Cornerstones

“The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone”. That statement, describing the reaction of the Jewish leaders, and by extension all who reject Christ, has been percolating in my mind all week. The questions that come to my mind include: (1) Why did they reject Him? (2) What are reasons that they should have accepted Him? (3) How does one’s rejection or acceptance change things?

So first, this morning, let’s look at why people in Scripture rejected Jesus.

Why Did They Reject Him?

Among the examples of rejection that are in Scripture there are three that I want to examine today.

Performance and Possessions

First, The so-called “rich young ruler” in . We see in the account of His encounter with Jesus that he sought eternal life by doing good. He chose His performance and possessions over Jesus.

Religious Dogma

Secondly, we see the actual leaders of the Jewish people at the time of Christ. We read throughout the gospel accounts of their continued rejection of Jesus. This rejection was made complete with their actions in . We see in this account they chose their religious dogma over Jesus.

Social Status

Thirdly, we see the rejection of Jesus Christ in the life of the Roman rulers in several places in the New Testament. Perhaps the clearest examples are seen in Pontius Pilate’s choice to hand Jesus over to be crucified because of his fear of losing his Social position in and in wherein King Agrippa chose to reject Christ rather than his intellectual ideology.

Next, this morning, let’s look at why they should have accepted Him.

Reasons they Should Have Accepted Him

The phrase, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone” comes from and is part of a larger Psalm that speaks of the glory of God’s salvation. Verse 19 speaks of the gates of righteousness opening which require that they be affixed to something else. Gates cannot open or close unless they are hung onto something immovable. That immovable something is the salvation of God of which Jesus is described as the chief cornerstone.

A cornerstone is set when a building is built of stone. Jesus is the Rock of Ages from . This rock, hewn from the very God of the universe, sets the standard for the rest of the whole building to be based upon. The width, breadth, and height of the building all find their reference point from this one stone. The accuracy, dependability and quality of the cornerstone makes all of the difference in the building.

Isaiah 26:4 NASB95

“Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.

This rock, hewn from the very God of the universe, sets the standard for the rest of the whole building to be based upon. The width, breadth, and height of the building all find their reference point from this one stone. The accuracy, dependability and quality of the cornerstone makes all of the difference in the building.

So what do we know about Jesus as the cornerstone?

Fulfilled Prophecy

Firstly, He fulfilled all of the prophecies regarding His life on earth. Everything! From His lineage, to His birth place, to the locations of His early childhood, to His earthly ministry, to His death, including that He would be crucified with the two sinners. Even his burial location fulfilled prophecy as, of course, did His bodily resurrection on the third day. Many of these things, along with others like the fact that His own people rejected Him, how they gambled for His clothing, the fact that no bones of His body were broken, His failure to give a defense were all prophesied many hundreds of years before His death.

Life’s Example

As a cornerstone, Jesus is everything that one would want to build their lives from. He was utterly consistent, imminently fair, uncompromisingly pure. He was without defect of any type. His actions were thoroughly consistent with the promises of God as to what the Son of Man would do. If someone is looking for a pattern from which to build a life, it would be impossible to find a better example than the one Jesus showed.

Sacrificial Death

Jesus was crucified on the cross when even His accusers couldn’t find any legal reasons to condemn Him. His greatest enemies had to violate the law in order to put Him to death because He was completely undeserving of the punishment. So why did He endure it? According to

Isaiah 53:4–6 NASB95

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

So, we have looked at why people have rejected Christ and why they should have accepted Him. Lastly, this morning, let’s look at what the acceptance or rejection of Jesus means.

What Difference Does it Make?

The danger exists today that you may reject Christ for one of these reasons as well. When we understand why people reject Christ, we can look more closely at the issue for ourselves. Each one of us is building our lives. Moment by moment, day by day, we make decisions that impact our future and the future of those who come after us.

The statement is true, no man is an island unto himself. Our decisions and actions impact our lives as well as others. In order to live your life, there has to be an underlying framework that gives direction and serves as a reference point should a decision need to be made. For those who rejected Jesus that we looked at earlier, let’s think about what that framework looks like today and how dependable it is.

Is it worthy of your life?

For the rich young ruler, it was performance and possessions. He was not willing to embrace Christ because he felt the need to justify himself and could not bear to part with his possessions. They gave his life meaning and substance. It was in those things that the young man found his identity, joy, and fulfillment. I would hope that anyone listening this morning can recognize very easily the faulty nature of these things as the framework around which to build one’s life. Performance is impossible to maintain, in fact says that if one fails in any part of the law he has become guilty of all of it. Possessions are temporal and will one day fail all have them. Solomon, described as the richest man who ever lived, is dead. His possessions were ultimately of no value to him for eternity. In fact, he described them as vanity.

If you are living your life on the basis of your abilities or possessions you are going to run into the immovable object of your failures. There will always be something that you could have done, something that you did not possess. This is a self-defeating quest that leaves the follower empty and hopeless.

For the Jewish leaders, it was their religious dogma that kept them from following God. They were following a religious system that guaranteed them importance, prestige and nothing else. Their religion was their foundation. Unfortunately, religion makes a terrible cornerstone. Because Religion is man’s efforts to appease his god, it is constantly subject to change and interpretation. Religious disputes become the most difficult to solve because the adherents are completely invested in their opinions. As circumstances shift and new information is discovered, religion has to adjust to account for the inconsistencies. Religion’s only power is in its ability to be used as a bludgeon to force someone to comply.

For King Agrippa, it was his social status and position within Roman government. The idea of embracing Jesus meant rejecting Caesar. In Roman culture, Caesar was god. In order to maintain one’s position, and the perks that came along with it, one had to be certain to keep the emperor happy. Social status as a defining purpose in life is especially precarious. In America today, it is so obvious how quickly and rapidly one can go from hero to zero. The fickleness of human society makes it a terrible standard. Trying to figure out what is acceptable in our society is a fool’s errand because it is constantly shifting. This feels like something that is new, but it is not. As Solomon famously said, there is nothing new under the Sun. In , he says “woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.” Society has always been about reinventing what should be acceptable. From Cain killing Abel to the tower of Babel and ever since, society has continually been on the journey of shifting standards.

If performance, possessions, religion and society all make such terrible cornerstones for life, shouldn’t one re-examine Jesus as the better option? He serves as the only real choice when you realize the utter insufficiency of all the other options.

Is it worthy of your eternity?

Of course, wouldn’t you expect God to make an option that fulfills all of the needs of a proper cornerstone? We are all going to build our lives on something. That foundation we choose will determine everything that is true about our life here on earth. What we focus on, how we treat people will grow from that choice. Beyond this life, however, there is the question of eternity.

Of course, wouldn’t you expect God to make an option that fulfills all of the needs of a proper cornerstone? We are all going to build our lives on something. What better option than the Rock of Ages? Would you embrace Him as your standard today?

You and I will live forever and the foundation that we have chosen when the storms of physical death come will determine whether the house will stand the test of time and eternity. When you die and you stand before the God of the universe, will your performance, possessions, religion, or social standing impress Him?

According to , He laid the foundation in Jesus Christ and no other foundation can be laid. We either build our lives upon faith in Him, or we fail. What better option than the Rock of Ages? Would you embrace Him as your standard today?

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