Theme: Live according to the Will of God – Infidelity a challenge to the Church
Text: Deut. 11:18, 26-28; Rom. 3:21-25, 28; Matt. 7:21-29
The world has many definitions for a wise person but according to Jesus Christ a wise person is someone who listens to Him and puts into practice what he or she hears. Jesus teaches and illustrates this truth by applying it to the building of a house. Jesus Christ is here not talking about the building of houses with cement, stones and wood but about the building of our lives. The Scriptures actually in various places compares the building of our lives to the construction of a building. It is important to note that the first and most important feature of any solid and permanent building is the foundation. The foundation necessarily sets a limit to the weight and height of the building that is to be erected on it. A weak foundation can only support a small building whereas a strong foundation can support a large building, as there is a fixed relationship between the foundation and the building. Some years ago a neighbour began putting up a one-storey building. Before the completion of the house the owner decided to make it two storeys. With time the building began to settle down on one corner and one day a whole portion of the building collapsed. The reason was simply that the foundation was not strong enough to support the house that was being erected. We often find ourselves behaving in a similar way when it comes to the building of our lives. We fail to lay the proper foundation by not following God’s plan for building our lives. If we would only properly construct our lives we would be able to protect ourselves from the many enemies that would confront and try to destroy us. A properly constructed life will enable us to live according to the will of God and avoid infidelity that has become a challenge to the Church.
The only way to properly build our lives is to build it according to the plan of the one who created us. God definitely has a plan for our lives but we can only have access to His plan by having a relationship with Christ. This is because God is Spirit and we can only relate to Him in Spirit and in truth. Without a relationship with Christ we remain spiritually dead and separated from God and therefore cannot relate with Him. How then can we hear Him? And if we cannot hear Him how can we obey His words? This is the main reason why many people today build their lives according to the plans of the world or their own plans and not according to God’s plan. When it comes to building houses to live in they would spend money and time, and pay architects to design and draw up plans to ensure that their houses are properly constructed. When it comes to building their lives they do not take so much care. They, and this includes Christians, take it for granted and believe that they can build it without God’s plan. They end up building lives that cannot stand the tests and trials of life.
It is only the life that is built according to God’s plan that can stand the tests and trials of life. This detailed plan can be found in the Bible, the Word of God. Many people today, however do not believe that it is God’s plan for their lives because they do not believe that the Bible is the Word of God. They would frequently claim to know God but reject the Bible’s claim to complete authority by citing the fact that it was written by men. Although this is true, the Bible did not originate with men but with God. God controlled, directed and communicated with the spirits and minds of the men who wrote the Bible. This principle has been proved and is evident in the scientific world today. Man has proved that he is capable of building and launching satellites into space and communicating with them millions of miles away, directing their course and giving them instructions that they obey. If man can achieve such results, how can we deny the possibility that God can create human beings with mental and spiritual faculties that He can communicate with and control? It is only the Word of God that can reveal God’s plan for our lives because He is the One who created us and it is only by building our lives according to God’s plan that we can fulfil His divine will for our lives. We cannot do anything better than the One who created us and we cannot build our lives according to God’s plan unless we listen to Him and obey Him. We can only do this when we acknowledge that Jesus Christ is our Saviour and Lord. If indeed He were your Saviour and Lord you would enjoy spending time with Him, communicating with Him through prayer and listening to Him through His Word and the Holy Spirit.
God’s appointed foundation for the Christian life is Jesus Christ “for no other foundation can anyone lay than that, which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Laying the right foundation is crucial to the Christian life and the one who does this is a wise person building his house on the rock. The one who does not build on this foundation is a foolish person building his house on sand. Once the foundation has been laid, we build on it by studying and applying to our lives what the Word of God teaches. It is the divine, authoritative and perfect revelation of God to man. Our attitude towards God’s Word is a reflection of our attitude towards God Himself. We cannot love God more than we love His Word. Neither can we obey God more than we obey His Word. If we want to know how much God means to us, we just have to ask how much God’s Word means to us because God means as much to us as His Word means to us.
