Life Built on the Rock

In the world of building, the foundation is the most important. You can have the most beautiful architecture and ornate visual appearance, but without a strong foundation, it will not last. Life is the same. We can skate along with the surface view of all things being right, but when the circumstances get tough, that surface view is wiped away by the cracks underneath. Jesus dealt with this as he wrapped up His greatest sermon.

“²⁴Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” – Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV)

The above sounds a bit like “The Three Little Pigs”. But the above happened and was recorded first so “The Three Little Pigs” (first published in 1890) sounds a bit like Jesus.

Jesus often spoke in parable and as seen here, He sticks to that process. The foundation, as I noted earlier, is the most important part of building. As noted in the commentary of my ESV Bible, “a wise builder knew that he needed to dig several feet below the surface to the bedrock in order to establish the foundation for his house” as he was well aware of the shifting of sand that would come around the Sea of Galilee. The same can be said for us in our lives.

In our lives, what people see is that which is on the surface. As is understandable, we want people to see us as stable and strong. Well generally what we present only looks stable and strong. I have watched many a house flipping show where in the course of demolition once the surface is removed, a fragile or even nonexistent foundation is exposed. I know many people who are the same. For weeks on their social media profile, they are “#blessed” and the next they are devastated as everything has fallen apart.

I am not saying that we do not have times like that, where one day everything is good and the next we are struggling. Anything can happen in the course of a day. But, what I can say is that we do not have to be devastated with the change in circumstances. Jesus provides the foundation for us to build our lives on. He is the rock on which we stand.

“On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand: all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.”

The above is the refrain from the hymn, “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less”. I have to build my life on that which is not going anywhere. The foundation of my life should be strong and unwavering. When my circumstances change, I should still stand firm on the foundation, knowing that I am gonna be alright. I have to know that whatever comes my way, I have the base of my life firmly on the Rock that is Jesus Christ and His unfailing love.

Where are you building your life? Are you more concerned with the life that everyone sees and forget about the changing circumstances that will come? What if you built your life on the Rock that is Jesus, knowing that whatever comes your way, He will never fail to keep you on solid ground?

Built Through Wisdom

I know, I have already indicated that we are built up in and to love, and now I am writing that it is through wisdom we are built. It may be confusing to some, but not to me this morning. You see, in order to build up in love, one must understand. Understanding comes from wisdom, and therefor is certainly part of the building process.

“³By wisdom a house is built,

and by understanding it is established;

⁴by knowledge the rooms are filled

with all precious and pleasant riches.”

— Proverbs 24:3-4 (ESV)

In the above verses, the writer, likely Solomon, is outlining the need for wisdom in our house. It is one thing to know something, but it is something else to understand. One can have information yet not understand the value of that information beyond the moment. For example, and I may have mentioned this before, I gain information on how to repair the washer or dryer from videos online, but that does not mean that I can replicate that day after day after day without looking again at the online videos. In order to gain understanding, I would have to devote myself to the information and commit it to memory for quick recall and repeated use.

The same is for the use of information in the building in love. I have to devote myself to the gaining of love to experience and understand love. Once I have that understanding, I am able to build my house on love and into love that is Christ.

The more we understand the more thoughtful and consequential are our decisions. As I gain in understanding and wisdom, my actions are dictated by that understanding and wisdom. Actions that are calculated but not without risk. The difference is that the risk is known and accepted as part of the building. The understanding and wisdom diminish the risk to the control of the LORD and His will of provision and blessing.

The opposite is true without understanding and wisdom. In those decisions, we tend to just go after it without care and let the chips fall where they may. Yes, there is risk in those decisions, but the risk is far greater as things have not been ruled out or the consequences have not been accepted as consequential. The risk is controlled by desire and selfish gain as opposed to the LORD and His will of provision and blessing.

