Sermon Tone Analysis

*Church**is a Group Activity (3)*

*We Have a Common Focus*

(Ephesians 2:19-22)

 

There was a fellow named Sam who was a golf nut.

Loved the game.

Lived and breathed golf.

His wife, Hilda, was equally nuts about auctions.

She was forever looking for a bargain – didn’t really matter whether she really need it or not.

It was the thrill of the chase that mattered to her.  Well – one night they had an overnight guest staying with them who was startled out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night.

It was Sam hollering “Fore” – obviously experiencing the nightmare of an errant golf shot.

Almost immediately, Hilda was heard to holler out, “Four and a quarter.”

And then peace reigned again.

Now that’s what I call focus.

Two people so concentrated on the thing that has grabbed their interest that they live, breathe and sleep it.

And we’re going to see today that God has a call on our lives to maintain that same kind of concentration.

We’re in these last 4 verses of Ephesians 2 where Paul is using three images to help the Ephesian believers and us gain greater understanding into this entity called the church.

In Ephesus it was comprised of both Jews and Gentiles, but Paul has made the point that they are no more Jew and no more Gentiles, but a whole new entity, so they need to know something about this new entity.

We saw how he first likened the church to a country illustrating that we are all equally */privileged/* – no rank or hierarchy in this church.

Then we saw that church is like a family – everyone equally */accepted/*.

Then in verse 19 he begins to liken church to a building or temple.

Emphasis?

We are all */needed/*.

Four elements of a building are emphasized.

A couple of weeks ago we looked at the foundation – the teaching of the apostles and prophets – so to us, basically the Word of God.

That’s fundamental to all we do.

Today we will look at what our focus should be (what are we living and breathing) and then later our fit and our function.

* *

*B.     ** We Have a Focus*

* *

One of the shortest music critiques on record appeared in a Detroit paper: “An amateur string quartet played Brahms here last evening.

Brahms lost.”

Clever, isn’t it?

But Brahms might not have been too pleased.

And we’re going to see today how important it is that as a believer we have a focus on Jesus.

My prayer is that in the end the review of our life together does not read, “Eaton Congregational Church represented Jesus in the early 21st century.

Jesus lost.”

Wouldn’t that be devastating?

We will all answer!

In this new temple that God is building, this church, we have a focus.

And that focus is the most important part of the whole thing.

Look again at verse 20:  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

The most important part of this building, as is true of any building, is the cornerstone.

And what a cornerstone we have.

It is Christ Jesus Himself.

In order to get the full impact of what Paul and his readers would have understood from this imagery, we’re going to have to go a bit deep.

Stick with me; we’ll ask the Holy Spirit to teach us as we go through this.

First of all, what was a cornerstone and what was its purpose?

Well, the cornerstone was the first stone laid; it had to be /strong/ and it had to be /precise/ because once it was in place, its lines dictated the placement of every other stone in the building.

Everything had to line up with it.

So, if it was off by an inch at its location, and that discrepancy were spread across the whole of the front of the building, the other side could end up in the street instead of on the intended property!

Any of you who have every tried to lay tile understand exactly what I mean.

Everything, every line, keys off of that first piece, and if it is wrong, it will look awful.

Are you with me?

And if the cornerstone wasn’t quite straight up and down, absolutely vertical, you could end up with the leaning tower of Pisa.

So if we are going to have a building that is completely aligned in all three axes – width, breadth and height, the cornerstone has to be perfect.

It was often a huge stone as well.

The cornerstone for Herod’s temple in Jerusalem was well over 20 feet in length – almost boxcar size.

As a believer it is easy to see how Christ perfectly fits the role of a cornerstone.

He is the starting point and standard for everything.

In describing Christ in this role, Paul was not being original.

Several times in the OT, comment is made about a solid, sure and tested cornerstone – prophesies which looked forward to the coming Messiah.

But it was also prophesied that this cornerstone would be */rejected/*.

So we read in Psalm 118:22, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

That’s Psalm 118:22.

Don’t forget this passage.

It’ll become important again in a little bit.

To get a little more of flavor of this, let’s turn to Isaiah 28.

In Isaiah 28 we are transported back to a time around 690 BC.

You will remember that the nation of Israel had been divided into two parts by that time.

The Northern part had already been taken captive by then – consumed by the Assyrians in 722 BC.

Now, the Assyrians threaten the south as well, but the leaders have made a pact with Egypt and were trying to convince the people that they would be safe as a result of this pact.

/What they should have been doing was confessing their sin of idolatry and turning to the Lord./

He had sent prophets like Isaiah to warn them of their danger.

Isaiah had spoken in the most simple terms as identified in verses 10 and 13 where he notes that he had taught them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.

But that was too simple and childlike for them and they scoffed according to verse 14.  How often men of the world find God’s Word too simple.

Remember how Paul said in I Cor 1:18:  For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Some things never change.

Men of the world will always consider themselves smarter than God, but always to their own detriment, because they never are.

Let’s pick up with Isaiah 28:14:  14) Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem!

15) Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol (God considered their pacts with other earthly powers, like Egypt, to be covenants with hell itself, for it was a rejection of Him) we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through (Assyria) it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter (the leaders knew they were offering false hope, but they represented that they had airtight alliances and nothing could touch them)”; 16) therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: (Here is hope in the midst of chaos.

Grace is never far away, but it is always and ever only for believers.

Notice)  ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste (that is, will not be scurrying around in anxiety, for their confidence is in God).’ 17) */And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line/* (standards that can be met only by faith); and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”

18) Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it.

This is a Messianic prophesy, meaning it is looking forward to the person of Jesus Christ.

Did Isaiah understand everything he was representing here?

Almost certainly not.

What Isaiah knew was that his message was a message of hope, that refuge was in God and that it was for believers.

We, on the other hand, are so fortunate to see /exactly/ what the fulfillment of this prophesy is.

Turn with me now to Acts 4:11.

In the very early days of the church, just after Christ’s ascension, Peter and John had healed a lame beggar in the temple area in Acts 3.  Then they began to preach the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but that made the captain of the temple, the priests and the Sadducees (who specifically did /not/ believe in the resurrection) apoplectic, so they came along and arrested Peter and John, /notwithstanding which, 5,000 new believers resulted from that sermon alone./

What great days, huh?

The trial was the next day, and, I can only surmise that Annas, the high priest, must have been a brick short of a full load because the question he and his family of counselors asked Peter and John was, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

Man, you talk about a hole you could drive a tank through!

You talk about meat to a ravenous wolf!

I don’t know what answer they expected, but beginning verse 8, here is what they got:  8) Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9) if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10) let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom */you/* crucified (that’s pretty bold, isn’t it – until you consider the next phrase), whom */God/* raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.

11)  (Now, watch this closely)  This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by */you/*, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

(Don’t miss what Peter has done here.

What he is saying in essence, and Annas and friends, well verse in OT Scripture would not have missed it – What Peter is saying is, “*/You, Brother Annas, are the literal fulfillment of Psalm 118:22.

You are personally the rejected of God’s cornerstone./*

When you put that man Jesus to death, you fulfilled this prophesy.

Look at it again.)

*/This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone/*.