The cost and value of building

[B-A-C]

Is God using you? What for? It seems lately anytime you mention works, people immediately jump on the defensive and say we aren't saved by works.
No we aren't. But does that mean works have no intrinsic value and that we shouldn't do any good works?

Eph 2:8; For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Eph 2:9; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Eph 2:10; For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Interesting although we aren't saved by works, we were created to do works. It seems many Christians today are opposed to this idea for some reason.
Maybe they don't want to get their hands dirty? Maybe it costs too much. The Bible talks about this also.

Luke 14:27; "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Luke 14:28; "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
Luke 14:29; "Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,
Luke 14:30; saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
Luke 14:31; "Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
Luke 14:32; "Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
Luke 14:33; "So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
Luke 14:34; "Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?
Luke 14:35; "It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Doing the work of God does cost us. We have to give up some of the things we want to do, and start doing the things He wants us to do.
This is of course also known as dying to self, crucifying the old flesh and living for Jesus.

Matt 7:24; "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Matt 7:25; "And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
Matt 7:26; "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
Matt 7:27; "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall."

Jesus is of course the foundation we build on. He is the chief corner-stone. But is us God uses to do the building. He has a plan and a purpose for you.

1 Cor 3:9; For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
1 Cor 3:10; According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.
1 Cor 3:11; For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Cor 3:12; Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
1 Cor 3:13; each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.
1 Cor 3:14; If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
1 Cor 3:15; If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Again Jesus is the foundation that we build on. Our work will tested one day. Some will receive rewards for their work, others will not.
One of the reasons is the building material we use. In verse 12 above it lists several materials.
It's interesting that some of the materials are costly, yet these are the ones that will survive heat, stress and time.
Some of the other materials are cheap, they will burn up easily and not last and long as the costly materials. What kind of work are you dong for God?

What kind of materials are you using for building up His kingdom? Perhaps you aren't doing anything? Perhaps you aren't investing the talents God you
for His kingdom?

Matt 25:25; 'And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.'
Matt 25:26; "But his master answered and said to him, 'You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.
Matt 25:30; "Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matt 9:37; Then He *said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
Matt 9:38; "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

Will you be the one he says "well done my good and faithful servant" to? Or will you be called a "wicked and lazy servant"?
Will you have rewards in heaven? Or will all of your work be burned up?
Have you counted the cost? Do you know it will cost you your life? It isn't your life to do whatever you want with anymore. You have been purchased with a price
and now you belong to Him?

Jas 2:15; If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
Jas 2:16; and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
Jas 2:17; Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
Jas 2:18; But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
Jas 2:19; You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
Jas 2:20; But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
Jas 2:21; Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
Jas 2:22; You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
Jas 2:23; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God.
Jas 2:24; You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Jas 2:25; In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
Jas 2:26; For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

 

[B-A-C]

Some people interestingly enough take the passage below to mean we shouldn't try to do any works, but I take it to mean the opposite.

John 15:4; "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
John 15:5; "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:6; "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
John 15:7; "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 15:8; "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

It's true, we can't bear good fruit without Jesus. But is it true we can't do anything without Him at all? Of course not.
We can bear the fruit of the flesh, we can sin, we can be selfish and prideful. Even Christians sometimes do these things.
Without Jesus we can't do any works or bare any good fruits that further build up the kingdom of God. It's true.
But on the other hand, even with Jesus in our lives we can still sin sometimes.

 

[grandmamary1219]

Our MOTIVES for our "service to God" or "works" is what we must be careful of IMVHO. If we work, work, work supposedly by our own actions for the kingdom of God, we may be doing these works for our own glory instead of to God's glory. It is pretty easy to tell if God's servants are humble submitted to Him, or if they are out for the applause of men which will result in loss of rewards at the Bema seat judgment for believers, and others will hear the LORD say Depart From Me I Never Knew You. Religious self-satisfied pretenders (apostates) Pharisee types are not God's true people. Their works are for their own glory so they can "look good" and be loved in this world by all the other apostates.


Colossians 3:23-24

23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

 

[B-A-C]

That is a good point.
( Matt 6:1; Matt 6:16-18; Matt 23:5; )
People do things for their own motives.

It should be God's agenda that motivates us.

2 Pet 1:5; Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
2 Pet 1:6; and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
2 Pet 1:7; and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
2 Pet 1:8; For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Pet 1:9; For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
2 Pet 1:10; Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
2 Pet 1:11; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.