Slow and steady is the way with wisdom and understanding. Think about the cookie cutter houses that are built quickly. Yes, many are built in a short time to give shelter to those in need. But the materials may not be the best quality and the sustainability of those houses are suspect. Comparing to the custom homes built that take months or years to erect. Castles still stand today from hundreds of years ago as they were built with the best of materials and over time to get it just right.

Our houses, to be built to sustain, should be built with wisdom and understanding. Slow and steady and calculated. With only the best materials (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) to ensure the long standing and established house of the LORD.

What is your house built on? Are you a builder to get it up as fast as possible? What if you chose the quality materials that are derived from the wisdom and understand that comes from the LORD?

Build up in Love to Love

This morning I continue my study of the word “builds”. I was led to Ephesians 4 where Paul continues discussing the Body of Christ, the church. Where this is the focus of the passage, I was touched by the below verses that round out the passage that seemed to refer to me as a follower of Christ.

“¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” – Ephesians 4:15-16 (ESV)

Here what I see is Paul giving me instruction on what I am to grow into and how I am to be built up. I am to grow up, into Christ and do so by being built up in love. I realized that it is more than just learning and knowing, but it is becoming. I am to embrace the love that is Christ and grow into being like Christ. Christ is love and isn’t He what we all should strive to become.

NO, I will never be Christ. I am and will not be the savior of the world. I am a sinner and even as those sins have been forgiven and wiped away, I will never be sinless. I cannot become Christ. But, I can grow to be like Christ. I can act out of love, provide love, and be built up in love. Christ is love and I can be like Him.

What do I get from growing up and being built up in love? I get security. I get to be loved or more accurately, I get to experience and realize love. I get to give love and experience and realize just what love does in others as it has done in me. I get to be like Christ and carry on knowing that regardless of my circumstances, I am loved and will be rewarded in heaven with even more.

Verses 15 and 16 above give me the confidence to be built up in love and as Christ is love, I am built up in Christ. This building up in love leads to me growing up into love and into Christ.

What are you built up in and into? Are you looking to be built up into something or someone who seems to have it all together? What if you instead focused on love, being built up in love and into being like Christ to experience and realize what love really is?

Love Builds Up

What a great study for me this morning. God led me to 1 Corinthians 8 to continue my study on the word “builds”. Here I found a familiar passage that I do not remember thinking of in this way. Love builds up. The passage is on not leading others to stumble by our actions. What I do not remember considering before was love being the reason. Yes, we do not want to cause our neighbor to stumble in their faith, but we do it out of love.

“¹Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up.” – 1 Corinthians 8:1 (ESV)

“⁷However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ⁸Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” – 1 Corinthians 8:7-8 (ESV)

I/we have the knowledge that we have salvation that comes from God and that our sins are forgiven. We also know that those things that may have been prohibited in the old testament have been relaxed or removed as such thanks to the new covenant with God. We are not impacted positively or negatively in the way we go about those things. We have been forgiven and serve our savior without the burden as noted in verse 8 above.

It is our neighbor that is not in the relationship with the Father that is still in struggle with the law. Our neighbor does not have the security of God and therefore find themselves conflicted with how to proceed when placed in a position of question. These neighbors lean on the law and also look to us as they are in belief that we are going against that law and it breaks down the relationship with us and pushes to close the door that leads to Christ.

“¹³Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” – 1 Corinthians 8:13 (ESV)

It is out of love that we are to abstain from those things that would cause another to stumble. Whether it is not eating the food, or not having that glass of wine, or staying away from that specific movie with them present. I know that I am just enjoying each of these as they are not prohibited, but the cause my neighbor to stumble and increases their anxiety, therefore I should stay away in order that I am building them up through love for them.

What are you doing in front of others? Do you realize that it may be causing them to stumble in their faith or be pushed away from the faith? What if you were to abstain from those things so as not to cause them to stumble, but build them up through love?

How You Build Matters

There is the story of the three little pigs that built their houses, one of straw, one of sticks, and one of bricks. The wolf came to blow them down and was not able to destroy the one built of bricks.

