.
When things are going well, you feel loved by God. You will be thankful.
But when things are not going as well, you will doubt God’s love. You will be filled with fear. And you will do things that you shouldn’t because of fear.
We are going to study that soon in February.
When you look at king Saul, the biggest problem he had was not that he was not smart or capable.
His critical problem was that he let his circumstances absolutely influence him and dictate his decisions.
He tried to deal with his situations with his own wisdom and strength. In the end, he went mad.
Be a man and a woman of principle. You have to have principles if you want to live a good life.
Principles you have are your backbone. That is the rock for you. They are the skeleton of your life.
It’s a life philosophy.
Life is not just about doing well in your jobs and making money. Life is not just about enjoying good things in life.
There has to be a life philosophy.
The greatest principle that we hold is Love. Love God, love yourself, and love others. Always remember that.
No matter how hard life may be, how challenging people may be, always remember this: LOVE. That’s all you can do.
In all circumstances, trust in God and simply practice your love.
Always go back to that. Trust and Love.
That’s how you become the Rock.
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