You know. When you think about it, we are surrounded by a lot of sand. Bunches and bunches of sand! It’s on the hill tops, in the desert, around the oceans, and as I understand it, lining the sea floors. Have you ever wondered where all of the that sand comes from? From silica, granite, and magma? Again; it’s all over the place.
Well, I am no geologist, but as I understand it, it comes from bigger pieces of material (quite profound, I know). Bigger pieces of quartz, granite, magma etcetera. It comes from stones, from rocks, from boulders, from mountains, bedrock, and I presume even cosmological debris hitting our blue ball. It comes from elements, from salt, from calcium and other minerals, and granular trace metals. I suppose it can even contain decomposing organic material. All of these are broken down to size, somewhere between the size of gravel and silt.
Gradually, through time and conflict those bigger objects get broken down into smaller pieces, eventually moving to pebbles, then to sand, and from sand to dust. Big pieces are worn down by wind, debris, and water which constantly shave off, or break off pieces and become part of this process known as erosion. And that is sand–blown here and there at the discretion of contrary forces.
Those grains have become nothing of their former glory.
in Matthew chapter 16 Jesus has an exchange with Peter. He asks His disciples …, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (Matthew 16:15-18).
Jesus asserts that the Church will be built upon the Truth of the Gospel, the Truth that He Himself is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. The foundation which supports the Church is the Truth of this Gospel, also known as the foundation of the apostles and the prophets (Ephesians 2:20). In another letter, Paul informs Timothy that the Church is to be the “pillar and support of the Truth” (1 Timothy 3:15)–to be a witness of that Truth to the world. Christ states that Peter is by comparison a pebble (“You are Peter”), a stone (Peter, Petra(Greek)), still he will be a part of that work, and death will not prevail against the life-giving Truth of this Gospel.
Like a pillar securely set upon a firm foundation, this column is to rise as a beacon above the landscape, to reveal the Truth to those around. When the Church, when any church forgets the Truth of which they are stewards… when that commission becomes something other than the Truth, that church begins to erode. Little pieces begin to falloff, to fall away, and the foundation of that church turns to sand, then to dust.
The Devil, the culture, and our flesh are all working against our integrity to turn our witness to sand. Many churches, many denominations, many individuals have succumbed to the pressure of culture. They have embraced a social gospel, cultural norms, and a lessening of appreciation for Scriptural Truth.
God’s Truth is Rock-Solid! Of course, the Gospel itself will never erode; it will never be anything less than the life-giving Truth, the foundation, the bedrock, through which one finds salvation in Christ–the Cornerstone– the Solid Rock.
As Churches, and as individuals we choose where we will build for the future.
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand…
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.
