Pentecost 67 When It Comes Right Down To It.......

[HKHaugan]

Pentecost 67 When It Comes Right Down To It…….

Of courts and kings, of temples and altars, of galaxies and worlds, of past and future, of minds and hearts, of winds and tides and comets and stars, of all that is and was and is to come the bottom line is this, “No one can lay any other foundation than the one that has already been laid. That foundation is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).”

This passage says three things.

First, Jesus is the foundation. This is basic. It involves the very essence of everything that exists, visible and invisible. Visibly, “All things were made through him. Nothing that has been made was made without him (Jn.1:3).” Invisibly, “What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn't put it out (Jn.1:4).” So visibly, all things are an expression of the invisible mind of the Father revealed in Jesus Christ. That is His will. Jesus is the center-point of everything. What we observe is that science only discovers what already exists and invention merely reshapes existence to make it more usable, enjoyable and grateful. The how, what and why of Creation is all in the mind of the Creator and He reveals what He wants in His way and His time according to His will.

Second, Jesus is the foundation for what it means to be a person. We were created in His image. We can see in Jesus a mind, a heart and a Spirit. We have a mind, a heart and a soul. We have a sense of self, of being a unique individual, of being in a world of others with the same experience of self. We have the desire to communicate, find purpose, meaning and significance. Jesus is the One who brings that all together and calls us to trust Him as the foundation for being a person and living each moment to the fullest.

The problem is that the devil tempted man to think of himself apart from God. When he did, sin entered and distorted how man saw himself, others and his environment. Man chose himself above God to define who he was and what he was here for. He spiritually alienated himself from God. Jesus was sent by the Father to be the foundation for our recovery.

Third, Jesus is the foundation for what it means to be a person in relationship with God and others. There is no symbol that makes this clearer than the Cross. The vertical beam shows how God through Jesus initiates and maintains a relationship with us from above and then the horizontal beam shows how God in Jesus reaches others through us. In fact the Cross of Christ is the foundational pattern for life. It is the way we carry ourselves to the Cross and leave our egos there and allow Jesus to think and act through us in the Holy Spirit that is the exhibition of life itself. So when Paul says that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself it meant that all things visible and invisible are being resolved in and through the person of Jesus by the power of the Spirit.

So Jesus is the foundation for all existence, for who we are and who we are to become and for the restoration of all people and the universe. No matter what anyone since has done or will do it can never be foundational like Jesus. Everything that man can think or do will eventually fit a structural pattern that coincides with the mind of God because all Creation is designed by Him and for Him. No one can think outside of God.

More about this, stay tuned…….