NO OTHER FOUNDATION

Tuesday 21 January

According to the grace (the special endowment for my task) of God bestowed on me, like a skillful architect and master builder I laid [the] foundation, and now another [man] is building upon it. But let each [man] be careful how he builds upon it,For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). 1 Corinthians 3:10- 11 (AMPC)

When I read this passage I’m reminded of the parable Jesus told in Matthew 7 about two houses. The house that was built on the rock and the house that was built on the sand. Jesus audience that day didn’t realise that the rock He was talking about was actually Himself. Read verse 24-26 for the full account.

I can imagine the Apostle Paul looking at the readings of Isaiah and finding what he wrote by the Spirit of prophecy about Jesus. “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.”

It is unlikely that Paul had any of the gospels to use as a reference as they were not written until approximately 70 A.D. and he went on to glory in 62-64 A.D.

So how did he write 80% of the New Testament? By his extensive knowledge of the scriptures and by the Spirit he was able to reveal what was concealed in the Old Testament. His Pharisaical background under the tutelage of Gamaliel made him a formidable exegete and apologist of the gospel.

This is why when it comes to the two Testaments, we must look through the binoculars of the new to see the new in the old concealed and the old in the new revealed. What we must recognise is the difference between what is progressive revelation and what is perfect revelation. The Old Testament is the progressive. The New is the perfected.

It’s also important to remember that The Word is not the Bible. The Word is a person. All things were made by Him not it (John 1:2). Generically speaking, The Old Testament has two elements. The accusation of Moses and the message of Christ.

Look at Jesus in Luke 24:27 ‘And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.’ Why? Because there were things that had to be discarded from the Old Testament because they did not reveal Christ.

The Holy Spirit continued this work predominantly in Paul but also in the other Apostles. Who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of Jesus. It is no wonder then that He continued the separation of Christ from Moses or in other words, grace from law.

Why is this relevant to having the right foundation? It is because you cannot build doctrinal truth on partial truth that was set in types, shadows, prophecies and promises. Neither can you build truth on philosophy, empty deceit, personal opinions, experiences, feelings, human traditions and so on.

So what should we build our lives upon? The completed work of the revelation of scripture in the New Testament. The challenge lies for many in not knowing the difference between that which is rock and that which is sand.

Hosea 4:6 says ‘my people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge.’ Sadly it is still happening today. Thankfully you can never lose your salvation but you can build your life upon things that do no have Christ as the bedrock foundation and see the storms of life destroy what you built.

This is why we are told to be careful how we build and where we build. How we build, because we have been given a master blueprint on how we should go about doing it as shown to us in the epistles.

Where we build, because anything that is not based on the revelation of who Christ is, who we are in Him, who He is in us, what we have in Him and what He can do through us, is not built on the unshakable rock of Jesus Christ but on the shifting sands of human reasoning and not on the message of Christ.

APPLICATION

Take stock of the kind of life you are building and the foundation that you are building upon. Build carefully with perfected revelation in the epistles and not progressive revelation in the scriptures.