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1 Corinthians | Chapter 3

1 Corinthians 3:1-4

“Milk, It Does a Body Good?”

I. Intro

In a small town, there were three churches all facing the same problem: squirrels! Yes, that’s right. They had a varmint problem and, although they thought the critters were cute, they were a distraction which each Church independently decided needed to be handled. Each came up with their own way of dealing with the situation:

  • The first Church decided it was God’s will they be amongst them, so they just allowed them to stay.
  • The second Church loved the squirrels and felt they had a right to exist, just not amongst them. So they lovingly trapped them in cages and brought them to the edge of town releasing them into the world. The problem was the squirrels decided they preferred the shelter and protection the Church provided, and within a week, they came back to the Church to live.
  • The last Church took great time to assess the situation, in light of all of those that call their Church home. So, they decided to take a vote and make the squirrels members. Members? How would that get rid of the squirrels, you ask? Well, if they were like the vast majority of the Church’s members, they would now only have to deal with them twice a year—on Christmas and Easter.

Okay, why the story about squirrels? Well, the truth is that baby Christians are a lot like these squirrels. They are very cute at times but can be an enormous distraction which will consume the time and resources of the body of Christ. A few baby Christians in the body of Christ, as long as there is growth in their lives, is great and no big deal. But where the majority of the Church is made up of baby Christians with no growth, then we have an enormous problem. But what’s the cause and what’s the solution to this crisis that is affecting the vast majority of Churches? That is what we will be looking at today.

II. Vs. 1-4 The Failure of the Flesh

Vs. 1: First, you will remember that in chapter three, Paul describes these Corinthian believers as “carnal.” Based upon the word Paul uses, “brethren” (which is used exclusively for born-again believers), we know that he is describing Christians. Remember, Paul said in 2:14, “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God.” So, clearly, this person to whom Paul speaks is not the soulish man that cannot receive the things of God; otherwise, he would not call them “brethren.” This, then, is a description of a person who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, thus they have become a “God-breathed-upon person.” Yet, clearly, this cannot be a good thing, so how are we to understand this? Well, you will recall that I told you every Christian faces two great obstacles:

  • The world: The world system which has its own definitions, standards, attitudes, and goals. This is outside us and, according to scripture, is manipulated by Satan. This, in turn, has an impact upon man through what John describes in 1 John 2:16 saying, “all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world.” Simply put, the “world system” of definitions, standards, attitudes, and goals works in conjunction with the second obstacle (the flesh). Paul gave us a great picture of this in Eph. 2:1-3 where we are told that “We once walked according to the course of this world (world system), according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan). Thus, we conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh; the outcome was that we were dead in our trespasses and sins.”
  • The flesh: Remember, I said that Paul uses two words in the Greek for “carnal” in these four verses:
    • Vs. 1 “Sarkinos”: Which means “made of the flesh.” It speaks of the weakness that is common to all fallen people. We are all “fleshy” people at times, and we struggle with the old man. Thus, we all need to practice what Paul says in Eph. 4:22-24; “put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
    • Vs. 3-4 “Sarkikos”: This word has the same root but the ending renders the meaning as “having the nature of the flesh.” This word describes a person that is characterized by the flesh. They have been “born again” but are still acting under the influence of the fallen flesh. In other words, they are “fleshly”! To this condition, Paul would speak in Romans 6:6, “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

There is a big difference between at times acting “fleshly” and being characterized as “fleshly.” How so? Well, Paul calls them babes in Christ. They were “in Christ,” but their natures were more characterized by the flesh than the spirit, and that left them still baby believers. Paul gives a very apt description of these Corinthian believers. The problem was not that they WERE babies, but rather that they were STILL babies.

Babies are wonderful. New life is a joy to behold! Yet babyhood on a continual stage is a tragedy. Babies, you will recall, are universally consistent on two fronts:

  • They are absolutely dependent on others: They cannot dress, feed, or in any manner take care of themselves. They depend upon others to clean up their messes. We were all at one time babies physically as well as spiritually, and, as such, have been characterized by the above. It’s a normal thing that we go through, and the body of Christ ought to be equipped to care for such.
  • They are really only content and happy when they are the center of attention: As long as you are playing with a baby, feeding a baby, changing a baby, they are content and happy. But walk out of the room, have the phone ring, or put the baby down for a nap, and they will let you know they are not happy.

One expects for the first year and a half of a baby’s life for them to be the center of attention. As parents, we are happy to provide all the baby needs. Paul is not speaking against this normal spiritual process. He does not expect infants to stand up and walk from the table to the bathroom and then do the dishes. The problem was that these Corinthian believers were now over four years old and yet they were still infants.

It is a tragic thing to see those who are believers now for several years still having to be totally dependent upon others to feed them and clean up their messes; still having to be the center of attention instead of Christ being the center.

