Foundational Grace
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are laborers together with God:
ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
If we can just embrace the idea that our God created the
universe in seven days we would have the beginning of an understanding of just
who He is. He accomplished an amazing
amount of work during that time all by Himself.
He doesn’t NEED us to be alive or active. It is His FERVENT DESIRE to link up with us,
to accomplish something special using our God given, God breathed skills that
motivates Him. This universe is made up
of His energy. It’s not made up of
molecules and stars and planets. On a
quantum level it is made up of energy.
The energy is made up of light in its various components; and that light
is directly made up by God (1 John 1:5).
Why does the universe work (1 John 4:8)? Why is it so perfectly balanced and meet our
needs so wonderfully? Because God
cares. Scripture says that without faith
it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
That’s awesome! What does it
mean? It means you must believe that God
is and that He is a rewarder to those who diligently seek Him. If He is a rewarder to those who diligently
seek Him then faith which is the substance (something you can hold in your hand)
of things hoped for and the evidence (something you can observe or see) of
things not seen then FAITH is the power behind all the miracles (Hebrews 11:1). Okay, I get that; but what causes faith to
work? I’m glad you asked.
It’s not electricity or light or power.
It’s Love.
Faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). It is God’s motivation in everything He does
for us. God loves us so much He sent Jesus
(John 3:16). God loves us so much He
made our world. God loves us so much He
has given us time to discover Him in honesty and truth rather than (as many
scientists do) try to figure out a situation in which He does not exist (Romans
2:4). Those of us who know Him and abide
in Him know that we are His building and His husbandry. What does that mean? It means that we are the gardens of the Lord
and He is the one who gives us sun and rain and fertilizes us with His Word and
other things we need. Above all else…God
cares.
I want to leave you with this thought. If you have been wounded throughout your life
and do not know how to love or be loved, the Word of God can heal you. If you have made wrong decision after wrong
decision, the Word of God can deliver you.
If you see things differently than the Word, the beauty of His Word is
that it is alive and powerful and can separate the wrong attitudes many of us
have and set us free to walk in health (Hebrews 4:12). That means that no matter how abused you may
have been, no matter how wounded your life and awful your past, God can heal
you (Joel 2:21-27).
1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God which is
given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and
another buildeth thereon. But let every
man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
There is a lot in this verse. Paul has been given the grace of a WISE
master builder. Notice what he does with
that grace. He doesn’t try to build the
entire house on his own, he is satisfied with the foundation. You can’t be everything to everyone. The wondrous miracle of God is that one
plants and another waters but God gives the increase (1 Corinthians
3:1-8). It also serves as a
warning. If God has built a strong
foundation and you try to build a rickety house on that foundation, God will
not be pleased with you.
Christians, like natural humans, need a large spiritual gene
pool to be healthy. There is a name for
inbred Christian churches that claim to have the only true form of doctrine and
keep their members away from any polluting influences. They call them cults. Cults are little one sided anemic Hitler
worlds that twist the truth and destroy all opposition. In my travels I have discovered an extremely
important fact. I can get a pure, sure,
Spirit filled Word of God almost anywhere.
I have gotten them in Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal,
Interdenominational, Independent, Lutheran and Church of Christ churches. I have also gotten useless fluff in those
same types of churches. When we are well
rounded in our Biblical education we will all be better off.
Well rounded does not mean believing lies or disbelieving
the most important truths of the Bible.
Paul made it clear when he prayed that anyone who took biblical truths
away or denied them would be anathema, a cursed soul. Salvation through Christ alone is a
foundational truth and can not be denied (Acts 4:12). It is Christ in you, the hope of glory
(Colossians 1:27). Consider that Paul,
Peter, Luke, Matthew, Mark, James and especially John all were anointed by the
Holy Spirit to give us clear instruction and ALL of them had a powerful burden
for a different aspect of God’s law.
Some taught fatherhood and family, some faith and some the
glory and beauty of love. Each of their
lessons flow together by the grace of God and His Spirit. Our Christian scripture is contained in 66
books written by more than 40 authors over thousands of years and it is all
interconnected by the Holy Spirit to the point where Old and New Testament
scriptures mesh flawlessly into one another.
