Firm Foundation

I Corinthians 3:9-17

⁹For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. ¹⁰According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. ¹¹For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹²Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, ¹³each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. ¹⁴If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. ¹⁶Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? ¹⁷If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Have you ever tried to build a house? I have watched people that do and it seems like a pretty complicated process. The wood and other materials have to be nailed just the right way in just the right form. It has to be stronger in some areas that others so that the walls and ceiling don't fall down. But before you do any of the other stuff, you have to start with a strong foundation. It has to be solid, deep and strong enough to withstand the strong winds and severe weather that will be pounding against the house. The whole house will only be as sturdy and strong as the foundation that it is built upon. When you think about it, building a house is a lot like the Christian life.

So, in this Christian life that we are building, what do we need to do to make sure that our building is all that God want's it to be? We have to remember that God is the master builder and our building has to please Him and meet all His specifications of His blueprint(the Bible).

First we have to start with a strong foundation, that is Jesus Christ. Proverbs 10:25 says, When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, But the righteous has an everlasting foundation. The storms of life and even the gates of hell can't prevail against it. Luke 6:47-49 - ⁴⁷"Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: ⁴⁸"He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. ⁴⁹"But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." So in building our house, we need to make sure that our foundation is Christ, any other will crumble and fall when the storms of life come. When I went through my divorce, everything I had built up to that time was shaken loose. But the foundation that I had lain, Christ, remained. The verses I had memorized, the Bible studies I had read, the sermons I had preached, kept me going. I had laid a strong foundation.

We have the foundation laid, now what do we do? We have to start building on that foundation. How we build and the materials we use, will decide what kind of building we have and how strong it will be. One thing we do know is, if we are going to have a tall building, that will be reaching up to the heavens, we will need to start with good, strong, dependable building materials. We need to start with the gold, silver and precious stones mentioned earlier. Wood hay and straw would be too weak and the building will not be as strong as it could be nor will it be very tall. We need to start our building with the right kind of materials.

Here are some of the materials we need to start our building and keep it strong.

1. Bible Study - We need to study our Bibles and know God's word. How can we correctly follow Christ and please Him if we don't know what His word says about it? We need to read it alone and if it is possible, with other Christians. II Timothy 2:15 says, ¹⁵Be diligent(or study, as some versions render it) to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We need to know how to rightly divide the Word of truth or well will fall for every wind of doctrine that comes along. Ephesians 4:15&16 says, ¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ. One more passage we need to see is Psalm 119:9-11 - 9. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. 10. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! 11. Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You! Bible study is so important. Yet, it seems that there so many people who claim to be Christians that never pick up their Bibles. It is no wonder that there are so many Christians that seem to fall so easily. Their Building isn't strong enough to withstand life's storms. With so many easy to read versions out there, we really have no excuse not to read our Bible.

2. Prayer - There needs to be a steady line of communication with the Master Builder, if we are to build our building correctly. He tells us if we are building our building according to His plans or if we need to make necessary changes. If this communication is not there, we might misunderstand the Blueprint and make mistakes as we are building. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, ¹⁶Rejoice always, ¹⁷pray without ceasing, ¹⁸in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Look at Psalm 32:6&7, ⁶For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters They shall not come near him. ⁷You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Prayer a is necessary building block in order to have a well protected and well maintained building. It will not be effective with occasional use. It has to be used on a regular basis. The reason we sometimes build with wood, hey and stubble is because we are not listening to the Master. He is telling us which material to use, we just need to listen. But when we run into trouble all we have to do is call on Him.

Look at Psalm 86:6&7 - ⁶Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; And attend to the voice of my supplications. ⁷In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me. Our God is there to help us with our building anytime we need Him. But we have to keep that line of communication open to be able to hear Him clearly.

3. Church Attendance - All my life I have heard people say "I don't have to go to church to be a Christian" or "I worship God in my own way, in my own home" or "I have church at home with the preachers on television" or "I can worship God just as well at home as I can in a church" and I agree that you don't have to go to church to be saved or worship God. You can do that anywhere. But, to be a Christian and not go to church, is like building a house without putting insulation in the walls or roofing on the top. You leave yourself open to every wind of doctrine that blows by and every storm that rages through our lives. We need each other. When one of us is weak, we have someone there to help us make it through, who has been there and can safely guide us through our troubles, doubts and pain. Look at Hebrews 10:23-25 - ²³Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. We need the friendships, the fellowship, the teaching, the counseling and the support that comes from being a member of a church. Should we go to any kind of church? Absolutely not!!! We need to find a church that preaches and teaches the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. There are some churches that teach that the Bible "contains" the word of God, which means that not all of it comes from God. Stay away from these churches, they will cause you to stumble in you walk with Christ. The walls of your building will be weak and open to attack from the adversary. Don't accept anything less than the best materials when in your building. Church attendance is important and necessary for strength and support during the storms and hard times we all go through in this life.

4. Worship - Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines worship this way -Reverent devotion and allegiance pledged to God; the rituals or ceremonies by which this reverence is expressed. The English word "worship" comes from the Old English word "worthship," a word that denotes the worthiness of the one receiving the special honor or devotion. While church attendance is an important part of our building, it becomes weakened if it does not also include worship. Worship is the main pillar of the whole building. Everything else will fall apart if we neglect to include worship in our building. In fact, the whole building becomes useless, if we are not worshiping the true and living God. Psalm 29:2 - Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. We are only playing a game or putting on a show if we are not worshiping God, whether it is at church or in our daily lives. God expects two things from us in our worship of Him. Look at John 4:23&24 - ²³"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. ²⁴"God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." He expects our worship to be spiritual, not with images, chants, animal sacrifices, or any other created thing. Look at Colossians 2:18-23 - ¹⁸Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. ²⁰Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations-- ²¹"Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," ²²which all concern things which perish with the using--according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ²³These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. He expects our worship to be in truth. He wants our love and devotion to Him to be truthful. Not only truthful to ourselves but also truthful according to Scripture. Not merely with words, but with our hearts. Look at Matthew 15:7-9 - ⁷"Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:⁸'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. ⁹And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' " There are so many hypocrites in the world today. But the only ones they are fooling are themselves. God knows their hearts. He knows those that are His.

These four elements are so important if we are to have a strong and lasting building. Sure there are going to be times when the wood, hay and straw will get mixed in with the precious stones. We're going to make mistakes in our building. But the important thing is what will remain when the storms occur in our lives, when the wood, hay and straw are burned away.

How strong is your building? When the wood, hay and straw are burned away from your building what will remain? Are you even building at all? The wonderful thing about God, our Master Builder, is that He is a forgiving God. Even when we make mistakes in our building, He will forgive us and take us from that point and let us start to build again. Look at I John 1:9 - ⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And also chapter 2:1&2 - ¹My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ²And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

God loves you, He really does! If you haven't already, start a relationship with Him today and let the building of your life bring glory and honor to Him.

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