Establishing Founations-2

There’s a timelessly timely question the Bible asks of all humanity in various ways, over and over again: “…if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do” (Psalm 11:3)?In the vernacular, the Bible is asking, “When (not “if”) all of the institutions of this world crumble, what can God do?” And, by implication, “What can God’s people do?”

I don’t know about you, but I think this is a very good question. And timely, is it not? As our wayward hearts might have it, this is the sort of question that many of us, or at least me for sure, would just as soon avoid… than you very much! Why? Because questions of this kind tend to polarize our thinking: they tend to force to take a stand about what we really, really believe.

Perhaps you recall another who preferred this approach: Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). And it’s “the sword” Jesus is referring to, that Feast of the Heart is based upon: True Truth. Pure Doctrine.

The shortest answer to the Psalmist’s rhetorical question above? “God can be God: “I AM” ; God’s people can be God’s people: WE ARE.” That’s the rock-solid foundation that will never, ever end. When all else is falling apart around us we must always resort to ”True Truth”, “Pure Doctrine” (Francis Schaeffer), the Bible: the inspired, unshakable, and living word of God.

“Feast of the Heart exists to help bring about Christ-centered reformation, revival, and constructive revolution so that God will be glorified and people blessed.”

The Feast of the Heart’s Vision Statement is based on three foundational, and sequential, principles: Christ-centered… reformation, revival, and constructive revolution. For today, let’s take a look at reformation. But before we do so, please allow me point out something very important: like all systems God has created, this is an organic and interconnected process, or journey.

Sure, there are a whole bunch of things we don’t know about God (E.g., “mystery”), but this is NOT one of them: Continuously embracing and consuming True Truth, Pure Doctrine (reformation) will lead to Christians living in word and in deed (revival), which will lead to living radical, self-sacrificial, involved, salty and bright, servants of “the least of these” while staying undefiled by the ways of the world (constructive revolution).

It’s Jesus-and-Image-Bearer-loving, organic, truth-telling-in-love, engrafted, abiding, other-centered, persevering, standing, deep-rooted, fruit-bearing, thankful, amour-donned, gentle warriors waging war with every breath. “YES!”

REFORMATION
As the Francis Schaeffer quote borrowed by Feast of the Heart says, “reformation” is about “restoring”; and first, by “restoring the church to pure doctrine”, True Truth.

This is huge! And this is the primary responsibility of The Church: The Body of Christ, the institution of the church, and everyone who might claim to be “in the church”, or “a God-fearing Christian”… and have as their namesake, Jesus Christ—Who was The Word Incarnate and the most ardent protector of the inspired word of God, His Father, and the Holy Spirit, the Word’s “implementer” or “supernatural heart changer”… by use of The Word.

The heart of all humanity God brought into existence was created out of True Truth, and can only truly live (Deuteronomy 30:19-20) by “feasting on True Truth”. Sin (Genesis 3) released into the heart, falsehood, the lie, deception, decay… and death.

When a heart is re-born from above (John 3:3), it begins a new spiritual life again (2 Corinthians 5:17), and will be matured, grown-up, and God-honoring by the continual inculcation of True Truth (2 Timothy 3:16-17), or live as a stunted, immature, ineffective, worldly, and frustrated existence (Galatians 1:6-10)… by chowing down on junk food: untruth, bad doctrine, poorly handled Bible teaching, purposeful heresy of God’s Word for the purposes of self-gain or self-aggrandizement by supressing the truth (Romans 1).

Feast of the Heart is, first and foremost, devoted to offering scrumptious fare of True Truth, Pure Doctrine—served up by a highly fallible human being. Please, pull up a chair and join us SO THAT we will be assured of the fruit we will speak to next time: Christians living in word and in deed.