Build Wisely: 1 Corinthians 3:12

Good morning, everyone.

The Reading of 1 Corinthians 3:3–17 and the Question of How We Build

If you would open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 3, we're going to be reading verses 3 -17 and focusing specifically on verses 10 -15. Hear now God's inspired word. 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. According to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it.

Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire.

And the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives,.

He will receive a reward.

If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him.

For God's temple is holy and you are that temple. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we come before you with the express purpose of worshiping you. I pray, Father God, that your hand would take over my mind and my mouth and that I would speak the words that you've placed on the pages, Lord God, and we would hear the voice of our Savior loud and clear.

I pray, Lord, that you would get me out of the way and you would shine through. Bless us, Lord, as we come to worship you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. When I went to high school, the Iliad and the Odyssey were required reading.

Now, I'm not sure if it's still required in school these days. I know classical Christian schools have you read them. But at the end of the Odyssey, it mentions something called the Trojan horse. And I'm sure most of you have at least heard the term and some of you may even know the story behind it.

The Trojan horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. It's not mentioned in Homer's Iliad because the story ended before the war, before the war concluded.

And it's only briefly mentioned at the end of the Odyssey. However, the complete story of the Trojan horse is told in the Aeneid by Virgil. After an unsuccessful 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse at the behest of Odysseus and hid a secret force of soldiers inside of it, including Odysseus himself.

And they left it in front of the gate into the city. The Greeks pretended to sail away and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night, the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army which had sailed back under the cover of darkness.

The Greeks entered and destroyed the city and ended the war. Now that's an interesting story and an interesting way to get inside of a city. And now that we know that story, I'm sure none of us would fall for that silly plot again.

What Paul Is Not Teaching: Purgatory and Salvation by Works

So before we get into the text today, I wanna go through what Paul is teaching us. Before we get into the text and I go through actually what Paul's teaching us, I wanna first tell you what Paul is not teaching us.

Now I know that's not the norm, but there's a bit of confusion about this text and I wanna make sure that we start off correctly so that we end off correctly. If you look at verse 13, this verse is commonly used by Roman Catholics to support the notion of purgatory.

The notion that we are purified and purged of any remaining sin in our life when we die in order to be made fit for heaven. And it lasts for an undisclosed period of time. Now let me say with full confidence that this is not what this verse is teaching.

And even more so, the notion of purgatory is altogether wrong. Hebrews 10 .14 tells us that by a single offering, he has perfected, the word means purified, for all time those who are being sanctified.

It's one single offering for all time that perfects us, completes us, purifies us. In other words, Jesus' death on the cross is sufficient for our salvation.

He paid it all.

Don't believe me? Ask the thief on the cross. He didn't have an opportunity to do any work or receive any purging of his sin. Yet, today he was with Jesus in paradise. Second misunderstanding. This verse is not about a testing process to see if the work you've done on earth is good enough to get you into heaven.

Newsflash, we don't need a test for that. Your works are not good enough to get you into heaven. The Bible says that over and over and over. All of your good works are filthy rags before the Lord.

That's what Isaiah says.

If you're saved, if you're redeemed, if you're reconciled, rescued from all your sin, it's by grace through faith and that, not of yourself, it's the gift of God. Not by your good works so that no one can boast.

If you could get to heaven by doing good works, God would never have had to sacrifice his son, Jesus. If your works merited any part of your salvation, it would not be a gift and you'd have reason to boast.

But you don't. The scripture says, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. We trust in what the Lord has done. So now that we got those two misinterpretations, those confusions out of the way, now we can focus on what Paul is actually teaching us in this passage.

So what's he telling us? First, he's telling us that as Christians, your foundation has been laid already and you are standing on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Your salvation is secure in him and because of him.

It's his work alone. However, your works are still very important and are being used to build something on top of that foundation. If you've been saved, you've been given much and to whom much is given, much is required.

Your works will be judged by Jesus to see if what you build remains standing. Your work and your contribution to the kingdom of God is very important to the furtherance of the gospel and your reward in heaven.

The amazing thing is that God will actually give us rewards for doing what we're supposed to do anyway. So today we're gonna talk about three things. We're gonna talk about building, we're gonna talk about testing and we're gonna talk about enduring.

Now each one of these points will overlap and intertwine with one another so there may be some repetition.

But let's start with building.

