St John the Beloved
Sermon and teaching audio from St John Church in Cincinnati Ohio.
St John the Beloved
Built to Last
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Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 3
Speaker 1Our scripture reading today comes from 1 Corinthians , chapter 3 , verses 1 through 23 . The Word of God reads this way but I , brothers , could not address you as spiritual people , but as people of the flesh , as infants in Christ . I fed you with milk , not solid food , for you were not yet ready for it . And even now you are not yet ready , for you are still of the flesh . For while there is jealousy and strife among you , are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way ? For when one says I follow Paul and another I follow Apollos , are you not being merely human ? What then is Apollos ? What is Paul Servants , through whom you believed as the Lord assigns to each ?
Speaker 1I planted , apollos watered , but God gave the growth . So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything , but only God who gives the growth . He who plants and he who waters are one , and each will receive his wages according to his labor , For we are God's fellow workers . You are God's field , god's building . According to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder , I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it . Let each one take care how he builds upon it , for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid , which is Jesus Christ . Now , if anyone builds on the foundation with gold , silver , precious stones , wood , hay , straw , each one's work will become manifest , for the day will disclose it , because it will be revealed by fire , and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done . If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives , he will receive a reward . If anyone's work is burned up , he will suffer loss , though he himself will be saved , but only as through fire . Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you ? If anyone destroys God's temple , god will destroy him , for God's temple is holy and you are that temple . Let no one deceive himself . If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age , let him become a fool . That he may become wise among you thinks that he is wise in this age , let him become a fool . That he may become wise , for the wisdom of this world is folly with God , For it is written , he catches the wise in their craftiness and again , the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile . So let no one boast in men , for all things are yours , whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world , or life or death , or the present or the future . All are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's . This is God's Word . Thanks be to God you may be seated . May God bless this reading and preaching of His Word .
Living in a Disposable Culture
Speaker 1Tool . Technology is pretty amazing and in some ways it is so far ahead of where it was , even 10 years ago . It's advancing so quickly In 2021, . I bought at the time the very best Milwaukee Impact driver that money could buy and it has served me well for these past four years . But the new one , the new thing , the impact driver that just came on the market sheesh , all right , it's so superior . Don't tell my wife she's actually downstairs doing kids , but I'm probably going to be upgrading soon , even though mine still works . But that's just the world that we live in .
Speaker 1Contractors replace tools regularly , partly because of advancing technology , but also partly because of something called planned obsolescence . Tools just are not made anymore to last , they're made to be replaced , and the same is true with so many other things . In contrast to that , I was in a big cabinet shop not long ago . I was looking at their machines and on the floor of the warehouse they had these big , beautiful machines from the 1950s . There was this massive planer , this heavy joiner , this old radial arm saw , and the shop owner proudly pointed at each one of them and he said that's the best planer ever made . It was made in the 50s . He said that's the best joiner ever made . They were built once . They were built to last . They've been lovingly maintained and that just sort of illustrates .
Speaker 1What I want to highlight as we get into our sermon this morning is that we live in a disposable culture where not much anymore is built to last , just even the physical things that we consume . As an example , electronics . All electronics are engineered to need replacement every four or five years . However many of you use Apple products , you've had this experience where your computer that four years ago was so fast . How is it so slow today ? It's the same machine . They're just made to do that . They're made to be replaced , not to be kept or be passed down . The construction industry assumes that homes will be remodeled every 10 years , so things are built to be easily torn out . They're not built to last decades or hundreds of years anymore . Most people keep a vehicle for only about 10 years . So even cars today are built with replacement and not with endurance in mind .
Speaker 1Paul planted the church in Corinth and as he did that , he saw people come to faith in Christ . He saw a community begin to form , and then he left to continue that work elsewhere . But in this chapter and throughout the letters of Paul , we see something deeper . We see that Paul did not just want to start churches , he didn't just want to see people be born into the kingdom and to come to faith in Christ . He wanted those churches to last . He wanted to build something that would last . He did not want to run his race in vain , as he says in another letter , and neither should we . We want to see our kids , for example , come to faith in Christ . We want to see our faith passed on to them while they're in our household , but we also want to see them develop a faith that will last after they leave our home and a faith that will endure . We want to see our neighbors and our friends come to Christ . We want to see people baptized , even in our own congregation , but we also want to see their faith last . We want to see them remain and stay and grow and develop . We want to see a faith that lasts even after our influence has departed . We don't want to just see this church and other churches planted , we don't just want to celebrate good launches of churches , but we want to see churches that last .
