Jesus: The Chief Cornerstone and The Way, The Truth, and The Life (Delivered May 3, 2026 at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church)

 

Response To The Word: Jesus - The Chief Cornerstone; The Way, The Truth, The Life (1 Peter 2, John 14)

Pray:Father open the eyes of our hearts so that we can understand your Word. Holy Spirit come! Amen

Would you Buy House with a bad foundation?  At some point in hopefully the next 5 years, we will be in a place to engage in the construction of new buildings on our property. We will first want to hire a geotechnical engineer who is the professional responsible for analyzing the ground, soil, and rock on a property before construction begins, and who will assess the physical and mechanical properties of the earth to determine if it can safely support a building's foundation. Before housing can be built similar analyses for any impurities in the foundation's cement that will eventually cause the cement to weaken must take place. Years ago a townhouse complex in DC began collapsing because it was on a sink hole, which was once a landfill that was now decomposing.    Thus, the critical need to determine what the building will be supported by. 

That brings us to our texts for this day. In this Eastertide we have seen Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, The Door, and we have seen Him as the Good Shepherd who protects the sheep. In today’s texts in Peter’s letter and the Gospel of John we are presented with matters related to building the Church and our relationship with Jesus. In Peter’s first letter he writes via the H.S. to those chosen or elect of God, metaphorically depicting Jesus as The Living Stone and Chief Cornerstone.  He is also portrayed in the Gospel of John as The Way, The Truth, and The Life. So we have this grand image of The Church and what relationship with Christ looks like, where Peter illustrates the building of the Church spiritually living stone by living stone: that is - us. The Church is not a physical brick and mortar structure – it is the people, those chosen of God, the communion of saints who Peter is likening to living stones being built into a spiritual house and holy priesthood – we are the living breathing organic Church whose calling is to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus. But what is the Church’s firm foundation?

Let us refer to scripture to determine the answer. If you have a Bible or a Bible app, turn with me to Ephesians 2. Paul is led to write about the relationship true followers have with Christ by being in Christ. In the latter half of verse 19, Paul writes about these Christ followers: READ THE BIBLE through 22. Ask the question: Paul also identifies Jesus as the chief cornerstone. In Him – in Jesus – the whole structure is joined together. Yet, upon what is the Church built according to verse 20? Apostles and Prophets And what does that mean? What it doesn’t mean – it does not mean that any apostle, nor any prophet, can claim to be the one upon whom the Church is built. No – the Holy Spirit through Paul is saying that the oracles God gave to the apostles and prophets by God, which they proclaimed, wrote, prayed is the foundation. What do we call those words today? 

 

Yes, the Bible, GOD’S WORD is THE sure foundation. Like a precious letter from a loved one; in it are the Triune God’s revelations of Himself, His will for us which is following Jesus as our only Way, the only Truth, and the source of all Life; Jesus prayed to God the Father in His high priestly prayer in John 17 to sanctify those who have been chosen to be in Christ with the truth, for His Word is truth. And still, as many as 50-65% of professing Christians do not believe Jesus to be The Only Way, and they reject the Bible as God’s infallible Truth.  Even now, some denominations carve out/ignore certain parts of the Bible so that what the Bible calls sin is now not sin, thus rejecting God’s standard of holiness. This is the fulfillment of the false teaching of carnal Christianity. No holiness, no moral standard, also means ignorance of who God the Savior is. They claim to be Christian, but their lifestyles and rejection of God’s Word prove to the opposite. One of the new sayings going around in church circles now is that all humans who were born were born children of God. That statement does not agree with scripture; we are called children of creation, children of nature, children of wrath. Becoming a child of God is not our decision or our birthright. In Acts 17 we read about Paul and Silas being sent away by the leaders of the church to Beroea. What do you think they did when they were out of harm's way? Did they go to the local pub and have a few snorts to 'chill'? NO! They went straight to a Jewish synagogue to worship and proclaim Christ. While doing so, some of the Beroeans who were listening took out their scrolls to fact check Paul's statements. Unfortunately, many professing Christians take things at face value - like the infamous, "God helps those who help themselves." Noooo! Dragging out the earlier metaphor, the did not check the roof and foundation to see if the house could stand up for a long while, so bought into a house with a failing foundation, where the walls are shifted off the damaged base, pulls away from the cornerstone; that house will eventually become a collapsed structure unless some very expensive repairs are done!