Vs. 2-4: Okay, we see the problem and have made the proper diagnosis (through understanding). Paul now gives us two reasons, which led to this prognosis:

  1. Vs. 2 Diet: “I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able.” Again, there is nothing wrong with “milk” as an infant can only digest this, but if you were to see a child of two or three only able to eat milk, then something would be wrong, and the growth of that child would be stunted. The question, though, is what does Paul mean when he says, “they were only able to feed on milk?” Well, in Hebrews chapters 5 & into chapter 6, the author (whom I believe was Paul) tells us that three things qualified as milk. He says, “you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Heb. 5:12b-14) He then goes on to say in chapter 6:1-2 that they needed to leave the discussion of the three things which he has already called milk:
    • Evangelistic preaching: “Elementary principles of Christ”: Just what does he mean by this phrase? Well, notice how he describes it in the passage; “let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.” The word “perfection” is a word that would be better rendered “finisher or maturity” and speaks of going on into adulthood. But what does he say were the “Elementary principles of Christ”? Well, they were the teaching of “the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.” Simply put, the milk is “Jesus died for my sins”! There is nothing wrong with this teaching. It is right and extremely appropriate for those who don’t know Jesus and for those who have just come to know Him to understand that we need to repent and trust Jesus. But with that said, if all the Church ever hears is salvation messages, and they are already saved, what will happen to them? They won’t be getting the right food, the meat which is “we died with Christ to sin”! It is a sad fact that many today are only hearing each week that Jesus died for their sins, they are never getting the meat of the word of God that they need to die with Christ to sin. The diet has left the Church anemic and unhealthy. It has meant well by reaching the unchurched but at the expense of the churched. What about those Churches who are feeding the body of Christ a proper diet and there are those who, after many years, are still babies? Well, there are many in the Church who want nothing more than “milk” because they don’t want to grow up. They want to be dependent upon others and the center of attention, so they just tune out the word or are very inconsistent in attendance so as to not get convicted by the Spirit of God as He works through the Word of God. Frankly, most of the time these folks move on, or they find a church that will excite them and entertain them but not cause them to grow. I have a name for these types of Churches “milk and cookie churches.”
    • Rituals: “The doctrine of baptisms”: Now again, this is a biblical ordinance and, like communion, something we, as Christians, need to do. Baptism was an outward symbol of an inward reality and, as such, if you have never been baptized as a “born again” Christian, then you should do so. But here it appears that these “baby” Christians had over-emphasized its importance and made the formula of baptism more important than what it symbolized (death to our old nature and life in our new nature). There are many such things in Church life that seem to take on worship instead of directing hearts towards worship of Christ. I’ve seen communion in some Churches be worshiped instead of directing our worship. While in Israel several years ago, we went into a Greek Orthodox Church on Mount Carmel, and one of the folks with us set down his Bible on the ground, as there was not enough room in the pews, so that he could pray, and a priest came over and read him the riot act. I think what he is talking about here is the liturgical type of services where people begin to worship the ritual. “Stand up, sit down, read this, repeat after me, come forward” and so on. There are many that have grown up in these kinds of Church services who have no idea about Christian living; they are babes in Christ! The rituals that had been designed to point people to Christ and cause growth have become a hindrance as they are just repeated every week. Again, there are those who wish to stay babes and all they want is the rituals. They just want to get back to worshiping the liturgy and, if you mess with their liturgy, then they will let you know it and in so doing are choosing to stay babies.
    • Sensationalism: “Laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment”: Finally, he speaks on two more things that he qualifies as “milk” which he lumps together.
      • The “laying on of hands” was for healing, as James tells us. The elders ought to come forward and pray over the sick and those in need. Now again, there is nothing wrong with this. It is a good thing, but when “healings and miracles or the Gifts of the Spirit” become the central focus of the service, then the outcome is that people will come for the experience and not to grow more in love with Jesus. So there are those Churches that over-emphasize the “Gifts of the Spirit” instead of the “fruit of the Spirit.” The outcome is much of what was common in the Church of God in Corinth, as they “came short in no gift” (1:7) but were nonetheless “fleshly” in behavior. “I speak in tongues instead of learning how to hold our tongues!” The sad thing is there are those who, like the Church in Corinth, had the solid teaching of the word of God by the Spirit of God yet had made choices to ignore the meat on their table and just go after the “milk and cookies.”
      • The “resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment.” Now both of these two things speak of what we would call “end times or prophecy” stuff. I’m not saying that we should not speak of these things, but rather we should not ONLY speak of these things. I’ve taught at prophecy conferences, and I think the hope of the soon return of Christ is a vital part of the teaching of the Word of God by the Spirit of God. But, with that said, there are those Churches that every emphasis of the message each week is on the “end times.” No doubt, the popularity of the “Left Behind” books has fueled this. Even without this, some people will spend all their time talking about each and every event going on in the world and how it “might” relate to the rapture of the Church. I received an email this week from a fellow telling me he had concrete evidence that this was the year of the Lord’s return and, for a certain amount of money, he would let me in on his secret. Milk is concerned with “scorpions” being attack helicopters, while meat is concerned with how we ought to walk with Jesus now, in light of the FACT of the soon return of Jesus for us!
  2. Vs. 3-4 Behavior: Paul gives another symptom that led to his diagnosis of them being “fleshly.” It was seen in their behavior of “envy and strife” which led to divisions and they were behaving as soulish people. Now as babies, you can expect your fair share of immaturity. I remember when I was a kid getting report cards with notes on my behavior that read “doesn’t play well with others.” My mom was a little worried when the report card read, “don’t put hands inside of cage!” When you see kids acting like kids, it’s no big thing. Perhaps you have heard boys talking about whose dad could win in a fight? But there is something wrong when you see immature behavior in adults consistently. So today in Churches when you see cliques and competition amongst believers, it is a sign of the flesh and being a “baby.”

    The members of the body of Christ are not rivals of each other. You don’t belong to Calvary Chapel. We have no membership class that makes you a part of Calvary Chapel. Why? Well, because you belong to Christ, and we believe in the fellowship of all believers.

