Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Ephesians 2:20 | Date: August 10, 2014 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

The Foundation of the Church

If you will please, and turn to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. I want to add my congratulations to Mary Beth and Brandon. We’re happy for you both. We certainly wish you the Lord’s best. I feel about the RBC girls like I did about Gina. I told her many times, you’re going to be a great catch for some lucky slob. Now we’re in church, so I’m not going to call Brandon a lucky slob, but you got a great catch. We’re glad for you both.

Ephesians chapter 2, you’ll remember last week we worked our way through the second half of the chapter, but I want to go back and focus especially on verse 20 this morning. Every once in a while, there’s a verse that deserves just a little more attention than we can give it in a sweeping exposition of the passage. And having given that exposition of the passage, I think we can go back to it. This is one of those verses that just demands that kind of attention, I think. So we’ll take the time today to go back to it.

But let’s read through beginning with verse 11:

Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near, and through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Once again, verse 20, he speaks of the church as the household of God and the temple which is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. Let’s bow together for prayer.

Our Father, we’re grateful for the wonderful proclamation of the gospel that we have in your word. How we’re thankful for the good news that came by Jesus Christ. How grateful we are for the great reconciliation accomplished in his blood. We’re thankful for this passage in particular this morning. We’re thankful for what we have learned from it already together. And we pray that this morning you’ll open our minds and our hearts to see afresh some of the implications of this for our church and for individual lives. And we pray that through it, you will give us a deeper appreciation for the Lord Jesus and all the blessings provided for us in him. We pray in his name, amen.

I’m never quite sure this time of year which congregation I’ll have. It seems this time of year we alternate and half the congregation has gone one week and half has gone the next. Everybody on vacation, very glad that you’re here with us this morning. I’ll assume that most of you at least were here last week. And times before that, just by way of review, verses 1 through 10, the Apostle Paul outlines for us our lostness, and our depravity, and our helplessness, and what God has done for us in Christ in response to that. He’s outlining for us, as he started out in chapter 1, outlining for us the great blessings that we enjoy in Christ Jesus. In chapter 1, he gave the broad strokes of that in God’s redemptive purpose.

In chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, he began to look at it individually, and he pointed out our lostness and helplessness and our depravity, and despite our deadness and our sins, he says that God came to us in grace and raised us out of our spiritual death and made us alive with Christ. And then in chapter 2 verses 11 and following, he began to look at our lostness not individually considered so much as racially considered. And he points out the lostness of the Gentiles. And so he begins pointing out in verse 11 how hopeless we were as Gentiles. We were not the ones who received the covenant promises. We were not the ones to whom God spoke in covenant and promise after promise. It’s a theme that Paul picks up in several places in his writings. Romans chapter 9 he does famously. Romans chapter 2 he does as well. But there’s a distinct advantage to the Jews that they are the ones that God befriended and God gave them promises and so on. God did not owe any blessing, any promise to anyone, but he chose Israel to be his people and he made these promises to them and he spoke to them century after century after century. And they had that distinct advantage, while the Gentiles then were left out in the cold, as it were, or as he says, without God in the world.

And then we have the hinge in verse 13: “but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” And here he speaks of the blessing that was promised to Israel having now been extended to the world. And Christ has secured those blessings for Gentiles as well. And in fact, for all of the privilege that belonged to Israel, she needed reconciliation too. She had received revelation. She had received the law from God. She had not obeyed. She was lost herself. She was just in microcosm and illustration of the lostness of the whole world. And what has happened through the work of Christ is that Jew and Gentile alike now have been brought near and into the presence of God. And as he emphasizes in these verses, one new man has been formed. It is no longer Jew and Gentile, but we have this third entity. We have the church, made up of Jew and Gentile both, in which both have come together in this new man, this new creation, this new humanity, he calls it. And both of us, Jew and Gentile, have been brought into fellowship with God.