Go to the font where the experiment is. As I was studying this passage, I sought from God how I could make this lesson more visual – i.e., what happens when the foundation that faith or belief was built upon fails because it has impurities or other causes towards weakness, separates from the Chief Cornerstone. Let’s see. There are two structures here: one is built on "sugar sand" with sugar cubes representing what the foundation sits upon. The other is a structure that has a steel foundation, and is sitting on a rock. I am pouring water on both of the structures - let's see what happens.

Within moments the house structure on the sand begins to sink, while the structure with the foundation that sits on a rock is unmoved. Upon what kind of foundation are we individually building upon? Will it hold up? Will it connect us to the Chief Cornerstone which joins the whole structure together? Is our foundation set on stable bedrock? In Matt 7:24-25 Jesus says: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” The psalmist cries: “Truly God is my rock and my salvation, my fortress – I will never be shaken.” The Church and the ‘living stones’ that are its structure are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and set down on stable bedrock – that Rock is God. Is our faith tied to the firm foundation set on bedrock that is Christ? Bible scholars for centuries have debated that in Matthew 16, Jesus says that Peter is the Rock, the head of the Church. Unfortunately due to time constraints I would fully unpack this, but let me go to scripture again for us to briefly explain what Jesus is saying.

In Matthew 16, God reveals the truth of who Jesus is to Simon – that’s the name Peter was most commonly called. Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One who was foretold by the prophets. In His response to Simon, Jesus says “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter (Petros), and on this rock (petra) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (also see 1 Corinthians 10:4 ) The context is about identifying who Jesus truly is. Peter receives the truth of Jesus' identity from the Father - that He is the Messiah, the Anointed One. Jesus continues based on that revelation that on that rock or petra I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Peter's name "Petros" translated means a small stone - something you can pick up in your hand and toss without effort. The word "petra" when translated refers to a humongous boulder, so large that it is immovable, cannot be shaken. That was not Peter. The "rock" or petra would not be overwhelmed or overcome by the gates of Hades. Most assuredly Peter was not the rock because he died. The petra upon which the church foundation sits and clings to is an eternal rock. That was not Peter; if it was Peter, he would be almost 2,000 years old. The Roman church doctrine teaches that Peter was the first pope, which is also problematic, as Peter died around 67-69 AD; the Roman Catholic Church was formalized nearly 11 centuries later. Peter was an undershepherd, as were the other apostles, all of whom died during the first century or within less than a handful of years into the second century. The only one who could be the Rock is Jesus as the Holy Spirit identifies in 1 Corinthians 10:4.  

Here is how we can know for our own individual assessment where we stand by discussing with God: Is God’s Word a sacred treasure in my life – more precious than gold? AMEN? Is it the foundation I acknowledge and believe it to be? Is it the basis for how I learn to approach God? Does it shape my worship? Does it inform my prayers? Can I claim as Paul does in Romans 1 and as Peter says in John 6 that God’s Word—His Gospel truth, is the power of God for salvation to those who have received faith from God, and the words therein words of eternal life? Do I really study the Bible regularly – which is different from reading a devotional – but rather like the example of the psalmist David who meditated on scripture day and night seeking God’s wisdom and understanding?  Jesus says very succinctly that if we love Him, if we are in Christ – in growing union with Christ – then we will obey His commandments. And what are His commandments? The Word of God. Last Sunday, during Bible study, Mercy quoted Hosea 4:6. which tells us that people perish - which means they are eternally dead - for lack of knowledge of God and His word.We cannot duck this responsibility - while a faith leader can provide some knowledge on God and His Word, it is our singular responsibility to learn, know, ingest and digest God's word, to know Him intimately, and to live like Christ. WHY would we want to neglect so great a salvation? The Bible is God’s means of grace for our salvation and sanctification. If we are neglecting it, then any faith structure we are attempting to build will suffer damage. If we do not get it repaired, if we do not commit to Jesus as Lord and fail to reconnect to the chief cornerstone, we will disconnect ourselves. So it comes down to relationship – which is more precious and more appealing to us – an eternal relationship with the bedrock, the Rock and the Chief Cornerstone, or striving to make a way in the world’s culture and becoming honored by people, and making God and His kingdom a 'something' that we will get around to? We are commanded to "Seek first the kingdom and its righteousness"- the righteousness that God has provided through Christ and sustains by His means of grace – His Word. Friends, God is calling you to seek Him, and He is looking for those who willingly worship Him in spirit and truth! Is that how He sees us?

