1 Corinthians (7)

Building our temple

Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

Last time we talked about how the church was a family we are one Both Paul and Apollos we need to grow up and stop the division.

And the mark of an immature or carnal christian is division strife envying.

We talked about how the divisions were created by men and not by God.

His Idea was one body one faith one baptism jew gentile bond free male female one in christ. But sin brings the division.

Now here is the thing I tried to convey we know where we stand and we cannot compromise on the truth of God's word. For the sake of unity.

But here is what we need to understand

You nigbor does not wake up thinking I want to rebel against God and displease him and be as carnal as I can what is the worst thing I can do?

I will get a modern bible and go to a modern church because that is what would make God mad

And for years that is how we have been approaching our neighbors or at least that is how I was taught to approach them.

You find many of them want to please God and are doing the best they know. So by all means show them the truth. Show them it is not baptism but the blood show them it is not works but grace. Show them the authority of the Bible and tell them why theistic evolution is wrong. But know and understand a lot of them are saved they love the Lord and some of them walk with him.

Doe that make sense ?

Ok enough of that for a while let's move on

Then we covered the farmer

In verses 6-8

“And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor” ().

God does not reward lazy farmers

If you want a harvest you have to work not for salvation

God wants to see increase

He wants each local church to produce the fruit of the Spirit (),

holiness (),

giving (),

good works (),

praise to the Lord (),

and souls won to Christ ().

Along with spiritual growth, there should be a measure of numerical growth. Fruit has in it the seed for more fruit. If the fruit of our ministry is genuine, it will eventually produce “more fruit … much fruit” to the glory of God ().

Those who serve in ministry must constantly be caring for the “soil” of the church.

It requires diligence and hard work to produce a harvest.

The lazy preacher or Sunday School teacher is like the slothful farmer

Now he goes on to the Last illustration

The family maturity

The field quantity

The temple Quality

For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

Not only are we his plants his field the branches to the vine grafted into to the olive tree.

But we are Gods building

Notice the plural

He is talking about us collectively and individually

Not only will we be held accountable as individuals but as a family as a field as a temple a church

So what we do not only affects us but it affects the family

It affects the field

It affects the building.

And we will be accountable for that as well.

If your actions negatively impact the building you will be held accountable for the clatoral damage.

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Notice once again the plural

IF any man shall defile the temple him shall God destroy

What does that mean

I believe it means the Lord takes him out early for the harm he is doing to the body

1 cor 5 ananias and sapphira the sin unto death.

Do not defile the temple of God it is singular we are the temple but it is plural

So I do not need to go to church I am the church no ye are the church ye are the temple.

Now why this passage of scripture is so important is it tells us what the rules are for building if we want to be rewarded.

This is one of the passages that gives us insight into the judgment seat of Christ.

And what we will be judged on there

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

Notice not if but how

You are supposed to be building

And you are supposed to be paying attention to how you are building

Take heed how he builds there on

Why should I take heed because it will be inspected

It will be judged.

Now it may come as a surprise to many of you that we will be judged 2 cor 5:10

Salvation does not mean you will not be judged

But this judgment is different than the great whit throne judgment

Notice there is no punishment given

No one goes to hell or everlasting darkness

No one is torchered

The worst that can happen is 15

So what is the judgment for for rewards 14

So let's look at the requirements for

Building our temple 1 cor 3:9-23

We must build on the right foundation (vv. 10–11)

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

The foundation is Jesus Christ

Paul said I am the wise master builder

I am the general contractor

But the Lord is the inspector and he will not pass the inspection unless the foundation is right.

You know what the foundation he laid was ?

It was jesus

And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

He moved in preached the gospel led people to the Lord

Fore a few years like in ephesus or a few weeks like in Thessalonica

Get some eldgers together say go ahead and build this temple to the Lord of people of course.

What is the right foundation?

Jesus Christ.

Is it a preacher ?

Is it a personality ?

Is it a doctrinal position ?

The building has to be done on christ

Ministries built on personality or something else will come and go like they always have.

But the ones build on christ that stay on christ will last.

They were trying to build on personalities paul apollos

The foundation determines the shape, size, strength and longevity of the structure that is placed upon it.

Build on Christ

Do not build your house on the sand.

Cause the rain is coming the floods are coming.

He is the only foundation that is strong enough to hold a ministry. Permanently

The church is still going today because was built on christ

Let's keep it going in that vein

I am thinking now of a pastor who “discovered a great truth” in the Bible (actually, he read it in some books) and decided to build his church on the promotion of that “great truth.”

He split his church and took a group with him who were “devoted to the truth” he had discovered. But the new church never succeeded. Now his group is scattered and he goes from church to church, trying to get converts to his cause. He built on the wrong foundation.

What is our foundation ? Is it Christ or something else?

If it is something else it will fail if it is Christ it will last

Only time will determine the real foundation not what we say

The judgment will reveal the foundation not what we say but when he sees.

Other foundation can no man lay

Everything else is sand.

We must build with the right materials (vv. 12–17)

Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

The day you sand before Christ will declare not only if you built on the right foundation but if you used the right materials

There are two opposite kinds of material

Gold, Silver, Precious Stones Wood, Hay, Stubble

Permanent Passing, temporary

Beautiful Ordinary, even ugly

Valuable Cheap

Hard to obtain Easy to obtain

Were you going to get it ?

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, And the man that getteth understanding.

For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, And the gain thereof than fine gold.

She is more precious than rubies: And all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold;

for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

He has been writing about wisdom all the way through

You have to build with his wisdom

You have to build with the principles and practices and promises and processes contained in his book.

We must be faithful mining this book dig deep in the scripture find the gold the silver the precious stones and build them into people's lives

Paul is saying we build into the church what we build into our own lives.

D.L. Moody used to say that converts should be weighed as well as counted. God is interested in quality as well as quantity, and Paul makes it clear that it is possible to have both. The faithful minister can work in the field and see increase, and he can build with the Word of God and see beauty and lasting blessings.

Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

One day it will be shown what sort of material you used

Nothign cheap will make it through that fire.

No facade no fake preachers or christians will keep any glory the got by being fake

It has to be real to make it through the fire

If it is real the fire will just burn out the dross the impurities.

Young preachers often asked Dr. Campbell Morgan the secret of his pulpit success.

Morgan replied, “I always say to them the same thing—work; hard work; and again, work!” Morgan was in his study at 6 o’clock each morning, digging treasures out of the Bible.

You can find wood, hay, and stubble in your backyard, and it will not take too much effort to pick it up.

But if you want gold, silver, and jewels, you have to dig for them.

Lazy preachers and Sunday School teachers will have much to answer for at the Judgment Seat of Christ—and so will preachers and teachers who steal materials from others instead of studying and making it their own.

If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

They will get out of the building and be saved but the temple they built will burn down.

The nature of this fire is to evaluate not to punish

The picture is he gets out but he lost everything he ever worked for to the fire.

Picture a man working all his life for something and at the end of his life it all burns up and he is left with nothing.

I remember poor lady lived in trailer with her kids in Tn one morning it caught on fire and she got out everything she owned and loved in this world including her kids died in just picture her standing in front of the smoking ruins with nothing vehicle kids everything no insurance all gone in an instant.

That is what will become of your life if you are trying to build on the foundation of Jesus with the wrong materials.

Only one life will soon be past only whats doen for Christ will last

When it goes into the fire

And you look at him in these will he say that's all I mean to you ?

It almost makes it worse there is no punishment but there will be no way to do anything about it because time will be no more.

I don't know about you but I want my life to matter.

And you can make it matter

Get the gold the rubies

Pour them out at work at home at church. Build the people around you

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

We already covered these verses

warn us that, if we destroy (“defile”) God’s temple by using cheap materials, God will destroy us

Not eternally

Veteran missionary to India, Amy Carmichael, used to say, “The work will never go deeper than we have gone ourselves.” So we end up tearing down our own lives if we fail to build into the church the values that will last. We may look very successful to men, but “the day shall declare it” and on that day, some ministers will go up in smoke.

It is unwise to compare and contrast ministries. Paul warned in , “Therefore, judge nothing before the time.”

We must build according to the right plan (vv. 18–20)

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

You cannot run a church the same way you run a business

This does not mean we should not follow good business principles,

but the operation is totally different. There is a wisdom of this world that works for the world, but it will not work for the church

The Lord is the one that builds his church.

And we can try to do it ourselves but we then have something that is not healthy

I try to be careful about talking people into coming and talking people into staying because i do not know what God is doing

The church is a body

Not a business and how a body grows and how a business crows are two seperate things.

I believe in good business principles and I believe sometimes the reason churches don't grow is they are slothful in business.

The world depends on promotion,

prestige, and

the influence of money and important people. Paul and apollos

The church depends on prayer, the power of the Spirit, humility, sacrifice, and service.

The church that imitates the world may seem to succeed in time, but it will turn to ashes in eternity.

The church in the Book of Acts had none of the “secrets of success” that seem to be important today.

They owned no property; they had no influence in government; they had no treasury (“Silver and gold have I none,” said Peter);

their leaders were ordinary men without special education in the accepted schools; they held no attendance contests; they brought in no celebrities; and yet they turned the world upside down!

God has a specific plan for each local church (). Each pastor and church leader must seek the mind of God for His wisdom.

We must build with the right motive (vv. 21–23)

Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

Try every man's work of what sort it is

What is our motive it must be the glory of God

Competing things

The glory of men.

Not for property not for parking lots

Not for power or prestige

Literally for the Glory of God

So all heaven and earth would see the Lord through us and in what we do

Those some good looking boys you have there .

When people see us they should say the Lord sure does have a wonderful family

I would like to be a part of that family.

Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

Imagine giving your child a gift and he trows the gift down and looks at the wrapping paper and the box and he says can I have that ?

Look christ is the gift the rest is the wrapper but so many people are more concerned about the wrapper than the gift.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

How I see that is Noah turned back on the all back all of it but the first thing he did was built an altar because God was more important than the world.

What is our motive what we can get or is it To glorify Christ and to enjoy his presence forever

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