Talk given by the Rector on 1 June 2008
Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:9-11
We've just been on holiday enjoying the beautiful surroundings of the west Welsh coast. But still, when asked what he enjoyed most about our time away, my younger son Alastair said 'building things with Lego'! Our holiday packing is not complete without a bucketful of plastic bricks.
Well, taking enormous delight in building things is not confined to small boys. Today's reading from 1 Corinthians reveals that God is very keen on building too. Of course, he doesn't use Lego. Or any other sort of brick for that matter. He's not especially interested in the construction of buildings. Instead he takes people, ordinary people, from every part of the spectrum of humanity, and builds them together in what we call the church. Not dead plastic bricks but what the apostle Peter calls 'living stones... being built into a spiritual house...' (1 Peter 2:5) The church, then, God's people, is his building project. We're going to look at three aspects: something about the builder, something about the foundations and something about the building itself.
1. THE BUILDER
The chief characteristic of a building site is mess. Mud everywhere. Piles of bricks and fixtures scattered all over the place. A mass of men and machinery all going in different directions and doing different things. It's difficult to imagine any order coming out of the chaos. But it does. A few months later and all is finished.
In my experience it's rather like this with the church. It can sometimes seem such a mess, so unlike what it is supposed to be. And that's as true of the church here as it is anywhere. We're in a constant state of 'work in progress'. None of us is perfect in ourselves. And none of our relationships is perfect either. When it comes to being the channels through which God's grace flows to others, all of us have days when we are a bit narrow and clogged-up.
Which is why this picture of the church as a building site has something important to say to us. It's this: don't give up just because it isn't perfect. Indeed, as the 19th century Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon is reported to have said, 'If you ever find the perfect church, whatever you do, don't join it: you'll only spoil it!'
No, don't give up on it. For there's another side to the story. The church is the God's building project. He is its architect and chief builder. When Jesus told Peter in Matthew 16:18, '...I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it' he meant it. He has not given up. In spite of all the difficulties, he will bring his church - us here, yes, together with all those who belong to him throughout the world - to perfection in the end.
I find this enormously encouraging. The idea that God takes seriously the truth that we are his church. As the apostle Paul puts it here in 1 Corinthians 3, the church is 'God's building'.
Not that we aren't involved, of course. In fact, each and every of us is involved in building the church in some way or another. It's as if, when we came through the door this morning, each of us brought with us a spiritual trowel. Each of us has had opportunities to build. Ways in which we can contribute. The issue is - have we been following the architect's plans. Or have we been doing our own thing? Are we actually building the church as God intends it to be? Or are we rather better at constructing follies?
2. THE FOUNDATION
To help answer this we're going to go back and look at the foundations of God's building. Please turn to 1 Corinthians 3:9-11 on page 1146 of the Bibles: '...you are ...God's building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.'
Paul is writing this letter in response to news he has received about some divisions within the church at Corinth. Some were claiming to follow him, while others were claiming to follow someone called Apollos (mentioned up in verse 4). And so Paul reminds us that in any building work, it's not so much the individual workmen who are important, but the architect and site manager. In the case of the church, this is God. And according to his plan, the foundation for this building is Jesus Christ. Exactly who puts the foundation there is unimportant. The important thing is that he, Jesus, is the foundation.
What does this mean for us? Well, it's all too easy to think that we're part of the church just because, from time to time, we turn up to services in a building. But that's not right. You could come to every service there is and still not really be part of the church - as God sees it. It's possible to be on the electoral roll and not be part of the church. It's possible to be a member of the church council and not be part of the church. It's possible to be an ordained minister and not be part of the church. What matters first and foremost is where our foundations are. Only those whose lives are founded on Jesus Christ are a part of his church.
Alright, but what exactly does that mean? What does it mean for our lives to be built on Jesus Christ?
a. STABILITY
First of all, it means we're supported. We're not on our own as isolated bricks or even part of an isolated heap of bricks. We're built onto someone else. And to be built onto Jesus means being cemented into someone who is reliable and trustworthy, someone who won't give way however violent the disturbances that life and death may bring.
Have you ever come across the film 'Dune'? It's a multi-million pound epic which is based on the science fiction novel of the same name by Frank Herbert. At one point Paul and Jessica are fleeing across the sand, trying to get away from an underground monster which is about to surface and engulf them. Fortunately, because the film would otherwise be rather short, they survive. They manage to get to an outgrowth of rock and, clambering up, they are safe.
Something very similar happens to us when we are drawn into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the rock on whom we are safe from every underground monster in the book. Safe from everything that we fear. Safe from everything that would seek to devour us. The Christian claim is that whatever particular shape our own underground monsters take, we can find safety from them by building our lives on Jesus Christ.
