God's Building

1 Corinthians 3:10-17

October 5, 2008

Last week we saw a very pointed passage from Paul

As he has now turned to directly confront

The selfish divisions of the Corinthian Church.

Last week Paul revealed the cause of their division.

FOR DIVISION HAS ONLY ONE CAUSE:

Spiritual Immaturity.

As Paul would put it.

Show me a church that struggles with division,

And I’ll show you some spiritual babies.

And what other conclusion could be reached?

1 Corinthians 3:2-3 “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?”

The root of division is always jealousy and strife.

People want what they don’t have, and they are willing to fight to get it.

AND PAUL HAS BEEN ATTACKING THEIR DIVISION.

Last week, he used a SHAME TACTIC

By calling them “spiritual babies”

Paul was, in a sense, shaming them to grow up and put God first.

1 Corinthians 3:9 “For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.”

The idea of course is that this whole thing belongs to God.

We are not here to please ourselves, we are here to please Him.

And Paul shames them by telling them

To grow up and focus on God for a change.

Tonight Paul confronts the same issue,

But here, instead of shaming them, Paul will WARN THEM.

You see, on one hand division is flat out embarrassing,

But on the other hand it is very dangerous.

After mentioning that we are God’s building,

Paul follows that analogy to deliver to us a very stiff warning.

First he will give the illustration, then comes the warning.

Let’s break the text into 4 points tonight.

#1 CONSTRUCTION

1 Corinthians 3:10-11

Paul just reminded the Corinthians in verse 9,

That they were in fact, “God’s building.”

Building on that, Paul reveals what he means.

(10) “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation,”

You may not have known this before, but Paul was a concrete man.

He dealt in foundations.

When he went to a town,

He didn’t immediately worry about all the frills and dressings.

He was concerned about the foundation.

And certainly you know he had to be.

As far as buildings go, if the foundation is wrong,

The building is permanently flawed and always susceptible to ruin.

That is why the Psalmist said:

Psalms 127:1 “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.”

I have often told married couples this very thing.

Jesus said:

Matthew 7:24-25 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. "And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.”

The foundation is absolutely essential.

AND THIS IS PRECISELY HOW PAUL APPROACHED CORINTH

(He stayed 18 months laying a foundation)

And of course we are familiar with Paul’s foundation:

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”

Paul founded the church on the blood of Jesus Christ,

And the TRUE conversion of the sinner.

Today people commonly skip this phase.

They use the exact things Paul rejected (human wisdom and emotion)

To lure people into a decision without the gospel or the Holy Spirit.

There is no repentance…

There is no humility…

There is no submission…

There is no obedience…

There is no fruit…

And they let people go the rest of their lives on a faulty foundation.

They think they are secure, but they are not.

And some day, they end up in judgment screaming,

“Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?”

Paul worked against such a thing.

If he did nothing else, he was going to make sure

That the church started on the right foot.

I would hope that this would be our goal as well.

That each of us would desire to be Master Carpenters like Paul.

That we would be concerned that whatever we build, is built correctly.

And Paul even tells you the things it requires to be a solid builder.

1) Grace

“According to the grace of God which was given to me”

If God is not in it, you cannot build.

The only reason Paul was successful in Corinth

Is because God told him to stay.

We cannot squeeze results where God is not at work,

It requires grace.

2) Wisdom

“like a wise master builder”

Proverbs 24:3 “By wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established;”

It was the fear of the Lord that pushed Paul forward.

He cut no corners, he exaggerated no figures, he shunned no tasks.

Paul was committed to doing it right.

(My Dad VS. My Father-in-Law)

My dad is a pragmatist, My father-in-law is a perfectionist.

Make sure you know how to build it correctly.

3) Obedience

“I laid a foundation”

What we just learned from the parable of Jesus

Is that the foundation is obedience.

Matthew 7:24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

You see, you only build a house God’s way, and by His plan.

That is precisely how Paul started in Corinth.

He entered that pagan city, and set a solid foundation for the church there.

BUT THEN YOU WILL SEE WHY PAUL

IS SO CONCERNED ABOUT HOW YOU AND I BUILD.

The concrete man gives way to the framing crew.

“and another is building on it.”

Of course this was Apollos.

Earlier while giving farming illustrations, Paul said:

1 Corinthians 3:6 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.”

After the foundation, another came to work on the building,

And indeed many other contractors have joined in the labor.

Plumbers, electricians, dry wall, painters, air conditioning…

And to them all, Paul gives a warning.

“But each man must be careful how he builds on it”

“be careful” translates BLEPO

It means to see, but it carries a deep vividness.

It was used in Acts.

Acts 1:10 “And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.”

Paul wants you and I to be Master Contractors just like he was.

He wants us to continue what he started.

(11) “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

In other words, once the slab is poured,

We know how big the house is going to be, and we know it’s shape.

You can’t change it then.

And of course we already know the foundation.

“Jesus Christ”

Jesus Himself taught on this.

Matthew 16:16-18 “Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

The full surrender to the Lordship of Christ,

And public confession of Him is the foundation of the Church.

We submit our lives to Him, and we publicly confess Him.

If you try to turn a church into anything else,

It is betraying the purpose for which it was built.

Not a humanitarian agency…

Not a political voice…

The church is a lighthouse with the gospel.

And Paul says whoever signs up to work on this building

Must know that first of all.

