It is not surprising that a building site is often messy. Things which are under construction look chaotic. There is plan and people have tasks to be completed. Any church is under construction. There are areas where things are going well and others not so well.

1 – The foundation

We need to build on the foundation or it fail. See 1 Corinthians 3:10-13. The more time you spend building your foundation correctly, the more likely that anything you build on that foundation will not crumble, fall, or lean in the long run! When you develop a deeper foundation in God, it allows Him to build a taller building through your life long term. A deep foundation also ensures that many years later you will still be in love with God and living for His purposes—in other words, that you will still be “founded” in Him. The Tower of Pisa, which was built in the 1100s, is “leaning” because its foundation went only 3 meters deep and it was built on ground that was unstable in nature.

2 – The building work

How does the building process work? The foundation is good but what are we building? The same foundation could be a chicken coop or a mansion! There is a divine and human partnership. There is cost and effort. We need to keep vandals off the building site. Do we ask God for help with what we are building? We need to cooperate with God. We need to work with others who love God. To build with wood, hay and stumble is like the story of the three little pigs. Two of the little pigs built on their foundation with the wrong materials and their houses were blown down and they were forced to run to the wise third pig that had built his house with bricks. See 1 Timothy 6:19 and Luke 6:46. Our life must be built upon the “rock”, which is Christ.

3 – Building control

God did amazing things in Philippi but no one could have foreseen it! There were some key conversions, demon possessed advertising and a great revival in jail! God builds with strange material. It is not how we would do things! God is pleased but never satisfied until perfection. God carries the work on till completion. The Church awaits the return of Jesus Christ so that the Christian can be perfect like Jesus. See 1 Corinthians 13:10-12.

Categories: Philippians