    So what do I do if right now I see that I’m a “babe” in Christ and I shouldn’t be? Well, “milk” may do a “baby” good and in moderation with other foods is healthy for adults, but you need solid food of the Word of God. What is the meat? It is the things that normally we don’t like to eat when compared with “milk & cookies.” I find that the meat of the Word always moves me away from being a baby:

    • Away from being dependent upon others to feed me, take me places, and clean up my messes to being self-feeding, taking others places and cleaning up others’ messes.
    • Away from ME being the center of attention, away from ME getting my way and towards Jesus being the center of attention and ME going after what He wants for me.

    In a nutshell, the “meat of the Word” is generally anything that causes me to die to self! Paul put it this way:

    • 1 Cor. 15:31 “I die daily.”
    • Gal. 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
    • Eph. 4:20-24 “But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

1 Corinthians 3:5-9a

“Building God’s Church God’s Way”

I. Intro

Last week, we saw Paul make a diagnosis concerning the believers in Corinth, that they were carnal, “fleshly,” characterized by the flesh. The cause for their condition was twofold:

  • Diet: They had decided to partake of nothing but milk. Milk, we discovered, is described for us in Hebrews 6:1-2, and, again, I remind you that milk is fine as a part of a balanced diet, specifically for those who are babies. But when all a person partakes of is “milk & cookies,” it will retard development.
    • Evangelical preaching: If a Christian hears nothing but how to get saved each week, they will not ever learn that they need to die to self.
    • Rituals: The very ceremonies that are intended to draw us into a deeper walk with Jesus instead, if repeated, tend to be the center of our worship rather than Jesus.
    • Sensationalism: As great as it is to speak of the “gifts of the Spirit” and the “End Times,” if this is all a person hears when it comes to the word of God, then they will be stunted in growth.

    Now, with this said, it was not the case in Corinth, as they were receiving the “whole counsel” of the Word of God. So how come they were anemic? Because they did not want to die to self. They liked to focus their attention on:

    • The truth that Jesus died for them and not apply the truth that they needed to die to self.
    • They wanted to focus their attention on the formula of baptism and not that baptism symbolized the death of the old nature and the raising to life of the new man.
    • They preferred to speak on the “gifts of the Spirit” instead of the fruit of the spirit. The “do you speak in tongues?” instead of learning how to control the tongue. They wanted to get the chronological timetable of the ends times down but not the truth that they need to live holy lives because they will soon meet Him!
  • Behavior: The second thing that caused them to be “fleshly” was their behavior which was characterized by “self-centered” living instead of “Christ-centered” living. Envy, strife, and divisions were what seemed to come from them instead of what Paul wrote to the Philippians (2:3-4) that “in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

Now Paul moves to the remedy for this affliction which is so prevalent in the Church today. The problem with the Church was that it was trying to build itself upon the world’s wisdom and not the wisdom of the word of God.

II. Vs. 5-9a Busboys in Cornfields

Vs. 5: In verse 4, Paul had illustrated their fleshly behavior by pointing out they were following men instead of following God’s word. It is interesting to me to follow Paul’s analogies in this chapter concerning how he sees the Word of God in the hearts of His people:

  • In verses 1-4, the word of God is likened to that of “solid food” which we need to grow by (verse 2).
  • In verses 5-9a, the Word of God is likened to “seed” which is what God gives His people to increase by.
  • Then finally, in verses 9b-12, the Word of God is the material used to build the foundation which is Christ in our lives.

Now we ought to be able to comprehend these analogies before us today in verses 5-12 as they deal with things that are:

  • Agricultural
  • Architectural

The first thing Paul does is explain how foolish it is to place adoration upon either himself or Apollos. Paul uses a word rendered “ministers” in the text, but, in the Greek, it is a word that means servant. In biblical times, there were two main types of servants:

  • There were the “doulos,” or bondservants, which meant they were a servant by choice. This was signified by a person going to the door of the house and having their ear pierced through. The bondservant was more than an ordinary servant because they saw their calling as that of serving their master and would do so for life. They never wanted to be free from this position and, as such, were given greater responsibility usually over the other slaves. In Romans 1:1, Paul refers to himself as a “bondservant of Jesus Christ.”
  • There was also the “diakonos,” which meant they were either sold into slavery, a prisoner, or owed a debt. This type of servant took care of the menial tasks. When Jesus took up a towel and washed the disciples’ feet, He was acting as a “diakonos” and not as a “doulos,” as this would be the lowest household duty. The word literally means “table waiter,” so perhaps today we would call him a busboy.

Now here, in verse 5, Paul tells us that he and Apollos were “busboys” through whom they had believed as the Lord gave each of them. Stay with me now as we are still on the “solid food” analogy concerning the “Word of God.” So let’s picture ourselves going into a restaurant for a bite to eat, and the food comes out being delivered to us by a waiter who also happens to bus the tables. Now, the food is fantastic, I mean, you have never tasted food as good as this food. A couple of years ago, my brother took me to a Chinese restaurant in Modesto that had some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. In fact, I just kept on eating until I felt as though I was going to explode. I liked it so well that Julian and I ate there, then my wife and I. Each time I go, I tell myself, “Dale, don’t eat so much, you know how full you feel afterward,” and each time I overeat. Now suppose I wanted to praise someone about the food. You would not thank the “busboy.” All he did was deliver the food to you. No, instead, you would send a note praising the chef who prepared such a feast.

