Extreme Makeover: If the Foundations

I'm sure many of you have seen the television program, Extreme Makeover. In many of the shows the houses are in such disrepair that they have to demolish the house down to the foundation in order to rebuild. Sometimes they will build a new house starting with a completely new foundation.

A foundation is a substance on which you build a structure. It is the foundation that supports the structure. You can have a really good looking structure, but if the foundation is not solid, it's only a matter of time before the structure begins to give way.

Ephesians 2:19-20 says, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone."
Psalm 11:3 says, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

Like the houses on Extreme Makeover, sometimes we need an extreme makeover. Perhaps you've been dealing with a life-long addiction, perhaps with work or alcohol, and now you need, by God's help, to start your life anew. Maybe you've lost the job you worked so hard at for many years and now you need to go in a different direction, a different career. It's extreme makeover time.

Sometimes a church needs an extreme makeover. I've often wondered, after hearing about a church that had closed its doors, if perhaps they didn't do so prematurely. Often when it seems like the end is in sight it's merely the beginning of something new, perhaps a new direction; an extreme makeover.

Now, don't get me wrong. There may be legitimate reasons why some churches close their doors for good. But I wonder if some of them just gave up prematurely, just before God had a chance to do a new thing.

The book of Ezra is a wonderful story of God holding up His end of His covenant and redeeming His people, bringing them out of captivity and back to the land He had given them. They had been living as strangers and aliens in a foreign land for 70 years. But just as God had foretold, His people were returning and rebuilding what had been destroyed.

Why did God send the Babylonians to destroy the Temple and the city and to deport God's people? The Israelites had gotten fat and happy. They felt rich and secure and started to make peace accords with their enemies. They had moved away from their dependence upon God.

So God's people were forced out of the very land God had given them and marched down to Babylon. During this time the Jews were encouraged by the prophet Jeremiah to take wives, build houses, plant gardens and settle in, because they were going to be there for awhile (Jer.29:4-11). But they were never meant to stay there!

Of the many Jews who lived in Babylon during the time of the decree to go and rebuild the Temple and the city, only about 50, 000 went, "everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up" (1:5). The rebuilding would begin with the laying of a new foundation. Only then would the rebuilding of the Temple and the city truly begin.

I want to share with you from my reading of Ezra, particularly the first three chapters, what I call the five G's of a sure foundation. These are the things that occurred in the building of the new foundation. See if these don't in fact apply to a church as well.
1. First, their spirits were moved by God. This is seen in chapter one verses 1 and 5. God stirred the people's spirits up. Why? What for? The answer to this question resides in verse 2; "to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah." God stirred the king's and the people's hearts to build God's house.
2. The people who went gathered together as one. 3:1, "Now when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem." As in the first church recorded in the New Testament, they were "together, and had all things in common" (2:44). They were unified, of one mind and heart.
3. Before the work began they glorified God first. This is made apparent in chapter 3, verses 1 - 6. They placed God first again and worshipped Him, even before a single stone was set in place. This shows that they understood that God is to come first before all things, even in the building of His house. It's all about God.
4. They Gave of their time (1:3, 5), talent (2:70; 3:7), and treasure (1:4, 6; 2:69). When we place God above everything else, and when God truly stirs our hearts, giving is simply something we want to do, not have to do. We want to see God's plan come to fruition, and we show it by giving of ourselves, our time, talent and treasure.
5. They got going (1:5; 3:8). They didn't wait around for somebody else to do it (Matthew 12:50). It was love with its sleeves rolled up. They got going because whey were filled with a deep love for God and a zeal to see His house rebuilt.

But there's one other thing that is mentioned in Ezra at the end of chapter three when the foundation was finally laid. Many of the ones who had seen the former Temple wept. But God had a word for these who lamented over the past; "Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?" The former Temple that had been destroyed was gone. God was building a new house for Himself, and who were they to deny Him?

Extreme makeovers are never easy. That's why they're called extreme. Church makeovers are not easy, and most pastors and church people would choose to close the doors of their church rather than go through the pangs of a makeover. But for those who are willing, for those "whose spirit God had stirred up to go up and rebuild," the joy that comes is immeasurable, inexpressable; to see what God will do.

God is calling us to rebuild. Are you willing to go up? I want to take a little license here with a portion of Scripture from Ezra 1:3 as a message for the people of Ponte South who will be working with me to rebuild for the glory of God: Whoever there is among you of all His people, may God be with us! Let us go up and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Riverdale! Amen and amen!