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A Firm Foundation
- by Neale Gregson Opening Prayer Today, Lord, we are listening to the proclamation of your Word. Help us to listen as much with the heart and the will as with the head. Amen. The N’toto People The N’toto people had been Christians for many years when they were visited by a Western theologian, famous for his liberal views. He was welcomed by the chief, who showed him round the tribal lands, pointing out the vast numbers of pigs, goats and chickens which the N’toto people possessed. Before he was due to leave, the chief asked the theologian to preach a sermon to the tribe. The theologian agreed, but he was worried about the language barrier. The chief assured him that, although the people could not speak English, they could understand it, so the theologian climbed on to a tree stump and addressed the huge crowd which had gathered. “Christianity”, he began, “is really one of many tribal myths.” “Kabola! Kabola!” shouted the crowd, enthusiastically. “As a matter of fact, it is doubtful if the resurrection ever happened as an historical event.” “Kabola! Kabola!” chanted the crowd. The theologian was delighted with the warm reception. “I’m so glad that you understand my views better than many people in the West. You see, God is really in all of us and Jesus was just an example of that.” “Kabola! Kabola!” cheered the crowd. The theologian went on to speak about the impossibility of miracles, the unreliability of the gospels, and concluded his sermon by saying, “It is doubtful whether God himself, in the sense of the word exists at all.” “Kabola! Kabola!” the crowd roared. The theologian stepped down, gratified to be such a success with the N’toto tribe. “Before you go”, said the chief, “let me show you our herd of cattle, but be careful not to step in the kabola!” Well, there are some professing Christians who read the Bible with a pair of scissors at hand to cut away those sections which fall outside everyday human experience – the supernatural, the miraculous, as well as the bits they don’t like or that they can’t easily understand. In my view, one of the main reasons why so many Western churches have lost their way is because they have lost their faith in the scriptures and in the God of the supernatural. A rather supercilious intellectualism has wend led its way into many of the theological schools producing preachers with big heads and tiny minds concerning the things of God. As a consequence, many churches are dying on their feet. When I go home to my village in England and visit the little Methodist chapel on a Sunday morning, I am usually the youngest person by about 30years. One year I went back and I was asked to preach on the Sunday at 2.00 o’clock in the afternoon. Now the 2 o’clock service was always a tough proposition. People had just eaten a hearty lunch so they were naturally ready for a sleep. Well, this particular 2 o’clock service was a memorable experience, at least for me. The congregation consisted of 3 elderly ladies plus one sheepdog. And that was a good sized congregation for this little chapel. Now, I know you’ll find this hard to believe. But during my message event the sheepdog fell asleep! But we should be grateful for small mercies – at least the dog did not snore! But, seriously, why so few? Why no younger people? Why no real life any more, no vitality, no sparkle, no zest? When God’s people, whether preachers or not, lose their enthusiasm to discover what the Lord has to say, when they allow their faith to be undermined by the false or unhelpful teaching of others, when their once held joy in Jesus drains away, when the fire burns low and the light grows dim, that is the time to beware because if left unremedied, the situation will deteriorate to such an extent that no real life can remain – as if God had pronounced the word “ICHABOD” (the glory of the Lord has departed) from those lives and from the churches which those lives once represented. Now I know and I thank God that the church in Asia (especially, perhaps, in Singapore) is generally stronger and in a healthier state than the church in the West. Here, most preachers do believe the Bible, and they teach it. Here they tend to love Jesus and they delight to commend Him to others. Right? Well, I hope you are thankful for that because it is a privilege denied to many and you ought not to take it for granted. Sometimes new believers ask me, “What church should I attend?” I’ll give them three pointers.
1.
First,
I say, go to a church where the people really love God (Father, Son and
Holy Spirit) – where they talk a lot about Jesus, and where you can see
something of Him in their lives.
2.
