Built Well.
Romans 8:1-2, 5-6TPT
You’ve heard people use the expression, body by Ford, or body by Chevy. How about body by Holy Spirit.
Listen to the apostles Pauls announcement of a forgiving, loving Savior:
Romans 8:1-2, 5-6NIV Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
A.W. Tozer attempted to reconcile these seemingly contradictory ideas of God choosing or calling us and our choosing God with this illustration: "An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty. "On board the liner are scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port (which they have accepted as their destination). "Both freedom and sovereignty are present here, and they do not contradict. So it is, I believe, with man’s freedom and the sovereignty of God. The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history."
No condemnation in Christ Jesus...Jesus Christ gives life. The true believer sets their minds on the spirit. The mind governed by the spirit is life and peace!
I want you to hear this text from, The Passion Translation: Romans 8:1-2, 5-6TPT “So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One. 2 For the “law” of the Spirit of life flowing through the anointing of Jesus has liberated us from the “law” of sin and death.”
5 Those who are motivated by the flesh only pursue what benefits themselves. But those who live by the impulses of the Holy Spirit are motivated to pursue spiritual realities. 6 For the sense and reason of the flesh is death, but the mind-set controlled by the Spirit finds life and peace.
Please hear me as your pastor. If you’re motivated to pursue spiritual realities. To every surrendered vessel, “you are being built well.” PH
Paul and Apollos are convincing their audience, fellow believers, including listening enemies of the cross, that we are all an audience to One!
-Paul’s creed, “I do all I do all for God’s Glory. I solely belong to God.”
Paul goes on and says, 1 Corinthians 3:8-9 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Again, believers have a body made by-God.
The MSG paraphrases, 8-9 Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. 9 You happen to be God’s field in which we are working.
And again Paul answers his own questions. In, 1 Corinthians 3:10-11NIV By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Church, our purpose is to be co-laborers for God’s service. God’s our foundation, and we become God’s field-God’s building.
For God and God alone can save; For God and God alone can deliver. Plus He’s given us the HolySpirit therefore, we can be satisfied because we’re never alone. P.H
During this journey, because life is a journey, As God’s servant you will have your highs and your lows. Sometimes your emotional well-being can only picture and speak gloom, sometimes our emotions feel and seem greater than our redemption.
Think about it, You’re free today because of the spirit that made Jesus Christ free. You have a body made by God!
Romans 8:1-2MSG Seems pretty magical, 1 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. 2 The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
Reverend Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest orators of all time, Lived with some brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
Charles battled continually with depression. When Spurgeon gave in to it, it seemed like darkness was caving in all around him.
However, Pastor Spurgeon found his blessed hope his promised redemption. -Just listen as
Spurgeon writes, “No star gleam as brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky. No water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand. And no Faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs through adversity, tested faith brings experience. You would never have believed your own weakness had you not needed to pass through trials. And you would never have known Gods strength had his strength not been needed to carry you through.”
Remember this, it is character that makes a man or a woman of God, not anointing.
Moreover Spurgeon would preach, It’s in the wilderness, when the pressure comes, when the disappointments mount, when the dream seems to be unattainable, that necessary refining- character shaping – takes place.
This is one reason the wilderness – as tough as it can be – is so valuable, and, ultimately, even leads to great joy
Peter writes much about trails in, 1 Peter 1:6-7NKJV In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
John Bevere- The wilderness is where we are refined, and character is developed within us. It is in this furnace of affliction and persecution that the godly person is made.
Romans 5:3-4NKJV And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
God's approval on David's life was because he was a man after the heart of God, not a man after a kingdom!
King Saul never went through a purifying wilderness; therefore, he remained unrefined and insecure. David, however, was purified in the wilderness, and God even used Saul to send him there!
God's ways may be mysterious, but his plans are always good.
In Genesis 42-50, one can read of the struggles of Joseph. Sold into slavery as a boy, However, Joseph was bought by people close to the King, King Pharaoh.
In the caption of Psalm 105, my Bible reads, -The Eternal Faithfulness Of The Lord.
Psalm 105:17-19NKJV He sent a man before them—Joseph—who was sold as a slave. 18 They hurt his feet with fetters, He was laid in irons. 19 Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him.
Only God knew the set time that his personal promise to Joseph would come to pass (over 20 years after the dream). The wilderness forged in Joseph, the character that would build his life, family, and leadership position well.
The key to all Joseph's success was his reverential fear of the Lord. -No matter his conditions, Joseph, would speak, act, and obey God's word.
Can I tell you, you might feel like Joseph, while others are achieving success dishonestly by lying and cheating, yet still it appears, they are blessed, while you are in chains in Pharaoh’s dungeon.
During the wilderness/dry times, the prophet warns God’s people in, Malachi 3:13-15AMP “Your words have been harsh against Me,” says the Lord. “But you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. What profit is it if we keep His ordinances, and walk around like mourners before the Lord of hosts? 15 So now we call the arrogant happy and blessed. Evildoers are exalted and prosper; and when they test God, they escape [unpunished].’”
What are complainers saying? They are saying, “What profit is it that we've obeyed God, because we're going nowhere.”
Hear this word Church. Our reward our inheritance does not consist of things, or possessions. -Our inheritance is the Lord!
Ezekiel 44:28ESV This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.
So what do you do during the process? How faithful will you be when you're low on the totem pole? What's your response as others seemingly get ahead?
Remember- Joseph’s greatness was wielded in the finance of affliction.
Malachi 3:16ESV Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.
These are the ones who are going through the same wilderness conditions as the complainers, but this groups priority is not position, recognition, or things. -They seek the heart of God!
We must pay close attention to how we are building our lives.
Romans 8:1bTPT... we are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One.
Hebrews 3:1-4NKJV Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.
Notice who built the house. God. It is not through the strength of our own flesh. Whatever God builds remains; what we build we will not.
Body by God. Romans 8:2NKJV For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Always choose Jesus. -Jesus is life. Jesus made you free from the law of sin and death.
Psalm 127:1AMP Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.
Important truth- What man builds apart from God – whether it is his life, home, or even a ministry – it will not endure.
In Genesis 11:4, we see an example of mans work. 4 Come, Let us build ourselves a city, and a tower, whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for selves.
And what was the motive of those who built the tower of babel? -They wanted to achieve their self-seeking dreams, to raise their edifice for their own glory. They wanted to be like God, but totally independent of Him.
The law of sin and death, or the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus?
Again, You are a body made by God.1 Corinthians 3:12-13NKJV 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, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
Notice:
Gold, silver, and precious stones, represent construction Gods way.
Wood, hay, and straw represent our old methods of construction by the blueprint of the world.
Again, Romans 8:5NKJV For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit
Romans 8:5MSG Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God!
In God's eyes, any area of your life, in which your motive is self seeking, is considered- wood, hay, or straw.
Romans 8:6NKJV For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Your body, soul and spirit were made by God. -Body by God.
Like Paul and Joseph, Joshua got it right. Joshua is a good example of someone whose heart was correct in the wilderness.
a). When Moses went up to Mount Sinai, Joshua stayed at the mountains foot. He wanted to get as close as possible to the presence of the Lord.
b). When Moses met with God in the tabernacle, Joshua was there also, in order to be close to the presence of the Lord. Even when Moses was finished, Joshua remained in the tent of meeting, Exodus, 33:11.
A body built by God will be filled with life and peace.
-Benediction.
