Finding a Firm Foundation in Christ

Hey, hey, hey, welcome to the Heights podcast. We're so excited for you to tune

in and listen to this message.

If you want to hear more, we would love for you to come visit us in person at

the Heights Church on Golston Road in Sydney, Australia, or check out our website

at theheightschurch.org.au.

I'll be reading from 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 1 to 10.

1 Peter 2:1–10

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy,

envy, and slander of Like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk so that by

it you may grow up in your salvation.

Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good, as you come to him,

the living stone rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him,

you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a

holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For in the scripture it says, days. See, I lay a stone in Zion,

a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.

Now to you who believes, this stone is precious, but to those who do not believe,

the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stone that

causes people to stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.

They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,

God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called

you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

I'm not sure what the thing was that you said that you had built.

Let me tell you, no secret to those that know me well, I'm not a great builder.

I can't build anything, can't make anything.

Not my skill set, not my talent, and I'm okay with that.

Some people are good at building things, good at planning it,

good at thinking about what material they need, good at solving the inevitable

problems that come up when you are building something.

And lots of things have been built and made in the history of the world.

In fact, in the history of things that have ever been made, there are a few

structures that have captured the world's imagination quite like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

This is an iconic building. And I don't know if if you know this,

but it commenced building in 1173, and it was built with an ambitious vision.

It wasn't just one person, but the city-state rulers of Pisa got together,

and we need to do something to make Pisa famous, make our area something that

people would want to come to.

So, they decided they were going to build the best building that has ever been

built. and this wasn't something they rushed into.

In fact, famously, it took two centuries to build this building and it was fraught

with challenges from the very beginning.

You see, they spent months and months and months trying to find the perfect

place to build this building.

They wanted it to be in the best possible location on the best possible ground

that would draw the eye, no mountains in the way or anything like that.

And they stumbled across what they thought was the best possible place to build this building.

I'm not going to say how you're supposed to pronounce it, but translated as

they found a field that was called the Field of Miracles. The Field of Miracles.

This field was the perfect spot to build an impressive tower.

Well, they were wrong. You see, they thought that they had planned and carefully

chosen the right place, but as they put together the marble and the lime structure, rupture.

They only got to the third sort of floral story before someone looked at it

and went, is that straight?

As they put more weight on it, they noticed that on one side.

It started like a picture frame maybe that drives you crazy at home to just

have a tiny little tilt on it, a deviation.

And I'm sure at the time somebody said, nah, I'm pretty sure that is straight.

Yeah, that's straight for sure. Or maybe when they finally accept it,

maybe there's a little deviation. I'm sure it won't be a problem.

Well, as they built over the centuries, the tilt became bigger and bigger and it became a lean.

They tried to fix this so many times. From the very beginning,

they thought, okay, this is still good.

We can still save this. We're not going to be laughing stocks.

This tower is still going to be impressive. And they did things like try to

to balance the ground, making the other side lean.

And for not only two centuries, but all the way until even as recently as like

30 years ago, Italians have been trying to fix this little problem called the leaning tower of pizza.

Well, it stands as a testament to the consequence of having a flaw in your original plan.

The reason I talk about this tonight is because as we consider Jesus being the

cornerstone. I want to challenge you.

I want you to ask yourself about what is the life that you are building?

As you go through your week, if you consider the life that you have as a building

or something that is being constantly made and remade, shaped and reshaped,

how often do we neglect the critical importance of having a solid foundation?

Tonight, I invite all of us to consider how God might compel you to examine

the ground upon which we build our lives with our families, with our communities,

with the decisions that we make.

Are we like the ambitious peasants constructing impressive facades that look

good to other people but sits on unstable ground?

Or is there perhaps the option, the chance for another way?

As I said, I'm in zero position to challenge you on anything physical that you made.

But I think as we consider the scriptures that have been read tonight,

and we consider this idea that we might be challenged about where Jesus sits

in the construction of our lives.

When it comes to our spiritual construction in this particular realm,

we stumble across a concept in scripture of paramount importance from the Old

Testament to the New Testament, this concept of the cornerstone,

an architectural element, not just being one part of a building,

but in ancient times, the cornerstone of a building acted not just as one stone

in the corner of a building, but it acted as the blueprint,

the source of all information of what that building could be and should be.

Just by looking at the position, the angle, the size, the shape,

the material of the cornerstone, you could work out what the rest of the building

would and should and could be like.

In ancient practices, it held

an unparalleled position of importance when it came to building stuff.

