Introduction
The church is strange. It’s beautiful, but it’s strange. The church often gets a lot of hate, a lot of pushback and flack because of its imperfections. For instance, Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” And I think I get what he’s saying there, but I think he fails to realize what the church is (among other issues). The church is made up of sinners saved by grace. I mean, the main qualification for joining the church is to recognize that you are a sinner in need of a Savior. You have to know that you are a mess.
Now, no doubt, Christians are redeemed sinners, and are thus to be repentant sinners. But, we are sinners nonetheless. However, little by little, day by day, we are being transformed. Despite what Gandhi said, we are in fact being made more and more like Christ every day. You see, the church is not just a community of sinners, but it is the institution that equips and enables sinners to be Christlike in all of life. And that’s what I think the real problem is.
I don’t think people take issue with the church because we’re sinners; in fact they usually want us to embrace sin and call it good. I think people take issue with the church because we are consistent or inconsistent… either one can bring out crazy behavior in people. When I think about consistency the great preacher of The First Great Awakening, George Whitefield comes to mind. He was known for his powerful preaching that would attract thousands. But it wasn’t just his public speaking skills or the content of his message that attracted people. Once a man who was a known unbeliever was seen going to hear Whitefield preach. On his way someone stopped him and said, “Why are you going to hear Whitefield preach? You don’t believe what he’s preaching.” To which he responded, “Yeah… But he does.” And you see, that’s consistency.
Seeking to know all of God’s Word, believe all of God’s Word, and apply all of God’s Word is what a consistent Christian does. We won’t get it all right. We won’t be perfect; but that’s ok because God’s Word teaches us how to repent for our sin as well. So, being a sinner doesn’t make us inconsistent. It’s when we claim to believe one thing and keep living in a way that contradicts what we believe, or ignores what we believe… or when we seek to apply God’s Word to part of our life instead of all of life… that’s when we’re inconsistent. And there are a lot of inconsistent churches out there, and people distain that. But, there are a lot of consistent churches out there as well, and often those same people distain that. But, many are attracted to it as well. The church is an aroma of life to some and death to others.
The church is not a perfect institution, but it should be seeking to be consistent. The church is the institution that brings sinners together from all walks of life, in order to make us new creations in Christ. It’s where the broken and inconsistent come to be transformed and equipped to live as consistent Christians who not only believe God’s Word, but who trust it and obey it in all of life. It’s where we come to know, understand, and apply all of God’s Word to all of life. And that’s what we’re going to see in our passage today. So, look with me at Ephesians 2:19-22.
Context
In this letter, written by saint Paul from prison, to the saints in Ephesus, Paul is laying out the doctrine and the duty of Christianity. He’s been showing us who God is, who we were in our sin, who we are now in Christ, and how we are to live. We were dead in our trespasses, but God, in His great mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead, made us alive together with Christ.
Through His life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus redeemed us and secured victory, binding the strong man, binding the enemy, so that we can now live as sons instead of slaves. We have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, not by works of our own doing. But, we are saved for good works. And because Christ has conquered sin and Satan, we can now walk, we can now live out the good works God has called us to and saved us for. We can now walk in the victory of Christ, and live in Christ, through Christ, and for Christ.
Everyone outside of Christ is without God and without hope, but all who are united to Jesus are united to His covenant heritage, His covenant culture, and His covenant hope. We were once far off from God, and thus far off from hope; but now, in Christ, we, both Jew and Gentile, have been brought near.
When Jesus lived the perfect lawful and God glorifying life, He did so as the perfect Jew and perfect Gentile, in order to create in Himself one new man in place of the two. When Jesus died the sacrificial wrath-absorbing death, He killed the hostility between Jew and Gentile, and every other faction as well. When Jesus got up from the grave in His justifying, death-defeating resurrection, He tore down the dividing wall of hostility and reconciled sinners from every tribe, tongue, and nation—again, Jew and Gentile—to God, and therefore to one another as well. When we are dead to God—without God and without hope—we are alive to hostility and pride. But, when we have been made alive together with Christ, we are dead to sin and alive to righteousness. Therefore, hostility and pride are replaced by humility and peace.
