Lord Jesus we would like to hear you
speaking to us.
We like to hear what is on your
heart.
Help us to listen carefully that we may
then also be able to put it into
practice that we won't just be hearers but
also doers of your word.
So please bless this time, please bless your
word.
May it be new to us.
May it bring life and please breathe your
life into it through your Holy Spirit.
For your name's sake we ask it.
Amen.
We'll read some words from 1st Corinthians chapter
3.
1 Corinthians 3 and we'll start reading from
verse 9.
While you're looking for it, the beginning of
the chapter Paul starts by saying, brethren I
speak not as to spiritual men but as
to men of flesh, as to babes in
Christ.
I gave you milk to drink, not solid
food for you were not yet able to
receive it.
Indeed even now you are not able for
you're still fleshly.
For since there's jealousy and strife among you,
are you not fleshly and are you not
walking like mere men?
So there's a difference.
You can be a Christian but you can
be a babe and stay a babe even
though you're a
man.
A person is a Christian 10, 20 years
but the Lord has to speak to us
as if we were just babes, still babies
in the faith because that's how far we've
got.
We've never got any further.
We haven't grown in the faith.
Let's test ourselves and search ourselves whether the
Lord has to speak to us as to
babes.
Whether
the Lord
has to say to us that there's still
jealousy in your heart, there's still strife among
you, you're but just mere babes.
If I still have to speak about those
elementary things, about overcoming jealousy, about overcoming strife
in your midst, then you're still a baby
in the faith.
You got converted 20 years ago, you were
fighting a certain sin in your life.
20 years later, you're still stuck on the
same note like a record that's stuck, playing
the same tune all the time.
And the Lord says that you should have
been eating solid food already but you're still
drinking milk like a newborn baby.
How long have you been a Christian?
Are you still drinking milk?
Still busy with the A of your Christian
faith?
Like a child in grade one, it's 20
years old but still learning how much one
plus one is.
You just can't get it right.
Paul says you should be much further in
your Christian life by now.
You should actually be at the point where
you can be busy with much more important
things, if I can say, or substantial things
maybe, and how you can build the kingdom
of the Lord and be a blessing to
others involved in God's work, but you're still
grappling just with jealousy in your life.
You just can't overcome it.
But then he goes on to speak of
other things, and which also help us to
grow in the faith if we apply them,
but at the same time it doesn't help
we get to the next phase and we
haven't overcome that jealousy yet.
What does it help us if we can
deliver the most wonderful message, or we can
sing the most beautiful songs, or give a
wonderful testimony, but there's jealousy in my life.
There's still strife.
There's still fighting for position.
I can't get on with my brother.
I need to make sure that I get
past the milk stage.
I hope you understand what I mean.
One needs to grow.
One needs to get past, go from one
stage in our spiritual lives to the other,
that our growth can even be evident to
all.
Otherwise we'll be like retarded people who grow
physically, but the mind stands still, and we
act like little babies even though we are
fully grown.
And as you know, with many of those
children, you often find that the head gets
very big.
And it's a tragic state, and one can
only feel sorry for such children.
But it's a phenomenon you find among the
Christians as well.
You just see the head growing and nothing
else.
Totally out of proportion, deformed.
A person just has a big head, and
that's all.
So he goes on, and in verse 9
he says, for we are God's fellow workers.
You are God's field, God's building.
According to the grace of God which was
given to me as a wise master builder,
I laid a foundation, and another's building upon
it.
But let each one be careful how he
builds upon it.
For no man can lay a foundation other
than that, than the one which is laid,
which is Christ Jesus.
Now if any man builds upon the foundation
with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
each man's work will become evident for the
day he will show it, because it is
to be revealed with fire, and the fire
itself will test the quality of each man's
work.
So we have read now how each man
is part of God's building, but he himself
is also building the building of his own
life.
Now I wish I was a master builder,
because maybe I could then tell you in
much clearer terms what it really means, but
with the limited knowledge that I have, I'd
just like to share a few thoughts about
how one goes about putting up a building.
The first step when one puts up a
building is to lay a foundation.
That foundation is imperative, it's desperately important.