Paul showed up as a Mater Builder,

To build the Church exactly the way the Lord wanted it,

And his plea is that you and I will accept the Lord’s blueprint

And build with the same commitment.

Leave your own ideas at home, and follow the Lord’s plan.

Construction

#2 INSPECTION

1 Corinthians 3:12-13

My father-in-law just found this out not too long ago.

That now in the state of Texas, if you are a contractor, you have to be licensed and have all of your work inspected.

It is a relatively new law for contractors in Texas,

But in regard to spiritual work, it has always been in force.

We call it judgment.

(12-13) “Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.”

YOUR WORK WILL BE TESTED.

I’ve always thought one of the easiest jobs on the construction site was the SHEET ROCKERS.

“Oh the mudders will get it.”

And sometimes people work like that in the church.

They act like they can do a “half-way” job and no one will ever know it.

WRONG!

“each man’s work will become evident, for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.”

Remember that sermon you preached.

The one you didn’t write, but stole from someone else because you didn’t want to study. O sure, it looks like it went fine. WRONG – it will be exposed.

Remember that Sunday School lesson you taught.

You didn’t even look at it until Sunday morning, and all you did was read the lesson, but you got away with it. WRONG – it will be exposed.

Remember that special music you sang.

You didn’t practice, you didn’t try, you just decided to get up there and wing it. So what if it wasn’t your best, you got away with it. WRONG – it will be exposed.

God is watching, and God is evaluating.

AND THE QUALITY OF YOUR WORK IS BEING TESTED

(Not the quantity, but the quality)

The mark of false prophets was not the quantity of their followers,

But the quality of their followers.

Matthew 7:16-18 "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.”

Some day you will stand judgment.

Romans 14:10-12 “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD,EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD." So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”

2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

The way you build, and the materials you use

Will be evaluated and passed through the fire.

Construction, Inspection

#3 REWARD

1 Corinthians 3:14-15

Once the judgment fire has settled, the reward will be passed out.

And the explanation is extremely easy to understand.

“If any man’s work which he builds on it remains, he will receive a reward.”

Jesus gave us a command:

Matthew 6:20 "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;”

And here Paul says, if you work correctly, with the proper material,

That reward is most definitely yours.

However:

(15) “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

I don’t know why, but the tendency for Christians today

Is to read that verse without much fear.

“Well it says, I’ll be saved, so what does it matter if I don’t get as much reward as the next guy?”

Suppose your house burns…

Suppose you lose everything in Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac…

YEAH YOU ARE ALIVE, BUT EVERYTHING IS GONE.

That is precisely how many people

Are going to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Preachers – with no reward for copied sermons…

Teachers – with no reward for a lack of study…

Missionaries – with no reward for their lack of sharing the gospel…

And as David Allen put it in our revival.

“They will press into the nail scarred hands of Jesus the charred embers of a wasted life.”

There will be no reward at all.

They are what we call SHADY CONTRACTORS

Paul was a Master Builder

Well this person is just the opposite.

They use cheap materials and they do a shoddy job.

DO YOU GET PAUL’S POINT?

It matters how you build.

You have to do it correctly.

You have to do it with a sincere commitment.

Every time you step up to work for God,

You owe it to God to give Him the absolute best you have.

You sacrifice the time, you sacrifice the effort, and you get it right.

Construction, Inspection, Reward

#4 WARNING

1 Corinthians 3:16-17

There are some who are Master Builders like Paul.

There are some who are Shady Contractors.

But here Paul is addressing neither of them.

In these two verses Paul is addressing terrorists

Who seek to undo, blow up, and destroy what is being built.

They are those within the church, who dress like one of us,

Who get on one of our airplanes and destroy what we have worked for.

They worm their way into the inner workings,

And seek to destroy the work of the church.

Both Peter and Jude spoke of them:

Jude 12-23 “These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, " Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, " In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts." These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”

Peter would essentially say the same thing,

And if you read what Peter says,

You would notice that both Peter and Jude

Compared these terrorists to Balaam.

He was the “wanna-be” prophet who sold out for gold

And taught Balak that the way to bring Israel down

Was to bait them with the Midianite women.

Balaam wormed his way in and then tried to bring the whole thing down.

THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT A SPIRITUAL TERRORIST DOES

And Paul is warning against those

Who would seek to do that to God’s church.

(16) “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

In other words, are you not aware that the work going on here is God’s work?

(17) “If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.”

And there you see the full force of Paul’s point.

Not only should we be EMBARRASSED about division

Since it reveals the lack of spiritual maturity.

But anyone who is caught in division should be very AFRAID,

For if you allow your jealousy and strife to destroy the Church

God will bring you down.

Division is absolutely inexcusable in the Church.

The next time you want to take your tongue and destroy the word of God, let it be known that God deals severely with terrorists…

It is time to grow up and get past it, or be punished for it

Tonight I want to ask you what kind of contractor you are.

Are you the deliberate contractor?

The master contractor like Paul who works hard to do it right.

Are you the deceitful contractor who does a job half-way with bad materials?

Are you the destructive contractor who is actually helping to bring the whole building down?

And tonight I want to encourage you to deny yourself

And sell out for the purpose of the kingdom of God.

This world doesn’t need to see a divided church.

This world needs to see a Church

That loves the Lord Jesus Christ and one another.

Let us grow up and give it to them.

1 Corinthians 1:10 “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.”