BY JACK WARD
PASTOR, TOMAHAWK MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH
The Apostles were the foundation of the Christian faith, but they built upon the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ. Without the cornerstone there could be no sound foundation and without the foundation there can be no building.
Acts 4:10-12: “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Haddon Robinson tells the story of a young Chinese boy who wanted to learn all about jade. He went to an old teacher who specialized in the beautiful gem and asked him to teach him. The old man agreed.
In lesson 1, the old man placed a piece of the precious stone into the young man’s hand and told him to hold it tight. Then the old teacher began to talk of philosophy, men, women, the sun and almost everything under it. After an hour, the teacher took the stone from the boy and sent him home, telling him to return the next day. The boy was confused but thought surely the next day would be different. But the procedure was repeated the next day and for several weeks, each time with a different piece of jade. He wanted to be polite to his venerable teacher, but finally, after weeks of this, he was going to quit.
The boy came into the lesson, sat down, and the old man put a strange stone into his hand. Instinctively, the boy said, “Hey, that’s not jade!” The teacher replied, “Now, you are ready to work with the precious stone; for now, you recognize the genuine.”
Do you? Or are you trying to base your contentment on all the counterfeit things this world offers? If you want to live a satisfied life, you must recognize the genuine, the cornerstone, Jesus Christ.
The people of Jesus’ day did not recognize the true cornerstone and chose to build their religion with inferior materials of the law and the works of man. The religion they built did not have the approval of the master builder and creator, God Himself! We must build our lives upon Christ, or we will never know the God who made us.
Today copies are made so well that it is hard to recognize the genuine article. We have generic medicines that are just like real medicine. We have Dr Cola and Dr Pepper. We have Lee jeans and Rustler jeans. How can you tell the real from the copy?
While in most things the copy is just as good as the original, there are some things that cannot be copied or faked. For instance, in the word of God, there is no generic salvation or alternative way of salvation. We must recognize the false ways of man and the true way God has approved and made available to us.
God’s way is not in any religion; it is not a set of rules; it is not in the government. God’s way is not a change in the way we think or feel. God’s way is not in a new book on Oprah Winfrey’s show. God’s way is in a person, a Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.
God didn’t send His Son to teach us a new way. God sent Jesus to be the way! Jesus is genuine; He is real; He is the cornerstone of all that God wants us to build our lives upon. He is everything!
A seminary president told his students, “We are taught not to put all of our eggs into one basket, but I say to you that you MUST put all of your eggs in one basket and then mind that basket! That basket is the only genuine and true thing worth living and dying for. Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, the life and the cornerstone of God.”
Watch Pastor Jack’s sermons and read his articles online at tomahawkmbc.com. Listen to his sermons on WSIP FM 98.9 every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Watch his Facebook lives by visiting Jack Ward’s page at 11:25 a.m. and 6:10 p.m. every Sunday.