What would things look like if Satan really took control of a city? If Satan took over a city, all the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and the city streets would be pristine with people who smiled at one another. There would be no swearing. The children would say “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.” And the churches would be full every Sunday where Christ is not preached.
“For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. 10 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. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 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. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:9-17)
Today’s Big Idea: God cares about His Church and He holds its leaders accountable.
Today’s passage has been used for several purposes throughout our day:
1. Some think theses words are aimed at how we build our individual Christian lives;
2. Others think these verse deal with the belief of once saved always saved;
3. And still others Roman Catholics think these verses teach purgatory.
The passage doesn’t deal with any of these thought. Instead, Paul aims to teach us that those who currently lead the church should take heed for their work will one day be tested by Jesus Christ Himself.
Paul is doing two main things through the letter of 1 Corinthians: 1) Responding to situations and problems he has heard about through various sources; 2) Responding to questions, which the Corinthians have asked him.
We are still very much in the first part of the letter - where Paul is responding to problems he has heard about. He is starting with the problem of division within the church. In the passage before us this week, Paul continues to look at the subject of leaders and ministry. Always with the ultimate goal of healing their divisions and promoting greater unity in the Corinthian Church…
1. The Church’s Foundation is the Cross of Christ
Paul makes an abrupt change in verse nine: “For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.” (1 Corinthians 3:9)
If you were here last week then you know Paul spoke of the church and church leaders as a farm. This agricultural image was used to describe the relationship between the leaders and congregation. Paul planted and Apollos watered and that the Corinthian congregation was the field in which they worked. At the end of the day, however, we saw that only God could make anything grow. But, here that he moves from the farm to the construction site. He has given us a new metaphor to consider – the church as architecture. The Corinthian Church is like a building that is under construction We understand Paul’s words more carefully if we remember what a slow process building a great edifice was before the days of power equipment.
Cathedrals in Europe often took four or five centuries to complete. In Paul’s day, a temple, a much more modest edifice than a medieval cathedral, sometimes took decades. So one builder might lay the foundation while others would complete various phases of the building project and then would move on, retire, or die. The lesson is clear: Paul laid the foundation, and others have built on his work. It is the project as a whole that is important. It is foolish to focus all praise on just one of the builder who has contributed to the project.
The builders have a common purpose. When he speaks of architecture and the construction site, it’s only natural that he mentions foundations. A foundation is the main support for a building where the majority of the building’s weight is transferred to the ground. Few of us worry about foundations, as we are content to leave such matters to engineers: “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). He doesn’t mean that there are other foundations somewhat different and only a little inferior to Jesus Christ. Instead, he insists that there is no other foundation but Jesus for this church or any other church. This is not a question of comparison to other foundations. There are not two saviors… There are two Christs…
If a church or a sermon goes on without so much as a mention to the name of Christ and you call it Christian – that’s a lie. When a Bible study or sermon ends up saying very little that Dr. Phil or Oprah says, then Christ isn’t the foundation of the church. The American church will often mine the Bible for “relevant” quotes thinking the Bible itself is largely irrelevant on its own terms… God becomes a personal resource for the pursuit of your dreams rather than worshiped and exalted. Jesus Christ is a coach with a good game plan for victory rather than a Savior Who has achieved victory at the cross. And salvation is more about having our best life now rather than being saved from God’s judgment by God Himself. Jesus’ cross cannot be in the background of the church.
Only when the church can be called Jesus’ church will the church have the insurance Jesus promised: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Paul insists on this foundation repeatedly through this letter: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31). And lastly, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:17-18).
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
We cannot make God a supporting character in His own church. Church must be rewritten where God is the central Actor in the drama of redemption. Feel safe when your life and your church are built on Christ. But tremble if your foundation is anything other than Him.
2. Be Careful How You Build
In the farm metaphor of verses five through, God is represented by the owner of the field who employs the workers. In the building analogy of verses nine through seventeen, Jesus Christ Himself become the foundation that Paul has laid (1 Corinthians 3:11). While He is not specifically mentioned in verses eleven through fifteen, God owns the building and judges the quality of each builder’s work. He picks up on the theme that was first mentioned at the end of verse eight: “and each will receive his wages according to his labor” (1 Corinthians 3:8). This passage is full of lot of indirect references - using words like “someone else,” (verse 10) “each one,” (verse 10) “no one,” (verse 11) and “anyone” (verse 12). Paul seems to be referring to other people who are currently playing some sort of leadership role in the Corinthian congregation: “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw” (1 Corinthians 3:12).