And then he likens that new man, to change the metaphor, from new man to a new kind of edifice, a new building. It is a temple in which God dwells. And this is the significance of the church in this respect. It is a people in whom God dwells. And so we have now this new building, this temple, all that was foreshadowed in the old covenant in the tabernacle, Solomon’s temple, and so on. All that that pictured is now realized in the church of Jesus Christ in him. We are a temple in whom God dwells. And so Jew and Gentile alike have been brought together, destroying racial divisions and so on.

All that was last week. What we didn’t get to spend a lot of time on, we just brushed through verse 20 and following, where Paul speaks of the church as a temple, but in particular, verse 20, he speaks of this temple as having a foundation. And he says that this temple, this building, is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. And that’s where I want to spend my time this morning, just on that verse and the implications of it. Now, we have been working our way at a rather quick pace last week through 10 or 12 verses. This morning, we’ll look at this one verse, but we’re going to look at it as it’s informed by many other passages in scripture. So please keep your Bibles handy. We’ll be looking at several passages to work out and to unpack what’s involved in this verse. Verse 20, again, we are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

If you’d like the outline before we go through it, it’s really very elementary. Number one, Christ the cornerstone. Number two, the apostles, the foundation (the apostolic foundation). And then number three, we’ll look at some implications of that.

Christ the Cornerstone

All right, first of all, Christ the cornerstone. In ancient architecture, they would take a very carefully cut stone to join two adjoining walls together on the outside. Now we still have a practice of having a cornerstone in a major building. For us today, it’s more or less a ceremonial thing and we’ll have an inscription on it and so on. In ancient architecture, this is a stone that had structural significance. It was a stone that was very precision cut, very carefully placed, and it determined the stability and the shape of the entire structure. In a sense it held the weight of the structure, but in another important sense it determined the shape. It was laid in a certain way, cut in exactly the right way, placed at exactly the right angle to tell where the two walls would go. This was the cornerstone. Often it would have an inscription on it as well, usually religious. We do that kind of thing today as well. But this was a stone that determined the shape and the stability of the entire edifice. And Paul takes that here as a metaphor for the church and Jesus Christ now, who is the cornerstone of the church, determining the shape and the stability of the temple.

Now, this is not a new metaphor for the Apostle Paul. This is something, in fact, that was given centuries before, and I’m going to take the time to go through some of them. If you will, take your Bibles and keep your hand here. We’ll be back. But turn to Psalm 118. Psalm 118. This is a psalm, a familiar kind of a theme, where the psalmist speaks of the persecution that he has had from the outside, but he blesses God for the protection and the preservation that God has given to him. And he says—let’s pick it up in verse 19:

Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them, and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

And here’s the verse: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we pray, O Lord. O Lord, we pray, give us success.” And you’ll recognize this next verse from the triumphal entry in the gospels: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord,” and so on.

Now the verse in particular that the Apostle Paul is quoting in Ephesians 2:20, you’ll see is here: “that the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Now, this has been interpreted in a few different ways over the centuries, even before the time of Christ. It was understood sometimes in terms of Moses, who was repeatedly rejected by Israel, and yet became the builder of the nation. The rejected stone became the cornerstone. More commonly, it was interpreted with reference to Israel. Israel itself, rejected by the nations from Egypt onwards, rejected by the nations and yet destined for triumph. And very often it was interpreted more specifically than just Israel. It was interpreted in reference to David, who suffered more than any of the prophets. And this one who was rejected became the great king. The stone that was refused and rejected became the cornerstone. For all of his suffering, David became God’s appointed king.

Well, this should ring a bell for you. This is what we read earlier this morning in Matthew chapter 21. If you want to glance back there, you can. Matthew chapter 21, Jesus tells this parable of the landholder who owns this land and he leases it out to the tenants who grow the vineyard. And he comes back for his—he sends his servants back for his pay, for his fruit, his portion of it, and they reject the servants. He sends more servants and they’re rejected. So he sends his son and he’s rejected and beaten. And all of this becomes very clear what’s going on and they realize he’s talking about them, that God has sent prophets and they’ve been rejected and he sent prophets and they’ve been rejected. And now he has sent his son. He is being rejected as well, and Jesus then draws on this passage in Psalm 118. This is verse 42 in Matthew 21: “Have you never read in the scriptures: the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Well, here Jesus likens the son of the vineyard owner to the rejected stone that was spoken of in Psalm 118. And in turn, Jesus himself becomes that stone that was rejected. And these supposed builders of the nation looked at this stone that was given to them—”Nah, that’s not a good stone”—and they’ve rejected it. And yet this is the stone on which the nation will be built.

