God’s Solid Foundation

Introduction

Text: Matthew 7:24-27

No building can stand without a foundation. The foundation of a building is the lowest part of the building. It is usually below ground level. When you look at a fully completed building, you don’t see the foundation of the building. The foundation is the prepared ground or base that the weight of the building is placed on. A foundation has to be very strong to be able to support or carry a building.

When building and you want to lay the foundation for your building, there are different options available to you because there isn’t just one type of building foundation available in the market. In building, there are two main types of foundations – shallow foundations which are commonly called footings and deep foundations. Under these two main categories of foundations, you still have different kinds of shallow foundations and different kinds of deep foundations. So you have options to choose from when building.

We Are Spiritual Buildings

In the word of God, our lives are likened to a building. 1 Peter 2:5 tells us that we are living stones being built into a spiritual house; to be a holy priesthood, who offer sacrifices acceptable to God. Just like you have different options to choose from when laying the foundation of a building, there are also different types of foundations you can choose to build your life; ministry, marriage, family, business or career on. For example, a marriage can be built on the foundation of a person’s looks. This means that the main and determining factor why a young man or lady chooses to marry a particular person is because of the person’s looks. It is not a bad thing to be attracted to a person because of the person’s looks nor is it a bad thing to desire a person as a partner because of the person’s looks. But it is a problem if the only and main reason why you choose to marry a person is because of the person’s looks. Because as Proverbs 31:30 says “charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting”. A person’s beauty or looks is fleeting; it doesn’t last forever. It can change with time, events and circumstances. For example, a person’s beautiful face can be left with some horrible scars after a fatal accident. You can also marry someone who is very slim, but a few years into your marriage, the person has put on weight and become fat. So if the main reason why you married the person is because of the person’s looks, once this begins to change, your interest and commitment to the marriage is affected and after some time you won’t see any reason at all to remain married to that person. It may sound funny, but many marriages today have crashed because they were built on this kind of wrong or faulty foundation.

The church of God is also likened to a building. This we see in Ephesians 2:19-22. Where we are told that the church of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone of the building. When starting a church or ministry, there are also different kinds of foundations you can choose to build your church on. Some churches or ministries are built on the foundation of miracles. That is their central focus. Now is it a bad thing to have miracles in your church? Certainly not, after all Jesus Himself said in Mark 16:17-18 that signs and wonders will accompany those who believe in Him. They will drive out demons in His name, heal the sick and so on and so forth. All these things are good and should be manifest in every church and in the life of every believer. But it is a problem if the main focus of your ministry or church is on miracles. If you make miracles the focus and foundation of your ministry or church, the day no miracle takes place in your service, people will start losing their interest and commitment to your church or ministry. This was what happened in John 6:26-27. The people were following Jesus in large numbers because he had performed a miracle of provision. He supernaturally multiplied five loaves and two small fish to feed over five thousand people. Because the people had eaten and were satisfied, they gladly followed Jesus. Not really because they were interested in Jesus or in His teachings but because they had reasoned it out that if I follow this man, if I join His ministry, I will always have food to eat at every service in His church or ministry. Jesus quickly identified such people amongst the crowds following Him. If we read further down John 6 to see what eventually happened to these people, we see that when Jesus started doing some deep teachings, they very quickly and easily left Him (John 6:66). This goes to show that God wants to perform miracles amongst believers, but He doesn’t want miracles to be the foundation of any church or ministry because miracles don’t have the ability to sustain anyone in the faith. Yes, they can keep you committed for a season, but the moment there are no miracles, your faith and commitment begins to dwindle and before you know it, you are no longer in the faith.