3/25/07 - Lent 5 - Luke 20:9-19

CHRIST HAS BECOME THE CONERSTONE
- There is no other
- There doesn't need to be

The main point of our sermon text for today is something more and more churches do not teach. It is something that more and more people in this country do not want to admit. The main point of Luke 20:9-19 is: Christ has become the cornerstone. There is no other way of salvation because there doesn’t need to be. That means: if someone does not believe that Christ is 100% their Savior, that person will go to hell. It doesn’t matter how generous that person was in life. It doesn’t matter how much that person helped others. It doesn’t matter how nice that person was to you. Christ has become the cornerstone. Without him there is no salvation.
For example: Oprah is incredibly generous. She gives millions of dollars away to complete strangers. She’s always involved with some project to bring joy to others. But if Oprah does not believe that Christ is 100% her Savior, she will go to hell - because that is what Scripture says. Mother Theresa: constantly helped the poor in 3rd world countries. She deprived her own self of the pleasures of this world to lend a hand to others in need. A role model for people of all ages. But if Mother Theresa did not believe that Christ was 100% her Savior, then she is now in hell despite of her life. Your neighbor or your co-worker or your relative who is genuinely a nice person, whom you care for, who cares for you: if they do not believe that Christ is 100% their Savior, they too will go to hell. Now, I cannot read the hearts of any of these people. But the Lord can. And he makes no exceptions. He has made it crystal clear in his word that Christ has become the cornerstone of our salvation. There is no other way to heaven without him.
You will not hear this message in many others churches because people don’t want to hear it nowadays. They don’t want to hear that nice people and kind people and “good” people will go to hell. But that is what the Lord says. And that is what he said to the people in our text even though they didn’t want to hear it either. Jesus told them this truth of his Word and he used a parable to do it.
An owner of a vineyard rented the vineyard out to some tenants. When the harvest time came he sent servant after servant after servant to the tenants to collect some of the produce, but the servants were all beaten and thrown out. The owner finally sent his son thinking that the tenants would show him at least a little respect, but they killed the son instead. Jesus ends the parable by saying that the owner of the vineyard will come back and destroy those wicked tenants for what they had done.
Now, so that we are all on the same page: who is the owner of the vineyard? God. Who are the servants that he sent? The prophets. Who, of course, is the son? The Son of God, Jesus Christ. And so who, then, are the tenants? Well, Jesus was talking specifically to the teachers of the law and the high priests in Luke 20. But you could also say the entire Jewish nation to whom the Lord had first given his Word. And you could also say - applying these words to our lives - that the tenants are all people who have heard the Word of God but have rejected his Son.
So this is a rather dark and depressing parable, isn’t it? It is about people rejecting Christ as the cornerstone and suffering the consequences. And so the reaction of the people who were listening in Luke 20 is understandable: “May this never be!” they said. “May this never be!” They did not want to see people reject the cornerstone. They did not want to see them throw away the only hope for salvation. But the fact of the matter was: there were many people who did that very thing during those times. And there are many people who still do today.
Does that bother you? Does it bother you that you believe in Christ as your Savior but there are so many people around you that do not? It should bother you! It should keep you up at nights! It should motivate you to do something about it! It should motivate you to tell those people about Christ the cornerstone! If you know of a person who does not believe in Christ and you don’t say anything about it… listen to what the Lord says about that: If “you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood” (Ezekiel 3:18). The Lord will hold you accountable for not saying anything. This is not to scare you, but to show you the seriousness of the situation. To show you the responsibility and the duty placed before you. And also to show you your sin. I, too, am guilty of not speaking up and speaking out. I’m sure there are people who have died for whose lives I am held responsible because I neglected to say a word. My friends, may this never be! May this never be ever again for any of us! What a terrible thing it is to be held responsible for a person’s eternity because we did not point them to the cornerstone when we had the chance. Who in here is not guilty of that grievous sin against our fellow human beings and against God? Who in here can be sure that they will not fall into this sin again?
My fellow temples of the Holy Spirit built on Christ the cornerstone, I do not want you to despair. Although not telling someone about Christ is a heinous crime and a shameful lack of love - that’s why we rely on Christ the cornerstone in the first place. We lean and trust and rely on him because we cannot rely on ourselves. We are too sinful. We are too weak. We are too unreliable. Christ is not. He is strong and powerful - perfectly able and willing to forgive us all our sins. And he does. Christ has become our cornerstone. There is no other. There doesn’t need to be. He is everything we need and more.
Christ is called our cornerstone in Scripture for a specific reason. And realize that cornerstones used to play a more prominent role in the construction of buildings then they do today. Today the purpose of a cornerstone is simply to be engraved with the date of construction. But back in biblical times a cornerstone was an important part of any building. It was the first stone to be laid down - and every other stone would be set in proportion to it. That means the entire building was built upon, around, and in line with that one stone.
So are we. We are built upon, around, and in line with Christ our cornerstone. “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you” (1 Cor. 3:16)? Paul tells us, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). We could do nothing without Christ. If he is our cornerstone then without him our lives would cease to have direction. Without him our faith would fail to have its foundation. In fact, without Christ as our cornerstone we wouldn’t be temples at all. Because without the cornerstone no other block can be laid.
This is what you need to tell to others. This is the message that you need to communicate somehow in some way to those around you. They are rejecting the Son of God, their cornerstone, their Savior. They will go to hell if the Holy Spirit does not work in their hearts through you. Do not let the Lord down. Do not let them down. They desperately need you and they don’t even know it.
Two weeks from today is the perfect opportunity to share this message with others. Two weeks from today is Easter Sunday. The greatest day of the year. The day on which is proclaimed the clearest and simplest gospel message one could ever hear. Make every effort to bring those you know to that service so that they can hear the Word. The Holy Spirit can work through that Word in ways that we cannot. Please, for the sake of their souls, give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to do what he does best.
Easter Sunday, incidentally, has a strong connection with our text for today. Jesus himself was referring to Easter when he quoted Psalm 118 in our text, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” Jesus was talking about himself. He was talking about his own resurrection. Although he would be rejected, beaten, harassed, and murdered, he would become the cornerstone of our salvation on Easter morning when he rose from the tomb. This is what Jesus was communicating to those who rejected him. So shouldn’t we? This is what Jesus wanted to tell those who refused to believe in him. Shouldn’t we? This is the message Jesus boldly proclaimed despite what people would think of him. Shouldn’t we?
My brothers and sisters, as temples of the Holy Spirit built on Christ our cornerstone, do not be ashamed of that. Let people know your joy and your faith. Let them know the eternal life that you are looking forward to because of Christ and what he has done. There is no sweeter message than that. There is no greater news to be spread. And now is the time to do it. The people we love are dying. The people we love are rejecting the Son. The people we love are ending up in hell. And we hold and our built on the only cure.
Amen.

“[Jesus] appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.”
- 1 Tim. 3:16