Building God's Temple 1 Cor 3:9-17
We ended our study in the middle of v.9, where Paul reminds the Corinthians that both the founders, the leaders, and all the congregants, no longer belong to the world of men ...the realm of men ...the influence of men, ...but to God! Paul wants to make it clear that such human partisanship as the Corinthians exercised was obscuring whose work it really was. So, he takes them to their life source, the Owner of the Vineyard. He says, we are God's fellow workers. Some older translations say ...God’s husbandry. literally the tillers of the ground. We, leaders, toil with the soil, and the church is God's field. Literally, God’s tilled ground. The farmer works for God in God’s field. Without the sun, the rains, the seasons the farmer is helpless. And we are seeing, presently, just how helpless our farmers are. Trusting God for provision is a way of life for the farmer. It ought to be a way of life for everyone, because, ultimately, the whole world would be helpless without these basic needs.
Paul, then uses a 2nd metaphor at the end of v.9. He tells the Corinthians that they are 'God's building'! What building do you think Paul is referring to? Well, he tells us vs. 16-17, and we'll get into that next time. This is a common metaphor in the N.T. Paul will later write to these same Corinthians in another letter, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2Co_5:1 The writer to the Hebrew believers, who may have been Apollos, wrote that, “Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son.” Then, he tells his Jewish brothers in the faith, “And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” Heb 3:3-6 Unfortunately, many did not hold fast. So, they were not His House. So, what kind of house is the church stated to be? Paul tells us in v.16-17, The Church is God's Temple on earth. Why? Because Jesus is God's Temple. Jesus referred to His Body as the Temple of God in John 2. “Destroy this Temple” He told the Pharisees, “and in 3 days I will raise it up.” And we are told there, by John, that “He was speaking of the Temple of His Body”! And because we are His Body, we too, are God's Temple. Were the N.C. Writers just using metaphors for the Temple. Yes & No. Actually, Solomon's Temple was a ...type of the Heavenly Temple. Listen to Heb 9:24 “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” I may go deeper into this in the near future, in case that is unclear to some of you. But We are God's True Temple, as living stones, as Peter put it in our Call to Worship, being built up to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The Faithful Builder ...v.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.” Paul calls himself a "wise master builder", as opposed to a foolish master builder. He builds with True Divine 'sophia' with True Godly 'wisdom'. Paul deliberately chose this word, 'sophia', because he knew that there were some in Corinth who did not see Paul as wise. Why didn't they see him as wise? Because he didn't use the wise sounding phrases of his day, and he didn't operate on man's wisdom. Yet, he tells them that he was a wise master builder. The phrase "master builder" is translated from the single Greek word 'arcitetkton'. This is where we get the It is from this word the "architect" from
Paul was both a builder as well as a planner of churches, but his specialty was in foundations. Over the years, Paul had planted foundations in many cities. He would frequently come into a city and preach the gospel and then leave. God would invariably use the seeds of his message and a growing church would sprout up. Paul nurtured this church for 2 years. The only other place he would spend more time was in Ephesus. And in fact, he writes this during the 3 years he is in Ephesus, when others had come in, such as Apollos, and possibly Peter, and even now it could be local elders which have been appointed to water and nourish the growing church. This is what he means when he says“someone else is building upon it.” So, Paul reminds the church and its leadership that he had laid...
The Firm Base ...v.11
“For no one can lay a foundation ...other than that which is laid, [Literally, “alongside the one already laid”] which is Jesus Christ.” If you lay a foundation alongside Christ, you build over a sinkhole, a very common phenomenon these days. Perhaps, God continues to give us these object lessons to show us that all other ground is sinking sand! Christ is the stone that the builders rejected, and He has become the Head of the corner. He, Himself, told the Sanhedrin this. Paul may be repeating this truth here. All the rest of the foundation must line up with, be leveled with, align itself with the Cornerstone! You can't lay a foundation with Peter [Cephas] as your base or Judaism or Apollos or Greek Philosophy or Worldly Wisdom or Human Psychology or Evolution or Relativism or any other Human Institution. In God's Temple what should be...
