Rebuilding the Church2. No Other Foundation City Church of Christ 21.5.17
Introduction 1 Cor 3:10-15
When local Christian Tony Overhue (who I know) smashed a pie into the face of prominent gay activist and Qantas CEO Alan Joyce spiritual alarm bells should have gone off in churches all across Australia; the sort of alarms that go off during an earthquake. This assault was the result of a panic attack that many sincere believers are feeling the words of the psalmist are fulfilled in our time, “if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps 11:3). The godly foundation laid in Australian society by past generations has been largely demolished and contemporary mainstream Christianity seems unable to reverse this. In the midst of the moral and spiritual crises of our time Jesus is speaking about himself as the immovable foundation of our lives.
This might seem totally obvious, after all in the Sermon on the Mount he testified, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” (Matt 7:24-25). Or even more potently when Peter declared, ““You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.””, Jesus prophesied, ““on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.””. Surely all Bible believing churches affirm the importance of Jesus’ words and accept his identity as the Son of God. What we are lacking is the heaven sent approval to which Christ attributed Peter’s spiritual insight, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 16:16- 18). We have largely lost the Father’s blessing because we have shifted away from Jesus as the only unshakeable foundation of the Church.
Dreadful things are happening across the Western Church. When senior pastor Mark Driscoll was stood down from Mars Hill Church a few years ago, a network with 12,000 attendees and $30m in assets, their leaders closed everything down. Why? When a church’s foundation is the gifting or charisma of its leader everything can be shaken (cf. Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral sold to the Catholics). It is public knowledge that our largest church in Perth has been rocked to its foundations by the resignation of its senior minister amidst a financial crisis. This example is an easy one to understand as Rhema Church (later Riverview) was founded on the prosperity message of a charismatic personality (Brian Baker) who later decided he was an atheist and homosexual. Since the scriptures boldly testify; “the church of the living God (is) the pillar and foundation of truth” it is imperative for the sake of God’s kingdom in Australia that we understand the nature and purpose of the shakings in our nation today (1 Tim 3:15).
First Foundations
The Bible unambiguously states that God laid the foundation of the earth (Job 38:4, 6) as an act of joy in creating a home for us (Prov 8:29-31). The Father’s delight in establishing the world came through the fact that he made all things the Word of God who is his own beloved Son (Gen 1:3 = John 1:1-3; 1 Cor 8:6). Spiritual men and women have always sensed that there is something more permanent than this passing world. Hebrews says that Abraham, “was looking forward to the city that has (eternal) foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Heb 11:10). But we must go to the New Testament to understand that what these early people of faith were in fact looking for was the unchangeable presence of Jesus. Christ himself said, ““Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”…. “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”” (John 8:56, 58). Jesus could speak of living long before his earthly birth because he eternally knew his coming from heaven was the foundation of all God’s works. As the very last book of the Bible puts it, Christ is “the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev 13:8). In the heart of God the death and resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate foundation upon which all his other acts depend.
The idea that voluntary sacrifice is the unshakeable foundation for everything is central to the story of the Bible. Long before the sacrifices of the Mosaic Law Cain and Abel understood that acceptance with God depended on worthy sacrifice (Gen 4:1-5). But the standout act of sacrifice in the Old Testament comes when God commanded Abraham, ““Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love…and offer him…as a burnt offering”; Abraham’s submission meant that God would build upon his faith to make him the father of many nations (Gen 22:2ff.). Costly obedience marked Abraham out as foundational to all of God’s future purposes. The Old Testament however has few characters like Abraham on whose lives God could firmly build; even giants like David and Solomon failed. Confronting the persistent rebelliousness of Jerusalem the prophets begin to speak of a future time, “in the last days”, when a stable unshakeable city of God will be at the centre of world pilgrimage as all the nations go up to worship the Lord (Isa 2:2f; Mic 4:1f. Cf. Acts 2:17). But there is an amazing twist to this story about how God will build his kingdom. This indestructible foundation will be “a cornerstone chosen and precious” (Isa 28:16) laid by God himself, but whose primary credential for supporting what the Lord’s work is rejection; “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.” (Ps 118:22-23). This rejected foundation stone will be someone “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa 53:3). The paradoxical notion that God builds on the foundation of this-worldy rejection is brought into perfect clarity through the coming of Jesus.
Jesus: An Indestructible Foundation
Jesus is the foundation that can never be destroyed because he is the true Son of God whose identity is never found in himself but in his Father. His words are a rock which will support life no matter what comes because, ““The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”” (John 14:10; Matt 7:24-25;). When Peter testified, ““You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.””, Jesus did not attribute this testimony to the power of his own words and works, but pointed entirely away from himself, ““Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 16:17- 18). What does all this mean for the security of our own faith testimony?
If Peter recognised Jesus’ true identity and later fall away from following Jesus could you or I do the same? How do you feel Peter felt at first when Jesus declared him to be the leader of the Church and blessed by the Father?…Proud, puffed up (1 Cor 8:1). Here is what he said to Jesus a little further on in the Gospel story; ““Even though they all fall away,Iwill not.”” (Mark 14:29). The centre of Peter’s testimony had become himself; he was building on the foundation of himself, the strength of his own commitment to Christ. (Ashamedly, as a young minister I used to preach “total commitment” to the church more forcefully than I preached Jesus.) From the beginning of the rebellion in Eden human beings have built cities, empires, religions, families, businesses and churches etc. on their own skill and ability. There was only one way this false foundation of human self-confidence could be removed, it had to be shaken to the point of disintegration and the only place this could happen was in the suffering and death of Jesus.