Speaker 1So , in a disposable culture , how do we do ministry that lasts ? That's the question that this passage confronts us with this morning . And here Paul gives us three marks , or three signs of lasting ministry . Lasting ministry has the right builder , it has the right foundation and it's built with care . If we have the right builder , if we have the right foundation and if we build with care , then the things that we do will last . The work that we do , our ministry efforts especially , will last . So what does that mean ? Well , point one
Ministry That Lasts: The Right Builder
Speaker 1ministry that lasts has the right builder . The point here is that only what's built by God will last , only what's built by God will last . God will last , only what's built by God will last .
Speaker 1The Corinthian church was focused on human leaders , as we have seen in the past few sections that we've preached through . We see it here this morning as well , even to the point of dividing over them . Some said I follow Paul and others said I follow Apollos or Peter . Paul corrects their perspective . In verses five through seven he says what then is Paul ? What is Apollos Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each ? I planted , apollos watered , but God gave the growth , so that neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth . So Paul is clear in what he's saying here . He's saying we are mere servants . Apollos and I are servants of the Lord . They did their part , planting and watering . They did different things , but it was God who gave the growth . It was God that built and planted the Corinthian church .
Speaker 1This church , st John Church , started as five core families a few years ago . All of them have labored in various ways to get us to the point where we're at today and over time more have joined in and have poured in time and prayer and love and finances and resources . Some have planted , others have watered , but it is God , and only God , who has given the growth . Any growth that we have experienced , any growth that matters , is God-given growth . Paul continues in verse 9 , he says for we are God's fellow workers , you are God's field , god's building and this is the heart of what we're getting at is that if God is not in it , it will not last . But if God is in it , then it cannot be undone . If God is not in it , it won't last , but if God is in it , it cannot be undone .
Speaker 1We preached through Ecclesiastes last year and you might remember this verse Ecclesiastes 3.14 says I perceived that whatever God does endures forever . Nothing can be added to it , nor anything taken from it . God has done it so that people fear before him . Whatever God does endures . If God is not in it , it simply won't last . So we studied that together last year . It reminds us that verse that the things that we do our families , our businesses , our churches , our ministries , even our best efforts won't last forever . Eventually , everything that we do will go the way of all flesh , but the things that God does endure , they last . And here's the amazing part . We all know , or we should know , that nothing that we do will last . But the amazing part is that we actually can do something that lasts . We can do something that endures if we participate with God in what he's doing . As Paul says , we are God's co-workers and if we're able to get in that position to be co-working with God , then we can do things that last , because everything that God does lasts . So we have to be clear-eyed and humble that our ministry can only be effective if God is in it .
Speaker 1If you're around my age and if you've been in the church world for a while , then you might remember Mars Hill Church in Seattle with Pastor Mark Driscoll . That was a remarkable church in many ways . It was planted in 1996 by this guy named Mark Driscoll . If you've never heard of him , he was a fiery preacher with a big polarizing personality . When I was a young man in college , I listened to a lot of his sermons and I was helped by a lot of them .
Speaker 1That church grew very rapidly , especially for a church in one of the most secular , unchurched parts of the country . At its peak you know from nothing in 96 to at its peak , it had nearly 12,000 people attending across various different campuses in that part of the country . Many people came to faith in Jesus through that ministry . People that were not Christians before became Christians through that ministry . But there were problems . Mark was a controversial leader . He had a strong personality that drew in many but also pushed other people away and internal conflict grew and it reached a boiling point and in October of 2014 , mark resigned . This is a church of 12,000 people . The pastor resigns and 17 days later the church closes its doors , which was a huge surprise to so many people looking on in the church world . Just 17 days it was staggering . A church that seemed so strong and so stable and so permanent in two weeks was gone , completely gone . But that's not the full story , because the church itself as an organization closed and some campuses closed . But other campuses became independent churches . Entire community groups and pieces of congregations migrated together to other congregations . New churches were planted .
