This sermon was delivered Gordon McCulloch to the congregation at Holy Trinity in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 22nd July 2018; Holy Trinity is a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
Jeremiah 23:1-6 Psalm 23 Ephesians 2:11-22 Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
“Please join me in my prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen. (Ps. 19:14)
1. Introduction
This morning I have taken the bold decision to base the sermon on our New Testament reading instead of the gospel. Bold because the New Testament is so rich in meaning, but so short on words. It is so rich in fact that out of the 11 verses this morning, I will only concentrate on three of them, and these three verses only make up two short sentences in which we can discuss the Jewish people, ourselves and the church of Christ in fair detail, while referencing them to a building. …
So starting with Ephesians 2 verse 19, it says … “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints, and also members of the household of God”.
Do you see what I mean; there is a lot in that verse … but I will start by focusing on the phrase, “members of the household of God” … so who are the, “members of the household of God”? … Well they are generally accepted as the Jews of course, as they have always been known as Gods people as we know, but to understand the gravity of this verse we need to understand God’s association with the Jews, and of course the land of Israel.
2. A Brief History of Israel and the Jewish People
And we need to refer to Israel as Israel is the very embodiment of the Jewish community … and as a nation, Israel is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land … bears the same name … speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. Think on that! Is that not impressive?
If it’s not, focus on the fact that the people of Israel, can all trace back their ancestry back to Abraham, and that is without www.ancestry.com; Abraham being the father of the Nation, the one who established their belief in the one and only God, and creator of the universe.
And we know Israel is a very small country in worldly terms, no bigger than the size of our west country of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset … … but Israel is a country steeped in history and controversy … a country destroyed torn apart, devastated, evacuated, and rebuilt. … Israel a tiny country defiant right in the centre of the much larger Muslims countries of the Middle East … but a tiny country with a continuous presence for the past 3,000 years. What an accolade?
And there are many stories of how God delivered the Jews from one enemy to another … by a succession of superpower empires like the Babylonians … the Persians … the Greek Hellenistic’s … the Romans … the Byzantine Empires … the Islamic state … the Christian crusaders … the Ottoman Empire … and even the British Empire … and that is without mentioning Adolf Hitler and the reformation of the state of Israel in 1947.
No country, no group or race of people have survived anything like that … no country or race has even come close to that, and from a non-religious viewpoint, those Jews must be a very special people indeed, God’s own people … and remember, God has not finished with them yet … as it has been prophesied time and time again, that as a nation, the Jews will eventually accept Jesus as their Lord, and that maybe in our lifetime, it is certainly getting close.
And can I just add my own interesting fact to this story, a bit of homework if you wish … and regardless of your politics, look at the different country’s or different regimes throughout history who have helped the Jews in their time of need … and see how they have prospered … and then … look at the regimes who have tried to destroy the Jews … … exactly, what regimes, they themselves have all been destroyed; … and the Jews themselves, well they are still there, living in land of Israel. … Now that is scary, and you must stand in awe of that one!
The Jews are certainly a very special race, and judging by their history … even from an atheist’s viewpoint; you cannot help but see that they have been blessed, or looked after or guided more than any other group of people; past, presence and dare I say, even in the future as Revelations tell us that Israel will have a place in the end days.
3. We are but fellow citizens with the household of God”.
So, let us return to verse 19 and read it again to see if that alters our perception … “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God”.
With the Jewish history in mind, this verse is saying that we Christians are now, through Christ Jesus of course, are fellow citizens with the saints, and the people of God; … and thereby entitled to their privileges and protection. … Is that not amazing? Thank you for that thunderous silence.
No, to be honest, I didn’t relate much to that either, but I will tell you what I did relate to, and you too perhaps. … Look again at the persecution the Jews have endured throughout the years: you know the Babylonians … the Persians … the Romans … and the Nazis etc., the Jews have endured all that, and it has been absolutely horrible and traumatic for them. …
And then now look at the persecution you have endured in your life, the trials you have endured, and the suffering that has followed. … If you are anything like me, you have endured a lot; I mean persecution far in excess of our friends and family … and we continually ask ourselves why.
Now I use the word endured, because we have come through it, and we are changed because of it … but we have survived in spite of it. … And in many cases, the lord only knows why. … Can you relate to that any better? … I certainly could … but we must ask, but to what end? … Well it is difficult to answer but the bible does tells us that we are being refined to meet with the Lord.