The Facility's Bricks ...v.12
The Building Blocks will either be permanent or perishable! They will either be valuable or vain ...precious or pitiable! This is why Paul classifies the blocks into 2 types of 3 each. They can be categorized as 2 types, gold, silver, precious stones, ...wood, hay, straw”. The gold, silver, precious stones, are designed to be long lasting ...durable. The wood, hay, straw are of short duration …perishable. God is not building an adobe or a mud hut, but He is making an eternal edifice, one that only Solomon's Temple can be compared with, complete with the precious metals & fine marble quarried from around the world. Now, it is very likely that when he says “if anyone builds on the foundation” that by anyone, he is referring, mainly, to church leaders, not individual professing Christians. He's saying I laid this foundation and another is building on it, another builder like me ...an overseer. If that overseer builds with inferior blocks, he will regret this and suffer loss when the building inspector shows up.
The different blocks will result in exposing the materials for what they actually are either temporary & worthless or lasting & worthy. Now, what do these materials represent? Do they represent natural abilities? Do they represent spiritual gifts? I think we can get some insight from the prophet Isaiah. In ch. 54, the prophet likens genuine enduring faith to the finishing touches where precious gems are set in fine background: "O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.” And here is what that will look like: v.13 “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isa 54:11-13 And then in Isa 60:17 the prophet, once again, brings in the metaphors of building materials“Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron.” And here is what that will look like: I will make your overseers ...peace and your taskmasters ...righteousness.”
No. I think the identity of these Facility Blocks cannot be understood apart from the context of the last two chapters. Paul has been making a series of contrasts between the believer and the unbeliever. What they had been building with was human wisdom and natural ability only what their senses understood to be of worth. They only discerned by outward appearances and shallow thinking. And in v.13, Paul shows what will happen when Christ Holy Heat will expose the quality of the materials Christian Ministers try to build the church with. Then the materials will be subject to...
The Fire's Breakdown ...v.13
“each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, Paul says. What Day is Paul referring to? I believe Paul is referring to the Day of God's Final Judgment, when Christ returns and determines from His Beema Judgment Seat, what is actually worthy of His Heavenly Kingdom Temple! I believe Paul stays on this topic of what leaders are building God's Temple with, into ch.4, where he warns the church not to judge too quickly, his labor or that of Apollos. He writes in v.5 “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.” 1Co 4:5
Only one life which soon will pass ...Only what's done for Christ will last! We may be able to hide our shoddy work from the eyes of Mr. Worldly Wise man, but nothing will escape the eyes of Christ, the Word of God ...for The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature will be hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Heb 4:12-13 On the Final Day of testing, all that every Christian leader built with “will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” This should be a very frightening to every minister of the Gospel. However, if a man of God has a Christ Honoring Message, uses Spirit Led Methods, and serves with God Glorifying Motives, he has nothing to worry about. He will be rewarded with...
The Future Blessing ...v.14
“If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.” If he can say, honestly, along with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2Ti 4:7 then just as Paul told Timothy, he can expect that “Henceforth there is laid up for him the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to him on ...that Day, and not only to him but also to all who have loved his appearing.” 2Ti 4:8 The Lord will tell him, “Well done good & faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” Matt 25:21
So, Paul never tired of warning church leaders to shepherd with care, because spiritual attacks will come, not only from without, but even more dreadful, they will come from within, from false professing church members who can destroy churches, and from false church leaders who can take the church off of its Christ Centered Foundation. He warned the church in Ephesus in Act 20:28 “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” Paul knew it wasn't easy to be an elder, a shepherd, an overseer, & there is often a great temptation to succumb to the bleating sheep. So, be aware of the Message, the Methods, & the Motives or experience...
