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.
What is the church? It is not the buildings, the pews, the instruments of music, the programs, the ministries, nor any of the things that we have created with our own hands. Those things, all of them, are simply the tools of the church that we use to perform our service to the Lord and men. The church is people, you and I, and every other born again child of God are the church. All of us together make up the church. Paul said this so plainly when he said, “YE ARE GOD’S BUILDING”.
God gives us the grace to begin to build our lives upon the foundation of Jesus Christ as the center of our lives. He, and He alone, is the only foundation that will never crack or weaken. He is our unchanging God. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever.
I can only wish that the house I have been paying for all of these years was on such a foundation, but it is on shaky ground and is subject to foundational problems all the time.
Thank God, I can build my life, and my eternal destiny upon a foundation that is unshakable and unmovable. If I build on Jesus Christ as the absolute focus of my life, then I can rest assured that I will not fall.
Like a wise master builder, God places ministers and messages from God’s Word, to help me to piece together, under the direction of the Holy Ghost, a life that is built upon Jesus Christ. Sermon by sermon, one spiritual lesson at time– the Holy Ghost is helping me to build upon Jesus Christ. As long as I listen to Him, I can be assured that my life will never fall.
But the Corinthian Church had begun to stray from the Word of God just a little. As I read the passage a little further I can’t help but feel that they had begun to build upon other things. Their focus was, little by little, beginning to change from loving and serving only Jesus, and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide their every step, to allowing the things of this life to take the place of Jesus as their center focus.
I get the sense that they had begun to rely more upon their works to get to Heaven than upon the grace of God. I wonder if some of them had begun to think more highly of their own talents and abilities, and began to build ministries within the church, based solely upon their own desires instead of following the leading of the Spirit?
Were they building a church and building their lives, upon a talent for teaching, a talent for singing, a talent for music, or some other talent? Were they ministering to the church under the assumption that their talents bought them a place in Heaven? Were they ministering to receive the glory and praise of men? Perhaps they were leaning on their own self-righteousness, or their faithfulness to service, or their obedience to their pastors as their claim to a deserved place in Heaven.
The words of Paul in verses 12 through 15 make me tend to believe that something like this was already forming a crack in the foundation of the Corinthian Church.
1 Corinthians 3:12 – 15, Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
Trusting in past experiences in Christ, without having a real love for Jesus right now is just like building a foundation upon gold, silver or precious stones. These natural elements are hard and seem stable enough, but how many of you know that their value is easily manipulated by the economic conditions? Gold and silver values change very often and the man who has them today and is rich may lose all his wealth in moments’ time. What about the precious stones? They may seem almost indestructible, but that word “almost” is a dangerous word because it always brings a doubt, or the possibility of failure into mind. Precious stones are only precious because they are rare and because other people want them. What happens when too much pressure is applied to a diamond? It will shatter and become worthless. What happens when the market is flooded with diamonds? Their value drops.
Those people who build their lives based upon past experiences may have begun on a firm, solid foundation, but they have allowed Satan to blind them to the change that has come because they no longer trust in Jesus the way they used to. They aren’t “in Christ” anymore because they have walked away from their first love.
You may note that the foundations that Paul is naming are growing less stable as he goes down the list.
Silver isn’t as stable and valuable as gold; precious stones aren’t as dependable and valuable as gold or silver and neither can they be compacted and held together without shifting like a bar of silver or gold. The list goes on and with each foundation listed its stability is less. Wood, hay and finally stubble are the last ones listed.
As a Christian gets farther from the Lord as the center of his life, the more he will look for other things that will act as foundations for his life.
From past experiences, we begin to depend upon our own weak faith and we convince ourselves that we are all right even if we aren’t faithful. Believing that your soul is safe because you have a remnant of faith in Christ, and a small commitment to Him, is like building your life on that silver. Those things are valuable and they are strong, but they aren’t as good as staying close to Jesus and staying “in Him” with all your heart.
If we trust only in past experiences in Christ and don’t maintain a present, close relationship with Jesus, it doesn’t take long until we will begin to defile, or to compromise, this body that is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, by allowing the things of the world to take precedent over the things of God.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."
