REF NO: 026
COLUMNIST: Rudolf Nii Yemoh Mensah, Prelate, Oasis Potterlight Chapel International
PASSAGE: Hebrews 3:4, NIV: For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
BACKGROUND: This passage causes the clarity to unravel the mysteries surrounding the person and deity of Jesus Christ. Thus the mysticism and myth encircling the Word of God in John 1:1-12 were simplified.
THE MASTER BUILDER
The simplicity of the whole intricacy is that Jesus Christ is superior to Moses and any other prophet of the Old Testament. Jesus is seen as a hundred per cent God in the human form. He is God the Son in the order of the triune of God which is also called the holy trinity. He was presented to us as the master-builder of the Church.
It stamps further the supremacy of Jesus as the chief cornerstone, the foundation and builder of all things. Is Jesus the builder of your marriage, your home, your business or your profession?
Do you acknowledge Jesus as the master-builder of your life?
Would you allow Jesus to build up your destiny, your marriage, your home, your business and overall that concerns you? Would you make Jesus the first in all your life's endeavours? Do you recognise the supremacy of Jesus the one holding the centre of your life?
"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it. Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain." Psalm 127:1
No building project can be successful without the Lord being in control. No family can thrive and prosper if God is not the Head of that home, no church community will flourish and become fruitful unless, personally and jointly, they have placed the Lord in His rightful place, and no country can be protected from the enemy or remain free from destruction if the Lord's supremacy and authority are denied.
Jesus is Lord and supreme. He is the pillar that holds your life. He is your success story. This first verse of Psalm 127 makes it very clear that unless the Lord keeps the home, the family, the city, or the church, the watchman’s warning or the minister’s message will be in vain.
My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less or On Christ The Solid Rock I Stand is the best-known hymn of Edward Mote who wrote it in 1834. The original title of this hymn was, "The Immutable Basis for a Sinner's Hope".
Edward Mote was the pastor of Rehoboth Baptist Church in Horsham West Sussex in the United Kingdom.
It looks as if the inspiration for this hymn came from Christ parable of the wise and foolish builders. In the parable, Christ speaks of the foolish builder who built his house on sinking sand while the wise builder built his on solid rock. As you would imagine a storm easily swept away the one built on sand.
Christ is the solid rock upon which we can build our house of faith. Any other foundation is like one on the sand and will ultimately fail.
On the authorship of this song Mr Mote's explanation, communicated to the Gospel Herald, is:— "One morning it came into my mind as I went to labour, to write a hymn on the ‘Gracious Experience of a Christian.' As I went up Holborn I had the chorus,
‘On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.’
Fresh from its writing, this hymn was first sung by the author to a dying lady. The complete story is presented below.
Before that day ended, Mote has written the first four verses and safely kept the copy in his pocket. He visited a friend whose wife was very sick later that week. Unable to find a hymn to sing, he brought out the new lines he wrote and began singing it with the couple. Instantly, the lady liked the song and asked for a copy of it.
After hearing this compliment, Mote became more inspired to finish the hymn. After adding two more verses to the first song, Mote sent the lyrics to a publisher. That was almost two centuries ago and until now, we still sing the hymn. As we do so, we declare by heart that we will cling to God’s saving hands amid life’s storms
Below are the lyrics of this popular hymn:
1 My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
2 When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
in every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil. [Refrain]
3 His oath, his covenant, his blood
support me in the whelming flood;
when all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stays. [Refrain]
4 When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found,
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne. [Refrain]
No family will flourish, no building will be sound, no city will be successful, and no church will be unified unless the Lord is the one who establishes it. No matter how much money is spent and how skilled workers maybe... unless it is built on Christ the solid rock, it will crumble and be beheaded for ruin.
Jesus said, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it," and He is the only One Who can ensure the success of our earthly endeavours.
God is the One Who took Israel by the hand and gently led them out of Egypt, to carry out His plans and purposes. God is the great Enabler Who equips His servants to carry out His will and to perform his good pleasure.
How lovely and blessed, therefore, is the home, the family, the nation – the people, who have God (Jesus) as the Head of their house and Jesus as Lord of their lives.
And while we tread on a rough road, we encounter countless trials and troubles, He serves as the solid rock we can cling to. He builds us up and when we are down to nothing His is our strength and comfort.
Whether we are building a family or a business, a home or a community, a website or a republic, a church or a nation, it is both foolish and futile to begin a building assignment - no matter what realm it may cover if God is not the One Who builds it - if Jesus is not ascribed the principal place of honour that is due to His name. There is no true success without God.
Give the LORD the glory, and put all your trust in Him. He can and will deliver you from every conceivable danger or enemy, whether in the day or the night, whether it is a threat you can see or not. Read Psalm 91 and take courage. Shalom Aleichem!
