“You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
Ephesians 2:19-22
Jesus Christ is the cornerstone and on him the apostles and prophets laid the foundation upon which saints of the church in Ephesus were put into place. And you saints of Christ Church Troy, 2000 years later are being built into that same building. But examining Paul’s description, our stone in the wall does not rest directly on the cornerstone. The building does not consist of just your stone on top of Jesus. No. just as the Ephesians were built on the apostles so we are fit together, chosen by God in our place in history. Down below us in the wall are the saints in Ephesus, Galatia, and Corinth, above them those in Constantinople and Rome, then above and to the side are Canterbury, Wittenberg, Geneva, Westminster, Northampton, and right below us you would find saints in Christ Church, Moscow Idaho, those who have laid the mortar on which we stand. Now these stones are being fit together by the Spirit lest anyone should boast that man did this. But likewise, the Spirit uses men and women throughout history to build his church lest anyone should think we arrived at the truth apart from the faithfulness of others. Man’s pride can find a pothole in any road. Are you different from other believers? Does Christ Church Troy have its own distinctives? Is it in a different part of the wall? Are we above some stones and below others? Maybe a different shape? If you have ever taken the time to look at a stone wall built by a master craftsman, you would see how rocks of all different shapes are perfectly placed. No two stones could be switched out without the wall losing integrity. But what foolishness for one stone to boast to another about its shape or placement or worse yet to think that it could stand as a wall by itself. If you are to boast, boast in this, that your cornerstone is Jesus Christ. That the Spirit took you, all of grace, and formed you and fit you into place together with all the saints into the temple of the living God.
Zach Browning – July 7, 2024