Speaker 1Lots of different things happened in that time . I have a friend who was actually a member of the church as this was happening over there in Seattle , and he described it like this . He said it was like a forest fire that on the one hand was devastating and destroyed a lot of stuff but on the other hand , cleared the ground and caused lots of new germination so that new things could crop up . So it was a devastating thing , but a lot of new things took shape and happened . What happened there ? In the collapse of Mars Hill Church ? Many things that are man-made died the cult of personality , the organization , the hype came to an end , but things that God had done in and through that church endured and they remained and they took a different shape and a different form .
Speaker 1If God is in it it cannot be undone , but if he's not in it it won't last . We have to have the right builder be part of ministry that is built by God . So here's just an application . What should we take from that ? I would put it this way Don't measure success by results , measure success by faithfulness . So just first things . First . I should say this is that we should be humbled . That's one application here that if God is not in our ministry , if God is not in our parenting , if he's not in our church work , in our efforts to have an impact with our neighbors or our coworkers , it won't last . We should be humbled by that and prayerful and dependent on God . But we should also be encouraged and here's where I want to point us to . We can do something that lasts if we participate in what God is doing , if we're joining him in his work . But here's where I really want to draw our attention in this , because only the things built by God will endure . We can only ever measure our success by faithfulness . Endure . We can only ever measure our success by faithfulness .
Speaker 1We cannot control whether or not our kids come to know and love Jesus , as much as we want to control that . We can set them up for success as best we can , but we cannot control that . But we can be faithful parents . That's what we can control . We can be faithful , consistent and prayerful parents . Only God can give the growth . We can't control how quickly this church grows , or any church grows , as much as we would like that . We can't control people coming to faith in Christ . We can't control people connecting and the gospel taking root in their lives . But what we can do is we can be faithful . We can be faithful in our worship , in our gathering together , in our preaching , in our care for one another , in our love for our neighborhood . We can just keep showing up and be faithful . Only God can give the growth . As much as we would like our family members and our unbelieving friends and our neighbors to come to faith in Christ , we can't control that . What we can do is be faithful . We can be a faithful presence in their lives , praying for them , ministering to them . Only God can give the growth . So do not measure success by results . We cannot control results . We can't control the size of our church , how many people come to Christ , whether or not our kids are understanding . We cannot control that . Measure success by faithfulness . Are we being faithful to what God has called us to do and be ? That's all that we can do . And God gives the growth . Only God can give the growth , and when he does , the good news is that it is a growth that endures , because it's not something we did , it's something that God did . So has the right builder . Point two it has
The Right Foundation: Built on Gospel
Speaker 1the right foundation . Only what's built on the gospel will last .
Speaker 1In this passage , paul uses three metaphors to describe his ministry . He says he's like a nursing mother giving spiritual milk . He's Mama Paul . That's the first metaphor . And then he's a farmer planting and watering . And then he is a master builder laying a foundation . Those three metaphors .
Speaker 1Look again at verses 10 and 11 . He says , according to the grace of God given to me , like a skilled master builder , I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it . Let each one take care how he builds upon it , for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid , which is Jesus Christ . So what Paul is saying is that he came to Corinth preaching the gospel and that he laid a foundation . That's what he was doing there and now others are building on the work that he started . But Paul warns . He says there is no other foundation other than Jesus Christ . That's the only foundation . Anything not built on him is not going to last . Only what's built on the foundation will endure . And as a builder , I love this image . I love when I get to preach on this passage and on the passage where Paul says that he's not like a boxer beating the air . I can talk about those things , but as a builder I love this image . Let's just think about what he means by a foundation .
Speaker 1A foundation says at least three things . Foundation means priority , so the foundation comes first . Right now they're building all around . I mean , you can drive anywhere around in this neighborhood and see this , but there's several construction sites that I drive by every day and if you've ever watched a big building being built , you know that for weeks it looks like there's nothing happening . It's just dirt and forms and big machines , but there's no building is going up . They're laying the foundation . Once the foundation is laid , however , the rest of the building is able to come up pretty quickly . But the foundation comes first . That's the very first thing that has to happen . Foundation means priority . Secondly , it means stability . The strength of the whole structure depends on the foundation .
