AI Summary
5 min readThe Church as a Temple Built Together
"Consequently, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone." Keller opens Ephesians 2 with this passage to make a claim that cuts against modern individualism: the Christian faith cannot function—cannot even properly exist—in isolation. The church is not a gathering of consumers who come to get their needs met, but a living temple where each person is a building block, and blocks separated from one another are useless.
Two Things Needed for Faith to Spread
Keller argues that for people to move from unbelief to belief, two things must be demonstrated: credibility and plausibility. Credibility is intellectual—is Christianity true, coherent, supported by evidence? This is the work of communication, of preaching and teaching the Word. But plausibility is different. It asks: does this faith actually work? Does it make a practical, visible difference in how people live together?
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:03) **Introduction: Faith is Personal, But the Bible's Vision is Bigger** - The host introduces the sermon series theme: God brings people into relationship with Himself and into a new kind of community with each other.
- 2 (00:50) **The Necessity of Both Communication and Community** - Keller introduces his core thesis: for the Christian faith to spread, both the communication of the Word and the community of the Lord must be highly developed.
- 3 (07:07) **The Need for a Biblical Picture of the Church** - Keller urges the congregation to have a passionate, biblical vision for what the church can be, which requires time, emotion, money, and vulnerability.
- 4 (08:46) **Three Biblical Pictures of the Church's Unity** - Keller introduces three metaphors from the passage: citizens in a kingdom, members of a family, and stones in a temple.
- 5 (10:55) **The Temple Metaphor: You Absolutely Need Each Other** - Keller argues that the image of building blocks in a temple shows Christians have no function apart from intimate unity with each other.
- 6 (16:14) **The Practical Implication: Church Membership and Accountability** - Keller argues that the unity of the body requires formal commitment and accountability to spiritual leaders.
- 7 (23:49) **The Second Point: Access to God's Presence** - Keller transitions to the second major theme of the temple metaphor: believers have access to the very presence of God.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Being part of a church doesn’t mean we’re part of an audience. Rather, each of us is a building block that plays a crucial part in making up the whole.
The apostle Paul explains this when he says we as Christians are stones that build a holy temple—stones that must enjoy unity, connection, and intimacy if we are to hold together. And if we rely on Jesus Christ as our cornerstone, we can immerse ourselves in true community even when it takes sacrifice.
Let’s explore how 1) we are all stones that make up a holy temple, and 2) see that we now have access to the presence of God.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 18, 1993. Series: Salvation From the Outside In. Scripture: Ephesians 2:19-22.
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