The evergreen hymn Christ Is Our Cornerstone has this as the first stanza:

Christ is our cornerstone,
On him alone we build.
With his true saints alone
The courts of heav’n are filled.
On his great love our hopes we place
Of present grace and joys above.

Our text in Matthew 7:24-27 sets out that hearing the words of the Lord and doing them, puts us upon a firm foundation that cannot be shaken by the elements or storms of life. Yet He spoke in Matthew 16:16-18, of the change of name from Simon Barjona to Simon Peter. What’s the catch here and what lesson is there for us?

In context, this conversation relates to Peter recognizing the Lord as the Christ, something that the scribes and the Pharisees and perhaps some of the disciples had stumbled upon! One inescapable truth is that you cannot build upon the foundation of rock with any material that is not of rock (1 Corinthians 3:11-12).

Simon Peter expressed that quality, hence his being renamed stone to emblemize the faith he truly represents. Peter had witnessed at close hand, the power of the Lord expressed in miracles—he required no further evidence. Your intimacy with Christ makes you know Him above all others and makes you also known to Him.

Beloved, faith is the stone upon which Christ’s body will be built, not intellect, neither traditions nor religion. Paul scripted the same in Romans 1:17, 20-21

For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith…For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification], Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened. Romans 1:17, 20-21 (AMPC)

Looking around you, the evidence abounds who Jesus Christ is, the creator of all things. You have no excuse dearly beloved not to be a stone, an integral part of His body, having purchased you from Satan, the evil slave driver. Run to Jesus, run. Shalom.



Pastor Afolabi Oladele