Foundation of Jesus | Noah Fulwider

Welcome. We might not have met before. My name

is Noah. I get to be our youth pastor over at

our Prescott Valley location at Park Collective.

It's good to be here with you. A special welcome

as well, wherever you're joining us, whether

it be online or in Paulding or Baghdad, we love

you. We hope you feel welcome. A special shout

out to California right now. I got some family

in California and I love them. And so, hello

family. Nice to see you. Y 'all. We might not

have met, but you need to know that I am married,

that I have a wonderful son who is almost two

years old at this point. And y 'all, if you were

around our house yesterday, you would have been

like, what is going on there? We were yelling

and screaming for England on Saturday. Yeah,

and they came through against Norway. So much

so that this was my son. I have a video. There

he is, just excited as can be. I know he's wearing

an Arsenal kit. Do not worry, that will not stay.

He is a Liverpool fan at heart. You can give

Pastor John a hard time about that because he's

just wrong about this, I'm sorry. But man, I

was a little bit disappointed last week because

US did not win. I was very disappointed. We can

all boo that, boo. I know, this is the worst.

And in the commentary I heard, particularly around

the England game, they were still talking about

the US and what they were comparing the two teams

is that England had a stable foundation in their

back line and the Americans did not. And it was

so funny to me because I had really, I'd grown

up playing soccer my whole life. I married into

a soccer family. I just had never heard foundation

applied to a team before like that. It was kind

of interesting. Because before this, my kind

of conception of what a foundation is, again,

I'm going to demonstrate my ignorance to you.

I have very rarely picked up tools to do hardly

anything, but I just assumed, go with me, that

a foundation was a concrete slab and you just

build up on it. That's your foundation. It's

that concrete slab. Some of you are already laughing

because you know that's not what it is. So I

was curious. My house. Never looked at my foundation?

Some of you are like, you never checked out the

foundation? No, I never, I kid you not this week,

okay? I'm like, huh, I've never been down here.

I'm gonna look at what my foundation is. This

is what I found. Okay, what you're seeing right

now is three pillars that are holding up my house.

Now, I did text this picture to a contractor

I knew. We are very good friends. And I said,

look, I'm just, my wife and son are at home.

Is this safe? Like, what, three pillars? Like,

how is that? I jump around, you know? Like, Saturday

was England. Like, am I going to fall through

the floor? I was assured that this is a stable

foundation. It doesn't look like it, but it is.

And I think it's so funny because many of us,

as we go through this life, don't think about,

don't know what our foundation is. And the reason

we find out what our foundation is is when the

wheels have come off and everything is, you're

sitting in a pile of rubble. And I want to talk

about that today. I want to talk about that because

I believe that Jesus Christ alone is our foundation.

And yes, it is so good that we have this foundation.

And I think sometimes we say Christ is our foundation,

but then when we try to look at specifically

how he's our foundation, we kind of default to

that, well, Jesus is the foundation. What do

you mean by that? He's the foundation. Okay,

what do you like? What specifically? Jesus. Well,

that's fine. What I want to do is I want to give

kind of very similar to what that picture was.

I want to give you some pillars that I believe

when you look at them, they are Jesus, okay?

Jesus is the foundation. But when we look specifically

at Jesus's life, there are specific pillars,

specific things that Jesus demonstrates to us

that allow us to build on that foundation. And

so that's what we're going to do today. We're

going to continue in our collection. We are in

a collection called Who You Are. And if you're

just joining us, welcome. We're stoked you're

here. But we have been walking through the book,

the gospel of Luke, looking at who Jesus is.

And we're going to continue. We're going to actually

finish this thing called the Sermon on the Plain

today. And just to contextualize, just to get

us situated with where we are in the story, Jesus

has gathered his 12 disciples. They have gone

up onto the mountain and now they have come down

to speak to the masses about what this new kingdom

is going to be like. There is a manifesto here.

There is a plan here. There is a program here.

