Is Building Better? 3/1/2005
Psalm 127:1
Today our featured ministry is construction. Construction has been a big part of this church from its very beginning in 1976. This church was started with nothing but a few families meeting in homes. Then the property was purchased and the building began. Back in the back where our classrooms and nursery is was the original sanctuary. Then this add on of the new sanctuary with the unfinished basement was added in 1984.
The old sanctuary became the classrooms and then at a latter date the basement was finished, equipped with a full kitchen and two additional bathrooms and a shower area.
Now very few are here now that went through that construction phase and many have came and gone. My first construction entry was digging up a water line on the back of the property, the first time I really remember meeting Jeff Holiday. And I found the water line, after poking a hole in it and it looking like a water foutain, it is a wonder I was ever asked to do anything again.
In 1999 the former pastor along with the members got a vision of adding a gym, a youth sanctuary, as I would call it. After time and prayer, the church voted to start another construction job in spring of 2000
And we could take up the rest of the time telling of the stories and miracles that have occurred during that process. And yet many people who have started the project have came and left, leaving many of the new people to inherit the vision.
And does it stop here when the gym is completed? Can we retire the ministry of construction and make a plaque with the names of those who were the most influential in this project?
Well just as our own homes are in need of continual up keep, construction will always be a part of this church and any other who continues to be alive. And I share the dream of many of someday adding on to our current facilities with a new sanctuary
So this morning I want to spend a little time and try to answer questions and refocus on this ministry of construction by asking the question of is building better and then giving Biblical examples of our answer.
Is building better?
Now before we begin to answer that question, let me first say that it is a two-part answer. Yes and No. Let me explain. Yes, a building church is a church that is alive. It is growing and God is blessing.
I recently attended a pastor’s luncheon and it saddened me to hear of a church that was going to close its doors. I have been in the church and it is a beautiful facility, with room to die for, in a location surrounded with residential housing.
But Satan has a strong hold on the church and its attendance has dwindled to the point that even the utilities cannot be paid. That is sad.
I would rather have the problem of not having enough room then to have the opposite. My Dad in the little town of Rupert, found a Southern Baptist Church whose doors had closed and on the marquee for the last Sunday that they were open read 3 in attendance. Dad reopened the little church and now a little over a year latter, he has had as high as over 100 and is averaging in the 80’s.
What made the difference? Why is building better? In our text it tells us the answer. “Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it;”
So to answer the question of is building better, the answer is yes if it is God doing the building. And remember that Jesus was a Carpenter by trade, and He likes to build.
So what is the reason for the answer of question is building better being no? It would be if we were doing it for our glory. Remember what happened when they tried to build the tower to reach the heavens in Genesis? Remember why they did so?
Genesis 11:4, And they said, “Come let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, least we be scattered abroad over the face of the earth”
They were building it for themselves, not because God told them to, not to give God the glory; but they were doing it so that people would look at them and say what a good job they did. Sure shot for failure. God came down and confused their language so the place was called Babel. That is where we get the saying when someone is talking and we don’t understand them, “They are babbling”.
So the answer is yes; if God is the one doing the building; and no if we are doing it for ourselves. We should not be doing it so that others look at it and say, “Look what they are doing”.
So in our case I think that building is better. I think that it shows that we are a live and growing church. I think God wants us to be in the construction business for His glory and to reach the lost. So are we in the construction ministry?
What are the excuses as to why we are not in the construction?
a. Lack of skill
I have no skills to offer. I don’t know how to do anything. I am afraid I will mess up.
When I hear these excuses I think about Noah. Noah was asked to build an ark in the middle of the desert. It is not known for sure what his profession was, but I’m sure that boat building was not on his resume before God told him to build it. So all Noah did was be obedient to what God asked him to do.
Hebrews 11:7, By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household,
By faith, nothing to do with his skill or his vast knowledge of boat building.
Remember God will never ask you to do something that He will not provide the means and the method to which to do it.
So if you can’t drive a nail or use a power tool, can you still be involved in the construction ministry?