(The experiment concluded as it should have because of the faulty foundation and base the one structure collapsed, while the other remained unchanged and unshaken.) 

Oh, by the way, does anyone know where our building's cornerstone is located? That is your challenge for this week! 

Let's conclude by singing the first verse again, of "How Firm A Foundation" and thanking God for His amazing grace of the Church.   

 

Special Mid-Summer 3-Night Series on Hard Sayings of the Bible (Answers to Questions 5a and 5b - "and on this rock")

 

1.    a.  Matthew 16:15-19.  Jesus held an interesting conversation with His disciples after going a ‘round’ with the Pharisees and Sadducees. He asks them: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They tossed out a couple of names, then Simon Peter says: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Then Jesus says to Simon Peter: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven has. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Many readers of this passage believe that Jesus was anointing Peter to be head of the church, and the Roman Catholics also say that Peter was the first Pope. What message was Jesus giving His disciples at that time, and throughout the millennia?

b. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Simon Peter writes to the elect in Christ the message in 1 Peter 2, beginning at verse 2 through 10 (this was part of a recent lesson preached on at a Sunday worship service). What is being conveyed in this passage about our identity as Christians – which Jesus was implying in His words recorded at Matthew 16:15-19?

 Answers:

 

a.    This is one of those hard passages that, when read at face value in the English language, appears to be saying that Jesus was anointing Peter to be head of the Church!  If that was true, then Jesus would be contradicting the Holy Spirit who said in other places, including verses in Ephesians 5, verses in John’s Gospel, chapter 3, at Colossians 1:15-20, 24, in Revelation, and implied elsewhere that Jesus is the head of the Church. Let’s turn to Colossians 1:15-20,24.  Jesus is the Head of the Church. So what is Jesus saying in Matthew 16, then?

It is helpful again to return to the original language of this passage (Koine Greek). Jesus blesses Peter as He refers to him as Simon Bariona/Simon son of Jonah. He adds, "Because flesh and blood did not reveal this" mystery to you but My Father in heaven did. So Peter, God spoke to you and gave you this revelation – what a blessing!! You are Petros/Peter, and on this petra/rock – this understanding that I, Jesus, Am the Messiah, the Son of Man, long foretold, as in centuries gone by, and it is on this Rock – this Foundation – will My Kingdom be built.  You will be given authority in this Kingdom (represented by the keys), Peter, as will those who will be anointed with you for that purpose, to, through the Holy Spirit,  bind and loosen, to be My Kingdom Ambassador here on earth. So in this promise, Jesus has given Peter a "2-fer," (1) awareness of the blessing just now bestowed upon him, and (2) the further revelation that in His, Christ’s kingdom Petros/Peter will be given certain authorities. For example, look who Christ appoints to reveal the kingdom and who identifies the Holy Spirit anointing at Pentecost! There would be further revelations given to Peter about his role in God’s kingdom; he would share responsibilities with other apostles.

This corresponds to Ephesians 2:20 – let’s read that. Jesus is the foretold chief cornerstone of the Church - the Rock. Does anyone know the purpose of a cornerstone or foundation stone?

                                          St. Albans, Washington DC

Now let’s turn to 1 Peter 2:2-10 to further capture the full meaning. Remember, this is Peter, the apostle that the Roman Catholic Church mislabels, wrongly identifies, as the Head of the Church, who is writing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the explanation of Matthew 16:15-19.


According to what the Holy Spirit says here, how does Peter describe The Rock, Jesus Christ?  (vss. 4, 6-8) Why "living stone"?

Who are the other living stones? What happens to them? (v. 5) How is it built?

     What does it mean to be a royal priesthood? (v. 5,9) 

     How does that understanding affect how you look at your calling to be a disciple of Christ?