The Forfeited Bonus ...v.15
What some self styled men think is Fireproof will prove to be otherwise. If a church planter, or pastor, or preacher adds human wisdom to God's Foundational Truth of Christ Crucified, whether that is through his message, through his methods, or through his motives, God will reveal it for what it is, an inferior message ...inferior methods ...or inferior motives taught him from the wisdom of the culture around him. God will consume it as 'dross', unfit for God's Precious Heavenly House! You may be asking, “What is an example of inferior messages ...methods or ...motives?” One example of an inferior message that is built on the foundation of Christ would be the message that many teach concerning these very passages. I am referring to the idea that a Christian can show no evidence of genuine repentance & faith, by living a life devoid of any good works done for the Glory of God, and still get into heaven. One prominent pastor even went so far as to say, “A Christian can become an atheist and not lose his salvation.” Would such a person actually be a Christian in the 1st place? This is the very section cited to support that idea, because of what Paul says in v.15.
“If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” Unfortunately, there may be many throughout church history whose work will be burned up (sermons, lectures, books, teaching, all as dry as dust, and highly flammable!). It is the tragedy of a fruitless life, of a minister who built so poorly on the true foundation that his work went up in smoke. His sermons were empty froth or windy words without edifying or building power. They left no mark in the lives of the hearers. It is the picture of a wasted life. The one who enters heaven by grace, as we all do who are saved, yet who does not enter bringing in the sheaves with him. I pray that is never my destiny! I want to teach the unadulterated uncompromising unconquerable Truth of God's Holy Word! By God's Grace, and by God's Grace only, will I succeed at that! Then every man will presented and found to be a stone in God's Final Temple. The O. & N. C. Church will be shown to be...
The Fulfilled Basilica ...v.16
“Do you not know [Paul uses this rhetorical question 10x in this letter.] Do you not know that you [plural] are God's temple [This is the particular word for the inner sanctuary] and that ...God's Spirit dwells or resides or occupies ...He has set up residence in your house? ...He has ...made his abode in you? God makes his home in ...us, and 'not in temples made with hands' as Stephen & Paul both mention in their sermons in Act_7:48; & Act_17:24. This should be astounding to us! And this why Paul is so bewildered with them and beside himself as he pens these words later in his 2nd letter, concerning their apathy about idolatry, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” he asks them in 2Co 6:16 “For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” quoting [Ex., Lev., Jer., Ezek., & Zech.]! In Eph 2:19-22 once again, Paul reminds these, mainly Gentiles that they “are no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone!” The New Covenant Church, by being in union with Christ has become God's Final Eschatological Building “in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into ...what? “a holy temple in the Lord. In Christ,[God's True Temple] you also, Paul tells the Ephesians, “are being built together into a ...dwelling place ...for God ...by the Spirit.” This is what Paul desires for this Corinthian body, that they would grow together & build together on Christ the Solid Rock, the Cornerstone. So, Paul gives a solemn warning to any who might actually attempt to take the church off of the Firm Base of Christ Crucified, which is the wisdom & power of God. What awaits such a person? ...
The Fatal Breakdown ...v.17
'Care for the flock!', Just as Paul told the elders in Ephesus, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one ...with tears.” Act 20:29-31
Is it any different today? Are there not still many false teachers, lying preachers, & would be prophets, who lead people astray? We meet them at our doors. We listen to them on the radio. We watch them on TV.
It is a terrible thing to relentlessly tear down the temple of God. Its like an earthquake that shatters a building in ruins. God does allow immature churches to collapse, merely because they haven't learned from a church like that of Corinth. This happened in Puritan New England when Unitarian preachers, who would not reveal their disdain for the Trinity, would come in & slowly undermine all the former work of an otherwise sound evangelical church. Eventually, because the congregation was undiscerning that Unitarian preacher would corrupt & eventually destroy that church. It is a gross sin to be a church-wrecker. Those preachers leave behind them ...ruin ...like a tornado in their path. Paul writes,“If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him” Notice, the solemn repetition of the same verb, “The church-wrecker God will wreck.” There is warning enough here to make every pastor pause before he tears a church to pieces in order to vindicate himself. “God will destroy him, Why? Because “God's temple is ...holy, and you [plural] are that temple.” Paul comes right out and says it, you, Corinthians, are God's Temple. There is a Godly jealousy that should rise up in any Spirit filled Steward “to contend for the faith that was once, for all delivered to the saints” ...that no man has a right to tear down God's Building. You are built on the foundation of the Apostles & Prophets, with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone. Build with Biblical Wisdom, teach a Biblical Message, use Biblical Methods, and have Biblical Motives!