Speaker 1We read what Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount . I'll just read it again . He says everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock . When storms come and they will the house that is on the rock is the one that stands firm . Foundation has to do with stability and then , finally , it has to do with dependence . Every other part of the building rests on the foundation . It all depends on the foundation , and the bigger the building , the deeper and wider and stronger the foundation must be . If your foundation isn't solid , the whole thing is going to be unstable .
Speaker 1So what is he talking about in the importance of this foundation ? Well , paul says the gospel is the foundation . He says I came to lay a foundation . There's no other foundation other than Jesus Christ . And that tells us a few things . Number one it tells us that the gospel comes first . People will not understand the Christian view of marriage or money , or sexuality or suffering or anything else until they first understand the gospel . People have no hope of understanding a hundred crazy things that we believe about life and how God wants us to live until they understand the gospel . Our view of marriage is based on the gospel . It depends on the gospel . Paul says that in Ephesians , toward the end of Ephesians . Our view of forgiveness and how we ought to treat others who offend us and who mistreat us is based in the gospel . Our view of stewardship and finances or sexuality or sacrifice our view of all of those things is built on the gospel . So , with your kids , with your neighbors , with your friends , focus on the foundation . A lot of times people want to talk about especially people that are not Christians want to talk about so many of these other issues . Oftentimes it's a distraction . They cannot understand them unless they first understand the foundation of the gospel . So the gospel comes first . Everything else that we teach rests its weight on the gospel .
Speaker 1For example , we teach people to forgive . We might teach our kids to forgive . That's a very important concept for children to learn in their household , where kids are sharing and living together and fighting all the time . But what's the basis of that ? What's the foundation of why they should forgive ? What foundation are we of why they should forgive . What foundation are we giving them ? Hopefully it's not guilt , it's hey , if you really want to be a good person , you'll be forgiving . And you want to be a good person , don't you ? So be forgiving . That's actually not a good foundation . It's also not even personal well-being . Sometimes we talk about it like this , like , hey , forgiveness is about you , don't you want to be free of these hurts that you're holding on to ? You should forgive because it's for your own well-being . And that might be true , but it's not a good foundation . The basis of our teaching on forgiveness is that look how you have been forgiven . Jesus died for you . He loves you so much that he died so that you can be forgiven . And if you've been forgiven so much , how can you not be forgiving to others ? That's the foundation . Everything else we teach depends on the gospel .
Speaker 1I remember that when my sister and I were kids and fighting , my grandpa would stop us by saying now remember what kind of kids grandpa likes . He likes kids who get along . And it worked . You know , we stopped our fighting , at least for a moment , because we wanted to please grandpa . We wanted to be the kids that grandpa likes , and that's cute for kids , but many of us carry that same foundation into adult faith and we build our obedience on guilt or shame , or pleasing someone that we know pleasing man , fear of punishment , desire for reward . Those foundations might do something or might bring about a small change for some amount of time , but at some point they will crack . The only lasting foundation is the gospel , jesus Christ and him crucified . And then , finally , what this foundation metaphor teaches us is that if the foundation isn't Christ , the whole thing will collapse , and we shouldn't be surprised by that . I've seen this over and over and I'll just give you a few examples .
Speaker 1I was a Young Life leader in college , a high school ministry , and it's a great ministry . Many kids came to faith in high school through that ministry . Some became leaders in college , but when they graduated and when Young Life was no longer part of their life for some of them life was no longer part of their life for some of them their faith collapsed . They didn't know what to do . Why is that ? I think sometimes it's because their faith was built on a program and not on a person , so they fell in love with the ministry . They fell in love with the system , with young life and with summer camp and ministry to high school kids and everything that went along with it and the community that they had there . They fell in love with the system , but not necessarily with the person of Jesus . And how often does this happen in exciting churches that have powerful leaders or charismatic personalities ? People might fall in love with the leadership of a church or with a certain charismatic preacher , they might fall in love with a community or with a way that things are done , but if they never fall in love with Jesus , if they never get to the foundation , their faith won't last .
