On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand

We often sing these old hymns without asking what in the world they mean. But if our music is going to be a witness to Christ, then we can't repeat words without meaning. We need to know what they mean and show they mean it in our lives. 

The New Testament makes only one specific reference to Christ as a rock, and that is I Corinthians 10:4. That takes us back to the rock from which Israel received water in the wilderness. (Exodus 17:6) Paul's point is not that Christ is rock to stand on, but that Christ was the rock that provided water in the dessert to Israel, and so Christians draw from that same spring of living water. 

Matthew offers us two references to a rock. Matthew 7:24-25 identifies Jesus' words as the rock on which to build a life that endures. Matthew 16:18 identifies Peter as the rock on which the church will be built. Luke reiterates the words of Jesus found in Matthew 7. 

So properly speaking Christ isn't the rock on which we stand. The teaching of Jesus is the rock on which his disciples are to build their lives.  This allows us to put together a better picture of what it means to build our lives on a rock. The rock is the teaching of Jesus, which we find in the four gospels. 

Traditionally we Christians have seen that this logically extends beyond the gospels to the entire Bible. Jesus is the Word made flesh, through whom all things were created and through whom God spoke to the prophets. So the words of Jesus aren't necessarily the entirety of the Word. At least for United Methodists this means (Articles of Religion II, V, VI) that the whole Holy Scripture both "contains all things necessary to salvation," and is authoritative.

It can't be surprising that Christians see the Bible as the Rock on which they can build their lives. It is the Word of God. Our real problem is hearing and heeding the Word arising from the words of the Bible.

And that is a challenge, because words are much more like sand that rock. Indeed words, even words in the Bible, can become like quicksand; sucking a person in and drowning them in confusion. This is the origin of almost all Christian heresy and sectarianism; turning the words of the Bible into something other than the Word of God, the Christ, the solid rock. 

So the Rock cannot be found by merely reading the Bible. We need help. And in the Wesleyan tradition, and indeed the Christian tradition, we find that help at the intersection, the meeting, of Christian tradition, our fellow Christians, the Spirit of Christ, and the world in which we live and to which we are sent. Where all the saints down through the ages gather with the followers of Christ today in the presence of the Spirit facing outward to the world as we read the Word we are standing on the Rock: The Body of Christ. 

The Rock emerges from chaotic seas through our faithful Christian engagement with one another and the world over the meaning of God's Word as found in the words of the Bible. When we join as the Body of Christ engaged in the Mission of Christ under the direction of the Word we are standing on the Rock. 

The Rock is found in our fellowship studying God's word together, listening always to the voices of the ages gathered in the Christian tradition and with the whole church today. The Rock is found when the Word emerging from our study together engages the Word revealed in nature. This gives us confidence that both the words we read and God's ordering of nature; having as they do the same author. Similarly the words we read in scripture must be brought into conversation with the experience of fellowship with Christ, since both originate with the Spirit of Christ.

In the end, standing on the solid rock of Christ isn't just about knowing what the Bible says. Anyone that can read can know what the Bible says. I know both Muslims and Jews who have made a far deeper study of the New Testament than most Christians. Just reading the Bible isn't enough to stand on the Rock. 

Standing on the rock is about studying the Bible with our companions in mission as we seek together to have the mind of Christ. For where else would we find Him, but where two or three are gathered in his name. 

To keep the faith, we need to keep the fellowship. Don't just get out your Bible. Bring it to church; that is where it become the Word, that is where it becomes the Rock.