On being joined to Jesus, Paul mentions in his Epistle to the Ephesians that Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone. The Jews had a legend based on a statement of the psalmist. According to that legend, when the Temple of Solomon was being built, the masons sent up from the quarry below a stone different in size and shape from all the rest they had sent up. Looking at it, the builders said: “There is no place for this stone. There must be some mistake.” So, they rolled it down the cliff’s edge into the valley of Kidron below the Temple area. As time went on (for the Temple was seven years in building), they were ready for the chief cornerstone. When they asked for it, they were told, “We sent it up to you long ago.” One of the workmen said: “I recall it now. There was a stone altogether different from the rest, and we thought there was no place for it and rolled it down to the valley below.” Men were sent down to the valley to find the stone. They succeeded in doing so; when the stone was brought up, it fitted perfectly into its place—the headstone of the corner.¹ We are powerfully joined to Jesus and one another. Jesus is the cornerstone, but what does that mean? That’s what we are going to focus on this week’s podcast: Connectedness: How We Are Powerfully Joined to Jesus and One Another.

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#S4-049: What the Bible Says about the End of the World [Podcast]

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Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

The challenge today is to realize just how joined to Jesus we are. And by knowing and understanding that, allowing that revelation to change our relationships with others.

Join the Conversation

Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
This week’s question is:

Question: How does the essential nature of being joined with Jesus change your perspective on your relationships with Him? Would you please share your thoughts in the comments section below?

Episode Resources:

If you need healing in your body, you can find additional information on the subject of Miracles in the resources listed below.

1. Why Divine Healing Is Better for Your Life [Podcast]
2. Changing A Life Through Miracles
3. Becoming A Student of Miracles: More Lessons
4. Is God A Miracle Working God?
5. The Value of Humility and Consecration In the Miracles of God
6. Healing Scripture List
7. How You Can Know Jesus Will Do Miracles for You [Podcast]
8. Why You Should Absolutely Be a Student of Miracles [Podcast]
9. How to Use the Name of Jesus to Live a Miracle Life [Podcast]
10. Why This Miracle of Jesus Matters [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic, you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com.

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Podcast Notes

Ephesians 2:19–22 (ESV) — 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Joined with Jesus the Cornerstone

• Notice the following terms in this passage that we read: listen to these words.
• Cornerstone – ‘Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.’
• The term ‘cornerstone’ shows how we are joined to Jesus.
• The next word is structure – ‘in whom the whole structure, being joined together.’
• Here’s another word to note — temple — this whole structure of which Jesus is the cornerstone grows into a holy temple.
• And the last word that should capture your thinking is the word built — In Him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
• What kind of terms are these? — cornerstone, structure, temple, built.
• Paul uses the imagery of a building — a house, a structure, a temple, an edifice.
• He uses all of this to describe the ‘house of God.’
• So, the church is a house.
• Now, you should already be familiar with another parallel analogy that of the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:27 (ESV) — 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

• So, the church is a house — the church is a body.
• These analogies — these different symbolic pictures all show us the same thing, how followers of Jesus are intimately connected in Him.
• It not only shows how we are connected in Him, but it also shows how we are connected to Him.
• But that’s not the only analogies that show our connectedness.

Household: Another Analogy of Our Being Joined to Jesus

Galatians 6:10 (ESV) — 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

1 Timothy 3:15 (ESV) — 15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

• The word household is one we want to look at, and, with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
• The Greek word ‘household’ means persons related by kinship or circumstances and form a closely-knit group, members of a household²
• A household is a closely-knit group.
• The church is supposed to be a closely-knit group.
• Those words fall short of the relationship that it is.
• On the earth today, there are two households.
• There are two families.
• Jesus alluded to this.

John 8:44 (ESV) — 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

• Jesus said, ‘You are of your father the devil.’
• Fathers are heads of households – a closely-knit group of people.
• So, there is the fatherhood of God and the fatherhood of the devil; choose you this day whom you will serve.
• So, men go to hell not because of what they do but because of who they are – who their father is.
• Again, ‘household’ is an analogy of our connectedness.

Marriage: Another Analogy of Being Joined to Jesus

• Here is another one.

