Construction Zone 1 Corinthians 3.10-17 January 23, 2011 Introduction: Once upon a time there were three little pigs who went out to make their way in the world. The first little pig went out and built a house out straw, because that was the quickest. The second little pig went and built a house out of sticks, because they were the easiest building materials to find. But the third little pig was the most diligent and hardworking of the three and he built his house out of brick. One day the big bad wolf, who loved to eat little pigs, came along and saw the house of straw. He said, Little pig, little pig, let me in, let me in! Or I ll huff and I ll puff and I ll blow your house in. But the first little pig replied, Not by the hair of my chiny, chin, chin. So the big bad wolf huffed and he puffed and blew the house down and ate the first pig. Much the same thing happened when he reached the house of sticks. The wolf huffed and he puffed and blew down the house of sticks, and gobbled up the second pig. The wolf tried the same tactic when he came to the house of brick, but to no avail. As hard as he huffed and puffed, he couldn t blow the house down. As a last ditch effort, he tried to climb down the chimney, only to fall into a pot of boiling water, at which the third pig quickly covered the pot and had a lovely meal of wolf stew for supper. I imagine you re all familiar with that fairly tale and hopefully also familiar with the lesson we re to learn from it: what you build with matters. If you re lazy and cut corners and build with inferior materials instead of doing the hard work and building something durable that will last, then you shouldn t be too surprised when the whole thing collapses. Jesus tells a similar tale of a house built on the sand vs. a house built on rock: the wind and rain destroys one but doesn t affect the other. The lesson is clear: give careful heed to what you build upon or you may find yourself sitting amid a pile of rubble before too long. In the same vein as the tale of the Three Little Pig and Jesus parable about the house built on the sand, our passage today concerns what we build upon and what we build with. But rather than talking about our individual lives, Paul is addressing the question of how we re to build the church. What is the foundation of the church and what kind of materials should be used to build up the church so that withstands trials and testing? So as you open up your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 3, we re going to consider the answer to one central question that arises out of this passage, which is just this: Main idea: How are we to build the church? We re going to answer that question by looking at three aspects of the church-building process: first we ll consider the church s foundation, second we ll look at the building materials we are to use, and third, we ll consider the finished project. So let s begin right away by considering our first point: 1
1. The one foundation (v. 10-11) Let s read what Paul has to say about the church s foundation by opening your Bible with me to 1 Corinthians 3:10-11. Please follow along as I read v. 10-11 in the ESV. 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. Let s begin first by review the context of this passage. Paul has been addressing the issue of factionalism in the church in Corinth. People are creating division and strife over their favorite teachers by elevating worldly wisdom and oratorical skills over the simple message of the gospel. Right before this Paul used an agricultural metaphor to illustrate why the Corinthians were out of line for exalting their favorite leaders. He tells them in v. 5-6 that he, Apollos, and other are only workers in the field, but it s God who gives the growth. So if they re going to boast and brag, it should be in God and not his workers. He then wraps up that metaphor in v. 9 saying, For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. Paul shifts from a field metaphor to a building metaphor which he uses throughout the passage before us. Paul says in v. 10 he has laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. What he s referring to here is the church in Corinth. Paul laid the foundation by virtue of planting the church. He remained in the city of Corinth for about a year and a half and then moved on to the city of Ephesus, at which point Paul entrusted the leadership of the Corinthian church to others, thus Paul says in the middle of v. 10 that someone else is building upon it. This was the normal procedure for Paul: he would preach the gospel in a city, establish the church with those who responded to the message, stay for a while to provide instruction, appoint elders to carry on the work of building the church, and then move on to the next city to start the process all over again. But note what Paul says about the foundation of the church in v. 11. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. This is exactly what Paul was saying back in chapter 1: the gospel of Christ is the power of God which brought about their salvation. It wasn t the worldly wisdom proclaimed by silver-tongued philosophers that established the church; it was the simple message of Christ s death and resurrection. As the old hymn righty states, The church s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. The fact that Paul had laid a foundation on the person and work of Christ and not on the worldly wisdom that has so enamored the Corinthians as of late is what distinguishes Paul as skilled master builder or expert builder as the NIV translates it in v. 10. Paul laid the proper foundation. Without a proper foundation, the rest of the structure would be doomed to be faulty. One only needs to think of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. The reason for its fame is that the tower s foundation wasn t deep enough and was placed in unstable soil. Even though the building on a whole is a beautiful piece of architecture, it is fundamentally flawed because it had a poor foundation. 2
