Sermon Tone Analysis

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We’re back in 1 Corinthians today, beginning a 3-part message on chapter 3, called Building Temples.
I’ve never been a part of building something big before.
Certainly not a temple.
The closest I think I’ve ever gotten was a few years ago.
Jami and I considered having a custom home built.
The Architect and the Subcontractors
I’ve never had a custom home built, but Jami and I considered having a home built a few years ago.
And it’s funny because you get looking at catalogs and all sorts of things, talking about design elements, all the things that really make it your home.
We tend to start there, looking at the end result.
And that makes sense because we don’t really care how it’s built; we care how it comes together in the end.
And it’s funny because you get looking at catalogs and all sorts of things, talking about design elements, all the things that really make it your home.
We’re choosing paint colors before we even choose the floor-plan.
We tend to start there, looking at the end result.
And that makes sense because we don’t really care how it’s built; we care how it comes together in the end.
I’ve never had a custom home built, but Jami and I considered having a home built a few years ago.
And it’s funny because you get looking at catalogs and all sorts of things, talking about design elements, all the things that really make it your home.
We tend to start there, looking at the end result.
And that makes sense because we don’t really care how it’s built; we care how it comes together in the end.
But, an architect is going to think differently about the house.
An architect needs to think about every single phase of the project, beginning with…
The Foundation
The architect is thinking about the soil conditions and how much rebar to put in the foundation.
The architect wants to know what the city standards are and all of that.
So, Paul says,
[ADD ‘WISE’]
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled [wise] master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it.
Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
(, ESV)
First of all, notice that the word translated as ‘skilled’ in this text is actually the Greek word sophos, which means wise.
Paul is the one who is wise, the one who is discerning, the one who has laid down exactly the right foundation for the Corinthian Church.
[LEANING TOWER SLIDE]
Imagine what happens to a building when it’s built on the wrong foundation.
The classic example of this is the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The tower was built as a bell tower for the Pisa Cathedral in Pisa, Italy.
When they laid the foundation, they didn’t take into account soil conditions, so the tower began to lean, even before it was finished in the 14th century.
It continued to lean until it was stabilized and restored in the 1990’s through the early 2000’s.
The funny thing about the tower is that they have tried to stop the tilting numerous times throughout history.
In the 60’s the Italian Government recruited help from other countries to see if they could fix it.
But, because the tourist industry had grown so much in Pisa, they wanted to retain the tilt!
Today, the leaning tower of Pisa has little to do with worship at Pisa Cathedral, and everything to do with tourism.
It completely fails to serve the purpose of the architect who designed it.
[BLANK]
That’s the reality of foundations; you have to have the right foundation for the thing you’re building.
That’s why Paul exhorts others to be careful how they build on the foundation that he laid for the church in Corinth.
Paul is the builder.
Unlike the unwise builder of the tower of Pisa, Paul is a very wise builder who skillfully lays the foundation designed by the Architect.
Realize, now, we are not talking about building a building; we’re talking about building a church which means people, a church body, a church congregation.
Paul lays the foundation according to God’s design, the Architect.
So, what is the foundation that Paul laid down for the building of the church?
Paul writes,
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(, ESV)
Jesus is the foundation of the church.
And I want to be careful here because there’s a lot we know about Jesus because we have the whole Bible.
The Corinthians didn’t have the whole Bible at the time this letter was written.
They just knew what Paul taught them as he laid the foundation.
[BLANK]
So, we need to ask, ‘In what sense is Jesus the foundation of the Church?‘
To answer that question, you have to understand the way the ancient people understood authority.
We tend to look at our Bible as if it were a single book that God wrote down for us, His church.
And every passage is just as authoritative as the next.
Now, it’s true that all scripture—everything in the Bible—is authoritative.
Paul wrote to Timothy,
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
(, ESV)
Scripture is most certainly important because it is all God-breathed or God-inspired.
But, an ancient Jew would have seen the Torah—the first 5 books of the Old Testament—as being far superior in authority to the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and all that).
Likewise, they would have seen the prophets as more authoritative than the writings (Kings, Chronicles, Proverbs, for example).
They were all scripture, but some were more authoritative than others.
[BLANK]
The early church carried that model of scriptural authority forward.
When the early church decided what would be in the canon—in the Bible—they considered the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John to be the most authoritative books in the New Testament.
The rest of the New Testament was important and authoritative but always subjected to the teachings of Jesus in the Gospel accounts.
Although the Bible had not been compiled into one book yet, that concept is what Paul had in mind when he wrote,
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(, ESV)
Paul taught the Corinthians everything they needed to know about Jesus and that was foundational to anything else taught, whether by himself, Apollos, or anyone else, because God did not want anything built on anything else than Jesus.
Because, to build a church on anything other than Jesus, would be substandard at best.
[BLANK]
That’s why I often recommend the Gospel of Mark to new believers.
If you haven’t read much of the Bible, read the Gospel of Mark.
It’s all about Jesus.
It’s foundational knowledge for what we do as the church.
And then, don’t forget that Paul said to be careful how you build on that foundation.
Paul wrote,
What then is Apollos?
What is Paul?
Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
For we are God’s fellow workers.
You are God’s field, God’s building.
(, ESV)
Paul’s fear here is that you might end up with the church of Paul or the church of Apollos when it is, in fact, Christ’s church.
The architect doesn’t want a church of Paul or a church of Apollos.
It’s not about Apollos, and it’s not about Paul.
Apollos and Paul are God’s workers, but God is the architect who ultimately builds His church.
[BLANK]
Imagine I went out and bought a big field here in Palmdale.
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