Closing
Some churches are built upon traditions. Others are built upon a code of conduct. Still others attempt to build on sentimental love or an emotional experience. But Jesus is the only solid foundation of the church. A church built upon any other foundation is not a church of God. And even a church of God, which has Christ as its foundation can succumb to faulty messages, faulty methods, and faulty motives. Paul has given us all a very sober Warning, in v.10: “let each man be careful how he builds upon it”. That warning catapults Paul's words to the present. Paul has been speaking of what he did in Corinth in the past, but now with this warning, he speaks to the Universal Church of all time. It is a warning to all who build. You might be thinking, "This doesn’t apply to me. After all, I am not a preacher or an evangelist or a Bible teacher." That may be true, but I have news for you. If you are a Christian, then you are one of God’s workers. You have been enlisted in God's Army. You are an ambassador for Christ. You are an heir to the kingdom. You are a son of the living God! You are engaged in God’s building project, whether you like it or not.
For you personally, I would ask, “What blocks are you using to build with, and what foundation are building on? Don't ever lose sight of God's Foundation, Jesus Christ. Build your life and your worldview on Him, and Him alone. In Him are found all the treasures of wisdom & knowledge Col 2:3! And build with Spiritual Wisdom, not human wisdom. That is what will endure the Day of God's Test. I'll close with this word from Peter, In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1Pe 1:6-7
Lets pray!
We ended our study in the middle of v.9, where Paul reminds the Corinthians that both the founders, the leaders, and all the congregants, no longer belong to the world of men ...the realm of men ...the influence of men, ...but to God! Paul wants to make it clear that such human partisanship as the Corinthians exercised was obscuring whose work it really was. So, he takes them to their life source, the Owner of the Vineyard. He says, we are God's fellow workers. Some older translations say ...God’s husbandry. literally the tillers of the ground. We, leaders, toil with the soil, and the church is God's field. Literally, God’s tilled ground. The farmer works for God in God’s field. Without the sun, the rains, the seasons the farmer is helpless. And we are seeing, presently, just how helpless our farmers are. Trusting God for provision is a way of life for the farmer. It ought to be a way of life for everyone, because, ultimately, the whole world would be helpless without these basic needs.
