(1) "A certain congregation was about to erect a new church edifice. The building committee, in consecutive meetings passed the following resolutions:
1. We shall build a new church
2. The new building is to be located on the site of the old one.
3. The material in the old building is to be used in the new one.
4. We shall continue to use the old building until the new one is completed.
--- Of course that meant they didn’t build anything. I was thinking if you are in a building program, what is the most important thing you need to do in order to build? ------- Maybe one of you would say we need good detailed plans; or another might stree the imortance of fund raising, maybe?... but what about building on a firm foundation? The wise man built his house upon the _____? "rock"; and the foolish man built his house upon the ______? "sand". This little Scripture song reminds us of one of the most important things about building, a rock like, firm foundation.If you don’t put on the right foundation, then anything you build will be of little or no value.
Now you may think I am here to talk about our "Building Program" and the upcoming presentation to be made at Church Conference! And maybe that is the "idea" that got me thinking about this message, but I want to shift our thinking to the "Building Program" that is going on in each of us. This "Building Program" that I am talking about has nothing to do with archetural plans; or physical site development or capital fund campaigns, but has to do with your relationship with Jesus Christ, and lest we build a firm foundation in our hearts with Jesus Christ, then I dare say it is of no value to erect any building to honor God if we do not honor Him in our hearts, and with our minds.
There are three things I want to say today about a building program, they could all relate to actual building, but specifically I want them to speak to the "building program" that should be going on within each of us. Specifically, I think I want to draw your attention to one part of the building, the corner stone. It is a "stone uniting two masonary walls; a stone representing the starting place in the construction of a building; something esential or basic" to the building project". (2)
A) The FIRST is, Christ must be the Chief Cornerstone. Ephesians 2:17-22 tells us "So He came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through Him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. In Him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God."
The foundation laid before us as a Church by the apostle’s and the prophets; the foundation realized in the Word of God we have before us, and when we let Jesus be the cornerstone; the very element that holds or lives together we can be built spiritually into a dwelling place for God, and through Him we have access to the Spirit and to the Father. Sometimes you see when people build a building, and they put the cornerstone in they etch the names of those responsible for the building into it. And I understand the need to honor someone, or a group who have worked hard to build the building, but let me be perfectly clear, the only real cornerstone that can transform our lives and hold it together is eteched with the most powerful name of Jesus Christ.
In fact if you go back to our Scripture text today in Matthew 7, and I don’t know how many times we have probably read that Scripture or sung that little song, but have you ever paid attention to the real key phrase that isn’t found in the song, but is right there in Scripture: "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man...and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like the foolish man..." Wise, if you hear the word of God and buildupon the foundation. Matthew 5,6 & 7 are filled with Jesus instructions from "The Beatitudes" to fasting and prayer; from "The Lord’s prayer" to messages about how to enter through the "narrow gate".
Dr. Terry Teykl in his book "Pray the Price" says "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit." Jesus Himself said it this way, "No one can come to be unless he is drawn by the Father". (John 6:44). ... We must realize that unless people see their need for Christ, all the preching in the world will not make a difference..." In other words I can preach till I am blue in the face, but unless you are nudged by the SPirit to see the need for Christ to be your cornerstone, it will not make any difference. "Unless they feel a heaviness about their sin, it does no good for us to show them the cross. Unless people wanty to be filled with the presence of Christ, it is no use singing eightenne rounds of "Just As I Am" as they stay "just as they are!". (3)
Friends I cannot build your spiritual house for you, you must want for yourself a saving grace relationship with Christ as the cornerstone building your house for God.
B) The second thing I want to say is your building can be a building that "welcomes" or it can be one that "turns away" others to the Kingdom of God. Do you know how many people have left a Church or not come to Church because of the way Christians act. We often call this a "stumbling block" or a "stumbling stone". In other words you can be a stepping stone or you can be a stuimbling block. Remember how the disciples tried to turn away the children? Or they tried to turn away the blind man on the road! They stood in the way of others reaching Jesus. When I was in Ohio back in April I discovered that for funerals, rather than sending flowers many people are buying gifts like quilted blankets with a Scripture and design on them, or even "paved stones" with engravings on them. One of those "paved stones" was etched with the words -- "Go Away!". Our building, our holy temple in which we live should never have a sign on it that reads "go away", but rather we should be welcoming others in the love and Spirit of Christ.
A writer said, "Isn’t it strange that princes and kings, And clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
And common folk like you and me, Are the builders of eternity. To each is given a bag of tools, A shapeless mass and a book of rules; And each must make, ere time is flown, A stumbling-block or a stepping-stone. (4)
In the 1st Letter of Peter he ties both the first point that I have made with the second: "For it stands in scripture: "See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not belive, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner," and "A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall."They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to." (1 Peter 2:6-8). For those who believe Christ is the cornerstone, and for those who disobey the word, they stumble. So we have a choice to build uopon the rock, or let the rock cause us to stumble when we disobey His word. Exactly what Jesus said, "and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like the foolish man..."
C) Thirdly, the house you build should be a "House of Prayer". It should also be a house of faith, hope and love, but I want to concentrate on each of us being a "House of Prayer"! When Jesus cleaned out the temeple he said "My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have been making it a den of robbers." (Mat 21:13)
(5) "Paul Harvey told about a 3-year-old boy who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered the grocery store she said to him, "Now you’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask."
She put him up in the cart & he sat in the little child’s seat while she wheeled down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. He saw the chocolate chip cookies & he stood up in the seat & said, “Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you not even to ask. You’re not going to get any at all.” So he sat back down.
They continued down the aisles, but in their search for certain items they ended up back in the cookie aisle. “Mom, can I please have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you that you can’t have any. Now sit down & be quiet.”
Finally, they were approaching the checkout lane. The little boy sensed that this may be his last chance. So just before they got to the line, he stood up on the seat of the cart & shouted in his loudest voice, “In the name of Jesus, may I have some chocolate chip cookies?” And everybody round about just laughed. Some even applauded. And, according to Paul Harvey, due to the generosity of the other shoppers, the little boy & his mother left with 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies....
Now I know that is a little humerous story about prayer, but folks when we seriously build our lives into a "House of prayer" it is going to unlesh the mighty power of God, and not just a "building program" but Kingdom Building. Terry Teykl says "The Holy SPirit is the real Evangelist. We are here only to release Him to work. This is the basis of prayer evangelism -- that when we pray, He works, not only in us, but also in the non-believer to accomplish God’s purpose."
"For John Wesley, everything good began with prayer, was sustained by prayer, and finished by prayer. He practiced daily this radical dependance on God. It undergirded everything he did"(3). I like what Meredith said just a couple weeks ago, and the essence was "It is no so much about praying asking God to supply our needs, but praying is to find God".
Build with the cornerstone of Christ;
Do not stumble on the word, or cause others to stumble
and make, build your life into a House of Prayer!