Secondly, make sure it’s a church where the people love God’s word –
where they believe and teach the Bible (other than just their own ideas or
experiences), and where they at least try to practice what they preach. 3. Thirdly, I say, go to a church where the people love you – where they are genuinely concerned to see and help you grow in your relationship with the Lord, where they don’t condemn you when you fail, but equally, where they are not afraid to hold you accountable, in love, as a brother or sister in Christ. I happen to believe that COA is such a church, amongst others in Singapore, where new believers really can make a go of it. So we have good reason to thank God for this church, and for the church generally in Singapore. But let us bear in mind the wrong turnings taken by Christians in other parts of the world, and let us try to avoid their mistakes wherever we can. It is sometimes said that “A wise man learns from his mistakes. But the wiser man learns from the mistakes of others!” Isn’t that true? And let us not forget God’s warning to us in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Those who think they are standing firm had better be careful that they do not fall.” That verse always reminds me of my first experience of skiing. We were in the French Alps, and my friends and I thought it would be a good idea to join an elementary ski class. So we did, little knowing that we’d signed up with the most sadistic ski instructor in the whole of France. This guy (Pierre) made Cardinal Richlieu (you know, the baddie in ‘The Three Musketeers’ look like Little Red Riding Hood. Pierre was very tall and athletic, bronzed and, in truth, an excellent skier. And the girls, they just loved him because also he spoke with this very sexy French accent. I think it would be fair to say that the guys in the group did not hold Pierre in quite the same regard. I suppose we hated him really – not that we were jealous or anything, but this fellow was such a poser that we thought on more than one occasion that it might be good for his soul for one of use to stick him with a ski pole and see what effect that had on his parallel turns! One of Pierre’s favourite tricks was to make us ski down the hill one at a time, then he’d tear apart our technique. “Bend your knees”, he would say, “Bend your knees.” My turn came. Bending my knees, I just went for it and whatever I lacked in ability, I made up for in enthusiasm. I thought it was a pretty good run, actually. Needless to say, Pierre disagreed. “Neale”, he said, “what can I say about your style? Style, perhaps, is not quite the word I am looking for. When I say, ‘Bend your knees’, I don’t mean like this. This is not how you ski. This is how you go to the toilet.” As a final exercise, the class was asked to ski down the hill, one at a time, and then line up in formation at the bottom. This was the last day and we were getting pretty good at this stage, or so we thought. Well each one of us came down, with relative style and successfully manoeuvred into line. The last person in the group was a huge agricultural student from Scotland. He was big and hairy, with no brain! He was all of 6’ 6” tall, bout 4’ across and to say he had absolutely no neuromuscular coordination would be to err on the side of generosity. He was the sort of guy who would struggle to walk down the street and chew gum at the same time! I’ll never forget the sight of Big Kamikaze McSparron hurtling down that hill. It was enough to instil fear within the stoutest of hearts. Snow tractors swerved to avoid him. For a man without coordination, the precision with which he impacted upon the last person in our neat little line was uncanny. You’ve heard of ‘the domino effect’? Do you know what the best part was? Pierre was at the bottom of the pile! Scotland:15, France: nil. “So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” To build a lasting relationship with God, we need first to establish a firm foundation. THE WISE AND FOOLISH BUILDERS The Lord Jesus, of course, knew all about firm foundations. For 18 years, from the age of 12 to 30, he worked in the construction industry; he was a member of the building trade, a carpenter. And the story he told to conclude and apply his sermon on the mount was classic Jesus: short, simple, yet so practical, if not a little scary. Two men both decided to build a house. Both were building something of long-lasting significance. The houses they built differed little in appearance. Doubtless, the men intended to live in and enjoy them, perhaps with their families. Yet, despite these superficial similarities, the underlying differences are so great that Jesus can describe one of the builders as “a wise man” (v.24), whereas the other is “a foolish man” (v.26). Actually the language in v.26 is very strong. The Greek word which Jesus uses for “foolish” in v.26 is μωρω [m-o-r-o] from which we get the English word “moron”. Why does Jesus use such strong language? Let me paraphrase and amplify a little. “Once upon a time in a land far away there lived a moron. This guy was such an idiot, he made Mr. Bean look like Einstein. He could only see things in the short term. Always in a hurry, he never stopped to ask the far-sighted questions of life. Not thinking ahead, he seemed hardly