The Firm Foundation

Good morning, welcome to NHCC, please open your Bibles to Ephesians 2.

Finishing Ephesians 2.

Next week- A Word to the Wise

Read Ephesians 2:20–22- “...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Pray.

Lets consider all of what we have been through up to this point in Ephesians.

Paul begins with his greeting. From himself to the saints at Ephesus.

Then he begins detailing, in a word of great praise, the many spiritual blessings of God.

Moving to chapter 2, Paul narrows in on the spiritual blessing of salvation, the work of the godhead in which man, who is spiritually dead, is brought to spiritual life.

After focusing on the broken relationship with the Father being restored, Paul begins to explain the peace that is brought about between men as a result of this salvation.

Everything that we read in these last few verses of chapter 2 are meant to be read in such a context.

Three major points to be made. Let’s begin at the end.

1. Believers are built together into a temple for God.

Paul describes these believers as growing together into a temple.

He reiterates by stating that they are built together into a dwelling place for God.

This is the natural progression from previous verses. From citizens, to household, to house.

When we hear such language of a temple, it causes us to consider where such language comes from.

For us, it will be the Old Testament. Consider what the temple was to the OT Israelites.

Richard Coekin- “God had promised a building that would be his home, where he’d dwell among his people- his palace, from where he’d govern them, and his temple, where he’d receive sacrifices for their forgiveness.”

We know, upon reading the NT, that Jesus was the perfection, the fulfillment, of such a temple.

Gospel of John tells us that he dwelt, or tabernacled, among us.

This means that Jesus was God among us, God took up residence among humanity.

He dwelt among us.

More than merely dwelling among us, God governed man in the person of Jesus.

Sermon on the mount.

Blessed are you when others revile and persecute you on my behalf.

I have come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.

Rest of chapter 5- You have heard it said, but I say...

Teaches the disciples how the ought to pray.

Lord Lord, I never knew you.

Build your house on the rock- these words of mine.

Matthew 7:28–29- “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

Jesus also declares that the temple of his body would be destroyed and raised again in three days.

His body, then, was the site of the ultimate sacrifice for the sin of mankind.

So Jesus was the temple, but then after His ascension, there is language like what is found in Ephesians 2.

You, along with others, are being built up into a temple, a house of God,

Holy temple.

This is not a static temple, but it is a growing temple, both in quantity and in quality.

More and more people being added in.

More and more people growing in holiness.

2. This temple of believers is built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets.

If we are being built into a temple, and are the dwelling place of God, how are we to live?

Built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Notice the order.

Likely means the apostles sent by Jesus and the prophets who rightly understood the Scriptures.

Apostles- Those who announced the gospel; Prophets- Those who explained the Word of God.

This foundation is not of us.

Romans 1- Rather than worshiping the Creator, we worship the creation. And the creation that we most often worship is ourselves.

This foundation is set.

We are not to add or subtract, even when it seems right to do so.

Dad working with Ainesis on her schooling.

This foundation is for our benefit.

Do we trust this to be true?

3. The cornerstone of this temple of believers in Jesus Christ himself.

What if the foundation is wrong? We are talking, after all, about people who are quite sinful and often mistaken.

The gospels seemingly go out of their way to make sure we are aware of the fallenness of these apostles and prophets.

Must be something that sets the foundation in the right direction.

For Paul, the cornerstone is Jesus.

This means that the foundation is meant to be set along in the same direction as the cornerstone.

Christ was the anchor of the foundation.

Apostles were sent out by Jesus to do ministry as Jesus had done.

Mark 6:12–13- “So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.”

Great Commission- Those who were sent by Jesus were sent with His power and authority, but also His ministry.

Matthew 28:20- “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

If the apostles were sent out to continue the ministry of Jesus, what about the prophets?

What was to be the aim of any prophetic message?

Revelation 19:9–10 - “And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

The entirety of Christian ministry rests on the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the cornerstone, the stone on which the foundation and the rest of the bricks rest.

If Jesus is removed, everything else falls apart. Nothing is formed or works as it is supposed to.

Both in the Church and in our individual lives.

In the Church- Less and less of Jesus, less and less a church.

In our lives- Less of Jesus is less of life.

4. An important word of warning.

Throughout the Scriptures, the cornerstone language is paired with with language of rejection.

The idea is that people, specifically the Jewish leaders in the days of Jesus, would scoff at the person and work of Jesus, specifically his death and resurrection.

The psalmist wrote of this long before the incarnation of Jesus.

Psalm 118:22–23 - “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

The concept is relatively easy to understand. While the leaders may have rejected Jesus, He became the cornerstone of everything that would come after, His ministry continued through His body, the Church.

Jesus saw this to be true of Himself, and made it clear in His teaching of the parable of the vineyard.

Mark 12:6–11 - “He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

Perhaps Peter is the one who most clearly hit the nail on the head in giving his testimony before the religious leaders.

Acts 4:10–12- “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The religious leaders had rejected Jesus, and in doing so, had rejected salvation.

My fear is that many rest their faith not on Jesus, but on anything else. On morality, on church attendance, on kindness, on being around Christians.

We can be assured- such faith will fall apart.

Matthew 7:24–27- “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”