Paul has been stressing that we are indeed alive with Christ. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within us, empowering us to know Jesus, love Jesus, and live for Jesus… to embrace God’s gospel and God’s Law from the heart. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father in power, where He rules, reigns, and intercedes for us. And we are so united to Him that we are seated with Him in the heavenly places, and are thus enabled to bring every area of life under His Lordship. We are now enabled to live all of life for the Glory of Christ, the good of His people, and the life of the world. In and through Christ, by the Spirit, we have access to God. We are now at peace with God, and now that peace is to flow out to one another. Again, pride and hostility have been replaced by peace and humility. And we live that out in and through our embrace and application of God’s gospel and Law, of God’s Word. And that’s what Paul is stressing in our passage today.
Ephesians 2:19-22
In verse 19 we read, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…” So then, therefore, since Christ has eliminated the hostility between us and the Father, and between Jew and Gentile by living as the perfect Jew and the perfect Gentile, giving free access to the Father, by dying in our place, rising from the grave, and ascending on high as the Lord of all, now, all who trust in Christ, all who are united to Christ, are no longer strangers and aliens. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were without God and without hope. We were a part of a culture of death and wrath, strangers to God and His people, aliens to His Kingdom and grace. But, in Christ we have a covenant culture, a covenant heritage, and a covenant hope. In Christ we have a citizenship and a membership, and there are no second class citizens or members.
Notice how Paul words this: we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. In 1 Peter 2:9 God’s people are called a holy nation. In Philippians 3:20 God’s Word says that God’s people are citizens of heaven. Indeed, we are citizens of God’s Kingdom. In modern terms, a citizen is a member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its government and is entitled to its protection. And that’s right in line with what’s being said here. The Kingdom of God is God’s sovereign rule and reign over all creation, but especially His redemptive reign in and through Christ. Well, we are citizens of the Kingdom who owe and give our allegiance to Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. We are rightly under His rule and reign, under the Lordship of Christ. And as those who are rightly under His Lordship, we are under His protection, united to Him by faith, counted righteous, and enabled to live righteous lives.
We are fellow citizens with the saints. The saints are God’s holy ones, God’s covenant people who have been set apart by God and for God. This is what Paul already told us in Ephesians 2:12. There he said that before the cross the Gentiles, “were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Well, the saints are those who are united to Christ, they are a part of Israel because they are united to the true Israel, Jesus Himself. They are not alienated, but are a part of the commonwealth, that is, they are citizens under the covenants of promise. They are not those who are without God or without hope, they are those who are under God’s Covenant of Grace, given the hope of Christ and blessings in Christ. They are citizens of God’s Kingdom, of God’s nation, of God’s people, of God’s church. And again, there are no second class citizens in God’s Kingdom. Jesus is the new and true better Adam, and He is the new and true better Israel. And all who are united to Him, both Jew and Gentile, every nation and generation, are one in Christ.
But, we aren’t just citizens, we are members of the household of God. We aren’t just citizens of God’s Kingdom under the covenants of promise, but we are members of God’s covenant family. A household is a collective under one head of household. Think of Abraham and his household: it included his family and all of his servants. This is how the Bible thinks about families, in terms of covenant households. Abraham was the covenant representative for his household, just as Adam was for his. The collective was under his headship. It wasn’t merely a blood relation reality, but a covenant reality. And this is how it still is today.
As Paul lays out in Ephesians 5:23, the husband is the head of his household, that is the covenant head. Paul doesn’t say the husband is supposed to be the head, he says he is. The husband, the father is the patriarch; he is the representative of the whole family, as well as all who are a part of his house. And he will answer to God for how he represents his household and leads them, or fails to do so. But, here in our passage, Paul is applying this concept to God. God is our Father. God is our head. And we are a part of His household.