“¹²Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ¹³each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” – 1 Corinthians 3:12-13 (ESV)

Like the three little pigs, we have options when it comes to build the church of God. We can build with quality building materials and build to last, or with cheaper materials that are sure to be destroyed or degrade with time.

“⁹For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. ¹⁰According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.” – 1 Corinthians 3:9-10 (ESV)

Paul points out to the church at Corinth the need to “take care how” the church is built. Not of physical materials, but of sound doctrine, faith, and obedience. We are to build the church on the foundation of Jesus Christ, not on the words of man. We, the church are “God’s building” and the church is worthy of being built the right way, not with speed and cheap materials to get the structure up, but over time with care, hard work, planning, and with materials that are of substance.

As I type here I cannot help but refer to the buildings that are used for God’s Church. We put a lot of effort into the building of church buildings. The structures are of wonder to behold. Grand and ornate, a visual spectacle. And frankly lots of “money” goes into making them to be just so. Where we are following the lead of our Old Testament ancestors who built temples to be so grand and ornate, are they really “necessary”. Many a church started in a living room, or a schoolhouse (our church was planted and continues, 5 years later to meet in a school), or some other venue. We have to remember that God’s Church is the people and not the building itself.

As Paul noted, when the church is not built on the foundation that is Jesus Christ and should be built with sound doctrine, faith, and obedience through care, hard work, and planning it will be subject to and will be destroyed when it is put to the test. The story of the three little pigs shares this moral. Hard work, careful planning, and diligence pay off, while laziness and taking shortcuts lead to failure and danger. How you build the church of God matters, we should be using only the best materials.

What materials are you using to build God’s Church? Are you throwing things together to get a roof over your head? What if you were to take care and build on the foundation of Jesus Christ with sound doctrine, faith, and obedience through care, hard work, and planning?

Build Your House on Righteousness

I believe it should go without saying to build your house on righteousness, but what does that really mean. I have studied and written that righteousness is not something that we can assign to ourselves, only God can count us as righteous. So how are we to know we are building on righteousness.

“¹³Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,

and his upper rooms by injustice,

who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing

and does not give him his wages,

¹⁴who says, ‘I will build myself a great house

with spacious upper rooms,’

who cuts out windows for it,

paneling it with cedar

and painting it with vermilion.”

— Jeremiah 22:13-14 (ESV)

In the verses above, we find what not to do. As I read the above, I see a selfish man who takes advantage of others in order to elevate himself. I see the one who is more concerned with his own possessions and status than that of others around him. This is certainly not righteous.

Now, having fine things and seeking assistance from others does not indicate unrighteousness. It is the using of others and placing those things above the well being of others where one demonstrates unrighteousness.

There it is, what is meant by building your house on righteousness. No, we cannot declare ourselves righteous, only God can. But, what we can do is demonstrate righteousness daily in all that we do. We should be doing righteous actions. We should be building others up as opposed to exploiting them. We should be sharing with others instead of building our own wealth and status. We are to love, care, and protect those less fortunate. We are to share the gospel with others as opposed to keeping the LORD to ourselves.

Righteous actions do not make us righteous and somehow make us better than others. It does not make our house any more or less than that of our neighbor. But, what righteous actions show is our understanding of where it all comes from. Righteous actions demonstrate the love of God flowing from our heart. Righteous actions show who and where we have given ourselves to, the LORD.

“¹⁵And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” – Joshua 24:15 (ESV)

Joshua makes it clear to the people that he gives himself to the LORD. He will serve the LORD and seek guidance from Him in all matters of His house. Joshua chose righteous action in the name of the LORD to build his house. He was not the selfish man taking advantage of others to elevate himself. He did not consider himself righteous. Joshua built his house on righteousness through his actions in the name of the LORD. We should be doing the same.

Where are you building your house? Are you gaining while those helping you get there are less than taken care of? What if you decided to build your house on righteousness through the actions in the name of the LORD instead?

