Jesus, the Cornerstone - Part 1

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on September 8th 2024 by Lasya. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here.

JESUS, THE CORNERSTONE

Psalm 118:22; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Matthew 21:42; 1 Peter 2:7; Acts 4:11; Eph 2:20  all repeat the same verse from Psalm 118:22 - the stone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. There is a progressive revelation - the psalmist said it prophetically about the messiah, Jesus declared it about himself, and the disciples recognised that Christ is indeed the cornerstone and proclaimed to the church. 

What is a cornerstone? In architecture, a cornerstone is the first stone that is set up that indicates the establishment of the building, the orientation (how the building is to be built), and the supporting stone for the whole building (if you took out the cornerstone, a mighty building would also collapse). Illustration of the leaning tower of Pisa ad1173

This verse refers to the centrality of Jesus -in creation (John 1 - in the beginning was the word), in history (BC and AD is marked by the birth and death of Jesus), in the word of God (Luke 24:27 - on the road to Emmaus, Jesus shows the disciples how all of the scripture speaks of Jesus). 

Jesus is central to the Christian faith and must be central in the church. When the focus of the church turns from Jesus to anything else, it’s no longer a church. Today, due to architectural advancements, the cornerstone is really not used in the same way. It is now more of a decorative block to write about the establishment of the building and is often even hollowed out to store some documents etc. And churches can become the same when the focus is on the music or the preacher, or the rich or the poor, programmes or picnics… no it needs to be about Jesus. So we do not worship saints or angels, we do not glorify leaders or political affiliations, we worship Christ - the cornerstone. 

Jesus’ questions are always deeply searching. On one occasion he asks his disciples in Matt 16:15-18 “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 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.” 

It is on this revelation of Jesus that the church is built. So what must we do to build on this cornerstone? Firstly, we must believe. 

Why believe? John 20:31- “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” 

1. Believe that Jesus is who the Bible says he is - believe the story of the gospels about Jesus 

1. Fully man - Jesus Is real: 

1. Gal 4:4 “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law…”. He is rooted in history, was born at a time and place and in flesh and blood, to a woman (a virgin as prophesied). He was hungry, thirsty, sad, troubled, tired, and tempted. He lived fully as a man on this earth. Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin”. The amazing life that Jesus lived on earth is a life that was lived fully as a man, obedient to the Father and empowered by the spirit. It is a life that is within reach for each of us who have been saved by Him. A Christian is one who believes in the reality of Jesus' actual existence on earth.

2. Jesus is real – Hebrews 11: 6 - whoever draws near to God must believe that he exists - Jesus is real! The difficulty is that we do not see him today, but we have witnesses - We have witness from the word of God (1 John 1:1 - That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life), witnesses from people, witness from God(1 John 5:9-10 - If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself). Illustration of harry potter and Narnia and the word of God. When did Jesus become real to you? Our history is in danger today. The story of the gospel in India. But today, we prefer fantasy to reality - scrolling and gaming addiction from a very young age. The more we give ourselves to fantasy, we lose touch with reality. john mark comer - the only place that God will encounter us is in our actual life 

Response - Witness - we need to witness to others about Jesus, introduce people to the witness of the word of God and make space and invite the witness of God concerning Jesus.

 

2. Fully God - Jesus is God: He is not a moral teacher, philosopher, guru, a miracle worker, a saint or even an angel - He is not a smaller earthly deity whose divinity is minimised by becoming human, and he is not merely a means to the ultimate - he IS the ultimate. Jesus is fully God! John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” It is the name by which God revealed himself to Moses. In fact Jesus makes several I am statements throughout the gospels which can only be fulfilled in God. 

1. I am the Bread of Life (John 6:35)

2. I am the Light of the World (John 8:12)

3. I am the Door (John 10:9)

4. I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14)

5. I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)

6. I am the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)

After seeing the risen Christ, Apostle Thomas (doubting Thomas) was the first to fall down and worship him and called him “My Lord and My God!” The apostles, who saw him as fully man, testify of this in the epistles Col 1:19 “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things”

Jesus is not the same as any of the other Bible heroes, it is entirely different. For Centuries, there was a dispute in the church as to the exact nature of Jesus - was he fully man with God like traits, or was he fully God who put on a form of humanity. And the issue was resolved in the Chalcedonian Creed in AD 451, where the church stated their stand as to the nature of Jesus Christ as one person who is fully man and fully god - hypostatic union/ a dual nature. Yes it is a mystery, but it is not a fantasy.  But the real question today is, is he “your Lord and your God?” 

Response - Worship with reverence and awe - we need to worship him with reverence and awe because he is the king of kings and Lord of Lords - we teach our children to honour and worship him. We must have a high view of Jesus. 