And so when God comes along and says, I am laying a spiritual cornerstone that

you need to take notice of.

In the original times, just as I hope tonight you will see, this was something

that God was saying in order to get our attention.

In the prophet Isaiah, he elevated this architectural concept to the realm of the spiritual.

He said in Isaiah chapter 28, therefore, thus says the Lord God,

Isaiah 28 · chapter mention

behold, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,

a costly cornerstone for the foundation firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

From Isaiah throughout the Old Testament and then into the New Testament,

God kept uttering this idea, this phrase of a cornerstone.

As we get to Matthew chapter 21, Jesus tells the parable of the wicked tenants,

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

which is a great parable.

But as he closes, he quotes, as Isaac read tonight, Psalm 118,

which says, The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the Lord's doing.

It is marvelous in our eyes.

Jesus adopted for himself the identity of the cornerstone, not just an option,

not just a stone in the building, but the cornerstone, the single best and most

important thing upon which people can build our lives.

But he didn't just do that. He adopted for himself the identity of the rejected

cornerstone as somebody who could be and should be built upon as the most important thing,

but will be and has been somebody who is rejected,

who is seen as unimportant.

That thing that somebody would look at and go, going, ah, no, not for me.

Only later on to realize, oh, I really should have paid attention to that thing.

Consider being the person who got told about Microsoft for the first time.

And when, do you want to throw in 50 bucks to invest in this little thing we're doing?

I went, nah, not really for me. Or the first person that somebody was like,

I'm going to start this little business called Google. Are you interested in being on board?

That seems unimportant to me, not interested.

Jesus says he comes and presents himself as the single most important thing,

but somebody who is also rejected.

And so tonight he also presents to us, even on a weekly, even on a daily basis

as somebody whom we have the option to build our lives upon or to, as he says,

to be somebody whom we instead stumble over.

If you imagine a literal stone that could be the most important thing in a building

or discarded, not even noticing it so that you actually trip over it,

Jesus assumes that identity.

Somebody who is one thing, but can be two things depending on how it's interpreted and received.

We still see that today.

The cornerstone identity of Jesus today doesn't allow for neutrality. It demands a response.

Jesus says, I'm either everything thing or I'm nothing.

I'm either the thing you build your life on or it's not really going to work out.

It forces us, it challenges us to consider where we stand with God,

but it also challenges us to consider the way that we view things such as success

and influence and power in our world.

Because Jesus, the single most important person that has ever lived,

the son son of God of all value beyond anybody in this room could comprehend,

came into the world and allowed himself to be rejected,

allowed himself to have all power and give it away.

The message of Jesus runs counter to all human expectations.

And it also reminds us of the transformative power of faith to actually do something,

build something, make something in our lives, not just as a thought that we

have of like, you know, I'm just going to believe this because like when I die,

you know, I'm hoping that I end up on the good side.

No, by putting our faith in Jesus, it enables us to build our lives in a specific,

productive, helpful way.

In 1834, there was a man named Edward Moat.

He wrote a few really famous hymns. And in one of his hymns,

it was titled, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less.

Those words might stick out to you. We sung them just before.

The modern worship song of Cornerstone is based on this hymn.

Well, in this hymn, it starts like this. Again, may be familiar.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood.

You ever sing worship songs and sort of like for those that drive have that

feeling of like, wait, how did I get here?

What am I singing right now? I dare not trust the sweetest frame.

What am I saying right now? What am I saying to you, God, right now?

Well, I'm going to give you, next time you sing this song and you sing these

words, you'll be like, yes, I'm singing this song, not just with the confidence

of somebody that loves God, but the confidence that knows what I'm singing.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame.

Mote, by saying frame, is essentially just trying to make the word framework

framework rhyme in the song.

He's talking about frameworks, which is another way of considering the idea

of a cornerstone, something that is a guideline or a structure,

something that provides support and direction for a building.

And again, I have no authority to say this if this is wrong,

but Google said that it was somewhat correct that a framework can be a skeletal

structure, ensuring stability and shape.

That's as much as I was willing to aim for in that regard. In education,

an area I know not that much more about, but a little bit more about.

Frameworks are important.

In education, it outlines learning goals. It outlines methods for how teachers

can teach, for how students can learn, and it sort of marks along the way what

that might look like as a student builds their knowledge.

For a journey, something that you might go on, a framework can be like a map

or a compass, something that helps you plan direction.

