Build Thoughtfully

We, Together, Are God’s Sacred Temple

7.16.23 [1 Corinthians 3:1-17] River of Life (7th Sunday after Pentecost)

Grace to you from your Savior, Jesus Christ, who is your foundation.

Stop being babies! That’s about how Paul opens the third chapter of his letter to the believers at Corinth. Though earlier he had said they (1 Cor. 1:7) did not lack any spiritual gift—they were knowledgable and powerful in speech—he chides them for being (1 Cor. 3:1) people who are still worldly, mere infants in Christ. What was going on that moved the Holy Spirit to inspire Paul to write so harshly?

In Acts 18, we learn of how the church in Corinth was founded. After Paul experienced abuse in the Jewish synagogue, he went next door and continued to preach the Word of God. Many Corinthians heard the Word and believed and were baptized. In a vision the Lord encouraged Paul to keep preaching because the Lord (Acts 18:10) had many people in the city of Corinth.

So Paul stayed with them for (Acts 18:11) a year and a half and taught them God’s Word. He laid down a foundation of the fundamentals—because that is exactly what they needed. They needed to know the basics about sin and grace, who they were by nature and what Jesus had done for them. He nourished them as spiritual infants. He gave them spiritual milk, not solid food because they weren’t ready for it. Then Paul went on to Ephesus and was eventually succeeded by a man named Apollos.

Apollos was a talented guy. He was educated and had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately. He had a God-given knack for defending the faith, too. Apollos (Acts 18:28) vigorously refuted Jewish opponents in public debate. He proved that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

By the time Paul wrote this letter to them, Apollos had moved on to serve God in another mission field. 1st Corinthians closes with Paul noting that he strongly urged Apollos to go to the Corinthians, but he was quite unwilling to go at that very moment.

Therefore, we know that the issue that Paul is addressing here is not one of Apollos trying to one-up Paul. Christian leaders can fall into sins of pride, of course, but (1 Cor. 3:3) the jealousy & quarreling that Paul rebukes here were not generated by anything Paul or Apollos said or did. The Corinthians had forgotten Christ was the Church’s One Foundation. That happens when you are young.

One morning, when Fiona was in kindergarten, she was having a tough morning battling her sinful nature. My wife recognized that this needed to be nipped in the bud—before going into the classroom. But Fiona was more concerned about being late for school. Mom said the matter couldn’t wait. But to a 5-year-old, that didn’t make sense. So Fiona threatened to tell the teacher on Jenni for making her late. We all laugh about this now. Five-year-olds don’t understand that parents and Christian teachers share the same goal. They have one purpose—to grow the child mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Just like Paul and Apollos. The spiritual development and maturation of these believers was their primary purpose. They wanted to connect the Corinthians to Christ. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is the foundation for everything they were, everything they had, and everything they hoped to be & do & have.

But along the way they had lost sight of that. Paul had been like a spiritual mother to them. He navigated the messy and frustrating infant and toddler phases. When Paul left, he entrusted them to another (1 Cor. 3:9) co-worker in God’s service, Apollos. During their time with Apollos, many really appreciated Apollos’ thorough knowledge and preaching passion & fervor. They learned a lot from him. He fired them up when he spoke about the work of Christ. The seeds that Paul had planted were being watered by the work of Apollos. But God was the one making it grow. Not Paul. Not Apollos. These men were only servants—ministerial means through which God was developing & maturing them in the one true faith.

But you know how people are. They get attached to what they can see. They grow fond of faces that are familiar, styles that pique their interests, and ministry methods that align with their priorities. People want to be on a winning team, too.

You know that’s how people are because that’s how we are. If you’ve been at a number of different congregations, you know there are servants of the Lord that you just clique with. And then there are those you struggle to appreciate. There are houses of God where you just feel at home. And then there are those where you feel like an outsider. There are worship services where you leave with a song in your heart—sometimes even stuck in your head—and there are those you muddle through. There are Bible studies that stick to your spiritual ribs and change how you see yourself and others and there are those where you leave just scratching your head wondering what you learned.