We have the same kind of thing—I think for the sake of time, I won’t take you through them all; time’s gotten on with us—in Isaiah chapter 8 and verse 14. Isaiah 8, verse 14, we read there of a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling that is put in Israel’s way. We don’t have the cornerstone theme there stated exactly, but it’s a stone of offense, a stone of stumbling, this God’s way of deliverance that has been offered to Israel, and yet they’re too ashamed to believe in God’s way, and so they, in this context, they’re forming their alliance with northern Israel, with Syria, against the Assyrian invaders, and they won’t trust in God. And this sanctuary that has been offered to them now has become a stone of offense, a stone of stumbling.

Isaiah chapter 28 and verse 16, we don’t have the rejection theme there, but there we have the explicit mention of the foundation stone and the cornerstone that is given. This good news of salvation which God alone can provide and which God alone can give to his people is called the cornerstone, the foundation.

This is a passage that, if you want to write down one other passage that we won’t take time to go to then, is 1 Peter 2, verses 4-8. The Apostle Peter takes this metaphor as well in reference to the church. This is just a marvelous gospel metaphor: that Christ is the foundation of the church. Even with the rejection theme, the builders of the nation, as it were, receive this carefully cut stone, perfectly qualified as he is, and they look at it, they determine, no, this is not what we want, and they reject it. The crucifixion of Jesus, the rejection of Christ, given all the way to his death. And yet this stone that was rejected, through its rejection in fact, by means of its rejection, has become the head and the cornerstone of the whole edifice. It is through the work of Christ in giving himself in sacrifice to God for our sin that he becomes the whole ground and foundation of the church. The church rests on what Jesus Christ has done, and for all of the rejection that he received, in God’s providence, this rejected stone has become the headstone, the cornerstone, the foundation of the entire edifice. And of course, entailed in all of that is not just his crucifixion, but his resurrection as well. Rejected, he went to the cross and that cross becomes the moment of his triumph in his shame. It becomes a moment of his triumph because there he secures the salvation of his people and exhausts the curse against them. And rising from the dead, having exhausted the curse entirely—this is the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. And this is the reference then in Psalm 118 of that little chorus that we sang: “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” It’s not just a pep talk to be happy today. It’s a reference to this day of salvation that has been established by God in Christ through his rejection and his consequent triumph.

So Christ, the cornerstone, is a marvelous gospel metaphor that starts back in the Psalms, runs through Isaiah. Jesus picks it up in Matthew 21. Paul uses it here in Ephesians 2. Peter uses it in 1 Peter 2. Just a marvelous metaphor. It’s very graphic, speaking of the rejection of Jesus, and through that, his being established as the foundation of the church. And Paul refers to all of that. He captures all of that in one brief sweep here in Ephesians 2:20 when he speaks of the church being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

The Apostolic Foundation

All right, I think that’s easy enough to grasp. I think what’s often puzzling then is the next question. If Jesus is the cornerstone, if he is the foundation of the church, well, then in what sense are the apostles the foundation of the church? What he says here is “being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” Well, one of the great emphases of the scripture is that the work of Christ is a work that only he could do, and that he did, and he did it alone, and he did it completely. And there’s no way that anyone can ever share redemptively in the work that Christ did for salvation. And in that sense, there’s no way that he could share the foundation with anyone. And yet in some sense, we must see that the apostles also are foundational to the church. Clearly, Paul gives the priority to Jesus, but still there’s some sense in which the apostles and the prophets, the New Testament prophets, are foundational to the church. Well, what is that?