Paul, then uses a 2nd metaphor at the end of v.9. He tells the Corinthians that they are 'God's building'! What building do you think Paul is referring to? Well, he tells us vs. 16-17, and we'll get into that next time. This is a common metaphor in the N.T. Paul will later write to these same Corinthians in another letter, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2Co_5:1 The writer to the Hebrew believers, who may have been Apollos, wrote that, “Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son.” Then, he tells his Jewish brothers in the faith, “And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” Heb 3:3-6 Unfortunately, many did not hold fast. So, they were not His House. So, what kind of house is the church stated to be? Paul tells us in v.16-17, The Church is God's Temple on earth. Why? Because Jesus is God's Temple. Jesus referred to His Body as the Temple of God in John 2. “Destroy this Temple” He told the Pharisees, “and in 3 days I will raise it up.” And we are told there, by John, that “He was speaking of the Temple of His Body”! And because we are His Body, we too, are God's Temple. Were the N.C. Writers just using metaphors for the Temple. Yes & No. Actually, Solomon's Temple was a ...type of the Heavenly Temple. Listen to Heb 9:24 “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” I may go deeper into this in the near future, in case that is unclear to some of you. But We are God's True Temple, as living stones, as Peter put it in our Call to Worship, being built up to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
The Faithful Builder ...v.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.” Paul calls himself a "wise master builder", as opposed to a foolish master builder. He builds with True Divine 'sophia' with True Godly 'wisdom'. Paul deliberately chose this word, 'sophia', because he knew that there were some in Corinth who did not see Paul as wise. Why didn't they see him as wise? Because he didn't use the wise sounding phrases of his day, and he didn't operate on man's wisdom. Yet, he tells them that he was a wise master builder. The phrase "master builder" is translated from the single Greek word 'arcitetkton'. This is where we get the It is from this word the "architect" from
Paul was both a builder as well as a planner of churches, but his specialty was in foundations. Over the years, Paul had planted foundations in many cities. He would frequently come into a city and preach the gospel and then leave. God would invariably use the seeds of his message and a growing church would sprout up. Paul nurtured this church for 2 years. The only other place he would spend more time was in Ephesus. And in fact, he writes this during the 3 years he is in Ephesus, when others had come in, such as Apollos, and possibly Peter, and even now it could be local elders which have been appointed to water and nourish the growing church. This is what he means when he says“someone else is building upon it.” So, Paul reminds the church and its leadership that he had laid...
The Firm Base ...v.11
“For no one can lay a foundation ...other than that which is laid, [Literally, “alongside the one already laid”] which is Jesus Christ.” If you lay a foundation alongside Christ, you build over a sinkhole, a very common phenomenon these days. Perhaps, God continues to give us these object lessons to show us that all other ground is sinking sand! Christ is the stone that the builders rejected, and He has become the Head of the corner. He, Himself, told the Sanhedrin this. Paul may be repeating this truth here. All the rest of the foundation must line up with, be leveled with, align itself with the Cornerstone! You can't lay a foundation with Peter [Cephas] as your base or Judaism or Apollos or Greek Philosophy or Worldly Wisdom or Human Psychology or Evolution or Relativism or any other Human Institution. In God's Temple what should be...
The Facility's Bricks ...v.12
The Building Blocks will either be permanent or perishable! They will either be valuable or vain ...precious or pitiable! This is why Paul classifies the blocks into 2 types of 3 each. They can be categorized as 2 types, gold, silver, precious stones, ...wood, hay, straw”. The gold, silver, precious stones, are designed to be long lasting ...durable. The wood, hay, straw are of short duration …perishable. God is not building an adobe or a mud hut, but He is making an eternal edifice, one that only Solomon's Temple can be compared with, complete with the precious metals & fine marble quarried from around the world. Now, it is very likely that when he says “if anyone builds on the foundation” that by anyone, he is referring, mainly, to church leaders, not individual professing Christians. He's saying I laid this foundation and another is building on it, another builder like me ...an overseer. If that overseer builds with inferior blocks, he will regret this and suffer loss when the building inspector shows up.
The different blocks will result in exposing the materials for what they actually are either temporary & worthless or lasting & worthy. Now, what do these materials represent? Do they represent natural abilities? Do they represent spiritual gifts? I think we can get some insight from the prophet Isaiah. In ch. 54, the prophet likens genuine enduring faith to the finishing touches where precious gems are set in fine background: "O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.” And here is what that will look like: v.13 “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isa 54:11-13 And then in Isa 60:17 the prophet, once again, brings in the metaphors of building materials“Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron.” And here is what that will look like: I will make your overseers ...peace and your taskmasters ...righteousness.”
No. I think the identity of these Facility Blocks cannot be understood apart from the context of the last two chapters. Paul has been making a series of contrasts between the believer and the unbeliever. What they had been building with was human wisdom and natural ability only what their senses understood to be of worth. They only discerned by outward appearances and shallow thinking. And in v.13, Paul shows what will happen when Christ Holy Heat will expose the quality of the materials Christian Ministers try to build the church with. Then the materials will be subject to...