to think at all. That’s not to say that our Mr. Moron didn’t have his achievements. A drawer full of certificates showed him to have been an “A” grade student, and the display unit in his living room was eloquent testimony to young moron’s sporting prowess and his CCA success. As he grew older Mr. Moron continued to work hard. Professionally successful, in due time he married Mrs. Moron. Before long there could be heard the pattering of tiny moronic feet around the newly upgraded executive condominium, to include 5 Sony airconditioning units. With a wallet full of cash, not to mention credit cards, he bought a brand new white Mercedes Benz car which the Morons’ Filipino maid would dutifully wash at 6 o’clock every morning, including Sundays. With a golf and country club membership, Mr. Moron’s success was complete, his satisfaction assured. Or was it? “There’s something missing, dear. What we need is a landed property with sun and sand and sea. Come let’s build, we can afford it, but we mustn’t waste time. Foundations? Who needs those? Besides, why change the habits of a lifetime? Later on… “More sad news dear. The economy’s taken another turn for the worse. Property, shares, currency values all down, interest rates on the increase, even my job’s on the line. I am not sure we can afford the mortgage repayments if I lose my position. So many retrenchments in the last few weeks. What’s it all coming to? What’s it all been for? Where did we go wrong? Did we miss something? I wonder…” Then Christ the ignored, the forgotten ‘C’ steps forth and says: “You fools! You thought you had everything, but without me you have nothing!” “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house…” All of us, sooner or later, face inevitable pressures of life in this world. These include suffering, sickness, bereavement, disappointment and misunderstandings, trials, temptations, doubts and satanic attacks. Ultimately, all of us will face death and God’s judgment. The image of “rain…torrents…wind” is used in Ezekiel to refer to God’s judgment (Ezekiel 13:11). But the language of judgment is not confined to the Old Testament. As C.S. Lewis pointed out, “All the most terrifying texts came from the mouth of our Lord”. Jesus here and elsewhere warns of the coming judgment, as do others in the New Testament. Will we be ready for that coming day? Notice how both people had the opportunity to respond. Jesus says that both the wise and the foolish hear “these words of mine” (vs. 24-26). The point he makes, of course, is that to build a firm foundation, hearing the words of Christ is not enough. Any fool can listen. Only the wise will hear and obey. The wise man goes to a great deal of trouble, thinking and planning for the long term. Not so the foolish, and, you know, it is foolish to go through life without thinking about the foundational questions regarding the meaning of life. Unless we answer the questions of why we are here and what the point of life is, we will never know whether our plans are right or wrong, good or bad. If we don’t know what life is for, we will use it wrongly. The truth is, God planned for and made us, each one, to become members of his family, our lives reflecting the family likeness, committed to the family business. But the best laid plans can go sadly awry, especially so when they depend upon the cooperation of those who are free to choose whether to cooperate or not. When people began to go their own way and faced the prospect of being lost forever, Father God could not just stand by and watch. So he sent out on a search and rescue mission his son, Jesus, whose name literally means, “sent to the rescue”. Huh! Who care? Is the attitude of so many. And the son of God stretched out his arms upon a cross and said, “I do.” Tell me, what is it to you that the Lord of the universe gave the best he had to give? What is it to ou that the one who loves you the most gave everything he had to give, as if you were the only one who mattered? What is it to you? What is it to you? Every Sunday, Christians celebrate the fact that, having died, Jesus rose again. He is alive and he calls us one and all to follow him. Come, he says, let me show you How to Build a Firm Foundation, one that will stand all the tests of time and eternity. Come, hear these words of mine and put them into practice. Be wise, nt a fool! Live in me. Keep your roots deep in me. Build your life on me. For I am your shield and hiding place, your very great reward. (Col 2:6-7, Ps 32:7). There are many books that will make you clever. There is only one that will make you wise. There are many voices clamouring for your attention, your time and talents, your energies, your commitment. True? There is one worth heeding. You have only one crack at life. This is the main act. There is no dress rehearsal. In reality, there is no improving upon the plans God has for you, but he leaves you free to try. Closing Prayer My dear friends, I pray that you will choose wisely. Choose to follow him who is the way, the truth and the life. Choose to obey Jesus for in doing so you will build a firm foundation, a secure future, for now and forever! Amen. [Top] |
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Church of the Ascension, 13
Francis Thomas Drive, Singapore 359339 |