BUILDING OUR FOUNDATION ON THE ROCK

FOUNDATION SERIES ON THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST (I)

BUILDING OUR FOUNDATION ON THE ROCK

SCRIPTURE:

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. Hebrews 6:1-2

He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. Luke 6:48

OBSERVATION:

In the parable of the wise and foolish builders, the Lord emphasized the importance of all His disciples building the foundation of their faith upon His words, especially the Sermon of the Mount. Later, in the letter of Hebrews, we find an interesting list of six main doctrines that was seen as the fundamental principles of Christian understanding in the early church. Only after fully understanding these six areas was a Christian ready to go towards “perfection” or “adult understanding” in some versions.

One important factor we must note here is that the foundation stones are not just stones that have done their job and then are discarded away. These foundation stones continue to form the base of the entire building, and every other stone leans on the foundation ultimately for strength. We should not think that once we repented, that is done and over with, or once we have been baptized by water, its relevance to us has passed and we can forget about it.

Repentance and faith towards God are continuing processes that keep on going as we walk the Christian walk in following Christ Jesus. There are times when we turn away and need to turn back to God again. There are times, when our faith wavers and we need to put our faith in Christ again. The more we turn back to God, the more we put our trust in Him, the stronger our walk becomes. The Christian life is not a bed of roses, and there are difficult and challenging times, but when we keep turning back and keep believing in Jesus as Savior in spite of the adverse circumstances around us, our faith grows stronger and stronger.

The baptism of water symbolizes the death of our old man and resurrection of our new man with Christ. Yet, in life, we still see the old man living out in us. It is in remembering our baptism, that we can remember to reckon our old man dead, and let the new man in us come alive! The baptism of the Holy Spirit is of course always continuing. We need more and more of the Holy Spirit, poured out into us from Jesus, that we receive power to live life following the Spirit. The laying on of hands, speak of the active ministry every believer has in imparting healing and blessing in prayer upon others. The resurrection of the dead, reminds us that this life is only temporary, and whatever we suffer here is insignificant compared to the glorious resurrection and new bodies we will receive when our Lord returns! Eternal judgment as well is an important vision always before us, that we may be careful how we live life in the few hours we have on earth, to endeavor to make it pleasing to our Lord Jesus before whom we will stand.

APPLICATION:

Let us aspire to be grounded in these six fundamental doctrines, and think and meditate on these often in our Christian walk. Let us remember that we need to repent, to turn away from evil towards God. Let us remember to put our faith in Jesus, more and more, to know His reality to greater and greater degrees in our lives. Let us remember water baptism, as the death of our old selves, and Holy Spirit baptism, as empowerment to live Christian lives by Christ’s strength. We too should pray that we learn how to lay our hands to bring healing and blessing in Christ, while also remembering the resurrection of the dead which we hope for. Finally, let eternal judgment always be in our thinking to inspire us to live carefully for the Lord.

PRAYER:

We praise You and worship You, Heavenly Abba Father. All truth belongs to You, and we thank You for Your Word which was given to us to help us. Help us O Lord, understand and apply these six fundamental  doctrines so that we may be well grounded in the faith and able to move to greater work for You.  We bless You and worship You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.