Cracks In The Foundation

CRACKS IN THE FOUNDATION

By Pastor Jim May

Some time ago, I was talking to a friend who has recently discovered that his house is beginning to show its age because cracks are forming in his foundation. The doors are getting harder to open and close, and there are places where the bricks are becoming separated. The cracks are small now, but his fear is that they will continue to grow.

I have seen some houses where the foundation has become so compromised that when you walk in the door you begin to feel as though you have lost your balance because the whole house is leaning. If you can set a ball carefully on the floor and it rolls in a direction so fast that it bounces off the wall and almost comes back to you, then you know for sure that your foundation needs help.

It’s easy for us to notice when the natural foundations of our homes and buildings are sinking or cracking. It doesn’t take long before we can visibly see the damage that results.

Some people decide to spend lots of money repairing those cracks. Sometimes they do so because they want to make the house stable enough to sell. A house with foundation problems certainly won’t bring top dollar in the market. These folks often have to weigh the cost of repairs, running into the thousands of dollars, against the loss of value in their home, and then decide if the gain in value is greater than the cost of repairs.

There are other people who feel that they must get the foundation repaired because they are afraid that a part of their house will just fall off one day. The ground in our area is prone to shifting because of the high water tables, and foundations often crack, but I have never known a building to break apart and fall down.

Then there are others who choose to ignore the problem. They don’t plan on selling anyway, and they are convinced that a room isn’t going to fall off, so they just go on with life and learn to live with the problem unless it gets worse and they are forced to do something about it.

Why did I say all of this? I did so because I believe that a lot of people, especially the people of God, must be careful of the foundation upon which they build their lives. Too many of us are having foundation problems in life already and we just keep ignoring the problem until its too late.

Foundations that crack and shift in a natural building are damaging but they only affect the natural buildings, but foundations that crack and shift in your life are far more serious and they can have eternal consequences. I’ve seen a lot of Christians whose foundations began to crack and finally crumble because they built their lives on the wrong values. Today their homes, their lives and their souls lie in a ruinous heap.

Now this message is for the church and those who are already saved by grace through the Blood of Jesus Christ. I want to talk to you about your foundation this morning. The passage of scripture that I am going to give to you is written by the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth. He was writing to the very ones that he had preached the gospel to and helped them to start out with the right foundation. The church at Corinth, and the Christians at Corinth were picked up out of the miry clay of sin, just like you and I, and they were founded upon that Rock that is Jesus Christ.

But undoubtedly there were already some problems arising in the new Corinthian church. Paul must have noticed that there was a change that was happening, slowly, subtly, and almost imperceptible, yet it was still happening. Cracks were appearing in the church. Divisions, if you will, were beginning to form. Satan had been busy, and now Paul had to address the issue of their foundation because the future of the Corinthian church and the eternal souls of his converts were at stake.

What kind of things were causing cracks in the Corinthian Church? Can we see those same things in the church of today? Can we see those same things forming in Victory Temple? I think it would be important for us to examine these things and to ever be on guard against them.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:9 – 11, For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry; ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.