Choose Our Foundation Wisely
Summary of a Lesson from John Ortberg
Christ told the story of building a house to symbolize building our life, character, or soul. (Matthew 7:24-27, Luke 14:25-33). Irrespective of wealth, intelligence, or faith in God, the house built will face unavoidable storms. The outcome, stand or fall, depends on the choice we make for its foundation.
Christ described two types of foundations. A strong and solid one depends on listening to and following Him. A weak foundation is one listening to His teachings without following Him. Note that the dichotomy here is not good versus bad, but wisdom versus folly.
Make decisions wisely, soberly, and not emotionally (Luke 14:25-33). Having said that, similar to getting married or having kids, we must be comfortable that we can never be absolutely certain with our choices.
Count the cost of following Him. It can require laying down our ego, control, reputation, or certain habits, preferences, relationships, attitudes, or behaviors.
Count the cost of not following Him. It can result in a life enslaved by ego, money, image, reputation, or power; living a life of fear and greed; or dying in despair, after living a meaningless life.
Count the benefits of following Him: forgiven of our mistakes through grace from the cross; having God’s guidance and help; living a life with hope and meaning, beyond worry and fear, and not enslaved by money, reputation, sex, safety, or image; or having confidence of life after death.
Typically, we don’t choose to be evil or intentionally plan the wrong path. We don’t get married planning to divorce. We don’t go to the office intending to meet someone with whom to have an affair. We don’t have children planning to wreck them. We don’t live our life planning to be greedy, selfish, or racist. But these things can happen when we make choices entirely based on how we feel.
Do we follow ourselves or God?
Learn from Christ and follow Him. We may not be as good as the original disciples, at least initially. Just try to understand and follow Him. Choose wisely. Our life depends on what we choose as our foundation.
Summary of a sermon by John Ortberg:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.menlo.church/Choose-Your-Foundation_Apr2018_jortberg.pdf?mtime=20180504112555
Christ described two types of foundations. A strong and solid one depends on listening to and following Him. A weak foundation is one listening to His teachings without following Him. Note that the dichotomy here is not good versus bad, but wisdom versus folly.
Make decisions wisely, soberly, and not emotionally (Luke 14:25-33). Having said that, similar to getting married or having kids, we must be comfortable that we can never be absolutely certain with our choices.
Count the cost of following Him. It can require laying down our ego, control, reputation, or certain habits, preferences, relationships, attitudes, or behaviors.
Count the cost of not following Him. It can result in a life enslaved by ego, money, image, reputation, or power; living a life of fear and greed; or dying in despair, after living a meaningless life.
Count the benefits of following Him: forgiven of our mistakes through grace from the cross; having God’s guidance and help; living a life with hope and meaning, beyond worry and fear, and not enslaved by money, reputation, sex, safety, or image; or having confidence of life after death.
Typically, we don’t choose to be evil or intentionally plan the wrong path. We don’t get married planning to divorce. We don’t go to the office intending to meet someone with whom to have an affair. We don’t have children planning to wreck them. We don’t live our life planning to be greedy, selfish, or racist. But these things can happen when we make choices entirely based on how we feel.
Do we follow ourselves or God?
Learn from Christ and follow Him. We may not be as good as the original disciples, at least initially. Just try to understand and follow Him. Choose wisely. Our life depends on what we choose as our foundation.
Summary of a sermon by John Ortberg:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.menlo.church/Choose-Your-Foundation_Apr2018_jortberg.pdf?mtime=20180504112555