No Other Foundation

“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ Name. On Christ the solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand. all other ground is sinking sand.”

Now that’s an old hymn that brings back memories!

It also reveals a fundamental perspective from the world I came from: My old Protestant days were spent trying to figure out what it meant to have my hope only in Christ. Of course, that isn’t a bad thing at all. As with most of these discussions, the breakdown comes from the meaning of the ideas being discussed.

Having my hope only in Christ means I better know WHO Christ is and how HE means to form and shape me by HIS wisdom!

Jesus Christ IS our only hope. But what does that mean, and how do we practice this insight in our everyday lives? In other words, am I willing to have my idea of a “Normal” life changed by the revelation of Jesus Christ?

Look at our lesson today in 1 Corinthians 3:9-17:

Brethren, we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw - each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.

Remember, St. Paul is writing to his spiritual children in Corinth, attempting to get them to “grow up” and be mature Christians. The Church in Corinth was a bit of a mess. They were very committed, but they also had some moral and theological deficiencies that were locking this community into a perpetual adolescence. They were making choices and practicing their lives with clear debilitating immaturity that was now threatening not only their spiritual lives but the witness they were to be to others. St. Paul had to whip these charismatic and zealous believers in shape!

He does this by insisting their spiritual foundation had to be solid. You can’t build a stable and mature life on a shaky foundation!

He starts by reminding them who they are. He tells them, “We are God’s fellow workers, God’s field, God’s building.” Wow, that’s a powerful identity. God invites us to understand that He wants us as “partners” and His “co-workers.” That makes us in “symphonia” with God. If you are going to have a solid foundation in your life, you are going to have to know WHO you are and WHO you are meant to be!

Paul also tells them that their “foundation” was laid by him when he first taught them about Jesus Christ and His resurrection. Forgetting the fundamentals of the Faith always means the life you are building will be unstable!

Finally, Paul reminds them that they won’t be able to avoid being faced with the consequences of a poorly built life. To build my life on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ and His Church means coming to accept that this isn’t about my “personal opinions” or my “feelings.” The objective Truth of the Faith isn’t open to my private interpretation but is given to me to transform me. And there will come a day when my life will be revealed as either well-built or badly built by the “fire” of God’s love. There will be no hiding from that “fire,” and what is shallow and small will be revealed, and what is solid and mature will be revealed as well.

Towards the end of the 5th century AD, a family lived in the Roman Empire capital of Constantinople. St. Xenphone and his wife Mary, had two sons named Arcadius and John. Xenophone sent his two sons to Beruit to study law. Sadly, on their way, the boat they were traveling in was shipwrecked, and the two boys barely survived. This incident changed the perspective of these young men significantly. They no longer wanted to live their lives in a too-small way. They changed their destination to the Holy Land and became monks to live out their lives in prayer and work in the service of Jesus Christ. Xenophone and his wife went looking for their sons when they heard of the shipwreck and found them dressed as monks in the holy city of Jerusalem. They were so moved by the life of their sons that Xenophone and Mary joined them in the monastic life and finished their lives in dedicated service in the early part of the 6th century AD.

Today, what is your foundation for your life? What guides you and forms you as you build on that foundation? Is Faith so integral to your life that it actually transforms your priorities and choices? Or are you building based on your passions and untamed desires? If you’re ever going to have a Normal Orthodox Life, you are going to have to build on the solid Foundation of Jesus Christ and His Church.

P.S. With your yoke-mate and your sons, did you keep vigil in the courts of Christ your Lord, and you did cheerfully disperse your wealth to the poor, O blessed one. Hence, you have all now inherited joy divine.