October 8, 2023 – Matthew 21:33–43

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Hope Lutheran Church
Manhattan, Kansas
October 8, 2023
Matthew 21:33–43

I did some outdoor, exploratory research this last week

• I was reading Jesus’ parable and what he says at the end of the parable, and I got to wondering “Where is Hope’s – where is this building’s – cornerstone?”
  
  • And so I walked all the way around the building
    
    • I looked in all the corners. I looked near all the doorways
      
    • Unless I missed it (which is possible – I’m a guy), I couldn’t find one
      
  • I’m no architect, but I’m pretty sure that’s not actually a big deal for buildings today. Cornerstones for most buildings today are just there to show people the date a place was built. They don’t actually do anything
    
    • But in the ancient world, a good cornerstone was essential
      
• In the parable we’re looking at today, Jesus takes that fact about cornerstones – how essential a perfect cornerstone was – and he applies it to you and me, he applies it to his church At the heart of Jesus’ parable today is this message:
  

Jesus Christ Is Our Cornerstone

1. We Have Been Built On Him
   
2. We Keep Building On Him
   

First, a note about cornerstones. Why were they so important? What were they?

• They set the stage and foundation for the rest of the construction project
  
  • They set the level of the rest of the building
    
  • They supported the weight of the rest of the building
    
• So when builders started a new project, they had to find a stone that was perfect and sturdy and solid
  
  • It was a huge responsibility for builders to find just the right stone for whatever they were making
    

Jesus, at the end of and explanation of his parable, quotes a verse from Psalm 118. He says, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”

• With those words, Jesus was calling out the builders. To put it more plainly, he was calling out the religious leaders of Israel
  
  • He was saying they were going to look at this perfect stone that God had sent into the world, and they were going to toss it aside
    
  • That’s what they had done in the past, and that’s what they were going to do now too. That’s what the whole parable had been about…
    

It’s not too hard to see all the ways Jesus’ parable outlines the history of the people of Israel and their leaders

• In the Old Testament, God had set his people apart
  
  • When they went down the wrong path, God was patient with his people and sent his servants, his prophets, to his people
    
• But whenever his prophets came, the leaders of the people wouldn’t listen. They rejected them and their message
  
• Finally, God would send one last messenger to go to Israel – his Son
  
  • God knew the leaders would treat his Son the same way they treated every other messenger. He knew they’d throw him away like a stone they thought was worthless and try to build on other stones
    
    • Because he wasn’t the kind of Messiah and Savior those leaders wanted
      
    • Instead, they wanted to build on their own stones. They wanted to build on their own ideas, their own righteousness, their own accomplishments
      

Those religious leaders of Jesus’ day, they give us something to think about today

• A lot of people will say that here in America, we’re becoming more and more non-religious. But there’s a book called Seculosity by a Christian author named David Zahl, and he actually thinks the opposite. He says this:
  
  • “Our religious crisis today is not that religion is shrinking, but that we are more religious than ever, and about too many things. We are almost never not in church”
    
    • You see what he’s saying? We’re not becoming less religious. We’re actually becoming more religious, but about things other than God and his Son. We find replacement religions to fill the God-sized hole in our hearts
      
    • To put it another way, we’re still building. But we’re building on the stones we want to build on. And we’re building on the wrong stones
      
• So, what stones are we tempted to pick?
  
  • Things like busyness, work, food, travel, relationships, and politics?
    