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.   

Chosen - A People Who Fear the Lord

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on February 19th 2023  by Lasya. For the audio & video please click here. To listen to the worship please click here.

The Fear of God 

Q. What is the fear of the Lord? 

The word fear refers to reverential awe. Reverence is defined as a feeling or attitude of deep respect, love, and awe, for something sacred. It is a heart posture. 

It is NOT being afraid of God. In fact, being scared to come into his presence generally indicates a guilty conscience (E.g.: Adam and Eve) and is not the outworking of a reverent awe of God. 

This fear of the lord is not the fear which drives us away from him but the fear that instructs us on how to rightly draw near to him. 

Every good parent trains their child in 2 things with regard to their relationship:

• To know that they are deeply and unconditionally loved 

• To honour them with a reverential fear. 

An imbalance in either direction is detrimental (not to the parent) but to the growth of the child. God is a good father and belonging to him requires us to know these 2 things - that we are unconditionally loved and that he is wholly holy and worthy of our reverential awe. Today we don't have a dearth of messaging - in culture or in the church - that you are loved and worthy of love. But the fear of the Lord is avoided and that’s what we are going to address today. 

Q. Why do we need the fear of the Lord?

There are tons of cautionary tales in the bible right from Adam and Eve, Saul, Solomon, to Ananias and Sapphira. But we don't even need to go that far. We need to fear the Lord because of 2 things 

1. Because of who He is

1. In creation: who is God? Is he the mighty mountain or the blazing sun or the endless ocean? Who is 

Gen 1:1 -5: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Gen 2:7 “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

Job 38 to 42. (excerpts)

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
    and caused the dawn to know its place,
that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
    and the wicked be shaken out of it?

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
    or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.

These questions go on for 4 chapters to answer Job and his friends saying - I am God and you are not. He is the potter and we are the clay, he is the author and we are the pages. We are His creation, the people formed for His good pleasure. 

1. Response - 

1. Awe and wonder: Wonder is defined as “the rapt attention and deep emotion caused by something extraordinary.” Awe is “the feeling we get in the presence of something vast that challenges our understanding of the world.” Our lives have shrunken down to screens- it’s all smoke and mirrors. But the psalmist says in Psalm 8:3-4 “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” . We need to behold him.  And when we do, we surrender. 

2. Submission/Obedience to him and to one another (Eph 5:21). When we see his majesty in creation we rightly see ourselves 1 Peter 5:6 (humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God). 

2. In redemption - Hebrews 9:12-14 ”12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify[f] for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our[g] conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” Millions of people have died before Jesus and after him, some have even been resurrected but not one of them could have purchased eternal redemption for us. He is the redeemer, there is no one else. 

1. Response - 

1. Repentance comes before redemption. Job 42 “ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”, Acts 2, John the Baptist. Repentance is not punishment - it is mercy. It is a gift. 

2. Living set apart (holiness)- 1 Peter 1: 14-19 “14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” Culture can impact how we process holiness. Eg: Lot’s children gave birth to the Moabites and ammonites. So it is important to be set apart by the standard of the word of God. Egs of what the Bible calls sin and are a common practice in culture (lust, gluttony, greed, laziness, wrath, envy, and pride.) - Work related, sex-related, etc. How to recognise and act on the conviction of the Holy Spirit. (Personal example) . The fear of man v. The fear of God 

3. In glory - John referred to himself as the disciple that Jesus loved and reclined on his chest at the last supper, but on the Island of Patmos, he sees this very Jesus in his glory. Rev 1: 12-18, “2 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.” “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”‭‭ ‭ESV‬‬ The presence of God is not a plaything - it is fearsome! 2 samuel 6:5-7 (story of Uzziah)

1. Response - Worship Rev 4:8-11  “And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

2. Because of what it does for us 

1. It’s the beginning of wisdom - Proverbs 1:7. Wise in your own eyes- illustration - law students 

2. It is for our safety - Psalm 34:7( the angel of the lord encamps around those) Pro 29:25 ( the fear of man lays a snare but whoever trusts in the lord is safe) 

3. To turn away from evil - Job, Pro 16:6( by the fear of the lord one turns away from evil)

4. For blessing- Pro 22:4(riches and honor and life); Pro 8:14(counsel, wisdom, insight and strength); Psalm 115:13 (bless those who fear the Lord) 

We have a prophetic sense that a mighty outpouring of his spirit is coming. We don't just want a sense of the presence of God, we want him! We want to see the power of the holy spirit at work in us and in the world around us. Since we have this expectation, we need to get ready. 

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.