And Jesus is saying, Remember, this is all happening

within the wider expanse of God's story. And

when I read this Sermon on the Plain, I cannot

help but go back to the Exodus, to go back to

Sinai, to go back to Moses. When Moses ascends

the mountain, receives from the Lord the law

and descends to give it to Israel. You see, I

think what's happening here is that Jesus is

demonstrating a new kind of exodus to us. This

is a new kind of exodus where we are exiting

our lives of sin, exiting from death and destruction

and slavery into a new life. Jesus is stepping

into that. And so I just need you to understand

that as we step into it. So Luke chapter six.

is where we are going to be today. If you have

your Bibles, please open to it. And we are actually

gonna start at the end of the Sermon on the Mount

because I think it's important. Verse 46 is where

we're gonna be. Why do you call me Lord, Lord,

and do not do what I say? As for everyone who

comes to me and hears my words and puts them

into practice, I will show you what they are

like. They are like a man building a house who

dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock.

When a flood came, the torrent struck the house,

but could not shake it because it was well built.

But the one who hears my words and does not put

them into practice is like a man who built a

house on the ground without a foundation. The

moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed

and its destruction was complete. Now, I need

you to notice something about Jesus's words here.

It's very easy, and I've done this the entire

time I've read this passage before, to then look

at what's come before and to laser focus in,

do what I say, okay? I am pragmatic. I am an

American at heart. Give me a to -do list. And

that is like a... Great day for me, okay? And

I think it is so easy to receive a to -do list

from Jesus and miss the encounter with the risen

Savior. We sit there and we take, we hear all

of these rules, we hear what we are supposed

to do, and those are good things, but they are

built on the encounter that you've had with Jesus.

Look at verse 46. What is the progression? The

progression is for everyone who comes to me,

hears my words and puts them into practice. There

is a progression here. You cannot start putting

them into practice if you have not encountered

Jesus. So we need to say that at the very beginning,

okay? This is radically important. And what I

would like to do is I would go back through the

Sermon on the Mount because it can be very easy

to look at what Jesus is telling us to do and

be like, Jesus, that's great. But like, I can't,

I can't do that. I don't know what you're on

about, but man, that is incredibly difficult

for me. And frankly, it goes against my being.

I want us to look at these passages and I want

us to see Jesus and how Jesus himself fulfills

what he's asking us to do. So what I would love

to do is I just, I wanna encounter Jesus in this.

We're gonna open the Bible together. We're going

to hear the Spirit speak to us and paint a picture

to us of who this foundation is. Behind me, you're

going to see this is pretend for a moment that

we are building our house here. And we are trying

to establish a foundation. You can see that it's

on a hill. You can see that it's not level yet.

But what I believe we get is we get four pillars

that we can then build our life upon. And so

we're gonna start back up at verse 37. Verse

37, do not judge and you will not be judged.

Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.

Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and it

will be given to you. A good measure pressed

down, shaken together and running over will be

poured into your lap. For with the measure you

use, it will be measured to you. Now, if we're

trying to get a picture of who Jesus is, I think

right here, we get a picture of Jesus who is

forgiveness, okay? He is forgiveness. It's gonna

pop up on screen if you see that. That's our

first kind of pillar. Now, remember, when we're

looking at the foundation, we're seeing Jesus,

but I believe we can be specific in this passage

to demonstrate what it is Jesus is doing, okay?

And Jesus in this moment is saying, do not judge.