Speaker 1Others another example others grow up in church and they grow up with a foundation of faith built on law and guilt . And we don't want this for our kids . What we don't want is for our kids to grow up and to know what they're supposed to do , maybe to feel guilty when they fall short of that and then to learn shame and to learn how to hide their sin and hide their shortcomings . We don't . If that's all our kids get , I think we would be disappointed because when they get to college or into adulthood , they start to deconstruct . And it's not because they're rejecting Christ . I think it's because that they never ended up meeting him . They never met Christ . So they're rejecting . What are they rejecting ? They're rejecting the Christian culture that they learned , the rules that they learned , but not necessarily the gospel , because they never experienced a love for Jesus that grew out of his love for them . Christian culture , theology , ethics all of those are good things , but they're not good foundations . The only true foundation is Jesus Christ and him crucified . Only what's built on the foundation will last . And then point three built with care
Building with Care: Quality Matters
Speaker 1. Only what's built with care will last .
Speaker 1In verses 10 through 17 , paul continues his building metaphor and he says that , like a skilled master builder , he laid a foundation , others are building on it . And then he offers this general exhortation to everyone . In verse 10 , he says let each one take care how he builds on it . Which is interesting . He says I laid the foundation , someone else is building on it . Let each one take care how he builds upon it . So he's addressing the church . This isn't just about leaders , it's not just about apostles and pastors . It's about every member of the church , every Christian building in to the work of God , building into the community of the church . All of us have a role in building God's house to the community of the church . All of us have a role in building God's house .
Speaker 1Paul says something similar in Ephesians 4 . He says , rather , speaking the truth in love , we are to grow up in every way into him . Who is the head into Christ ? When each part is working properly , makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love . So Paul says there . He says hey , when every part of the body is working properly , the church builds itself up in love . People are building into one another , but that only happens if we take it seriously , if we build with care . Look at verses 12 through 15 . He says now , if anyone builds on the foundation with gold , silver , precious stones , wood , hay , straw , each one's work will become manifest for the day we'll disclose it because it will be revealed by fire .
Speaker 1Paul then shifts his metaphor here to the quality of materials . He says he's like hey , you guys , imagine you're playing Minecraft and you've got all of these materials available to you . You've got wood , hay and straw and you've got precious stones and gold and fine materials . Some build with what is costly and enduring gold , silver , precious stones . Others build with what is cheap and temporary and quick wood , hay and straw . Paul says one day the fire will come and it will test the work that each one has done and it will reveal the quality of work that each has built .
Speaker 1And that metaphor would have landed in Corinth , a city that was filled with temples , a city that had temples to Apollo and Aphrodite . Those structures were lavishly built . The Corinthians would have been familiar with them and would have been inside of them Stone and marble walls , gold-plated statues , jewels inlaid on altars , rare woods and rich materials throughout those temples . And those temples were built to make a statement to say glory and strength and permanence for the God that they were devoted to . And then there were the ordinary structures in Corinth market stalls and animal barns and the houses of the poor , built with wood and hay and straw , which were common and cheap and disposable .
Speaker 1And Paul is saying here he says church , you know this group of people that God has called together . Not many of them are wise , not many of them were of noble birth , not many were wealthy . He says you are God's temple . You're familiar with all of the work and all of the effort that's put into the temple of Apollo and Aphrodite . You are the temple of the living God . Do you not know that you are God's temple and God's spirit dwells in you . So take care how you build . Take care how you build . Will you build this as God's house , with beauty and glory and permanence , or will you build with just shoddy leftover materials ? I'll just offer an illustration before moving to application .
Speaker 1But we have some friends up in Dayton who we met through divine providence During COVID . We bumped into each other at Ikea sort of between Cincinnati and Dayton , and we were the only two families in the whole place that were not wearing masks , and so we knew that we would be fast friends and so we got , we started hanging out and it turns out they're also believers . The husband is also a contractor and they also homeschool , and we just had a lot in common . And they have a very different lifestyle than most people . One of the ways that they make money is that they buy a home that needs work and they move their family in before any of the work has been done . So they live in a construction site and then they live there and they renovate it over a period of several years and eventually they sell it or historically that's what they've done and they will make a return on that and then they do the same thing with a different property .