Well, again, this is a metaphor that’s not unique to Paul. It’s not something he comes up with himself. Let’s turn back to one more passage. Look at Matthew chapter 16. A rather familiar passage to you, I think. Matthew chapter 16, beginning with verse 13:

When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” What’s their opinion of me? And so they responded with the complimentary opinions. Obviously, some had some pretty negative ones, but verse 14, they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others Jeremiah, one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter replies, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him and says, “You haven’t come up with this on your own. Flesh and blood doesn’t reveal this to you, but my father, which is in heaven, and I tell you,” verse 18, “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

You are—there’s a little bit of a pun going on here—you are Petros, and on this Petra I will build my church. Peter is a word in Greek that simply means a rock, or a piece of a rock. You are Petros, a piece of a rock, and on this Petra, a massive rock, I will build my church. And it’s an intentional pun to somehow indicate that Peter, and here I think clearly not just Peter, but Peter as standing as representative of the apostles, is the rock on which Christ builds his church.

Now, as you can imagine, there’s been a lot of bloodshed over this verse and how to interpret it between Protestants and Catholics and the importance of the church and the role of the church and the popes and so on. And so much has been read into this statement by one side that it has caused the other side to run away with fear and trembling sometimes. But I think we have to say that, especially given what we have here in Ephesians 2:20, that Jesus has in mind, plainly enough in Matthew 16, that in some sense, the apostles are foundational to the church. And I think it’s pointing us to a large and important New Testament theme that speaks of the unique role of the apostles with respect to divine revelation, the revelation that God has given them.

Now, having said that, let me back up a little bit. On the one hand, the Bible speaks of Jesus Christ, of course, as the climax and the fullness of divine revelation. Massively important theme. I said that was just one more passage. Let’s look at another. Let’s look at Hebrews chapter one. It’s an important passage in this discussion. Hebrews chapter one. Now I want you to, as we read through beginning of verse one, I want you to think in terms of the broad historical sweep that the author here is making.

Long ago, at many times (that is repeatedly) and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

That’s simply a historical statement that throughout the centuries of Israel’s history, their great privilege has been God spoke to them. He spoke through Moses. He spoke through Samuel. He spoke through David. He spoke through Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. The 12 others that we know of. There are others that are named in the Old Testament. There’s Elijah and Elisha. There are several prophets that were unnamed. Here and there throughout Israel’s history, God spoke to our fathers. And he spoke to them by the prophets. And he did it in various ways. Broad sweeping statement. Now let’s take it again:

Long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days (now notice the contrast), but in these last days he has spoken to us (and if I can push the significance of the original here), in these last days he has spoken to us by no other than his own son.

That’s the idea. You see the climactic nature of it. Over and again, he spoke, and he spoke, and he spoke, and he spoke, but now he has spoken to us in his son. And in fact, there’s a permanence to it. Here he writes as a second-generation Christian—we know that from chapter two—and he says he, Jesus, has spoken to us by his son. God has spoken to us by his son, Jesus. So there’s a climactic, something climactic about the revelation that God has given in Christ. God has revealed himself, he’s revealed himself, he’s revealed himself, and then there’s this explosion where God reveals himself in the person of his son.

We won’t turn there, but think back for a moment in John chapter one, how the apostle John wants to stress this very point. What is the title, the designation that John gives to Jesus in John 1? “In the beginning was the Word.” Now why would he call Jesus the Word? The whole point of it seems to be: in Jesus we have God speaking. And not just in Jesus speaking, but in all that Jesus said, in all that Jesus was, in all that Jesus did, we have God making himself known. This, after all, is the one who is with God from all eternity, the one who created everything that is. And without him, there’s never anything made that was made. He’s the creator of all. And we get to verse 14, “the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Here is God making himself known. And in case you don’t get the point, we get to the end of the prologue, verse 18. No one has seen God at any time. He’s invisible. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. Here is God making Himself known.

