Let Each One Take Care How He Builds Upon Christ

Foundations are vitally important for the longevity of a building.  It not only matters what the foundation is built on but also what is built upon that foundation.

If the foundation is not securely fixed on stable ground it can be washed away or crumble due to its instability and the lack of integrity where the foundation has been placed.

As believers in Jesus, our spiritual foundation has been laid as Christ.

I Corinthians 3:10-11

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it.  Let each one take care how he builds upon it.  For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  

It is only by the grace of God that our lives have been laid on the foundation, the very Rock of Christ and it is He that builds upon this sure foundation.

When we rely on our own methods or modalities to 'build' upon our foundation in Christ we are in great jeopardy of crashing and burning.

I Corinthians 3: 12-15

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, 

precious stones, wood, hay, straw-- 

each one's work will become manifest, 

for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, 

and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.  

If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, 

he will receive a reward.  

If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, 

though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.  

Since the conception of sin in the garden of Eden, we have believed the lie of Satan that says that we are wise and knowledgable and that we can rely on our own wisdom and strength.  But as we see over and over again in the lives of God's people, when we rely on our own wisdom our lives crash and burn.

God allows us to crash and burn so that we do not continue in our deception.  

By building upon the foundation of Christ and adding our own strength and worth or devaluing Christ because we maintain the twisted thought that He couldn't possibly forgive OUR sin, we are in essence tearing down the foundation of Christ to build our own self willed foundation that encompasses our own identity apart from Christ's.  In so doing we tear down God's temple and we are deceived as we do this.

I Corinthians 3:16-19

Do you not know that you are God's temple 

and that God's Spirit dwells in you?  

If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him.  

For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.  

Let no one deceive himself.  

If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, 

let him become a fool that he may become wise.  

For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.  

For it is written,  "He catches the wise in their craftiness," 

You may think that you are a great master builder, you may rely on your beauty or your charisma or years of experience as a believer but all these things are worthless and worthy of fire if they are not grounded in the continual fragrance of the gospel that says that only by the grace of God have I become what I am.

Only by the grace of God have I been able to do anything profitable for His kingdom.  But we strive and continue to rely on our own strengths or weaknesses throughout the day all the while claiming we rely on Christ but in actuality we are building upon the foundation of Christ a building that will not withstand the fiery test.

We are self deceived!  

 We claim we are too weak to overcome all the while relying on our flesh and not on the finished work of the cross!  We declare that we are faithful to serve, all the while serving to satisfy our own desire to be like God.

The foundation of our lives is built on Christ alone and it is Christ alone that is the master builder.  We so often get in the way of His plans by pushing our own agenda and calling it 'good'.

No one is good, no not one!  Only Christ is Good and it is His goodness that has been imputed to us!

We must daily acknowledge our need for Him even when everything seems to be flowing seamlessly in our lives.  It is our constant acknowledgement of His goodness toward us that ensures that we are not building our own building.

Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

"The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.

"So let no one boast in men.  

For all things are yours, 

whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world 

or life or death or the present or the future --- 

all are yours, and you are Christ's , 

and Christ is God's.  

Abba,
You are the master builder of our lives and by your great grace you have justified us through the shed blood of Your perfect Son Jesus and have laid the foundation of grace for our lives.  We acknowledge that we are prone to take the reigns in the construction of our lives and we ask that you continually discipline us if we are building upon Your great foundation with our rubbish.

We want to build a temple for You to dwell in and we are inept at best.

Direct our hearts like a stream of water guiding us where you would have us go and examine our hearts today that if there be any area where we are relying on our own works or devaluing the work of the cross by a belief that our lives are unable to be  built into the temple of God, that You would tear those things down and start afresh the work that you desire for our lives.

Our desire is that at the end of the day what has been built in our lives will be able to withstand the fire of heaven and prove to be of great and lasting value.