Your ministry and mine may not always be in lockstep with one another
but they will ALWAYS be in step with His Spirit. He is not limited; we are. He is not small minded; we are. We must learn to appreciate each other along
with the diversity and unity we bring through His Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay
than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the ONLY foundation. Period.
The foundation has been laid. If
anyone comes along later in history and says that they have a greater purpose
than Jesus or deeper wisdom that Jesus gave…they are LYING or DECEIVED. He is the LIVING, ETERNAL Son of God. No man, woman or spirit can ever top that. Accept NO substitutes.
1 Corinthians 3:12 Now if any man build upon this
foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 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.
Everything we do will be tested in the fire. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were
tossed into the fiery furnace it was a test.
Their faith saved them. Their
faith convinced Nebuchadnezzar. Your
trials are not just for your sake. They
are often to help draw others in as well.
If your works are based in faith they will survive the trials. If they are a mix of all sorts of things,
only the gold, silver and precious stones will survive. The wood, hay and stubble will be burned
away. This is why it DOES ‘take all
that’ because you have to TAKE IT when your life begins to crumble around
you. You MUST increase those parts that
remain (Revelation 3:2) and cast aside every weight (Hebrews 12:1) that tries
to drag us down.
1 Corinthians 3:14 If any man's work abide (after that testing) which he hath built
thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
I once had a vision of our church congregation being
suspended by hundreds of beautiful, thick columns. At the bottom of each column was a man or
woman holding on for dear life. Beneath
each person was Hell. I saw God with a
torch in his hand and he held that torch briefly under each column. Some columns flared as if made completely of
straw. The person beneath fell until they
were swallowed up by Hell. A very few
flickered slightly as the torch came to bear and you could hardly see any
difference. The person still held on
easily. Most flared with different
levels of fire and ten, twenty, thirty percent and more of their column flared
into brilliance. The people below hung
safely by slender threads of gold. A few
were left holding on to one single thread of gold and for all its fineness it
held them.
I asked God what it all meant. He said everyone’s works must be tested. Those without Christ burn completely leaving
nothing behind to hold them. Those who
have surrendered their entire lives to the Lord are like those columns that
flare just a bit but appear untouched afterwards. The rest vary depending on how much of their
life is surrendered to God but all are saved.
We often blame our trials on the devil when it is God who must test us
so we might be made stronger. Those who
keep all their columns have passed many trials and have maintained their faith
through many seasons of testing.
When they go to be with the Lord, each will receive a reward
for their faithfulness, according to what is left. The word for reward is misthos. It means to receive
ones wages. The wages of SIN is
DEATH. The gift of God is eternal life. You can’t earn it but you CAN refuse it. Even though the most precious thing we can
receive from God is a GIFT, we do receive wages. These wages are living wages from a living
God. He only gives those wages to the
sons whose works survive the fire. This
is why it comes as such a surprise to new saints when their entire life seems
to turn upside down. It isn’t because
God doesn’t care or isn’t there for them; it’s because we don’t prepare new
saints for the testing process.
Cain and Abel had the same education and opportunities. One was a shepherd and the other a farmer but
both knew which gifts God expected. Cain
could have offered some of his crop to Abel for an animal to be sacrificed, but
HE decided God would accept the work of His hands rather than an act of
faith. God does not accept the works of
our hands UNLESS those works are motivated by faith. Faith without works is DEAD (James 2:18-26)
because it is alone and unmoving. Works
without faith are dead because the life of God required to keep them through
the fire is missing. God accepted Abel’s
sacrifice because it was based in faith.
He would not accept Cain’s because it was based in pride of accomplishment
over obedience. Cain’s refusal to give
God what He wanted was the very first sign of man’s fallen nature overcoming
His Word.
1 Corinthians 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he
shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
Whether you make it in with a smell of smoke or through
years of faithful service it is better to trust God in all things. Your righteousness is as a filthy rag, but
the works you have accomplished in His righteousness will endure. Let your life be a great example of faith
filled accomplishments beloved.
Bishop J
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