Clinker Bricks - May 23, 2010

“Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor.

“Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God.” 1 Peter 2:4–5 The Message

I love the Church. It goes by many names like, the flock of God, the family of God, the bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, etc.

All of these and others describe the fellowship of those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. The Church has a presence in the culture that is unlike any organization.

The Church isn’t an organization, but an organism – a living thing. A most dramatic description of the Church is a sanctuary made of living stones.

The living stones are us! There is a kind of brick that I think fits the account in 1 Peter pretty well. It’s called a “clinker brick.”

Clinker bricks are bricks that didn’t quite make it. For some reason or another, they come out of the kiln misshapen or deformed.

There is a church in New York that was intentionally built of clinker bricks. Apparently, they wanted to send a message, so they built their church of misshapen, imperfect, rejected – clinker bricks.

The message is that we are all clinker bricks, we are sinners, we are imperfect people full of follies and foibles, but through Christ we become living stones in the sanctuary in which He has chosen to live – the Church.

I cannot think of anything more amazing than “living stones.” What’s that about and how does that happen? How can inorganic rocks become living organisms?

We do not become living stones because we are so great. It is Christ who is so great. We are transformed by His power, made new creations by the Creator of trees and oceans, stars and galaxies, – and stones.

He knows how to do it and He is doing it in this place at this time. And He does it without fanfare or formula; without drum rolls or trumpet’s blare.

But every time a stone-cold sinner comes to Him by faith, he is silently but surely, transformed into a part of the Body of Christ, a living stone in the sanctuary of God!

I’m one of those clinker bricks, and so are you. We’re here because Jesus has redeemed us from the fire that mis-formed us. He has matched us up with other clinker bricks to form a sanctuary in which He is pleased to dwell.

Thank You, Jesus. You who were once thrown out and rejected, have made living stones of all of us clinker bricks. Hallelujah!