I hear that. I had my own preconceived notions

about it. I know you do as well. I wanna add

one for you. Do not judge. When we look at Jesus's

life, what he is saying is do not cut somebody

off that they may no longer hear the news about

redemption. Do not cut somebody off that they

no longer hear the news about redemption. And

y 'all, all I have to do is look around on social

media. It is so easy to classify groups of people,

individuals, and say they are too far gone. They

do not deserve what God has for them. And what

Jesus is saying here, Jesus is saying, forgiveness

is what is at the core of my mission. You see,

Jesus, y 'all, in the whole story of what God

is doing in this world, you have to understand

God is, to give up on humanity. When we follow

our fathers and forefathers and mothers with

Adam and Eve and participate in this thing called

sin, God's fairness would say, we're done. You've

messed it up. There is no hope for you. I turn

my back to you. It is well within God's right

in the garden when he is walking in the cool

of the day and Adam and Eve have hidden themselves

for God to make them remain there in hiding away

from him. And yet what does he do? All throughout

scripture, all throughout our mistakes, all throughout

our failings, he comes in and seeks us and chases

us down and offers us. Preeminently through his

son. His son, who is God incarnate, is so generous

with his life that he adds humanity to himself,

subjects himself to hunger, to tiredness, to

pain and to suffering on your behalf. so that

you may be forgiven. There is a generosity that

is at the heart of this forgiveness that Jesus

embodies for us. This is the first pillar. This

is who Jesus is. Continue on, verse 39. He also

told them this parable. Can the blind lead the

blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? The

students. The student is not above the teacher,

but everyone who is fully trained will be like

their teacher. Y 'all, I think Jesus, I can imagine

right now, he's asking those questions. Can the

blind lead the blind? And the people are like,

no, of course not. Will they not fall into a

bit? Of course, Jesus. I'm tracking with you.

I understand. And some of you might be sitting

here and you're like, Noah, I know the layout

of my house or my apartment like super well.

Like, I don't think you understand. In the dead

of night when I can't see and I get up and I

need a glass of milk, guess what? I can get there

without turning on a light. Let me just pump

the brakes a little bit, okay? Let me pump the

brakes here. We play a game in youth called minefield.

And what happens is that one of the students

is blindfolded and there's another student that

must lead them through the minefield. And the

minefield is a bunch of chairs and tables and

random things we can find. And they have to make

their way through the minefield without, let's

be honest, getting hurt. Somehow, every time

we've played this game, I'm having to go to our

safety team and ask if there's a medic. Because

there's a bloody nose or a bruised knee or a

lip, and one of them is not blind. Y 'all. The

blind cannot lead the blind. And so in this moment,

I need you to see that Jesus is a follower. Specifically,

he is a follower of his father's will. You see,

Jesus, being the God -man, could have said, yeah,

that's great. I don't really wanna be hungry.

I'm gonna go ahead and have my angels make sure

I am well -supplied, well -nourished. Right?

Jesus, when he is sitting and reclining with

his favorite people, his disciples in the last

supper, knowing he is going to die, could have

done one of two things. He could have said, angels,

guess what? Kingdom's coming now. We're going

to take out everybody. Rome's overthrown. We're

done. I'm not going to die. And yet, what does

Jesus do? He submits himself to the Father's

will. Y 'all, this Christ alone points the way

to life. Christ alone. There can be no other.

You cannot build your life on another. Christ

alone as a follower of the Father's will is our

foundation. Period. There is nothing else. Third

in verse 41. Why do you look at the speck of

sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention

to the plank in your own eye? How can you say

to your brother, brother, let me take the speck

out of your eye when you yourself fail to see

the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first

take the plank out of your eye and then you'll

see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's

eye. I just, I can imagine the scene that Jesus

is painting, right? Just imagine there's a large

two by four coming out of somebody's head and

they're just coming up and they're like, hey,

I noticed that you have something in your eye.

And they're just like trying to avoid getting

hit by the two by four. Jesus is a comedian in

this moment. I can imagine there is laughter,

but then he uses the strong word hypocrite. You

hypocrite. And if you've been around church at

all, you know that sometimes this word gets used

to describe actors in ancient Greece. They are

actors that would wear masks, and so they would

mask who they truly were. I think there's a fascinating

definition that Kevin de Young gives us, and

I think it's so good, it is so memorable. He

defines hypocrisy as the gap between public persona

and private character. Let me read that again.