Without a foundation, you're wasting your time.
If you don't get the foundation right, then
the best building is of no use.
And Paul says that foundation is Jesus Christ.
There is just no other foundation.
Now we know that in the time that
we live in South Africa especially, we often
hear contradictory things to that.
But I believe we are all here because
we believe that Jesus Christ is the only
true foundation.
But by acknowledging that, we haven't got to
the end of the road.
Knowing that and saying that isn't going to
get us into heaven.
In fact it places great responsibility upon us.
Even in Timothy, in second Timothy we read
that the firm foundation of God stands firm,
immovable.
And it has this seal.
The Lord knows those who are his.
And let everyone who knows, who names the
name of the Lord abstain from wickedness.
See what responsibility comes with acknowledging that he
is the true foundation.
It's not enough just to proclaim it.
But it must be evident in our lives.
And how do we recognize that a man
has made Christ his foundation?
The seal of God is.
The Lord knows who are his.
And we do know that.
That that is what is important.
That God knows us.
That God acknowledges us and confesses us.
What does it help if I say I
know the Lord?
And then one day we get before his
throne and we say Lord, Lord and he
says but I don't know you.
And there will be many who will be
coming that day who will say Lord, Lord,
I did this for you, I did that
for you.
Then we'll try and remember very hard what
we've done for him.
Even though today we may have difficulty remembering
what we did for him just this last
week.
But on that day, our minds will go
into overdrive.
We'll remember things that we perhaps have forgotten
long ago and we'll try our level best
just to find an excuse to be able
to stand before him.
And the criteria is that God knows me.
That he will acknowledge and confess me before
the angels and say I know this man.
I know this woman.
I know this boy, I know this girl.
Does he know us or do we only,
do we only claim to know him?
And one will know when he knows us
because there will be fellowship with him.
We will have contact with him.
When one prays, one will know and have
the assurance that God has heard my prayer
because he replies, he answers.
When I ask him to speak to me,
he speaks to me.
When I read his word, God speaks to
me through it.
He knows me.
He speaks to me.
There's a personal relationship between us.
And he also says that he who has
this foundation, who has Christ in his life,
this is the next seal that's on this
foundation, that he who names his name departs
from iniquity, from wickedness, from evil.
Is that a trait in our lives?
Do people recognize, does our life have this
inscription on it that everyone can testify and
say I know so and so.
He departs from evil.
He makes a wide turn around it.
He doesn't get near it.
And when you depart from something, you start
relatively close to it or at it at
a point, but you move away from it
further and further away.
But sadly with many Christians, when they get
converted, they make a radical turn.
They make a radical break with evil, with
sin, with ungodliness, but they instead of moving
further and further away from it, you see
them moving ever closer to it.
The challenge in their lives is not how
far can I get away from sin, but
how close can I get to it without
going to hell.
And this foundation which is laid doesn't just
get laid once and you forget about it
ever after.
No, it becomes a foundational principle, something which
you need to have as a basis throughout
your life.
Whatever you do in your Christian life needs
to be built on this foundation.
So it becomes a principle for me which
I apply every day of my life.
That even
when
I start serving the Lord and I'm doing
things for Him, like we find in Matthew
5, verse 23, where the Lord teaches us
that even when I come with an offering,
when I come to present something to the
Lord, I say, Lord I want to do
something for you.
And my, how good that is.
If only we had more Christians who say,
Lord, what can I do for you?
Are you a Christian that looks for opportunities
to do something for the Lord?
If we are really Christians that are alive
spiritually, we will be such Christians.
We'll always be looking for an opportunity.
But even there the Lord says, if you
want to bring your offering, and you're presenting
your offering at the altar, and then you
remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your offering there before the altar and
go your way, first be reconciled to your
brother, and then come and present your offering.
So you see that a purified, a sanctified,
a holy life is the basis for anything
that you want to do as a Christian.
That's the foundation.
I hope it's enough.
Beautiful thought.
Now we start building.
And as we mentioned early on, we need
to start building.
We can't just be satisfied with, okay, the
foundation's there, now I can sit back and
relax.