Consider these two verses, first Isaiah 48: 10 “Behold, I have refined thee … I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction”. … … And secondly, Zechariah 13:9 says, “And I will bring (you) through the fire and (I) will refine them as silver is refined … they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, “It is my people”: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Those are strong Old Testament verses … in that we are purposefully being refined, because God is preparing us to sit in his presence as the New Testament makes this clear. …
That the barrier of Sin, between us and God has been destroyed forever through the death of Jesus on the cross … and that we have our citizenship in heaven right now, right this second … being part of the family of God, being entitled to special privileges. … Yes it is hard to take all this in, but that is what the bible says … and that is what we believe`1 .
4. Christ is our cornerstone
We move on now to our second verse this morning, I will read verse 19 again as lead in, “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God”. … Verse 20: “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone”.
Right … well we have all heard sermon after sermon about Christ being our only true foundation, and cornerstone, sermons derived from the teachings of the apostles and prophets … but where did they get their inspiration? … Well from their relationship with God of course, who provided their motivation, their strength and wisdom to promote the word of God in the way that they did?
In fact, Revelation 21:14 tells us that “the walls of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb”; meaning that the apostles in a secondary sense, are also called the “foundations”. …
… And prophets too are commended in our salvation … 1st Peter 1:10 9 says: “Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto (us): … by the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow”.
Now we have all understood the sufferings all right … but notice the end of that verse, “and the glory that should follow”, and that to me is a lot more encouraging.
And the cornerstone, 1st Peter 2:6 says, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded (or confused)”, and I suppose Peter here is wondering how a single stone, so shaped, could serve two purposes at the same time; one by supporting the weight of the building walls in the foundations; and two by joining the side walls together at their ends, so as to form a corner and to unite the wall.
Verses 7 and 8 of 1st Peter 2 however continues with a warning, “unto (us) therefore which believe, he is precious … but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. … And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed”.
These verses are difficult to read, they don’t translate well into English, but what these verses are telling us is that it is our faith in Jesus holds everything together just as the cornerstone in a building holds and aligns both the walls and the foundations. … It is our faith in Jesus which gives us our place in this world, and it is Christ himself that gives us our structure, our strength and our unity. …
And it says this by the analogy to the building … in that there is not one single line or angle of a building that is not determined by, or adjusted by that perfect symmetry of the cornerstone. The angle of the cornerstone not only supports the buildings, but it governs all the lines … and angles of the whole building.
Jesus Christ is therefore, as we know, is the most important aspect of Christianity: remove Him and our relationship with God crumbles. … And I say this because many denominations have weakened the bible: they have denied the virgin birth, they have denied his literal resurrection, and they have denied the truthfulness of His message, and other things as well, but I take comfort in the fact that the world can never destroy the church, because it will never be able to destroy its foundation, its cornerstone, Jesus Christ our lord.
Jesus is the "great test" for all men … as many people cannot bring themselves to be honest when it comes to Jesus, and that's why they stumble … they fail the test, and end up eternally lost. Others on the other hand encounter Jesus and then become crushed by the world, or become crushed by how selfish they have lived, but make a change in his name, and become Christian. … Psalm 118:22 then simply tells us, “The stone which the builders have rejected, has (for some) become the head stone of the corner”.
5. In him the whole structure is joined together.
We now move on briefly to verse 21, I am running as out of time as usual, so I will make this quick, “In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord”, … and this verse goes on to say that this building is composed of all the saints and all the people of God; that is, the whole universal church belonging to the Lord. … It is a building with a spiritual nature, and it will stand forever, for it has been properly framed, with a true cornerstone in position.
And we all have a part to play in this building, as we all have our own individual skills that have been developed throughout our lives … skills which have all been developed through Christ … Christ who has always been in charge … Christ the master builder, and Christ the true cornerstone.
And this is confirmed in 1st Corinthians 6:19 which tells us, “know ye not, that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost … and that ye are not your own” … because our bodies individually are “temples of the Holy Ghost”, but we are said to constitute to one temple only … but embracing all Christian believers in holy unity, and to let God form one temple from us all. … And this takes us back to verse 21 which specifically mentions growth, and “grows into a holy temple in the Lord”.
6. Conclusion
I love it when is all ties up like this, that is the engineer in me, and I like to see the verb “grows” in there as well, which signifies that the builders are still at work, and this temple not yet complete. The Church therefore grows by the addition of new stones, or of those souls called by grace … which each member being loyal to Christ … and each plays their own individual part, adding to the universal church to worship him and him alone. Amen.
Let us pray,
Father, we thank you for Jesus, we thank you that he died all those years ago to give us a place as an equal with your people, thereby guiding and protecting us as we struggle with our lives here on this earth.
Father this morning, we ask you to help us understand why in preparing us, it is so painful, and why you are preparing us, and to what end. Help us to understand.
Father we ask also that in order to live fruitful lives true to you … that you provide us with inspiration, motivation, strength and wisdom, like you did for the saints all those years ago. Father we ask in Jesus name. Amen.