In the church E-News this week I tied the story of the Prodigal Son to Ephesians 2. The younger brother represents the Gentiles, and the older brother represents the Jews. The younger demands his inheritance, and then goes and blows it all on sin and self, while the older stays and works for his father. But, after seeing the vanity of sin and self, and coming to the end of himself, the younger brother repents and returns to his father. The father rejoices over the return of his son, saying, “my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:24). And he began to celebrate because of the return of his son. But, when his older son saw the celebration he was angry, and responds to the father in pride, telling him how faithful he was and has always been, and how much more deserving he is of such things than his younger brother. But he failed to see the grace and the favor of the father that was already upon him. All that he had and all that he was was due to the grace of his father; but in his pride he gave credit to himself. And in his pride he showed himself to be no better than his brother when he was in his sin.
Jew and Gentile, older brother and younger brother… in and of ourselves we’re all a mess. We’re all sinners in need of a Savior. And Jesus is that Savior. Hebrews 2:12 and 2:17 tell us that Jesus is the older brother we all need. Instead of looking down on us, He lives for us, dies for us, rises again for us, and ascends on high for us, so that we would be reconciled to God, and be brought into His family. Earlier I said that we are counted righteous in Christ. But, it is not as though Christ simply gives us His righteousness. Christ gives us Himself. He gives Himself up for us and to us. By faith we are in union with Him, and all that He is and all that He has is now ours… We are His and He is ours. And because that’s true, when God the Father looks at us, He sees His Son in whom He is well pleased.
Being counted righteous in Christ in theological terms is referred to as justification. We are justified, we are counted just in Christ. But, it isn’t that we are merely counted righteous, or given righteousness; it isn’t merely that we are forgiven or declared just, but that we are in complete and total union with Jesus, the perfect Son of God. Which is why we are called the Bride of Christ and the body of Christ. It’s because we are what we are by our union with Christ. None of Christ’s benefits come apart from His person. And so, because He is the true Adam, because He is the true Israel, because He is the true King, and because we are united to Him, we are now citizens with Him. And because He is the true Son and our true and better older brother, and because we are united to Him we are now members of the household of God. Christ is our King and God is our Father.
This is not just some mere legal transaction. We are those who have been reconciled to God and one another in and through Christ. We are now a part of God’s family. We are now brothers and sisters in Christ who can call God Father, and boldly approach the throne of grace. We are citizens, saints, and members of God’s family. And take note of that. God’s church is directly linked to the Kingdom of God. We are the primary agent through which the Kingdom is advanced. But we are also spoken of as a nation and as a family. And this is tied to how the Kingdom of God is to advance.
Though it represents it, the church as an institution is not the Kingdom of God. The church is one sphere of authority, one area of life that is a part of the Kingdom of God. But, it is as the heart of it all. The church is central to all of it, which is why Jesus gave the church the keys of the Kingdom. The church is in charge of the right preaching and teaching of God’s Word, and the right administration of the sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper. And in and through that, people are brought into the Kingdom, and equipped to live rightly as citizens of the Kingdom. You see, another reason the church is sometimes called a body, a bride, a nation, or a household, is because the church is where faithfulness is taught and exemplified for all of life.
The church is God’s holy nation called to disciple the nations by baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded. The church is where the nations of the world learn to be God fearing and God glorifying nations in Christ. The church is the family of God, the household of God that shows us what every household is to be and do. The church is where every spouse and every parent and every child goes to learn how to embrace their calling as a spouse, a parent, or child. The church is the body of Christ that teaches us how to glorify God in our body. It’s where we all go to see what individual faithfulness looks like. The church is to be at the heart of the life of every Christian because through the church God is equipping us to live life, all of life, for God’s glory, the good of His people, and the life of His world. The church sets the pattern for the world.