The foundation is just the beginning.
And very often the foundation you don't even
see.
It's below the ground.
It's below ground level.
You have to dig down.
And that's what it's like when you first
become a Christian.
You first have to dig a bit.
Because your old life is full of sin.
The things that you've done wrong.
Things which God isn't pleased with.
And it takes some digging.
It's hard work.
But those things have to be gotten out.
Christ is that foundation.
And you can't say, okay, Lord, here I'm
going to build my house.
I want you to be my foundation.
But, Lord, there are lots of other rocks
and stones and rubbish inside this trench where
the foundation must be laid.
But just please excuse them.
Just make space for yourself as much as
you can.
And we try and make do in that
way.
No, the Lord won't share that space with
anything else.
He won't share it with sin.
That sin must be gotten out.
For Christ died to remove those sins.
And those sins need to be brought to
the cross.
So when the foundation is laid, as we
start building, what's the first thing we need
to do?
So as you start building on the foundation,
the first thing you need to do is
lay the cornerstone.
And we shared a few of the thoughts
about a cornerstone with the schoolchildren that day.
That is the stone that you put down
as a very first point as you start
building your house.
And that stone is then your point of
reference.
As you build, you always use this cornerstone
as your point of reference to make sure
that you're building your house in the proper
way.
And so God gives us his plan for
our lives.
And we need to make sure that we
build according to God's plan for my life
and you build it according to his plan
for your life.
And it doesn't help that I try and
copy someone else's plan.
God has his unique plan for me and
I need to build accordingly.
We often make that mistake.
I look at my brother and I expect
it to go exactly like it does with
him.
And then I start trying to preach like
he does, I try and talk like he
does, I try and shake hands the way
he does, and I even try and nod
my head the way he does.
We don't need to do that.
And that's where jealousy often comes in too.
Because the Lord has a plan for my
brother and when suddenly I realize that for
me it's not working out the same way,
then I get jealous.
Look what he's got, I don't have it.
He can do this, he's there, I'm not
there.
We need to know what God's plan is
for our own lives.
So do you know what God's plan is
for your life?
If you don't, you need to get to
know.
Because if you don't know his plan for
your life, then obviously you're busy with your
own plan.
You'll plan your life and live your life
the way you want to live it.
But you'll feel very guilty one day when
you stand before God and God says, well
you did that, that's a house you built,
but let me just show you the plan
that I actually had for you.
And woe if there's a difference.
So build according to God's plan.
Go to the chief architect who's greater and
better than anyone else.
He has the perfect plan for you.
Get that plan from him.
But then you also make him to be
the chief cornerstone, that he's not just the
chief architect but also the chief cornerstone.
So whatever I do in my life, I
always look and do it in relation to
him, using him as my point of reference.
I use him like the sailors of old
who used the stars as their points of
reference to guide them through the dark nights.
He helps me find my way through this
dark world.
And it's so wonderful because he is the
morning star.
Immovable.
He's always there.
In the darkest night when I need him
most, he's there.
But even when things go up a plain
sailing, even when it
goes well and things seem to be going
along so happily, he's there too.
He's always there.
But it'll only help me if I keep
my eyes on him.
What does it help if he's there but
I don't use him as a point of
reference?
Then we know better than those people who
were captaining the ship, the Titanic.
They say that they did receive warnings about
icebergs.
But it was such a clear, calm night.
It was so lovely sailing in this wonderful
ship.
They were so engrossed in the splendor of
it all that they ended up on the
rocks.
So it doesn't help me just to be
going my own way and saying, oh no,
the Lord is there.
When I need him, I'll call on him.
And he's talking to me, he's warning me,
and I just disregard it.
So he needs to be our point of
reference.
And it's wonderful to know while we're going
through this time in our history where so
much is changing, maybe it comes with a
lot of insecurity, and for others it comes
with huge opportunities.
So whether this time for you presents problems,
insecurities, or whether it presents opportunities and a
bright future, whatever it presents for you, you
still need that guiding star.
You still need that cornerstone that is Christ
in your life.
And usually the risk is greater when the
future is bright, and the sea is calm,
and everything looks rosy.