You get Paul’s point? Who are Paul and Apollos? They are just mere table waiters who bring you the food that the Lord gave to each. Here is what I find. A lot of folks want to speak of how great the waiter was, “Oh, he was so polite, and the service was just fantastic; he made me laugh, a very friendly fellow!” I’m not saying that the waiter should be anything less than this, but would you go to a restaurant that had great service but lousy food? I had a fellow after last week’s service tell me he was visiting from another Church. He spoke of how great the “busboy” was, “he was funny, entertaining, charismatic, and very friendly.” When I asked how the food was, he said it was horrible, but he stayed because he loved the “busboy.” Oh, how tragic—you’re starving to death, spending your time, talents, and treasure on that which does not feed you because of the “busboy.” Folks, I know this is simple stuff here, but get your eyes off of the “busboy” and onto the food he serves! In the case of Paul and Apollos, the food they served had been given them by the Lord.

Vs. 6-7: Paul switches analogies here as we move to agriculture. To understand this, look at the phrase repeated twice: “God gave the increase.” Who were Paul and Apollos?

  • Paul was a “planter”: When a person farms, someone has to till the ground, getting the soil ready for the seed. Typically, you remove rocks and other debris, then you loosen the soil, and finally, you plant the seed. Is this valuable? Why, of course, but a person can do all of this preparation, but if the seed they sow is a plastic bottle cap, you are not going to grow anything. The life is not in the planter or even the soil; the life is in the “seed.”
  • Apollos was a “waterer”: That is, he was involved in irrigation, making sure that the soil prepared and the seed planted had the nutrients necessary for growth. But again, pour that same water on the ground, letting it run down the furrows thoroughly saturating the ground—yet does that mean you will have growth? No. Because the life is not in the water, it is in the seed!

At best, the pastor/teacher is just a farm worker. It is God who “gives the increase.” Now you see the number one problem with much of that which passes as Church. We pastors have bought into the thinking that it is some new “Church growth” technique that will cause life to spring up from the ground. So we go to some conference and are taught that if we learn all your names and make you feel welcome by hugging you, then water you with those things that make you feel refreshed, we will guarantee growth. You know what, there is something that springs up in the garden of the Church, but it is weeds, not plants. Why? Because we have sown bottle caps instead of the word of God. Let’s say this together, “God who gives the increase.” Do we pastors really believe this? Well, we will see if we employ God’s Word and not Church growth techniques. The best I can do for you today is set out those things necessary for you to grow! The word “increase” here is in a verb tense, which speaks of the continual work of God.

Vs. 8-9a: Now, you will notice here that there are three things about spiritual farm workers:

  • Vs. 8 Different jobs: There are those that plant and those that water, but Paul says neither of these is what is important. Rather, it is “the Lord Who gives the increase” that is important. Follow me on this Christian, and you will discover something very powerful. Ready? All of us Christians, the moment we received Jesus, entered into “full-time” service. God never gives birth to perpetual infants! We have all been given different jobs and talents which we are to use for His glory. There are far too many four to twenty-five-year-old Christians that think that they were saved to a “cradle life.” How do you know if this is you? Well, it is in attitude. When you and I arrived this morning, we came with one of two attitudes:
    • Baby: “What can you do to meet my needs”: You have come to be blessed and, if you leave here not being blessed, then you will do so thinking, “I deserve better than this!” Some even serve because it meets their needs for something.
    • Servant: “What can I do to bless others today!” You have come to be a blessing to others. You’re a giver, not a taker and, upon expending your time, talent, and treasure, you walk away saying “I don’t deserve this”! Jesus spoke to His disciples saying this about Himself, “The Son of Man has come not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.”
  • Same goal: Notice that Paul says that the “planter” and the “irrigator” are one. No matter what we are doing for the Lord, we have the same boss. Thus, there ought not to be competition. Instead, there ought to be only cooperation! We are on the same team, and it is not my team or your team, it is “Team Jesus.” We are “fellow workers, verse 9.” It’s God’s field that we work, so we can all say that we are in “His majesty’s service!”
  • Broken heart: Finally, Paul tells us that we will each receive our own reward. But look carefully at what this is based upon. Paul says that it is based upon “our own labor.” Do you see that? It is not based upon results or success, but rather faithfulness to do what He has called us to do. Jeremiah labored 40 years with not one changed heart to those he preached. Jonah preached only for a few days, reluctantly, and a nation repented. Yet, when Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”, they responded not with Jonah’s name but rather with Jeremiah’s. The key for us in being useful is not in what we do for the Lord, but rather that we do so with broken-heartedness!

1 Corinthians 3:9b-15

“Building God’s Church God’s Way (Part Two)”

I. Intro

During our trip to Israel, we had the opportunity to visit one of the oldest Churches in the world, “The Church of the Nativity” in Bethlehem. Perhaps you will remember it being in the news when terrorists used it to escape justice. The longevity of this structure is what fascinates me. Fires, earthquakes, and consistent warfare have not destroyed it. As impressive as this is from a structural standpoint, it is far more important to build a spiritually sound structure that will endure the trials of life in this world throughout time. Jesus said in response to Peter’s confession of Him being the Messiah, who is God, that the truth of that confession was the “rock on which He would build His church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Now that’s true spiritual longevity!

But just how is this accomplished? I mean, consider all the things that the modern Church considers essential in “building a spiritually long-lasting and strong Church.” You know the essentials:

  • Property and a nice, attractive facility on the right side of town
  • Lots of money so every sort of program can be funded to meet people’s needs
  • A pastor with a Doctorate degree and an engaging personality
  • Important people who attend the Church, preferably celebrities
  • Finally, lots and lots of self-promotion such as ads, T.V., radio

Yet with that said, none of these so-called modern-day essentials were present in the early Church. Read through the book of Acts, and you will discover that they owned no property, had no money, and were mostly uneducated, simple pastors. Those that attended Church were, for the most part, from the other side of the tracks, and the only thing they promoted was Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Contrast the Church today with the early Church, and you could not find any greater difference than these two Churches. Yet, which of these two Churches reached their world? Oddly enough, it is not the Church of the “inexhaustible resources” that turned the world upside down. Instead, it was the Church that worshiped the God who alone is able to do “exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or imagine”!