As believers, we fall into sins of pride & preference. We get fixated on matters of style, rather than matters of Scriptural substance. We let ministerial methods and success cloud our vision rather than keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author & Perfector of our faith.

It is a wonderful thing when you can say I learned a lot from that teacher or that church. It’s a wonderful thing when you can say I found Christians to connect with and saw God at work in their hearts and lives. It’s a great thing to go to a church that has great programs.

But do you know what happens when we chase these things? When we don’t find exactly what we are looking for, we get disappointed or discouraged. Then, if we are disappointed or discouraged enough, we start to entertain compromises. We start to pit our personal preferences against what the Word of God clearly proclaims.

Perhaps we begin to tolerate some unsound teaching about God so long as that teacher gives us good advice for life, or says something we never would have thought of, or seems to have a sincerity or passion about them we find appealing.

We’ll go to the church that has the kind of music we like, not because the people are praising God rightly—making much of what the Son of God has done for us—but because we like that style. We’ll accept false teachings about the sacraments because we make a lot of great friends there and we have already been baptized and we know what’s really going on in Lord’s Supper.

Paul warns that one day, the quality of each person’s work will be revealed. Whether by the testing fires of trials & persecution, or on the Day of Judgment, the foundation of our faith will be laid bare. So be careful what you are building on. Be attentive to what you are being fed by those who claim to be God’s servants. (1 Tim. 4:16) Watch your life and your doctrine closely. Persevere in them because you, together, are God’s sacred temple.

Don’t forget how much God’s sacred temple means to God. When Jesus came to earth, one of the first things we read of him doing was remaining in his Father’s house, in the Temple courts. At 12, he was there listening to the teachers and asking them questions. (Lk. 2:47) Everyone who was gathered there was amazed at his understanding and his answers. He was there to encourage those who shared his faith. He was growing in grace & knowledge.

The next times, Jesus visited the Temple were far different in their impact. In John 2, Jesus goes to the Temple and sees a market.

Most of the space that God had intended to be a place for all nations to worship and pray to him had been repurposed to material gain. Jesus drove the animals out and scattered the coins. And John tells us why. Zeal for the temple consumed Jesus. It is not that Jesus was just angry. He didn’t despise business dealings. But when making a profit came at the expense of making disciples, he could not stand idly by. He sprang into action, not because he hated the money changers but because he loved those who needed to be redeemed.

Perhaps what John says in John 2 is the same account, but there are enough differences to make us think Jesus did the same thing in the Temple again right before his suffering & death. What love our Savior had for the Temple! But it wasn’t about the building. He warned his disciples that soon the whole thing would be torn down. Yet, even then he pined for the people of Jerusalem. (Mt. 23:37) Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill all those God sends to you, but I still long to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. That zeal moved him to suffer and die for the sins of Jerusalem and the whole world. It consumed him, and because of his great love for us (Lam. 3:22) we are not consumed. His mercy is more than our sin. His compassion for us never fails.

That is the singular foundation for the Church, Jesus Christ, our Lord & Savior. He loved us and gave himself up for us to make us holy, cleansing us through the washing with water through the word, making us blameless and blemish-less and holy. The methods and the ministers, the style and the servants all have one purpose—to connect us to Christ and to grow us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Together, built on Christ, we are God’s sacred Temple. So celebrate what God has done, is doing, & promises still to do. Have his purpose in mind.

We cannot be mere infants in Christ any longer. We must strive for and demonstrate our maturity. Infants are fussy and messy. We are called to be and do more. To be mature enough to celebrate what we love about our congregation and humble enough to set our own preferences aside for the greater growth of God’s people. That only happens when you are enjoying a regular diet of solid spiritual food. When you are striving to learn and live what God commands.

We are called serve and live alongside those who are not yet ready for solid food, without resentment or arrogance. To point them back to Christ. To forgive as we have been forgiven. To bear each other's burdens as Christ has born the weight of our sin. The same God who has planted the seed in our hearts and sent servants to water and nurture it, will grow us to do this very thing. His Spirit dwells in our midst and works powerfully through his Word and Sacraments. Don’t forget that together we are God’s temple and he is zealous to see his Temple flourish! Amen.