THE FOUNDATONS OF FAITH INTRODUCTION

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psa11:3

When the righteous do not have good solid foundations then they are powerless in the day of trouble. When their foundations are destroyed they can do nothing. One of the most important things we need in our lives is stability.

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Col2:6-7

Part of the reason most of us are not stable in life is because we have not been established on the essential foundational truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do not have good foundations for our lives. We do not have solid foundations for our beliefs. It is God’s will that we are established in the faith.

The reason most of us are not stable and established in the faith is simply because we have never laid good foundations. We do not even know what comprises a good foundation. We do not know what is important and what isn’t. We spend most of our time and effort concentrating on what is not important. And yet it is very crucial for us to find out what is foundational and get established on that before anything else. The most important thing is to find out the most important thing.

First, not all truths in the Word of God are essential or foundational. Some truths are not essential or foundational. Knowing or believing them doesn’t impact much on how we live our lives. For example the end times, the rapture, the Sabbath day, demonology, generational curses, the anti-Christ etc.

Secondly, there are important and very important truths in the bible which are not foundational. These truths are very important to us and determine so many things. However they are not foundational and essential. They include prayer, gifts of the spirit, healing, prosperity, miracles, service and so many others. All these are very important truths, however they only work in our lives when our hearts have been established upon the essential foundational truths of the gospel.

Then there are the essential foundational truths that all of us must be established upon before anything else. These give us stability and enable our faith to work properly as it should. These will be the focus of this study.

God wants for us to be established in the faith and to be rooted and built up in Christ from the time we are born again henceforth. That at no time in our life should we depart from Christ and from deriving stability and life from Him. That as we go forward with our life, we never depart from the foundation of Christ.

“And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers. His intention was the perfecting {and} the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church), [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ {and} the completeness found in Him. So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching {and} wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning {and} cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead. Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way {and} in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints {and} ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.” Eph4:11-16 AMP

God has given unto the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers so as to equip and prepare the saints to do the ministry and build the body of Christ. The work of the ministry is for the saints, not for the clergy.

The goal/ purpose of God in all this is that all of us will come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God, that we become perfect and mature, that we are of full stature as Jesus is.

That we become firm and stop being tossed to and fro by various doctrines and teachings of men. But that we be rooted in Christ. This is why a good foundation is absolutely necessary.

“For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;” Col1:19-23

What is the faith?

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:” Rom1:1-6

This term commonly used in the New Testament simply refers to everything God did in Christ, through Christ and by Christ on the Cross. This work God had promised before through the law and the prophets that He would do. He communicates this to us through the preaching of the gospel. Those that believe come into what Paul calls ‘obedience to the faith’. The word for obedience here also means compliance and submission. In other words it means believing, complying and submitting to what God has done on the Cross i.e. the righteousness of God. Paul ably explained this concept in Romans10 as we shall see later.

What is being established in the faith?

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” 1Cor16:13

Being established in the faith then simply means trusting in the fact that God did everything that He said He had done through Jesus. It is being grounded and settled in the righteousness of God by faith which is communicated to us through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is what God desires for all of us; to continue, to stay at, to be still, to abide, to remain, to persevere in what He has accomplished on the Cross by His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. To be rooted in Christ.

 “Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” Lk6:46-49 ESV
“Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not [practice] what I tell you? For everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words [in order to heed their teaching] and does them, I will show you what he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood arose, the torrent broke against that house and could not shake {or} move it, because it had been securely built {or founded on a rock}. But he who merely hears and does not practice doing My words is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation, against which the torrent burst, and immediately it collapsed {and} fell, and the breaking {and} ruin of that house was great.” Lk6:46-49 AMP

Note1: Jesus is the rock upon which the foundation of our house should be built. His gospel is the truth that establishes us upon a solid foundation.

Note2: The truths that Jesus gave to us are not for our adornment or decoration. (talking Christianese, quoting scripture etc.). These truths are for our establishment. They should be established in our hearts because they are what establish us on a solid foundation.

Note3: The truths that Jesus spoke to us through the Cross are foundational truths. They are the truths we need to establish our hearts upon and build our lives on. Jesus didn’t just come to make our lives better, to correct our speech, to give us some money, to heal our bodies and so on and so forth. Jesus came to transform us, to transfer us.

Note4: The truths that Jesus gave unto us are the ones that are essential and foundational. We should meditate upon them until they are deeply ingrained in our hearts. Until we live in them. This is what He called digging the foundation upon a rock.

Failure to do the above is what is causing many of us to fail and collapse in the day of adversity. It is what causes even those that appear to be strong to collapse and fall back into sin. They haven’t dug their foundation upon solid rock.

The problem with a faulty foundation is that however much time and resources we spend on a house/ building, we are trying to fix something that is falling apart. Patching up the cracks and painting afresh doesn’t solve a faulty foundation.

There is only one solution for a faulty foundation, break up the whole house and dig a brand new foundation. This is what the Holy Spirit seeks to do in us and with us when He is establishing us upon Christ, He seeks to break everything up and start afresh laying a proper foundation upon Christ.

The foundation of a building is the most important part of a building. It is a weak foundation that causes a building to fall. Buildings don’t fall because of paint or fixtures or the plumbing.

Our foundational beliefs are the most important part of our Christianity. A faulty foundational belief is what causes most Christians to waver and fall.

 It is when we haven’t established our hearts upon the essential foundational truths of the gospel that when lies come we have nothing to stand upon. When sickness, poverty, lack or whatever crisis arises then it is as if our whole Christianity just tumbles down. It is like we have nothing to stand upon, we are powerless and hopeless. It shouldn’t be this way. We need to establish a solid foundation.

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