The LORD Builds Our House

This morning as I study, I am reminded that the LORD is indeed the one to build my house.

“¹Unless the Lord builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.”

— Psalm 127:1 (ESV)

As noted in the commentary of my bible, “The basic theme of this wisdom psalm is that without the LORD’s blessing, all human toil is worthless.” “of course those who build a house must labor on it, and certainly the watchman of a city must stay awake. At the same time they must carry our their efforts in faith, trusting God to make the work beneficial.” In order for sustainability, there must be a reliance on the LORD.

I take this also to be more than just the physical building of the house and the watching over a city. I see this in the success of that which is in the house. I want to ensure that my family is built on the LORD and that which He provides.

The LORD is the author of me and I am to give Him the glory. He provides for and blesses me and my house. I know that He does so thanks to my accepting of His gift of salvation. Yet, in order for my house to maintain, I must be reliant on the LORD. In verse one above, the author states the LORD “builds the house”. I see that as not just building, but also maintaining as a sort of warranty plan to keep the house in good shape.

Our house will last many lifetimes when we take care to ensure that it is kept up according to the builder’s specifications. The builder here is the LORD and the specifications are His Word as He guides us from day to day. It is great that the Word of God is available to everyone and all the time to review and follow. There is no digging for the plans or working with out dated equipment. The specifications are timeless and always available. We only need to consult God’s Word for how to work through whatever has come up.

Lori and I are likely in our physical house for the foreseeable future and where the house itself is only 10 years old, we will have to look for and consult the plans to begin some of the maintenance even now. But, in our God fearing house, which will be 29 years in April, I like to believe that we are in constant review of the plans as even now the LORD is building. Our boys may have moved to begin work on their personal houses, Lori and I are adding rooms for what comes next. And what better place to consult for those rooms than the master builder Himself, the LORD our God.

Who is the builder of your house? Do you see your house as built and looking for the next? What if you see that your house if continuing to be built and maintained by the LORD and the plans are in His Word?

We Build Up One Another

“¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (ESV)

It is pretty clear in this verse that we are to be encouraging to one another, be there for one another, and truly work to build one another up. And just who is it that we are to build up, one another in Christ. Fellow Christians. Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica, and that is what I was thinking about this morning as I was reading and studying. I even have written in the margin of my bible to that point (Fellow Christians encourage one another).

“¹Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:1 (ESV)

Being an encouragement and builder of all around us is certainly the Christ-like approach we are to have as we progress in this world. Yet, who was Paul writing to and encouraging in this letter, the church. The first verse in this passage is clear who this instruction is for, “brothers” in Christ. Yes, Paul is writing to encourage fellow Christians and to remind us that we are to encourage and build up our brothers in Christ as He is doing in his letter.

I know what might be thought, aren’t we supposed to be encouraging to all, and the answer is yes. We are to build others up and work to ensure that they have the opportunity to accept the gospel and salvation given freely by Christ. But, we are to specifically work to build up and encourage our fellow Christians more. We are in fellowship with our brothers more often than we are with those outside the church and as such we should be deliberate in building them up more.

Doing the work of Christ is hard enough in this secular world. We know how hard it is for ourselves and that carries over to our brothers in Christ as well. I have to ensure that I am supporting my brothers. Thinking of sports teammates. During the game and/or practice and/or daily, we interact with and work to build one another up. This does not mean that we are not encouraging for the players on the other team to have individual success, but we build up our teammates more often and that encouragement is sustained over time. Our encouragement for fellow Christians is the same.

We are meant to encourage and build others up. It is the Christ-like approach we are to demonstrate daily. And there is more better place to show it than with our fellow Christians who are in need of it in this world. We know that we will be persecuted in our faith and as such can use all the encouragement that we are on the right path and will make it through. Remember the following that Jesus said, Christ is with us when we are together, and so we should be together always.

