Anybody remember 2020?
I don’t ever want to make light of what happened in 2020 when the world stopped and we were all sheltering in place trying to navigate what was then this new thing called Covid. I know so many people lost so much including loved ones. So please hear me when I say, we love you and we are so sorry for your loss.
I bring up 2020 because in those early days when everything came to a stop, our family suddenly had some extra time on our hands.
All the kids activities were put on hold. We were all working from home and going to school online. And when work and school was finished for the day, because there were no activities to get to, no practices or anything like that… we were just home.
I discovered that when I wasn’t running kids all over the metroplex I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands!
I’m not good at just sitting around. You can ask Alisha. So I decided to take on a project.
This is a picture of that project.
I decided to build a shed! Now, I am not a master carpenter. My dad is, but I am not! So I was on the phone with him a lot! But over those weeks and months of being at home more I was able to piece this thing together.
Foundation Stones
The first step as you might imagine was to build a solid foundation. I didn’t pour a concrete slab, but I did get concrete foundation stones to build this structure on.
Maybe the most important step in this process was making sure those foundation stones were correctly aligned, and it all started with placing the first stone. If that first stone, that cornerstone was off or was in the wrong place, then everything else would be out of alignment too!
And that’s exactly what happened to me!
I laid out all the foundation stones, measured everything twice, and thought I had everything perfectly in place. I started digging the holes in the ground where I was going to place those stones.
Then I got to the cornerstone. I started digging and quickly realized I had it setting directly on top of sprinkler lines! Now, I have to move that cornerstone over which changes all the angles, the orientation, everything changes because everything has to be perfectly aligned with that cornerstone. Otherwise, the whole structure would be compromised, unstable, and out of alignment.
Out of Alignment
This same thing can happen in our lives when we’re out of alignment and off center.
If our lives are ever out of alignment we will always feel unstable.
We can feel like everything is unstable, shaky, and out of balance. Sometimes we wonder why? Perhaps it has to do with our foundation. Are our lives out of alignment with our Cornerstone?
This can also happen within the church.
If the church is ever out of alignment we will always be unstable.
In fact, it happens in a lot of churches. You would think it wouldn’t. You would think it would be nearly impossible to be out of alignment with our Cornerstone. For us to get off center. But it’s just not that hard for a church to forget about it’s Foundation and get out of alignment with it’s Cornerstone.
Think about it this way, how would you answer that question:
What does a Jesus centered church look like?
Is it the one with the biggest building?
Is it the one with the most members?
Or at least the most attenders?
Is it the church with the tallest steeple, the prettiest cross out front, the most beautiful stained glass windows?
How about the one with the celebrity pastor everyone likes?
The one with the best music?
The biggest missions to the farthest places?
The best kids ministry? Youth ministry?
The coolest worship leader?
Is Jesus at the center of the church that sings the songs that I like?
That has the ministries I want or think are most important?
Is it the church where the preacher wears a suit? (I hope not!? )
Is it the church that keeps everyone happy?
Is it the church that has the right words on the sign out front?
I know I’m probably stepping on some toes, I may be making someone upset or uncomfortable… but can I gently ask…
What does a church with Jesus at the center look like?
Aren’t those things, or at least some of those things, the kinds of things we all long for? And why do we want those things? Is it because we’re constantly comparing our church to another church and think, for some reason, that we have to be like them?
What does a church look like with Jesus at the center? Shouldn’t that be the question we’re constantly asking?
We live in a very strange time where the way we talk about church and judge churches are based on so many things that simply were not on anyone’s radar 2000 years ago when the church began.
What Matters Most
What matters most today to most people in church didn’t mater much at all back then and I’m not sure what mattered most back then to the first church matters as much as it should today.
Don’t get me wrong, church in the first century wasn’t perfect. Not by a long shot!
Most of your New Testament is made up of correctional letters to churches who needed correcting. But… what mattered most was clear.
I think it may be best summarized by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2.19-21:
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.
In other words… because of Jesus EVERYONE is welcome to be a part of the family of God.
If there was ever any doubt, Jesus wants to make it clear… He came as the Savior of the WORLD. For God so loved the WORLD… Jesus came to seek and save the lost, those who for whatever reason are far from God.