Christians are considered citizens of the Kingdom of God, which is broader than the church. The church, while part of the Kingdom, has a unique role in discipling the nations and serving as a distinct community that embodies the principles of God’s Kingdom. Discipling the nations means influencing and transforming cultures to reflect the values of the Kingdom of God. This is not limited to individual conversion but includes societal change. So, the church is what exemplifies and equips. Therefore, the church leads to proper citizens and individuals who are rightly under the Lordship of Christ, as well as proper families that are rightly under the Lordship of Christ, and societies and governments that are rightly under the Lordship of Christ. Imagine a wheel… The church is the hub at the center of the wheel, and all of life flows all off that hub like spokes. But the Kingdom of God is the wheel, the hub, the tire… all of it. But again, the church is at the center. And without the hub, without the center, it all falls apart.
Now I don’t mean to say that it’s simply the preachers and teachers, or the elders and deacons who are doing all of the equipping. Though we are the ones doing most of the formal teaching, informal teaching happens all the time through the community life of the church. Last night Rachel and I were sitting with Don and LaDonna, and I was telling them how much they have influenced our marriage and our family. Don has taught me so much about being a man, and they have taught Rachel and I so much about having a healthy marriage (this Wednesday is their 69th anniversary… they have a lot to teach us). But must of that teaching has been and is informal, primarily through us just observing how they live and love. And that’s how it works. The church equips and exemplifies. And we so desperately need this if we are going to be faithful and consistent.
This is why Pastor John Stott once pointed out, “If the church is central to God’s purpose, as seen in both history and the gospel [and it is], it must surely also be central to our lives. How can we take lightly what God takes so seriously? How dare we push to the perimeter what God has placed at the center?” The church is not the end all be all of the Christian life. But it is at the heart of the Christian life. We will not grow properly without it. So each of us should be members of a local church where we are committed to worship, serve, fellowship, and grow together with God’s people each week. We must gather together under God’s Word for God’s glory, week in and week out, in order to be built up and equipped to advance God’s Kingdom, God’s Law, God’s gospel, God’s culture in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our city, in our county, in our state, in our nation, and in God’s world.
Now, notice how this equipping happens. In verses 20 and 21, Paul says this holy nation, God’s household is, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” Now we see that the church is not only a holy nation, a holy family, a holy body, and a holy bride, but we’re also a holy temple. This is one of the things that’s so remarkable about the New Covenant. In the Old Covenant the temple, where God’s presence dwelled, was a place you had to go to. And you had to jump through all sorts of ceremonial hoops to get there: pilgrimage, washings, sacrifices, and the like. In the Exodus God dwelt among His people, leading them and protecting them in a pillar of smoke by day, and a pillar of fire by night. And then when the Tabernacle, and later the Temple was built, in the Holy of Holies the presence of God dwelt as a consuming fire. The fiery presence of God was mediated by priests who offered prayers and sacrifices for God’s people. But even then, only the High Priest could approach the presence of God, and only at certain times and in certain ways, without be consumed himself.
In the New Covenant Christ becomes our perfect sacrifice; Christ provides the water and the blood to wash us clean; Christ becomes our Great High Priest who has offered the perfect sacrifice on our behalf—Himself—and now is at the right hand of the Father ever interceding for us… that’s praying and mediating on our behalf. And because He is indeed perfect—the perfect God-man, the perfect Adam, the perfect Israel, the perfect sacrifice, the perfect Prophet, Priest, and King—we no longer have to go to a temple, but we have now become God’s temple. This is what we see happening in Acts 2 at Pentecost when fire comes down upon God’s people, and they start proclaiming the gospel in different languages. The fire represents the very presence of God, just as it did in the Old Testament. And now the dwelling place of God is with man, by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, the very third person of the Triune Godhead, takes up residence in the heart and life of God’s people. God in us, the hope of glory. And God’s people are not just a people from one nation, but a people made up of every nation and language.
