Build On A Sure Foundation

Alba 2-26-2023

BUILD ON A SURE FOUNDATION

Ephesians 2:19-22

Here is a brick. I suppose you figured that out. Originally I used this brick with others and some boards and made a book case about five shelves high. It wasn't very steady, but it worked for me when I was single and no children could get hurt if it fell over.

Now my daughter, Alison, uses them as a border for some plants in the back yard. That works fairly well actually. But I suppose this brick may be a little disappointed. If it could think, it might have expected to have had a different outcome.

Perhaps it could have been part of a very impressive structure. Joined with other bricks it may have been part of a tower in the town square, or a stately building downtown. Or perhaps a simple cottage where a family would take great pride in its charming appearance.

Put this brick with others and it could really be something. But bricks do not build a building all by themselves. A foundation needs to be prepared first, and then they can be laid carefully together.

In order for some of the bricks to fit properly, they may have to be cut or a part chipped off so that they fit properly. That’s exactly what Jesus does when He builds His church. He takes a bunch of bricks that aren’t much good on their own, and He fits them together as a master builder, with Himself being the very cornerstone. That's what scripture calls Him.

Our text today is found in Ephesians 2:19-22. Let's turn there and read.

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Notice, Jesus doesn't use bricks to build His church. He uses people. Imperfect people at that. We are those transgressors and sinners that are referred to at the first of this chapter.

And somehow we convince ourselves that there are reasons beyond our control that cause us to sin. Listen, sin is not airborne. A man doesn't come home from work and say to his wife, “I got some sin on me today”.

No, sin just sits there and looks at you. It has no place in your life until you pick it up and put it into action.

But thankfully, Jesus went to the cross and took our penalty for the sins we have committed. Call it what you want, but the Lord Jesus did not come to this earth to die for a mere indiscretion.

He did not die for a mistake on our part. He did not die for a small wrongdoing of ours. Jesus came to this world to die for SIN. We can't dress it up, make light of it or call it something that it is not.

But Jesus is the Messiah who died, was buried and raised on the third day, shedding His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. And because of that, if we have come to Him in obedient faith, we are no longer strangers and foreigners to the things of God.

In Jesus, in spite of our past sins, we are shaped into usable building blocks for His church. In Him we become, “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”. We are His building.

Any building needs a good foundation. Verse 20 says that we have “been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets”. It is on their instruction, words given to them by God, that we have this foundation on which we, the church, the body of Christ, are built.

This foundation is found in the very Words of God which we hold in our hands today, the Bible. The apostles Matthew and John give us gospel accounts about the life and ministry of Jesus.

Mark and Luke use the testimony of the apostles to share more information about our Lord. And the apostle Paul uses his letters to the churches to further instruct us in how we should live our lives as Christians.

These men, the apostles and the prophets, have laid a foundation for us. So what kind of foundation is it? All we need to do is look further into scripture to find out.

For example, I Corinthians 3:11 says, “no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” So the church is built on Jesus, the one of whom the apostles testify. They have laid the foundation for our faith in Jesus.