The dynamics of erecting an enduring structure in ancient times required a start with what builders called an alignment stone for the foundation. The stone lay at an extreme corner to set the parameters for a strong base. This angle of the cornerstone was very precise, determining all of the subsequent lines and other angles of the building.
It became a standard for the bearing of the beams and walls in the construction of the whole work. In other words, the strength and durability of the building derived from the alignment stone known in modern times as the cornerstone.
That exactly is what God is teaching believers in today’s study: Jesus Christ is the First and Foremost component of the undergirding structure upon which everything else in the Church is aligned.
Whatever we teach in the church must line up with the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must have concern for the eternal welfare of a spiritually lost world, as well as for the development of God’s people to full and perfect growth.
“And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20).
Jesus is the Cornerstone of the foundation of the Church, and those who would build upon that foundation must be diligent to keep their eyes on Him. That is the way to get it right in the Christian race, since “without me (Jesus Christ) ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).
This is the reason why the leaders of the early Church jealously guarded against distraction from the teaching of the sound word of God when there was discontent over food administration to the Gentile widows (Acts 6:1-7).
Studying and abiding faithfully with the doctrine of Jesus Christ should form the center-piece of all activities in the church. All else should be secondary; the same way every element of a building is secondary and dependent on the cornerstone of the structure. Only that way can the believer abide.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Stand on the Rock of Ages, and you won’t be rocked by the crisis of ages.