Tonight’s family service had the theme ‘Peter the Rock’, referring to Matt 16:18. There, Jesus tells Simon that he will henceforth be known as Peter and on his confession of Jesus as the Christ, He will build His church. There is a play on words here as ‘Peter’ and ‘rock’ in Greek are from the same root word. We see that Peter is fundamentally changed by his relationship with Jesus. He was originally a fisherman: a hardy, robust, energetic, capable man who had to work hard for a living, but who ultimately learned to obey Jesus – even when Jesus, a carpenter, gave him clear instructions about fishing! (Luke 5:1-11) In learning to obey Jesus even when it made no apparent sense, Peter teaches us all how to respond to Jesus, and for this Jesus gave him a new role (not a fishermen, but a ‘fisher of men.’)
Peter was ultimately changed from a small stone, capable of being tossed around easily, into something more durable. He was changed because he learned to build his life on a solid foundation (Luke 6:48) and we too can become stable and rock-solid if we build our lives on Jesus Himself. Peter clearly took Jesus’s words to heart, for in 1 Pet 2:4-6, he talks about building on the living Stone and said ‘you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.‘ (1 Pet 2:5)
We are called to be those living stones and to build strong and stable lives on God.
A visual aid for the sermon!