Ephesians 5:23–32 (ESV) — 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

• So, the union of husband and wife — the love that’s supposed to be between husband and wife — the intimate relationship that’s supposed to occur between husband and wife is a picture of the church’s union with Him.
• If you understand that — you should look at your marriage.
• Is your marriage full of the same kind of love that Christ has for the church?
• This whole thing that you keep hearing about husbands and wives not sleeping together — that husband and wife are just roommates is as far off from the plan of God as you can get.
• Roommates are not God’s plan — never was God’s plan.
• Husbands and wives despising one another is not God’s plan – never was.
• Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her is the plan — the sacrificial kind of love to the point where one is willing to die for their spouse is the Jesus kind of life.
• Until death do you part is the real deal.
• This divorce thing we have going on where people get divorced for little or nothing is not the Jesus kind of life.

Temple: An Analogy of Our Being Joined to Jesus and One Another

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 (ESV) — 16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

• ‘Do you not know’ is a statement made implying that one should know.
• It could be stated like this, ‘But of course, you know’ or ‘certainly you know that you are God’s temple …,”
• This is a fact in evidence — it’s a fact that you are supposed to know.
• Every believer should understand that they are part of God’s temple.
• Now, I say part because it’s not `you individually that’s a Temple.
• You may have heard people say, ‘my body is a Temple.’
• Well, they’re piggybacking off this scripture and, by so doing, pulling it totally out of context.
• Your physical body is not the Temple — that’s Western individualism speaking.
• The Temple referenced here in First Corinthians chapter three is the church – an entire group of people.
• The church is the Temple — the ‘eklesia’ is the Temple — the collective body of believers is the Temple.
• The Temple is only in-effect when you physically come together.
• What did the scripture say would happen when the Temple assembles?

Acts 2:1–4 (ESV) — 1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

• You see, they were all of one accord – that’s the unity piece that we talked about in last week’s podcast.
• Here in Acts two, we see the Temple assembling and coming together.
• What takes place?
• Just what Paul said in Corinthians – God’s Spirit dwelled in those believers.
• The Greek word ‘dwelled’ means to reside in a place ³
• So, Jesus’ followers coming together in one accord transform into the Temple, and the Spirit of God moves in and dwells there.
• And, where the Spirit of God dwells – stuff happens – life-changing stuff takes place.
• We have already read it – divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
• They ended up speaking in languages that everyone understood.
• It’s the Tower of Babel reversed.
• You remember that God confused the languages at Babel.

Genesis 11:1–9 (ESV) — 1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

• Now, home in on this – these people were in building mode.
• They were building a city and a tower – a structure.
• The building did not have God as its cornerstone.
• But the inhabitants of Babel had everything else right in terms of unity.
• This is a marvelous example for the church.
• We can learn from the negative here.
• You might be thinking, ‘I thought we needed to talk about overflow?’
• Wake up! — this is how you get to overflow.
• These unrighteous inhabitants of Babel spoke the same words – they spoke the same language – they were one people.
• And God declared that because they had those essentials in place, nothing they would put their minds to do would be withheld from them.
• So, the key to getting anything done is unity.
• This principle of unity even works in the negative.
• It works in the realm of darkness to a certain extent.
• Because there is so much strife and division in the realm of darkness, anything that gets built doesn’t last long.

Luke 11:17–18 (ESV) — 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

• Every kingdom divided falls – everyone.
• So, anything Satan builds won’t last long — it can’t.
• Longevity is never a trait of darkness.
• Look at this thing now; it’s been going on for thousands of years.
• A new guy comes on the scene, and Satan enters into that gentleman, and through that person, he tries to conquer the world.
• It’s happened repeatedly.
• But where are those kingdoms today?
• They sprout up for a little bit, and then they’re gone.
• They can’t sustain themselves.
• Look what happened to the giants in Genesis 6? – gone.
• What about Pharaoh of the Exodus? – gone.
• Look at the Babylonian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar, and bunch – gone.
• Look at the Medes and the Persians – gone.
• Look at the Roman Empire – gone.
• Look at Genghis Khan, Hitler, Idia Amin, Saddam Hussein, Ayatollah Khomeini – gone.
• Darkness cannot sustain itself.
• They build towers and try to assemble around a unifying theme – Hitler galvanized an entire with his speeches – but it only lasted a few years.
• They’re able to create some havoc for a little while, but, long term, they are unable to process anything for the future.
• The bulldozer of God’s righteousness just plows these buildings of darkness down.
• Jesus said it can’t.
• So, unifying speech is the key to productivity.
• The mouth is the source of all righteousness and unrighteousness.
• If you want to establish righteousness, you must get your mouth moving.
• Evil men established darkness in Babel by expressing the abundance of their hearts with words.
• So, God’s solution to that was easy.
• Confuse the unifying speech.
• These people at Babel lost none of their building ability.
• They didn’t lose any of their creative thinking.
• They had the same muscle, the same manpower, the same plans were drawn up — all the ability – all the wisdom and building prowess, but they couldn’t do anything with it because what pulls everything together is unity of speech.
• So, by using this method, God is sending a message to all of us.
• He is showing you that the real key is to countering darkness and establishing righteousness.
• Get the speech straight.

