The same Jesus whom others have seen as a stumbling rock was actually a precious stone. The foundation is the most important part of any building of which is the chief cornerstone – Jesus.
Image Source: legendsofamerica.com
By Alan Smith
Back in the days when the Old West was being settled, there were a lot of pioneers who made their way over the Oregon Trail. When they got to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, they found a stream a little too wide to cross in one step. So they ‘two-stepped’ across by using an ugly lump sticking up out of the water in the middle of the stream.
As the years passed, other pioneers settled in that area, built their cabins, strung fences and ploughed their fields. One man built his cabin near the same stream. But he had a problem – his door flapped in the wind. To solve the problem, he found a heavy lump in the middle of the stream. So he carried it to his front step and it became a door stop.
More years passed. Railroads were built across the nation, more people pushed west and modern cities sprang up. A nephew of the old pioneer went east to study geology at a large university. He returned home during vacation.
Image Source: en.wikipedia.org
Lo and behold, on the front porch of his uncle’s cabin by the stream, he found not just an ugly lump, and not just a heavy lump, but a lump of pure gold, the largest gold nugget ever discovered on the eastern slopes of the Rockies! It had been there for three generations, but everybody saw it in a different light, some as an ugly lump, some as a heavy lump, but only the nephew saw it for what it really was – a lump of gold.
The same thing is true of Jesus. The same Jesus whom others have seen as a stumbling rock was actually a very precious stone. The foundation is the most important part of any building. The chief cornerstone is the most important stone.
The cornerstone was the major structural part of ancient buildings. It had to be strong enough to support what was built upon it, and it had to be precisely laid because every other part of the structure was oriented to it. The cornerstone was the support, the orienter, and the unifier of the entire building. That is what Jesus Christ is to God’s building, the church. The whole building ties together because of the cornerstone.
All through the book of Ephesians, Paul doesn’t let us forget that we have a relationship together because of Jesus Christ. Time and again, he talks about how everything is “in Christ,” “in Him,” “by Him,” “through Him,” “through His blood,” “by His death.”
Everything comes to us in Christ. Jesus said, “No man comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). So it is that everything is built on Jesus Christ. He is the great cornerstone of our faith. And we are the living stones joined together on that foundation.
So why have we been built?
I want us to look together at what Peter says about why we’ve been built.
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)
It’s important that we don’t forget the purpose for which we’ve been built.
Alan Smith, White House Church of Christ; excerpt from his sermon entitled, ‘Built Up a Spiritual House’ found at www.sermoncentral.com
This article appeared in the Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly, November 16 2014, Issue 016/14, which is downloadable here.
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