If you're going to build right, you have to start right.  I was once asked to build a small shed next to a trailer home.  I counted the studs and designed the building, thinking I should use them all.  Instead of studs evenly placed every 16 inches apart as they should be, I spaced them at 14" and another was 16."  In other words, I started the building wrong.  If I had taken time to learn that studs should all be 16" apart, I would have started right.  Instead, the shed went up okay, but all sorts of interesting  things happened when the studs are placed wrong.  And it ended up looking like it was made by guesswork.  Which, of course, it was.

          Also, I didn't check if the floor was level.  Someone had poured the concrete slab at a slight angle for drainage, so to compensate for its angle, I lined up the walls straight with the rest of the trailer.  The shed was solid but it never looked quite right.  I had started out wrong and measured wrong, but at least I used lots of nails!  Now I could have excused all this if I had been 14 years old, but I was 35, and I didn't know what I was doing.  Not surprisingly, that fellow never asked me to build for him again!

          You and I need a level foundation for life.  Last week my message was, "Christ Is Our Cornerstone."  This week it's, "Christ Is Our Foundation."  We may not fully appreciate the need for a cornerstone, but we all know the need for a good foundation.  I was born in a house with a bad foundation.  Instead of concrete, the foundation was hand built with rocks and mortar.  As the mortar absorbed moisture, the foundation crumbled and the house sagged.  My father later had to lay cement blocks inside the old foundation to straighten it.  It stood more solid, but it never looked quite right.  Maybe that's where I learned my carpentry skills.

          In our text, St. Paul wrote, "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it.  But each one should be careful how he builds.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."

          Every person in this planet is building his or her life on some kind of foundation.  It will either be level and solid and hold when the storms of life come, or it won't.  Jesus told His disciples a parable about two men who built their houses, one on sand and the other on rock.  Storms and floods hit both houses, but only the one built on the rock stood.  The one built on sand had no foundation and couldn't handle the storms.

          One thing that story teaches us is that storms come to all.  Following Christ will not keep troubles away, but it will help keep us from falling over.  And the point is not a pretty house; it's whether it stands and what lives inside.  Today, we're far too worried about how our houses look on the outside and not how it is on the inside.  Outer beauty is fine, but strength and inner beauty is far better.

          Another thing this story tells us is to be careful what we build our lives on.  If we start out wrong, a whole part of life can go wrong.  There is a big difference between a mistake made along the way and one made at the very beginning.  One made at the beginning is much harder to correct.  But Christ is always there to correct all our mistakes, to forgive the repentant person, no matter what we've done wrong or when.

          Christ wants to be the foundation of our life.  He wants to because He can help keep our life solid and straight.  Then if we should go astray, as we certainly will, He will be there to help get us back on the right road.  Such is the blessing of Christ Who forgives all sinners who repent.

          Even a Church can go astray and be brought back.  In the early 1930s, Herbert W. Armstrong began a church known as the Worldwide Church of God.  Armstrong had many unusual teachings, yet his enthusiasm captured the hearts of thousands.  His radio program, "The World Tomorrow," and his magazine, The Plain Truth, brought more than 100,000 people to join his church.  But after he died in 1986, Worldwide Church leaders began to realize that many of his doctrines were not biblical.  Things needed changing, so wrong doctrines were rejected, changes were made, and today that church is in full agreement with the statement of faith of the National Association of Evangelicals.  It is one of the few examples where a church body realized its errors and made a 180 degree turn to bring it into agreement with the Gospel of Jesus Christ found in the Bible.  I pray there will be more such examples in the future.

          In its short history, Epiphany Lutheran Church has tried not to go astray.  Yes, we've not done all things right, and we need improvement in areas such as administration or outreach or growth in God's Word.  But this congregation still holds to the Word of God and Christ as our sure foundation.  And it is my prayer that this will always be the case.  No matter what current trends may come, Epiphany must always remain faithful to the Bible, as it tells us about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  May all its programs, ministries, services, leaders, adults and children be firmly based on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ.

          God has brought us to this point in our lives.  "He has redeemed us, a lost and condemned people.  He has purchased and won us from sin, death and the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood, and His innocent suffering and death." (Martin Luther's Small Catechism)   He did this so that we can be His people by faith, people who serve Him and praise Him and follow Him in life.

          Because He has done this, "it is our duty to thank and praise, to serve and obey Him."  May we always remain built and grounded on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ.  "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."  And whatever else may happen, this I do promise you - I will not be building any walls in your new building.  This is most certainly true!  Amen!

Copyright © 2006 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.