“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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