To Be A Polished Stone
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To Be A Polished Stone
Jeremiah 18:1-12
Psalm 46
1 Peter 1
Ephesians 2:1-10
Suppose I have a rock before me. What kind of rock do you think it is? If you look at it from afar it probably looks like just an ordinary rock. However, suppose I put water on it and clean it up a little bit, what kind of rock does it look like now. The water reveals that the rock in my had is actually a Petoskey stone. Petoskey stones are fossilized coral that show a beautiful design. If you polish one you can reveal a most beautiful and shiny design. However, polishing such a stone can take a lot of work. You first must start out with a very coarse sand paper or emery cloth and keep sanding that stone until you smooth out the rough edges and clean out any other dirt or debris that is in the way of the fossil from showing. This takes a lot of time and work. Sometimes it may seem like impossible to smooth away all the debris surrounding this fossil. Some of it just seems to linger there. After you are finish cleaning the debris you gradually move to a finer grit sand paper until you get to the finest grit and at that point the stone looks smooth and glossy.
On our family vacation to Petoskey a few weeks ago we ended up finding all kinds of neat stones including Petoskey stones. Eimy did very well at finding a lot of the stones. I by chance was able to find two larger ones. When we got back, I made it my mission and hobby to polish one of these stones every night. Eimy was probably getting jealous of these stones because I was spending more time on polishing than I was with her. From the time I put Celeste to bed and until almost midnight I would be polishing that stone almost every night for the last two weeks. However, I spent about 4 days stuck on the coarsest paper and it seemed like I was getting nowhere. The entire stone was wrapped in hardened clay and gradually I was able to peal some of it away but it just seemed to be going and going. I even took it to work one day and used a sanding disc grinder to try to quickly smooth that clay away. But no matter how hard I have tried I have just not been able to get it all off. So, I made a choice to start moving towards to finer sand papers anyway. Could I have spent more time and eventually removed all of clay? Possibly, but I had my heart set on using these stones for my sermon message and I realized that the message would be even better with the stone as it is.
In polishing this stone and in leading up to the decision to do so I could not help but notice a similarity between this stone and the Christian life. We a lot of times start out just like that first stone. We have rough edges and we seem a little dirty, dull, and plain. However, when washed in the waters of baptism the beauty of a changed life in Christ begins to appear. If we are not careful though the water can dry up and we can be Christians that look and act no different from everyday people of the world. Therefore, we need to begin polishing ourselves through the reading of the Word and through fellowship with other believers. At first the polishing can seem a bit rough as the Word can be challenging at times and other Christians may also challenge you and spur you on as well. However, if you do this all on your own, we may find that there are parts of our old life that just want to stick to us like hardened clay. No matter how hard we try we just cannot seem to remove these character defects from our lives. We end up looking like this polished stone looking shiny on the outside yet still wrapped with dull and gray colored clay that has no pattern of beauty like that fossilized coral. However, here is the deal though, we are not meant to do this all on our own. We really are not meant to be the ones doing the polishing either. What we are meant to do is submit ourselves fully to the one who can truly smooth away every part of sin and character flaw of our lives. He is the patient one who will take the time to do what is needed to polish us until we are like beautifully polished stones.
Jeremiah 18 tells us about the potter who was shaping a pot on his potters’ wheel and the clay and pot was not working out right as it appeared marred. However, the potter is able to make corrections or take the same clay and start over and shape a new pot to his liking. God claims that he can and will do this with Israel. Those who listen to his word and repent he forgives and keeps shaping into a beautiful pot. He doesn’t inflict the disaster he had planned to inflict on them. However, those who hear his word and yet continue in their evil ways he says he will reconsider the good he intended for them and essentially start over and discipline until they are willing to obey and follow his commands.
1Peter 1:13-16 says, “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ revealed at his coming as obedient. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” We are called to be holy and perfect and to choose to be so through our actions. Our actions reveal a lot of what is in our hearts. The problem with being perfect though is that we can live our entire lives trying to be perfect and obedient and we will just never measure up to the standard put before us. If we are doing it all on our own and through our own will then this will always be the case. However, by the grace of God we do not have to.
Ephesians 2:1-5 says, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sin, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.” This means that no matter how hard we have tried all on our own to smooth out all our own edges and imperfections we still are naturally led to gratify the cravings of our flesh. The flesh gets in the way just like the clay around my polished stone. On my own I probably will never be able to remove all this clay. Just as on my own I would never be able to remove all my imperfections and character defects. Yet by the grace of God while we were all still sinners Christ died for us anyway and it is through his help and his blood that he can help us remove the stubborn parts of our lives that still want to linger around. In time all of the sin and disobedience in our lives and in our hearts will be removed and then one day we will stand with the Lord in his kingdom as beautifully polished stones without imperfections and without the sins of our past and present choking out the beauty that is within.
This morning I must ask what kind of stone you are. Are you a beautiful Petoskey stone that is still all rough around the edges and still wrapped in clay, dust, and other debris? Or are you a smooth and polished stone with just a few debris left over from the past that you are trying to smooth out on your own? Are you getting frustrated with all the work you are trying to put in on yourself yet maybe you feel like you are getting nowhere and the beauty will never be revealed because sin seems to still be holding on to your life? Well I have good news for you. You do not have to worry about smoothing out your life all on your own. The grace of God had come down and done the rest of the work for you already. All you must do is trust your life to him and let him grab hold of the polishing paper and begin to do the work in you that he came to do. By the time he is done you will be like a beautifully polished stone.