The way to lay the right foundation is clearly taught and illustrated in a conversation Jesus had with His disciples when He directly asked them who He was. Peter declared that He was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. In that encounter Jesus clearly laid out the way to lay the right foundation in our Christian life. It always begins with a direct, personal confrontation of who Christ is. Secondly, there is a direct personal spiritual revelation of His divine nature by God which natural reasoning or intellectual understanding cannot arrive at. Thirdly, there is a response to this revelation by a personal acknowledgement of the truth. Faith in Jesus Christ is not merely to know God in a general way but to know God revealed personally in Jesus Christ. Fourthly, there is an open and public confession of the truth that had been acknowledged. This is how the foundation of the Christian life is laid. In each stage there is a definite, individual experience. It is Christ thus experienced, Christ thus revealed, Christ thus acknowledged and confessed who is the foundation for the Christian life. The individual and personal experience of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, by the HS revealed, acknowledged, and confessed remains the one unchanging rock, the one unmovable foundation, on which all true Christian faith is based. Have you laid this foundation in your life? Creeds and opinions, Churches and denominations, all these may change, but this one true rock of God’s salvation by personal faith in Jesus Christ remains eternal and unchanging. On it a person may build his faith for time and eternity with a security and confidence that nothing can ever overthrow.
A properly constructed house can withstand trials and adversity and cannot be easily destroyed. The difference between the two buildings in Jesus’ illustration did not lie in the tests to which they were subjected. They were both subjected to the same rain, the same floods and the same winds. The real difference between the two buildings was the foundation and how they were built. The wise man built in such a way that his house came through the storm unmoved and secure. Unfortunately some people only know the foundation on which they have built and how they have built their lives when it rains. They build expecting that it will never rain but in life it is going to rain whether we like it or not. It is going to rain marital problems; it is going to rain loss of work and loss of income; it is going to rain health problems, depression, rebellious children and financial problems.
There are a lot of very successful and important people who have achieved fame and wealth in life. Some of them, the wise ones, built on the rock according to God’s plan, while others, the foolish ones, built on sand according to their own or worldly plans. No matter how beautiful the building looks or how much one achieves, the building built on sand will be washed away in the rain or storm. As believer’s we should come through the storms of life unmoved and secure. This is only possible when we build on a solid foundation and according to God’s plan. When we build on sand we are forced to go through unnecessary pain, anguish and suffering. This is the case in many marriages. A marriage that is not built on a solid foundation and according to God’s plan that is revealed in His Word and in the marriage covenant is a marriage built on sand. It will not stand up to the tests and pressures to which it will almost inevitably be subjected. The reason for the high rate of divorce today is infidelity. This behaviour is contrary to the Word of God that demands fidelity in the marriage relationship. We can try to defend infidelity by substituting words like ‘sex outside marriage’ or ‘casual sex’ for adultery but this does not help in the least. It remains adultery or sexual infidelity and this is condemned repeatedly in the Scriptures. It was condemned before the Law was given as illustrated in the case of Judah and Tamar. It was condemned under the Law of Moses and was clearly listed in the Ten Commandments. And it is condemned in our period of grace when we dare not even look at a woman lustfully. Infidelity is condemned because marriage is the foundation of society and infidelity destroys marriages and families. Children from broken homes do not only have to deal with many problems and painful experiences such as the feeling of rejection but also continue to suffer its consequences into adulthood. It often affects their own marriages and their own children. This poses a great challenge to the Church as the family is the smallest building stone of the Church and every Church is only as strong as the families that make up the Church. Let us build our lives on the right foundation and according to God’s plans. We should not wait for the rains and storms before laying the right foundation. Any construction worker will tell you how difficult it is to lay a foundation when it is raining as the rain prevents the concrete from hardening. We cannot afford to wait for the rains and the storms. The best time to lay the right foundation is now – it is today.
Laying the right foundation and building on it according to the word of God is crucial to a successful Christian life. This is because the Word of God acts like a mirror. When we look into a mirror we normally do so with the intention of acting on anything that might be revealed to us. When we see that our hair is untidy and has not been combed, we comb and brush it. When we see that our face is dirty, we wash it. When we see that our clothes are dirty, we change them. When we see an evidence of an infection, we consult a doctor for suitable treatment. God’s Word is our spiritual mirror and looking into God’s Word we see our spiritual condition just as God sees it. When it reveals any condition of spiritual uncleanness we must immediately seek cleansing. We all need the Word of God to build our lives according to God’s plan. Many people actually set out with every intention of building a fine, imposing structure of Christianity in their lives. But unfortunately many soon find their structures collapsing leaving behind a ruined heap of vows and prayers and good intentions that have gone unfulfilled. Beneath this mass of ruins the reason for the failure lies buried. It was the foundation that was never properly laid and that was unable to support the building that was planned. Let us be wise by laying the right foundation and building our lives on it by hearing and obeying the Word of God. We can lay the right foundation today by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Amen!
