Young Adults' Group

A Wise Master Builder

by Pastor Mark
January 15, 2015

Thank God for a great India Family Camp

It was indeed exciting to be at the Family Camp in India this week. We had a great number of people from our four IPC India churches attending the camp. It was indeed wonderful to see the Lord blessing the Family Camp once again.

The theme : “A wise master builder”

The chosen theme for this year’s camp was to learn from the example of Paul to be a wise master builder. Paul wrote, “According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.” (1 Corinthians 3:10) The word “master builder” in Greek is where you get the English word “Architect”. An architect is one who designs and plans for the construction of a building. Paul planned for the building of the church as its architect. We could also see how Paul planned for his whole life. How are we doing as the architects of our own life? The problem with many of us is that we do not plan our lives well enough and we end up drifting along in life without much direction or design. We too should seek to be the architects of our life. Through the Lord’s guidance and wisdom, let’s plan to develop our life well for the year ahead.

Laying the foundation

The Apostle Paul had set the example of laying the foundation which is Christ, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 3:11) Christ should be the foundation of our life…of our church. Nothing else should be placed as our foundation. The Lord taught His disciples to build the foundation of their lives on Him and His words, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:” (Matt 7:24) The Lord Jesus had taught His disciples many pertinent truths and instructions for their life. All that they had heard, they should seek to do them. Only then would these sayings become foundational in their lives. Let’s be challenged to ensure that our foundation is built on Christ and His Word.

Building on the foundation

How do we then build the church upon the foundation of Christ? Paul wrote “another builds on it.” The word “another” in Greek is “allos”. It means another but of the same kind. There is another Greek word that is also translated as another which is “heteros”. This means another but of a different kind. There is a change is form here. Paul was stating that this another person who helps to build must be of the same kind as Paul. He cannot be another of a different kind.

Paul wrote further, “If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,”. (1 Cor 3:12) Paul reveals that there are two different groups that we can build with. There is gold, silver and precious stone and there is wood, hay and straw. If we were to build with wood, hay and straw, our efforts would come to nothing. When our work is tested by fire, it will all be burned. (1 Cor 3:13-15) But if we were to build with gold, silver and precious stones, there would be a reward given to us. For Paul, he was building with gold, silver and precious stones. We must then be of the same kind as Paul…to build with gold, silver and precious stones. Only then can we build the church according to the design that the Lord had given to Paul as the plans of the church. Let’s be challenged to learn from the example of the apostle Paul in being a wise master builder in the planning and building of our lives and of our church. Let’s be challenged to build well in 2015.

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