All are welcome at His table. Everyone is invited into His house. There’s no such thing as a foreigner or an outsider in God’s church. We are all citizens, our identity regardless of nation, tribe, or tongue is found in Christ and Christ alone.
In the ancient city of Ephesus, Paul wanted to clear up any confusion. It no longer mattered if you were Jew or Gentile. What mattered was faith in Christ.
Paul wants them to know, this unity is Christ, we are citizens of Heaven, this is what matters now. He’s inviting people from different places, different backgrounds, different belief systems, to come together.
What are we built on?
Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
Everything we’ve learned from those first followers of Jesus who came before us… this is what we’ve built our faith on.
By the way, this is why preaching is so important. This is why teaching God’s word is so important. This is why we gather in small groups, Bible classes, men’s groups, women’s groups, and we open the word of God together.
We build our faith on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
But not JUST on their teaching. We build our foundation on their teaching…
And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.
Jesus is our CORNERSTONE.
What does a Jesus centered church look like? It has to have Jesus as it’s Cornerstone. This is what the church is built on. Not the church building… the church. You understand the difference?
We are the church
Paul wants these early Christians to understand what this means. So he says…
We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
WE ARE THE CHURCH. Not this building.
150 E. Belt Line Road is the physical address of the church building where I attend each Sunday.
BUT WE are God’s ADDRESS! His address is US.
Wherever we are, there He is! We are a Living Temple! We are joined together in Christ, we are built on Christ, He is our CORNERSTONE. We are fitted together and we we are we become a living, holy temple where the presence of Christ dwells.
LEGO Masters
How many of you like Lego? I always want to say legos but I’m told that’s incorrect. It’s just, Lego.
From time to time our family likes to watch the show Lego Masters. If you’ve ever seen this show, it’s incredible the things they build with lego blocks. They don’t have any instructions, no plans, no little book telling you what to put together next. They just give you the idea and then these teams get to work, two people per team, on building something amazing!
How do they do it?
Well, they have a vision for what it is they want to build. And then they start putting the different blocks together, fitting them together one by one, into a beautiful creation.
Each block is different. A different shape, a different color, a different size, a different function. But by putting all the blocks together in the right way something beautiful and wonderful is created!
In the same way, God knows how to put us together, different as we are, to make a beautiful church.
Here we are, different shapes, different colors, with different talents and abilities, differently designed but each with a purpose and each made by God in the image of God for the glory of God… all coming together, built by God on Christ our cornerstone, to make a beautiful living temple.
How do you build a Jesus centered church?
You have to start with Jesus.
And it starts with you. And it starts with me.
You have to build your life on Jesus. As you build your life on Jesus and as I build my life on Jesus then WE come together and WE are built together on Jesus.
All of a sudden, things that mattered before don’t matter as much as they once did. All of a sudden, priorities shift.
So what does a Jesus centered church look like?
How about we try this list again?
Maybe it’s not the church with the biggest building, in fact, it may not have a building at all, but it’s the people who are built ON Christ. Where Jesus is the Cornerstone.
Maybe it’s not about the number of members or attenders, BUT… it is about the presence of Jesus whenever and wherever two or three are gathered.
It’s not about the steeples, the cross out front, or the stained glass windows. It’s about Jesus being lifted up, it’s about living cross shaped lives, and it’s about the light of Christ shining in and through every heart.
It’s not about the best music, but making a joyful noise.
It’s not about the biggest and most impressive missions ministry, it’s about serving the least of these whenever and wherever we can.
In short… It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s not about us. It’s all about Him!
It’s all about Jesus being at the Center. Jesus being the Cornerstone. The position of this stone determines the position, angle, orientation, and stability of the entire structure.
That Shed I built in 2020 is not the best shed ever built, not by a long shot, but it’s still standing. It’s not because I put all the nails in all the right places. It’s because I took time to call my father and make sure the cornerstone was right. The foundation was solid.
If we want to build a church that’s still standing 10, 20, 30 years from today… we can. It happens when we call out to our Father and we allow Him to build us together on the Cornerstone of Christ.
Jesus Be the Center of Your Church
So let’s let go of comparisons. Let’s lay down all those other ideas about what church culture today says we should look like or be like. And let’s get back to Jesus.
May Jesus be the center of all we do and all we are.
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