Building on the Foundation of Jesus Christ

Look at verse 10. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

So right out of the gate,.

Paul likens himself to a master builder. He is building something. He is laying a foundation. The word for master builder here is architecton. Can you guess what English word we get from architecton?

Architect.

You're all scholars, right?

It means that he's a master planner, a builder. He's been gifted by God specifically and skilled for what he's doing. Just like Michael the archangel, Michael is the archangel, the highest angel, Paul is the archbuilder.

He's the master builder. And he's not building the structure. He's laying the foundation. The foundation that which upon all other building stands. Ephesians 4 tells us that Jesus gave us apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ.

Paul and the apostles laid down the foundation of faith and we build upon it. And we no longer need apostles and prophets anymore as they were the ones who worked and laid the foundation already. You need only lay a foundation once.

Don't get sucked into thinking that there are capital A apostles out there today. There's not. And we can be certain and know for sure that there's not. Thank God for the word of God. This is how we know.

Revelation 21, 14, and the wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the lamb. So we know the names, all 12 of them. And I didn't see my name on there. I don't see your name on there.

Later in Revelation chapter two, Jesus would say that the church in Ephesus, the very same church where Paul just told us about apostles and prophets laying the foundation. He says to them, I know that you cannot bear with those who are evil, but I've tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false.

If your name isn't one of the 12 names on the 12 foundations, please sit down and shut up. You're what the Bible calls a false apostle. There aren't any new apostles just as there aren't any new lambs.

12 foundations, 12 names, 12 apostles, one lamb. Nothing else is necessary foundationally to be laid for us to build on. That's been laid already. In fact, the very next verse, verse 11, Paul will remind us that no one can lay a foundation other than that which has been laid already, which is Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the lamb, the foundation upon which everything else is built. Not on Peter, not on an organization, not on a denomination, not on a church council, not on a creed or a confession, not on Mary and the saints, but on Christ alone.

And if you're not building on the foundation of Christ, you're not building anything of actual value at all. Yours is a house of cards, ready to fall at the slightest breeze or bump of the table. Now, you might see yourself as stable and secure without Jesus, but you might want a private message in Ebuchadnezzar to see how that worked out for him.

He ended up eating bad salad in the field. All that to say this, Paul has already laid down the foundation, and now we are building upon that. And he cautions us by saying this, let each one take care how he builds upon it.

Each one of us is building. Each one of us needs to take care how we do that. Every Christian is building. Each one of you and me are building something. We have been saved to serve, and we are to take care, to be careful, cautious, prudent, intentional in how we build.

This is not a business you're building. This is not a YouTube channel you're building. This is not a world in Minecraft you're building. All those things will not last in the judgment. You're building upon the foundation of Jesus Christ as laid down by the 12 apostles.

You understand the magnitude of what you've been involved in? If you're a Christian, you're a part of a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall it be left to another people. It shall break into pieces all the other kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, says the prophet Daniel.

I can't wait to pass the preachers that one. But what exactly are we building on this foundation, and what materials are we using to do it? What we are building was told to us in Ephesians 4, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ.

It's the body of Christ, the church that we're building. And so what are the materials?

Look at verse 12.

Gold, Silver, Precious Stones, Wood, Hay, and Straw

Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire.

Here's where things get interesting. And just on a little side note, when you come across something in the New Testament that you don't understand or may confuse you, might be difficult, you need to take a look backward into the Old Testament to see if that word, that phrase, or that principle, that idea appears there first.

This is gonna give you insight as to what the New Testament writer is referencing or alluding to. When Pastor did his series on hermeneutics, he went through Matthew 24, where it says Jesus is gonna come on the clouds.

So many people misunderstand that. But when you look into the Old Testament and see that clouds are a term denoting judgment, now it begins to make sense. We need to do the same thing here. So here, Paul lists gold, silver, precious jewels, wood, hay, and straw.

The materials go from the most expensive and precious to the least expensive and common. So is Paul telling us to buy flashy and expensive materials, not the cheap stuff from bargain build and bohemia to do the work?

No, he's pointing to us something to us much more significant than that. Something that the Jews and some of the Gentiles in the audience would understand. What was wood, hay, and straw, or stubble, collected and used to build?

We read that in Exodus chapter five this morning. The Israelites were told to gather straw and sticks to make bricks, for what? To build Pharaoh's palace. They had to gather straw and sticks, which is basically dead wood, that were used to make the bricks for Pharaoh's palace.

