REBUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS
06/17/2012
For the past 6 weeks we have been
following a series of teaching called, “Breaking Free: (Moving towards Wholeness”)
We opened up the series by looking into Eph 4:12-13, where we saw God wanted
all of us to be built up, to be united and become mature, attaining to the
whole measure of the fullness of Christ. We learned that our negative past gets
in the way and hinders us from receiving the fullness o f Christ. In Amos 7th
chapter we saw that God likened the nation of Israel to a tottering wall (fig 5)
that was flimsy, shaky and was to be destroyed any moment. We looked at how certain wrong
messages of our parents, teachers, peers and the media may have wrongly
influenced and shaped our lives. Unknowingly we built walls of defense to
protect ourselves from getting hurt. Generally people build two types of walls
based on their personality. They are
the defensive walls of rejection and rebellion.
We looked at a few devastating bricks in the wall of
rejection (f11) such as sadness, self pity, self hatred, inferiority and depression.
In the wall of rebellion (fig 12) we saw hostility, pride, superiority,
bitterness etc. These walls may afford some degree of protection, but they also
lock up a part of our personality, affecting our ability to love, and trust and
form meaningful relationships. These walls hinder us from properly relating to
God, ourselves and others. In an essence we become imprisoned in our own self
made prisons.
As we follow the human plumb line of rejection to its end, it
will lead to Suicide and the plumb line of rebellion will lead to Homicide. You
may feel that both these options are limited. Is there another choice? Yes
there is the true, Divine Plumb line. But wait! You must first consider what is
involved. If we accept the Divine Plumb line to escape suicide and homicide we
must instead embrace being CRUCIFIED. What does being crucified mean?
In essence if we are to follow God’s divine plumb line, we
must be willing to accept the cross of Christ. We must crucify the carnal and
unclean desires of our flesh that throw us from one side to the other in
reaction. We must be willing to daily clean out the old desires and follow the
new in truth and love, allowing sadness, bitterness, selfishness, anger,
superiority, and pride to die on the cross so that Christ can live in us. How
can we demolish the debilitating and destructive walls of rejection and
rebellion? How can we rebuild our lives based on the Divine plumb line?
The faulty walls we built must come down before we rebuild
our lives according to the divine plumb line which is God’s word. The following
scriptures explain how God wants’ to rebuild our lives, but we must cooperate
with him in the rebuilding process.
Isaiah 25:12, “And the high fortifications of your walls (the Lord) will
bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust” (Amplified
Bible). Isaiah 26:1“In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah
The above references are an excellent summary of how we build
walls in our lives, but with a new theme than that has been previously
discussed. The Lord says in these passages it is not His desire to leave us
defenseless and vulnerable to all that the enemy of our souls would hurl at us.
Instead He desires to build a new wall called salvation with gates called
praise (Is 60:18), to protect us from destruction and devastation.
In attempting to build a wall the first thing must be done is
to lay the foundation. Similarly, in the wall of salvation too we must have a sure
foundation. The Apostle Paul refers in I Cor 3:11, Jesus Christ being that sure
foundation. Once Christ becomes the foundation then we are ready to build the
wall of salvation. There are seven steps involved in rebuilding the wall of
salvation. They are: 1. Revelation. 2. Repentance 3. Release. 4. Recognize 5.
Renounce 6. Renewing 7. Rebuilding. Let’s examine these steps.
I. REVELATION:
The first step in the building process is Revelation. It is
not just new knowledge or deeper understanding, but is insight that makes such
an impact on the heart that a change of lifestyle results. Revelation is not
received on the basis of IQ, but it is received by those who are obedient to
God’s word. A little child with an open heart may receive greater revelation
than some professors of philosophy or religion with several degrees. According
to Psalm 119:97-100, those who are obedient may acquire more revelation than
their teachers, elders and enemies. At the same time, disobedience leads to
deception and a loss of revelation.
Throughout the scriptures we see God revealing himself as,
righteous, all powerful, all knowing, present every where, merciful,
compassionate, loving, forgiving and judge of the living and the dead, but
above all God revealed himself as a loving father. Remember in John 14:1-6,
where Jesus spoke of his departure and how the disciples were troubled? To that
disheartened group Jesus gave these assuring words. In my Father’s house are
many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to
prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you
also may be where I am. He went on to say in Vs 6, “ I am the Way, the Truth,
and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.”
Jesus was trying to tell the disciples not to stop on “the
way” but to go all the way to their final destination which is “intimacy with
the Father” Jesus is the way to the Father whom we also need to go on to know.
He doesn’t want us to be saved only to be left as orphans, but the Father longs
for intimacy with us.
