Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

T HE U RBAN M INISTRY I NSTITUTE • 521

The Urban Ministry Institute: Polishing the Stones That the Builders Reject How You Can Equip Leaders for Your Church and Ministry Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis • April 18, 2015

The Stone the Builders Rejected Has Become the Capstone! Ps. 118.22-23 (ESV) – The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. Inspired by text above (and Jesus’ quotation of it in Matthew 21.42), The Urban Ministry Institute has formulated a precise vision regarding God’s selection and preparation of urban leaders. We believe that this text captures the gist of God’s intention to raise up laborers for his harvest among the urban poor. Jesus Himself is the Pattern for Urban Leadership Development Most scholars believe this to be a proverb, but with a huge amount of an ironic twist: a stone was rejected for building purposes by the very builders themselves. However, this rejected stone proves to be of inestimable value and worth. This despised stone turns out on further inspection to be the chief cornerstone, often called the bondstone or the capstone, the corner of the foundation, the crowning stone of all. In light of the plain NT references, this text alludes to Christ Jesus,* the Stone of Stumbling. The so-called “builders” in Israel, who rejected his lordship, ignored the very one who has now been exalted through the anointing and election of God. As the Stone laid in Zion by Yahweh himself, Jesus is the Capstone, the Chief and Precious Cornerstone, whom believed in and relied upon never disappoints (Isa. 28.16). This powerful messianic prophecy has a corollary truth conjoined to it that lies at the heart of both the Old and New Testament citations about God’s choice and our rejection of it. A principle emerges that illustrates the complexity of God’s divine irony in leadership selection. This principle clearly reveals the precise nature of God’s choice of men and women to represent him. God’s Choice of the Poor God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom to come (James 2.5). God chooses the broken to confound the whole, the foolish to shame the wise, and the poor to astound the rich. He has elected what is base and despised to shame the honorable, and what is weak and pathetic to humble the strong. God chooses and exalts what

* Matthew 21.42; Mark 12.10; Luke 20.17; Acts 4.11; Ephesians 2.20; 1 Peter 2:4, 7