  • And the thing is, if we build on any of those stones, they can get us pretty far. They can carry a lot of weight
    
  • But they’re flawed. They’re stones with cracks and bumps and imperfections. They’re stones that are going to crumble and collapse
    
    • I can try to build on my work, but then I get fired or the new job I thought would make my life complete isn’t all it was cracked up to be
      
    • I can try to build on a politician or a political agenda, but they’re sinful too and will make mistakes. The political agenda will have its flaws
      
    • I can try to build on my relationships, but so often they get rocky and full of conflict and brokenness
      
  • No matter what stone I choose to build on, it's going to break apart. It can’t carry the stress and weight of life in a world broken by sin
    
    • And you know how I know that? Because of the most tragic thing sin brought into this world. I know that because of death. None of the stones we build on can ever stand up under the weight of that
      
• I need – we need – a living stone. And that’s what – that’s who – Jesus is. He’s the stone we have been built on
  

1) We Have Been Built On Him
Jesus is a stone we can build on. Jesus is a stone we have been built on

• Was there rejection and death with Jesus? Did he get taken outside of the city by the religious leaders to be killed in the most shameful way possible?
  
• Yeah, that happened. But that wasn’t the end of his story or ours either. His rejection and death were just the start. They were just the start of something better, something glorious. They were the beginning of life
  
  • “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes”
    
  • When Jesus marched out of the tomb three days after he died, it was him making clear to the world and to you and me that he had crushed death
    
• So why build on something that is dying, when we can be built on one who is living? Why build on something that crumbles under the weight of death, when we can build on the one who has crushed death
  
  • Christ is our cornerstone. We’re built on him. We’re built on the salvation that he won for us. That’s a rock-solid foundation that can never be shaken
    

Earlier I mentioned how in these verses, Jesus is quoting Psalm 118

• That forced me this week to go back and look at the rest of the Psalm
  
  • And Psalm 118 is packed full of life-giving passages about what it means for you and me that Christ is our cornerstone. Because of Jesus, we can join with the Psalmist when he says things like:
    
    • Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures forever; The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid; I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me; The Lord is my strength and my defense, he has become my salvation; I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done
      
• Jesus Christ is our cornerstone. We’re built on him. Now we keep building
  

2) We Keep Building On Him
After Jesus left Earth and ascended into heaven, his church kept growing. It kept being built up on people who put their hope and confidence in him

• His church today continues to be built up. And the amazing thing is, Jesus now asks us to be part of his building project
  
  • And when we know the the rock-solid cornerstone we’ve been built on, we can’t help but want other people to have the same foundation we have
    
  • Cause the truth is, there are a whole lot of people in the world, a whole lot of people right here in Manhattan, who don’t know that. There are still so many people who are building on cracked and crumbling stones
    
    • I was curious how many people there might be like that in our area. And so I did some research online
      
    • People were asked to rate this statement: “I have a personal relationship with Jesus.” Wanna guess the percentage of people in Manhattan who had answers ranging from “no opinion to strongly disagree”? Just over 50%. And it was about the same for other similar statements like that one
      
  • What does that mean? It means there are so many people here who don’t know Jesus. Even though there are tons of churches, there are so many more people who don’t know about Jesus and what he’s done for them
    
    • And maybe you know some of them. And your heart goes out to them as you see them standing on stones that are cracking
      
    • And you know who else sees them? God sees them. His heart goes out to them. You see that in Jesus’ parable
      
  • God didn’t want to see anyone lost. And so what did God do? He sent messenger after messenger. Last of all he sent his Son. Even though he knew what they’d do to him. Because he didn’t want to see them lost
    
    • The way he did it, some might call it reckless or foolish or insane
      
    • But what looks like foolish insanity is the loving commitment of our God. That’s the heart of God who wants to see so many more brought into and built into his church. Who wants to see so many more people building on the cornerstone that is his Son
      
• And how does he do it? Through us who get to be his messengers to a world that so desperately needs something better to build on. Person by person. Brick by brick. That’s how God keeps building his church
  

You know, we don’t have a cornerstone here at Hope

• But as I thought about it more this week, I decided maybe that’s a good thing
  
  • Because if we had a cornerstone, the temptation could be there to focus on ourselves every time we see it. To think of that stone and this building as more important than the cornerstone on which this church is really built
    
  • Maybe not having a cornerstone can be a good thing. So Jesus can remind us more and more of what he said:
    
    • “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes”
      

Amen

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