On October 3, 2004, I preached my first sermon as a candidate for Northwest Baptist Church’s next Senior Pastor. Northwest was considered one of the most dysfunctional churches within the Rocky Mountain district, and although I knew this about the church, there was no way I could fully appreciate just how dysfunctional it really was. So, a very green and 30-year-old version of the pastor that stands before you today preached a sermon on boasting in the Cross of Christ before a congregation with a median age of somewhere in the 60’s; my sermon text was from Galatians 6:11-18 and the title of my sermon was, “Boasting in the Cross.”
On October 17th the congregation of Northwest Baptist Church voted to call me as their Senior Pastor. Because I was unsure about moving our family from Pennsylvania to Colorado, I needed more time to pray about it before agreeing to serve as the Senior Pastor of that little church in Denver. Earlier that day, just after the church service at Calvary Baptist Church where I was presently served on the pastoral staff, Bob and Shirley White had given me a gift for Clergy Appreciation Month. I only opened the wrapping paper so that I could thank Bob and Shirley; the gift was a book, and the title of that book was, God as He Longs for You to See Him, by Chip Ingram. I left the book in my office, which was only across the parking lot from where we lived at the time (a house we affectionately nicknamed: Little House on the Parking Lot).
Because I needed time to pray, I walked across the parking lot and into my office at Calvary Baptist Church to be alone with the Lord. As I sat down, the book that Bob and Shirley White had given was there in front of my face. As I began to pray, I asked God to give me some indication as to what He wanted me to do; as I was praying, I opened Chip Ingram’s book and noticed that Bob and Shirley had written a note on the inside cover: “To our dear Christian brother, Keith, who has inspired us through his messages to see and know God as He really is. We love you and may God bless you, Roi Maw, and Nathan. Bob and Shirley White; October 16, 2004.”
Bob and Shirley’s little note also served as God’s way to encourage me to say yes to Northwest Baptist Church; but also served to encourage me to say yes to Meadowbrooke’s call to become your pastor oddly enough, on the first week of October nearly 14 years to the day that I read Bob and Shirley’s note for the first time. I am still convinced as I was twenty years ago, that the best that I can give you is the God of the Bible. I could try to cater to felt needs, but all that really ends up being is a guessing game, and besides, what would that do anyway?
I am not going to look at Ephesians 2:19-22 in sequential order like I normally do with a scripture passage but will look at these verses in the order a builder would build a building.
We are a Jesus Called Community
When it came to the structure of a building, before anything could be built, the cornerstone had to be laid. It was the first stone laid because the dimensions and shape of the rest of the building were dependent upon the shape and size of the cornerstone. If the cornerstone was off, so the rest of the building would be off! If there was anything wrong with the cornerstone such as its dimensions, the way it was cut, or its integrity as the toughest and strongest of the stones used in the building, the structure would be compromised. In the ancient East, the cornerstone was the most expensive of all the stones used in a building because it was the most important part of the building. When it comes to the nature of the Church, Paul says that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone (v. 20b).
Against the backdrop of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, stood another temple. Only the temple Paul referred to was living, organic, and holy. Today, it is still being built and it will continue to be built with Jesus as the cornerstone until He is finished building and beatifying His Church. We, the Church, are the great wonder of all of heaven and it is concerning our salvation that we are told: “…angels long to look” (1 Pet. 1:12). Think about who you are Church! In Jesus, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (1:3). In Jesus, we were chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless (v. 4). Through Jesus, we have been adopted as sons and daughters (v. 5). In Jesus, we have redemption through His blood (vv. 7-8). In Jesus, we have obtained an inheritance from God that no one can destroy (v. 11). In Jesus, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit that no one can break (v. 13). We were chosen, redeemed, and sealed all to the praise of the glory of God (vv. 6, 12, 14); which means that the Ephesian Church displayed a glory even greater than the power of 300 billion suns!
The prophets and the apostles, through the Scriptures, pointed to Jesus: The prophets point towards Jesus and the apostles point back to Jesus. Long before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah declared: “Therefore this is what the Lord Godsays: “Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a tested stone, A precious cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. The one who believes in it will not be disturbed” (Isa. 28:16). Concerning Jesus, the apostle Peter wrote, “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by people, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:4-5).
As the cornerstone, Jesus is God’s final and most perfect revelation of Himself: “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world” (Heb. 1:1-2). As we have learned in the previous verses, it is because of Christ and through Christ that both Jew and Gentile can become one new people group through faith in Him alone. It is through Jesus that we now have access to God the Father (2:18).
If you are a Christian, then Jesus is your cornerstone! Think for a moment of what that means. Jesus is the cornerstone because He is the Christ (Isa. 9:6-7). Jesus is the Christ because He is the Great I AM who is the Bread of Life (John 6:35-51), the Light of the World (8:12; 9:5), the Door for His Sheep (10:7-9), the Good Shepherd (10:11-14), the Resurrection and the Life (11:25), and the True Vine (15:1). Jesus is the cornerstone because only He could claim to be, the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6). If you are a Christian, then Jesus is your cornerstone by which the entirety of your life is being shaped by Him, and as He is shaping you, so too He is shaping all who truly belong to Him.