The same architectural principle for building a tower is true when building the church. A church must have as its foundation the message of the gospel of Christ. You can attempt to build a church on a pastor s personality or gifts or on pursing social justice or a political cause, but then what s you ve actually done is build something other than a church, even if you call it a church. Paul is clear: No one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. If a church isn t built upon the gospel of Christ crucified or if it fails to stands upon that gospel in its on-going ministry, then it has ceased to be a true church. Christ alone is the church s one foundation. Moving on then, Paul shifts his emphasis from laying a foundation to building upon that foundation in v. 12-15. So let s consider the second point of our message this morning which concerns 2. The building materials (v. 12-15) First I want you to notice that this section about building on the foundation is prefaced by a warning. Notice how after mentioning laying a foundation in v. 10 Paul says, Let each one take care how he builds upon it. So why does Paul says this? Well, let s find out by following along in your Bibles as I read v. 12-15. 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. The reason Paul warns about how one builds on the foundation is that God will test it. He s going to test the quality of the work, and either it s going to withstand the test and the worker will be rewarded or it s going to be burned up and the worker will suffer loss. Now I need to correct a common misconception about this passage before we go any further. Quite often this passage is used to support a view of something we talked about last week in regards to a carnal Christian. A carnal Christian can be defined as a person who at some point professes belief in Christ but then subsequently lives a life totally indistinguishable from an unbeliever. Perhaps you know somebody like this. They grew up in the church and prayed the sinner s prayer in a Sunday school class but then left the church entirely and now they re living like the devil. People will take this passage here and apply it to such an individual saying, Well, at least he or she will be able to get into heaven by the skin of their teeth. They may not have any works to show for their faith, but because they prayed to accept Christ into their heart way back in 1976, they ll still be saved, but only as through fire. That interpretation might work if we simply ripped this passage out of its context and completely ignored how this paragraph is part of a sustained argument Paul has been making for the past three chapters. But since we can t do that with any hermeneutical integrity, we need interpret this passage in light of the context. When we do that, we ll find that this passage is not addressing what happens to Christians in general when 3
they die, nor is it addressing those whom we d label as carnal Christians. Neither can this passage serve as a proof text for the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, where believers are purged for their sin after death in order to be made fit to enter heaven. What this passage is addressing are Christian leaders who are responsible for building up the church. Let s consider the context for a moment to see how this is the case. This construction metaphor Paul is using is simply an illustration in a larger argument as to why the Corinthians shouldn t be boasting and bragging about their leaders. All such boasting has led to division and strife in the church as Paul mentions in v. 1-4. So Paul first compares these leaders to farm workers in v. 5-9 and then to construction workers here in v. 10-15. So he s still talking about church leaders here. The church is the building and Paul and Apollos and others leaders are the builders. The context doesn t allow us to any other understanding of the metaphor other than for it to refer to church leaders who are engaged in the work of building up the church. So then, understanding that Paul is addressing church leaders here and not carnal Christians, let s look a little more carefully at what Paul has to say. First Paul lays out the principle that God will test each one s work in v. 12-13. 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 will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. Much like the three little pigs could build houses out of all kinds of material, so also can pastors and elders and church leaders attempt to use various materials to build up the church. Some materials like gold, silver, and precious stone will withstand the fames of testing while others like wood, hay, and straw will be burnt up. This then, of course, this begs the question, What is to be considered gold and silver and what is to be considered hay and straw? I think we re given an indication of how to understand this in v. 14. Paul spells out two ways this testing can turn out. First he says in v. 14, If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If you re looking at this in the NIV, you re getting a bit short-changed here because they paraphrase it very generically as If what he has built survives But the Greek is much more specific: it s not simply generically what he has built but rather, the work built on the foundation referring back to the foundation Paul mentioned in v. 11. So it s he whose work is built on the foundation - on the gospel message of Christ - that will receive a reward. In other words, the materials of gold, silver, and precious stone refer to the gospel, to Christ. If your work as a pastor or elder or missionary points people to Christcrucified and keeps the message of the cross at the heart of your ministry, then your work will withstand God s testing and you will be rewarded. While the Corinthians may find Paul s message of Christ crucified as simple or dull or something to be ashamed of, when the Lord returns to evaluate Paul s life work of planting churches and of teaching and preaching, it is Paul s Christ-centered ministry which will result God s reward. But what of the other side of the coin? Look back in your Bibles at v. 15. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Notice how Paul doesn t connect work with the foundation as he 4