Do you remember the story about The Three Little Pigs? The first little pig built his house out of straw. The second little pig built his house out of sticks. And the third little pig worked hard and labored diligently as he built his house out of brick. Even a small child can understand the moral of the story: “A Day of Testing” is in verse thirteen. “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” (1 Corinthians 3:13). Building a structure with solid materials pays off on the Day of testing.
Paul is not talking about building a home in today’s passage. Instead, he is talking about the people in Corinth building a church with their lives. If God sees it and God hears it, God will remember it and God will reward it. This is a day of transparency: “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5). The Bible compares ministry in and around the church to a building. Notice that all of this is connected to the church. Every day you (remember this passage is specific toward church leaders) are literally building with the church or against the church. Every day and every deed is another brick that you put into that building. But when your building is finished, it has to pass code and the Building Inspector always must approve it.
“Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 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” (1 Corinthians 3:12-13).
Either your life is being built with permanent materials or perishable materials. Worthy materials or worthless materials. Your life is going to be placed on a pedestal. The way you spent your time, the way you spent your money, the priorities you placed in your life will all be put on a pedestal. This day of evaluation will focus on the church’s teaching (doctrines)… This day of evaluation will focus on the leader’s attitudes. “The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire” (Revelation 1:14). At least two times the book of Revelation describes Jesus Christ’s eyes as a flame of fire. Be assured of one thing. Any work you do, great or small that God deems worthy will receive a reward.
It is very simple: “If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward” (1 Corinthians 3:14). That is why you ought to make sure you do whatever you do for God, because it doesn't matter whether anyone else sees it, knows it, or hears about it.
It is irrelevant whether it ever makes the newspaper, radio, television, or the Internet. If God sees it and God hears it, God will remember it and God will reward it. There is a story about a lady named, Mary, in the Gospel of Mark, who comes to the Lord Jesus just before He was going to die. She takes a bottle of very expensive oil and breaks it and pours it over His head. She was criticized by one of the disciples very sharply for wasting that expensive oil. That particular disciple said she could have sold that oil and given it to the poor. I want you to listen to what Jesus replied,
“She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial” (Mark 14:8).
3. Damage from the Inside Hurts More
It is about a girl called Little Red Riding Hood, after the red hooded cape or cloak she wears. The girl walks through the woods to deliver food to her sick grandmother. A wolf wants to eat the girl but is afraid to do so in public. He approaches little red riding hood and she naïvely tells him where she is going. He goes to the grandmother's house and gains entry by pretending to be the girl. He swallows the grandmother whole, and waits for the girl, disguised as the grandmother. When the girl arrives, she notices he looks very strange to be her grandmother. “Grandmother, what big ears you have!” “All the better to hear with, my child.” Little Red Riding Hood then says, “What big hands you have.” Little Red Riding Hood says, “My, what big teeth you have!” The wolf replies, “The better to eat you with!”
Likewise, Paul is warning of future damage from the inside as well. Paul concludes with a warning: “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:9-17).
Here the temple is not your body as the analogy will be in 1 Corinthians 6. “God’s temple” is you the church. The you is plural. If you built a life made of perishable materials (wood, hay, and straw), you’ll lose your reward. Damage from the Inside Hurts More than damage from those on the outside. Jesus said: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15).
Today’s Big Idea: God cares about His Church and He holds its leaders accountable.
What would things look like if Satan really took control of a city? Satan would prefer people to be in church where Christ is not preached. Are you prepared for the Day? Pastors, Bible Study Teachers, youth pastors, counselors, Sunday School Teachers, Vacation Bible School Leaders, Discussion Group leaders, Mentors, Disciplers, Parents, etc. For all those people, the quality and usefulness and faithfulness of the ministry that was carried out is the thing which will come under God's scrutiny in the end. It will be "revealed" or "tested" by fire.