And John intends for us as we read through his gospel to see Jesus as God making Himself known. This is God making Himself known in all that He was, in all that He said, in all that He did. This is God making Himself known. He is the climax of divine revelation because He is God Himself making Himself known. And this is why the writer of the Hebrews can say, God spoke and he spoke, but now he has spoken to us in no other than his own son, if you can imagine it. And all of that is to say then—and this is the basic distinction of Christianity. What distinguishes Christianity from all other religions: Christianity is a revealed religion. It is not in any sense, it is not in any sense our making our way to God. It is not in any sense our reasoning our way up. The basic claim of Christianity is that God has spoken. And when we speak in church and when we give our witness to our friends, we have the gall to say, “What we have to say is something you must hear and you must listen because it is a word from God himself through Jesus.” Christianity is not the cumulative wisdom of the ages. It is not the cumulative wisdom of all of the other world’s religions. Its claim is that God has spoken supremely in his son, Jesus. And so in this sense also, not only redemptively, but in terms of revelation as well, in this sense, Jesus is the foundation of the church.

So then, in what sense are the apostles the foundation of the church? And I think I will take you again to another couple of passages rather than just refer to them. Look at John chapter 14, trying to pull together all of the strands that come together in this verse. John chapter 14, again a familiar theme in John 14 through 16. Jesus here is on the eve of his crucifixion talking to his disciples about his soon departure. He’s telling them he will be leaving. They are of course upset over that and he’s trying to give them comfort and explaining to them things that will be of help to them in light of his soon leaving. And central to all of that is discussion of the Trinity and in particular is provision of the Holy Spirit who will come as Jesus’ replacement. John chapter 14, look at verse 16:

I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever.

Now there’s a lot of discussion on the word helper, the paraclete, and what are the significance of that. We’ll have to do that for another time. The point is the Holy Spirit is promised as another helper. Another in what sense? Another one like me. To replace me is the idea. And that’s why verse 18: “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” Now some have wanted to look at that as reference to his resurrection, that may be involved. Or his second coming, that may be involved. But in particular, what he’s speaking of here is that, “I will come to you in the person of the Spirit who comes as my replacement.” If I can use the language, the vicar of Christ. The Holy Spirit coming as his replacement.

Now, how does that work out in its significance? Verse 25:

These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Now this is a very important passage. Jesus is not speaking here broadly of the blessing of the Spirit to every Christian and what he will do. He’s speaking particularly to the apostles. And he says, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will teach you—underline it—all things. Now I’m sure he does not mean here all things regarding to mathematics and geography and geology and astrophysics and all of that. But clearly he’s speaking in terms of the divine revelation that Jesus himself has come to give and has been giving them. He will teach you all things. Remember that expression, we’ll come back to it in a minute. He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. So he’ll teach you all things, he’ll remind you of everything that I have already taught you.

Now jump down to chapter 16, verse 12, where he picks up the theme again:

I still have many things to say to you, but you can’t bear them now. But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into (what’s that expression?) all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

You see what he’s saying here? “I’m leaving, but I’m sending a replacement, my replacement, who will come in my place, and he will continue this teaching, and he will remind you of everything that I’ve taught, and he will teach you all truth, and he will teach you all things.” Now this is massively important in redemptive history. This is Christ’s provision for his church. He is providing his apostles with the Spirit in a particular way that they will be the recipients of this revelation that has come in its fullness in Jesus.

Now, let’s take one more step, chapter 17, where we come to his high priestly prayer. In verses 6 and following, Jesus speaks of his mission as one that centered on the revelation of God:

I have manifested your name to the people you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you.

Then verse 8:

For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them, and have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.

Alright, let’s back up and regroup before we go any further here. Christ has come as the fullness of divine self-revelation. He has taught his disciples and now he’s leaving and he says, “I have more to teach you, but the spirit will come in my place and he will teach you. In fact, he’ll teach you all things. He’ll give you all truth. He’ll show you things to come and he’ll remind you of everything that I’ve said.” And so when we come to verse 18, Jesus prays: “as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in the truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe on me through their word.”

