What Are We Building?
Good Morning Friends,
Whether one is a literal or contextual interpreter of the Bible the accuracy of ancient biblical writings is an encouraging reality for believers and it is confirmed by archeologist who dig up the stones of history. But there are some things of history that are left to conjecture. For example we know from scripture that Joseph was what is translated as a carpenter. But the Greek word is Teckton and it means builder. Now, some say therefor that Jesus worked with wood; building tools, doors, shelves, tables and chairs as a carpenter. Others say because of the region and the resources where he worked, he built from rock, such things as millstones, winepresses, houses, and beams as a stonemason. There is no real evidence to clarify exactly what Joseph was a builder of, but we know that he was a Teckton and that the Jewish culture of that time required of the father to teach the son their trade at age 12. Joseph being very Jewish would have adhered to this practice and began teaching Jesus at 12 his trade of being a builder. Given that Israel’s buildings were constructed of stones and rocks, Jesus likely would have worked as a stonemason although he could have been a carpenter too. He may well have spent hours helping his father shape and cut stones. All this is a bit of a speculation, but I do like the idea of Jesus, not only being the cornerstone, but having made them for a living. So, on this morning I want to talk about a church building. Not the physical building where we worship which is composed of wood and stone, but the building of God, the church of our Lord that is composed of living stones. And then I ask today’s question. What Are We Building?
Scripture: Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,” and “A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:1-10 (NRSV)
He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
Luke 19:40 (NRSV)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NRSV)
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
Mark 6:3 (NRSV)
Message: The New Testament uses a number of different descriptive images to show us what the church is like. For example, it’s described as a family into which we are born again with God as our Father and many brothers and sisters in the faith. The church is also described as a kingdom wherein we are citizens, with Jesus Christ ruling as our king, to whom we have an obligation to be completely submissive. Other scriptures talk about the church as a body emphasizing both unity and diversity, each of us performing different roles with Jesus Christ as our head. But in addition to being a Body we are also stones in God’s house and have value as part of something larger than ourselves. We are the Temple. And in that Temple, because we have special direct access to God, we are to serve as Priests offering up spiritual sacrifices. In all this we gain a spiritual identity. In all this we remember whose we are. When by an act of our will we believe… when by the grace of God our faith has been made strong enough so we might understand that we are not fully functional…. when we realize that to be acceptable to our Creator this house of ours needs to be put in order… then we can acknowledge that the builder of our spirit, Jesus, as God…as man, came and dwelt among us so we might be rebuilt…as a Holy temple. The wonderful thing is that although men rejected Jesus, we have not been rejected by God. On the rock hard foundation of Jesus and His love, our lives can be gathered together as living stones and be built into a strong fortress… a spiritual house that will withstand the assaults of this age. In the authority of Christ manifested in the unity of the body of believers in the Holy Spirit…with God we can build a little of heaven on earth. Jesus Christ takes every part, every stone, and knocks off the rough edges, chiseling a piece here, sanding a piece there, smoothing it out, getting it ready, building it in, fitting it into place in his building as he cuts it precisely to fit snugly and beautifully with every other part. And when he’s done, there’s nothing out of place. There are no defective or inappropriate pieces. And together we form a building. Not just any building, but a temple. That is what we are to be building…. a place of worship.
Pray that we grow strong as a community of believers. Pray that we as precious living stones be built on the solid rock of Christ. Pray that Jesus be the cornerstone of those called out. Pray that we be unified in the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray we are added as a living stone to the temple of God.
Pray we be as living stones built on the Cornerstone of Christ and become a temple for God’s Spirit and a priesthood in service to one another. Pray we offer our bodies as living sacrifices through our actions and resources as an act of worship. Pray in the great mystery of it all that we are honed to build up one another with the bond of Christ’s perfection.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 