Daily devotion – a sure foundation
1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
The invention and assimilation of the ‘social gospel’ into places of worship, the Church of Jesus Christ, is largely responsible for the emptying of these very Churches.
People who examined this ‘social gospel’ came to the conclusion that if the business of the Church was really just a form of political and social reform and pacifism then the Church was not really necessary, for all that could be done through the political and social agencies.
So by the droves people left the Churches and went and did it, or tried to do it, through their political parties causing great harm to the Church.
When the Church departs from the primary task that it was created for by our Lord and sets out to do something else, the result is a Christless, powerless, social club void of the Holy Spirit and the very foundation that Paul gives us which is the only foundation of the body of Christ!
A major departure in Churches who went down this social path, was the moving away from preaching the Word of God. The Church since it went in this direction has been trying to propogate morality and ethics without godliness; and it simply does not work.
It never has done, and it never will. And the result is that the Church, having abandoned her foundation, her real task, has left humanity more or less to its own devices.
Every page of the Bible, every book of the Bible points to and glorifies Jesus Christ and His coming to a lost world plagued by sin to save us from our sin.
Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The very first words you should hear at the beginning of any message should be, “Let’s open our Bibles to…”
One great old preacher used to end every message he preached with, “This is the Word of the Lord!”
The very first message preached after Christ’s Resurrection by the Church through the Apostle Peter was ‘loaded’ with the Holy Scriptures and its message cut to the very heart of all those living in sin who heard it preached.
Act 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Act 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
May we ever stand on the foundation that cannot be moved – the blessed death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World and each Sunday may our hearts too be cut with the sword of the Word of God to bring us to repentance and grace!