1829- A CHINESE LAWYER AND LIVING
STONES
I want to try and teach a couple
of things from the letter of 1st Peter [in the New Testament] - but 1st
a few comments.
Today the big story is the
Chinese dissident- Chen Guangcheng.
Chen is a blind lawyer who has
been under house arrest for years by the govt.
His main fight against the
repressive communist state is their 1 child policy.
In China- because of the
population growth- if a woman gets pregnant more than once- they force the
woman to have an abortion.
This practice has not only killed
many innocent kids- but also causes the parents to voluntarily abort the first
child if it’s a girl.
Many of the families prefer a boy
if they can only have 1 child- so the moms often abort the first [or 2nd-
or 3rd] if it’s a girl.
So anyway- Chen miraculously
escaped house arrest and made it to ‘safety’ to the U.S. embassy in China.
Here’s where there is some
contradiction.
After a couple of days hiding out
in the embassy- he left of his own ‘free will’ and the U.S. escorted him to a
hospital [he suffered some inures during his escape].
Then we left him there- and he
came under further persecution by the govt.
He called for help- and begged
the U.S. to take him and his wife and family to the U.S.
Now- Hillary Clinton just happens
to be there for talks this week- and she played down the case at first- and
Chen says the U.S. rep’s told him if he didn’t leave the embassy that the
Chinese officials would harm his wife.
Now- both sides agree that the
threat was made [Chen and the U.S.] but we are denying that we related the
threat to Chen.
Either way- the man left the
protection of the embassy because of fear for his family- and he is now in
danger.
This incident has now
overshadowed the original reason for Clinton’s visit- and all the hype this
week over the Bin Laden death anniversary.
Actually- it did look bad- as I
was flipping the news channels- I saw the re-run of the NBC ‘coverage’ [more
like an hour long free campaign ad].
They just did a special on the
lead up to the death of Bin Laden- and it showed play for play coverage of the
president and his team- I mean I do give the president credit for the death of
Bin Laden- but they do seem to be overplaying the hand a bit much.
Even some of the elite Special
Forces guys are complaining about his politicizing of the event.
So as I’m seeing clips about ‘we
made the call [to kill him] it was a risk- but that’s what the job of president
is- taking risks’ on and on- talking about how much of a risk it was for Obama
to make ‘the call’.
And then on the next channel- we
seem to be throwing this heroic Chinese dissident under the bus- and it seems
like ‘the risk’ of actually saving the guy and his family- against the will of
China [our bank] who does not want the U.S. to interfere- might be too much.
It is sad- I don’t want to
politicize the thing- but for the media campaign to be harping on how much of a
risk it was for the president to ‘make the call’- and at the very same moment-
we have a crisis that needs him to ‘make a call’ it’s a bit much.
Okay- this morning I read a
little from the letter of Peter.
In chapter 2 Peter uses the
imagery of Jesus- and of us- as being stones- spiritual stones in a ‘living
temple’ who offer up spiritual sacrifices to God thru Christ.
I always liked this imagery- the apostle
Paul also uses it in his writings [Ephesians].
Peter says Jesus was a tested
corner stone- a tried stone- rejected of men- but approved by God.
We too- as living stones- will be
tested and tried- and yes- rejected by men.
This is part of the process.
He will later say ‘don’t think it
a strange thing- the fiery trial you are going thru- it is not only given to us
to believe on Jesus- but to also suffer for him’.
This is one of the main themes
you see run thru out the New Testament.
Peter even says ‘if any man
suffers as a Christian [by the way- this term is only used 3 times in the New Testament]
let him glorify God’
Yes- suffering and difficulty are
part of the package- and the apostle tells us not to ‘think it strange’.
Why?
There are so many well meaning believers
in our day who have been taught that suffering- hard times- lack of wealth-
that all these things only happen to people who don’t have faith- who haven’t
yet learned how to ‘claim their covenant rights’.
Now- while most of these teachers
mean well- they leave out the other side of the coin.
And if you only hear the ‘happy’
side- then when the tough stuff hits- you ‘think it strange’ you say ‘geez- I
guess I’m just not as good as so and so- after all- why would I be suffering’.
So Peter warns us to be aware
that the trying of our faith is an important aspect of the Christian life- and
there are times when believers are called upon to share in this Cross
experience.
In chapter 2 Peter says that Jesus
was a tested stone- one that went thru the process of being chipped and honed
and shaped into the vessel that God wanted.
Part of the shaping was the
rejection process.
God uses ‘tested’ stones in his
temples.
In the Old Testament- when they
were building the temple- the bible says they prepared the stones away from the
building site- so there would be no noise of the hammers chipping away at the
temple site itself.
But after the stone was ready- it
would be brought to the site and placed into the building.
Often times God allows us to have
‘down time’ a place of being prepared- getting chipped away at- but when he
thinks the stone is ready- it is then brought to the site and put into the
building.
The apostle John- in the book of
Revelation says ‘I John saw the holy city- the New Jerusalem- coming down from
God out of heaven- and there was no temple in it’.
John was describing the new
kingdom community [the church] that would be absent ‘the temple’ [the old system
of law and temple] and would be a new people- a living temple- a kingdom of
priests and kings.
These new people would offer up
spiritual sacrifices to God- no longer the animal sacrifices of the law- and
this would please God.
Yes- we are the people of God- kings
and priests unto God.
John also says this in Revelation.
‘thou art worthy to open the book
and to loose the seals thereof- for you were slain and have redeemed us to God
by your blood out of every nation tribe and tongue- and have made us KINGS AND
PRIESTS unto God- and we shall reign on the earth’.
Yes- kings and priests- a new
community- a living spiritual temple.
All wonderful things- but the
only stones that make it into this temple are tried stones- rejected stones-
stones that got ‘chipped’ at for a long period of time.
Yeah- these are the precious
stones.
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