CHURCH IS GOD'S HOUSE
Three weeks ago, I started a three-part
series on What is The Church? The basis of our study was the apostle Paul's
advice to the Ephesian Church on how they should live as believers. He defined
the Church in three different ways. Ephesians 2:19-22. Understanding these
definitions informs us about how we live and relate to one another at Hope
Church.
We learned that we are members of
God's family worldwide. Today, we will explore the second definition of what
the Church is like. The Church is "God's House" in a
spiritual sense. What is the first step involved in building a house? To search
for a suitable property, find out if any criminal litigations are on that
property, and then buy it and get it deeded to you. You then become the property owner and can build your dream house.
God's House is not a physical
structure, yet similar building principles are involved. However, the only
difference is that a house is built with inanimate objects such as stones,
wood, and bricks with no will. The Church, God's House, is a living organism
built with messy and imperfect people, which makes the building process and the
outcome more complicated.
I. The Church is God's House.
Ephesians 2:20, "Together, we
are his House, built on the foundations of the apostles and the prophets. And
the Chief Cornerstone Jesus Himself. In verse 19, the Apostle Paul puts the
Jewish and Gentile believers at ease with each other by saying that they are
one in God's family. He further emphasized that they were not just disjointed
entities separate from each other, but they were being built together. Let's
see how the Church is built together into God's House. There are three steps
involved in Christian believers becoming a beautiful house of God.
A.
We are not our own but bought at a high price and
belonged to God.
Someone who wants to build a
physical house looks for litigation and corruption-free property before even
offering to buy that property. Right!
When Jesus wanted to build His
Church, He did not look for a particular geographical location or a favorite
destination; instead, He looked for people who would remain loyal to Him.
In
his search, he bypassed the self-righteous people and instead picked rugged and
uneducated fishermen. Some were even considered traitors and treated like the
world's garbage and trash.
People discarded them, yet Jesus saw
them as precious gems of great value. He saw how receptive their hearts were to
God's purposes. He thought He could redeem and build His Church by using them
as "living stones." (I Peter 2:5). What price can you put on the
human soul? What amount of sacrifices can you offer to redeem humans that are
lost due to sin?
There is nothing that can restore
the broken relationship of humanity with God. So, Jesus had a plan! He offered
himself as the ultimate sacrifice on the cross to bring back lost women and men
to God. He restored their dignity and freed them from their bondage to sin and
death.
Several scriptures indicate that we
were bought at a high price. Therefore, we are not our own but belong to God
and for His purposes. Consider these scriptures: I Corinthians 6:20, "You
do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So, you must
honor God with your body." When
Paul said, "You were bought with a price," he meant believers
were purchased and paid for with the sinless, spotless perfection of Jesus
Christ's blood. "Bought at a price alludes to someone purchasing a
slave at a slave auction. With His death, Jesus Christ paid the cost to redeem
us from our slavery to sin:" Since God paid a high price for us,
everything we do should be to the glory of God because we belong to Him.
Though unworthy, the apostle Peter
was bought at a high price. Later, this was what he said to the scattered
believers, I Pet 1:18-19, "For you know that God paid a ransom to save you
from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid
was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless,
spotless Lamb of God."
B. We are being built on the foundations
of the Apostles and the Prophets
What was the foundation of God's
House like? Let me take you to the Gospel of Matthew, written by a tax
collector, where Jesus made this powerful proclamation. Matthew
16:18, "Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means 'rock'), and upon
this Rock, I will build my Church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer
it."
This is the first time the ekklesia,
frequently translated as "church," is mentioned in the entire N.T. The
words Petros and Petra were translated as Rock, which had
confused many. There was a wordplay in this verse. "You are
"Peter" (Petros) means a small stone. (John 1:42). Upon this Rock, "Petra,"
which means ("on this rock,") which means a foundation boulder,
as in Matthew 7:24, 25. Peter uses the same imagery in his first epistle: the Church
is built of numerous small petros "living stones" (1 Peter
2:5) who, like Peter, confess that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of the Living
God—those confessions are the foundations of the Church.
The builder
of the Church is Jesus Christ, and His Church, God's House, will endure forever. It was built "on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets." The
apostles here were referred to the first twelve whom Jesus called out. They
were not perfect but were sold out for God. To them, Jesus commanded them to
"go and make disciples of all the nations. Teach the new disciples to obey
all the commands I have given you." Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus chose the early apostles, and
Paul was added to the list afterward. Their job was to lay the foundation of
the Church, to receive, declare, and write God's word (Acts 11:28), and to
confirm God's word through signs and wonders. The prophets were the gifted men
in the early Church to equip the saints for ministry. (Eph 4:12). The early
church believers devoted themselves to the "apostles" teachings. Subsequently, every established local Church has been built or ought to have
been built upon the foundations of the apostles and the prophets.
C.
Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone
In a
structural building, a cornerstone (foundation stone) is the first one placed. The rest will be set in reference to this stone, determining the position of
the entire structure. Buildings were laid out with astronomical precision in
relation to points of the compass, with emphasis on corners. Cornerstones
symbolized "seeds" from which buildings would germinate and
rise. It is the Rock upon which the weight of the entire structure rests, thus
signifies its utmost importance.
Various religious rituals and Bible
references spread and perpetuated the cornerstone custom. When Jesus wanted to
build His Church, He didn't entrust that tremendous responsibility to anyone. He took it upon Himself and became the Chief Cornerstone. Thus fulfilling the
prophecy, "Psalm 118:22-23, "The stone that the
builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, and
it is wonderful to see."
No other religious leaders like
Budha, Krishna, Muhamad, Confucious, etc, have ever said, "I will build this
religion upon myself." Therefore, these manufactured religions may last a
lifetime but only for a while. On the other hand, the Church, God's House, is far
more superior than any religious or human establishment. It lasts and outshines
any existing movement to eternity. No power of hell, no human scheme will ever
be able to destroy the Church, God's House.
What does this mean to us today? If
you are born again Christians, you and other brothers and sisters joined by
faith to the Chief Corner store Jesus Christ Himself. We are being built on the
teachings of the apostles and prophets recorded in God's Word, the Bible. The
strength of the building lies in the cornerstone, which is rightly joined with
the other structural elements.
Similarly, the Church's strength and impact, God's House, lies on Jesus Christ, our Chief cornerstone,
and the household members are joined by following the teachings of the Apostles
and Prophets. Therefore, we learn, worship, and work together at Hope Church.