It is the gap between public persona and private

character. We have a great example of it in scripture

itself. If you were to skip over to verse or

chapter 11, verse 42, Jesus talking to the Pharisees,

he says, woe to you Pharisees. Because you give

God a tenth of your mint, rue, and all other

kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice

and the love of God. You should have practiced

the latter without leaving the former undone.

You see, in this moment, Jesus is hitting on

the idea. He is truthful. He's our third pillar,

truthful. You see, there is no gap. between what

God says he is and what he does. So let me put

this into perspective for you. When Jesus sees

Peter deny him three times, Peter is one of his

best friends. Jesus in that moment restores Peter

after his resurrection. He shows compassion to

Peter. In the same breath, A random woman who

is caught in adultery, who rightfully deserves

death. What does he say? He has compassion on

that woman. Jesus, there is no gap between his

public and private persona. How do I know this?

Because when he's just with his friends, okay?

Just with his friends. This is how you know,

by the way, that the Bible is truthful, okay?

Because it talks about some of the failings that

humanity has had. There is no like rose colored

glasses. But when he is with his friends, what

does he do the few moments he has before he dies?

He washes their feet. He does not have to do

that. It would be very easy for Jesus to say,

here's good news for the poor. Here's good news

for the brokenhearted. Now guys, we're gonna

recline and I'm just gonna relax. I don't know

if you know, but I'm gonna die in a bit. But

he takes the form of a servant and washes their

feet. It is so easy sometimes to look at Jesus

just like we look at ourselves, right? Like sometimes

we realize, oh man, my online persona, I don't

know if I'd trot that out in church. I don't

know if I'd be happy if people knew what I was

saying online. Guys, Jesus. There is no gap between

his public persona and his private persona. He

is truthful. He is truthful. Finally, verse 43.

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad

tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized

by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from

thorn bushes or grapes from briars. A good man

brings good things out of the good stored up

in his heart. And an evil man brings evil things

out of evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth

speaks what the heart is full of. Y 'all, if

I were to summarize this one, one produces what

one is. One produces what one is. Therefore,

in this moment, what Jesus is demonstrating about

himself, Jesus is life -giving. He is life -giving.

You see, wherever Jesus goes, life follows in

tow. I challenge you this week, look through

your gospels, read about all the times that Jesus

does something, says something, and life springs

out. It is like all of creation just sighs in

relief when Jesus is on the move. I love it when

we get to look in the original language and we

already get an amazing word picture. That word

for bad right there, that word for bad gets used

all over Greek literature to describe a fish

market that's been baking in the sun. Y 'all,

I cooked fish for like the first time in three

months the other day. And I like cut the skin

off the fish, threw it away, had the fish, it

was amazing. But then I woke up the next morning

and y 'all, I smelled the fish. My trash can

was closed and it stank. So can you imagine a

fish market with no AC? It is rotten. It is death.

There is nothing good coming from that. And so

in this moment, Jesus is demonstrating he does

not bring death. He doesn't bring that smelly

little fish market. No, he brings fruit. He produces

something that is pleasing, that is life -giving.

And you can see we have this foundation now that

Jesus is forgiveness. He's a follower of the

Father's will. that he is truthful, that he is

life -giving. Now, I don't know about you, but

this week as I was studying and kind of getting

ready for this, those pillars, I've realized

how many ways I fall short of that. Because there's

this kind of beauty. The lives that we're building

on top of this foundation, it's supposed to look

like Jesus. It's supposed to look like Jesus.

And so when you have your foundation and you

are building on a Jesus that does not forgive,

that is not following the Father's will, that

is not truthful, that is not life -giving, all

of a sudden, whatever we build crumbles. And

y 'all, just... to be completely honest and transparent

with you. I've realized this week that there

are people in my life that I do not have forgiveness

for. I don't know if you've ever experienced,

you're looking at a new car, you're thinking

about buying a new car, and then all of a sudden,

all around town, all you see is that car. I'm

telling you, it's like the craziest thing. That

was what it was like. There is a person in my

life that I am very good at paying lip service

to forgiveness. Oh man, they let me down again.

