Who Are You? Series

Series: Solid Rock Choices

Who Are You?

Matthew 16:13-19, 7:24-25, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

On the edge of the Outer Banks in North Carolina is a place called Hatteras Island where a lighthouse built in the late 1800s now sits 2,870 feet farther away than where it was originally built. The original position was eventually eroded away until the sea was next to the light house continuing to tear away at the foundation of the building. In 1999 a crew of engineers moved the entire structure in an impressive effort because if the foundation of the lighthouse was disrupted too much the rest of the structure would never stand. Slowly it was moved inches at a time until brought to rest on a firm spot farther inland at Cape Hatteras.

The Cape Hatteras lighthouse is the tallest in the United States – since tropical storms are common along the coasts of North Carolina, something that high must be firmly planted on solid ground otherwise the entire task of moving it was in vain. As beautiful and historic as the lighthouse is, the storms do not care about any of that or choose not to blow so hard on the weak spots. As long as the foundation stays put the whole building has a chance of standing or sustaining easily fixable damage.

This is a simple principle that we probably learned as a child but have to seemingly re-learn many times over as we go through life – you can’t build something really tall and strong if you put all of the important and heavy stuff on top. The base of any block tower or Barbie cheerleader pyramid must have a solid foundation or else the entire structure will fall. Finding solid ground in a world that routinely shakes and changes – in the financial world it means a place where you can be sure your money will be there. Finding solid ground when it comes to marriage means a spot of agreement where man and woman can be united.

What is interesting about foundations is that you do not really think about them much unless they start to become a problem. And whether we know it or not our life is defined by the things we place our ultimate trust in. Jesus being the savior of our soul is a foundational truth that life is to be built upon – Ephesians 2:20-22 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. The important part of the foundation rests upon who he is – and who he is defines who we are. That is one thing that gets lost in most of what people do each day. All goodness and hope comes from Christ being the son of God, without that not one thing has any real purpose – many of them think they can go ahead and build a solid life without him not realizing their foundation is setting them up for 100% failure.

I. Find the Unyielding Foundation

A. In the Christian world we see the church as something which has been built over a long time.

1. Churches have been in existence and Christ has been preached for over 2000 years. In our perspective that is a long time and much of what accept as common or true is not that clear to those outside of the influence of the teachings of the Bible.

2. Biblical events we read about are a great many years in the past – language and culture seemed to have changes so much but according to archeological evidence and historical record the Bible hasn’t changed.

3. Much of what we do as a church and practices were established long ago, and a group of core principles have endured. The foundations of the church are not of brick and stone but of something harder and longer lasting – something immovable and invisible.

* No other collection of writings has been more scrutinized and challenged than the Bible – and no other historical document has the amount of evidence showing its consistent teaching over the nearly 6,000 years of is beginning in earthly recordings. Seeing a Bible is common in our country – they abound in number most of them set aside and intended to be read but left sitting there like a fire extinguisher only to be opened in case of emergency. Because of the modern skepticism it has been argued that who Jesus was and what he did is more legend than history. Today’s smart people reject him as just another figure in a evolving picture of humanity whose role was once valued but now not so necessary. They believe we have moved beyond our need for religion relegates him and God’s Bible to optional status. What they really want is the foundation of a solid society provided by principles in the Bible without the God to hold them to the requirements. The main focus of the Bible is God’s love through a savior – from Genesis the messiah is promised to Revelation where He is now reigning in heaven until the final moments earth is allowed to continue. From beginning to end the Bible is about who Jesus really is and from this foundational truth the rest of it builds both forwards and backwards.