James 3:6–8 (ESV) — 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

• So, God simply confused their languages, which broke up the unity they had revived.
• So, when the Jesus followers got into the Upper Room and got into one accord – when they came into a place of unity – the spirit of God came and dwelt in that structure, and that structure now is called the Temple.
• It’s a new kind of building.
• Now, look what happened.
• Tongues began to come forth and utterances in the languages of all the people.

Acts 2:5–11 (ESV) — 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

• The effect was to bring people who were separated, alienated, not of the commonwealth of Israel into the Body – brought them into the unity of Jesus, and now they become Temple.
• Do you see what a wonderful thing God did here?
• Now maybe you can understand why this is bad.

Hebrews 10:25 (ESV) — 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

• Yes, you need to come together to be the Temple.
• The whole thing you need to see is that there is an indwelling – an abiding of the Spirit when the Temple assembles.
• When you understand this — when you understand all that happens in church — you will realize that the phrase God’s Temple means that God goes to church.
• He goes to the Temple – which is the corporate body.
• God comes to His Temple, and why not? — God comes to His dwelling — His home.
• So, Temple is another way of saying the church.

Joined and Connected to Jesus

• Whatever analogy you use, believers have a closeness that transcends physical space and boundaries.
• You are way closer to the person you are sitting next to than the physical space between you if you both are in Jesus.
• Think in terms of the human body – think about the individual, parts of a body – how many cells make up an organ, and the complexity of the DNA strands involved.
• This is the very picture God used to describe you and Him in union.
• You are joined with Jesus – you are in union with Him, and because you are, you are in union with one another.

Ephesians 4:15–16 (ESV) — 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Cornerstone: An Analogy of Our Being Joined to Jesus

• Let’s get back to our passage in Ephesians two.

Ephesians 2:19–22 (ESV) — 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

• Here is the last analogy we will look at today – the cornerstone.
• A cornerstone is a right-angle stone that connects one wall to another.
• A cornerstone is a connecting stone.
• The cornerstone speaks of being joined to Jesus and to one another.

1 Peter 2:4–8 (ESV) — 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

• The cornerstone Jesus is described here as living, chosen, and precious.
• Jesus was prophesied as the cornerstone way back in Isaiah.

Isaiah 28:16–17 (ESV) — 16 therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ 17 And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”

Psalm 118:22 (ESV) — 22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

• The cornerstone was the most important stone in an ancient building, it was the first stone set in the foundation, and all other blocks were plumbed to it.⁴
• Now think about your connectedness to this stone.
• The cornerstone is laid in the corner of a building.
• Stones are laid in place next to it on either side.
• Two walls are joined at right angles.
• Then stones get placed on top of these tones. And stones are placed on top of those stones, and a wall is erected based on the cornerstone.
• These stones are in physical contact with each other and, by so doing, build a wall.
• So, if we say in the spirit of what Paul is trying to communicate here — that Jew and Gentile are one – then you have the wall jetting out from the right are the Jews and the wall jetting out from the left at a right angle is the Gentiles.
• And Jesus is the cornerstone between the two.
• So, how does Jesus connect ‘walls.’
• He connects Jew and Gentile.
• He joins the Old Testament with the New Testament.
• Jesus preached to the saints of the Old Testament who were locked in paradise – He led captivity captive.
• He joined the Old Testament saints into the same body as the New.
• We are joined with Jesus and with one another.
• He connects sinners with salvation.
• He connects races of people into one body.
• He connects the sick with healing.
• He connects the tormented with peace.
• He connects the ignorant with knowledge.
• He connects His people with purpose.
• He connects the unworthy with grace.
• He connects the orphans with sonship.
• He connects the sorrowful with hope.
• That’s my Jesus.

What is The Costly Foundation of Worship?

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References: