JESUS IS THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH

There is no Church if it were not for Jesus Christ. Jesus is the foundation of the Church of God (1 Corinthians 3:11). This very fact Jesus does recognize. Thus it is called the Church of Christ.

For when Jesus asked what the Disciples thought of Him, Peter replied; "...you are the Christ, the Son of the living God". Then Jesus told Peter it was not of his (Peter's) own that he had such a revelation. Jesus went on to say; "...and on this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:17-18). Rather the rock is Jesus Himself. That Peter said so, he (Peter) was only reaffirming the fact that it is indeed upon the person of Jesus that the Church is built. For the person of Jesus is that He (Jesus) is the Son of God and the Christ.

Jesus is the cornerstone of the body of the Church. Rather Jesus is the spine (Psalms 118:22), (Matthew 21:42), (Acts 4:11). A cornerstone is the type of stone upon which the strength of a building is determined. And mark you, scripture says; "...the cornerstone..." Using the word "the" means one of its kind. Without Jesus then, the Church is not.

However, much as we may understand Jesus in that perspective, it is also pretty important that we understand how He (Jesus) becomes the indisputable foundation of the Church. That is; how is it that Jesus is indisputably vital and inseparable from the being of the Church?

Why did Jesus say; "all who came before me were thieves and robbers" (John 10:8). What did He mean by  this? 

Jesus said this because no one else would or has ever measured up. For we know that Jesus died not that He had been supposed to (for it was of Himself that He chose to) (John 10:18), but that He did so, it was purely meant to remit the world of sin. In that then, we ought to understand how Jesus did it. Three factors will help us in this direction:

• The person of Jesus Christ, 

• His (Jesus') blood

• Cross.

Yet despite all this fact, we can't underestimate what makes the meaning of what He did. That is; if Jesus had simply come, shed His blood and went to the cross but without giving in His life, or if He gave in His life but didn't resurrect, He would have been held as one of the great men of the world but who would be no exceptional to the dictates of nature.

Why should Jesus' death be that important?

Jesus ought to have died if He were to set the world free of sin. For sin is indisputably consequential. Sin produces death (Romans 6:23), (1 Peter 3:18). On that therefore, that Jesus carried the sin of the world, to make exact meaning of it, He had to die. That is; if Jesus had not died, sin would have remained strong.

Why it is a must that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

Jesus ought to have risen if to give hope that there is life after mortality. For all through, Jesus assured us that whoever believes in Him, even though he were dead, if we believe in Him, (by Him) we can live again (John 12:23-25), (John 11:25), (John 5:24), (1Corinthians 15:51-57). 

In this then, Jesus demonstrated this to us when He died and rose again. So then, we are not only strengthened by His word, but more so that He kept His word. Upon this, the Church finds it possible to draw many to Jesus because of the indisputable hope of life. The Thessalonian Church increased on this fact. For death, much more so the fact that it is eternal if not for Christ, is the worst monster which faces every human ever (Genesis 3:17-19). But now that Christ has risen, there is hope of life after death. And to those who are of Christ, the power of death is no more (1Corinthians 15:51-57).

The person of Jesus

Jesus is the indisputable Son of God (Matthew 3:17; 17:5), (Mark 1:11), (John 14:13). Jesus is gazetted by God the Father to remit the world of sin (Luke 2:11), (1Timothy 1:15), (Luke 19:9-10). To this, Jesus never succumbed to the dictates of this world as the rest of us do (John 8:46). No one comes out to accuse Jesus of sin, not even at the sentence to be Crucified (Matthew 27:1, 27:15-26). For the Church is built around the person of Jesus Christ.

 The Blood

In the Old Testament (OT), the blood of animals was used to cover upon sin (atonement) (Leviticus 17:11). Blood is also used to make any meaningful spiritual covenant (Matthew 26:28), (Mark 14:24). So it is that Jesus had to shed His blood to remit the world of sin (John 19:33-34), (Hebrews 9:12-14; 10:3-14). Without the pouring of Jesus' blood, sin would have remained strong. But with the blood of Jesus, sin is not just forgiven, but it is washed away by the same blood.

The Cross

The cross is indispensable for sin to be forgiven. For Jesus carried the sin of the world. That He was crucified signifies sin was pinned on the cross and made to be no more. The sense in the cross is that it is the point of exchange; sin for Christ's righteousness (Romans 13:14). If one does not understand the purpose of the cross, neither will he ever understand the project of salvation. For the cross is God's power to save man (1Corinthians 1:18). For the cross has a very telling history.

 There is the reason the Church is. For the gist of the Church is Jesus Christ. He (Jesus) is the head and the Church is His body. Jesus is the author and finisher of the Christian Faith (Hebrews 12:2). He (Jesus) is the glory and the hope of the Church. This can never be disputed.