Can you fix a meal or paint a board? Can you sweep a floor or watch the kids. Can you bring someone a glass of cold water when they need it? As a young boy growing up in a church where there was always a construction ministry there is something that everyone can do.
b. Lack of time
This is one of the top ones as far as popularity. Our lives are filled with busy schedules. We work hard all week and have our own household chores to do on our days off.
We all have things to do list and I have found that the list keeps on growing. You fix one thing and two more pop up. We all have a lack of time and it is hard to find time to do things for God. But would it be right to let God’s house go while we build up our own? Is God’s house any less important than our own?
We read about that very subject in the book of Haggai. We read in Chapter 1 about how the people were more concerned with their own houses and how they looked. Stone was the principle building material and the people wanted to put wood panels, like the ones used in the Temple, in their homes. And the time they wanted to do this, the Temple was in ruins.
Haggai 1:3-5 Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of host: “Consider your ways”!
It is all about priorities. And we should always keep God at the top. Not in the top, but top. He must come first in our lives, and keeping up His house is a way we can do that.
c. Lack of funds
Some would not like to see the church in the construction business because it soaks up the money. It takes money to be in the construction ministry. As of now our current dept is about $ 18,000 with the possibility of $ 110,000 more within the next year. And that is with most of the labor coming from within. Could we hire it out? Sure, at a greater expense to the church. But there is nothing wrong with doing that.
But instead of a commitment of time, we need a commitment of funds. We read about this when it comes to the repairs to the Temple in 2 Kings 12:6,9-12
The priest at that time was the ones responsible for the upkeep and the construction of the Temple. When they did not do it themselves they paid to have it done.
This is another way that we all can be involved in the construction ministry by the giving above our tithes with an offering for the construction. God owns it all anyway and all we are doing is giving back what He has al ready given us.
d. Just plain old lack
When I say this what I mean is that sometimes our only excuse is not an excuse, it is just pure laziness.
Ecclesiastes 10:18, Because of laziness the building decays, and through idleness of hands the house leaks.
What are the reasons to be in the construction business?
One of the reasons is to see God work. I could talk till tonight about the way we have seen God work in the construction ministry of this church. From no one getting killed with the erection of the heavy steel to the people who God sent here to be able to do it.
We are a growing church and we must continuing growing so that we can reach the lost for Christ. We read in 2 Kings 6:1-7 about another growing church and the miracle that God did during their construction.
Now I don’t know if we have seen any axe heads floating, but I have had my share of breaking things other then an axe head. When we are obedient and do what God has told us to do then we will see God’s mighty hand at work. And I don’t believe there is a person here who God has told to stop the construction and get complacent in our Christian lives.
And we read in Luke 14:28, For which one of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it.
Are we ready to finish it? Are we ready to pay the cost?
Why are we in the construction ministry? It is not for our glory; it is not for our own personal use. It is for His glory. It is for His use to reach the lost. All you have to do is go out sometime in the gym and watch the kids playing to realize that this is a way to reach the lost. This is a way to get people into church where they can learn about God and grow in their relationship with Him.
I want see us be like the children of Israel did in Exodus 36:2-7
I want to see God’s blessing on this church and say, “Indeed too much”.
The Most important part of construction (Mathew 7:24-27)
The most important part of any construction job is the foundation. So in our own personal lives we need to make sure that we are building on the rock. As the song states, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand”. The most important decision you will ever make will be to accept Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior. It does not make any difference what you think you achieve in life or what possessions you might accrue, unless you build your foundation on the rock by accepting Christ, then you labor in vain.
Then after you accept Christ, the building should not stop.
Colossians 2:6-7, As you therefore have received Christ Jesus and Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
After we receive Christ then we need to build on that relationship. We build by growing and maturing as Christians. We do so by reading His word, praying, attending church.
We build on our relationship with Him so that we can build up others. We build and we build and we continue building till we reach our eternal destination.
So is building better? Yes, building is better. Building in the physical and building in the Spiritual. He is the architect and He gave us the blueprint in His word to follow. So the choice is ours, will you build with me?