He desires to come with Jesus and dwell in us. Why do so many
of us stay as orphans, when Jesus longs for us to join Him as the Father’s son
or daughter? In my Christian ministry as
I talked and counseled people I’ve seen fears, inhibitions, misgivings or other
chains hinder us from going on to receive the Father’s love.
God’s desire for us is to see Him and know Him as He really
is. He wants to give us that true revelation even more than we are ready to
receive it. His heart is broken by the cruelties of parental sin, and His
greatest longing is to receive His children and reveal His true character to
them. Revelation must be followed by
another step which is Repentance.
II. REPENTANCE:
“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near” (Mat 3:2) were
the powerful words of John the Baptist in the wilderness. Without mincing words
John challenged everyone in the crowd to embrace God’s standard. Jesus picked
up the same theme and preached his first message calling people to repent, for
the Kingdom of God
What is repentance? In
the OT the Hebrew word most commonly translated “to repent” literally meant to
turn, to return, or to turn back. In the NT the English verb “To repent” is
normally the translation of the Greek verb “Metanoein” meaning “to change ones
mind.” In simple terms, repentance is to make a firm inward decision to turn
away from sin and make our way back to God. It is a decision not an emotion. Each
individual has to make this discussion on their own; no one else can make it
for them.
When we repent; we are recognizing our sins such as sadness,
self hatred, bitterness, un-forgiveness, anger, pride and we are asking to
forgive us and we are deciding from now on we will follow God. In John 1:9, “If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and
purify us from all unrighteousness.” When
we repent of our sin, the faulty walls come down, and we are able to build the
wall of salvation according to God’s Divine Plumb line. The next step in the
process is Release.
III. RELEASE:
Forgiving someone who has offended us, Release him from needing
to repay us, give compensation, or even say he is sorry. When we do come to the
place of forgiving from the heart, another kind of release happens
simultaneously within us. Remember the story of the unforgiving servant, whose
huge debt of $10 million was forgiven by the King because he pleaded for mercy?
But after he was forgiven went out and caught hold of a fellow servant who owed
him a mere debt of $10. Instead of showing mercy as he had received mercy he
had the man cast into jail. When the King heard it he was outrageous by the
first servant’s merciless heart, so king retracted the original kindness by
handing him over to the tormentors until he paid the full $10 million dollars.
Now the man was in jail not for his original debt, but for his brutality and
unforgiving spirit. Jesus concluded the parable saying that God will do the
same to each of us if we fail to forgive our brother from the heart.
We draw from the story, then that unforgiveness provides a
platform for inner torment. We are not designed to live with resentment,
bitterness or hatred. To continue in them invites spiritual as well as physical
aliments to develop with in. The next two enforcements in the wall of salvation
are to recognize and renounce.
The greatest opponent to rebuilding the walls of salvation in
our lives is Lucifer himself. Some think there is no devil it is a figment of
your imagination. Satan is real and the Bible clearly states that he is alive
and active in this world. We must learn to recognize his deceptive schemes and
tactics. Once we recognize them we renounce his authority over our lives.
How do we renounce the devil? By using the name of Jesus. There
is power in His name. In Rev 12:11 we read, they overcame by the blood of the
lamb.” When Christ shed his blood on the cross he won a huge victory over Sin,
Death and the Devil.
We renounce Satan by using God’s word; finally we renounce
the Devil by putting on the full Armor of God that is described in Ephesians 6th
chapter.
The scripture tells us, when we resist the devil he will flee
from us. In other words his power and grip over us is broken. We are made free
by the power of Christ which has broken the chains of the devil. Notice, we are
made free from our bondage; but not yet made perfect or matured. How can we
maintain our new found freedom? How can we grow and become mature so that we
can experience God’s promised fullness of Christ?
Renewing and Rebuilding are the next two steps we are to take
in the process. We will be renewing our minds with God’s word, through regular
study and meditation. The more we read, understand and obey God’s word the more
revelation we will receive. That revelation of God’s love, acceptance and his
purpose for our lives will keep us steady in our walk with Him. However we can
not grow and become matured in isolation. We need to belong to a God fearing
community because that is where the rebuilding process begins. In the community
of believers we will learn a new lifestyle of loving, forgiving one another and
growing in grace.
As we have extensively looked at the Breaking Free series,
maybe you have been able to identify where you have been out of line. If you want to be free from the faulty
patterns and rebuild your lives based on the Divine plumb line you need to repent
of your sins, renounce the devil, release forgiveness to those who hurt you and
receive God’s love. As the song is being played please take time to reflect on
the Father’s love. Write down any of the sins that Christ may be showing you. At
the end of the song you may come forward to receive prayer. Amen
