JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY FOUNDATION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

To make any meaning in life, one’s roots have to be good. It is the root that gives rise to the plant. The root is the foundation, and if the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do, asked the Psalmist (Psalm 11. 3). Many who seek deliverance from present challenges often resort to

examining their roots. That is a wise thing to do. If anything is discovered that was contributing to the problem, it is corrected. Many have regained their fortunes by this (or in popular parlance, have gotten their breakthroughs).

More important is the need for people to examine their religious roots. Religion has to do with the spiritual, the invisible. It is what we take in without subjecting same to undue questionings. The reason is clear. We simply won’t get all our questions answered. But ‘blind faith’ has its limits. There are things we can question and get answers to. In Christianity, while we come to God by faith and believe in His existence (Hebrews 11. 6), the Bible is given us to know the truth. Thus we can search out our root.

There are many things that hold attraction for church members today, and people attend church because of them. Prophecy is one. People want to be told what is happening to them, who or what is haunting them, and what’s going to happen the next day. The other attraction is miracles. The human mind seeks to experience the spectacular. Another is prosperity. We all look for the good things of life, and look for them in abundance. Perhaps a last one is fame. We want to be known, to be sought after, to be relevant. Majority of church members would give anything for these, and hirelings would not spare shredding them with their incessant seed-sowing. The faith of members is thus made to anchor on the ephemeral. Little attention is given to the concrete things of the faith, especially on Christ as the Anchor of our faith. It is not surprising therefore that many in the church cannot defend what they believe. In fact, some, like the mob in Ephesus, don’t even know why they are there (Acts 19. 32). They are rarely taught sound doctrine that is so fundamental to building strong faith in Christ. Most teachings centre on how to use the tongue and speak oneself to wealth and health, how to have dominion over one’s enemies (even if the person is living in disobedience), how to command God concerning the works of his hand, how to believe God for that Contract or Jeep, and, wait a minute, how to know that all your misfortunes have come from your mother, the witch! You can make out more ‘high profile teachings’! We can see why people are easily swayed. They may belong to Church ABC today, tomorrow they switch over to another, not infrequently looking for ‘teachings’ as mentioned above. Perhaps that is not as bad as ‘switching out’ completely to any other thing but Christian. Is there no one out there to shout it at the mountain top that Jesus Christ is Lord, not so much of the belly, but of the heart? We have to make it clear that the way to make it in the faith is to get it right from the outset. To get it right is to know your root, your foundation, and to build on it. Jesus Christ is that foundation. Whoever must be Christian, must start here, for so says the Scripture, “This is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17. 3). This is the base of what the faith holds for any individual for all eternity. We seek to impress the fact that Jesus Christ is such a secure foundation that whoever is in Him would never be disappointed.

 “No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid which is Jesus Christ”.

                                                                1^st Corinthians 3. 11

A foundation, as the base upon which something is built, determines the stability of the building. A person’s action springs from the facts at their disposal, or from reason or mere impulse. Faith is usually expressed in its object of trust. Christ is the foundation of our faith in God. He is the nucleus from where we spring and by which we live. Take away Christ from the Christian and you leave them empty. Someone well said: Christian minus Christ equals ‘ian’. IAN is said to mean ‘I Am Nothing’.

The Christian Faith does not rest upon a church, the clergy or the laity. It does not rest upon ethics, creeds, codes, laws or doctrines formulated by humans. Futile is the search for it in angels and departed saints, or in organizations and conferences. Nothing in the created universe can ever be the foundation of the Christian Faith. Christ is the foundation of our faith. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. To every tree there is a root; to every house, a foundation. To the Christian Faith, Christ is the foundation. He is the one who came, not by water only, but by water and blood (1^st John 5. 6), that He might redeem and sanctify unto God a people holy and precious, a people whose faith should not rest on human wisdom but in the power of God (1^st Corinthians 2. 5). And Christ is the power of God (1^st Corinthians 1. 24). Of a truth, the Christian Faith and the faith of the Christian rest upon none else but Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Being the foundation we are to look to Him for succor and support. “Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12. 2). He is the eternal Son of God who, for our sake, laid aside His glory in heaven and came into this world. Taking on Him the form of a servant, He became obedient unto death, even the death on the Cross. Christ did not take on Him the nature of angels (which is more powerful and glorious) but He took on the weak and frail human nature, without the sin associated with it. He was tempted in all points as we are today but He never sinned. He was completely human, yet He remained God. Surprised that Jesus Christ is God (not a god)? Or are you offended at it? Do not be. If Jesus Christ was not God in the flesh, then there is no Christianity. All that make the Faith, flow from that fact. Remove it and you have but semblances of the faith, but never the true faith. Jesus Christ is God, yet for the purpose of death, that He might die for our sins, and so taste death for all creation, He became man. The Lord has died. He has risen from the dead. He has finished the work. Now the risen Lord calls to Himself all whom the Father gives Him, constituting them into a kingdom of kings and priests of the Most High God, for which He remains the eternal foundation.

Christ is the only foundation of the Christian Faith. “No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid…” (1^st Corinthians 3. 11). In Ephesians 2. 20 we are told that we are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. This foundation is not original. It rests on Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. So, ultimately Christ is the foundation, not the apostles or prophets. The latter are the ones to whom the teachings of Christ were first handed. From them the Church received the teachings and grew. In that sense they became the foundation of our faith, but, as aforesaid, not originally, because they are themselves built on Christ, the chief cornerstone. Christ is the foundation of our faith. The honour cannot be misplaced nor the glory shared between Christ and anyone else. It cannot be shared between Christ and the apostles or prophets. It cannot be shared between Christ and church denominations, or between Christ and church ministers, or even between Him and our good works. It must be Christ and Him alone, for, Him has God the Father exalted to be the Head of the Church. He is both the foundation and the Head. For this reason, the Christian can find real peace and satisfaction only in Him. For the same reason, the Christian who digresses from the path of Christ finds life intolerable. Peace returns only when such returns to their only foundation and builds on it. “If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored” (Job 22. 23). What is said of individuals here also applies to denominations and Christian groups. Any assembly of believers that makes Christ its focus prospers because Christ is the only foundation of the Church.

We invite you to believe on Christ. Receive Him into your life. Worship Him. Serve Him. Obey Him. This is how to build on this only foundation. Do this and you will live and excel.