Sreason of Rebuilding

The Season of Rebuilding

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Now we want to move into the season of rebuilding.

First, let’s consider why men need to rebuild.

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Why do men need to rebuild?

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1 Corinthians 3:11–15 CSB

For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.

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According to these verses, there are at least two reasons that men rebuild…

They built on the wrong foundation. Some men are realizing that they have not built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

They have been pursuing other things, following their own agenda, believing they could find meaning and purpose on their own, ignoring God.

But now they have come to the place in their lives when they realize that what they have built won’t stand, that it doesn’t have a solid foundation.

They built in a way that wouldn’t last. Other men started out with the right foundation. They have made a commitment of their lives to Jesus Christ but somewhere along the way they got off track.

Now, 5, 10, 15, or 20 years have gone by, and they are realizing that their lives are not turning out like they planned. They are realizing that they have placed other things ahead of God in their lives and that they have built in a way that won’t last.

If you are in one of these categories today, God wants you to rebuild—to build on the right foundation in a way that will last.

The Bible shows us the story of two men who had to enter into seasons of rebuilding. Let’s look at the lessons we can learn from them.

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The first is Moses. His was the story of a dream shattered, and then rebuilt.

A. Moses—The story of a dream shattered, and then rebuilt.

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I’m going to read Acts 7:23-29:

Acts 7:23–29 CSB

“When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’ “But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me, the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday? “When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

Okay, so Moses is in a position of power in the land of Egypt. He has power and authority and he feels like God is calling him to lead the people out. He begins to execute that plan, thinking that they are going to rise to flee Egypt with him. Guess what? They didn’t do it. And so he has to flee for his life.

Then he goes into the wilderness for 40 years. Years! Okay, back to the scriptures—verses 30-35:

Slide

Now it’s interesting, you remember—what did Moses say when God came to him and said, “I am going to send you back to Egypt to let the people go”? Moses said, “I can’t do that. You must have the wrong guy. I don’t even talk very well. You need to find somebody else.”

At the point that Moses thought he was adequate for the task that God had for him, God found him inadequate. So Moses went into the wilderness for 40 years.

And at the very point that Moses thought he was inadequate for the task that God had for him, that is when God found him adequate.

There was too much Moses in Moses. So God used the wilderness to get that out of him so that he would see himself as he truly was before God and he could be God’s instrument.

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So, in our own lives, God can use an inadequate man who knows he is inadequate.

David’s Season of Rebuilding

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David’s story was different from Moses’ story. Whereas Moses had to rebuild after a shattered dream, David has to rebuild after experiencing the crushing consequences of his own sin.

David—the story of sin’s crushing consequence, and then a life rebuilt.

Many of you know the story of King David.

Slide 84 In 2 Samuel 11:1-5

2 Samuel 11:1–5 CSB

In the spring when kings march out to war, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. So David sent someone to inquire about her, and he said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hethite?” David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. Now she had just been purifying herself from her uncleanness. Afterward, she returned home. The woman conceived and sent word to inform David, “I am pregnant.”

So in the springtime, when kings are supposed to go off to war, King David, as the head of his army, was not with them in battle. He stays back. And what does he end up doing? David violates another man’s wife, resulting in her becoming pregnant.

In Chapter 12, we see where Nathan comes to him and tells him a story about a man who had a lot of lambs—a whole flock. And another man only had one lamb. The man who had all the sheep stole that one lamb from the other.

And David said, “Whoever does this should be punished.”

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And Nathan says, “You are the man! You are the one who has done that.”

And David then realizes the nature of his sin, and he must deal with the crushing consequences of his choices.

One of the lessons that we learn in the season of rebuilding is this Slide 86:

If you are where you shouldn’t be, you will do what you shouldn’t do.

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So we see some reasons why men NEED to rebuild, but how do we actually do it?

How to Rebuild

First of all, don’t try to make up for lost time.

That may seem counter-intuitive, right? But stay with me. One of the things that we hear, “Oh I wish I would have known this. I wish I would have known this when I got married. I wish I would have known this before I made this mistake.”

Listen, God does not say, “Oops. You blew it.” You don’t have to make up for lost time.

In our lives, things get all messed up and out of control. We sin, and we move off in directions that don’t honor Him.

But then God comes along behind us and takes that “goo” and He makes something beautiful out of it.

So you see, we don’t have to try to make up for lost time. That’s the promise of the Gospel.

It’s that God can redeem whatever has happened in our lives. He can give us meaning and purpose, He can give us joy and freedom and peace, and we can move forward in the light of His love.

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Secondly, when you rebuild, guard against the deceitfulness of sin.

