THE
PRECIOUS CORNERSTONE
I Peter 2:6-8, Isaiah 28:16-17, Psalm 118:22
Dr. Stephen Jones, preaching
February 10, 2008
A cornerstone unites
two masonry walls at an intersection. It is also a stone representing the
starting place in the construction of a building, often carved or engraved with
the date of construction. In biblical times, “The cornerstone as the most
important stone in the foundation is laid first” (p. 369, Dictionary of New
Testament Theology). The cornerstone is the foundation on which something
is constructed.
In the Dead Sea
Scrolls, the role of the governing council in the Qumran Community was described
as, “It shall be that. . .precious cornerstone, whose foundations shall neither
rock nor sway in their place.”
A cornerstone in the
first century was the most important stone. It had to be square, level, secure
and thoroughly solid, or the structure constructed upon it would be flawed. The
cornerstone was the signature piece, the primary stone, the foundation from
which a new structure would arise. From the cornerstone the first two walls
would be joined, flowing in straight lines in both directions at 90 degree
angles. Today, laying a cornerstone to any building is a moment of
significance.
When this building
was constructed, the concrete floor was poured, the upright steel beams were in
place and the Corner Stone Laying took place on May 26, 1957. Chairs were placed
for seating with the side walls and roof partially open. Leon Robison’s sermon
was, “Christ, the Chief Cornerstone.” Mrs. Rodney Bedell presented the corner
stone box into which were placed scrolls of the names of the children in the
nursery, kindergarten, primary and junior departments. Other articles in the box
were the names of the building committee, an account of the Ground Breaking
Service, copies of newspapers of the date, a roll of members, a picture of the
Kingshighway church, news clippings on the move of the church, “This We
Believe,” and a copy of the bylaws. Mr. Carl Westin, Sr., placed the box in the
cornerstone, and seventeen members of the church participated in “The Act of
Placing the Brick and the Mortar” (from pg. 59, The Story of Second Baptist,
by Neola Koechig). It was a moment of history. The Sanctuary of the Beatitudes
was coming into being and the cornerstone marked that moment.
The cornerstone of
our church, located in the entry, is the signature stone of our building. A
tracing of the cornerstone is in front of our communion table today. If you go
down to Kingshighway at McPherson Streets, and see our former building, you can
look in the center garden and over what used to be a reflective pool, you will
see a cornerstone which still reads, “Second Baptist Church.” We don’t own the
building, but it still bears our identity fifty-three years after we left it.
The Israelites often
said, “Yahweh is laying in Zion a firm foundation stone, which gives a stable
base for the foundation, its walls and the whole building” (p. 391, Dict. of
NT Theology).
We recently heard
President Bush deliver his seventh and final State of the Union Address. In one
year, a new American president will deliver her or his first State of the Union
Address. That address, soon after that president is inaugurated, will lay the
cornerstone for the next administration. Everyone knows that we now have a
retiring president, and expectations are lower. But next year, regardless of
whether the new president is Republican or Democrat, man or woman, white or
black, the expectations will be higher, and the State of the Union address will
become the cornerstone for an aggressive first 100 days of a new era of hope.
If we say that Jesus
is the cornerstone, we mean that he is the first building block, the foundation
upon which the structure of the church arises. If I say that Jesus is my
cornerstone, I mean that he is the foundation upon which my life is built and
upon which my life rests secure. He is my solid rock. In a world rocked by
violence and shifting winds, a world racked with insecurity and dis-ease, Jesus
is God’s Cornerstone, the centerpiece of God’s message to us. Get Jesus right,
and the entire structure fits and holds together.
For many people in
the church, Jesus is not their cornerstone. We may mouth those words, but we
don’t really mean it. For some, family is more likely the cornerstone, a spouse
or children, or patriotism to one’s country, or loyalty to one’s clan. For some,
it is an ability to uphold a respectable standard of living that is one’s
cornerstone. It could be one’s investments and insurance policies.
Bonhoeffer argues
from prison that God “must be recognized at the centre of life, not when we are
at the end of our resources; it is God’s will to be recognized in life, not only
when death comes; in health and vigour, and not only in suffering; in our
activities and not only in sin. The ground for this lies in the revelation of
God in Jesus Christ. He is the centre of life” (p. 164, Letters and Papers
from Prison) Not only in the days following a senseless act of violence in
Kirkwood, but in all the days of our lives.
Locate Jesus in the
center, at the cornerstone. Put him securely in the foundation and build upon
him. Sports, fitness, career, ambition, marriage, values, schedules, friends,
family, all take on proper proportion when Christ is the cornerstone.
What does the
cornerstone of your life read? If we were to trace around it, what would it
reveal? What words are chiseled into your cornerstone? A tombstone reveals the
boundaries of our lives. If I live to be as old as my grandfather Jones when I
die, my tombstone will say that I was born in 1948 and died in 2032. If I live
to be as old as my grandfather Rhodes, my tombstone will read, 1948 to
2041. That is the stone chiseled upon my death.
But what about my
cornerstone, the stone chiseled as I live my life? What does it read? The
tombstone is a marker after I’m gone. But my cornerstone is a marker while I’m
alive. If it is my signature stone, my identifying marker, my foundation rock,
what does it say about how I live?
“Stephen Jones,
erstwhile Christian, occasionally spiritual, sometime hypocrite, often louder in
word than in action.” How does your cornerstone read?