The fullness of divine self-revelation has come in Jesus. Jesus has given that to his apostles. He has provided the spirit to the apostles for that very purpose. And now he, just as he has been sent into the world, now he sends them into the world with this deposit of truth that has been given to them. And he prays for them in that role. And in fact, he prays for those all over the world who will believe on him because of what the apostles have said. You see the foundational role of the apostles as developing?

Well, the apostles took this and ran with it. And you find this reflected everywhere in their writings. It’s reflected all the time when they speak. They speak with great confidence and great authority. “The words that we give you are not ours, they’re the words of Christ. This I command you by the name of Christ. And if anybody among you thinks he’s spiritual, let him recognize that the words that I give you are the words of Christ.” And they give this new revelation and insist that this has come to you through us from the Lord Jesus. This was their role that was given to them in the plan of God.

So Jesus had described his mission in terms of bringing a word from the Father. And now he says he has given that revelation to the apostles. The Holy Spirit will ensure that it continues to the apostles. The apostles in turn will give it to the world. And all of this, I think, is what is in view when we come to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20, where we find that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, the foundation, and the apostles are foundational also. And they are foundational to the church in the sense that they are the ones who give us Christ. If Christ is the foundation, the apostles are foundational in that they are the ones who give us Christ. It is through their word that we believe in Christ.

So in terms of the larger picture that we saw here last week in the passage, God is in the business now of building this great temple of Jew and Gentile, a temple in which he himself dwells by his spirit. And in one sense, Christ is the foundation, the cornerstone of this great temple. It’s built on his redemptive work. It’s grounded in his revelation that has come to us from the Father. And yet in another sense, the apostles are foundational to the church. And that is to say the church is apostolically shaped. And what the apostles have written—this is an older term that used to be used in theology—what the apostles have written is that which is imposed on the church from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That’s the significance of the apostles’ role. This is what Jesus called them to, to give us the revelation that came in its fullness in Jesus.

Implications

Now that’s a lot, I realize. Let’s look at some implications quickly before we go. And I think, I hope you’ll see how this is so important for us as a church. And I have six. Don’t be afraid by that. We will run through these quickly. Six implications.

Number one: The Significance Of The New Testament Scriptures. All through the Bible, from early on, like in Deuteronomy chapter 18, with the promise of a prophet who will come, all through the centuries of redemptive history, we’ve been waiting for this great prophet to come. And here we have Jesus who comes, and we have this explosion of divine revelation in Jesus, the one that we’ve been waiting for, and it’s more climactic than we could have imagined. It is, in fact, God making himself known. Now, if Jesus is the climax of divine revelation, well, does that make the New Testament scriptures anticlimactic? I mean, they’re written by apostles after all. What we’re interested in is this fullness of revelation that came in Jesus, right? And what we learn through all of this is that the New Testament scriptures written by the apostles are in fact Christ’s word to the church. This was the reason the apostles were given. This was their role, to bring Christ to us. And in that sense, they’re foundational. And so the New Testament scriptures are not anticlimactic. They are the climax of divine revelation that came in Jesus. Their teaching, in other words, is the teaching of Christ. This is what they said very often. This is what Jesus said before the fact. The significance of the New Testament scriptures is that the word of the apostles is, in fact, the word of Christ to the church.

Number two: The Basis Of The New Testament Canon. We’ll just do this quickly, but it’s a question that often comes up, and I’ve heard several of you ask it. We’ve talked about this. You know what I mean by canon. This is one “n” in the middle, not two. This is not the kind that goes boom. A canon is a fixed and recognized body of writings that are recognized as authoritative. The canon of scripture is those accepted books that are recognized as authoritative and from God. What is the basis of the New Testament canon? Well, in one respect, the Old Testament canon for us is easy to recognize because we have it on the authority of Christ. Christ recognized the Law, Prophets, and the Writings. This was the authoritative writings from God. Jesus himself gave it his imprimatur. That’s easy. What about the writings that came after Jesus? The New Testament answer to that is we have it on the same authority that we have the Old Testament canon. It’s just that with the New Testament, we have it before the fact. Jesus appointing his apostles to this very role to give us this fullness of revelation. And so the single question of importance is: are these writings apostolic? If they are, they come to us from Christ. Well, there’s much more to say about all of that for another time, but I want you to see all that’s coming involved here with this foundational aspect of the church.

