REAL Disciples/Foundation

Matthew 7:24-29 - 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Everyone experiences storms.

Both of these houses are experiencing the same rains, floods, and winds. The difference is the foundation. And you don’t build on it during the storm. The foundation has to be set before the storm.

What is our foundation?

That’s probably obvious to you. Christ and His teachings. We should probably start with the basics. What is the gospel?

If someone asked you that today, would you be able to answer it? My fear is that many professing christians wouldn’t be able to answer that. The most basics of our faith. So then begs the question, what do you say if someone asks how to become saved? Just believe? Believe what? We all believe something. Believe in Jesus? Which Jesus? The Jesus of Islam? Who was a great prophet, but didn't rise from the dead and wasn’t God. Those are pretty crucial beliefs to Jesus of the bible. Or this new “progressive Christianity's” version. Where they strip away what teachings they don’t like and make Him into who they want Him to be. Well whoever that is, that ain’t the Jesus of the bible. Everybody loves Jesus until you define who He is or what He teaches.

Which is why it’s so important that we know what we believe and why we believe it. We are to be able to confess it with our mouth. If we don’t know it, it’s going to be awfully hard to go out and make disciples. If you don’t know it, then how do you know if you even believe it? You may be believing in a different Jesus. And that we would never want to happen.

But Jesus tells us that is exactly what will happen. The verses directly before what I just read elude to that. Matthew 7:21-23 - 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day,‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

What I consider the scariest 3 verses in scripture. That you can claim Christ and live it for a lifetime, but have never truly known Him.

So who is this Christ? What does it mean to know Him? Well let’s go to scripture. I thought it would be cool to start with what is believed to be the 1st creed of the early church. The vast majority of historians, religious and non-religious, agree that this was in circulation within 2 years of the death and resurrection. Paul shares it in his letter to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 - 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (AD 30-35)

So some go as far to say that this is what would have been recited before they were baptized. Confirming that you knew what you were confessing belief in. And then in Romans. Chapter 3 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

So we all fall short and can not do it ourselves. Christ lived a perfect life and was the ultimate sacrifice on the cross. Bearing our sins. So that whoever believes is made right with God. Believes what? That He is your Lord and Savior. That you are a sinner and He died for your sins. Otherwise, there is no need to believe Him as your savior. This belief is more than just intellectually acknowledging who He is.

In James it tells us that even the demons believe. Satan and his demons absolutely know who Jesus is and what He has done, but they aren’t being saved. Hell was literally created for them. So it must be more than intellectual.

So what's the difference here? What is saving belief in the context of scripture? Well what does Jesus tell us? Paul? Peter? The first gospel we get from Jesus can be found in a few places but I’ll use Mark’s gospel. Chapter 1 verses 14-16 14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee,proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” It’s the same message we get from Peter. It’s the same message we get from Paul. Over and over it’s, repent and believe. 2 sides of the same coin. Jesus says, “repent or perish!” I don't know if it’s because of the old brimstone and fire preachers that used to tell everyone that they were going to hell or what. But we don’t hear much about repentance anymore. Even though that would’ve been one of the first things Jesus would have called people to do.

2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

So this belief is accompanied by a repentant heart. Repentance is an acknowledgement of sin and a turn from it. Often accompanied with mourning, sadness, deep remorse. So that saying, “it’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.” That’s funny and all, it works on us. But do not take that to God. That is not repentance. So as a believer, as a follower of Christ you are saying that you believe that you are a sinner in need of a savior and that you are turning from that sin because you recognize that Christ is that savior. That God came in the form of a man, lived a perfect life, was crucified, dead, and buried, and on the 3rd day He rose again defeating death. So that whoever believes in Him, whoever picks up their cross and follows Him, shall not perish but have eternal life. Christ said that “whoever wants to be my disciple must pick up his cross and follow me.” As believers we are followers. So by definition, that means there should be action and change. The bible is very clear that there is a big difference between living in the ways of the world and the ways of Christ.

That it will stand out. Which is why Paul makes the point several times that even though we are saved by grace, we are not to go on sinning. He makes that point at the bottom of that Romans passage from earlier, 31 Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.

Our faith in Christ would drive us to obedience of His commands. Therefore, disobedience displays a lack of faith in Christ. So in recognizing a foundation, we have to get this part right. Jesus, who He is, what He has done. In this passage He is talking about His teachings from the sermon on the mount is how we build. But this was His 1st sermon, we now have a collection of His teachings. Thanks to the apostles who He commanded to go out and make disciples, baptize, and teach them to obey what He had commanded them. We find what He commanded them through their writings.

Which is why some would say that Jesus is our foundation but more specifically He is our cornerstone and our foundation is completed through the teachings of the prophets and the apostles. In revelation it tells us that the new Jerusalem will have 12 foundations and those foundations will have the names of the apostles on them. But either way you look at it, it’s all Christ's teachings. This is the foundation upon which we build our lives on. This is the foundation upon which the church has been built on.

It has not been without its attacks. The scriptures have been attacked throughout the centuries but more specifically these past couple hundred years. It’s nothing new, generations will come and go but the word will still stand. But with the increase of information over these past 200 years or so, and the knowledge that comes with that, people have questioned it, they’ve doubted it, and outright denied it. But the more we learn, the more it continues to be proven true. We continue to find earlier and earlier manuscripts. We are now at the point where religious scholars and non-religious scholars agree that our bibles are 99.98% accurate to what the original documents would’ve said. And even the biggest critics admit that .02% that’s debatable are minor issues that wouldn’t change any of the teachings.