It is so important
for young people, either as older children, teenagers, or young adults, to
consider the first chosen “stone” of their lives. No one can do a thing about
their genes, chromosomes or family history. That’s a given. But you can decide
your cornerstone, your signature stone, the basis upon which you build the rest
of your life. Jan and I sometimes wonder if we failed to tell our children
enough or reveal as clearly as we could what is the cornerstone of our
lives. Parents, fail at anything else, but do not fail at this.
Jesus told a story
about the foundation stone. He said, “Everyone then who hears these words of
mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The
rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house but it did
not fall, because it had been founded on a rock. And everyone who hears these
words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his
house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat
against that house, and it fell- and great was its fall!” (Matthew 7:24-27).
The young person who
decides, I’m going to chisel in rock my cornerstone. And upon this rock, I will
build my life. It will be my signature piece, my foundation. And whenever I
encounter floods and hurricane-force storms, this cornerstone will remain
secure.”
My father died
several years ago. Prior to his death, I began to wonder what I would do without
my father and mother. Jan has had to live for her entire adult life without her
father and for eight years without her mother. And I know it leaves a void
within her. And with my father passing, I also feel the void. My parents have
been steady as a rock throughout my life. They have singularly lived their lives
with a cornerstone in faith, solid and secure. Their vitality and integrity has
been based upon none other than Jesus as their cornerstone.
And thus it isn’t
emptiness as much as thankfulness that I feel when I think about my dad,
gratitude for the example he left me and many other men, grateful that I stand
in his gene pool. He wasn’t famous; he wasn’t well-known; he didn’t aspire to
greatness. He voted wrong in every election, if you ask me! And occasionally dad
would say things that weren’t quite up to his usual standards of intellect and
gentleness and compassion.
But there is no doubt
in my mind that whatever blessing and whatever peace and whatever bounty lies
beyond death, he established for himself a rich reward, a crown of faith,
because he was so clear about his cornerstone. When my wife and daughter tried
to change his mind about homosexuals, he lived it out by reaching out to his
lesbian neighbors with genuine welcome and acceptance. He couldn’t quite put
compassion into words but he could put it into actions. That’s better, isn’t
it? I’ll probably never be guilty of not putting it into words, but it’s the
actions that get to me.
My dad’s faith was
unshakable. No matter the shifting sands, he was not moved. The Psalmist speaks
of prideful people “who think in their hearts, ‘We shall not be moved; we shall
not meet adversity’” (10:6). Other marriages will fall apart, but mine will
not. Others will suffer with mistakes made by their teenagers, not mine. Others
will have faltering careers, not mine. Others will suffer with disease, but I
won’t. Others will fail, I won’t. Others will become addicted, not me.
Once you’ve lived
awhile, you realize that no one is immune from injustice, from hardship, from
undeserved suffering. And we’ve all done things in which the suffering is
deserved.
I have been with so
many couples in premarital counseling. And so many of them are children of
divorce. They are convinced that their marriage will be different. Why else
would they sit with me in my office? I was with a group of fellow pastors a few
years ago when in the conversation it suddenly became apparent that I was the
only one in the circle who hadn’t been divorced.
Don’t think it can’t
happen to your marriage, to your children, to your career, to your family, to
your parents, to your community, to your body. Why do we need to be told: you
need a cornerstone? You need a solid foundation. Why don’t we get it? Going at
break-neck speed, rushing day in and out, week in and out, year in and out, who
do we think we are that we could hesitate on the cornerstone?
The Psalmist said, “I
keep the Lord always before me; I shall not be moved” (16:8). “Though the earth
should change, and the waters roar, and the mountains tremble, and the nations
are in an uproar, and the kingdoms totter, I shall not be moved. The Lord of
Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge, a very present help in times
of trouble.” (46:1-7, adpt) “For God alone is my rock, my strength; I shall not
be moved” (62:6).
What are these
ancient psalmists saying to us? Are they not telling us that amidst all the
vicissitudes of life, the constant changes that can be so overwhelming, the
storms that can so easily break down everything you have built up, you have to
have a cornerstone, a signature rock upon which everything else rests.
The character of Job
occupies this front sanctuary window. His hand rests upon a staff. His body is
filled with sores and his staggering losses are depicted around him. And yet Job
looks resolute. He sits secure. He shall not be moved. “I know my Redeemer
liveth,” Job says, “and that at the last he will stand after all else has gone
away” (19:25-26). It is the same defiance, the same strength and fortitude, that
is in the opposite window, the final window in the room, depicting Jesus,
anything but gentle or serene, the Crucified Lord in this window, enduring the
suffering on the cross, even unto death, is depicted as strong. “I shall not be
moved,” Jesus says to us in this window. As we begin our Lenten journey today,
it would be good to think of that window and that attitude toward which we
journey.
My life has been
rocked any number of times. I have been shaken to the core. I would not trade
the life of a pastor for anything, but I can tell you, and Jan can certainly
tell you, that this is not the life of ease. Yet, I can’t imagine that anyone’s
way has been easy, that things have just fallen into place for you, one after
another. I wouldn’t want those of you in high school, those starting out as
adults, those contemplating marriage, or looking upon your new-born child, to be
deceived that it will be easy. That you won’t be rocked and shaken to the
core. As Jesus says, “the rains will fall, the floods will come, and the winds
will blow and beat upon your house. May it not fall, may it neither rock nor
sway, because it has been built upon the Rock of our salvation, the precious
cornerstone of our faith, none other, than Jesus, the Christ. Amen.
