Jesus is Our Foundation
Godly Living in the Today's World: A Study in 1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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The Good Foundation
The Good Foundation
1 Corinthians 3:10–15 (NIV)
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
Paul continues to address the factionalism that had taken over the church in Corinth. When the body of Christ is divided, it is no longer the body of Christ. The intent of the gospel is to unite the people of God under one banner, Christ, because of the unifying work of redemption.
The Scriptures over and over point us to the oneness of Christ and His body.
Ephesians 4:1–6 (NIV)
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Galatians 3:26–28 (NIV)
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Christ’s work upon the cross has taken us from being people of individual pursuit to being one people. This oneness is the foundation upon which the church is to be built.
Paul opens by reminding us that the foundation for the church is the Lord. Paul could not lay a foundation if the basis for the foundation had not been given to Him by the Lord. The foundation that he laid in Corinth was the foundation of Christ’s redemption. They became the church through the same Spirit, not through the teachings of a specific pastor or the ministries of a specific ministry. Their position as alive instead of dead, as citizens of heaven and not of earth, was given through one Lord and one salvation.
So Paul points us to the foundation of Christ as the base upon which we build our lives. The works of our lives are being placed upon the foundation as a living temple of testimony to the Lord. Paul describes the materials by which our lives add to the building. He informs us that our works will be tested by fire to reveal the purity upon which it was placed.
Notice that those building are saved individuals so their works are not are not outright defiant against the Lord. Rather their works are lesser or inadequate. These works were self-serving. Most importantly, these works were driven by personal comfort or preference rather than divine inspiration and surrender. When we choose personal preference over the Spirit’s leading, we will find that our works fail to lead people toward the Lord.
The Temple Being Built
The Temple Being Built
1 Corinthians 3:16–17 (NIV)
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
Paul sees us, the church as the temple of the Lord being built upon the foundation of Christ. In many other places in Paul’s writings, he will refer to us as individuals being built into the temple or dwelling place of the Lord, but here, Paul sees the church as a whole as the temple of God. The temple was the testimony to the Lord. It was the temple that proclaimed to the world who was in authority and who was worshipped in this place.
Division in the church destroys the temple of God. First, the temple is destroyed because the Spirit can not operate in a people who deny His authority. No man can serve two masters. Second, the church divided destroys the purpose of the temple. The temple is supposed to proclaim to those who see it who rules and reigns. Divided people proclaim nothing more than a confused and inadequate god.
God need only to remove His presence from His people for them to fall. When we cease to seek the Lord and follow Him, He promises to remove His support and foundation. Left to accomplish the saving work of Christ in our own strength leads to a singular fate, our own destruction.
Surrender to the Foundation
Surrender to the Foundation
1 Corinthians 3:18–23 (NIV)
Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
Paul once again returns to what he sees as the root of the dissension in the church, a giving over to worldly wisdom. He quotes Job 5:13 and Psalm 94:11 as he shows the folly of worldly wisdom being used to assess the worth of different teachers. Man has at best the limited ability of discerning the outward and temporal worth of a man’s works. God, who knows the heart of each man and sees in fullness the eternal impact of his works, has laid out before us what worthy living looks like, to surrender fully ourselves, body, mind and soul, over to His ways.
God and His work manifested in our lives should drive us to unity. We are united under one gospel by the power and work of one Savior who has sent one Spirit to indwell us all to the glory of One God who rules and reigns over all. So Paul tells us it is better to abandon the wisdom of the world. So let us as the church stop pursuing the world in accordance with the world’s values, and instead let us hold all the more steadfast to the pursuit of God and pointing others toward Him.
Paul closes by reminding us what is ours when we truly surrender to Christ. When we give ourselves to Christ, we no longer are slaves, dependent upon a specific individual to lead us in the right direction. No we are not slaves but we are rulers who have been given direct access to the Lord. God has given Himself over to us through His indwelling that we might be able to discern what is good. We have the Spirit from who all truth is breathed. If we seek Him, we will know truth.