We are a Word Formed Community
The prophets and the apostles represent the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, that we as the temple of God (household) are being built upon. From Genesis to Revelation the Bible claims at least 3,000 times to be “The Word of the Lord.” And, in all its 66 books and the hundreds of years and many different contributors who were guided by the Holy Spirit, it is without error.
In a very real sense, we are a people of the Book, but not just any old book! Consider some of the things that the Bible claims about itself:
“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Ps. 19:7-11).
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
The Old Testament and the New Testament are not two separate books nor are they two separate volumes. The Old Testament and New Testament are one book, one story, with one theme: Jesus! This is why Jesus said of Himself, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17); Jesus is God’s “Yes” to all God’s promises (2 Cor. 1:20). Jesus commanded His disciples after His resurrection and before His ascension: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20). Do not miss that He commanded us to teach all that He has commanded. The foundation on which God’s people must stand has always been on the Word of God.
Our greatest need is to know God and to be known by Him. The way to know God is through His word, for it is the primary means by which He has revealed Himself. Every time you open your Bible and read the words contained in it, you hear the same voice that was powerful enough to create billions of suns like ours or greater; God has given us a book with His words in it to move and shape us as His people. The words of that Book bear the authority of the Living God and have the supernatural ability through the power of God’s Spirit to speak into your real needs, or as Hebrews 4:12 testifies: “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” You, my dear Christian, must allow your heart to be saturated by it, and the only way to do that is to open your Bible and allow God to speak into your life through His Holy Word, for that is the principle means by which He speaks to His people.
Now, permit me to briefly say a word about the preaching of God’s Word as it relates to God’s people: On this side of eternity, God has ordained the preaching of His word as the primary agent for supernatural transformation. This is why we read in the Bible: “How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher…. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:14, 17). If Romans 10 is not enough for you, consider 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, “But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
God has ordained the preaching of His Word to be one of the principle means to equip and strengthen His people for service in His name to the nations. When the proclamation of God’s Word is done responsibly by those who honestly labored over His Word through careful study and prayer then I believe what John Calvin once said is true every time we gather on a Sunday morning: “God has so chosen to anoint the lips and tongues of His speakers that when they speak the voice of Jesus comes out” (Calvin, Institutes, Book Four). This is why the apostle Paul instructed Timothy who was called to the Ephesian Church as their pastor:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Tim. 4:1-4)
When we gather under the preaching of God’s Word, there is a God-ordained and supernatural work that God’s people subject themselves to. There are things that happen under the preaching of God’s word during corporate worship that cannot be explained but it is the work only God is able to perform through the authority of His Word proclaimed by the power of His Holy Spirit performed that will often blow your “felt” needs to ashes so that God’s word is able to address your real needs.
We are a In-it-together Community
Paul will address what it is that God is doing with His people in the verses and chapters to follow, so I will keep this brief. All I want you to see in verses 19 and 21-22 is this: God has always had a plan for your holiness and blamelessness in Christ, Christian. Through Jesus, “…you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household” (v. 19). God is committed to the very thing He has purposed to do in and through you when He set His affection upon you and chose you before the foundation of the world; His purpose in choosing you is that you would be, “holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:4). When you were dead in your offenses and sins, God made you alive and every other Christian, “…alive together with Christ.” Why did He do it? Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
You were dead! You were an enemy of God! Now you are God’s child! Now you are, “of God’s household… in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (vv. 20-21). What does this mean? It means that because you are in Christ, God is for you and not against you! It means, “…that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6)! It means that no matter how used up you were, no matter how damaged you were, no matter how ugly your sins were… He is making you more and more holy and more and more blameless! Listen. And the way that God is doing it is with Jesus as your cornerstone being built upon “…the foundation of the apostles and prophets.”
In Ephesus there was a more glorious and more beautiful temple that made the great temple of Artemis look like a dung heap! It is a temple that continues to be built today and it is the place where the demonic fear because it is a living temple where the Spirit of God dwells; those who are far and near make up that temple. Meadowbrooke Church, we are also a part of that temple. It is because the preeminent Jesus is our cornerstone, and the foundation of His Church is the inspired teaching of the apostles and the prophets, the best and lasting gift I can give you is not a feeble attempt to cater to your felt needs, but the God of the Bible through the faithful preaching and teaching of His Word.
So, on that note, I leave you with the words of a beautiful Hymn about a beautifying Bride:
The church's one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is his new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven he came and sought her
To be his holy bride;
With his own blood he bought her,
And for her life he died.
Elect from every nation,
Yet one o'er all the earth;
Her charter of salvation,
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
With every grace endued.
The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
to guide, sustain, and cherish,
is with her to the end;
though there be those that hate her,
and false sons in her pale,
against the foe or traitor
she ever shall prevail.
Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore;
Till, with the vision glorious,
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great church victorious
Shall be the church at rest.
Yet she on earth hath union
With God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with thee.