Many times, when we enter a season of rebuilding, the reason we are there is because of some chronic sin that is in our life that we recognized but failed to repent of. Many men have been devastated by this kind of sin. We see this all the time—men who have been devastated by greed, by lust, or by anger. Or men who have felt the devastating consequences of addiction. We must guard against the affect these types of sin have in our lives.

But not only that, we must also recognize and deal with the pious sins that we enter into: self-righteousness, hypocrisy, pride.

The sins of the Pharisee, so to speak. These may be unrecognized, because we deceive ourselves.

In Hebrews 3:13

Hebrews 3:13 CSB

But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.

we find “the deceitfulness of sin.”

Martin Luther talks about this. He says it deceives under the appearance of good.

This phrase “deceitfulness of sin” often ought to be understood in a much wider sense, so that the term includes even our own righteousness and wisdom. For more than anything else, our own righteousness and wisdom deceive us and work against faith in Christ, because we love nothing more ardently than our own feelings, judgment, purpose and will, especially when they seem to be good.

As Christian men, we might say, “I’m not addicted to pornography, I don’t hit my wife, I don’t rob banks, I’m not stealing from my employer, I’m a good person.” What begins to happen is we begin to trust in our own ability to obey God and live according to His standards.

And that’s a deceitful sin, and one day we will see that that house will crumble down, because that’s not a house that will stand. It’s on the wrong foundation. The only house that will stand is the house built on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Rebuilding Is Not Self-Help

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When we enter into a time of rebuilding,

THE BIG IDEA that we need to remember is: Don’t focus on a list of things to do; instead order your life around the person of Christ.

How do we normally respond to problems in our lives? We try to fix them, right?

If we enter into a time of rebuilding, where we realize we have some area of our lives that needs to get fixed, it’s tempting to try to fix it ourselves.

We think—we just need to try harder. I’m going to be more disciplined. I’m going to get up earlier, read my Bible more, pray more, be self-controlled, I’m going to count to ten when my kids do something so I don’t get angry, and so on.

We want to focus on action; we want to add these safety nets; we want to avoid the temptations; we want to be more determined; we re-double our efforts and try harder to be a better person.

But you see the reality is that in a time of rebuilding, anything like that comes second.

The first thing we have to do is order our lives around the person of Jesus Christ.

We have to take time for reflection and look at our hearts to find out what we are trusting in that is leading us into this sin.

Why do I need to rebuild in this area? I’ve obviously gotten off track here. What is it that I’m trusting in that has led me down this path?

What do I think that pornography is going to give me that I can’t get from my relationship with God? Or my relationship with my wife?

What do I think that materialism is going to get me that God can’t give me?

What do I think that anger is going to do for me that God can’t do?

Why do I have to be in control of every situation?

Why do I have to respond in ways that intimidate others?

What am I hoping to accomplish by that, that God, by faith in Him, can’t do for me?

You see, that’s the area that we must get to because that is how we get to the root of these things and God begins to transform us from the inside out. Actions are important, but actions grow out of faith.

Heart Transformation

Look at Colossians 3. There’s a list of admonitions in this chapter. Starting in verse 5:

5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient,[b] 7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.

The writer Paul goes on with all these things.

We think, “I’ve got to do that. I’ve got to be better at that. I just need to be a better person. I need to be a better Christian. I’m not a good enough Christian.” But we forget to go back to verse 1

What does Paul say? Paul says, So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

You see it’s that faith in Christ, that trust in Him, the hope that we have in Him, that allows us to say no to the sin that so easily entangles us.

We can’t fix ourselves and clean ourselves up a little and think we’re rebuilding. God rebuilds us from the inside out by transforming our hearts through faith.

When you enter a season of rebuilding, let me just encourage you to think about this. You may be thinking about areas of your life right now where God may want you to rebuild. Don’t just think at the level of action. Don’t just think about all the things you are going to do better. Yes, we need to do better. Obviously, that’s where we are seeing the manifestations of this, but it’s a manifestation of something that goes much deeper.

And so ask yourself, “Lord, what is it about my heart that you want to change?

Where am I worshiping an idol?

Where am I worshiping something other than you?

What am I looking to find meaning and purpose and happiness? Why is this thing so attractive to me?

Lord, deal with that, root out that sin in my heart, so that I will trust you and you alone so that I can live out the righteousness of Jesus Christ.” That’s how we can rebuild. Don’t focus on a list of things to do, but rather on ordering your life around the person of Jesus Christ.

Prayer for the men

END SESSION WITH DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AT TABLES Slide 90

[Discussion questions found on bottom of page 17 of the Session Outline]