Building Wisely, Part 4

Good morning, it’s a beautiful day here in the Dominican Republic! Pastor Josh and Amber are here visiting with us, and we are thrilled to have them!

We’ve been talking about building wisely in the last couple of blogs, and I want to continue talking about our foundation a bit more as it is so key to everything else that follows. We need to consider the foundation upon which we are building. Is Christ the foundation or something else? Christ is the Word of God, and the Word is the true foundation of success in God’s Kingdom. It is possible to have the right foundation and to still build incorrectly. Did you know that? Material in construction is very important!

As I was preparing and meditating on this, I thought back to my early days of missions work over in Haiti. My first assignment was to construct a building as that was my field of expertise. I had gone on a short-term missions trip through our church in Florida. We returned in February 1984 as we had decided to make a three-month commitment. Our project was to build the Haiti Discipling Center in Montrouis, Haiti. Praise be to God, it is still standing today, thirty years later! Whew, we had our doubts. Of course, those three months turned into five years. You have to watch those commitments!

Let’s get back to material. You know, you can have a secure foundation but still use the wrong material. You can build crooked walls even when you have a straight foundation. The type of block that you use in construction, especially in areas such as this, is very important! Over in Haiti there were two types of block: the handmade ones and then the ones they made in the factory over in Port-Au-Prince. The factory-made block always cost more, were harder to transport, and weighed more. Do you know why they weighed more? Because they had more cement in them!

In regard to the handmade block, some of them we made ourselves, and some we’d buy from Haitians on the side of the road. They would have them all stacked up. We’d go buy those blocks, and let me tell you, we may have thought they were cheaper, but in the end, they cost us more. Many times we would pick them up, and they’d crumble in our hands before we could even lay them! Something else we discovered was that many times the handmade block were not square, true, and plumb, and it was hard to build a straight wall with a crooked block! We’d pick them up and call them “banana blocks.” They would have curves in them.

We thought they were saving us money! Each one required such a level of effort to lay. I couldn’t help but think back to a saying, “It’s easier to do something right the first time than to go back and fix it.” Why? Because when you go back and fix it, it requires cleaning up a mess!

That is equally true in our Christian lives! If we would get things right the first time, we’d have fewer messes to clean up. I’m just saying. Sometimes I used to think that I was in the “ministry of messes.” I was always cleaning them up. You start cleaning up enough messes, and after awhile, you start to focus on doing it right in the first place. Teach your children well; we ought to teach them to do it right the first time. That’s a hard lesson to learn, and it’s equally difficult in our Christian walk. Why? Because we live in an age of “I want it quick” and self-gratification. We want the reward, and we want it now! Many times we’re looking for the easiest and cheapest way to do it.

When correct methods and materials are used, the potential for success grows exponentially. Paul reminds us that our work will be revealed and tried by fire. The wood, hay, and straw—we all have a portion of it—will perish. The gold, silver, precious stones—we all have a portion of that as well—will be of great value. All of us are going to experience reward and/or the loss of reward.

So we must keep in mind how we are building, and I want you think about this: man is capable of tremendous achievements. Just think back in history. Man is capable of building great towers to the sky. Man is capable of exercising tremendous control. He is capable of governing. He is capable of exercising great power in a diversity of ways. Motivation becomes the key factor: why we do what we do.

Let’s make a commitment to examine our hearts and lives and ask God to show us areas that might need a little cleaning up. I’m pretty sure there are places in which each of us could use the Holy Spirit’s winnowing fan to blow away the dust and reveal the block and mortar in our lives that could use a little fixing. 

Vickie and I pray that you have a blessed week!

Grace and peace,

pg

Building Wisely, Part 3

Greetings! Vickie and I have had a very productive week here in the Dominican Republic, and we pray all is going well in your lives, too. We have begun a new semester of Ministry Training School and have also had the opportunity to be involved with some exciting outreaches in our local community of Sosua. We’ll be sending out a ministry update in the near future.

For now though, I’d like to turn our attention back to the topic of the Foundational Principles of the Doctrine of Christ as found in Hebrews 6:1-2:
 

• Repentance From Dead Works
• Faith Toward God
• Doctrine Of Baptisms
• Laying On Of Hands
• Resurrection Of The Dead
• Eternal Judgment

 

These are essential truths regarded as being the doctrine of Christ. The writer says, “Let each one take heed.” In other words, give attention to this, believers! Pay attention to how you’re building! This is very important. In fact, I submit to you that our eternal rewards, or loss of such, depend upon how we build. I’m not talking about salvation; Paul makes that very clear. But all of our works will be judged, and we will be rewarded, or we will suffer loss of reward accordingly.

Paul is saying that he wants every believer to experience an abundant reward and to suffer a minimum of loss. I have to humbly confess to you that I am convinced I will suffer some degree of loss when I stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. You know what? I’m going to find out that I’ve been wrong about some things. Oh, there is deliverance when you come to a place in your life—maybe it comes with being sixty—where you actually consider, “I could be wrong.” If you think you’re the only one in the room who’s right, then you’re wrong.
 