Perfection and for a spiritual foundation for

which is important for all of us to consider a

framework consists of beliefs and practices guiding personal growth and decision

making and i wonder what is the framework in your mind as you consider the way

that you think the decisions that you make and even what you feel what is this

the framework upon which you are building your life?

Well, our world offers us many frameworks to consider.

That's what Moat was saying about, I'm not going to trust the sweetest frame.

He's saying, I'm not going to be tempted by frameworks to live my life that

seem sweet, that seem right,

that seem enjoyable, because I know that the only framework upon which I want

to build my life is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Reminded of a time when I was 21, I was very newly married and a group of myself

and some other young strapping lads with,

as Andy attested to in a similar way in his life when he was around this age,

a group of us that had much more misplaced confidence than what we perhaps do now.

Now, also, truth be told, most of us had a lot more hair than what we have now.

We embarked on what was supposed to be an exciting adventure.

My mate, who was about to get married, said, look, guys, I don't want to have

a Bucks weekend or a Bucks night.

I don't want to do anything that's filled with questionable decisions or potential regrets.

What I want to do instead is just you guys, I was one of the groomsmen.

There was like four of us, I think.

What I want to do is I want to go, instead of like doing something we will,

regret, what I want to do actually is I want to go on a three-day hike from

Canangra Falls to Katoomba, except I want to do it in two days because I read an article that said,

if you have a high level of fitness,

if you are sort of like in the Olympic athlete level of fitness,

if you are in the category of an elite world-class nature trekker,

you could probably give this trek a go in two days. Well, naturally we were 21.

None of our egos thought for a second to question that idea.

We thought, well, okay, if people can do it, we can do it. You know,

If anyone has the ability to do it, it's going to be us.

Not even for a moment did we question it. So we went to Conangra.

My mate, who was going to be married, his soon-to-be wife, drops us off, and off we go.

Well, one of the guys had said, I've done that hike before. Actually, I know the way.

None of us questioned that. So he got to the front and off we went.

And first day was great. Lots of beautiful views. And for five or six glorious

hours, we were having a great time, a really good time under the very wise leadership

of the guy who had done the hike before.

As the day wore on, I couldn't help but notice that my skepticism in our leader was starting to rise.

He didn't seem confident. confident it sort of

was like he would go that way and it seemed like are you sure because there's

a path there and he's uh yes and that's not what you want the person leading

your hike to be saying well eventually he reluctantly admitted that where we

were the path generously described as a path,

didn't look quite right it was at this point that the guys decided hey why don't

we check check the map. Did one of us bring a map?

One of us did bring a map. Didn't want to check it until that moment.

Gets to the bottom of his bag, pulls out the most basic map you could find.

Didn't even have any names on it. Just one of those squiggly line ones of different whatever.

And we had a look at the map. As we huddled around this cryptic piece of paper,

the horrible truth began to dawn on us.

See, we were supposed to be on the Tooele Plateau, which was a vast expanse of a plateau.

Well, where we found ourselves could only be generously described by someone

with an extremely vivid imagination as a plateau.

Narrow ridge maybe was more accurate. And as we grasped that geographical straws

thinking, oh, well, maybe it's right because, or maybe we realized that to our

left was supposed to be a creek.

Instead, to our left was a valley that went down.

And a plateau that went up. And instead of a creek to our left,

there was something that looked

a lot more like the plateau that we were supposed to be on, very far away.

And we realized that we weren't on Tuila Plateau.

We were on the much less glamorous sixth top, a ridge that was taking us precisely nowhere.

We traced our finger back and we realized what had gone wrong was the very first

time that we had a fork in the road.

Probably about 20 meters into the trip, we went right when we were supposed to go left.

We had been confidently marching in the wrong direction all the while.

And as darkness began to fall, we realized we weren't going to make it to Katoomba.

We had to come up with another plan.

So what we decided was to stay the night. It's getting dark. Head back to Kanangra.

Where we hopefully will get some phone reception again and well,

made the humble call to Kate.

We'd been married for three months and Kate came to our rescue.

We, yeah. And she didn't even laugh at us. You know, how true is it in our lives?

No matter how correct the path we're on feels.

No matter how confident the people around us going in the same direction,

doing some of the same things seem to be, if our starting point is not correct,

our framework, our cornerstone, if the very first part is compromised,

we may walk for kilometers and kilometers.

We may go up and down pointless ridges. We may do impressive things and have a fun time.

But if we are not grounded in the truth and the person of Christ in our lives,

we will find ourselves constantly on our own personal sixth top,

wondering where did we go wrong?

In our lives, it is not about how confidently we walk. It's not how much we

can rationalize. No, this seems right.

