The Carpenter, the Hammer and the Nail

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain.

Psalm 127:1a

When ever you or I decide to move out on our own to build a ministry (no matter what the size) and it is not within the Lord’s perfect will that we do so, we are bound to fail. We do not build His church and we do not control which ways He desires to meet people or construct earthly ministries. He once told the apostle Peter how He would erect His church and He made it patently clear with these words: And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16:18  Jesus was highly familiar with the art of building. He spent the first 30 of His 33 years on earth working with His foster father Joseph as a carpenter. In fact when his ministry did begin, that was the identification by which He was known to His neighbors, who were real skeptics. Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Mark 6: 3

The word “rock” used in Matthew 16:18 has been misinterpreted by some Christians, who think that the church was built upon the apostle Peter; a study of the original language tells us otherwise. The apostle was born with a Hebrew name of Cephus. The name Peter in Greek is petros, which means a piece of rock; a stone; a single stone, in other words a mere pebble. Conversely, the word rock is petra, which means a rock; a cliff; a projecting rock; mother rock; huge mass; solid formation; fixed; immovable; enduring, like the rock of Gibraltar in Spain’s southern coast. The fixed, immovable and enduring rock of which Christ spoke in the passage cited above and upon which the world wide Christian church would be built was Peter’s confession of faith. It is Christ that determines how, by whom, where and when that confession occurs. He is the church’s carpenter/builder.

The Bible teaches us that we are merely the instruments, the hammer, if you will, that He uses in the building process. The apostle Paul explains it this way: In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. 2 Timothy 2:20-21. The large house is the church and we are the instruments. The so called common uses are our self motivated and humanly driven ministries and those called special are God inspired, which are empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit.

The building would fall apart if it were not for the nails that hold its parts together. In our analogy the “nail” is the revealed word of God, the Holy Scriptures. For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12. Do you get the point? (Excuse the pun). Each truly productive ministry is Christ centered and held together by the infallible, inerrant and inspired Word of God. Apart from knowing the above facts, many ministries are doomed to failure and the work is done in vain