Speaker 1But their perspective is interesting because they're not exactly flippers , because the flipper calculus is get in and out as quickly as possible , use the cheapest materials and the cheapest labor as possible and get out and maximize profit as quickly as possible . That's not their calculus . They never know whether the house that they move into is going to be their last . It might be . So they always build the house that they want to live in . They don't necessarily build with you know what's the greatest ROI or what do other people want . They build the house that they want to live in and so they pour their heart and their soul into it and at the end of the day , maybe they'll sell it and maybe they won't . But because they build the house that they want to live in , they build with care . They put in the materials that they believe in and the things that they care about . They build with care .
Speaker 1So to make an application for what Paul is saying here , paul's challenge is simple . He says take care how you build , take care how you build . Our friends in Dayton are building the house that they want to live in and I want to challenge us this morning what if we all took that same mindset toward our church community Build the church that you want to live in . Let's do a quick thought experiment . What if I'm going to invite you to put on your thinking cap for a moment and imagine with me .
Build the Church You Want to Live In
Speaker 1What if this were your last church ? St John the Beloved , this is your last church . You're going to be part of this church for the rest of your life . Your kids are going to grow up in this church . When your grandbabies come to visit , they're going to visit at this church . What if this were your last church ? What would you do differently ? How would you invest in the community and the mission differently ? What would it look like to build the church that you want to live in ? Maybe this isn't , right now , the church . You don't want this to be your last church , ah . But what if it were ? What would you do differently ? How would you help to build the church that you want to live in ?
Speaker 1And I think the answer might be different for each one of us . For some of us , it just means you know what I really need to try to be here on Sunday and gather with the saints and worship , or I need to be part of the community , be part of a community group or Bible study . For others of us , maybe it means that we need to go ahead and roll up our sleeves and help build up the ministries that need to exist . Or it might mean this maybe you're a college student and you have a heart for a particular kind of ministry let's just say kids , for example , or youth but you know you're only going to be in Cincinnati for three years and you don't know where you're going after that . But you go ahead and you pour yourself into this community and into the youth and building up a ministry anyway , knowing that you might never see the fruit of that labor . You might plant seeds that you never get to see . The fruition of . Someone else later will come in and continue to build on what you've done . Whatever it means , you're in the best position to know what this would mean for you .
Speaker 1But even if you do move someday , if you go to a different city or even move to a different church , I want to challenge you . That should be your attitude with every church that you're part of , with every church that you're part of . Treat it like it's your last . Treat it like it's your last . Why ? Because , as Paul says , the church is God's temple . Take care how you build that God's spirit dwells in our midst and God is infinitely worthy of our best efforts . Even in this place , where God has called us together and we're an assembly of we're a ship of fools , so to speak . You know we're a bunch of nobodies .
Speaker 1Trying to tell everybody about somebody is how it's been put In this humble place . This is God's temple and the spirit of God dwells in our midst . And why ? Why is God worthy of our best ? Well , don't forget that even when we were unworthy , when you were unworthy at that time , god gave his best in order to save you and in order to create the church . The father gave his beloved son , who laid down his own life for the sake of the church , as it says in first Peter that you were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers , not with perishable things such as silver or gold , but with the precious blood of Christ . So take care how you build . Invest the best of yourself in building up the temple of the living God , and that's the kind of ministry that will last , a ministry that's built by God , a ministry built on the foundation of the gospel and a ministry built with care . So let's strive , by God's grace , to build that way and by God's grace it will last .
Speaker 1Let's pray . Let's pray our father , we , we thank you for these words from Paul and this exhortation to take care how we build . Lord . We pray that you would remind us of our utter dependence on you and that if you are in it , it cannot be undone , but if you are not in it , it won't undone . But if you are not in it , it won't last . So we pray God for our efforts , we pray for our parenting , we pray for our ministry efforts within our own congregation , seeking to minister to one another and build up one another . Lord , we pray for our ministry with our friends and family and those around us . Help us to be dependent upon you , help us to focus on the foundation of the gospel . And , lord , we pray also that you would move us and inspire us to build with care and to surrender our lives to you and offer our best to you . All of this we ask in Jesus' name , amen .