Does Your Building Come Up To Code?
If you have ever been involved with building a home or an addition to one, you know that there are many building codes that must be followed. At various phases of construction inspectors arrive to insure that everything is up to code. Some buildings have had serious trouble because builders try to just meet code or fool the inspectors. Because of this buildings have had expensive repair work done after they were inspected and supposedly passed code. Some had to be razed to the foundation and rebuilt. Some folks lost all they owned in a fire caused by construction that was not up to code. Their only comfort was that their lives were saved.
The old spiritual song says, "I’m workin on a building. It’s a new foundation. … When I get tired, tired, tired, tired, tired of workin’ on my buildin’ I’m goin’ up to Heaven to get my reward, get my reward!" Yes, we are all workin’ on a buildin’ whether we cannot pound a nail in straight or do not know the difference between a level and a square. We have many inspectors that come by in our life to check our work, but they will not stop us from building out of code. One day, the Chief Inspector will check out our building and we may also be glad we laid a right foundation and find that our life is spared.
1 Cor 3:10-15
10 According to the grace of God, which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Paul was given great grace! He was used of Christ to literally build the Gentile portion of the Church and was called upon from time to time to be the inspector of the Jewish portion. With all the knowledge he had of the law and grace what made him a master builder was that he knew how to lay an eternal foundation.
Paul could have used his wisdom to train people in history, law, theology, morality, and a host of other topics, but he knew that none of that would stand if he did not lay the foundation poured by the blood of the Son of God! So many people try to build a life and an eternal home upon heritage, denomination, emotion, experience, ritual and personages. All these foundations are made of sand and their house will fall one day. They may already see cracks in the wall, but they refuse to check their foundation. No other foundation can be laid that will stand the test of time and eternity except Jesus Christ.
Jesus is a priceless foundation. He was poured out freely for us, but there can be no worthy assessment made of the value of that foundation. The value is beyond our wildest imagination. If we could magnify the wealth of this world a billion times and offer it to God as a payment for that foundation it would be an insult greater than offering Bill Gates five dollars to buy his corporation. All we can do is be grateful and lift our hands in praise to the One whom provided it!
Paul also knew that others would be building upon that foundation in regards to both the Church and the individual. We can take his warning as twofold. We need to be careful of our work as ministers in building the Church. As individual Christians, we also need to be careful on how we build our building.
12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
If you lay a good foundation, you must also build wisely. Imagine someone spending $40,000 to ensure that they had a good foundation then used cardboard, scrap wood and tin to build the rest of the house. We would think him mad and rightly so. The same goes for our spiritual building.
If we build in the power of the Spirit, we will use precious metals and stones to build our house. You see anything built in the flesh through man’s wisdom or strength is scrap wood, mildewed hay, and pitiful bits of stubble! You can get a clue if you are building with the right materials by checking your life and see if you have the fruits of the Spirit or are manifesting the works of the flesh in Galatians 5. You see a good builder will be using good materials. If the builder is fleshly so will his materials be fleshly. If the builder is spiritual so will his materials be spiritual.
13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
Interestingly, the materials may appear to be of the same quality to the untrained eye. Church attendance is a good material, but if the builder is using it for personal gain or public admiration instead of as a means to praise God and grow in the faith, it is just scrap wood. Giving is good, but we know that a widow’s mite is pure gold whereas the excess of the rich given to impress men is stubble. Preaching is a great material, but if it is done in man’s wisdom denying the power of God or done because Mama wanted a preacher for a son then it is just balsa wood. Prayer is wonderful conduit to supply power to the building, but if it is done loud and fancy for men to be awed by its delivery then it is just a faulty wire bound to cause a fire.
Yes, man can be fooled and when inspecting someone’s spiritual house a man may find it to be a glorious temple. One day, God will inspect it. His vision will see every place that has hidden errors. The old joke is that a carpenter hides his mistakes, but a doctor buries his. Well, you may try and hide your errors and shoddy materials, but God’s vision will make it clearly manifest to all believers and to the host of Heaven. He will set your house on fire. For some that will be one of the few times that any fire from God was felt in the house.
14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (KJV)
It will either stand as approved or be burned to the foundation. If anything at all stands, you will receive a reward for that work. If your works are burned and the word in Greek means to be utterly burned to the ground or in this case to the foundation, you shall suffer loss. All you have done will be gone up in smoke. Like the family, I mentioned earlier you have lost everything you worked for, but you will escape with your life. You will be literally like one snatched out of the flames and carried to safety by a fireman. You will be saved though you walked through the fire to get to safety.
Now, if somebody is not shouting Amen or Glory at this point, something is seriously wrong or you are one of my Arminian friends!!! This is a great proof of the security of the believer, but it is not an encouragement to build sloppy houses. The sloppy builder will suffer loss. What the effect of the loss will be in Glory we do not know. I know that I have used some bad materials in building my house and I beg God that I might not use any more while I know in my own stupidity I will throw a few more logs on the fire before I expire.
Praise the Lord that we do not have to wait until we get there and cannot make any corrections to see what our house is made of. He sends inspectors around regularly to tell us where we are getting sloppy. His Word is the codebook and we have ready access to it. Unfortunately, we just let it sit on the shelf or redefine the words to match our preferences or that of our culture. Sermons are inspectors, but we just pass them over our shoulder to the builder behind us or we find a preacher that has a codebook that we like. Testimonies of success or failure from other builders cause us to inspect our work, but we don’t go to church and our best friends are unbelievers so we do not hear those testimonies. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through joy or heaviness of heart and we either slap ourselves on the back and fall into the sin of pride or take a pill to counteract the Spirit’s conviction. If unbelievers find you the life of the party and love to hang out with you that is a sure sign of your materials being bad and your workmanship shoddy. They hated the Master Carpenter hanging Him on a wooden Cross and curse Him still. If you are working in His Spirit and building with His materials they will not want you around. Of course, if you are preaching Jesus in the flesh to them they will hate you and it will be because of wrong materials and motives not because you are a master builder. God in His mercy sometimes burns your house down now and lets you start over. If you listen to the inspectors you can always fix the house and prevent a complete burn down now and at the Bema.
So how are you doing? Is your house up to code? Are you working in the Spirit or the flesh? Is your house a temple to His glory or a tar paper shack destined for destruction? At the very least, be sure you are building upon the proper foundation. When you find a piece of wood or pile of stubble throw it out through confession and then rebuild that space with a gold brick of Spirit powered service. Yes, if you are saved and building upon Christ you will be spared even if your work is consumed. Like Paul, I am persuaded of better things if you are His. (Heb 6:9) None of us will have a house completely unscathed, but we do not want to suffer any loss that we can avoid.
Preachers, be careful how you build the House of God. Many great builders have worked on it and some have left the solid rock for other foundations. Some have defiled His house by their works of the flesh. What they did may look good to man, but it will be burned up at His return. Build "not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts." (Zech 4:6)
Unbelieving friend, not only will your house burn, but so will you if you do not receive Christ’s priceless foundation for your building. That old song also said, "If I were a sinner, I’d tell you what I would do. I would quit my sinnin’ and work on the building too." You need to build a spiritual building that will last forever. You may have spent many hours and dollars building your current house that you will leave behind when you die. Why not obtain an eternal home built on a priceless foundation? It is free to you though it cost God greatly. Even the materials you need to build with are provided freely to His disciples who are crucified with Him. Why work so hard to lose it all when you can lose your life here and never lose it or the eternal treasures with which you build your spiritual house? The key to that new home is Jesus. He is reaching out to you today!! Don’t be homeless in that Day of Judgment!
