How to Build for the Lord

1 Corinthians 3:9-23

In the passage for this sermon, Paul is telling us that we are laborers together with God and that we should take heed how we build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. King David had a great desire to build a temple for the Lord, but God did not allow him to build the temple. So David prepared for Solomon, his son to build the temple. In this sermon we will use the example of David and how he prepared to look at how we can build something for the Lord.

David’s Desire:

In 2 Samuel 7:1-6 we see the desire that David had to build the temple for the Lord. In the following verses we see God’s response to David’s desire. Note the connection for us today as the temple of God (Ex 25:7 ; John 1:14 ; Ephesians 2:19-23)

Things we must do to build for the Lord:

1)  We must have the right foundation (1 Corinthains 3:11)

• Jesus Christ must have the preeminence in all that we do (Colossians 1:15-19)
• Note the place that David gave to the Lord (Psalm 132:1-5)
• What we do cannot be about us or the glory of man (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)

2)  Work before it is too late (2 Chronicles 22:5)

• Note that David prepared before his death. We cannot wait to work for the Lord we simply do not know how much time we really have.
• This is why we are told to redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16)

3)  Build during the bad times as well as the good (2 Chronicles 22:14)

• David prepared even during his troubles. This reminds me of Nehamiah arming the people to build the wall during troublous times.
• Many times, we can do more for God in troublous time than good times if we are simple willing to carry on.

4)   Build in a way that the work can carry on (2 Chronicles 22:16-19)

• There are some times when ministries are specific to one man and the Lord may not allow them to carry on. But our goal ought to be to work for the Lord in a way that when we are dead there is someone we led to the Lord or trained to carry on building for the Lord (2 Timothy 2:2)

May we take a lesson from David and prepare in abundance for others to carry on after our short time on earth is done.