And notice that this isn’t merely about individual Christians, it’s about us being joined together. It’s a community project. It is through our unity that we grow into a holy temple for the Lord. But how do we grow in holiness? How do we grow in unity? Well again, notice what verse 20 says, we are, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” Just as the Old Testament is often referred to as the Law and the prophets, or just the prophets, so the Old and the New together can be summarized as the apostles and the prophets. So, put simply, when Paul says the apostles and the prophets he means all of God’s Word. So, think, Old Testament and New Testament, Genesis to Revelation. All of God’s Word which focuses on and proclaims to us Christ Jesus, who is Himself the cornerstone upon which we are being built.
A couple of years back, Rachel and I visited Israel. While we were there we got to visit this one place in Caesarea Philippi. It was this big mountainous rock type place, with massive caves, and one incredibly deep and dark cave-like pit at the bottom. And it was a place known for the evil that happened there. In this place there was a lot of demon worship and child sacrifice. Apparently that’s what this pit was for. So this was a place marked by evil and death, a place marked by idolatry and murder. And it was called the gates of hell.
In Matthew 16 Jesus takes his disciples to this place and then asks them who they believe Him to be. When Peter, as a representative for all the apostles answers correctly, Jesus tells him that he is correct, and that he was given his answer by the grace of God, and then He says, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19).
Jesus tells the chief apostle, Peter, whose name means rock, that he and his confession, he and the word God had given him by His grace, are the rock upon which Christ will build His church. Even the keys of the Kingdom that Jesus speaks of here are directly tied to the Word of God—the right preaching and teaching of it, and the right administration of the sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which are ways in which we taste and see God’s Word. What I’m getting at here, is that it isn’t that Peter is the rock, but that the apostolic Word is. The apostles and the prophets laid the foundation upon which the church is built, and Christ is the cornerstone. And that foundation is the Christ-centered, Christ-saturated Word of God. We no longer need apostles or prophets because they were the foundation; that is, the Word God delivered in and through them was. The foundation has already been laid; we don’t need to add to it, but we must build upon it. And when the church is built on the Word of God, when our lives are built on God’s Word, the gates of hell cannot prevail against us. We will stand; we will win, because Christ wins.
If we are going to grow in holiness, in unity, in faithfulness in every area of life, then we must know, understand, believe, and apply all of God’s Word to all of life. Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s Word, and Jesus is the cornerstone of our lives. As Colossians 1:15-18 says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” Or as Romans 11:36 puts it, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
If you look the word cornerstone up in the dictionary you’ll get definitions like, “a stone that is the starting place of a monumental building. Something that is essential and indispensable. The chief foundation on which something is constructed or developed.” And that’s exactly what God’s Word is saying about Jesus. Jesus Himself said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Many of the Jews missed this, and stumbled over the cornerstone. And the Gentiles were totally oblivious to this in and of themselves. But, in the New Covenant that is all changing. Christ is mighty to save the worst of sinners—near and far, Jew and Gentile. He is saving people from every nation and generation, and bringing us together into one household and one structure, sanctifying us and building us up into a holy temple for the Lord.
As we dig into God’s Word and marvel at the glory of God’s Son, and as we dig into God’s Word and see the wisdom of God’s Law, we are equipped to be the men and women, the boys and girls, that God has called us to be. Through God’s Word we are equipped to be the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the nation of God, the family of God, and the temple of God that we are called to be. In the New Covenant walls of hostility have been torn down. Christ is our new High Priest who has replaced the Levitical Priesthood. And now we can draw near to God in a new and better way. And we do this in and through God’s Christ-centered, and Christ-exalting Word, with God’s people. And as we do, we are made more and more like Jesus. As 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
This is why in verse 22 Paul says, “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” In Christ Jesus, in covenant with Him, and in His covenant community, in and through His Word, by the gracious power of the Holy Spirit, we are being built, edified and equipped, to be a dwelling place for God. Now, don’t misunderstand me, God already dwells in His people who are united to Christ by faith. But, the idea here, is that the Spirit is making us more and more into an appropriate dwelling place. Most, if not all of us, are a mess. But, what we see here is that we are a mess in progress. We are God’s saints. We are God’s holy ones. But, we are also being made holy. As John Newton said, “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.” That’s true of all of us. But, by God’s we aren’t just what we are, but we are being transformed into what we are meant to be as well. And this transformation happens in and through the Jesus-saturated Word of God.
