Jesus, the cornerstone of the church
by Pastor Fraser Pearce
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There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
Read Acts 4:1–12
Christian people know the goodness of God. They know the good deeds that Christian people do because they have experienced the love of God in Christ Jesus. They also know the joy that comes from hearing and trusting the message that because Jesus lives, we too can live with God and each other.
But not everyone wants to hear about Jesus or the good things done in his name.
Today we hear about the Sadducees and the people with them who did not want to hear that in Jesus, there is the resurrection of the dead. From Luke’s Gospel, we know that the Sadducees denied that there was a resurrection of anyone at all and that they tried to trap Jesus with what they thought was a tricky question about a woman who had seven husbands (Luke 20:27–40). Jesus had then assured the Sadducees that the dead are raised and that God is the God of the living, not the dead.
In our reading from Acts, we hear that the apostles proclaim not only that there is a resurrection but that Jesus himself had been raised. They are saying that Jesus is like a stone rejected as useless by builders, but one that has then become the most important stone in the whole building. They are saying that God is building the true temple of his church and that Jesus, who was dead but now lives, is the one in whom the whole building comes together.
You are part of this true temple, the church, the body of Christ. Just as God raised Christ from the dead, so he raises you up to new life with him. It is in the name of the Lord Jesus that you are being saved and built up with your fellow Christians so that you may know the goodness of God, his love in Christ Jesus, and the life that not even death can conquer.
Lord Jesus, thank you that I can call on your name and be saved by you. Thank you that you make me part of the temple of your body and that you will raise me up on the last day. Amen.
Fraser Pearce grew up in Sydney and has served as a pastor in Melbourne, Bendigo and Adelaide. He is married to Margaret, and they have four children, ranging in age from 15 to 24. Fraser enjoys being with family and friends, listening to (and playing) music and reading.
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