I Am Building For A Lifetime

I Am Building For A Lifetime

September 14, 201 Isaiah 28:16 1 Corinthians 3:5-17 Matthew 7:15-28

Have you ever purchased an item that looked great in the package or on the advertisement but when you got it, you said, “this is nothing but a piece of junk, it so flimsy, I want my money back. You made two mistakes. First of all you thought what you paying was actually worth the item you were receiving. Second, you thought they created the item to do what you wanted it to do. The item was created to last, just long enough for them to make a dollar off of you.

Sometimes when this happens to us, it makes us angry and upset, we can simply throw the thing in the trash can and go on about our business. There are other times though, when what we got can’t easily be gotten rid of and we’re stuck making payments such as that great deal on the car that we didn’t know had been underwater in a flood. We still have to make the payments. There are still other times, when our lives are severely damaged or maimed. We see this when people think they are purchasing a good time with a high with drugs not realizing they are actually paying for an overdose that will kill them. What we see is not always, what we get.

Whether you know it or not, you are both a builder and a building and what you’re building is based on how long you expect it to last. Each time we eat, we’re deciding to build and on what we plan to look like in the future as well as how far out that future is going to go. Each time we think or we act, we are using materials to build our spiritual body or our temple of the Holy Spirit as the bible describes it.

In our New Testament reading the apostle Paul told us we build ourselves spiritually with different items that will have a different result for our lives. In Corinthians 3:12 He said some lives are may be built using gold, silver, costly stones and others with wood, hay or straw. What we build with is going to determine how long - we think something is going to last.

If you’re dating someone and you decide to take it to the next level with an engagement ring, it is going to have a tremendous impact what the ring is made of. If it is made of gold, silver and costly stones, you may indeed take things upward to another level. But if that ring is made out of wood, hay and straw, that relationship is going to another level.

Usually when builders build their own homes, we expect a spectacular result. Why? We assume they will want the best and they have the skill to make it happen. But what the building is made up of and the skill with which it is built not nearly as important as the foundation upon which it is constructed. We have seen what happens when houses and bridges are built on the wrong foundation. There are basically two reasons that we build on the wrong foundation. The first is by honest mistake. We that we think something is something that it is not. The second is we’re just lazy, in a hurry, and willing to take a short cut. We get one shot at life, so the sooner we build on the right foundation, the better.

Jesus talks quite a bit about building on the right foundation. Jesus tells us that it is an absolute necessity to build your life on the right foundation. . Because the foundation is what holds everything up, it’s what holds everything together. No matter what quality of materials you use; no matter how carefully you join the frame together; no matter how skilled your craftsmen may be – if the foundation isn’t solid and stable, your “house” will lack integrity. Over time, cracks will develop in the walls. The windows will stick. The roof will leak. And sooner or later, the storms of life will bring it crashing down, and everything you’ve worked so hard to build will be lost.

In our Old Testament verse, God’s people had rejected God and the lifestyle He was calling them to live. Even the priests and the prophets were getting drunk and thinking nothing of it. They had no foundation, so everyone was doing what they pleased. God said in Isaiah 28:16 (NIV2011) 16 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic. The stone that God was promising to lay was a prophecy of the coming of Jesus. Jesus was and is the foundation upon which a person can properly build their lives for a lifetime.