And it was an arduous task that was made even harder by his decree. Conversely, what was gold, silver, and precious stones used to build? They were used to build the temple of God in the Old Testament.

The temple and all of its utensils with the curtain overlaid with pure gold. It was adorned with precious gems. It had silver bases holding up the brackets to hold up the curtain walls that surrounded it.

Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw. Do you see the contrast of the picture that Paul was drawing for them and us? You are either building with wood, hay, or straw used to build Pharaoh's temple, a temporary worldly house that was arduous to build and that will burn down when tested.

It's an exercise in futility. Or you will be building the house of God, the temple, the body of Christ, which is eternal, and which will survive the testing because you used gold, silver, and precious stones.

You are either laboring with the right materials, which will last and endure for eternity, or with the wrong materials, which will burn and be fleeting. Paul is contrasting for us the difference between the works of the flesh and the works of the spirit.

Unless the Lord builds it, it's labor's labor in vain. J .B. Lightfoot says, a palace on the one hand and a mud hut on the other. So Paul is laying a foundation and each one of us is building upon it, sometimes with wood, hay, and straw, sometimes with gold, silver, and precious jewels.

And what we're building will be tested. It will be tested by fire to see what sort of work each one of us has done. So after we build, we get tested. Testing will answer the question, what materials did you use?

Testing is the way to learn the genuineness of something, to prove what something really is. Now my grandfather on my dad's side was a carpenter. He was always building, he was always making something.

And when he made something, it was heavy. It was sturdy. It was made to last. He built me a desk for my room, made out of an inch and a quarter plywood, covered with formica. You don't build houses with an inch and a quarter plywood.

The desk was over 200 pounds. It was impossible to carry, even harder to maneuver, but it was built to last. In fact, my parents still have cabinets that he built and a credenza in their garage that he built.

If my parents' house happens to collapse, those cabinets will remain standing. He built it to last. It's the same mindset we need to use when we're building the kingdom. We need to have long-range goals.

How will what I'm doing here last into the next generation and the next generation? Again, look at verse 12. If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire.

So the testing and its results are dependent on the materials you use to build, which means that the materials you use to build are important. So let's consider the characteristics of wood, hay, and straw.

Wood, hay, and straw are all found above the ground, and they're found laying on the floor. Each one of them, wood, hay, and straw, can easily be burned and disappear in ashes if the wind blows. Wood, hay, and straw were all alive at one time, but now are disconnected and fell from the life of the tree.

Some of it, straw, is even used to feed animals. Each one, wood, hay, and straw, is disposable, and it's not something that you spotlight or put on display. I've never been to any of your houses, and you say, come look at my twig collection.

It's ugly.

What are the characteristics.

Of gold, silver, and precious jewels? All of them are found below the ground. They're not visible to the eyes. All of them need to be mined to get. It takes work to obtain them. Two of them, gold and silver, are purified when they're burned.

All of them are cherished and displayed, and sometimes even passed down to future generations like a family heirloom. I know a lot of people have their great-great-great great-grandmother's wedding ring.

Well, maybe not great-great.

Great-grandma's wedding ring, right? And you pass it down from generation to generation. You display gold, silver, and precious jewels. Another interesting contrast between the two are their sizes, the amount of space that they take up.

Now, if I had $500 and I bought hay, you could get approximately three bales of hay.

I looked it up.

You know, reasonable-sized bales of hay. But if I had $500 and bought a diamond or gold, I could hold it in my hand, and you'd never even see it. In other words, with the hay, I could make a big show of what I was building.

Look, look at it.

I could draw attention to it. You'd all see it. But not with the gold, silver, and precious stones. I could have that in my pocket. You would never even know it's there. There would be no attention drawn to me, no fanfare, just the precious stone.

The materials that will survive the test and not be burned up have to be mined. They're not easily available and not easily seen. It's the quality of the materials, not the quantity of the materials that's important.

Tragically, some shepherds are trying to make a show for all to see, and it pleases the masses when we're called to please the master. It's either make the masses happy or make the master happy.

That applies to all of us.

So what do gold, silver, and precious stones represent biblically? If these are the materials that we're to build with, we'll need to know what they are. If you want to follow along in your Bible,.

Proverbs chapter two,.

We're going to read verses one through seven. Solomon says, my son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and including your heart, inclining your heart to understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom.