The Fire's Breakdown ...v.13
“each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, Paul says. What Day is Paul referring to? I believe Paul is referring to the Day of God's Final Judgment, when Christ returns and determines from His Beema Judgment Seat, what is actually worthy of His Heavenly Kingdom Temple! I believe Paul stays on this topic of what leaders are building God's Temple with, into ch.4, where he warns the church not to judge too quickly, his labor or that of Apollos. He writes in v.5 “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.” 1Co 4:5
Only one life which soon will pass ...Only what's done for Christ will last! We may be able to hide our shoddy work from the eyes of Mr. Worldly Wise man, but nothing will escape the eyes of Christ, the Word of God ...for The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature will be hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Heb 4:12-13 On the Final Day of testing, all that every Christian leader built with “will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” This should be a very frightening to every minister of the Gospel. However, if a man of God has a Christ Honoring Message, uses Spirit Led Methods, and serves with God Glorifying Motives, he has nothing to worry about. He will be rewarded with...
The Future Blessing ...v.14
“If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.” If he can say, honestly, along with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2Ti 4:7 then just as Paul told Timothy, he can expect that “Henceforth there is laid up for him the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to him on ...that Day, and not only to him but also to all who have loved his appearing.” 2Ti 4:8 The Lord will tell him, “Well done good & faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” Matt 25:21
So, Paul never tired of warning church leaders to shepherd with care, because spiritual attacks will come, not only from without, but even more dreadful, they will come from within, from false professing church members who can destroy churches, and from false church leaders who can take the church off of its Christ Centered Foundation. He warned the church in Ephesus in Act 20:28 “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” Paul knew it wasn't easy to be an elder, a shepherd, an overseer, & there is often a great temptation to succumb to the bleating sheep. So, be aware of the Message, the Methods, & the Motives or experience...
The Forfeited Bonus ...v.15
What some self styled men think is Fireproof will prove to be otherwise. If a church planter, or pastor, or preacher adds human wisdom to God's Foundational Truth of Christ Crucified, whether that is through his message, through his methods, or through his motives, God will reveal it for what it is, an inferior message ...inferior methods ...or inferior motives taught him from the wisdom of the culture around him. God will consume it as 'dross', unfit for God's Precious Heavenly House! You may be asking, “What is an example of inferior messages ...methods or ...motives?” One example of an inferior message that is built on the foundation of Christ would be the message that many teach concerning these very passages. I am referring to the idea that a Christian can show no evidence of genuine repentance & faith, by living a life devoid of any good works done for the Glory of God, and still get into heaven. One prominent pastor even went so far as to say, “A Christian can become an atheist and not lose his salvation.” Would such a person actually be a Christian in the 1st place? This is the very section cited to support that idea, because of what Paul says in v.15.
“If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” Unfortunately, there may be many throughout church history whose work will be burned up (sermons, lectures, books, teaching, all as dry as dust, and highly flammable!). It is the tragedy of a fruitless life, of a minister who built so poorly on the true foundation that his work went up in smoke. His sermons were empty froth or windy words without edifying or building power. They left no mark in the lives of the hearers. It is the picture of a wasted life. The one who enters heaven by grace, as we all do who are saved, yet who does not enter bringing in the sheaves with him. I pray that is never my destiny! I want to teach the unadulterated uncompromising unconquerable Truth of God's Holy Word! By God's Grace, and by God's Grace only, will I succeed at that! Then every man will presented and found to be a stone in God's Final Temple. The O. & N. C. Church will be shown to be...
