The Standing Foundation

The Lord’s Foundation

We’ve spent our Sunday nights talking about Standing Firm.

Each week a different text reminding us to stand firm.

This week we conclude with Christ allowing His church to stand firm.

Open your Bibles to II Timothy 2:19-21.

Read II Timothy 2:19-21

The Standing Foundation

So far we’ve talked about the command for you to stand firm.

You are to stand in the truth.

You are to take up the armor of God.

You are to be strong and courageous.

There has been a lot of emphasis on you standing firm.

Those are great commands and cause us to be bold, but inevitably you fail.

There will come a time, when you mess up.

You sin.

You fold.

Like Peter, you fear cripples you.

So this week we conclude this series with a nice truth, your standing is in God alone.

Look at how verse 19 begins, “But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal ...”

God is building a foundation.

And this is a firm foundation.

All this time the challenge has been for you to stand firm.

But don’t let that ever sound like you establish yourself, or you make yourself stand.

You are the work of the Lord.

It is the Father who choose you.

It is the Son who died for you.

It is the Spirit who regenerated you, converted you and gave you life.

You are His Work.

Whatever standing you have is because of Him.

But perhaps you have those moments, those moments of doubt.

Perhaps old sins rise up.

Perhaps guilt overwhelms.

You question your worthiness.

The good news is that you are stand because He causes you to stand.

But even more, God has a seal.

This is a pledge.

This is a guarantee.

This is His promise.

“The Lord knows who are his.”

When you question your salvation, we must remember these truths, we stand because God chose you and knows you.

Your standing isn’t based on your efforts.

Your standing isn’t based on your works.

It’s based on Him who calls and causes you to stand.

The other great thing is that there are no wrong people in God’s kingdom.

You aren’t going to make it to heaven on judgment day, and Jesus isn’t going to say, “Who let this guy in?”

Because He knows those who are His.

John 10:3 says that Jesus calls His sheep by name.

He doesn’t meet you for the first time, because He foreknew you.

Before you existed He knew you.

He doesn’t choose wrong.

The other truth about those who are in God’s foundation is that they depart from iniquity.

That’s what you see at the end of verse 19.

If God has caused you to stand firm, then you stand firm.

The reality of that work is made evident in your life.

If you are in Christ, then you must repent.

The idea of someone who is a Christian, but who continues to live in sin is completely foreign to the kingdom of God.

The second work of God in establishing His church is the cleansing of the Vessels in His Kingdom.

Look at verse 20, “Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.”

Within your home there are things that you use for honorable use and then casual use.

You have your fancy silverware, and you have your normal stuff.

For your every day meals you use the old plates and silverware.

You use the old plastic cups.

On a normal dinner night, your silverware won’t match, and you drink out of a variety of shapes and colors of cups.

Then on special occasions, you use the fancy stuff.

The fancy china.

You put chargers under your plates.

What are those for?

I have no idea.

You use silverware that needs to be polished before you use it.

But, Paul isn’t talking about silverware or whether or not you use glass or paper plates.

Vessels are containers.

Some containers were made of gold, silver, or precious metals.

These held valuable items.

What about wooden or clay vessels?

These were for holding less noble items.

You could even think of these as ancient toilets.

A holding container for human waste.

When we hear this illustration, vessels of gold, silver and wood and clay, which one are you?

We all want to be the valuable containers.

We want to be the gold container.

We want to be the silver container.

We tend to look at others and think they’re the less noble containers.

They’re the sinners.

We are the pure containers.

But what are we?

We aren’t the gold containers.

We aren’t the silver containers.

We aren’t even the wooden containers.

We are:

Sinners.

We are sinners by nature.

We are sinners by birth.

Think of how naturally sin comes to us.

We don’t have to be taught to sin.

It’s something that we do all on our own.

No one has to teach us to sin.

In this illustration we are the clay vessels.

We are the vessel used for filthy uses.

But again, we are emphasizing the work of God.

We might be a clay vessel, but the Lord doesn’t leave us in this condition.

We are like that little red bucket that you give your child when he’s sick on the couch.

You give it to him, when he’s too sick to make it to the bathroom in time.

That same red bucket is cleaned up, and you bring it to the beach, and build sand castles with it.

It has noble purposes.

But it can also be cleaned up.

God doesn’t leave us in that awful condition.

II Corinthians 4:7 says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

You’re a clay vessel.

But if you are in Christ, He cleanses you.

You are taken from being used for dishonorable purposes, sin, and changed into something that the Lord uses.

The Lord is using filthy vessels for Noble Purposes

Now if you’ve been cleansed you’ve been given a new mission.

You’ve been set apart.

There is this peculiar work that God is doing.

He’s taking clay vessels, and using them in His kingdom.

You are still a clay vessel.

You are still weak.

You are still the created.

But the Lord is using clay vessels.

There’s some beauty here.

It requires us remembering what we are.

Clay vessels.

None of you are spectacular on your own.

And yet, the Lord is using these clay vessels.

The text says that we are set apart.

He’s taking what was unclean, and making it clean.

And now we are set apart.

We belong to Him.

No longer the embarrassing vessel.

But the prized vessel.

The fancy china, on display in the hutch for all to see.

The Lord is building a collection of clay vessels, that He loves.

He not only separates these vessels, but He uses them.

The Lord has not saved you just to show off.

He’s saved you to use you.

But what is He using for?

Every good work.

The Lord has commissioned you, and is using you.

He will use you for every kind of work.

This means, we cannot ever say that some act of service is beneath you.

Why?

Because we are clay vessels.

Sometimes, we act as if we are golden vessels.

But we are clay vessels, and we are clay vessels that the Lord uses for everything.

Notice, when we are supposed to serve?

We are ready to serve.

Service to the master is not something that comes second.

It’s what we do now.

We are to be ready to serve.

What needs to happen for you to be used?

First, you must be cleansed.

This is done by Christ Jesus.

It’s like the dirty dishes in your sink.

You clean them before you use them again.

Service in the church is this way.

Church is not an avenue for community service.

It’s the gathering of the saints.

So first, you must be forgiven.

Second, by living as holy.

You’ve been cleansed, so you don’t go back to it.

Don’t go back to being in sin.

Third, be ready to be used.

Look for opportunities to serve.

Jump in where needed.

You’ve been saved to serve.

You’ve been given a gift.