II. Vs. 9b-12 Building a Church

Vs. 9b: Now, we switch analogies from agriculture to architecture as Paul says that the Church is “God’s building”! Of course, I’m not speaking of the physical location where the Church meets, but rather of those that meet there.

The first thing we realize by reading this is that God is the Architect and General Contractor. It is He who has designed it, and it is He who ought to oversee its construction. This Church does not belong to “Pastor Dale.” I’m not the one that is its designer. He is. So it is very important that, as His laborer, I build it according to His design, using His materials with His heart towards the work. A lot of Churches that are around are built according to the world’s wisdom and materials but, as Paul will point out, they never last and always look funny!

Vs. 10: Paul’s effectiveness was not based upon his skill but rather upon “the grace of God which was given him.” It was this grace that made him a wise “master builder.” This word in the Greek is one word, “architekton,” which only appears here in the New Testament. You probably recognize this word, as it is where we get our word “architect.” In Paul’s day, the word meant builder or contractor. As a goldsmith, I was a designer/builder, which is the idea here. In fact, when the Lord called me to start a fellowship a number of years ago, He did so out of 2 Chronicles 2:7-9, “send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver… for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.”

Paul then tells you specifically what in Corinth God called him to do, to “lay the foundation.” Then, he speaks of the fact that others were called to build upon that foundation. The word “build” in the Greek is in a verb tense which means “continual action.” In other words, God is going to continue to build upon this foundation until we see Him face to face. There are many whom He uses to do the work on us, but each ought to be very careful in how they build on us. In fact, Peter tells us this in 1 Peter 4:10 when he admonishes us that “each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” Over the last several months, I’ve watched in amazement how each worker has worked on our house, and I’ve noticed there are four things necessary to building a good house:

  • Right foundation
  • Right materials
  • Right plans
  • Right attitude

What is cool is that in verses 11-23 we see the same things:

Vs. 11 Right foundation: Now Paul has already told us that this was his work while among them for 18 months, pouring the slab. There is no mystery as to what the foundation is, as Paul tells us that it can be “nothing other than Jesus Christ.” The foundation of the Church cannot be “tradition,” “morality,” “good works” or anything else.

  • The Roman Catholic Church has said that, based upon Matt. 16:13-18, their foundation is Peter.
  • Mormons say their foundation is Moroni.
  • Jehovah Witnesses say their foundation is Michael the Archangel.

Paul did not design the foundation. He only laid it, and it is the person and work of Jesus. The structure, its size, shape, and strength all are determined solely by the foundation. Without a solid foundation, no matter how glorious the rest of the building, it will never be safe, neither will it ever last. Ask any builder how important the foundation is, and they will tell you. Jesus spoke of the importance of a foundation as well as how it is laid in Matthew 7:26-27 saying, “everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Do you see that? Just hearing the word of God does not ensure a solid foundation; instead, it is putting them into practice that does. James, Jesus’ half-brother, said something very similar in 1:22 as he admonished the readers of his letter to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” Now we can look out across the landscape of Churches today and see their condition. They are in bad shape, and the reason is they have been built upon a shaky, “sandy” foundation. Oh, they sprang up quickly, but no one did a soil test, or they did not set it down by applying the truth about Jesus Christ and His work as the foundation.

Vs. 12 Right materials: Here is where Paul’s words about others taking heed as to how they build upon the foundation of Jesus comes into play. You will notice that Paul uses six different building materials. To look at them, they are all things that a person can use to build a structure, but this list appears to be divided into two groups. Why do I say that? Well, look at the verses that come after those where the building material is tested, and we see that Paul clearly separates these into two groups of three. There will come a time when each worker’s material is going to be tested by the “building inspector.” Furthermore, they will be “fire tested.” So here is what we see:

  • Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones: What are the similarities of these materials? Well, they are:
    • Permanent: That is, they are built to last. Gold, silver, and “precious stones” are durable. The words “precious stones” here do not speak of diamonds or rubies, but literally milled or quarried stones such as marble or granite. Each of these materials possesses properties that make them last and are generally not susceptible to the elements that cause erosion.
    • Beautiful: The second thing about them is that these three are each beautiful. These materials are pleasant to look at and attractive. It is for this reason they are so highly prized.
    • Valuable: Each of these materials is expensive. You don’t just find them lying around. They are costly. No doubt, because of the above, they are highly prized. It is interesting that this transcends time and cultures. In other words, all people throughout time have placed the same value upon these materials. Nobody was just giving away “free samples” of these materials.
    • Rare: Finally, they are hard to come by. The scarcity of these materials has caused folks to spend their whole lives in search of them.
  • Wood, Hay & Straw: Are materials that are:
    • Temporary: By and large, using these materials will cause a much quicker build time, but in using them, you will also sacrifice the longevity of that which you build. They are extremely susceptible to the elements that cause erosion.
    • Unattractive: They are nothing great to look at. If you have ever been in third world countries and looked at some of the shanties in which people are forced to live, you will agree. The better the quality of building material, the more attractive the building, generally speaking.
    • Cheap: With that said, there are two major reasons why folks use inferior building materials. First, these three things are relatively inexpensive to obtain. Now I’m not saying that is a bad thing, as we ought to consider the cost versus the longevity to see if it is worth it. Now spiritually speaking, everything necessary to build upon the foundation of Christ has been given to us freely. Therefore, the only reasons for using cheap materials would be ignorance or impatience.
    • Common: The second reason why folks would use inferior building materials is they are easy to obtain. You can find these things lying around everywhere with little or no effort. Speaking in terms of building upon the foundation that is Christ, this speaks to me of idleness.