The Fulfilled Basilica ...v.16
“Do you not know [Paul uses this rhetorical question 10x in this letter.] Do you not know that you [plural] are God's temple [This is the particular word for the inner sanctuary] and that ...God's Spirit dwells or resides or occupies ...He has set up residence in your house? ...He has ...made his abode in you? God makes his home in ...us, and 'not in temples made with hands' as Stephen & Paul both mention in their sermons in Act_7:48; & Act_17:24. This should be astounding to us! And this why Paul is so bewildered with them and beside himself as he pens these words later in his 2nd letter, concerning their apathy about idolatry, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” he asks them in 2Co 6:16 “For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” quoting [Ex., Lev., Jer., Ezek., & Zech.]! In Eph 2:19-22 once again, Paul reminds these, mainly Gentiles that they “are no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone!” The New Covenant Church, by being in union with Christ has become God's Final Eschatological Building “in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into ...what? “a holy temple in the Lord. In Christ,[God's True Temple] you also, Paul tells the Ephesians, “are being built together into a ...dwelling place ...for God ...by the Spirit.” This is what Paul desires for this Corinthian body, that they would grow together & build together on Christ the Solid Rock, the Cornerstone. So, Paul gives a solemn warning to any who might actually attempt to take the church off of the Firm Base of Christ Crucified, which is the wisdom & power of God. What awaits such a person? ...
The Fatal Breakdown ...v.17
'Care for the flock!', Just as Paul told the elders in Ephesus, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one ...with tears.” Act 20:29-31
Is it any different today? Are there not still many false teachers, lying preachers, & would be prophets, who lead people astray? We meet them at our doors. We listen to them on the radio. We watch them on TV.
It is a terrible thing to relentlessly tear down the temple of God. Its like an earthquake that shatters a building in ruins. God does allow immature churches to collapse, merely because they haven't learned from a church like that of Corinth. This happened in Puritan New England when Unitarian preachers, who would not reveal their disdain for the Trinity, would come in & slowly undermine all the former work of an otherwise sound evangelical church. Eventually, because the congregation was undiscerning that Unitarian preacher would corrupt & eventually destroy that church. It is a gross sin to be a church-wrecker. Those preachers leave behind them ...ruin ...like a tornado in their path. Paul writes,“If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him” Notice, the solemn repetition of the same verb, “The church-wrecker God will wreck.” There is warning enough here to make every pastor pause before he tears a church to pieces in order to vindicate himself. “God will destroy him, Why? Because “God's temple is ...holy, and you [plural] are that temple.” Paul comes right out and says it, you, Corinthians, are God's Temple. There is a Godly jealousy that should rise up in any Spirit filled Steward “to contend for the faith that was once, for all delivered to the saints” ...that no man has a right to tear down God's Building. You are built on the foundation of the Apostles & Prophets, with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone. Build with Biblical Wisdom, teach a Biblical Message, use Biblical Methods, and have Biblical Motives!
Closing
Some churches are built upon traditions. Others are built upon a code of conduct. Still others attempt to build on sentimental love or an emotional experience. But Jesus is the only solid foundation of the church. A church built upon any other foundation is not a church of God. And even a church of God, which has Christ as its foundation can succumb to faulty messages, faulty methods, and faulty motives. Paul has given us all a very sober Warning, in v.10: “let each man be careful how he builds upon it”. That warning catapults Paul's words to the present. Paul has been speaking of what he did in Corinth in the past, but now with this warning, he speaks to the Universal Church of all time. It is a warning to all who build. You might be thinking, "This doesn’t apply to me. After all, I am not a preacher or an evangelist or a Bible teacher." That may be true, but I have news for you. If you are a Christian, then you are one of God’s workers. You have been enlisted in God's Army. You are an ambassador for Christ. You are an heir to the kingdom. You are a son of the living God! You are engaged in God’s building project, whether you like it or not.
For you personally, I would ask, “What blocks are you using to build with, and what foundation are building on? Don't ever lose sight of God's Foundation, Jesus Christ. Build your life and your worldview on Him, and Him alone. In Him are found all the treasures of wisdom & knowledge Col 2:3! And build with Spiritual Wisdom, not human wisdom. That is what will endure the Day of God's Test. I'll close with this word from Peter, In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1Pe 1:6-7
Lets pray!