Elemental: S2 - Day 4

“…choose for yourselves this day… But as for me…” Joshua 24:15

Let’s admit something. As we start reconstruction by grabbing a meaningful brick and looking for a foundational keystone, we are not equals in this conversation. I’m the writer, controlling which blocks we look at, the sequence, and priorities. You, the reader, decide if I’ve shared anything of value. We each have choices to make. But I’d like to acknowledge that my choices do limit yours. And if you’re not careful, you could accidentally adopt a new checklist of correctness based on my ideas and words. So don’t take anything I write as “the truth.” Test it for yourself. Reorder it. Exercise the freedom to discard what doesn’t make sense, or you don’t find meaningful. Choose for yourself.

How we start rebuilding feels incredibly important. A good foundation is critical. As Jesus’ parable suggests, we’re looking for solid rock rather than shifting sands on which to build. We’re searching for a foundational stone to which all others connect and make sense—a keystone, a cornerstone.

JESUS.  

This probably feels cliché. Like the child who knows that ‘Jesus’ is probably the correct answer to every question received in church, it seems obvious and predictable. Predictable or not, Jesus is the foundation of our faith structure.

Peter had just watched his culture’s faith construct collapse and days later, found himself standing before a large crowd, attempting to explain Jesus. Acts 3 tells of a lame man healed and an uproar that followed. Peter and John spent the night in prison for their claims about Jesus. Everyone knew Jesus had died. And while some had dared hope Jesus was the Messiah, those hopes had been nailed to a cross and dissolved in a tomb. Still, here Peter stands, claiming a game-changing perspective—Jesus is the key to everything we know about God, ourselves, life today, and life eternal.

It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:11-12)

And so we begin to rebuild… with Jesus.

1. When you are with friends, would you rather pick the restaurant or have it chosen for you?
2. How easily do you trust the ideas of others?
3. Is it more comforting or disturbing that Jesus controls your salvation?