Stand Firm in the Lord: Building a Strong Foundation

(Philippians 4:1)

One of the things the Lord wants for all of His people is that they grow mature in Jesus Christ, in His words and in His ways. And we see the reason for this in the verse I am looking at today.

”Therefore, my brethren, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.” (Philippians 4:1)

We are called to learn, grow and find maturity as Christians so that we can stand firm in Christ Jesus. So let us look at what that means.

Strong Foundations enable us to Stand firm in the Lord

The first thing we learn is that is we are to stand firm in the Lord is that we must have a strong foundation.

The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms who and what that foundation is.

For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)

The ONLY foundation that is of any consequence is the foundation of Jesus Christ, and if we are to stand firm in the Lord we must have a strong foundation. In various places He is referred to as the cornerstone. A cornerstone is the first foundation stone of any building, and this again shows that Jesus Christ is the only foundation.

See the strength we gain by having Christ as our foundation in this scripture:

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and laid the foundation upon rock; and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation; against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:46-49)

We are the houses that are built on the Rock of Christ. Jesus is the strong foundation in this parable. The flood that comes against the house are the troubles, trials and tribulations of life in this world and the attacks of the evil one.

When our lives are built on the strong foundation of Jesus Christ all of the things that come against us part and go around us. The storms and floods may batter at us for a while, but by holding fast to the foundation of Jesus Christ we can stand strong and the streams will part and flow on elsewhere.

The important question then is “How do we build on the foundation of Jesus Christ?”

This parable says we must listen to His words and do them. We must hear and apply the words of Jesus Christ in our life so that we grow strong and put down roots into Jesus Christ as our solid foundation.

The parable also shows us the alternative path where the house was destroyed by the floods. And we should note that those people also heard the words of the Lord, but they didn’t do anything about them. They didn’t meditate on the words and take them into their hearts and learn what they meant, and then live by those words. Nor did they seek and follow the teachings of the Lord as He taught them. They heard but they didn’t do anything about what they heard.

So Jesus is the foundation, but we also need to hear and understand what the foundation teachings are. The writer of Hebrews defines the foundation teachings of Christianity.

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 with instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement. (Hebrews 6:1-2)

The writer here was about to explain some of the more difficult teachings of Christianity to the Hebrews, but before he did he identified the foundation teachings of Christianity.

They are: repentance, faith, baptism, laying on hands, resurrection, and eternal judgement.

These are the six foundation teachings of Christianity and it is critical to understand them if we are to build a strong foundation on the teachings of Christ Jesus and be able to stand against the storms and floods of this life.

The quality of the teaching regarding these six foundations varies greatly across the broad church today. Some cover the foundations quite well. But they ignore or twist the other foundations. And if that is the case, and it IS the case, how can a person under such a ministry ever learn the truth and be able to stand firm in the Lord?

Because I believe these foundations are so important and there is too much to cover in this post to explain them, I have written a free eBook titled: The Six Foundation Teachings of Jesus Christ.

If you want to know more about the six foundations, how they are supposed to work and what you need to do to gain a full insight, then grab a copy of the eBook in PDF format for free. If you would prefer to have a copy of the book as a paperback or in Kindle format, it is also available on Amazon, but there is a small cost to purchase it there as Amazon won’t allow me to put the book on their site for free.

As I mentioned above, there are different approaches to the teaching of these six ministry gifts in the modern church today. Some are good others are not so good. The Lord gave ministry gifts to His church so these things could be taught correctly to His people.

Ministry Gifts

We see what the ministry gifts are in the book of Ephesians.

8 Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

11 And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. (Ephesians 4:8-14)

The purpose of these ministry gifts was to strengthen, teach and build the church. The aim was to bring all of the church up to the same level of maturity as each other. And that level was to be able to stand in the fullness of Jesus Christ. That is, to stand strong on the foundation of Jesus Christ and to be fully grown in ALL that He said and taught so we are strong.

We see here another reason for these gifts and the reason why we need to learn and understand the scriptures. These gifts unify people in the faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ. We can discern good teachings from bad and not be tossed about by teachings with no basis in the truth.

Sad to say, there are many cunning and deceitful men in positions of power in the churches today who care nothing for the congregations of the Lord but are seeking their own ends. They may be seeking power, prestige, privilege, financial gain or more. They capture weak people who do not understand the truth and have not been built on the solid foundation of the truth of Jesus Christ, bending them to their own will and desires.

We must each seek the truth and find it. The Lord has promised if we seek diligently we will find the truth. If we ask He will give us the insights we need. When we knock on the Lord’s door He will open it to us.

So there is still hope for those who have been led astray by these false teachers if they seek the Lord. This brings me to the final point we must understand if we are to stand firm in the Lord.

Taught by God to Stand Firm on the Lord

Even though the Lord has provided teachers, the Bible says that we should all be taught by God.

It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. (John 6:45)

The teachers, evangelists, prophets, pastors, and apostles are given these specific gifts for the purpose of ministry in the church. They can open the scriptures up to the congregation. But it is the Lord God who provides the understanding of the words so that we can learn and grow.

This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It is one of the reasons why the Lord gives His people the Holy Spirit to those who seek Him.

The Holy Spirit is our teacher. It is He who gives us the understanding of the truth of Jesus Christ. He teaches us how the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ and the fullness of the New Covenant work.

The Holy Spirit has direct access to all the knowledge of God. His purpose is to help us understand the things of God. It is God’s will for us to understand so we can grow and be transformed into the image of Christ. This is part of the work of the Holy Spirit. And because the Spirit comes from God, then we are truly being taught by God as the scripture above states.

Every Christian should seek to receive the Holy Spirit to be taught by God. As I mentioned above, there are some teachings in the broad church that are done well and others done badly. Who the Holy Spirit is and how we receive the Holy Spirit is one that is done badly. Do you want to know more? Click this link and grab a free copy of my eBook: The Six Foundation Teachings of Jesus Christ.

It is essential to understand these things correctly and hold fast to the teachings of Jesus Christ. It is especially critical to understand the foundation teachings to be able to stand firm in the Lord.

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