CHRIST OUR CORNERSTONE
SCRIPTURE
Ephesians 2:11-22
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body, by the hands of men) ---
12. remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in
13. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
14. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
15. by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace
16. and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
17. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
18. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,
20. built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
21. In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his ‘Spirit.
INTRODUCTION:
Back in the late 1950s when I was a student at Northeastern Bible Institute, I helped build institute’s library building. We dug down and leveled the ground for the footing for the foundation walls. As the walls broke the surface of the ground, we laid the block which was to be the cornerstone. A bronze plaque was designed with the date to commemorate the occasion.
This is what is today called the cornerstone. Architecturally, it serves no special function. It is just like any other block in the wall, except for the fact that the plaque is mounted on it. or it is engraved to commemorate the date of its being laid in place. It is down at ground level.
What the Bible is referring to is the (kephalen gonias), “head of the corner” or “capstone” which is massive and located on the top of the wall and binds the perpendicular walls together.
Some think it may have been the keystone that completes the arch structure.
The principle is the same. The Romans used the keystone, an ingenuous invention. Those arches are still as strong as the day they were built.
Used figuratively as in these contexts, the capstone is clearly the one essential stone on which the integrity of the building depends.
· This morning I would like to concentrate on Ephesians 2:11-22, especially (v.20)
Therefore, Remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body, by the hands of men) ---
Whenever you look at a passage of Scripture that starts with “Therefore” look to see what it is there for. “Therefore” in this passage refers back to what was said in Chapter 2: 1-10 Listen carefully as I read, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2. in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3. All of us also lived among them at one time,
· gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature
· and following its desires and thoughts.
o Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath
4. But because of his great love for us,
· God, who is rich in mercy,
o made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—
it is by grace you have been saved.
· And God raised us up with Christ
· and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7. in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—
· and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9. not by works, so that no one can boast.
10. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
· which God prepared in advance for us to do. (This is where Predestination fits in.)
THE SIGN OF THE COVENANT--CIRCUMCISION
12. remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in
We were not people of the covenant (essentially Jewish) We without Hope and without God even though we co-existed with the people of God (the people of the covenant)
13. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
eng- goos (near at hand) Brought into an embrace
14. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
Jews and Gentiles have been brought together as one in Jesus Christ. His arms are around each of us. He is of both Jewish and Gentile descent. He shed his blood for both of us, to make us one in him.
15. by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace
16. and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
17. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. Gentiles
Jews
18. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,
20. built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. This is the highpoint of the whole epistle. It is the most significant text on the inclusiveness of Christ’s Church, the Body of Christ, in the New Testament. Although it deals with the division between Jews and Gentiles, no specific problem is being addressed. Rather, the description of blessings in Christ.
21. In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his ‘Spirit.
I. WHAT EXACTLY IS A CORNERSTONE? There are three possibilities of that that term means
· The first and most probable is based on the original Hebrew and Greek. Both the Hebrew word pinnah and the Greek phrase kephalen gonias mean the top of the corner. So it was most likely a very large stone that was laid at the top of the wall at the corner, binding the walls of the structure together.
· Some think it may have been a keystone as was used in the building of a Roman Arch. The keystone positioned at the apex of the arch completed the arch structure.
· Another interpretation of the term cornerstone is a very large level foundation stone situated at the corner of the foundation or footing that serves as a plumb reference point for the building walls that are to be built upon it.
· All of the above were used in the architecture of that day.
· Used figuratively as in these contexts, the capstone or cornerstone, if you please, is clearly the one essential stone on which the integrity of the building depends.
The
II. Biblical References to the Cornerstone
· In Psalm 118:22 the psalmist testifies prophetically referring to the coming Messiah, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” You will remember that the builders of the nation of Israel rejected Jesus the Christ, the Messiah
· The thrust of Psalm 118 and 5 New Testament passages that quote it, emphasize
o Matthew “Jesus said to them, “Have you never read the Scriptures, “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’”?
o “‘Therefore I tell you that the
§ Some capstones weighed more than 500 tons.
This quotation is repeated in Mark and in Luke , 18. In Acts -12 Luke records that Peter testified of Jesus, “He is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
In his first epistle, chapter 2, Peter writes, “Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.” and “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy”(vv.7-10).
I was once asked by a Jewish man, “When is the conflict between the Jews and the Arabs going to end?”
o My answer was, “when the Messiah returns.” He was rejected the first time he came to the Jewish nation. What has happened historically since their rejection of Jesus the Messiah?
o Expulsion from the
o multiple persecutions and expulsions down through the centuries,
o the Holocaust of the 1940s
o back in the land in 1949 for attack after attack even to the present.
o Six Day War of the 1960s
o Yom Kippur War
o Terrorism ever since
o Did the chief cornerstone fall on them? Like any other nation they will receive mercy when they return to God by receiving their Messiah. What they are stumbling on is salvation by Grace through Faith NOT salvation through WORKS (Good Works is a result of our living by faith IN CHRIST BY HIS SPIRIT WHO LIVES IN US!
o As for the Muslim nations, when they have a change of heart and accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah, they will finally find peace IN CHRIST
o and be in unity with
o IT IS A CURIOUS THING THAT BOTH JUDAISM
o WHEN JESUS TAUGHT US THAT SALVATION IS BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
o JESUS CHRIST, THE BEARER OF THAT
INVITATION TO RECEIVE JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
If you have prayed this prayer, please contact the pastor at PastorFBCCNY@aol.com and let him know so he may talk with you. Please include a phone number or email address. Thank you.