did in v. 14. This is work that s unrelated to the foundation. I have no doubt that what Paul has in mind here are those teachers who have wooed the Corinthians with their oratorical style and worldly wisdom but have been downplaying the message of the cross. Rather than preaching Christ crucified, they ve captivated their listeners with rhetorical flair and philosophical wisdom. It s that kind of message Paul associates with the wood, hay, and straw of v. 12 and is therefore what will be burnt up in the fire when the Lord returns. Such a church leader isn t going to lose his salvation Paul assumes they re indeed genuine believers, in spite of their neglect of preaching Christ crucified in favor of worldly wisdom but all of their labors will be for naught. Their work in the ministry will be burnt up; it will have no lasting eternal value. For such a Christian leader, there s no reward for his life work in the ministry; just loss because he tried to build the church upon something other than Christ the Lord. This is a very powerful passage for anybody in Christian leadership, especially pastors. I ve found this to be deeply convicting personally. What can be more tragic than for a pastor or missionary to labor many years to establish or grow a church, only to discover that when he stands before the Lord all of his labor is incinerated like dry hay. Yet this is the sobering reality Paul warns of for all those who would seek to build the church on a foundation other than Christ. We may celebrate churches with charismatic preachers and multi-million dollar facilities that attract thousands of people every Sunday, but if such a pastor is not preaching Christ crucified, if he s neglecting the Spirit-revealed wisdom of God as found in the Spirit-inspired Word of God in favor of the crowd-pleasing trinkets of worldly wisdom, then in spite of all its impressiveness, it is nothing more than straw and hay, and will be burned up on the Day the Lord returns. Oh that we would so love our pastors and so treasure the gospel that we would insist on Christ-centered, biblically-based preaching in our churches! I do not want to stand before the Lord only to discover that my labors were in vain, that I traded the jewels of the gospel for the cheap straw of worldly wisdom just so I could attract a crowd. May we be a church that cries for more of Christ and more of God s Word, even if it means less people attend because their ears aren t tickled as they would like. Let us build the church on the gospel of Christ so that we might pass through the testing fire of God s unscathed and hear the words we long to hear on that Day, Well done, my good and faithful servant. So then, it should be pointedly clear that God cares about how his church is built and what it s built upon, and will test those entrusted with the task of building it. But this passage isn t only relevant for church leaders. As we move on to our third point, Paul now addresses the entire church to instruct them about the nature of the church as well as to give them a warning. So let s move on to our third point which concerns 3. The completed project (v. 16-17) Please look back in your Bibles with me at v. 16-17. Paul writes there, 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. 5
The metaphor Paul has been using crystallizes from a generic building in the previous verses to that of God s temple. Now you need to recognize that in these two verses the word you is plural, meaning Paul is not addressing the Corinthians as individual Christians but rather collectively as a church body. While elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 6:19 Paul applies the temple metaphor to individuals while discussing sexual immorality saying, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, that s not how it s being used here. Here in v. 16-17 Paul is referring to the church - God s corporate people - as a temple. So one could paraphrase Paul like this, Don t you see that all of you as the church are the temple of God, where His Spirit dwells? You collectively are the building I ve been talking about that the workers are building. Because the Holy Spirit dwells among you corporately, the church in Corinth has become a holy temple that God jealously protects and is deeply concerned about. As a result, the first thing we should notice is the very high view Paul has of the church. The church gathered together is God s temple; God is present in the church in a way similar to him being present in the Holy of Holies. And much like the dwelling places of God in the Old Testament be it the Tabernacle or the Temple God expected it to be built out of the finest materials. The church is the dwelling place of the Sprit of God and thus it should be approached with the same kind of reverence and respect by Christians as was expected by God s covenant people back in the Old Testament. So if that s the case, then our thoughts on the church can only be described as lightyears away from God s thoughts when we treat the church in the manner we do. God regards the church as his holy temple where his Spirit dwells; we regard the church as an optional part of the Christian life. We ll attend it if we aren t too busy with other plans that weekend, serve in it if we don t have to get up too early or stay too late, give to it provided it doesn t interfere with our standard of living, and then leave it as soon as something displeases us. We treat the church less like God s holy Temple and more like a fast-food restaurant we want it quick, easy, inexpensive, and done our way or else we ll take our business elsewhere. Its passages like these that act as a splash of cold water on our faces to alert us to the danger of treating the local church in a flippant manner. This is God s temple, not your little country club. If I might borrow for a moment the words Aragorn spoke to Frodo the Hobbit in The Fellowship of the Ring, I would have a little more caution from you. That is no trinket you carry. The church of God is no trinket, to be abused, neglected, and then casually tossed aside when you grow weary of it or angry at it or desire to find one more suitable to your fancy. The church is the holy temple of God wherein the Holy Spirit dwells and over which God jealously protects; treat it as such. The description of the local church as God s temple should alone be enough reason for us to pause to carefully and consider how we treat God s temple. But the seriousness of Paul s warning at the beginning of v. 17 should lead us to sober reflection as well. Look as what Paul says in v. 17, If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. These are serious words we dare not quickly dismiss. But to whom is Paul addressing this to and what does he mean by it? I think there are two levels of application that Paul has in mind with this warning. 6