Number three: The Finality Of New Testament Revelation. Or we could just say the finality of biblical revelation. Can we expect further revelation to come? And what if someone gets up and says, “Well, God told me”? And at that point we have to come back and think, all right, what did Jesus say? Jesus said to his apostles, “I, the one who has come with this fullness of revelation, I have sent my spirit who will lead you into (what is it?) all truth.” He’ll teach you all things. He’ll bring to your remembrance all that I’ve said. He’ll show you things to come, and there’s a completeness to it, finality of biblical revelation. This brings into it some other terminology that’s used in the New Testament that’s very important, one of which is one of my favorite: the word tradition. Because we evangelicals don’t like tradition; we’re a little afraid of tradition because of the way it’s been used by the other side, but it’s a good biblical word. Tradition simply means that which is handed down. And here we have God’s revelation handed down through his son by means of the spirit to the apostles to us. And this brings in other expressions that we find in the New Testament: “The faith, once for all delivered to the saints.” “Keep that which is committed to your trust.” The church’s responsibility—that which you’ve heard, teach to others that they can teach others and preserve this. The church’s responsibility is not, is not, is distinctively not to come up with anything new. The church’s responsibility is to unpack and unfold and continue to learn what has been given in its fullness in Christ. God spoke, and God spoke, and God spoke, and God spoke, and then He spoke. And there’s an explosion of revelation that came in Christ, and that has been preserved for us by His apostles in the New Testament Scriptures. And the church’s responsibility is not to add anything to it. Its responsibility is to unpack that and unfold it and uncover it, continuously learning and proclaiming what has come once for all.

Number four: The Sufficiency Of Scriptures. He has given us, through the apostles, the spirit of God has given the apostles all truth, not some—all truth. All truth. That’s why the apostle Paul can say, “All scripture, which is being inspired of God, is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” There is a sufficiency to the scripture. All truth has been given to the apostles. Or as Peter will say, he has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. There’s a fullness and a completeness and a sufficiency to the scriptures.

And then of course what’s underlying all of this, number five: The Authority Of Scripture. The apostles come insisting that theirs is not the word of men; it is the word of Christ to the church. And this is why we say when we open this book, our attitude changes. Our attitude is like our attitude toward no other book. And we recognize that this is the word of Christ to us, and it comes with his authority, his divine authority.

And very closely related to that, number six, and last: The Shape Of The Church. This church, the Church of Jesus Christ, is an institution that has been founded. And it has been founded on a foundation. That is to say it has a definition. It is apostolically defined. Now there is a kind of ecumenicity that I love. I want to recognize that everyone who truly belongs to the Lord Jesus by his gospel is my brother, my sister in Christ. But I have to say that that which is called ecumenical today doesn’t fit. There is a foundation to the church apart from which it ceases to be the church. This revelation has been given defining for us our faith, our practice, all that we believe, how we behave. This has been given to us in a fullness of revelation from Christ through his apostles to us. And the church, to be a church, to be the church, has to be shaped by that cornerstone and foundation, both in terms of what we believe and in how we behave.

And all of this, I hope you can see then, is bound up in what Paul says in chapter 2 and verse 20 once again, that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. The great privilege of the church is that we are a living temple in which God dwells by his spirit. The privileged responsibility of the church is that we are apostolically shaped. The apostles have brought us the fullness of the revelation in Christ, and that is to shape both the faith that we profess and the lives that we live. And that is why it has been said for so long that Christians are a people of the book. We’re a people with a book. This fullness of revelation that has come in Christ and it is on that we are built.

Let’s stand together and sing number 268. Number 268.