Sermonette: The Solid Foundation of God
#115s
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 19-Feb-94; 21 minutes
summary: The leaning tower of Pisa was built on a faulty foundation, causing it to lean off vertical. Architects tried to correct the lean later but failed. Similarly, our spiritual foundation is perfect since it is Jesus Christ and the apostles/prophets. But we affect the foundation by being the ground it's laid on and by how we build upon it. To be solid ground, we must act on and live God's way of life, not just know it intellectually. This anchors us firmly when troubles come. To build carefully on the foundation, we should focus on God's principles, avoid useless arguments over technicalities, and refine ourselves to be useful vessels for God's work. If we've strayed from the straight path, we can reorient ourselves by remembering our calling from God and commission to pursue holiness.
transcript:
In doing this sermonette this week, I looked up the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the encyclopedia just to get some information on it. And I found that the tower now leans 17 feet from the vertical. It is 17 feet off. It was begun in the 15th century and it began all the way back then with a faulty foundation. It started with a bad foundation and there was no other way that that tower could be built except leaning. Now, I do not know if the foundation itself, the actual method that they used was good or well constructed, but they set it in some settling soil or some unstable ground. Or if the foundation itself was poorly constructed, even though it was constructed on good ground. It really does not matter. The building we know now leans 17 feet off the vertical axis. Later architects tried to correct the lean by building against the lean. Buildings start leaning this way, they start building that way to try to correct it, but nothing worked, as we know the tower now leans 17 feet off the vertical. The faulty foundation was the thing that determined how the building would stand and it is not upright, it is leaning. This is not a perfect analogy for our spiritual foundation. We have been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. We find that in Ephesians 2:20. So our foundation is perfect, if you think about it. Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone; we are built on the apostles and the prophets who He Himself inspired, so the foundation is perfect. But we do have two very important parts to play in relation to our sure and solid foundation. And we are going to take a look at both of those things that we have that affects that foundation. The first part we play is that we are the ground on which the foundation is laid. Let us go to Luke 6, verse 47. Most of the time when we talk about this, we go to Matthew in his account of this. But we are going to look at Luke's account of Jesus' parable of the man who built his house on the rock and the man who built his house on the sand. Luke 6:47-49 "Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." So we learn some very vital knowledge by reading this set of verses very carefully. Notice that both of the men that they are talking about here, the wise man and the foolish man, both heard the Word. They both had the instruction. They both had the knowledge of the right way of life that leads to salvation. But only one of them, the wiser of the two of them, did something with the knowledge that he had been given. He acted on it. His life changed because he used it. He took God at His Word and used the principles of life that he heard. He kept the commandments, he loved his neighbor, he gave himself to other people. And these actions, combined with the knowledge that he had, made him rock solid in the faith. He was immovable because he had lived God's way of life himself. He knew it was the right way and he was unshakeable. But the other man was different. He had heard the exact same things that the wiser man had but his knowledge was, let us say, intellectual. He approached God's truth as just a thing that he should take into his mind and not put into his heart and use. He believed what he heard. There is no indication here that he did not believe what the words were that he had gotten, but he never saw any need to follow through or act on it. He never dug deep. Think of that in terms of study. He never anchored his learning on practical experience with God in God's way. Oh, he knew it would work. I am sure he did, but he never proved it. He never proved it to himself that God's way would work by doing it. Now, what is remarkable about these two men is that in good times, no one could tell the difference between the two of them. They both look like upstanding Christians, solid members of the church. It was only when troublesome times came, the storm came, hard rains and strong winds, that anybody could tell who was firmly anchored in the rock, which we know from other scriptures is Christ. Look at the description. It says, "immediately [the man's house] fell." He had no foundation, really, at all and there was no anchor there to hold him. As soon as something came up that even remotely resembled a storm, he was finished. The underpinnings of his life were swept away and he was ruined. But the wise man's house, since it was founded on the truth, withstood all the trials and the tests that were hurled at it. He could tell right from wrong, truth from error, fact from fiction, because he had been living it and he knew, it was part of him. It was not just something he understood, he knew it, and he knew it because he had done it. Let us go to the second part we play and how we affect the foundation. And that is how we build upon it. We are not only the material on which the foundation is set, but we also build upon the foundation. I Corinthians 3. This is the classic statement by the apostle Paul about this matter. I Corinthians 3:10-13 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. [He is the foundation; Paul laid it as well as the other apostles and the prophets.] Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. Now, our faithful teachers in the faith lay the foundation. And Paul repeats here that the foundation is Christ, that any other foundation is really no foundation at all. If someone teaches you theology, religious knowledge, however you want to put it, that is not Christ, is not the foundation that Christ Himself is, then there is nothing to it. There is no substance. After the foundation is laid, as he says again in Hebrew 6:1, we do not need to lay that again. Not laying again the foundation of all those doctrines. We have the responsibility of going on to perfection. This going on to perfection is the same thing as building on the foundation. Just another way of saying the same thing. Obviously, each one of us were different. We are unequal in many ways. We all have different abilities. We all have different intellects. Some of us are just not naturally endowed with the intelligence that others are and some of us are very, very smart. We can just catch things just like that. [*snap] Other people take a long time. Some people have gifts that enable them to understand things, and do things. Some people have talents that they are able to use. Other people have situations that they have come out of that are very burdensome to them and they are still carrying them around and it takes a long time for them to finally let them go. So there are all different kinds of ways that we are different and God knows that we do not all build upon the foundation in the