1COR08 1 Corinthians 3:9-23 We are His Building/Temple Communion

1 Corinthians 3:9–23 NKJV

9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. 23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

15

I preached on this the beginning of this passage last time but there is still a little more to say:

Today’s popular foundation are emotions. When it comes to a foundation, we cannot merely rely on our feelings, as that will lead to sensationalism or emotionalism. If we rely on our feelings, that may explain why our lives seem to be too rocky. Something happens one day, and we feel great about ourselves. Then the opposite happens the next day, and our entire lives seem to crumble and fall apart.

Are our own consciences determined by our own feelings, rather than on someone that is apart from us, namely Jesus Christ? If so, we must admit that we are extremely fickle people. If we simply operate out of our own experience and our own feelings, we would be laying down our own foundation on something that is very shakable rather than on the firm foundation of Christ and His Word.

And building one’s own “house” rather than God’s comes with a price. Such builders will miss out on the joy and blessing from God’s praise.

Paul speaks of a building because it was a booming city. Go to many cities today and you can see cranes everywhere including here in London. Paul is inviting the Corinthian church to note the different people working on the building sites and see it is diverse but were coming together with many different skills, whether as stonemasons, carpenters, scaffolders and others who are simply the gophers told what to do; the unskilled workforce. The Church, Paul is saying, is a communal building project. All need to participate, all have their particular responsibilities and each, says Paul, need to take care of how he builds. We are building together. We are invested in building the church, the people of God.

Of course, if anyone does part of their job badly then it could put the whole edifice at risk. I’m sure no one would do this on purpose. Nobody, I think, goes ‘how can I create division today?’ or ‘how can I show utter disrespect for others?’ We all would rather have unity, peace with one another, easy to get along with. We also like stability. Nobody invites the unexpected into their lives that will be very troublesome. No, we want security.

And that’s the point. We are a community building together. Sometimes the work is hard and some things need to change and some things need redoing. But that is life and relationships in a fallen world, in fallen lives like ours. Let us get over issues we have between us quickly and seek the betterment of the fellowship here. This is what Paul is getting at. And it is obvious the Corinthians had their work cut out to get to an equilibrium.

And of course, we are building upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done. It is this that gives stability to what goes on above it. This may seem like we are stating the obvious but actually we can easily build upon other foundations including building for ourselves upon ourselves or upon those fickle feelings.

16

But then, what is this building that we are building, and here in verse 16 it is revealed - it is the temple of God. This is why we need to build with superior materials.

Temples do not really feature in today’s society except in the Far East. The oldest company in the world is based in Japan and was set up around the year 538. Its purpose? To build temples. It is still building and maintaining temples and shrines in Japan. What are temples for? It was the place where God or gods lived. It was the living space among humans. And humans have to go to them to meet with their gods and to worship and to sacrifice.

So, now, Paul is indicating how seriously we must take what he is saying. For this is no pagan temple we are building - it is God’s temple, the place where He resides, where He lives, where He dwells. The holy of holies of the Jerusalem temple is now in us.

And the building work is only possible because God gifts people to do the work; everything is a gift from Him and that includes the leaders who all should be master builders.

God warns about destroying the temple, His people but despite the warning here, it cannot be done accidentally, but done on purpose. But there is caution for us here, too, for we cannot grow on our own. We can be too independently minded when it comes to our faith. In public we are expected to have a private faith. This is the opposite of what God says. We must be part of the building to benefit from the foundation. And one brick cannot say to another ‘I don’t want to be close to you!’ The building can only stand if they stick together! Remember, as I keep saying, the Church was Jesus’ idea not ours.

We are not a social club, or another place where like minded people get together. No! First and foremost it is the Holy of holies where God reveals His presence in our midst. The Holy Spirit lives in each of us and together, we are His temple where He is.

18-23

The last few verses speak of wisdom and foolishness. The only way to be wise is to be a follower of Jesus for the wisdom of the world, to God, is utterly foolish. The point of all this is about misplaced trust.

Instead of saying I am a follower of such and such we should see it differently. Paul, Apollos, Peter and I and any other godly leader belong to us and have been given as a gift to the church. This changes the perspective immediately. They are all a gift to us from God. And further than we this we are told that

Opening Up 1 Corinthians Paul Puts the Whole Subject of Giving Prominence to People in Its Proper Perspective by Identifying the Only Praise that Matters (vv. 18–23)

THE WORLD is ours in that as Christians we may enjoy the good things of this world with a new dimension of enjoyment (1 Tim. 4:3–5).

LIFE is ours in that it cannot be taken from us until the time God has appointed (Ps. 31:15).

DEATH is ours in that it has lost its power over us (2 Tim. 1:10).

THE PRESENT is ours in that whatever our present circumstances we are able to rejoice in the Lord Jesus (Phil. 4:4, 11–13).

THE FUTURE is ours because it is in the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ and we are co-heirs with him (John 14:1–4; Rom. 8:17; 1 Cor. 2:9).

And

Preaching the Word: 1 Corinthians—The Word of the Cross Do You Know Whose You Are?

We belong to him. We are his possession. We are his treasure. He purchased us with his blood.

What shall we say of all these things?

Jesus, in speaking of the destruction of the temple spoke of Himself as a temple that would be destroyed and in three days would be raised again. And in a very interesting twist, He has become the foundation of the new temple, the church. Jesus gave His live to lay the foundation of the church so that everything could be ours; life, death and even the world.

We are, as a holy community, to be those who take seriously our Church, which is part of the temple of God for it among us, His people, that God’s Spirit lives. Each one of us are the Holy of holies where He resides. And we should recognise this in other believers.

And we have further hope found in:

Revelation 21:3 ESV

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

And as it says of the New Jerusalem in

Revelation 21:22 ESV

22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

Communion

So, as we come to communion we think of all that Jesus did to make it possible for us to become part of His Church and to send His Spirit into our lives so that we could have constant and immediate access to the Holy of holies where God lives. It was He who tore the curtain in two when He died on the cross making it possible for all who come to Him to access Him freely with the blood of Jesus. And we are to be a sprinkled people, sprinkled with His blood and washed in pure water, living lives upon the Foundation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus paid the price in full so all this could be made possible.

Let us join together in singing the first three verses of:

Song: 85 From Heaven you came: First 3 verses

Prayer for the bread and wine

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NKJV

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

Fellowship prayer

Song: From Heaven you came Last verse

Benediction

2 Corinthians 13:11 NKJV

11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

2 Corinthians 13:14 NKJV

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Bibliography

Baker, W., Martin, R. P., & Toney, C. N. (2009). Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians (Vol. 15). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

Barton, B. B., & Osborne, G. R. (1999). 1 & 2 Corinthians. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House.

Brown, D. R., & Twist, E. T. (2013). 1 Corinthians. (J. D. Barry & D. Mangum, Eds.). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (1 Corinthians) (electronic ed., Vol. 44). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Orr, W. F., & Walther, J. A. (2008). I Corinthians: a new translation, introduction, with a study of the life of Paul, notes, and commentary (Vol. 32). New Haven; London: Yale University Press.

Prime, D. (2005). Opening up 1 Corinthians. Leominister: Day One Publications.

Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). 1 Corinthians. London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

Um, S. T. (2015). 1 Corinthians: The Word of the Cross. (R. K. Hughes, Ed.). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

Vang, P. (2014). 1 Corinthians. (M. L. Strauss, Ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 18:40 14 March 2020.