The Solid and True Foundation
A few years ago, a friend was moving into Lancaster to take a call in another ARP church. He had found a house, but after the inspection, it was found to have a bad foundation. I told him he needed to look for another house because if the foundation is bad, the house will have nothing but problems going forward. This same principle applies to churches and the individual lives of Christians. If they do not have a solid foundation on the Word of God, there will be problems going forward at every level. This will never end until they return to the solid foundation of the Word of God.
What does it mean to have the Word of God as the foundation? Scripture teaches us that the Word of God is the one true rule for faith and practice. We see this taught in 2 Timothy 3:16–17,
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (ESV)
The Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches us in Questions 2 & 3 the following,
Q.2 What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
A. The word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.
Q. 3 What do the scriptures principally teach?
A. The scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
It is the Word of God alone that is the ultimate authority for both our Faith (what we believe) and our practice (how we are to live) in this world. While this is true, there are several problems we must watch for in this all-important foundation of the church.
The first issue that must be addressed is biblical ignorance. Although we live in an age with unprecedented access to the Holy Scriptures, there is a rising ignorance of what the Bible teaches. Even churches that claim to be founded on the inerrant and infallible Word of God will not be built on a strong foundation unless the people in the church are taught and encouraged to know the Word of God.
The second issue is only applying the Word of God selectively. You cannot choose which part of the Bible you will follow. I think about how many churches became soft on sexual sins, except they always hammered the sin of homosexuality. They allowed people to live in sin and ignored unbiblical divorces, but we were loud about being against homosexuality. This is only one example of applying the Word of God selectively. Another is in using it differently based on standing within the church. I once spoke with an assistant pastor who said he was frustrated that in his church, if you were someone important, biblical church discipline was applied differently based on who you were. What a horrible example to the world for us to beat our chest and cry out that the Word of God is inerrant and infallible, but then for us to treat it as something that can be applied selectively based on who the person is or what issue is at hand.
The final issue is having another foundation altogether different from the Bible. We live in an age where the world's ideas conflict with biblical truth and where the world's definition of love and justice replaces the biblical teaching of these concepts. When the Bible is completely lost and its teaching ignored, then ultimately, a god is created in the image of man and the world rather than the true God revealed in the scriptures. This is where we see denominations, churches, and individuals completely imploded as the foundation crumbles beneath them.
As a Christian, you must ensure your foundation is the Word of God. Make sure the Scriptures touch every area of your life. Know what God has revealed to you so that you may know what to believe and how to live in this world. You must be built up on the one true foundation.
