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It really doesn’t matter who you are God has called you to build something great.
Paul in our reading says::” you are God’s building.”
It becomes great when you co-operate with God in building what he calls you to build out of your life. One day, after work on his cathedral had begun, Wren unrecognised by the workforce, walked among the artisans and stonecutters.
He asked one of the workmen:
“What are you doing?” “I am cutting a piece of stone“, the workman replied.
He asked the same question of the second stonecutter. “I am earning five shillings two pence a day”, the second workman replied.
He asked a third workman the same question, and the man answered, “I am helping Sir Christopher Wren build a magnificent cathedral to the glory of God.”
Great Answer.
When Nehemian entered Jerusalem with the call of God on his life when asked what he was doing his reply was revealing Nehemiah chapter 6 verse 3 I am carrying on a great project – Nehemiah could see that the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem was a great project.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 For by the grace God has given me , I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than that already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Everyone is called to build well. Jesus once told a parable about a wiseman and a foolish man who both built houses. One had great results under times of testing and one didn’t.
Today I want to encourage you that God wants you to build something great out of you life and I want to encourage you that there are identifiable steps in the building process.
Last week I preached on the fact that the way up is down in the Christian life so it is appropriate that we begin with the foundation. Houses in a general sense need good foundations.
The house that we live in currently was previously in Christchurch and the ground that it was built on proved to be unsatisfactory it was subject to liquefaction which seemingly is unstable.
How does God want you to build ?
On a firm foundation.
When the Japanese, Toyohiko Kagawa, became a Christian he wanted to be like Jesus and so although suffering from tuberculosis he went to live in a small hut in a Tokyo slum. Cecil Nothcott in, 'Famous Life Decisions', describes what happened: On his first night he was asked to share his bed with a man suffering from contagious itch. That was a test of his faith. Would he go back on his point of no return? No. He welcomed his bed-fellow. Then a beggar asked for his shirt and got it. Next day he was back for Kagawa's coat and trousers and got them too. Kagawa was left standing in a ragged old kimono. The slum dwellers of Tokyo laughed at him but they came to respect him. He stood in the driving rain to preach, coughing all the time. 'God is love,' he shouted. 'God is love. Where love is, there is God.' He often fell down exhausted, and rough men of the slums carried him gently back to his hut.
You can’t build like this unless there is a firm foundation. Many – in fact - most Christians would not share a bed with someone with a contagious itch for Jesus.
The first principle of building then is check the foundations!!!
Paul wrote: By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder. v10. Paul was a pioneer missionary. He it was who established the church at Corinth. The apostle had no misgivings about the foundation he laid. He preached Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1Cor2v2.
The reason that Paul could build such an amazing work was he had laid a firm and lasting foundation, What does that involve. Most people would rattle off - believe in Christ and that is true, belief or faith in Christ is important. But many people believe in Christ and achieve little for the Kingdom of God. There must be more to this foundation business than we realise!!!
When Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus he put his faith in Christ but something really important happened that is so simple it is often overlooked.
Paul repented.
When Peter preached in Jerusalem what he preached was not God is love although he is. It wasn’t even receive Christ although you need to.
It was this Acts chapter 2:37Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" 38Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39"For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself."…
You see it is not until you are pierced to the heart and realise how great the gift of salvation is that you bow your knees and repent it is repentance that is so often missed.
The word used for repentance in the bible is metanoia which is a complete change of direction.
Imagine driving to a destination in the wrong direction the only way to move in the right direction is turn around.
Imagine a shoddy builder laying a foundation to a house and weakening the concrete to a ten to one mix and halving the amount of steel required. In the end the foundation might look all right but it wouldn’t be. It would be weak. In the same way we need a good strong mixture for our foundations. A mix of lip service and not much else won’t do we need repentance, Discipleship and real solid commitment to Christ to build on when we want to build what Christ wants in our lives.
These days in New Zealand we have very stringent tests on our buildings. Especially since the Christchurch earthquake because the buildings without good foundations did not last.
Reading a leadership letter by Jon Byler last week he came up with biblical tests for testing foundations
Inspecting the Foundation
We need to be aware of not just the obvious weaknesses in our foundations but the ones that lie beneath the surface. The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them (1Timothy 5:24). Paul makes it clear that some sins are very obvious and easily recognizable. Others are more easily hidden and may not be obvious for some time. These are the ones to which Christians pay special attention, checking for cracks in the foundation of their lives. inspect the foundation of their lives in crucial areas. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation,
Inspect the foundation of truthfulness. The fruit of truthfulness over time is trust, and we need to guard this trust as we inspect their lives for any hint of compromise with truth. Recognize that compromises to truth often occur in very small steps. A small exaggeration often leads to larger misrepresentations of truth. A small unfulfilled promise leads to more and more outright falsehoods when not acknowledged. The scripture are the source of truth in the Christian life but there is a human tendency to avoid the hard Biblical truths that really come from the heart of God. We recognize that we face daily tests of our commitment to speak the truth. We strive to obey the difficult command of Jesus, “Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37).
Sometimes we might think that a half truth or a white lie are Ok or we might begin to lie to ourselves about our walk with God.
But we need integrity
Corrie ten boom tells an incredible story Corrie was visiting her brother and his family.. Corrie was chatting with the two younger daughters, Cocky and Katrien, when all at once their two older brothers, Peter and Bob, raced into the room with faces ghostly white. “Soldier! Quick. They are only two doors down and are coming this way”.
