Build Right By Not Serving God?

Well, not exactly. However, Acts 17:24-25 should make us pause when we think about doing any kind of work as service to God. Paul addressed the gathering at the Areopagus with these words.

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else..."

Most of us see service to God as commendable but there is a kind of service that doesn't bring pleasure to God. It's when we serve Him "as if he needed anything".

Of course, we'd never intentionally "serve" God in this way. Yet, if you've ever been tempted to think that your gifts and contributions are important or vital to His work, you may be falling prey to this faulty thinking. And let's face it, from time to time, we're all tempted in this way. We're particularly vulnerable to this thinking whenever we're involved in noble and right causes. We may be tempted to assign importance to our participation and anchor our righteousness in our own work.

So what's the alternative? How about taking a different view? Perhaps we should view our work not so much as service to God, but as a means of being served by Him. Mind you, not by reducing God to a "vending machine" for our whims and desires as the prosperity gospel adherents have done. Instead, see a Sovereign God who calls us, directs us and provides all that we need to accomplish His will.

Whether we're building a business, a family or a ministry, it's our privilege to do so. God is not pleased when we do so grudgingly or with an inflated view of our importance. The reality is this - no matter what you're building or how gifted you may be, God doesn't need you to accomplish his will. He can use anyone. The fact that He employs us for His work is a gift to us, allowing us to work alongside Him.

Building right means the emphasis isn't on our service to God, but on God who graciously serves us by permitting us to participate in His work.

Quote of the Week

"I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God
I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as 'God on the cross'.

In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?"

John Stott, The Cross of Christ, p.335

Build to Gain the Reward

Commenting on my last post, Mark Goodyear posed a couple of interesting questions. Rather than paraphrase, I'll let his comment speak for him -

"...the only success that has any significance is whether we are transformed into the image of our Creator. Still, I imagine an entrepreneur trying to build a business wants to do more than conform himself to Christ. He or she wants to do both--conform to Christ and build a financially successful business. Is it wrong to want both? Are they incompatible?"

Mark's questions dovetail with an important point in the "how to build" series of posts - Build to Gain the Reward. I find Mark's first question particularly intriguing. How do we think about pursuing success and pursuing God simultaneously? I think at different points in our lives, we've all experienced the inherent tension between both pursuits.

Here's how I think about this in my life - I'm building to gain a reward. Whether we're building a business or working on a project, the aim is to receive a reward from God. This might include the satisfaction that comes through using our creativity and completing a task. It might also include monetary reward that comes from having a successful enterprise.

Yet all these rewards pale in comparison to this - the reward of knowing and experiencing Christ. It is by far, the greatest gain we can receive because it is of greatest value and eternally lasting. A passage that captures this for me is found in Psalm 73.

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

(Psalm 73:25)

I love Psalm 73 because it captures this tension between pursuing success in this life and the treasure of knowing Christ. To me, verse 25 is the pinnacle of the psalm because the psalmist resolves the tension by concluding two things -

1. There is no treasure that compares with knowing God.
2. Knowing the living God is sufficient for all his desires.

This verse has become a wonderful guide as I build and pursue success. The truth is I want rewards of all kinds when I work and build. I love rewards and I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with that. Yet by God's grace, most of all, I want the everlasting reward of knowing God. He is the Treasure of everlasting value.

What do you think? How would you answer Mark's questions?

Biblical Advice on How to Build Anything

This is the first in a series of short posts that I've wanted to do for a while.

Here's what I've noticed - in one way or another, we are all engaged in building. Some of us are building in a very physical, literal sense - like a craftsman building furniture. Most others are building more abstractly - like CEOs building companies, pastors building churches or parents building families. As a worker in the marketplace, to some degree, you are likely focused on building your career.

The point is simply this - we use our gifts and abilities everyday to build, create and construct. As we do this, we may not often look to Scripture as the source of advice on how to build...(well, perhaps a pastor building a church would). Yet I've found that the Bible has much to offer us and over the next couple of weeks, I'd like to briefly share what I've learned about "how to build". None of what I'm going to share is particularly profound. (Let's face it - there's nothing new under the sun and certainly, it's not likely that you'll discover anything new or profound on this blog!)

