"Singed Christians"

SINGED

1 Corinthians 3: 10-16 (NLT)

Intro: Back in 1997, there was a movie that came out that was very popular with the youth and young adults at the time. It was called “Austin Power, International Man Of Mystery”. It was a spoof somewhat of the James Bond movies. It was a little racy and for that reason, some of you may not have seen it. I think that they had three movies in the series. They had many unique characters but there were two that I want to use in my illustration this morning. The first one is “Dr. Evil”. He was the arch villain. The top of his head looked like Clay here, our family pastor. They do not favor in any other way. Those of you who saw the movies will remember his signature pose with his little finger up to his moth. (make pose). He would do this while telling the government that unless they paid him one billion dollars, he was going to destroy them. He also had a pet. Does anyone remember what his pet’s name was? Mr. Bigglesworth. This is what “Mr Bigglesworth looked like, ( show slide of cat). The cat has absolutely no hair on him. He looks like he has run through a fire and all of his hair has been burned off.

. As I was studying our scripture for this morning It seemed to me that many of us Christians are in danger of standing before God one day looking just like Mr Bigglesworth. Our scripture tells us of people who are just barely going to make it into Heaven and when they get there they may be singed and look just like the cat.

. Paul is continuing his correction of the Corinthian Christians in regards to following men instead of God. And in context he is warning those that teach that they need to be careful about the foundation of our faith. The foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

. The death of Jesus for the atonement of our sin and the resurrection of Jesus assuring us of eternal life.

. While in context, he is talking about teachers, it applies to all of in our Christian walk.

. Lets read our scripture. 1 Corinthians 3:10-16

. 10Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful.

11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.

12Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw.

13But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.

14If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward.

15But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.

16Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

. In these verses, Paul is telling us how to build a spiritual house within each one of us and why it is important.

. The first thing a person must do in order to build a spiritual house is start with the right foundation.

Look at verses 10&11 again:

. 10Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful.

11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.

. We have many people in our congregation who have experience in construction. Last Sunday we had a bldg and grounds meeting and many of them were there. We talked about a few things and then the subject of putting some curtains up in front of the stage lighting came up.

. Folks, let me tell you. If you have six men looking at one construction project, you will have six different ideas about how to accomplish the task. All ideas would work and I finally told them that the one that was going to do the task should just decide and do it.

. While these men could not agree on the best approach to this project, I guarantee you that if you asked any of them if you could build a house without the proper foundation, they would say absolutely not.

. Without the proper foundation, the house will not stand. It will collapse.

. That’s what Paul is telling the teachers in Corinth and us. Unless you start with the proper foundation, people cannot build their spiritual house.