First, this is a warning to leaders in the church, such as the teachers who have recently become the heart-throbs of the Corinthian believers. They ve been impressed with their oratorical skills and philosophical insights, but they lack the Spirit of God. They don t point people to Christ because the message of the cross is foolishness to them. But their teaching is nevertheless having an effect on the Corinthian believers, drawing them away from Christ and sound doctrine. The teaching of these philosophers is working like a cancer to destroy the church. It is to those people whom Paul is warning: if you destroy God s temple, his people by leading them astray, God will destroy you. So Paul is raising the stakes. He s saying for some the consequences for proclaiming something other than Christ crucified is more dire than one s work merely being burnt up yet they re still saved. For some false teachers, it will result in their destruction. The difference is that those who Paul speaks of in v. 15 are genuine Christians who can t lose their salvation while v. 17 is directed at unbelievers who through their teaching are trying to lead Christians astray. So though I can t ultimately know another man s hearts, let me nevertheless try to flesh this out for us. I am willing to give pastors like Joel Osteen or Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral fame the benefit of the doubt that they are genuine Christians who have trusted in Christ s death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. Yet in their ministries they ve watered down the message of the cross by proclaiming a feel-good, self-help, prosperity gospel. As a result, they ve built their churches on wood, straw, and hay, and when God evaluates their life work as ministers, it will burn up, although they themselves will be saved. They are v. 15 sort of pastors. They are very different than a man like Jim Jones, who led 900 people to their death in the Jonestown Massacre in 1978. The nature of his false teaching gives you little reason to believe he had any kind of genuine faith in Christ, and one certainly cannot describe the results of his ministry as anything other than destructive. Jim Jones is an example of the kind of person Paul is primarily addressing here in v. 17. If you destroy God s temple, his people, the church, then God will destroy you by pouring our his wrath upon you for all eternity. But there is another level of application here that s for all of us even if we aren t pastors or church leaders. Paul says, If anyone destroys God s temple Paul is speaking of anyone leader or otherwise who might through their words or deeds be party to destroying the church. Now that can of course be done in numerous and sundry ways, but certainly one such way to destroy the church that s undoubtedly in Paul s mind here is the very issue Paul is confronting the Corinthian believers to begin with: factionalism. How many churches have been destroyed as a result of factionalism? Little pockets of resistance and protest form. Minor preferences become hills people are willing to die on. Gossip, quarrels, name-calling, and heated-arguments take place while jealousy and bitterness take root. And then before you know it the church erupts like a powder keg. The one s who don t get their way leave the church and take as many as they can along with them. Those who are left are hurt and wounded. They feel betrayed. Once vibrant ministries are abandoned for lack of people. Church finances are ruined, bills 7
cannot be paid, and the church spins down into a spiral of debt and discouragement. That s what factionalism can do to a church; it can destroy it. Paul knows this so he warns the Corinthians and us of the grave danger for those who willingly engage in such things. If you destroy God s temple, the church, then God will destroy you. We need to hear this warning today, all the more when we re so quick to abandon a church when things aren t to our liking. Factionalism, divisiveness, quarreling - these are serious sins. When we fracture the church either by our own divisive spirit or by leaving it such as in a church split, God is not pleased. It s no less grievous to sin against your body as the temple of God through sexual sin than it is to sin against the church as the temple of God through factionalism. Sexual sin and factionalism are both sins against God s temple. In fact, let me be frank: there may be little difference in God s eyes between you leaving a church in a huff over some unresolved quarrel and you spending the night with a homosexual prostitute; in fact, in light of the language Paul uses here, it might just be worse. We might make a big deal about sexual sin all the while shrugging off factionalism and divisiveness and church splits as minor issues (if we see them as that at all), but God s perspective is radically different. Paul warns all who would bring about division in church that may themselves face God s wrath for the destruction they ve wrought. You would be wise to keep this passage in mind next time you find yourself in conflict with others in the church. Your factionalism, your divisiveness, your on-going gossip and slander and grumbling may be destroying the church. You might not take it seriously, but God certainly does. Paul is clear: If anyone destroys God s temple [the church], God will destroy him. Conclusion So then, as we close, I think it is only appropriate for us to take a moment to examine our own hearts. Are we viewing the church as God s views it: a holy temple that is to be built on the foundation of Christ? By our words and actions, are we working to build up the church in a manner that is pleasing to God and will result in eternal reward? Or are we guilty of the sin of factionalism, of destroying the church through our pride as we cause nothing but strife and division and quarrels? Let us here at Grace Brethren not be those who have cause to fear the fiery testing of God s judgment, but let us strive to be those who please our God by building up his church through living out in word and deed the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let s pray. This sermon was addressed originally to the people at Grace Brethren Church of Waterloo, IA by Pastor Rob Borkowitz. Copyright 2011. 8