Foundations

Psalm 11:3 - "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

The foundations of our faith are under attack. Whether we think about the origins of the universe, the first eleven chapters of Genesis, the authority of the Bible, the roles in the home, the definition of marriage or the exclusivity of Jesus Christ, there is no shortage of people who would have us compromise on the things that Scripture teaches. It seems that we've come to a place in our society where it's okay to believe anything you want as long as it's not based on any ultimate standard. I was reading a poll recently that had something to do with roles in the home, and different people were commenting on how they thought things ought to be done. As I scanned through the comments I was surprised by one of them that said something along the lines of, “There is no 100% correct blueprint for how these things ought to be done.” Now, that caught my attention because at that time I was preparing a series of lessons entitled "God's blueprint for right relationships." And I was approaching the subject with the belief that there is a 100% correct blueprint that God has given us on how these things ought to be done. It's called the Bible. And yet we hear these kind of statements all the time. Everyone has their own standard of truth, and the overwhelming thought is that what works for you might not work for me and vise versa. By and large, this is the point that we've come to in our society. It's okay to believe that something is true as long as you don't suggest that it's true for everyone. We've made truth into something relative.

It's important for us as believers to go back every once in a while and reinspect our foundations. Why do we believe what we do? Is the foundation on which we are building our lives something that is really solid? And are we able to clearly articulate what we believe and why?

The fundamental difference between us as Christians and the world around us is not the structures which we're building, but the foundation on which we're building them. In other words, just because someone is an unbeliever does not necessarily mean that they're living an immoral life. Your neighbors may be teaching their children about the importance of good morals. They may come over and help you work on your car when it breaks down. They may give money to charity. In fact, their lives may outwardly look very similar to yours. So what's the difference? The difference is the foundation on which we are building our lives. The Lord Jesus put it this way in Luke 6:47-49 - “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.” In this passage we see the Lord Jesus talking about two men building houses. One man dug down deep and laid a foundation on the rock, the other man did not. So when the storms and strong winds came one house stood firm and the other collapsed. These houses may have looked exactly the same. From all outward appearance there may have been no difference, and yet one of these structures had a major problem. A foundation is often an unseen part of a building. It’s underground. From our vantage point we only see the houses and they look exactly the same but one of them has a solid foundation and the other does not. And in this particular passage the Lord Jesus says that these houses are a picture of something. He says this not only works in the building of a house but also in the building of a life. A person who hears what God says and does it, that’s the house with a foundation. But the one who hears His words and does not do them, he is pictured by the house with no foundation which will eventually fall.

Foundation problems are not always readily apparent. You may talk to your neighbors about the importance of a relationship with Jesus Christ, but they say that though that may be well and good for you, they're going to try to get to God their own way. They're not trusting in what Christ has said, they're trusting in their own ideas. And though they have a pretty nice looking house, one day it will fall because it's not built on a solid foundation.

We're given a similar illustration in Proverbs 10:25 which says - “When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation.” Here we have the same picture once again contrasting the lives of the wicked and the righteous. The wicked are completely wiped out by a whirlwind but the righteous has an everlasting foundation, a foundation which can never be destroyed. The foundation on which God wants us to build our lives is one that is going to last forever. Nothing will be able to destroy it. We don’t want to build our lives on something that is going to wash away, we want something solid. Something that will last forever. So we would do well to rediscover the foundations of truth.

Proverbs 10:25 which says - “When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation.”