In Acts 4:11-12, Peter quotes an Old Testament reference to Jesus: 'He is 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone [or foundation stone].'' And then he goes on to say this: 'Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."' To be cemented into Jesus Christ is the only way to find eternal stability.
b. ALIGNMENT
Secondly, let's think about another function of the foundation stone. Not only is it something to be built on in order to give safety and security. It also gives alignment and direction. It shows how all the other building blocks should be positioned. It sets the location for how all the others should be set in place.
Peter writes about this in his first epistle, again quoting from the Old Testament. 1 Peter 2:6: 'For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame"...' The one who trusts in him... The one who relies on him, for stability, yes, and also for alignment in life, will not be put to shame.
To be built on Jesus Christ is all about embracing Jesus Christ not only as Saviour and Rescuer but also as Lord. The rock on whom to stand firm and not be undermined by life's storms. And the cornerstone from whom to receive direction and discover how best to live our lives. A Saviour to trust. A Lord to obey.
If you are not already doing so, let me urge you to build your life on the foundation of Christ Jesus, to take the trowel to yourself and ask the Lord to cement you into himself. Please have a word with me or with one of the other ministers here at St Nicolas, or with a member of the prayer support team, if you'd like to talk this through in more detail.
3. THE BUILDING
The builder. The foundation. And thirdly, the building itself. For it isn't God's ultimate intention simply to have a single layer of bricks all stuck onto the foundation in isolation from each other. His plan is for us to be both securely founded on Christ and firmly built up together. Our Christian lives have a vertical and a horizontal dimension.
And so: what can we do to make sure that in our relationships with one another, we really build one another up?
It's here that, again, the New Testament has much to say to us. To put this as graphically as possible, I want to read you an imaginary letter which, we might say, 'some of our agents managed to intercept'. C S Lewis came across a similar correspondence and published it in a book called the Screwtape Letters in 1942.
Dear Slimeweed,
So you want to persuade them to stop building their church and demolish it instead? Excellent.
1. First, make them think that their relationships with one another don't really matter. That irritating chap St Paul (Romans 14:19) encouraged them to 'make every effort [just think!] to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification'. He put being built up together as a high priority. We must make sure they regard it as an optional extra.
2. Secondly, their tongues will be a great help. Their apostle Paul was always on at them about this. See Ephesians 4:29, for example, from which I quote: 'Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.' So then, we must get them to avoid anything that smacks of wholesomeness in their talking. Droning on about trivia instead of helping one another cope with what they're really facing will help our cause splendidly. And Slimeweed, don't forget the value of a juicy bit of gossip. There's nothing better.
3. Thirdly, as you will know, we can do a lot of destructive work by getting them to focus on things that are unimportant. We nearly got the Romans with this until you-know-who stuck his oar in again. He wrote (in Romans 15:1-2) that 'We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbour for his good, to build him up.' Fortunately for us they're not very good at this. Thanks to our input over the years they now think that the best way to build someone up is to point out every time they get something wrong. Discouragement is a powerful weapon. And just as good is failure to encourage (on the grounds that it might lead to pride). These are things to push even more strongly than we currently do.
4. Fourthly (and this they really should have taught you at college) we come to spiritual gifts. One of the chief reasons our Enemy allowed them to have these was so that they could build each other up. See Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 14, for example, where Paul (what a ghastly fellow he was!) goes on about this at some length. So then, we must persuade them that spiritual gifts are just for a super-holy elite and not for the likes of them. Remind them (nice touch this!) about how divisive and unedifying the use of these gifts can be. They'll soon give up and ignore Paul's instruction to 'excel in gifts that build up the church' (1 Corinthians 14:12).
5. Fifthly and finally, related to all this is the need to keep them away from God's word in whatever form it may come. Paul knew to his benefit, as we do to our cost, that the word of God's grace can build them up (Acts 20:32). So, for example, we must keep them away from their Bibles and persuade them not to waste time getting to know God better. We must make them think that understanding the Bible is for experts and not even worth their bothering. We must at all costs stop them from sharing insights from Scripture with each other.
This is all very important. We have discovered from bitter experience that letting them pay close attention to what our Enemy says is very detrimental. If they listen to him, then we can't get them to believe the wrong things about him that we want them to believe. If they focus on what he says, they're much less likely to want to hurt him and each other by behaving in the way that we want them to...'
At this point the letter breaks off and we have no more. But there's enough here, isn't there?
This morning we've been looking at the picture of the church as God's building project. We have the encouragement that God is committed to building his church, come what may. We have the warning to make sure that we as individuals are building our lives on Jesus Christ. And we have the challenge to work together and use every gift that God has given us to build one another up. To his praise and glory.
Lord, we thank you for your guarantee that you will build your church. We ask that you will cement each of us more firmly into Christ and that you will enable us to co-operate with you and work to build up what you are doing among us. Amen.
© 2008 David Stone
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