Nonetheless, I find it beneficial to remind myself of truth and my hope is that you'll find it helpful to you as well.

This post will focus on the first point: Build like it depends on God. Whatever "it" is - family or ministry or business, build with a mindset that the outcome of the endeavor really rests on God, the Sovereign Master Builder.

Here's a passage that reminds me of this principle:

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.

(Psalm 127:1)

What I love about this verse is the absolute humility it requires of us, to live in the good of this truth. In our culture of self reliance with its "take no prisoners, can do" attitude, this is a sharp reminder of our limitations. Unless God builds, our creativity and labor are in vain. This verse offers no consideration of how hard we might work or how much planning might go into our projects. It only makes the point that unless God blesses the work, our efforts will find no success.

This is not only humbling news, it can also be comforting. Seen in a proper light, it's strangely comforting to know that it's not up to us. We can work hard and work smart, all the while, entrusting the results to the Sovereign God, who carries His own glory and our good at the center of His will.

I also find it encouraging to know that if God blesses the work, we may accomplish far more than we thought possible. If God is leading and directing us, we can take on risky, challenging projects because we're entrusting Him to provide what's required for success.

First Year of Blogging

It's my blogging anniversary. A year ago, the Every Square Inch blog went "live" over the Memorial Day weekend and I thought I should note the first year of this humble, little blog.

Here are a few observations on my first year of blogging -

• God has used blogging as a means to sharpen my thinking on a number of issues. Very often that comes about as I interact with readers of Every Square Inch as well as those of a number of blogs I visit.

• I cannot sustain more than two posts/week. When I started blogging, I had hoped to post every other day. However, I've since realized that, despite my best efforts, that particular goal just wasn't going to be attainable with all I have going on in my life...and that's ok.

• I've come to greatly appreciate the friends I've "met" through blogging. I've been blessed whenever you've stopped by Every Square Inch with a comment or written something on your blog that pointed me to God in some way.

• Blogging makes me appreciate fellowship in a church community. As much as I love blogging as a medium for the exchange of thoughts and ideas, there are undeniable limitations. So in a strange way, blogging has made me more appreciative of the fellowship I experience at church. There is no substitute to experiencing fellowship heart to heart and face to face.

• I blog because I enjoy it.
  

Other points of interest after the first year of Every Square Inch -

• Post with most comments - Does Your Work Matter to God?
• Most popular post in a single day - Deconstructing Racism
• Most popular series is the series on Ambition - Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3
• The post I won't forget is the one honoring my late mother-in-law who passed away last October - Katherine Hubner - A Life Well Lived

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read, comment or link to Every Square Inch - I'm humbled and grateful for your investment of time and interest.

Thinking Blogger Award

Thanks to the Hedonese, I'm the proud recipient of a Thinking Blogger Award. It's the first blogging award of any kind for me so I'm proudly displaying the award and patiently waiting for my cash prize which should arrive any day now.

Part of the fun of winning the award is bestowing other blogs with the award. Here are the blogs I've tagged as winners -

Ted Gossard who blogs at Jesus Community will make you think with his daily, thoughtful posts. The one thing you'll discover as a reader is that Ted blogs with warmth and humility.

SamShua is a blog I've recently discovered. The host of SamShua is Sam Shin, a pastor on the West Coast who blogs with a heart for the gospel and a love for people. Do yourself a favor by checking out his blog.

LL Barkat, who I'm certain is a repeat winner of the Thinking Blogger Award, is a remarkably gifted writer. She's built a great community of readers at Seedlings in Stone with her insightful posts.

David Park hosts NextGenerasianChurch blog with a heart for the growth of ethnic churches in the United States. To read his blog is to expose yourself to thought provoking posts on the intersection of race, faith and culture - offered from an asian american perspective.

GoodWordEditing is a great blog for any aspiring Christian writer. My blogging buddy, Marcus Goodyear shares his wisdom as a seasoned editor and reading his blog will make you a better writer.

The participation rules are simple:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote