CHURCH BUILDING

1 Corinthians 3:10-20, especially 1 Cor 3:10

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.

Paul, as a master builder, is here dealing with some fundamental facts concerning the Christian's life and work. Verse 9 in the Greek speaks of Paul and Appolos being co-laborers with God, and the Corinthian Christians being God’s field. God has assigned His co-laborers to cultivate His field. This is a picture of the Christian minister called to the pastorate to work with God to cultivate the spiritual lives of the church. Then he likens the church to a building constructed of Spirit-filled people, not concrete and mortar.

In order to understand this passage, one must understand that the biblical model for the church is not a building, but called out people congregating together for the purpose of God. This is God’s building. The Christian must understand that we can add nothing to what God has already done…

I.     A Foundation has been Laid. "Other foundation can no man lay than that is already laid, which is Jesus Christ" (v. 11). A foundation was needed,

A.    First, by God Himself, in which to build the structure of His redeemed Church; Redeemed means to buy back. So God has bought back spiritual freedom for every person who will believe in Jesus Christ. Therefore, God has laid the foundation for man to build on.

B.    Second, by man, on which to build his hopes for this life and the life to come. This foundation has been well and truly laid by the hand of infinite wisdom. Laid as deep as the grave, and as stable as the Eternal Throne. "Upon this Rock (Christ) will build His Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). "For the foundation of God stands sure" (2 Tim. 2:19). Since God the Father has purposed to build His Church and His Kingdom on that Rock, which is Christ, true believers will have the faith of God, and build our all on Christ.

A Methodist minister in Atlanta was to preach at a prison camp. The men were dressed in their usual prison uniforms and sat in a semicircle on the ground beneath the trees waiting for the service. One inmate stood in the back of a truck to introduce the preacher.

This inmate said: "Several years ago, two boys lived in the same community in North Georgia, attended the same school, played with the same fellows, and went to the same Sunday School. One dropped out of Sunday School because he felt he had outgrown it. The second boy kept on going, because he really believed in it. The boy who dropped out is making this presentation today. The boy who kept going is the distinguished preacher of the morning."

God expects His people to raise an above ordinary structure for His church. Through the service of God’s faithful people…

II.     God Wants A Superstructure To Be Raised.

The foundation has been laid, and every Christian must in some way build upon it. There are two different classes of builders…

A.     The Wise Builder - He builds carefully and faithfully. He puts the best of his character and loyalty to Christ in this foundation (Rev. 21:19). He is careful about that the things he speaks in God's Name are in harmony with God’s Word. He is careful also about his manner of life.

The wise builder applies all diligence, faith and moral excellence, and in his moral excellence, knowledge, and in his knowledge, self-control, and in his self-control, perseverance, and in his perseverance, godliness, and in his godliness, brotherly kindness, and in his brotherly kindness, love."

B.     The Foolish Builder -  He uses "wood, hay, and stubble, or weak, worldly materials." The foolish builder is wise in his own conceit. He thinks that as long as you believe in the Christ, it matters little how he live his life and serves the Lord’s church. Consequently, careless living becomes easy, and the vain philosophies of the proud in heart become attractive. He is careless and indifferent in practice, his faith in Christ has brought no change in his life and outlook. He still believes in building with carnal materials. These may be useful in some ways, but they are "after the tradition of men and not after Christ."

Colossians 2:8 admonishes Christians to "See to it that no one takes them captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."

The Gospel writer, Luke tells of two builders, One built his house on a rock foundation, while the other built his house on the shifting sands. And when the storms came, the house built on the rock stood, while the house built on the shifting sands was destroyed because It was built on a weak foundation.

Every Christian should build on a solid foundation because…

III.   A Testing Time is Coming. "That day in which the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is" (v. 13).

The foundation has already been tried (Isa. 28:16). But each believer’s work will be tried with the fire of God's searching judgment. "Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, when the proud and all that do iniquity shall be as stubble" (Mal. 4:1). If the proud and the workers of iniquity are reckoned as stubble, so also are the works of the proud self-seeking Christians. This fiery test is not to reveal whether we are Christians or not, but whether cur works as Christians are worthy of Christ or not. Will He own them, or will He burn then? That depends on their own intrinsic character, whether they are gold, or wood, silver or hay, precious stones or stubble. What they are will determine their destiny.

During the Second World War, a church in Strasburg, Germany, was totally destroyed; but a statue of Christ which stood by the altar was almost unharmed. Only the hands of the statue were missing.

When the church was rebuilt, a famous sculptor offered to make new hands but, after considering the matter, the members decided to let it stand as it was—without hands.

"For," they said, "Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work on earth. If we don't feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, entertain the stranger, visit the imprisoned, and clothe the naked, who will?"

IV.     The Results.

A.      Some Are Rewarded. "If any man's work—or building which he has created—stands the test, he will be rewarded" (v. 14). He is not rewarded because he is a Christian. Salvation is not a reward for good works. It is the gift of God. The reward comes for the good works done in His Name, that are well pleasing in His sight; works that are consistent with the character of the Foundation. True and good, precious in His eyes, and that bear the stamp of eternal value.

B.      Some Not Rewarded. "If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire" (v. 15). If his work is burned up it is because it is as wood, hay, and stubble, fit fuel for the fire. He may have a saved soul, but he has a lost life. This man will be the poorer through all the coming ages, as the result of his present ignorance and recklessness. The wages of this sin is death. Death to the prospect of being rewarded for faithful service at the Coming of the Lord (1 Peter 5:4), who shall try every man's work of what sort it is. For we must all of us appear before Christ's judgment, set in our true characters, in order that each may then receive an award for his actions in this life, in accordance with what he has done, whether it be good or worthless (2 Cor. 5:10).

"Let no man deceive himself" (v. 18), for we are assured that God will not be mocked. He cannot mistake the hollow, heartless, worthless hay and stubble service for the faith, love and works of the consecrated life. Let every man take heed how he builds thereupon (v. 10).

At an early age, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., determined to earn money and drove himself to the limit. At age 33, he earned his first million dollars. At age 43, he controlled the biggest company in the world. At age 53, he was the richest man on earth and the world’s only billionaire.

Then he developed a sickness called “alopecia,” where the hair of his head dropped off, his eyelashes and eyebrows disappeared, and he dried up like a mummy. His weekly income was one million dollars, but he digested only milk and crackers. He was so hated in Pennsylvania that he had to have bodyguards day and night. He could not sleep, stopped smiling, and enjoyed nothing in life.

The doctors predicted he would not live over one year. The newspaper had gleefully written his obituary in advance—for convenience in cae he died suddenly. Those sleepless nights set him thinking. He realized that he “could not take one dime into the next world.” Money was not everything.

Rockefeller became a new man. He became a church-builder. He began to help churches with his amassed wealth; the poor and needy were not overlooked. He established the Rockefeller Foundation, whose funding of medical researches led to the discovery of penicillin and other wonder drugs. John D. began to sleep well, eat and enjoy life. The doctors had predicted he would not live over age 54. He died at age 98.

If you have been building your life on a foundation other than Jesus Christ, you need to choose a new foundation.

1.       You need to build on the foundation of predestination.

2.       You need to build on the foundation of salvation.

3.       You need to build on the foundation of Justification

4.       You need to build on the foundation of steadfast faith.

5.       You need to build on the foundation of discipleship.

6.       You need to build on the foundation of Holy Scripture.

7.       You need to build on the foundation of spiritual knowledge.

8.       You need to build on the foundation of prayer.

9.       You need to build on the foundation of spiritual light.

10.    You need to build on the foundation of divine examples.