No, what matters is whether our foundation is correct.

The world will tempt us with forked roads, wrong frameworks for our journey.

It will tempt us with the wrong framework of worldly success.

It will tempt us with the wrong framework of seeking human praise or comparing

ourselves to others or being somebody who's self-reliant, being somebody who

chases comfort and ease.

These sweet frames and others like them offer to us a sense that this is the right direction.

They promise stability. They promise fun. They promise success.

They promise us a fullness to our soul.

But they take us the wrong way. One of the reasons I want to challenge you why

you may be struggling to find clarity and relevance and energy and enthusiasm

in your spiritual life is because you, like me,

too often approach Jesus as something that can just be added on at the end instead

of being the thing that should be first and foremost.

Because when we don't make Jesus first and foremost, we will stumble and we

will trip and we will find ourselves where we don't want to be.

But when we do make Jesus first and foremost, we will find, and Jesus assures

us of this, a solid and exciting basis to live our lives upon in the good days,

in the hard days, in the exciting days, in the tedious.

Jesus promises us as he does in John chapter 10, 10 verse 10,

John 10 · chapter mention

that he has come so that we all may have life and have it to the full,

that we may have abundant life that's got nothing to do with material prosperity.

It's got nothing to do with the absence of problems, and it's got nothing to

do with getting through that next week, that next month, that next term of busyness and stress.

No, but it gives us richness, purpose, joy, and excitement that can only come

with aligning our plans to God's design.

God comes to us and he wants to give us an unshakable identity, a clear purpose.

He wants to give us inner peace, even though everything around us is collapsing

and not as we thought it could be or should be.

He wants to offer to us the chance to be a part of what we have here tonight,

I hope, a place of genuine community.

He wants to give us transformed perspective. That is, even if things aren't

good, even if things aren't what you'd like them to be, but a perspective,

an ability to see that thing different.

And he offers to us empowered living and he offers to us hope by making Jesus

the cornerstone, by making Jesus first and foremost, even though you will be

tempted to think so, it does not mean that we are depriving ourselves of anything.

No, it means that we are building our lives on the unshakable rock of Christ.

And so as I finish tonight, I invite each of you to honestly examine,

as I will do also, the foundation upon which you are building your life.

And here is the good news.

You see, if you go hiking and you go walking for kilometers and hours in the

wrong direction and you find yourself on sixth top, well, that's it.

That's the consequence. The

only way to fix that is to go all the way back and then it's impossible.

Your dream is over. But with God and with your life, that is not how it works.

You may have found yourself on six top. You may be sitting there thinking,

I have gone the wrong direction.

You know, I have been choosing some wrong forks lately, but Jesus again comes

to all of us tonight and he offers us again another chance.

He offers us again forgiveness and he offers us beyond any miracles that we

deserve or have earned the ability to start afresh in Christ.

That you don't have to go into your next week thinking, okay, sure.

What I need to do for the next week, next two weeks, I need to think,

okay, how long have I been going wrong? Same amount of time I've got to go back.

No, you wake up tomorrow morning knowing that the grace and the mercies of God

are fresh every single day.

And even tonight, night, they are so fresh and waiting for you.

And so as you consider the question of whether you are constructing your life

on the shifting sands of things like worldly success or human approval or self-reliance,

tonight, you've also got the opportunity to say, you know what, Jesus, forget that.

Even just for this moment, I just want to build my life on you.

Even if just tonight, where my feet are, where I sing, where I pray,

where I stand tonight, I want to build my life upon you.

And maybe you've never done that before ever.

Well, let us all tonight, wherever we might be on our faith journey,

to have the courage to examine our framework, to have the courage to examine

what we have done with the cornerstone.

And let's commit tonight to making Jesus not just a part of our lives,

but the very cornerstone upon which everything else is built.

Let's pray as the band comes up. God, we just pray tonight for your forgiveness

for where we've gone wrong, for the times that we choose the wrong fork and all of us, we do it, God.

We make mistakes and we are sorry for that.

But Lord, we thank you so much for Jesus. We thank you so much for second chances.

We thank you so much for grace.

And so tonight, Lord, we want to just say that you are again our cornerstone,

that we aren't slaves to going down the wrong path, Lord, but no,

you give us a second chance.

We aren't slaves to our wrong decisions, but you give us a second chance.

You forgive us and you clean us and you make us new. And we pray that you do

exactly that in Jesus' name. Amen.

If you'd like to stand, we're going to sing and worship.