That's when you really need.
That's when you need Christ more than ever.
Because human nature always points you to Christ
when you're in need.
But it's when things are going well that
you tend to think you can go it
alone.
Do we have Christ as our point of
reference?
If we don't make him the cornerstone, we'll
make someone or something else the cornerstone, or
maybe even make ourselves the cornerstone.
If you make yourself the cornerstone, everything just
revolves around yourself.
Whatever situation you get yourself into, you will
think of yourself.
How can I get the most out of
it?
How can I get off most lightly in
this situation?
You don't think of others.
You don't even spare a thought for the
Lord and his kingdom and his glory.
No, it's just how can I protect myself
or get the most out of this situation
for myself.
And then this cornerstone also is an anchor.
This is what holds the house together.
This is what brings the walls together, binds
them together, that it stays intact even in
a storm.
And blessed is the one who makes Christ
to be the anchor in his life, the
cornerstone, and he will surely hold it all
together.
He's the one you can trust to hold
it together even when the storm comes.
You put anything else to be the cornerstone
or even yourself, you know how easily you
change your mind.
Today you think one way, tomorrow you think
another way, the next day you're thinking something
else already as the wind blows.
Now imagine if you are your own cornerstone.
You'll be in a very insecure situation.
And then you can get the third scenario
where Christ can even become a stumbling stone
to you.
In 1 Peter 2 verse 8, a stone
of stumbling, a rock of offence, for they
stumble because they are disobedient to the word.
It's interesting where the Lord can be the
cornerstone in our lives, the anchor, the point
of reference, but if we choose to be
disobedient, he will become a stumbling block to
us.
And so it is.
If we don't want to serve the Lord
wholeheartedly, if we don't want to make him
the very centre of our lives, my, what
a stumbling block he can be.
He'll always be in our way.
Because when I want to go my own
way, there he'll be and I'll stumble over
him every time.
I want to follow my lusts, but just
as I think I want to go, then
my conscience pricks me and I stumble over
the stone.
I want to go into the world, the
world attracts me so, but just when I
think I want to do it, or even
if I then eventually go and do it,
but I'll always know that I'm doing the
wrong thing.
What is Christ to you?
Is he the cornerstone?
Or is he a stumbling block to you?
A stone of stumbling.
Because you don't want to follow him.
You want to go your own way.
And he's always in your way.
And he will be there because of his
love to you.
You can go your own way.
Throw him overboard.
Go your own way, but because of his
love to you, you won't have peace.
And the Bible says here, he'll be a
rock of offence.
He'll be a stumbling block to you because
you're disobedient.
If he's your cornerstone, he'll be your joy.
Like someone who loves the Lord, the law
of the Lord even becomes something which is
as sweet as honey to us.
We delight to do his will.
But if we don't love the Lord, then
the law of the Lord becomes a heavy
yoke.
It becomes a burden.
Why must I do this?
I don't want to do it, but I
have to and I don't want to.
So the Lord can mean different things to
us.
But it's amazing, it's through disobedience.
Obedience makes a big difference in our lives.
If we just think of Samson, how the
Lord could use him.
And he didn't use him because he had
long hair.
He wasn't strong because he had long hair.
Because there may be many strong people in
the world today.
But he was strong because he was obedient
to what God had commanded.
And the day he became disobedient, he lost
his strength.
May that be a lesson to us Christians,
never to be disobedient to the Lord.
And then we must be living stones in
this world.
As we are in the church, as we
are part of the congregation, every one of
us must be a living stone.
As we find here in the same chapter
in Peter, in verse 5, where it says,
you also as living stones are being built
up as a spiritual house.
Are we living stones in the congregation?
And as we need to make sure that
as we build even the house of our
own lives, that we make sure that we
build with precious stones, as we read in
Corinthians, that we don't build with hay and
stubble and things which won't stand the test
of fire, which we still have to go
through.
And which we even have to go through
before that final test.
And while we are on that point, let's
make sure that we build with the correct
things in our lives.
With gold, with precious stones, which is genuine.
We know that's the most difficult, it's not
easy to find gold.
