Christian Quotes

Review

Paul  is trying to whittle away at the pride of the Corinthians—trying to help them get their eyes off men and on to God—and thus end their carnal divisions. Last week we saw that Paul and Apollos were just servants in God’s field: one planted, another watered, but GOD gave the increase. “So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase” (3:7). The church is originated and maintained not by man but by God.

Overview

In verse 9 Paul transitions from an agricultural picture to an architectural one—a picture he sticks with through verse 17. The passage is deep, powerful and very serious. He says that people need to take heed how they build on the foundation that has been laid (Jesus Christ) or risk losing everything but their own souls at the judgment seat of Christ. He goes on to say that anyone who defiles (destroys) the temple of God (the church), “him will God destroy.”

Lesson Plan

Today we are going to look at BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATION. Who are the builders? What are they building? How should they build? What materials should they use?

The Foundation

Paul says he laid the foundation (v10) and others were building on it. This corresponds to what he said earlier in verse 6: “I planted, Apollos watered.” He calls himself a wise (better: skilled) masterbuilder, but qualifies that by saying it was “according to the grace of God given unto me” (i.e. the skill was not his own but God’s gift). The Greek for “masterbuilder” is architekton, which is where we get our word architect; but commentators agree that in the language of today it would more closely correspond to “Site manager”—i.e. not someone who visualizes the finished building and then draws up a detailed plan, but someone who actually works on site and superintends the building.

The foundation he laid is, according to Paul, simply Jesus Christ: His life, His teachings, His work of redemption. That was always the foundation that Paul laid whenever he planted a church.

The Builders

“Another buildeth thereon.” In the planting picture he named Apollos as the follow-up worker, but here he mentions no names. Is he maybe talking about the multitude of teachers he mentions in 4:15? “…ye have TEN THOUSAND INSTRUCTORS IN CHRIST, yet not many fathers” (obviously a huge exaggeration but he was trying to make a point.) Since this is framed as a warning: “TAKE HEED how you build on this foundation,” maybe he is taking aim at false teachers—the “false apostles, deceitful workers” (2 Cor. 11:13) who were evidently beginning to infiltrate the church at Corinth. Because of the context, the “builders” here are first of all those who are in ministry (pastors, teachers), but I believe it is possible to broaden this to include all Christians—because in some sense we all “minister” to others. We all influence others. We are all builders whether we realize it or not.

The Building

What is this building that Paul is talking about? He identifies it in verse 16: the TEMPLE (or sanctuary) of God. “Know ye (plural) not that ye (plural) are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you (plural).” You COLLECTIVELY are the temple of God—the church at Corinth. “Which temple ye (plural) are” (v. 17). In 6:19 he will say that each believer’s individual body is a temple of God, but here in chapter 3 his repeated use of the plural “ye” and the context indicate emphatically that he is talking about the church at Corinth collectively. There are two Greek words for temple: hieron and naos. The first includes all the temple precincts, the second means the shrine or sanctuary, and it is naos which is used here.

The Materials

In verses 10 and 11 Paul makes an interesting  statement: “Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. FOR [here comes the reason] other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” In other words “Watch out how you build on the foundation, because Jesus is the only foundation.” What that means is that the foundation must control the materials used in the superstructure. Otherwise the connection between verses 10 and 11 makes no sense. Does it make sense to say: Watch out what kind of windows you use because the foundation is Christ! Watch out what kind of roof you build because the foundation is Christ! Watch out what kind of wiring you use because the foundation is Christ! Yes it does make sense if the foundation controls the shape and quality of the building.

Who Christ is controls the shape and quality of the church. Paul is exalting Christ as absolutely pre-eminent. Not only is He at the bottom holding everything up, but His influence must be utterly pervasive throughout the building.

Paul warns that it is possible to build with wood, hay, and stubble (straw) instead of gold, silver, and precious stones. Whatever lifts up Christ in his true greatness is gold and silver and precious stone; and whatever detracts from the fullness of his truth is wood, hay, and stubble. The DOCTRINES, ATTITUDES and ACTIONS that we put into this building (the church) must correspond to the doctrines, attitudes and actions of the foundation—Jesus Christ. Are you trying to build with materials that are as worthy of the foundation as possible, or are you content to put into it that which costs little or nothing?

The Warnings

Here come the tough parts of this passage—the warnings about the consequences of shabby building.

1. There will come a time of testing by fire. “The Day” is the JUDGMENT DAY. We shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10) and have our works examined. “The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (v. 13). The picture is one of fire sweeping through a building, burning what is combustible and leaving what is not. The result of the fire of testing is to determine whether or not a person will receive a reward (literally a wage). Christians can have wrong doctrine; they can have attitudinal blind spots; and they can impart this wood, hay, and stubble to others in their Christian service only to see it go up in smoke at the last day. “He shall suffer loss” means he will lose his reward (wage); but “he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire” means he still makes it into heaven, but as one escaping through flames. Catholics believe this teaches purgatory, but the fire is that of judgment, not of purgation.

[Next week we will devote the whole lesson to the topic of rewards and losses at the judgment seat of Christ, based on verses 13-15.]

2. It is possible to destroy the church and ourselves with it. “If any man defile (KJV margin: destroy) the temple of God, him shall God destroy” (v. 17). The building can become so contrary to the foundation that we destroy the very church in which we serve and ourselves with it. Pastor John Piper writes: “This is a dreadful thing, and it is not hypothetical. It happens all the time in one place or another. For example it happened repeatedly in New England 150 years ago. Churches that were once evangelical with Christ as the foundation got a Unitarian pastor. At first he did not declare himself openly, but began to build a structure which little by little changed the edifice. And within a matter of years you could look down and realize that the structure was now so out of line with Christ that it no longer rested on the foundation.” Paul was warning the Corinthians that the divisions developing among them would eventually lead to disaster for the individuals involved and ultimately for the whole church.

Conclusion

Let’s make sure that the one and only foundation of Weisbach Community Church is Jesus Christ, and that the building blocks of our doctrine, attitudes, and work for God match the foundation. Let’s check up and see whether we are in line with the foundation, or if we are off-base and in need of correction.