From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He's a shield to those who walk in integrity. So being attentive to and receiving wisdom and understanding the fear of the Lord is likened to seeking silver and hidden treasure.

Proverbs chapter three, verse 13. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding for the grain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She's more precious than jewels.

Nothing you desire can compare with her. We need to find, mine, build with God's wisdom. It's like finding hidden treasure and its gain is better than actual gold, silver, and precious stones. Blessed is the one who finds it.

We have to remember the context that this is written in. Paul is addressing the Corinthians who were all puffed up with their wisdom. In chapter one, he says, he's addressing their love of wisdom, worldly wisdom.

He says, for it is written, I, God, will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning, I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe?

Where's the debater of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. God's wisdom or man's wisdom?

God's wisdom.

We can build using the wisdom of God or the wisdom of man, but only one will last. The other one won't. There are physical worldly materials actual gold, silver, and precious jewels. And then there is the wisdom of God, which is immaterial, spiritual, heavenly gold, silver, and precious jewels.

And that's what you want to mine out. That's what you want to seek in the word of God. The irony is that if you pursue worldly gold, worldly silver, and worldly precious stones in this world, you really are just collecting wood, hay, and stubble and building an earthly life that will perish and fade away.

Church, our testing will be based on us using the wisdom and the teaching of God in the fear of the Lord to build up the body on the foundation of Jesus Christ in which there is great reward. If you've ever done any counseling with any of the elders, you don't want their opinion.

We're constantly opening up the Bible.

Why?

You want to hear from God. You want to know what he says about the creation that he designed. Using the wisdom of man is likened to collecting wood, hay, and straw and building Pharaoh's house. And it's not only using God's wisdom that counts, but the motive behind it.

Look at Solomon. God asked Solomon, out of everything you want, what can I give you? So telling. Solomon says, give your servant, therefore, wisdom to govern the people that I may discern between good and evil.

For who is able to govern this great people of yours? And it pleased the Lord that Solomon asked for this. His motive, his heart issue was right. God said to him, because you have asked for this, wisdom, and not asked for long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word.

Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind. I will give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you all your days. Solomon asked for wisdom to help guide God's people, not further a selfish agenda, or so that he could show off and look smart and wax eloquent on all these different topics so that people would be in awe of him.

His heart was for the people. He loved the people. Building up the body of Christ, the kingdom of God, will depend on us using God's wisdom in the fear of the Lord for the sake of God's people and God's glory.

We do not want attention drawn to ourselves and steal God's glory as if we're something, because Paul says earlier, neither him nor waters is anything, right? It's God who gives the increase. The testing process will prove what materials you used and will determine if your work will endure.

And there's so many, so many ways to do this. We can go on a series on how we can use God's wisdom to build people up. We can evangelize with the preaching of the gospel. That's how we get saints into the ministry, onto the foundation of Jesus Christ.

We can pray, one of our most valuable weapons, praying on Wednesdays. Fasting, we need to fast more. Serving the saints and loving our neighbor in physical ways, we have the ministry of mercy that you can be a part of.

We have lots and lots of ways to pour out to people. Part of the GPS plan, the trade guilds, the pro-life, the political and the schooling move and the classical Christian school that we wanna promote is all part of using godly wisdom to leave a legacy and see Long Island turn right side up.

The list is endless. But I'll leave you with this. Three questions to ask yourself. First, how do I spend my time? Next, how do I spend my money? And last, how am I using my giftings? Are you using them with godly principles in the fear of the Lord to sow into another soul?

But before you do that,.

You first need to be nourished by God's word first so that you know that you're using gold, silver and precious stones. Our studying God's word and putting his words into action shapes our soul so we in turn can shape someone else's soul, right?

The word of the Lord is living and acted sharper than any double-edged sword. Taking in wisdom from God and the fear of the Lord involves work, it involves reading and studying and meditating on God's word.

It's mining for those gold, silver, precious jewels. And in God's economy, that will build up your own soul first so that you can pour out into another soul. And in that way, your work is multiplied. It's twofold.

You're actually building yourself up with the word of God and then pouring into someone else. You're building up two souls at the same time. Paul himself does this in 2 Timothy 2 .2. He says, what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also, right?

