God's Architecture

God’s Architecture
1 Corinthians 3:9-17 “For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. According 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. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each 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. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”

Has anyone ever told you that you are worthless? If not, you have been specially blessed, or protected, by God. The world around influences the way we think of ourselves. God alone should influence our thinking and the only real source of information on that subject is the Bible. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)

Have you ever thought about your life as a building constructed of various materials, some good and priceless, some bad and worthless? Have you considered that there have been many builders working on your life building? The truth is most are just subcontractors working for the two primary firms. Let’s call them “The Thief’s Trash Team” and “Christ’s Master Builders”. I am not saying we should live in doubt as to our eternal salvation. That is not what this is about. I am thinking about our position and our condition. After a person is born again and has become a believer he, or she, has a secure position. Jesus said: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30)

That’s the position of the saved person. However, our condition is another matter. Our condition is where we are at the present time. Christians can be deceived. We have an enemy who works hard at deception. Christians can be willful and rebellious. We should avoid sin at all costs but we sometimes forget that. So, our position and condition should be carefully aligned but often are out of sync.

Let’s be careful how we build on the one foundation. Specifically, we must be careful WHO we let build in our lives. Over the past few years Cherlyn, my wife, and I have erected an addition to our house. It was with pride that I did most of the labor. There were things I could not do. I needed help lifting the walls and setting the trusses. I needed someone else to show me how to do the electrical wiring. The results are far from perfect but do represent our energy and effort. I was careful whom I asked to help. Even with that there is one spot that I turned my back on someone I trusted and the result was not what I wanted. I can live with it. I also have to live with imperfections I allowed into my life building. Some God has graciously removed but many remain to remind me of my weakness and God’s strength.

When we were without salvation – in our natural condition – we lived in the domain of darkness and as such were constantly letting the Thief’s Trash Team have access to our life building. The Thief was sending his subcontractors onto the job as Jesus said: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
We often hear someone say, “God has a plan for your life.” He does for sure but we seem to forget that Satan also has a plan for our lives. The apostle Peter put it this way: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

How do we deal with that? We must resist the Thief. James tells us that it is a two-step procedure: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) If we try to resist the devil in our strength he will laugh and we will fail. Only after we have submitted ourselves to God can we hope for victory. When we are weak he is strong and is committed to our defense. When we come into the family of God we change building contractors.

We are now using Christ’s Master Builders. The tools change: “you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22)

“Apostles and prophets” do not refer to some office in the church today. Such offices may be part of God’s structure but that is not what scripture refers to. “Apostles and prophets” refers to the Bible. Old and New Testament both become the tools God uses in our lives and the devil works to keep us away from. There is an old saying I remember from my early years. “The Bible – It will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the Bible.” Just set a time aside every day to read the word and ask God to make it part of your life and plan to allow it to shape your life building. Then see what happens. Everything will get in the way. You will need to be somewhere else. You will be reminded of another matter that needs attention. The devil will be allowed to attack that commitment so we can learn to train our will to obey our Lord.

The foundation corner, or keystone, of the believer’s life building is Jesus Christ. That is not some decorative and informative façade on the corner of the building it is the keystone that is cut into the underlying rock that allows the building to hold together when the storms of life come our way – and they will come! Jesus said: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24) That house will stand! The foundation is solid it cannot be moved.

The result of using the right contractor and the best subcontractors is a temple of God. “Living stones built up as a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:4-8) is the way Peter put it. Believers become God’s Temple on earth. Jesus spoke of two or three gathered in his name. He said he would be with them. That is a special “with them”. He never leaves those who trust in him. So when we are alone he is there but there is a difference when other believers are with us. The devil will try to keep us from fellowship just as he tries to keep us from the Bible.

So we must be careful who we let subcontract on our job. We need to build to a stringent building code. In fact it is God’s fire code we need to conform to. The world, the flesh and the devil build into our lives with wood, hay and straw. These are materials made to burn. When confronted with the judgment of God’s fire it will burn.

Peter was more specific: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21) That sounds a lot like much of modern “entertainment” on TV, movies and the Internet. We let that material into our life building and at the judgment it will burn and we will feel it.

We need to build fireproof material into our lives. As Peter continued his teaching he wrote: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:19-23) That is the person God can make us into if we will just submit ourselves to him and resist the devil and all his subcontractors.

I am not talking about “works salvation” the Bible is clear about that. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

We, however, are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. (Ephesians 2:10) That is God’s plan for our lives and when we choose the wrong subcontractor we weaken our work and witness and when we choose the right subcontractor we strengthen – not just our own lives – the lives of an unknown number of others who are affected by our lives. You who are saved are God’s Temple – LIVE LIKE IT! It’s worth it – day by day – as well as in the Day of Judgment.

(All quotes are from the The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001, Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.)