When Jesus is groaning in terrible agony in Gethsemane he is being prepared to die a very special death (Heb 5:7-8). As he prays, ““Abba! Father!”” Christ is supremely conscious that as the Son of God he has no foundation in himself for life other than his Father (Mark 14:36). On the threshold of the cross he knows that his willing sacrifice as the Lamb of God will be the foundation on which the Father will build a new and eternal creation (2 Cor 5:17).
When Jesus cries out from the cross, ““My God, my God….why have you forsaken me?”” he is taking into himself the curse that has fallen on the builder of every structure that has depended on any power and presence other than God (Mark 15:34, Rom 8:3; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:24). Whatever is built on human effort will be brought down by the judgement of God. Every foundation other than God’s own Word will ultimately be exposed as a foundation of nothingness (Mark 13:31); a matter of “building castles in the air.” Bearing God’s wrath in our place meant for Jesus that the Father’s presence was withdrawn he feels left without identity or destiny; it seems to Jesus that nothing has been lastingly built through his life. In the eyes of those who rejected him Jesus is cursed by both man and God (Deut 21:23; Isa 53:3-4). What was really happening in Jesus’ experience of God abandonment was the love that Father and Son shared from before the foundation of the world was coming to a climax in a willing sacrifice to save us all (Eph 1:3-5).
If the crucifixion meant the absence of the presence of God the resurrection means the fullness of the revelation of the Father in Christ’s life; Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” (Rom 1:4). The resurrection presence of the Father is the foundation in Christ which can never be shaken, disturbed or destroyed.
The Church’s One Foundation
The writers of the New Testament knew just how ugly crucifixions were (1 Cor 1:23), but they saw in the rejection of Jesus the supremely attractive revelation of the love of God. The self-confident man who once abandoned his Saviour testifies; “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious….“…a cornerstone chosen and precious…whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (1 Peter 2:4, 6 cf. Isa 28:16). Knowing the power of the cross Peter can never be put to shame as he once was in denying his Master. Paul went through a similar total transformation. Before his conversion his uncrucified I was overflowing with self-confidence in his own religious knowledge (Phil 3:4-7), but after meeting Jesus he testifies, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20). Now he warns with utmost seriousness; “11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” (1 Cor 3:11-13). The extraordinary presence of God that worked through the apostles has its base (Eph 2:20) in the reality that the foundation of their own life-strength had been shattered into useless pieces through meeting Jesus raised from the dead. These were men who knew the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings and so the power of his resurrection (Phil 3:10).
There is a vast difference between talking about the cross and a cross-shaped sacrificial life. There may be many churches today in which the cross has been preached, but there are few congregations whose whole existence has been freely placed on the cross, either to perish or to rise in resurrection power, whatever God wills.
The selfishness in the churches shows how uncrucified we are. I could not believe it when I hear recently of a pastor “going on strike” when he didn’t get his way. We have all heard folk say, “I don’t go to church anymore because I don’t get anything out of it.” The foundations of many ministries and churches are the self and its need to be needed, recognised and successful. There is such a lack of strong Christ-centred teaching in our land because building the Church in one’s image or “vision” has become more important than hearing and obeying the Word of God. The crisis across the churches cannot be healed until there are godly people who in love for Christ are willing to sacrifice what is most precious to them so that the Lord might be built on a foundation that cannot be destroyed (Eh 2:19-22).
From time to time however God’s grace releases a man from the futility of building on a foundation that cannot remain. Here is one such testimony. “word had reached me that most of our conference grounds had been burnt to the ground…I stood looking over dust and ashes…Years of dreaming and planning had been swept away….I could not help but ask: “Lord,- Why has this happened? What are you wanting to say? Don’t let me miss Your lesson!” then God replied, “My son- all is not lost. Rejoice that in this lesson you need not become bitter, but better, for you shall now come to understand the difference between a life work that is built on THE FOUNDATION and one that is merely built on “another foundation”.” It was not about “building for Christ”. It became crystal clear that it was all about building the very life of Christ into others. I wept and rejoiced! I thanked God for his unveiling….How strange that the things which at first seem so bitter can be changed to the sweet.” This man’s testimony is a share in the testimony of Jesus, of how the Lord’s death and resurrection turns the bitter into the sweet.
Conclusion
Have you heard this scripture enthusiastically prayed, “God, the judge of all….has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 …“Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken …in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Heb 12:23, 26-28). Mostly it is prayed by believers who apply it happily to the political and economic life of nations on the arrogant assumption that their lives and churches don’t need shaking. But the biblical testimony tells us the first place God shakes is his people; “judgement must begin at the household of God” (1 Pet 4:17). This is always how God works. Abraham’s life was so shaken by God’s command that he kill Isaac that it drew forth from him a faith that the Lord could raise his son from the dead (Heb 11:17-19). Paul’s religious and ethnic world was so shaken that he had to count the cost of the loss of “all things” to follow Jesus (Phil 3:8). Shaking is the way God still builds today.
A suburban Baptist church was so shaken by a series of spiritual tremors that it approached a larger church about partnership. Only when the existing leadership of this small group let go of everything, testifying, “Without a death there can be no resurrection.” did release come and that congregation (Coolbellup) is now thriving.
Jesus invites us to share in his unshakeable life; which is to share in the life of him who does the shaking! There is tremendous freedom in being freed from the futility of building on a foundation that cannot remain. As mature Christians stand on Christ alone nothing can destabilise so perishing men and women will marvel at our peace (Eph 6:13; cf. Ps 118:23).
The famous Welsh Revival began with a prayer given by the Holy Spirit to the young Evan Roberts, ‘Oh Lord, bend me.’ Our prayer today should surely be, “Oh Lord shake me, shake your church.” (Isa 58:12),