Now you can understand a lot of the problems the Church has, can’t you? It may have been built upon the right foundation, but those that have gone on to build on it have used materials that are only temporary, unattractive, cheap, and common. Why would they do so? Well, ignorance, impatience, and idleness! It takes longer to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ with that which is permanent, beautiful, valuable, and rare.

Okay, then, what are those things that are in the gold, silver, and marble category? Well, I only know of one thing that fits all these things—the Word of God applied, which is Jesus! That’s right. Since the foundation is Jesus, we must use material that is the “Word of God.” John tells us that the Word of God is none other than Jesus. Hey, Christian, we need to be built upon the foundation that is Jesus with God’s Word, which is the truth of Jesus, because it is only Him that lasts in our life!

III. Vs. 13-15 Passing the Building Inspector

Vs. 13-15: Now follow me on this. The important things in this analogy are:

  • First, who the building belongs to: Jesus, it’s His Church!
  • Second, what is the building and therefore what is it constructed of? Well, we are the building (verse 17b), and the material is the Word of God, and Jesus is the Word.
  • Finally, the least important thing is those that are called to labor in the building process. That would be you and I, as we apply the Word.

How will we be able to tell if what we are made of is of inferior building materials? Well, in the physical realm, there is a standard in which all things are to be tested by. It’s called the U.P.C. or (universal building code). So, if a wall is put up and it’s not nailed every so many inches, the building inspector will come by with a spray can and paint the area indicating that it is not up to code. And that is just what Paul says here, “each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it.” A builder cannot go too far on the building project until the inspector comes by to check the work, and this is a good thing, for, if they did not do a good job on the framing, then finished the house, it would all fall apart.

The problem here is the way in which the Church is inspected, “it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.” Every one of us has been building in our lives from these materials. Some of us have been at it longer than others, but the quality of the work will be tested. In scripture, fire is always a symbol of testing, and when trials and testing come upon your life, what you have been building with will be revealed.

Let’s say you’ve been building for several years on the foundation that is Christ applying the Word of God, dying to your old self. Floor after floor is built with “gold, silver & precious stones.” It’s not been easy to get this material. It’s come at great price, but you sacrificed. Then, suppose the floor you were called to be working on was your temper or lust. Or, perhaps you were on the third floor—“marriage,” and you decided that you did not want to die to yourself in this area, and there was some wood, hay, and straw that would enable you to throw up some walls and keep going. So that’s what you did. Other floors come along and you built them with good quality material and finally the building inspector comes along with a blowtorch. What do you suppose is going to happen to the floors you built above the “wood, hay, and straw” floor? Well, the “day just declared” what work you built the third floor with. The testing of the trials of life has come and tested your work, and now it looks like you are in the “remodel” phase. Now you may be able to see that I’m very familiar with this process. That’s because I have far too often tried to take some shortcuts in my Christian growth. Folks, listen to me when I say this, “There is no shortcut in Christian maturity; it always runs straight through the cross!”

When I was a young goldsmith, the master goldsmith used to have a saying he always seemed to direct at me. “Dale,” he would say, “There never seems to be enough time to do it right with you, but always enough time to do it over!” Ouch!

1 Corinthians 3:16-23

“Building God’s Church God’s Way (Part Three)”

I. Intro

In verse 15, we were told that the loss we suffer through the testing of fire will not cause us to “lose” our salvation, but it will cause us to have less of a reward in the end. The truth of the matter is that some of us have some pretty impressive buildings which seem to be built upon “gold, silver, and precious stones,” and we may not know what they are really made of until we see Jesus, but He will be testing everything that we built upon Him.

The U.B.C., biblically speaking, is not our sincerity, hard work, or length of time building. No, the standard is the material being applied, which is the Word of God. You won’t be able to say, “Hey, Jesus, it’s not my fault that part of my building is now a bonfire.” “You see, it’s their fault. If they would have just treated me better, I would have built with better materials.” No, you made the choice because you did not want to die to your old selfish nature, but you still wanted to have an impressive building. It is God’s desire for you and me to be building with His glorious materials. The question I have to ask myself, as I see some floor on my building going up in flames, is why did I use inferior materials when “gold, silver & marble” were freely given to me in Christ? I have come to two conclusions in my own life:

  • First, and most often, I have used, and continued to build using, perishable building materials because of personal pride. After which, I make sure that I live on that floor guarding it with a fire extinguisher for fear of fire because I choose not to die to myself in this area of my life. I have too much invested in keeping this floor upright to recognize that it would be better for me to just allow the Lord to tear it down and start over with nonperishable materials. It just goes back to my “Never time to do it right but always time to do it over” syndrome!
  • Secondly, ignorance. I just didn’t know that I was using faulty materials to build with. Oftentimes, this is the fault of the Church, as we fail to teach the whole counsel of the Word of God. Tom gave me a quote from Warren Wiersbe that seems to sum up the problem with many a Church. “When ministry becomes performance, then the sanctuary becomes a theater, the congregation becomes an audience, worship becomes entertainment and man’s applause and approval the measure of success. But when ministry is for the glory of God, His presence moves into the sanctuary, and the people will fall on their faces and confess that God is among us!” Ouch! Oh dear Lord, I pray that You correct us from seeing ministry as a performance instead of a service for the glory of God!