It’s not even a question anymore. But unfortunately along the way, many churches have caved to those attacks. They are still caving today. These are attacks on the trustworthiness of scripture. The truth of them. The authority of scripture. These are attacks on the very foundation the church is built on. And those churches that are caving to these attacks are building upon foundations of sand. And they will not stand! We too must not build upon foundations of sand.

How to do it

Christ and the scriptures are our foundation. We know what it is, now how do we do it? Let's look back at our verses, just 24-27, 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

What’s the difference between these 2 men? They both heard the teachings. They’re both at church on Sunday mornings. It’s not that one didn’t listen. Only one is putting it into practice. It’s the one who is putting it into practice that is building upon a foundation on rock. The one who hears and does nothing is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. And what’s crazy to me is that both of these men are probably at church on Sundays. They would probably both call themselves Christians. But only one is being true to the statement he made when confessing his faith in Christ. Which is why I started with teaching the gospel today, it’s a call to action. And he’s missing it.

In James it says that faith without works is dead. A dead faith. James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Paul makes an almost verbatim claim to the jews in Romans. Let’s not deceive ourselves into just listening or just reading, we have to put it into practice. This seems to get right to the heart of it for a lot of people. In our area, it’s the culture. Come to church, hear a message, and then you’re good. Until next week, or 4 weeks from now, whatever the statistic is. But what Christ is saying is that is not enough. He doesn’t want a consumer, He wants a follower.

The bible tells us that King Herod enjoyed hearing John the Baptist preach. He enjoyed hearing the word of God. It also tells us of how he was an evil man. And when John preached against his affair, he had him arrested. He was eventually beheaded. One of the more evil people in the bible, but he would’ve been among the crowds listening to John preach. The fear is that many in churches today are no more saved than him. Because their foundation is on sand.

Let's look at what Paul had to say about building on a foundation. See if we can get a big picture of all of this.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 - 10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

So to clarify, In life we ARE NOT building the foundation, we are building UPON the foundation. The foundation has already been built. The work there has already been done. And Jesus Christ is the only foundation that God will recognize. It’s the only foundation that will withstand the flames. So when you made your commitment to Christ, you committed to building upon that foundation. Pretty much the whole sermon on the mount has been focused on building His kingdom, not our own.

This is another way of looking at how this is an absolute gift that He has given us. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. It is not the work that we do in building upon that foundation. Those works may all be burned up. It’s the foundation itself. The beauty is that when He is your foundation, even if you mess up, even if all you built is burned up, you’re still saved. You escape through the flames. It certainly seems as though we will want to have something to show for it.

Which is why the watering down of the gospel is so dangerous. That either we won’t realize the full commitment we are making, which is to build upon His foundation. It calls for action. Or the scariest part is that many don’t realize that they aren’t even on the foundation. And some of the only indications we will have is through our obedience to His word. Keeping His commands. True evidence of the Holy Spirit being present will be by the fruit it produces.

You know when Jesus called the disciples to drop everything and go follow Him, they actually dropped everything and went and followed Him.

Peter and Andrew had to drop the nets and go walk with Him. I can’t imagine what their families were thinking.

But today, we don’t have Him physically present telling us to do things. We have His word and His commands are in it. So the first thing you do is read and listen to it regularly. You can’t obey and live out what you don’t even know. Bc we don’t just read and listen, we do it.

We do need to be in groups and attend weekly services. I hate the saying, “I don’t need to go to church, I have my relationship with God.” That’s not a biblical statement. I can’t help but wonder, which Jesus are they calling on?

So are we reading? Is it more than 1 verse a day? That’s a step in the right direction. But that’s what they call the starvation diet.

Then are we doing what it says? If we are reading it, that's good. But the problem is that we have to do what it says. We’ve got to read the Bible as though we were in the very presence of God, and be ready to change our life according to what we find there, and DO what it says.

Every one of us should ask ourselves the question today: “Am I really building my life on the rock by DOING what Jesus said?”

Let’s get specific: when is the last time you purposefully CHANGED something in your life, and did something different than you were going to do, because of what you read or heard in the word of God?

When was the last time somebody did or said something offensive to you, and you were really going to dig in — but you remember the Proverb, “A gentle answer turns away wrath,” so you didn’t do it?

Or when was the last time you prayed differently because you used Jesus’ outline in Matthew 6, or God’s word directed you in how to pray for someone in a very specific way?

When was the last time you didn’t “feel” like forgiving someone, but you did because you read that Jesus commanded you to?

Or when was the last time you didn’t watch a tv show or look at a certain website, because you read the Psalm that says “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes”?

If we are just listening and not doing, scripture says that we are deceiving ourselves. Radius is a church that’s focused on making disciples and planting churches. That calls for action. Which is why we call our members “partners”. We all have a part to play, a job to do. To have our churches full of listeners and not doers would be to have churches built on sand. We’ll judge our success not off our seating capacity but off our sending capacity. How many people do we have drenched in the word and doing the work? Making disciples. We want to be a church that lives it out.

And funny enough, on a Sunday that we are talking about listening versus doing. Many churches around the world are celebrating Palm Sunday. A day when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt. Everyone is singing His praises and waving palm branches. I can’t help but wonder how many of those singing His praises that day were also shouting crucify Him just a few days later. They were fans, they weren’t followers.

So again, the foundation has been set. It’s built. As Christians, all we are doing is building upon that foundation. We are standing on the shoulders of the prophets and the apostles to carry out the works that were planned before the world was created. And we do it by reading, listening, and applying. We read, we listen, and then we go do it. Just reading and listening isn’t it.

So, are you going to be a fan?

Or are you going to be a follower?

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