A Firm Foundation
- Blog by David Voorhees
(Luke 6: 46-49)
Each one of us is building something. In most, if not all, cases we are trying to build many things simultaneously. We are striving to build a marriage, a family, and a good life. We are striving to build a strong community, country, and church. The question must be asked. What are you striving to build these things upon?
For what you are building to be strong and lasting, the foundation upon which you are constructing must be strong so that what you build will be able to stand when the wind blows, the rain falls, the lightning crashes, the thunder rolls, and the river rises. But before you can build upward, you must build below. You must start with a strong, solid foundation.
How is your foundation? Let’s begin today by inspecting the foundation upon which we are striving to build our homes, churches, and our relationship with God and the people in our lives. There is but one Foundation upon which we must build. He is the Rock upon which we stand, and His name is Jesus Christ.
(Ephesians 2:19-22)
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
(1Corinthians 3:11)
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Consider the conversation that Jesus had with Peter in Matthew 16:13-18.
When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
In no way was Jesus saying to Peter that he was the rock or foundation of the church but rather that He, Jesus, was the rock upon which His church would be built. Jesus told the Jews that they might destroy His body, but in three days it would be raised again (John 2:19). His body would be broken, but the foundation would not be shaken. The church is not founded or built on a broken man like Peter or any other.
Peter would be used by God the begin to lay the stones of the church upon the Foundation, the Cornerstone of the church. Peter began to preach the Gospel on the day of Pentecost to the Jews and later to the Gentiles of the house of Cornelius, but he was not the foundation. Jesus Christ is the Rock upon which the church must be built. The church that strays from this great truth has ceased to be standing upon the Solid Rock.
So, what does laying a solid foundation look like in the Christian life?
It begins with doing (V46)
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
If asked, we would all say that Jesus is our Lord. But do our words match up with our actions? We often confuse what we want and what our pride demands we do with what God wants us to do. We behave religiously. But, so did the Pharisees, and they were the ones that crucified Jesus. Simply engaging in religious things does not equate to obedience toward God and His revealed Word.
(Matthew 7:21-29)
It continues with doing (V47)
Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like.
Once we have begun doing, we need to continue.
This will be a conscience effort. You will not do the things of God by accident; you will only do them on purpose with a purpose. Our purpose is the key aspect. The why, who, and how of your purpose matters.
Are you the purpose? Is your marriage the purpose? If the glory, honor, and praise of Jesus Christ are not your purpose, you have made a crucial mistake. If you are the purpose of your doing things for God, what happens when you grow weary of doing the things of God and begin to rule your heart? Or what happens when your spouse, the reason for your doing things for God, lets you down? What then?
I will tell you what then. You will stop doing the things you did because they were based on the wrong purpose. Those purposes will fail you. But Jesus never will.
Make sure Jesus is your purpose and continue being a doer of the Word.
(James 1:22-25)
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Doing takes effort (V48)
He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
If you are going to find a solid base upon which to build your foundation, you will have to dig. The rock upon which you need to build a solid structure is not on the surface but is deep within the earth only to be discovered by effort.
You must dig into the Word of God, take the knowledge you gain, and apply it to your life in order to build a strong and solid foundation.
(Psalm 119:28, 133, Psalm 138:2, 2 Timothy 2:15)
Collapse takes doing nothing (V49)
But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
To build a strong refuge, a home that is safe and pleasing to God will take effort, but to build a house and life that collapses when the storms come takes none. The thing about not putting effort into something is that it is easy. Just sit back and do nothing or do what you want to do the way you want to, then simply sit back and watch your house collapse.
We build on a solid foundation for when the storms of life come. That is when, and not if. You will be attacked by the devil; you will be tempted to sin and to quit. But if you are building a marriage, a family, and a life upon the Word of God; when the storms of life come, you will be able to withstand their raging.
Matthew Henry
“That those who rest in a bare hearing of the sayings of Christ, and do not live up to them, are but preparing for a fatal disappointment: He that heareth and doeth not (that knows his duty, but lives in the neglect of it), he is like a man that built a house without a foundation. He pleases himself with hopes that he has no ground for, and his hopes will fail him when he most needs the comfort of them, and when he expects the crowning of them; when the stream beats vehemently upon his house, it is gone, the sand it is built upon is washed away, and immediately it falls, Such is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained, when God takes away his soul; it is as the spider's web, and the giving up of the ghost.”