Now that moves me to where we are this morning, which is, “What do we do if we think that we may have some areas of our lives built with wood, hay, and straw?” Paul suggests two things that will help us go back and start building before you see flames. “Check the plans, and check your motivation in building in the first place.” (Right plans and right motivation.)

II. Vs. 16-20 The Right Plans

Vs. 16: Three times in this verse, Paul uses the personal pronoun “you,” and the “you” he is speaking of is the “you” that “suffered loss” in verse 15. Simply put, the majority of our problem lies, as I said, in the area of pride. When the building inspector of trials and tribulations comes to test our materials, it will reveal not only faulty materials but also, if this happens regularly, that we have our building plans mixed up.

So Paul’s point, directed at you and me, is formed into a question as he asks, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” Allow me to put it this way, “Don’t you know what you’re building?” As we were going through the preparation process to build our house, prior to building, my wife and I sat down with the builder and made some changes in where we wanted them to put the fireplace and a room that was to be a den or bedroom. We wanted to make it into a dining room instead. So they poured the slab, and it was a solid foundation. Then, they started framing and, when we went out to look at it, they had not followed the right plans. Oh, it was still going to be a building, but it was not going to be the building that we had designed.

Folks, a lot of us Christians are under the mistaken idea that the building that we are working on is our building, it’s “our house,” our Wal-Mart or something. So we are following the plans that suit us! That is why Paul asks, “Don’t you know what you’re building?” I’m not building a Dale. No, I’m building a temple that houses the Spirit of God. My problem is that my building looks far too much like Dale and not enough like Jesus! I’m following the wrong plans, man! So perhaps this morning you realize that you have been busy working away building with great effort and complete sincerity. You’ve made a great “YOU,” but the problem is that the “YOU” that you have been constructing is not the “HIM” that was designed. Furthermore, the “YOU” of your effort can’t handle the fires of life. The fact is, only one built building can and that is the temple of God. So stand back and look at your building and ask, “Does this thing look like an earthen temple that houses God’s Spirit?” There have been many times that I have looked at this building of mine, and it looked like a corporation or a Krispy Kreme. It was not a Temple to house the Spirit of God.

Paul wrote of this temple this way in 2 Corinthians 4:7 when he said, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” When I read this, I realized that God builds his temple from the inside out. Man, is that cool or what? I mean right now I know what God is having me build in my life is a temple. We all are temples. That is God’s design for you and me. In the 6th chapter, he is going to develop this further, as he will speak about not polluting God’s temple. To get a further understanding of Paul’s thought here about being a temple of God, allow me to make a few observations about temples:

  • John 15:4-5: Jesus tells us that we are to “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me, you can do nothing.” In this verse, we learn several things:
    • The purpose of the temple: Jesus uses the word “abide,” which means to make His permanent home in. So the purpose of the temple is for Jesus to live with us permanently.
    • The performance of the temple: Jesus says it is to bear much fruit. The temple is to be fruitful. In other words, it is not just for show. It has a practical function, which is to bear fruit. We are not to be a storage facility; instead, we are a fruit manufacturing plant.
    • The power of the temple: Finally, Jesus tells us that manufacturing fruit can only happen as He is the “power source.” Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Yet, as Paul would write to the Philippians in 4:13, we can do “all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
  • The second thing to note about temples is that since God dwelt there, two things were continually happening in them on a daily basis:
    • They were a place of continual sacrifice. Sacrifice? Yes, the Jewish temple was a place of continual death! Do you get it? We are the temple of God now, and what do you suppose ought to be taking place in our temple? Well, it ought to be a place where we are daily dying to self. Paul said in chapter 15:31 in response to the boasting which we have in Christ Jesus our Lord, “I die daily.”
    • Secondly, because they were places where sacrifice daily took place, they were also places where the people received more of Him. We are told several times that the “glory of the Lord filled the temple.”

Is that not great? Think of this daily. Less of me, more of the Lord; less of me, more of the Lord, ongoing every day! Why? Because we are building God’s temple, and the by-product of this will be that.

Vs. 17: Alright, what happens if we don’t follow the plans for God’s temple and instead choose to build our own building? Well, Paul says you will “defile” the temple. The word here rendered “defile” appears eight times in the New Testament, and two of those are to be found right here, as the word “destroys” is the same word. In the Greek, the word is “phtheiro,” and in every other place the word is rendered “corruption.” The root word means to “waste, spoil, or ruin.” Here is what we learn from this verse then:

  • What we are building, even if we are following our own plan, does not change the fact that it is still a temple. Paul does not say that building our “own thing” becomes our “own thing,” if we build what we want and not follow the Lord’s plans. Instead, he says that in so building it, following our own plans with faulty materials, it just going to leave you with a corrupted or ruined temple. When I think of this, I think of some of those projects I’ve tried to build my own way, and, when I stand back and look at them, I realized that I’ve “ruined” them.
  • Secondly, when you, because of pride or ignorance, have ruined the temple then in effect you have ruined what you have been designed for. And what is it designed for? Well, Paul tells us right here, “the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” In other words, when we “do our own thing,” “build what we want,” it only hurts us, for we are not functioning as we were designed for which is a holy life. There was a joke we used to play with each other as goldsmiths as we fabricated some expensive piece of jewelry. We would wait as some guy was working for quite a few hours, or even a few days, then we would come over to his bench and ask him what he was working on. He would be quite proud of his effort. Then we would ask, “What is it?” Then he would tell us, and we would say, “Really, are you sure?”

