under construction: laying a foundation

from my message on 8/12/12 from Isaiah 40:3-5 and Mark 1:1-3

Today, we start a 3 part series on making a path of discipleship.  We begin with laying a foundation.  Watch this video of Buddy Goodson, who works in construction, talk about the importance of laying a good foundation.

Buddy said, "you either have a good foundation or you don't."  For us Christians, it's about Jesus.  He is our good foundation.  I don't deny there may be other revelations of who God is and certainly there are other great world religions.  But our revelation, our story is around Jesus.  God didn't wait for us to get where God is.  God came to be where we are.  The Lord of all life came to live among us.  The fancy church word is "incarnation."  God became flesh. 

Jesus is the expression of God's love for us.  To paraphrase John 3:16, God loved the world so much that God didn't send a committee.   God loved the world so much that God didn't send a book of rules.  God loved the world so much God didn't send a philosophy.  John 3:16 says, "God loved the world so much that he sent his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life."  That next verse is important to me too, "For God did not send his son into the world in order to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved."  Our good foundation is knowing God's love for us in Jesus Christ.

There are other foundations that are not so good.  When we build on them, they soon crack, as Buddy says, and they do not last.  I have 3 of them to share.

The first is a foundation of fear.  It is based on scaring people into following Jesus.  I once had a pastor friend, who shall remain nameless, and his denomination shall remain nameless, who was in a study group with me.  Week by week we prepared sermons together, and we prayed for one another.  Once upon a time, he made a confession to us in the group.  He said, "I was a teenage evangelist."  Wouldn't that make a great movie title?  I WAS A TEENAGE EVANGELIST.  As a young man, he was taught all of the tricks.  He knew the right words to say with the right pacing and emphasis.  He could wring out the right emotions.  Have you ever been there...in one of those revival meetings?   "IF you were to die tonight, do you know if you would go to heaven or hell?   If you want to accept Jesus into your heart tonight, hold up your hands as our heads are bowed and our eyes closed."   He could guarantee results.  He got many people to make a profession of faith out of fear.  He quit it as he realized how manipulative it was.  In fact he quit the ministry all together later.  Fear is not a good foundation.

The second is an offshoot of fear and one that I personally relate with.  I grew up with perfectionism.  I thought I had to be good enough for God to love me.  It was about my performance, my keeping commandments, my goodness.  It was very hard, because I never felt good enough.  As a senior in high school my girlfriend showed me a verse that changed my life.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not because of works lest anyone should boast."   I was more into self-righteousness and less into the gift that God held for me.  I was trying to earn God's love.  Perfectionism is not a good foundation.

The third is still in a similiar vein.  I call it "Churchianity."  We become members of a service club.  We do good things in the community.  We pay our dues.  We attend the meetings.  But we miss Jesus.  There is no holy relationship.  There is no love.  We maintain an institution.  On our long vacation this summer, I saw a bumper sticker on a car somewhere in the middle of America in one of those plains states.  The bumper sticker said, "Jesus is calling:  He wants His church back."  Churchianity is not a good foundation.

A good foundation was anticipated by the prophet Isaiah.  The context in this scripture is that the Hebrew people have been captive in Babylon, read modern day Iraq, for a few generations.  They long to go home, to Jerusalem.  God speaks to the heavenly host, saying, Prepare the way.  Make the crooked places straight.  Lower the hills and raise the valleys.  God wants all of God's children to come home.  It is my constant prayer.  Get this...it is God's effort, not ours.  God directs the work of drawing God's children home.  You may feel a long way from home, from God today.  God is laying a good foundation for you to come home.

The Mark passage picks up the same imagery where now John the Baptist is the one who is preparing the way for Jesus the Christ.  I know many times we say Jesus Christ as if Christ is Jesus' last name.  But Christ means God's anointed One, God's chosen One, the fullest expression of God's love for us.  At that time Israel was occupied by Rome.  Today we may feel occupied.  I will call you on the phone and ask you to serve.  You will reply that you are too busy.  Do not our calendars possess us?  We live in one of the richest zip codes in the world, and yet we have great anxiety over money and possessions.  Are we not occupied by worry over worldly goods?  There are expectations placed on children and youth that are sometimes unfair and unrealistic.  Some turn to the depression and drugs.  We need a way out. We need a deliverer. 

Jesus is our Rock, our good Foundation.  All I am trying to do in this sermon series is simply to help you fall in love with Jesus, follow Him more closely, and come to serve Him and His people. I am through being busy; I want to be making disciples.  I am through putting things on the calendar; I want to help people to follow Christ. 

This path way of discipleship begins today on this good foundation of God's love for us in Jesus Christ.  I invite you to help with its construction.  First, we have come up with a survey to help you find out where you are in your walk with Christ.  We hope to have it at our website by Aug. 15.  It is a self-test, not to be shared with the masses.  You may not know if galoshes is a book in the Bible or something you put on your feet.  There is no blame or shame in this self-test.  The math major in me loves having a tool that can help people discover where there in their spiritual journey.  Second, you will be given a nudge.  That is, you will be given a limited choice of a next step.  You will not be overwhelmed with too many shoices, but a few directed ones.  It is too easy to get stagnant, to quit growing.  Third, you are invited to keep growing in love. 
Please note that this is not a program, but a pilgrimmage.

To close, may I tell you a story?  It comes from a source many years ago.  There was a 3 year old boy who had a baby sister born into the family.  Almost from the moment of birth, the 3 yr old was pestering his parents, "I want to talk to my sister.  I need to talk to my sister alone.  Please let me talk to her by myself."  The parents agonized over what was going on and how they could fulfill their 3 yr old's request.  Finally, they allowed it.  They did so by keeping the baby monitor on and listening in in the next room.  The 3 yr old boy goes over to the baby sister's crib and says, "Hurry up and tell me.  I have almost forgotten what God is like."

Maybe we sometimes forget also.  Our good foundation is in the love that God holds for us in Jesus Christ.  That's the good news I have to share.