Forgive you. We're all good. And I've realized

over these last couple weeks, that I have not

truly forgiven them. In reality, when they inevitably

let me down again, I'm keeping score. I'm keeping

score, and y 'all, it justifies the way I speak

to this person and the way I cut this person

off from God's grace. Do you know how it is so

lame to realize that sitting with Jesus and you're

like, oh, this is not good. I want to build my

life on a Jesus who forgives because, oh my goodness,

do I need this forgiveness? But oh my goodness,

my life does not look like that. And I suspect

for each of you sitting here, that you have had

a moment like that. Maybe it's a person that

has been brought to mind. You're like, hmm, I

mean, I forgive them, but not really. Maybe you're

sitting there and you're like, what have I been

following? Have I been following the Christ who

is revealed through these scriptures? Or have

I been following the Christ who reigns online?

Maybe you're sitting there and you're like, oh

my goodness, Jesus, that's great that you did

that then, but I don't believe you're gonna do

it now. You don't believe that Jesus is truthful,

that his word is truth. Or maybe you're caught

up. And you're sitting there and you're like,

man, I don't know what it is. Everybody around

me just does not like me right now. And you realize

that in your conversations, whether it be with

your family or your friends, you have not been

life -giving, you've been dealing death. There

is a temptation to follow in the pattern set

by our forefathers and foremothers in Adam and

Eve. There is a temptation to hide ourselves

from each other and from God. And y 'all, I am

talking about us as Christians. We have declared

that Christ is Lord, that we are stoked that

he's bringing about new life in us. We still

have temptation to fit ourselves into this pattern.

And I believe that an antidote to this pattern

is confession. And if you've been around church

at all for a little bit, you might hear the word

confession and you might think, great, Noah,

where's the priest? That's not what I'm saying.

Confession is the declaration to ourselves, to

each other and to God that we have fallen short

and that we are in need of his mercy. That is

what confession is. It is the acknowledgement

that we fall short, that we need his mercy. But

I also think there is a double aspect of confession.

There is the confessing that we fall short, but

there is also confession of faith in who God

is. I think sometimes really good, if you're

anything like me, we are really good at realizing

your shortcomings. You're really good at realizing,

oh my goodness, Lord, this is not good. But we're

not as good at declaring who Jesus is. And so

what I would love to do, what I would invite

you to do, because we're going to do it together,

is we are going to respond in confession. We

are going to do that together. What I found healing

for me, And my journey of faith is publicly declaring,

confessing what the early church fathers and

mothers have confessed. There is something healing

to my soul when we publicly do this together.

Just because I am speaking to you does not mean

that anybody else in this room needs this. We

all need this. And I would love for us after

this confession to confess the second paragraph

of what has been termed the Apostles' Creed.

And just really quickly, the Apostles' Creed

comes about in the early church. It's one of

our earliest confessions of faith. And how it

comes about is men and women open the scriptures.

read the story of what God has done and put language

to describing who God is. And normally the Apostles'

Creed is three paragraphs. We're gonna just center

in on Jesus and that paragraph because it is

so important. If we are answering the collection,

who you are, this is who Jesus is. And we cannot

build a house unless it is situated on the foundation

of Jesus. So we're gonna do this together. Can

I encourage you? Can you please stand with me?

Let us confess our sins to Almighty God. Would

you confess with me? Almighty and most merciful

Father, we have wandered... Now let us confess

our faith. I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only

son. Father, this is our prayer this morning.

We confess that we have fallen short in so many

ways. We confess that we have built our lives

on a shaky foundation. We have substituted your

son for something that looks shiny. Forgive us,

Lord. And yet, Father, through your spirit, would

you empower our confession? This is who we believe

your son to be. conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius

Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried for

us. We declare that. We have faith in that. We

are so thankful for who you are. Lord, as we

confess our sins to each other, may we also confess

faith in who your son is and what he is doing.

We love you. It's in your son's name we pray,

who reigns with you in the Holy Spirit. One God,

now and forever. Amen.