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Arise - Become - Build and Shine - part 2 of 3 Amplified and KJV Whose we are, who we are, and who we become govern what, how and why we build. Through the Old Testament figures of Cain and Noah, we find contrasting motivations for building, motivations which still determine the vanity or value of our becoming and of our building. Whereas “…Cain built a city and named it after his son Enoch” {Gen 4:17}, “… Noah built an altar…and offered burnt offerings on the altar (a place of sacrifice)” {Gen 8:20}. Following the urging of their leaders to “Come let us build us a city and a tower, whose top reaches into the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves…” {Gen 11:4} later resulted in Babylon, a place of confusion which God destroyed. Of those who build for their own carnal recognition and glory it is written, “Their inward thought is that their houses will continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands their own [apart from God] after their own names” {Ps 49:11}. A “city” is a place guarded by waking and defended by watching, a coming together of houses. Of our natural and spiritual houses (lives), it is essential that the Lord Himself be our Builder and Protector: “Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.” {Psalm 127:1}. “For [of course] every house is built and furnished by someone, but the Builder of all things and the Furnisher [of the entire equipment of all things] is God. And while “Moses certainly was faithful in the administration of all God’s house…In his entire ministry he was but a testimony to the things which were to be spoken [the revelation to be given afterward in Christ]” {Heb 3:5}. According to his own testimony, the apostle Paul “like a skillful architect and master builder…laid [the] foundation” upon which another then built {I Cor 3:10}. As one who built upon Christ, the only sure foundation, he cautioned: “But let each [man] be careful how he builds upon it.” He then warned that “the fire will test and critically appraise the character” of every person’s work, “whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay [or] straw” {I Cor 3:10, 13, 12}. Recently, as I read the following scripture, I was struck with the promise of a people “yet to be created.” “When the Lord builds up Zion, He will appear in His glory…Let this be recorded to the generation yet unborn, that a people yet to be created shall praise the Lord…So that men may declare the name of the Lord in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem” {Psa 102:16,18}. Immediately I thought of our becoming “a new creation,” not just as individuals but as one new man, the whole of whom has become qualified through a formative process, growing from born-again babes to mature sons who are to be dispatchers sent forth to manifest and proclaim the Messiah and His Reign. Just as Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that “…the holy (pure, sinless) Thing (Offspring) which shall be born of you will be called the Son of God” {Luke 1:35}, Christ is being formed in us individually that we may become yet another new and holy “thing,” the revelation of Christ’s life, power and nature upon the earth. Even as the Father prepared a physical body for His Son, He is even now creating a unified body of believers. This thoroughly framed, complete and never-before “thing” includes Jesus as the head and the members of His Church as the body, for “… a body hast thou prepared me” {Heb 10:5 KJV}; “You have made ready a body for Me [to offer]” {Amp}. Even as we, His people, co-labor with Him, the Lord is building into us the nature, character and authority of Christ that as a collective, united, intricately-made but unconquerable body, we may become “…a city set upon a hill [that] cannot be hidden” {Mat 5:14}. Again we see the co-laboring required, for even as the Father creates and builds, so we are urged to continue building on the only solid foundation, that of faith in Christ Jesus, the Chief Cornerstone: “But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit” {Jude 20}. -Ruth French August Newsletter 2005 | Love of the Truth | Ministry Minded part 3 of 3 | Weaklings of Warriors part 2 of 2 Pastor's Journal August 2004 | Arise - Become - Build and Shine part 2 of 3 |
Biblical Counseling for Leaders
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