FBC Morning Light – March 15, 2022

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, a good Tuesday morning to you. I hope your week has gotten off to a good start yesterday. I found yourself having been productive and accomplishing something of worthwhile venture for God's glory.

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One of the things I tend to pray every day is, teach me to number my days that I may have a heart of wisdom, and that this day would count for something worthwhile.

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May not be a lot, but something. I think it's a good prayer to pray at the beginning of each day, and then as you look back over the day, at day's end, you can ask yourself, well, you know, did

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God give me an answer to that prayer? Has something worthwhile been accomplished today?

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Well, I hope so. Well, today we're in 1 Corinthians 3, and actually this passage kind of ties in with that idea of accomplishing something worthwhile.

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On one hand, Paul is dealing with the problem of the Church of Corinth, where they were fighting over personalities.

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Some people were followers, fans, if you will, of Paul. Some were fans of Apollos, and some were fans of Peter, and some that were super pious says, well,

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I'm not a fan of any man, I'm a fan of Jesus. Paul needs to correct that.

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Whoever their hero was, of whom they were a fan, they were using that to create division in the church, and so you had these different sects or schisms in the church following different people, and they were kind of aggravated with each other.

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Paul's dealing with that in chapter 3, and he says, listen, who's Paul and who's

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Apollos? We're just servants, we're just instruments in the hand of the

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Lord. He uses the metaphor of planting a field and harvesting a crop, and he says, who is

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Paul, who's Apollos, but we're just servants, we're ministers through whom you believe. The Lord used me,

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Paul, to bring some of you to Christ, the Lord used Apollos to bring others to Christ, we're just ministers in the

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Lord's hands. Then he goes on to say this, he says, I planted seed, Apollos came and watered that seed, but in the end it's

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God that gives the increase. Then he drives the point home. He says, neither he who plants nor he who waters really is anything.

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It's God who gives the increase. In other words, we're all to be fans of God. We're to give glory to God.

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We're not to be glorifying men, we're to be glorifying God. God who uses the

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Word, whether through Apollos or Paul or whatever, who uses the Word to bring souls to Christ and to grow them in grace and knowledge of the

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Lord. He makes that point, and then he makes the further point and changes his metaphor to that of a building.

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He says, I laid the foundation, and that foundation is the only foundation that is suitable for any work of the church, any church work, and that is

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Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ must be the foundation of every local church.

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Paul says, I came to Corinth and I laid that foundation, and others have come and built on that foundation.

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They each have their place, they each have their role. He said earlier that God's going to pay, if you will, he's going to give a reward, he's going to give wages to each minister who serves based on his faithfulness.

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That's what the rest of this passage here in chapter 3 is dealing with. Paul says,

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I laid the foundation, others have come and built on it, but then he says this, let everyone take heed how he builds on that foundation.

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Some can build on it with gold and precious stones, others can build on it with wood, hay, and stubble.

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Every one of us has to be responsible and careful how we build upon that foundation of the

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Lord Jesus Christ in the local church. Let me clarify this.

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Paul is primarily here talking about those who are ministers or who are pastors and teachers in the local church, but the application goes beyond that.

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Any function that I have in the local church where I'm serving the

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Lord in that church, I can serve the Lord laying gold, silver, precious stones, or I can be laying wood, hay, and stubble.

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For example, through the years of ministry, I've appreciated some very godly, helpful servants, men and women, who've taught and been faithful and very effective that God has used them greatly.

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They've had wonderful servants hearts. I've also come across along the way a few who just seem to really be in it for themselves.

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They wanted position, they wanted something important to do, and they weren't happy unless they could do something, quote -unquote, important, something that was significant in their eyes.

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That is building with wood, hay, and stubble. You're not going to last when that work is tried, put to the test.

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That's the emphasis at the end of the thing. He says, if each one's work is going to become clear, the day is going to reveal it.

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The fire will come, and what stands the test of the fire will be rewarded.

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What gets burned up is gone, it's worthless. I suggest that every work that's done out of selfish motivation, out of selfish ambition, or self -glory, all of that work is just going to be burned up.

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There's going to be no glory. There's going to be no praise to the person who labors in that way.

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The well -done, good, and faithful servant is going to be heard by the one who builds on the foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones.

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Be careful how you're building in the ministry, the framework of the local church.

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Whatever your task is, be it large, be it small, be it important in the world's eyes, be it insignificant, whatever it is, be sure you're building in the right way.

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Our Father and our God, we thank you for this challenge, because certainly all of us are inclined to selfishness and self -aggrandizement.

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Deliver us from it, we pray, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, well have a good rest of your