Sermon Tone Analysis

Parkdale Grace Fellowship

Sunday AM, April 20, 2008

 

*1 Corinthians 3:10-15*

*The Foundation and Building of the Church*

                                              

In this chapter three analogies are used to describe the church: The first analogy, which we looked at last week, compares the church to a field in which the seed of God’s word is sown.

Some ministries like farmers sow the seed, others come along later and water the growing crop but in it all it is God alone who brings life and who causes growth and fruitfulness.

Today we will look at the second analogy which compares the church to a building under construction.

And in our next study we will look at the third analogy in which the church is compared to a sacred temple in which God lives.

* *

*Vs.

9b*

 

“/You are God’s field, you are God’s building/.”

Here the repeated phrase is, “You are God’s.”

The church belongs to God.

He paid a very high price to purchase the church.

It cost Him the life of His only begotten Son.

God delights in His church.

He is jealous for His church like a groom is jealous for his bride.

Today’s passage compares the church to a building.

One of the characteristics of a building is that all its parts are dependant upon each other in order to hold together and function.

Like the imagery of the body in chapter 12, “the roof cannot say to the walls, ‘I have no need of you.” (cf.

12:21), and “the door cannot say, because I am not a wall, I do not belong to the building.”

(cf.

12:15-16) /(Thiselton, p.65) /

/ /

The church is compared to a building that is under construction – it is a work in progress.

The church is built up by each contributing ministry.

We all have a part to play.

And God, as the owner of this building, has a blueprint; He has a master plan which clearly lays out the way His church is to be built.

Many of you work in the construction industry; many others have gone through the process of having a home built for you, so many of you can relate to this analogy.

God is very particular about how the church is to be built.

He is very particular about the quality of materials which are to be used; He is very specific about how everything is to be arranged and where each piece is to go and how every part should function and work.

No part of the construction is left up to personal taste or preference of the foreman or the laborers (the servants) working on the construction.

The work is to be done exactly God’s way without compromise.

Too often we are guilty of trying to build the ministry according to our personal preferences or according to how another group is doing it rather than looking to the Lord and His Word to see how He wants it done.

Can you imagine the chaos and trouble that would result if every tradesman working on the construction of a house ignored the plans and did their work the way they wanted it?

Going back to the question that was raised in vs. 5, “/What is Paul, and what is Apollos, but servants . .

/.” and vs.7 adds to that saying neither the minister who plants is anything nor the one who waters, but God alone is significant.”

What then is the pastor?

What is the worship leader?

What is the board member?

We are all servants and apart from God we are nothing and can do nothing.

And perhaps most importantly we are reminded that the church does not belong to us.

It is not ours to do with as we please.

It is not our tastes and preferences that we are to satisfy.

It is not the interests and the likes of the unsaved seeker that determine how it is built.

It is God’s church.

Using the analogy of the building to describe the church – the people of God: If the church is God’s property are we respectful of that which is His as we would be of someone else’s home.

We don’t go into another’s home and say “I don’t like this furniture” and “we need to change the wall color”, and “couldn’t you find some better music to play?”

And yet when it comes to the ministry of the church we all tend to want to build it and organize it and run it according to our own preferences.

We decide what kind of people we want to be part of it; perhaps we like the way they did it at a church we visited on our vacation; we want to make sure the service never goes past 12:00 noon; there is a new best seller at the Christian bookstore that is making a huge impact on other churches so we decide to follow its instructions for our ministry.

But let us be careful with our ideas.

This passage is full of warnings about how we build the church; warnings about how we minister or serve in the church.

“/Let each one take heed how he builds/ . .

.”

* *

*Vs.10*

Paul was the missionary whom God used to start the church in Corinth and Paul makes it clear that it was according to God’s grace that he started the church.

“/According to the grace of God/,” means that it was the work of God, the gift of God, the strength of God, the wisdom of God, the plan of God and the enabling of God which was given to Paul by which he was able to start the church.

Paul insists on drawing attention to the insignificance of himself in the equation and the all important supremacy of God.

We must be the same.

The ministry should never be used to draw attention to ourselves.

Either it is all about Christ or it is a waste.

Paul established the church as a wise master builder.

The term wise builder connects what he is saying here with what he taught in chapter 1 and 2 about God’s wisdom which is greater that the world’s wisdom.

It was through God’s wisdom that Paul, like a master builder, established the church.

Now Paul is not talking about a literal church building with four walls and a roof.

He is using the analogy of a building to describe the congregation of believers who serve together.

The church at Corinth did not have a church building but they met together in homes.

God didn’t use Paul to finish the church but to start it and he describes this start in verse 10 as laying the foundation.

Now that Paul was gone there were others who were continuing the work he had begun.

There was Apollos who had come after Paul, and there were elders serving in the church along with prophets and teachers.

Each one, through their ministry, was building upon the foundation God has used Paul to lay.

The same is true of our church here.

Many years ago someone laid a foundation in your life and now we all through our various ministries are building upon that foundation.

Group leaders, Sunday school teachers and nursery workers, worship leaders, secretary, elders, musicians, board members, greeters, and so on are all building upon the foundation through our various ministries.

Like a building the church must be built up.

Building up or edifying the body is a major theme of 1 Corinthians and the church is built up as we each allow God to exercise His gifts through us in service to one another.

Each of us who are contributing through the ministry God has given us must notice the last words of *verse 10*:

 

“/But let each one take heed how he builds on it/.”

That means be careful how you minister.

What is your contribution?

Is it of God?

Is it strengthening the building or is it weakening it?

First area of care needs to be given to the foundation you are building on.

The foundation of all we do needs to be Jesus Christ and Him crucified as Paul said in chapter 2 verse2.

What does this mean?

In order for the foundation of all the church’s ministry to be Jesus Christ all ministry must be done on the basis of *Romans 11:36*.

“/For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever/.”

“/Of God/”, means that all we do has its origin in the mind of God, not doing our own thing or mimicking the business world or the entertainment world or anything of the world, but led by the Spirit of God and confirmed by the Word of God.

And “/through God/” means it must be all done in the Power of God, not in our own strength.

And “/to God/”, means it must be to the glory of God, not to the glory of any man or any strategy.

It is for His pleasure, to satisfy His desire.

In order for Christ to be the foundation of all ministry all of our ministry must be done in the Spirit and not of the flesh.

As Paul said in *Colossians 1:29* “/To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”/

* *

*Vs.

11*

 

The church is not the church unless the foundation is Jesus Christ.

Many try to build the church on good works, morality or legalism, or they try to build on signs and wonders or on entertaining music, drama, and story tellers or worldly wisdom, strategy and good marketing techniques.

But that is not God’s church; it is man’s own church.

(*See 1 Cor.1:22-24; 2:1-5) *We can build our own church on some other foundation and many ministries are, but it will eventually crumble and fall.

We’ve all seen ministries that were a popular roaring success . . .

but only for a short time.

Now a few years later there is very little left of them.

Often in their wake is a trail of wounded hurting people who have been damaged by ministries that were more flesh than Spirit and that were built on a foundation of sand not on Jesus Christ.