They jerked the table back, snatched away the rug and tugged open the trapdoor. Bob lowered himself first, lying down flat, and Peter tumbled in on top of him. We dropped the door shut, yanked the rug over it and pulled the table back in place. With trembling hands Betsie, Cocky, and I threw a long tablecloth over it and started laying five places for tea.
There was a crash in the hall as the front door burst open and a smaller crash close by as Cocky dropped a teacup. Two uniformed Germans ran into the kitchen, rifles leveled.
“Stay where you are. Do not move”
We heard boots storming up the stairs. The soldiers glanced around disgustedly at this room filled with women and one old man. If they had looked closer at Katrien she would surely have given herself away: her face was a mask of terror. But they had other things on their minds.
“Where are your men?””
“These are my aunts” she said, “and this is my grandfather. My father is at his school, and my mother is shopping and---“
“I didn't ask about the whole tribe” the man exploded in German. Then in Dutch: “Where are your brothers?”
Cocky stared at him a second, then dropped her eyes. My heart stood still. I know how Nollie had trained her children--but surely, surely now of all times a lie was permissible”
“Do you have brothers?” the officer asked again.
“Yes,” Cocky said softly. “We have three.”
“How old are they?”
“Twenty-one, nineteen, and eighteen.”
Upstairs we heard the sounds of doors opening and shutting, the scrape of furniture dragged from walls.
“Where are they now?” the solder persisted.
Cocky leaned down and began gathering up the broken bits of cup. The man jerked her upright. “Where are your brothers?”
“The oldest one is at the Theological College. He doesn't get home most nights because---“
“What about the other two?”
Cocky did not miss a breath.
“Why they're under the table.”
Motioning us all away from it with his gun, the soldier seized a corner of the cloth. At a nod from him the taller man crouched with his rifle cocked. Then he flung back the cloth.
At last the pent-up tension exploded: Cocky burst into spasms of high hysterical laughter. The soldiers whirled around. Was this girl laughing at them?
“Don't take us for fools” the short one snarled.
Furiously he strode from the room and minutes later the entire squad trooped out. Cocky had earned the miracle it required to cancel out the likely consequences of her telling the truth.
When we confess Jesus as Lord – is it the truth?
Servant leaders inspect the foundation of thoughts. The thoughts of a Christian are hidden from view but shape their actions. Many of the obvious sins Paul refers to in 1 Timothy 5:25 began in the secret places of the heart and thoughts. Jesus declared, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19). Jesus makes it clear that this list of “obvious” sins begins with heart and thinking problems. When these are cracks are allowed to continue they develop into habits and patterns of thinking and finally lead to actions. Servant leaders recognize the danger of allowing sinful thoughts to control them. They understand that even though no one can see what they are thinking, there is danger in allowing uncontrolled thoughts to continue. They realize that issues like pornography, lust, or anger will not remain hidden forever, but will eventually be expressed in actions.
Heres a little story about Rosalie –
“Rosalie welcome to the church this is your first time isn’t it? My name is Mary “
“ Oh thank you sister why what a lovely frock!”
Secret thought: the colours don’t match and it is a size too small.
“Where do you live dear?”
Secret thought – You’re only asking because you want me to join your church and get your numbers up.
Rosalie Oh across town in the big white house.
Secret thought: Oh why did I say that? I don’t want her visiting us.
How did you find the service?
Rosalie Oh lovely what a great sermon!
Secret thought: Could have done better myself.
Yes we had a guest speaker today He was good. We are so blessed.
You show off.
I beg your pardon?
Secret thought: Why did I say that it was meant to be a thought – Oh dear damage control train wreck!!!!.
I mean you should show off to the whole town such good preaching sorry it didn’t come out right.
Oh now I see.
Yes I mean the Lord would want great preaching like that to get to everyone.
Secret thought – Note to self lets get out of here!!!!
secondly
We need to inspect the foundation of motives.
Why are we doing what we are doing. As life moves on we can lose sight of very good motives and impure motives can creep in through carelessness or complacency. Every now and then it is probably really important to ask yourself – Why did I do that? Am I doing this because of my relationship with God – or out of habit or out of the desire to impress others or for some personal but definitely not a Kingdom gain?
David’s caution to Solomon, “the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts” (1 Chronicles 28:9).
Where the inspection reveals flaws, good Christian builders act quickly to repent and make the necessary repairs to the foundation of their leadership.
The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)
Don Delzell says
After his sins of murder and adultery, King David needed a new heart. But he knew that he was not capable of providing it for himself. So he asked God to do it as he prayed these words, "Create in me a pure heart, O God." (Psalm 51:10) The word "create" is hugely significant. It reveals the fact that David knew he was powerless to fix his heart. It was too messed up.
But King David did by that time have one good thing in place. His motives were once again pure, even though his recent actions had been anything but pure. If your motives are pure, you will be moving in a good direction. It will be in the direction of godliness and righteousness, as compared to a continual chasing after things which are outside of God's will for your life.
Notice the distinction between our "intentions" and our "desires." Intentions, or motives, are what we "want to do" and what we "don't want to do." Desires on the other hand are what we are feeling "drawn to do." Do you see the difference?
Paul said 1 Corinthians chapter 3 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Today we are suggesting that we lay that foundation in Truth – We lay it – with Godly thinking and we lay it with – Godly Motives.
We can’t establish foundations like this on our own we establish them in our relationship with Jesus Christ whose blood has set us free from the law of sin and death and who releases his Holy spirit into our lives, that we might live truly,
With correct thinking and Godly motives.