Let me suggest, as well, I think that we can ruin our temple in two ways:

  • Individually: When we choose to live by the principles of the world and refuse to die to ourselves. This is usually seen in lax morals, attitudes, or actions that the world may accept or embrace, but is clearly against the Word of God.
  • Corporately: When a Church seeks to be impressive and prideful, using methods and standards of the world, it then ruins that for which it has been designed.

Now the neat thing in this is it need not be a permanent condition, which takes us to verse 18.

Vs. 18: Paul here lists two things to do if you wake up to the fact that you have been following your own plans and have ruined the temple:

  • “Stop kidding yourself”: “Let no one deceive himself,” Paul says. God is not impressed with what we are building, no matter what kind of effort or fervor we are building with. Put down the tools, repent of building something of your own design, take up his plans with a right heart, and start afresh. “You don’t understand, pastor, how long I’ve been working on this room, I can’t just give up on it now!” Christian, no matter if you work on it for eternity, if it is not His plan, it will never amount to anything worthwhile. Furthermore, all your energy and resources will be spent on just trying to keep it from falling down around you. And you know what’s worse? This is the very room in which you will find yourself living! How do I know this? Hey, have you observed my temple?
  • “Do the opposite of what you have been doing”: Paul says if anyone among you be wise in this age, (which is in the eyes of the world), let him be thought of as a fool that he may become wise. Has applying the world’s techniques worked in building God’s temple? No, but everybody else is doing it that way. Have you ever observed folks in an art class when they try to duplicate the project apart from following the teacher’s principles? They start copying a fellow student’s project, and they find out that the perspective is all out of whack. That’s what I see a lot of Christians and Churches doing. Some fellow writes a book taken from the business world in how to build a Church, but, the problem is, the Church is not an organization, it’s an organism.

Vs. 19-20: Paul offers two reasons why we need to put down the tools and start doing it His way:

  • Vs. 19 Waste of time: First off, Paul reminds us that what we are building and the way we are building it is not going to go unnoticed by God. The techniques you are using are not as good as you think. Suppose you tell your children to clean their room, as it is full of junk. Now you were very specific and said pick it up. So what do they do? Well, when you check under the bed and in the closet, they have just thrown and pushed the junk into areas that they hope you won’t look. Well, we do the same thing in our lives, but Paul says He will catch us in our own craftiness. He loves us too much to let us get away with trying to take shortcuts with His temple.
  • Vs. 20 Won’t work: Next, Paul says that building the temple with our plans instead of His is not going to work. It’s futile or useless. Why bother if all our effort in building by our plans is first a waste of time and second isn’t going to work anyway? God has designed us. He alone knows the best way to be built, as well as the right material to use.

III. Vs. 21-23 The Right Motivation

Vs. 21-23: Finally, Paul comes to the last thing necessary to build God’s Church God’s way, and it deals with the heart in which we build, or our motivation.

The first thing Paul does is tell us that the answers do not come from man. Folks, get your eyes off of the table waiter and the carpenter and quit following man. Start following God’s word. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made this mistake by following some sort of book that told me “how to do it”! All that happens is that people follow a man and glory in him, instead of following the Lord, glorying in Him. Paul will tell us in 11:1 that we ought to “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” When all we do is follow someone’s book of “How to,” we just limit ourselves as “all things are yours.” Study the Word of God, not business manuals to run the Church.

Now, the next thing I see in our motivation is that we need to have the balance between two things when we build:

  • Vs. 22 Liberty: Paul is going to give us four things that have changed our perspective because of our liberty or freedom in Christ, and it didn’t matter who led them to the Lord or what floor they were building on:
    • Life: The freedom they now had in Jesus changed their perspective on life. They ought to be happy campers as they went about building God’s temple His way because all of life has changed towards them. There should be a spring in their step. Every day a new discovery. I have so much enjoyed walking through our new house discovering something new that they have built. Why, even when they have made a mistake, I have enjoyed watching how they were going to fix it.
    • Death: We are not constrained with time limits as far as building God’s temple God’s way. There are no deadlines. It will finish right on time. Why do I say this? Well, death has no more sting for us Christians. As believers, we are death’s masters, not its slaves. Paul says in Philippians 1:6 that we can be “confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
    • Things present: Everything in this life is designed to make us build God’s building God’s way. So what seems like a mistake will, in the end, turn out to be for our victory. That is ultimate success no matter what. God will work it out for His glory.
    • Things to come: Finally, we have the blessed assurance that everything will become perfect when we see Him who is perfect. It is all ours in Jesus!
  • Vs. 23 Responsibility: Lastly, though Paul closes with our responsibility, we do not belong to ourselves. We are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. We have been given blessings but also a responsibility to remember whose building it is. Take it seriously, Christian, to do it His way, with His materials, and you won’t regret it!

The truth is, we have no liberty apart from responsibility, and we can’t handle the responsibility without His liberty. I’m so thankful that the goal of the Church, and every pastor, is not a mystery, as Paul tells us in Colossians 1:28, “everywhere we go, we tell everyone about Christ. We warn them and teach them with all the wisdom God has given us, for we want to present them to God, mature in their relationship to Christ.” That is what we are all about, and it is what we all ought to be doing in our lives.