“¹⁹Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” – Matthew 18:19-20 (ESV)

Who are you building up? Are you focusing your attention on those who are simply your acquaintances? What if you devoted your time to your brothers in Christ and the two of you encouraged one another and then others together, with Christ?

Built up By and Through the Word

Jesus is the Temple. And we go to Him to worship and find our direction and our comfort and our mercy and our grace.

“¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1 (ESV)

Not only is Jesus the Temple where we worship, He is the Word of the LORD. I (we) have the pleasure of having the LORD with us always in Jesus. When we make our way to Him for worship we are not just entering the place where the LORD will “find” us, we find Him there as the word and can rely on Him for our everything.

“³²And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” – Acts 20:32 (ESV)

Here we find Paul speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus. He is laying out to them that they have all they need in Christ, and that he will be leaving them never to return again. Even as he will not be there to guide and carry them through the trials they will continue to face, He reminds them that they are not alone and that it was not he who was building them up and will continue to do so, but God.

We too often I believe feel as though we need someone at our side building us up and when we do not, we feel as though all is lost. Paul takes special care to ensure that the church at Ephesus know that they are not alone. They have the LORD by their side as He has always been and will always be. I (we) have to remember that as well. The LORD is always by my side and building me up.

“⁶Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” – Colossians 2:6 & 7 (ESV)

Above you see that Paul reminds the church of Colossae of the same. They have the Temple that is Jesus and the Word of the LORD to build them up. They are not left to themselves trying to make it. They have Christ by their side at all times, when they received Him and as they move forward in Him.

I am not alone. I may be by myself physically, but alone I am not. Christ is always with me as the Temple and the Word of the LORD. He provides me with all I need to make it in this world. He is my provision and certainly a blessing to me. He builds me up when I am in need, not just in the past, but now and in time to come.

What are you in need of to be built up? Are you looking for that one to be with you and when they are not, you feel all alone? What if you turned to Christ to be built up as He was with you before, is with you now, and will be with you always to build you up?

Jesus is the Temple

This morning I am reminded that indeed Jesus is the temple of worship. But isn’t it something that even knowing this, we are taken aback and do not fully understand.

“¹⁹Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ ²⁰The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ – John 2:19-20 (ESV)

At the temple the people were changing money and selling animals for offering and other goods. Jesus took exception to this practice and took action, to which the people asked Him of the authority He had to take such action. Jesus answered. The people, as we all do in the moment, looked to the physical and not to the spiritual. Their literal interpretation was one of skepticism and they were not seeing the true picture as noted in the next two verses.

“²¹But he was speaking about the temple of his body. ²²When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” – John 2:21-22 (ESV)

Jesus was speaking of Himself as the temple and not of the literal buildings known to the people as the temple, but His disciples knew.

“⁵⁷And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, ⁵⁸’We heard him say, “I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.”’ ⁵⁹Yet even about this their testimony did not agree.” – Mark 14:57-59 (ESV)

Now let’s carry forward to Jesus before the council after his betrayal and arrest in the garden. There were witnesses that came forward to testify against Jesus that only provided false witness. In one of these recorded testimonies, it was said that Jesus said “He” would destroy the temple. If you look back at verse 19 from John chapter 2 above, Jesus was referring to the people destroying the temple and on top of that, He was speaking of Himself as the temple which is noted in verse 21.

So where does this leave us. Well, Jesus is the temple. Scripture is clear that the temple is not of man, but of God. God sent His Son to be the savior for us all. He sent Him to be known and be our place of worship. Jesus came and allowed Himself to be destroyed by the people and even so, He rose again, in three days to once again be our place of worship.

I am grateful to have a temple where I can devote my worship. That temple is not the building where I attend church services, but Jesus. No matter where I might be or what circumstances I may encounter, the temple that is Jesus is always available for me to worship.

What is your view of the temple? Do you attribute the temple to a building or structure? What if you were to see that Jesus is the Temple and you can attend worship there with Him always and whenever?