In our next progression into believing in the wrong things for a foundation we begin to trust in the things that remind us of God. Like precious stones, we take out the Bible and read it once in a while, or we pray a few minutes when we think about it, or we watch a preacher on TV, or we listen to Christian music on the radio, and we think that those “precious stones” are enough to keep us a place reserved in Heaven. Our foundation is no longer “in Christ”, but in the things of the Christian lifestyle.
1 Corinthians 3:21-23, "Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s."
In other words, none of the things that pertain to the lifestyle of a Christian have any power to deliver, or any meaning whatsoever, unless we first serve and worship the Lord Jesus Christ as the center of our lives. Only in Him do any of the trappings of Christianity take on a meaningful role in your life.
From these things, we will begin to go down even farther into sin, and we begin to trust in things that are not only unstable foundations, but things that really don’t even have a thing to do with living for Jesus at all.
We may trust in the “wood foundation” of the notion that man is really good at heart and that we can solve our own problems without God’s help. How many Christians no longer attend the House of God, no longer pray, no longer read God’s Word, and aren’t committed to serving Jesus because they are building their lives on the foundation of believing that they can make it without Him? They don’t want God’s interference in their lives. They have set their own agenda, and they no longer listen for, much less hear, the voice of the Holy Ghost trying to speak to them.
I tend to believe that the Corinthian church was falling into this category. Some of the Corinthian Christians had begun to rely on their own power to save their souls as well.
1 Corinthians 3:18-20 "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain."
If we stay in that condition long enough, the devil will blind us even more and pretty soon we will begin to trust in even worse things for our foundation. We can go to believing in “hay” and “stubble”.
Hay is nothing more than feed for animals, or maybe a substance to be used as a bed to lie upon in comfort, or to be a temporary stuffing in the cracks of the wall to stop the wind and rain, but it certainly isn’t something upon which to build a life, or to depend upon for the eternal security of your soul.
I’ve seen Christians who begin to build their lives upon a job, or a career, or upon the worship of “Mother Earth”. Those things are nothing more than hay.
The job is temporary at best for there is no security in your job. Careers come and go every day, so where is the stability in that? You can call this terrestrial ball “Mother Earth” and go around hugging trees and worshipping nature if you want to, but my Bible says that it’s going to all burn one day soon. Where will your foundation be then?
It’s not bad enough that people will depend upon those things for their eternal foundation, but Paul takes us one step further and I don’t see how it could go any worse than to build a life based upon “stubble”.
What is stubble? It’s the trash, useless stumps, shavings of what has been used up already, or the straw that is left upon the ground after the harvest is over!
So many have placed their trust in things that are worthless in their eternal value, like cars, boats, vacations, homes, lands, the opinion of other people, false doctrines, lies and hypocrisy, and even in the belief that there isn’t a God at all, and that this life is all there is so they may as well do everything they want to right now.
The things of this life that so many think are valuable, fun and filled with pleasure, are nothing more than stubble in God’s eyes. As such, all of these shall be burned away.
My friends, we can put our souls and lives on the line, basing our lives and salvations upon any foundation we want to, but the only foundation that will stand the test of God’s judgment fire is the grace or our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only foundation that will stand, all others are worse than sinking sand.
Paul’s words to the Corinthians are words that you and I need to take heed to today!
1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Victory Temple; Christian; those of you who have allowed cracks to form in your foundation; those of you whose foundation is something other than Jesus Christ alone; those who have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior – it’s time to examine your foundation!
Is your life beginning to feel like it’s coming apart?
Can you sense a feeling of uneasiness like some foreboding thing is just over the horizon and you and feel it, and dread its coming, but you don’t know what you even fear?
Do you feel like your life is out of balance and you can’t seem to find that balance? Could it be that the foundation upon which you have been building your life is beginning to crumble?
Could it be that you eternal soul is on shaky ground?
Like Paul, I am preaching to you right now that no other foundation will stand the test of time, the test of God’s fires of judgment, or the test of the storms of life. Jesus is your only foundation that will stand forever.
Give your heart and life fully to Jesus right now! Get your foundation set upon the Rock, Jesus Christ! Confess Him as your Lord and Savior and then put your trust only in his blood and in His righteousness. Jesus is your only firm foundation!