So Paul hands it down to Timothy and he expects Timothy to hand it down to someone else. And that someone else is to hand it out to other people too. Later he'll say, take it in and pass it on. He says in Philippians, what you've seen and heard from me, put into practice.

Later in Corinthians, he says, what I've received, the creed, the gospel, I pass on to you. So we're vessels. We take God's wisdom in and we pour it out on the people in front of us. We are called to build and take care how we build.

Are we using godly wisdom? And are we doing it with unselfish motives and God's glory in mind? We build knowing that our work will be tested. But even better than that, they actually earn rewards in heaven, right?

Enduring Fire and Receiving a Reward

Some 30 fold, some 60 fold, some a hundred fold. So that's the testing part. Let's move forward and talk about enduring. Look at verse 14. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives,.

He will receive a reward.

So first you're building, then you're tested. And now we'll see if what you've done survives. Will it endure? And I wanna use Matthew's gospel here for some help because he told us in Matthew 6, verses 19 and 21, do not lay up for yourself treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy or where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is,.

There your heart will be also.

Later in Matthew, he says, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field again. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who on finding one pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Laying up treasures, finding hidden treasures, buying a field, buying pearls. What does this all mean? How does all this stuff survive the testing by fire and get into heaven and endure? Do we call FedEx?

Take it up.

Do we call Heavenly Hunks hauling earthly junk?

Bring it up.

Noah's Ark and Moving Company?

Right?

No.

And this confused me for a long time. Is there money? Is there currency in heaven? Like a monetary system? What are the actual treasures and pearls that are in heaven? So it made me ask the question, what exactly gets into heaven?

What makes it there? And how can I store up treasure there? And again, church, our answer comes only from the word of God. The only thing that enters heaven is souls. And the souls entail what you have sown into them.

How you treat others and how you pour into their lives is what makes it into heaven and endures. This is why Paul tells us to be careful how we build, because what we sow into them goes with them. Solomon asked for wisdom to govern and edify, build up God's people, which is what Ephesians 4 says.

People's lives and souls are shaped by our words and actions. Do we edify and sow into people using the wisdom of God? Are we using gold, silver, and precious jewels? Are we using, or are we using the wisdom of the world?

Think about what you are teaching, building, and sowing into the lives of your families, into your friends, into your coworkers. Are you building them up with God's word, or are you feeding them the words that the world gives?

Look at 15, in verse 15 again. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Be careful, you can be building and yet suffer loss because it wasn't done with God's wisdom.

It was worldly wisdom, a work of the flesh, maybe with wrong motives. Egyptian building permits aren't valid in heaven. When you invest in souls, invest wisely. Use the word of God. None of your earthly material, worldly goods, or valuables gained by worldly wisdom will survive the test or be laid up for you when you get there.

But what will be there is souls. The only thing that enters heaven is souls and what you've sown into them. How you treat others and pour into their lives is carried with them and endures forever. The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into the souls that are in heaven.

Revelation 6, 9. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had bore. The souls are in the presence of God and their witness, what they said, accompanies them.

A while back, I talked about the priests and the sacrifices that they made at the tabernacle in the wilderness and how they would wear white robes when they did their work. And when they were carving up the animals, they would get blood all over themselves.

It was a graphic image of the horrors of sin. The priests would have red blood all over their white robes from carving up the animals. And Leviticus says, the life is in the blood. They had blood all over them.

Are you willing to get blood on your robe and do life with your neighbor? Are you willing to sacrifice some of the comforts in this life for the benefit of another person, another soul? The life is in the blood.

Are you willing to get some of theirs on yours? Because that's gold, silver, precious jewels. There's great reward in that. When life gets tough, the world runs away, but the fateful run in.

Why?

Because that's what Jesus did. The wisdom and commandment of God is to love your neighbor as yourself. That's building with gold, silver, and precious jewels. That's what's going to endure. Paul's so clear on this point.

He says, for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

It's the unseen realm that's eternal, the unseen gold in your hand, the unseen godly wisdom that you pour into someone else. Verse 16 of our passage says, do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells with you?

The temple of God is made up of people, souls. Paul says, you like yourselves, you yourselves are like living stones being built up as a spiritual house. To be a holy priesthood, we have to get blood on our robes to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus.

And our reward will be based on what we built, what we sewed into the souls that God has placed into our lives. Everything we did to build, edify, and support the people of God while on earth, building with gold, silver, and precious jewels is what will be tested and rewarded.