Silver and precious stones, you've got to work
hard to find those things.
But it's worth it in the long run.
Because that will stand the test which God
will put us through.
The great test one day, but even throughout
our lives.
Every day we have to go through tests.
Do our houses stand the test that God
puts us through?
Or do
we
just take it lightly and make life easy?
We take just any old rubbish or hay
or straw and we build with that just
because someone else has said, come on, you
must serve the Lord.
Then I say, okay, if you say so,
and I do it grudgingly, and I just
take the very first thing I can find
and I say, okay, that's what I'm doing
now for the Lord.
The preacher says, you must be a Christian,
you must do something for the Lord.
Then I say, oh, well, okay, I better
do something that next Sunday if he asks
me, at least I can show him something.
Or the teachers, they tell me, serve the
Lord.
Make sure your life is right with the
Lord.
And then I do a few things just
to bluff them.
And I'm building with straw.
It'll never stand the test.
What you do for the Lord has to
be genuine.
And it won't always be the easiest thing
to do, but if it's genuine, it'll last.
So we need to be genuine in what
we do for the Lord.
And then we also need to be genuine
as part of the congregation.
As part of God's church, his body.
Am I as a stone in this church,
am I just made out of straw, out
of rubbish, or am I really a precious
stone in God's building?
Am I perhaps a weak link in God's
building?
Am I maybe that crooked stone in the
wall?
Or am I firmly placed on that foundation,
in line with the cornerstone made out of
precious stones in gold and silver?
A vessel unto honour that brings glory to
God.
And so while we're building our own houses,
spiritual houses, and God's building, so also let
us help one another, building each other up.
You get master builders, but you also get
master demolishers.
They're professionals.
They're not just Mickey Mouse operators.
They are specialists in demolishing buildings.
And the better they get, the more they
go for these fantastic structures, huge buildings.
They go for the bigger ones each time,
the better they get.
And so you find them in the church
as well, and people outside the church too.
That's their job.
They're professionals.
They're experts at breaking down what other people
have built up.
And so while we're building our own houses,
spiritual houses, and God's building, so also let
us help one another, building each other up.
What are you part of?
A construction team or a demolition team?
And I say a team because very often
they work in teams.
They always try and get their pals and
their colleagues to join them to create even
more destruction than they could on their own.
But the Lord teaches us that we should
be people, like in Romans chapter 14, verse
19, where we are told, So then let
us pursue the things which make for peace
and the building up of one another.
That our aim in life is to build
up others, to assist them, to help them,
or is it our job just to break
them down?
To break them down, even in the eyes
of others.
And in
Ephesians
chapter 4, it even says, It says we
should be diligent to preserve the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace.
We must be diligent to preserve the unity
of the Spirit.
Are we diligent at doing that?
We can be diligent in many things, but
here the Bible says we should be diligent
at preserving the unity of the Spirit, that
we are one with another.
We need to work at it, that we
are one in the Lord and that we
should pursue that in our lives.
Working diligently at it.
I hope that there is something you can
take home with you today.
May God help us to be faithful builders.
Building on the right foundation.
Distancing ourselves from evil.
Using Christ as the cornerstone in our lives,
every moment of our lives.
Always making sure that we are in fellowship
with Him, in tune with Him, in line
with His will.
And that we will be diligently involved in
building God's church, His body.
Building with that which is genuine.
Not just a bluff.
Not that we build something and it's all
just a bluff.
Just a check.
Something which will not last.
And we can even build something which looks
respectable.
We plaster it well and it looks good
from the outside.
But that's not the ultimate test, the looks.
It's going to be put through the fire.
And that's when the true colors come out.
Will our lives stand the test which God
puts us through and that ultimate test which
we still have to go through one day?
And always remembering while we are about it,
that if we do it with our own
lives, we will also be there to help
others, to build them up, not to break
them down.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus, there's so much we could say.
Lord, may these few thoughts be a blessing
to each one of us.
May they be a building.
May they be a help that we can
build our spiritual houses to God's glory, to
the honor of His name.
Help us, Lord, and keep us faithful to
You right to the end.
Amen.