1Cor 3:11-17; 1Pet 2:4-5

Jesus Christ is The Foundation and each and every Christian is building on this Foundation, every day.

The question is, with what are you building, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or stubble?

Let us consider the different building material:

Straw huts and houses are beautiful. They keep out the heat or cold. The trouble is that such a house cannot withstand fire. God will test our building by fire, and unless it can withstand the fire of God everything will be burnt to ashes.

This reminds us of 2Tim 3:1-5: "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!"

In the last days people will have a form of godliness but deny its power! They will look so beautiful from the outside but without the power of God in their lives.

We experience this fire testing us everyday through temptations, difficulties, when people misunderstand us or things become too much for us. It is then that it is revealed what we have been building with. It is then that God's fire is testing and proving whether we've been building with straw or with gold.

Test and prove yourself today with what material you have been building with. Is there still touchiness, grumbling and murmuring, or irritability in your life? Then you have been building with straw.

I ask myself many times in my reactions towards my brother or the way I handle a situation, "Friedel what are you building with now?"

So too you must check yourself constantly whether you are building with straw or gold. Do trials and difficulties draw you closer to the Lord Jesus?

Some people like to build with wood. Such buildings look beautiful. The problem is once again that when the fire comes such a building will be utterly consumed.

The fire might come through your brother, sister, child, parents, or the beauty of this world. The devil shows you the beauty of this world, and so many are enticed thereby.

It is terrible that many Christians are often prepared to lose their spiritual lives because of money. So often we see promising matric pupils leave the school and because of money are swept aside and lose their spiritual life. The prospects of earning a good salary look so attractive that many people lose their salvation just because of the greed for money. This happens when money becomes more important in a person's life than the Lord Jesus.

O that the beauty of Jesus can be seen in you and me especially during times of trials and temptations.

We must build with gold, with silver and precious stones.

In Mal 3:1-3 we read: "“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts.
2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness.

What will happen to us if suddenly the Lord comes in a way which we don't expect, to test and prove us? God sends His fire in our lives daily to purify us and draw us closer to Him. May we accept those difficult times and be drawn closer to Him.

I am speaking to Christians, not to those who don't believe in God. What do we do if we get into difficulties and things don't go our way? Do we forsake Christ?

May it be that when I go through difficulties and hardships and persecution, when people talk lies about me and say evil things about me, that in my heart I will grow more spiritual and will be drawn closer to the Lord and that the purest of gold will stay behind. That is what I want to build with! May I accept all difficulties that come to me, that I will allow them to come to me and say, "Thank You, Lord, for these difficulties. I know that if I come out of this, I will be a better Christian".

We also read in our text that whatever we build with it will one day become obvious to all. People are watching us Christians and reading us like a book. What do the ungodly see in us Christians? Do they recognize that we have been building with gold, silver and precious stones or with wood, hay and straw? We must draw them to Christ through the way that we live.

Each one of us want a reward one day in heaven. However if you have built with wood, hay and straw all your work will be destroyed and you will be saved as through fire.

It will be terrible one day if you do not even receive a "thank you" for your work for Christ, because you have been building with your own material and in your own way!

May we build in such a way that we will receive a reward from the King of kings.

Let us consider heaven for a moment and build with heaven's material:

Rev 21:10 - "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God".
18 "The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass."
19 "The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,"
20 "the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst."
21 "The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass."
25 "Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there)."
26 "And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it."
27 "But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life."

This is what I want to build with! Nothing less than that.

With what have you been building thus far? Go and read in Rev 22 of the Living Water - tell me, is that your life?

I thank God for the opportunity to ask you, "What are you building with? What are you going to build with this coming year?"