John Newton also said, “You lack nothing to make you joyful, but to have the eyes of your understanding more fixed upon the Redeemer, and more enlightened by the Holy Spirit to behold His glory.” And that’s what happens in and through God’s Word and God’s people. As you all know, Don Thurman is dying of cancer. And this week Rachel and I have seen Don quite a bit. That’s why we were with them last night. And as I have visited him on his deathbed, he has whispered in my ear a few times how ready he is to be with Jesus. And as I look at his faith, and the faith of his wife, I am reminded of how good and gracious our God is. I am reminded that because our God is infinitely good, there is always more good and more joy to come.
Don is one of those consistent Christians I spoke of earlier. He actually believes what he says he believes. And as I look at Don and the way he trusts God’s Word, it has a transforming effect on me. Just as I look into God’s Word and behold God’s glory in Christ, so I can look into Don’s face and behold his faith, and with it behold the glory of Christ as well. As I sit and hold his hand, I can see the peace of God upon him as Christ holds him fast. Through Don I see a Savior and a Lord worth trusting and submitting to. And this is transforming. As Psalm 30:5 says, sorrow may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning. And the dawn of a new morning will soon shine upon Don, and he will be made new. But, seeing his faith in that makes me new.
And that same reality, that being made new is coming for us all. In fact, that same reality is working in us and through us on all fronts, even now, in every area of our lives. Just as Don’s faith was working on me, so our faith is working on this world. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Yes, there is more new coming, but the new has already come as well. This is an already now, and an even more fuller reality to come in the Christian life. As we trust and obey every part of God’s Word, every area of our lives is being made new as we are bring it rightly—joyfully—under the Lordship of Christ. That’s happening already now. By the Spirit, Christ is making us into what He has redeemed us to be. By the Spirit Christ is making us into the church He has redeemed us to be. And as we become the church we are called to be, every area of our lives, and every aspect of this world will begin to become more and more what it is meant to be. This will be more and more made new. And you see, it isn’t just the church that is to be made new, and be a dwelling place for God, but this whole world is meant to be made new and filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And God has promised that it will be. It’s already happening now, and an even more fuller reality of it, the completion of it is still to come.
Conclusion
So, what do we do with this information? What do we do with the fact that in Christ God is bringing together people from every walk of life, every tribe, tongue, and nation, no matter how great our worldly divisions, and He’s making us at peace with God and with one another, so that we can be His church, a holy nation, a holy household, a holy bride, a holy body, and a holy temple? What do we do? We do exactly what we are meant to do… We believe it. We believe it and we seek to be consistent Christians who bring every area of life into joyful submission to the Lordship of Christ. We take all of God’s Word and apply it to all of our life. We take every area of our life, every individual calling and responsibility, and we apply God’s Word to it. And we do it all knowing that we are a mess in progress, but seeking to be consistent nonetheless.
We lay down our hostility and pride, and we take up humility and peace, and seek to move forward in graciousness and love. We keep short accounts, owning our faults and shortcomings, owning our sins and mishaps, seeking forgiveness and reconciliation, and granting the same, but also seeking repentance, so that we can move forward in faithfulness and righteousness. We seek to build our lives on Christ, which means placing His church at the center of our lives. We must build our lives on Christ, the cornerstone. The One who is a stone that is the starting place of a monumental building—His temple, His church. He is the One that is essential and indispensable. Indeed, He is the chief foundation on which everything we are and everything we do is to be built and developed. Indeed, on Christ the solid rock we must stand, for all other ground is sinking sand. May we be a church, may we be Christians who make that known far and wide, in every sphere of life. May we be Christians who believe what is preached, and who live it out, so that even when unbelievers look at us they have no doubt that we believe, even if they don’t. May we consistently stand on Christ the solid rock. Amen!