same manner with the same materials. I mean, he says it right there. Some with gold, some with silver, some with precious stones. God is aware of that and He takes those things into consideration. But he also says that He will test everyone's work. He will test how everyone builds on it. Just because we may be building with straw does not mean that He is not going to test it. He wants to see even if our little straw hut is anchored firmly to that rock. He sends winds, fire, water, an earthquake, whatever it happens to be to see if our building will stand. Why? Well, that is found a little bit later in the chapter, verses 16 and 17. He says He is building a temple and He wants a strong temple and each one of us have to be firmly anchored to that rock as part of that temple. So we need to be careful how we build on it, and in building on it, be prepared for the trials that will come because he says He will give them, and we do that by building with caution and using the sound principles of God's Word. So what do we do? How do we build on the foundation? Well, we have an answer to this from the same apostle as he wrote to the young evangelist Timothy. Paul, when this was written, was about to be executed by the Romans. Timothy was his heir apparent, if you will. He was the one whom Paul had given the responsibility of taking over some of the churches that he had begun. And he wanted Timothy to understand as much as he could about how to help people. So much of what he wrote in II Timothy pertains to those times, pertains to holding on to the truth and to the pure doctrine that he had taught. II Timothy 2:14-16 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. II Timothy 2:19-21 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands [that is what we have been talking about], having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Now, Paul tells Timothy, first of all, to remind the congregation of the basic principles that he had outlined at the beginning of the chapter. If you just look back at verse 3, you will see that he told them that the people need to endure hardship as a good soldier. Verse 4, he says, do not become entangled in this world's affairs. These are very important principles to understand in living this Christian life. Do not become entangled in this world's affairs. Verse 5, he says, play by the rules, only those who play by the rules win the prize. So make sure you work within the law, if you will. Verse 6, if you work hard, you will be the one that will be rewarded. Those who work hard reap the benefits. And then verses 8 through 13, he says, remain faithful to Christ and you will be saved. He will not deny you. But then in verse 14; I am going to give you a couple of paraphrases of what I think Paul was getting at here. He says, verse 14, command the congregation not to argue over words that 1) gets you nowhere and 2) undermine the faith of other people, of others in the church. Now, just as is happening today in the church, the people of Paul's day were arguing over the meaning of Greek and Hebrew words in the Scripture. Most of the people at that time, if they had access to a Bible in the Greek world, were reading the Septuagint, which had been written a couple of hundred years earlier. And even at that time, the Greek language had changed enough so that they were arguing over certain Greek, and if they had access to the Hebrew, Hebrew words that really, Paul was saying, do not get us anywhere. He says it does not do much good. And I think the reason why is we can all find authorities to agree with our point of view. So in the end, it does not do a whole lot of good. And the worst thing that can happen is that it can bring spiritual ruin to the weaker in the faith if we are not careful. This is not to say we should not go back and find out what the Greek and Hebrew actually mean. But arguing over picky points of one way or another can lead us very much astray and weaken the faith of those who are less endowed with the ability to discern. Verse 15; he gets personal here with Timothy and he tells him what to do. My paraphrase of this is, he says: work hard, strive, be diligent to show God that you are worthy of Him, that you are one who will not be embarrassed when God does test it, that you are one who cuts a straight path with the word of truth as his guide. You go straight to the heart of the matter and a lot of these extraneous things then become clear. And he is talking to a teacher here, the minister of the congregation who had responsibility to teach the brethren. And this is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary says about this verse. "The context suggests that Paul is warning against taking the devious path of deceiving interpretations in teaching the Scripture." What he is saying is the truth is usually a very straight and simple explanation. So he says, be aware of very convoluted arguments and convoluted teachings. Verse 16; my paraphrase of that is give a wide birth to irreligious and frivolous hair splittings because they lead to apostasy. Picky details that cannot be proven one way or the other are really just distraction. They are, as we say in the church, twigs so far removed from the trunk of the tree that if we follow them will lead us away from God, that they will become our gospel and not the true gospel, the trunk of the tree, the foundation that we have been talking about. Let us go to verse 19. My paraphrase for this is, but the foundation we have in Christ, what we have learned, what has been done in the past, and we have been firmly anchored to, is sure and strong. And we are given two guarantees by this: 1) God has called and chosen us. We always have to remember that He specifically picked us and there must be a reason. And 2) we have been called to rid ourselves of sin and pursue holiness. That is what Paul says. Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. That is what we have been called to. We can always go back to these points. 1) that God has called and chosen us and 2) that we have been called to remove iniquity and pursue holiness. And by doing so, we ground ourselves again, renew our faith, and get our bearings straight about what we are here to do, what we have been given as our mission. Then as it says in verses 20-21 we can return to what we have been called to do, which is cleaning, refining, and growing in character, ridding ourselves of the dishonorable parts of our lives. Then and only then, as he says at the end of verse 21, will we be ready for whatever God wants us to do, since then, after we have become a vessel of honor, we are sanctified and useful for the Master prepared for every good work. So when we have gone back to that basic foundation and clean ourselves up, that we are prepared for whatever God wants us to do. So what can we learn? Let me reiterate what we have gone over. 1) your foundation is fine. It cannot get any better. It is Jesus Christ. 2) you personally can anchor that foundation in rock if you practice what you learn. 3) build on the foundation carefully using the principles of God's Word to construct a strong temple for God's use. 4) avoid technicalities and hair splitting details, especially when they cannot be proven and they do not matter one way or the other in your salvation. It is pointless. And 5) if you find yourself having wandered from the straight path, you can always reorient yourself by remembering your personal calling and your personal commission from God Himself. So let us go on to perfection!
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