John 1:42

Rock People

Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone. John 1:42 (AV).

Today we are going to have a talk about rocks and rock people.

Did you know that there was a man in the Bible whose name just means “a rock”? That man was Peter. His real name was Simon, but Jesus called him “Peter,” the “rock man.” Those of you who are learning French know that “pierre” is the word for “a stone” and that it is also the French form of our name “Peter.”

But perhaps you will say that there is no mention of Peter in our text. Oh yes, there is. Jesus spoke a language called Aramaic. And “Cephas” is just the Aramaic word for “Peter.”

Peter was the “rock man” among the disciples, but he was not a bit like a rock when Christ first met him. No, he was rash, and hot-headed, and impulsive, and unreliable. That was what all his friends had found him; but Jesus looked on him, He gazed right into his heart, and He saw there the kind of man Simon could be, and would be; and He said, “Thou shalt be called Cephas: thou shalt be a rock.”

The thing we all seem to remember best about Peter is how he denied Christ, and we think he was not very like a rock then. No, Peter had not quite grown into a rock then, but he was fast growing, and I think when Jesus looked on him and Peter went out and wept bitterly that look of Jesus was one of the big last things that firmed him into the splendid rock he became.

If you want to see Peter as the “rock man” you must look into the Acts of the Apostles. There you will find him bravely facing the Jewish Council who had been the means of getting Jesus put to death, boldly declaring himself to be a disciple of that same Jesus whom they had slain. You will find him ready to be spokesman for the other disciples, ready to go to prison, and, if need be, to death, for Jesus' sake.

Now Jesus had need of rock men in Simon's time, and He has need of rock men today. What does it mean to be a rock? What are the things that specially strike you about a rock, the things that we should copy?

1. The first thing that strikes you is that a rock is a very firm thing. Rock people should be firm. Those of you who have been to the seaside know how firm a rock is. When you are digging in the sand your spade strikes something hard. You kneel down and try to pull it out, thinking it is just an ordinary stone. You pull and pull, but it won't move. Why? Because it is not a stone at all; it is a rock with its foundations far, far down.

There is one way especially in which we should be firm. And that is by being decided. It is a great thing to know your own mind.

There is a man in one of Dickens's novels who would never give his opinion about anything. When people asked him what he thought, he always referred them to his wife. “Ask her,” he would say, “ask Mrs. Bagnet; she knows my opinion. Tell 'em, my dear, what I think.” Wouldn't it be funny if we all went about saying that sort of thing? And yet there are quite a number of people in the world like Mr. Bagnet. They don't seem to have any mind of their own, or the mind they do have is being carried about in other people's pockets. They cannot decide the smallest thing without consulting somebody. Of course, I don't mean to say that we should never consult other people. There are times when we must decide big things, and then it is well to have the advice of someone older and wiser than ourselves. But it is good to be independent about the little things. People who don't know their own mind are a great bother to their friends, and they are very apt to go with the crowd, whether the crowd be right or wrong.

2. There is another thing which strikes you about a rock, and that is its strength. Rock people should be strong.

I suppose all boys want to be strong, and it is a fine thing to see a big, erect, well-developed boy with firm muscles, but it is a finer thing to see a straight, clean, manly boy a boy who is not ashamed to speak the truth, or look you in the face.

Those who are strong themselves are a support to others. Peter was the one among the disciples who took the stand for the rest. They must have felt that he was a man they could lean upon a kind of tower of strength. You, too, may be a tower of strength a help to those who are weak and easily tempted, and who cannot stand by themselves.

During the years 1883-85 a young man named Cyril Digby Buxton played cricket for the University of Cambridge. He was a splendid all-round athlete both at Harrow and at Cambridge. As boy and man he was a tower of strength to his fellows. Cyril Buxton died in his twenty-sixth year. Among his papers was found this letter which had been written to him by a school-fellow when he left Harrow at the age of eighteen or nineteen:

“I couldn't bear saying good-bye to you, old chap, the other day, perhaps for so long, but I hope not. You have been the best friend I ever had, Cyril, and the only one I love as much as my own brother and even more. I wonder if you noticed any change in me since we came to know each other. It was from knowing you that I came to see how worthless some fellows are. You were always so unselfish and straightforward in everything; and you made me feel that I was exactly the contrary, and that you couldn't care for me at all unless I improved a bit. So you have done me more good than you can imagine, and I am very thankful to you for it.

“Now, Cyril, please forgive this rot and don't think me a fool or a hypocrite, for I really mean what I say, and I am one of those chaps who cannot keep their feelings to themselves.”

3. One other thing strikes you about a rock, and that is its steadfastness and lastingness. Rock people should be steadfast and enduring.

If you go to the seashore you will find that the sand changes with every tide. The sandy shore takes on new shapes, new marks, with each tide that ebbs and flows. But the rocks remain the same. The water may cover them, but when it recedes they are still in the same place. The sand may wash over them, but if you scrape it off they are still the same shape.

Now there are some people like sand. So long as everything goes well, they are all right, but when the tides of trouble or temptation come sweeping over them, they are washed about hither and thither.

At the battle of Waterloo a messenger came to the Duke of Wellington and told him that a certain regiment would be driven back if left unsupported. “Stand firm!” replied the Duke. “But we shall all be killed,” said the messenger. “Stand firm!” repeated the Duke. The messenger saluted. “You will find us there,” he said. And so he did; but every man was dead at the post of duty.

Boys and girls, can we stand firm at the post of duty, firm in the face of temptation, firm to the very end? There is only one way we can do it by taking fast hold of the Rock of Ages who stands steadfast and unchangeable through all time.

Just one word more. In the Epistle to the Galatians, St. Paul is speaking of James and Peter and John, and he says that they were “reputed to be pillars” in the Church. Peter was a rough rock, but he came to be a beautiful, polished pillar on whom others leant. And Christ can do the same for you and for me. He can take us all weak and unstable as we are and He can change us into strong, steadfast rocks; and then He can smooth away all the ugly rough corners, and shape us into beautiful pillars fit for His heavenly Kingdom.