CONNECTED IN CHRIST: Our Common Architecture

 

“having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”  (Ephesians 2:20-22)

Paul has described Christ’s followers as saints who are set apart for Him, subjects who are citizens of God’s Kingdom, sons who are part of God’s family and now as sanctuaries who house God’s Spirit.

In each of these analogies, the connection with Christ results in a connection with each other.  There isn’t a special category for an elite group of Christians called, “saints,” but all of those who belong to Christ are saints.  A Kingdom isn’t composed of a single citizen, but all those bound together in allegiance to the King.  Nor are we an “only child” in God’s household, but there are many sons and daughters.  It’s a big family!

This devotional will focus on how the Sovereign Architect has laid Christ as the Cornerstone, and from Him established foundational truth from the apostles of the New Testament and prophets of the Old Testament to build His spiritual temple.  Every believer is cemented together by love in this marvelous construction filled with the Spirit and manifesting His glory.

Everything is bound to Christ—there is no church without that connection to Him as the Cornerstone.  The structure cannot stand without the solid foundation.  God’s inerrant, infallible and immutable message written by His inspired messengers give us the canon of Scripture—that is the measure by which we test and align all that are then built upon this foundation.  The foundation is unshakable.

We are “fitted together,” as individual stones with different shapes and sizes.  None of us are identical, but all are essential in the construction—formed precisely according to the Architect’s design.  The fit is unbreakable.

There is growth.  Paul says the church, “grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”  Spanning the centuries, bridging the continents and cementing the cultures, God’s intent is for an ever-increasing sanctuary.  There is always room for another stone to be added until God decides to cap it off at the consummation of the age.  Thus, we welcome into our local church all those who have been received into God’s church.  The frame is unmatchable.

Driving this home, we are, “built together.”  Not of bricks and mortar, but living beings who have each been recipients of grace and expressed a common faith in Christ.  No termite can devour it, no fire can consume it, no weapon can destroy it and no storm can collapse it.  The fortifying is indestructible.

The same Holy Spirit that indwells you inhabits me, and all believers have become the Temple of God.  We are connected in Christ!