the right material

November 14, 2007

Ephesians 2:19-22

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.”

I went hunting around the church building yesterday kind of surprised that after almost seven years I didn’t know where the church cornerstone was located and to my surprise I noticed something I’d never notice before. Clearly, I’m very unobservant! Looking at the sanctuary from Hawthorne Lane as it runs in front of the building there were two very large stones on either sides of the front doors. To the left was all of the typical information that belongs on a cornerstone—the founding date, etc., and to the right was this very scripture. Eighty-five years ago charter members of St. John’s Baptist Church wanted to ensure that this church body was built on the right material!

For Paul’s community, the Gentiles really weren’t treated in an inferior way at this point in history, though, of course, there we other churches where this had happened. So Paul rejoices with them that they are equal partners in the Christian effort. But, to really be true partners in the effort he needed them to understand what it is to be the church and what it is to be built on the right material.

The scripture reminds us that it was the apostles and the prophets who got the credit for getting the church movement started. It was their mission and in their fulfillment of it they became the foundation. Historically, we have thought of apostles as those who had some sort of eyewitness experience to the ministry of Jesus Christ. The Greek in this text would invite us to understand that the word apostle should really be considered in a broader context than just first century eyewitnesses—that essentially an apostle is anyone who has witnessed to the mystery of Christ and prophets, then, would refer to anyone called out to serve God in a teacher/preacher role. If that is the case, then the church’s foundation is made up of you and me!

In large measure this scripture is about church growth. I’ve been in a lot of churches in my life and one thing I have learned is that the church that understands its roots and lives by the tenets on which it was founded is the church that grows. By roots, I don’t mean the people who chartered the church or even the widened picture of apostles and prophets, I mean the very cornerstone that the author mentions.

In ancient construction, buildings always had one important stone that was set to determine how the rest of the building would “lie.” It was the directional stone. Jesus Christ is that stone for the church and should be that same stone for the living of our communal lives together.

Scholar Ralph Martin has said that church ‘growth is set by its conformity to this original plan . . .It is not measured by statistics or budgets. Rather, it is the growth of a living organism which takes shape by the Spirit’s guidance . . ..” (Martin, Interpretation: Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon, p.39)

As our pastor at St. John’s begins to take a brief hiatus to renew himself, it seems a very important time for us to remember our roots and tenets. It seems a crucial moment in our history to make sure that we are focused on God’s Spirit at work in our individual lives; that we realize for the church to grow--our individual and corporate eyes have to be focused on the cornerstone that is Christ among us. God’s Spirit is contagious and if we are living by it, we will be astounded at what is to come! Our challenge then, is to make sure that our eyes are focused and that we are built on the right material! May it be so! Amen!