Under Construction

I came across this quote in The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas:

“This faith is not like a deed to a house in which one may live with full rights of possession. It is more like a kit of tools with which a man may build him a house. The tools will be worth just what he does with them. When he lays them down, they will have no value until he takes them up again.”

There are a lot of people associated with the Church who have never picked up those tools. They may have come to faith at a revival or camp, but have not taken any real steps after that. Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock… And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand” (Matthew 7:24, 26). There are those who’ve sat down on the Rock but have never gotten around to building anything. In Douglas’s words, they think they’ve been handed the deed to a completed house and can now settle in and do nothing.

The Apostle Paul told the Corinthian church:

“I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it… Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done” (1 Cor. 3:10-13).

Though Paul was writing to the church as a group, the same is true of individuals, and the church is not built up if the individual members are not growing. I picture a house with a wall here and a window there, but nothing holding it together.

I was talking this week with a publisher of Christian education materials, and we were wondering what church programs are going to look like after the pandemic, because even before COVID many churches only had older adults in Sunday school and small groups. It’s a struggle to get young adults and kids involved in the church. Many of them attend so sporadically that they are never getting the big picture of the Bible and redemption. The tools are there, but they have not chosen to pick them up and use them.

The Church always has and always will struggle to compete for the time and attention of people, even those who say they are Christians. The world, the flesh, and the devil will provide abundant distractions from spiritual growth. Church leaders all want to do everything possible to engage people with their faith, and we must start with prayer for the hearts and minds of our friends, family members, and church members. Apart from the Spirit’s work, we can accomplish nothing through human ingenuity.

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7).

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

A Firm Foundation

A recent book, God’s Grace in Your Suffering, by David Powlison, is based on the hymn "How Firm a Foundation." This is a solidly biblical hymn from 1787 that is probably neglected in many churches, or may be sung with little thought given to the words. Much of the text comes directly from Isaiah 41:10 and 43:1-2. As I read through the book and meditated on the hymn, I have been particularly drawn to the third verse:

When through the deep waters I call you to go,
the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
for I will be with you, your troubles to bless,
and sanctify to you your deepest distress.

Powlison commented on this verse:

“God himself calls you into the deep waters. God sets a limit on your sorrows. God is with you, actively bringing good from your troubles. In the context of distressing events, God changes you… In other words, your significant sufferings don’t happen by accident. There’s no random chance. No purposeless misery. No bad luck. Not even (and understand this the right way) a tragedy. Tragedy means ruin, destruction, downfall, an unhappy ending with no redemption. Your life story may contain a great deal of misery and heartache along the way. But in the end, in Christ, your life story will prove to be a comedy in the original sense of the word, a story with a happy ending… Life, joy, and love get last say. High sovereignty is going somewhere… He is working so you know him, so you trust him, so you love him” (62-63).

We rarely can see God’s purposes while we’re in the midst of suffering. It is in hindsight that we start to see the good that God has brought out of difficult experiences. I’ve only recently begun to see some of the ways that God has used trouble from past decades not only to sanctify me but to open doors for me to encourage the struggling and to edify and exhort the church to protect the innocent and care for the wounded. Though the experiences in themselves were not holy, God has sanctified them for His good purposes. That doesn’t mean the struggles are any less difficult or painful, but I can learn to endure them with the hope that there is a purpose in them that will one day be revealed. The Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 8:18-39 and 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 point us to this purposeful hope in suffering:

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now… And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose… to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:22, 28, 29b ESV).

“If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we share” (2 Cor. 1:6).

In the midst of writing this post this week I listened to a podcast from The Allender Center that reminded me that when we are struggling with the difficulties and events of life it doesn’t really benefit us to keep it to ourselves or try to power through as if nothing is wrong. We need others in the Body of Christ to support and encourage us, and likewise, we need to do the same for them.

Powlison concluded his book with this thought:

“Finally, you are prepared to pose—and to mean—an almost unimaginable question: ‘Why not me? Why not this? Why not now?’ If in some way, your faith might serve as a three-watt night light in a very dark world, why not me? If your suffering shows forth the Savior of the world, why not me? If you have the privilege of filling up the sufferings of Christ? If he sanctifies to you your deepest distress? If you fear no evil? If he bears you in his arms? If your weakness demonstrates the power of God to save us from all that is wrong? If your honest struggle shows other strugglers how to land on their feet? If your life becomes a source of hope for others? Why not me? … If all that God promises only comes true, then why not me?” (116-117).

“A bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench; He will faithfully bring forth justice… I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” (Isaiah 42:3, 6-7).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.