But let each one take heed how he builds on it. ¹¹ For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, ¹³ each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it” (1 Corinthians 3:10-13).
 

What Day? The Great Day of Judgment! Again, part of my responsibility lies in this: I am to remind folks that there is coming a day when each of us will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and we will each give an account for our lives.

In other words, we will be held accountable . . . not only for our actions, but also for our words. Our own words will either condemn us or bring us reward. That’s the teaching of Jesus! So be mindful of what you say. Don’t always be like me. Sometimes I don’t think until I’ve already said it, and then I shouldn’t have always said it! Am I the only one?

He says the fire will test each one’s work to determine what sort it is. So all of our works and how we have built them will be judged. Once again, note that he has said to take heed how we build not what we have built! Did you notice that? Take heed HOW you build. Not WHAT you build. What you build will be determined by how you build.  But how you build is not always determined by what you build.

I feel like I cannot emphasize that strongly enough. How we build is what motivates us. A lot of people can have the appearance of success, but in the end suffer tremendous loss.

 

¹⁴ If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:14-15).

We see rewards and loss; we’re not talking about salvation. If you are born again, you’re getting in! You’re qualified; the ticket’s been punched; you’re good. I’m not talking about salvation or eternal security. I’m talking about eternal rewards versus suffering the loss of reward.  Salvation is free. Heaven is free. Eternal life is free.

Rewards are EARNED! We don’t like that word in church. We don’t like to think of anything being earned. Well, if we don’t earn anything, don’t expect to get much! What we are rewarded with is determined by how we build. So we need to be mindful, not simply thinking about what we’re building, but how. Motivation is key.

We’ll continue this discussion next week. Thanks again for joining me! Your thoughts and prayers are always greatly appreciated, and Vickie and I pray for you as well.
 

Grace and peace,
pg

Building Wisely

Greetings from the beautiful Dominican Republic!

Today I want to talk with you about something that is important in each of our lives and that is in regard to how we build. We are all involved with building something. God has created us to be builders! He put within every one of us—whether we are male or female, young or old—a desire to be productive, to achieve, to succeed, and to build. That desire is part of who we are because it is part of who God is. 

So today I would like us to consider not only what we are building but also how we are building. Just because we are building something doesn’t mean that we’re using wisdom, and it’s easy to think that we’re being wise wherein we may actually be proceeding ahead foolishly. In order to have a proper perspective, I want us to go right back to our creation. We should ask ourselves: “Why am I here? What is God’s ultimate purpose for giving me life?” 

We could study the Westminster Protestant Catechism, and find that they have cooked man’s existence down to two principal points:

1.     To glorify God

2.     To enjoy Him forever

Sometimes we get hung up on the “enjoying” part! We don’t think God exists for us to enjoy Him. God wants this to be fun! We would do well to ask ourselves this question every once in a while: “Am I having fun yet?” God does not want this to be drudgery. I know that there’s something to be said in regard to the “baptism of suffering,” but even in that, we are supposed to count it all joy! God wants us to enjoy this Christian experience, this journey, and He wants us to be reminded of why He has given us life. He didn’t have to do that; He was very sufficient in and of Himself. He chose to create you and I, to give us life, and to place us on this earth for such a time as this! 

We exist for a purpose, but ultimately, before we can break down all the bits and pieces of that purpose, we must understand that it is for His glory and that He would have us to enjoy Him forever. God’s not a mean old Daddy; He’s a good, good Daddy! He loves us and wants what is best for us, and He knows what that is better than we do ourselves!

With all of that in mind, each of us is called and placed here on the earth to work, build, and to do so according to the purposes and plans of God. We all have the desire to build, but are we doing so according to the plan of God? I think the most essential part of what we’re talking about is that it’s not what we build that is of the utmost importance, it is how we build. 

In the Kingdom of God, motivation is everything in regard to pleasing Him. Now, we being human, we judge nearly everything on what we see, what we hear, and how we feel. We determine what’s good by those three factors. We tend to follow the proverbial saying of, “I calls them as I sees them.” 

We judge based on appearance and what we think we hear, when many times what we heard was not even what was being said. We will immediately think we heard something and then begin to quickly judge the motivation of other people as though we are able to see his or her heart! We would never stop to consider that what we heard them say was not even what they said! 

There’s example after example in Scripture of this in action. In fact, wars have been waged, blood has been shed, and lives have been lost . . . all based upon misperception and bad judgment. We find people judging people and their motivation and half the time we don’t even know our own! Come on, somebody. 

We think we know our hearts. “I’ve searched my heart.” Well, it’s about time you let God do that. He may have a different determination. 

This really is a positive message, and we will continue on with it in the next blog. It is certainly valuable to consider this topic of how we are building. We’ll be looking at this in greater depth and hopefully be able to accurately evaluate if our building has the proper foundation needed in order to support God’s purpose in our lives. In the meantime, may God bless you abundantly in everything you put your hand to, and I’ll be in touch again next week. 

Grace and Peace,
pg