I Don’t Build My Life, I Surrender It

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February 20, 2022

2 Peter 2:7-8 NIV

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

CONSIDER THIS

Yesterday, we discussed buildings and the Temple, and coming to Jesus, the “Living Stone,” and how he builds his Church not with bricks and mortar but with “living stones” into a spiritual house. It is widely believed the Apostle Peter was the eye witness and chief storyteller behind the Gospel of Mark. I wonder if Peter was remembering this particular day at the Temple with Jesus.

As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” Mark 13:1-2

Jesus is clearly not impressed. 

Then there was the day Jesus turned over the money changers tables in the Temple courts. Upon being asked for a sign of his authority to do such things, he said this:

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. John 2:19-20

This is Jesus Messiah, the Living Stone, the one rejected by the builders, crucified, and raised from the dead. He is the Chief Cornerstone. 

The cornerstone is the first stone laid in the foundation and it becomes the singular point of reference for every other stone. 

I am tempted to ask the question, “Is he your Cornerstone?” but it is a ridiculous question. It would be like asking is the Sun your Sun. It is the Sun. The question is, “Am I referencing my entire life around the Cornerstone?” Because if I’m not, I am stumbling and falling and ultimately failing. 

I am also tempted to ask the question, “Are you building your life on the Cornerstone?” which is also the wrong question. The truth? If I have come to the Living Stone, the one the builders rejected, which has become the Chief Cornerstone, I am no longer building my life. He is the builder. I am, according to the text, being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

Jesus Messiah is building his Church and as I come to him, the Living Stone, he incorporates me as a living stone into his building project, the Church, the only entity on earth against which the gates of hell will never prevail. It’s why we sing, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name.”

All together now:

On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. 

THE PRAYER

Jesus, you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. You are the stone the builders rejected who has become the Chief Cornerstone. Thank you for the grace of calling me to lay down the building project formerly known as my life, and building me into the realm and reality you call “my Church.” I confess, I do not build my life. You are the builder. I am being built by you. Holy Spirit, increase my awareness of this truth until it is my experienced reality. Praying in Jesus’ name, Amen. 

THE QUESTION

Why do people reject Jesus? And the answer can’t be “the church.” Because there was no church when they first rejected him. They still reject him now for the same reason they rejected him then. What is the reason? 

For the Awakening,
J.D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com