I.                   Introduction

It’s hard to believe that this is our seventh week in 1 Corinthians!  It doesn’t seem like it has been that long, to me.   Let’s take a minute and recap the six previous messages for the purpose of summarizing and for the purpose of context.

Week 1 (1:1-9) – Paul established that his authority was divinely designated.  There was nothing in and of himself that gives him authority, it is from God.  Paul also laid out for the Corinthians that they are part of God’s church and therefore should act a certain way.  There should be certain characteristics that define God’ church, namely that they are equipped with all the gifts that they need to fulfill the purpose that God has called them to.

Week 2 (1:10-17) – Paul begins to address his main purpose for writing this letter…divisions.  Their main problem was that they were aligning themselves with teachers.  Paul starts to draw their attention off of men and to God, Christ and the Spirit.  This is a process that covers the next couple of chapters and even in our text today we will notice that Paul is still trying to show them the insignificance of teachers.

Week 3 (1:18-25) – Here we learned that the gospel is what Paul is calling the Foolishness of God.  The reason that he called it that was because it was a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles.  They expected the one who would be Savior to be much more powerful and in control than to allow Himself to be crucified!  But, Paul said, to those of us who believe that foolishness is POWER!

Week 4 (1:26-2:5) – Paul showed the Corinthians (and us) that it is because of our insignificance that God chooses us and uses us.  He chooses the foolish things to shame the wise, the weak things to shame the strong, the things that are not to confound the things that are.  His point was clear; don’t think too highly of yourself because you understand this gospel message.  It is only because of God’s Spirit in you that you are able to understand it.

Week 5 (2:6-16) – We learned in this week that true wisdom comes from above.  Those who think they are wise on this earth are foolish.  I urged you not to put too much stock in science, math, medicine and other earthly things.  True wisdom is from God.

Week 6 (3:1-9) – This was last week’s message and discussed the overarching that Paul was addressing…immaturity.  The reason that there are divisions is because they are immature.  If there are divisions among you today this is because you are immature.  Don’t be childish.  When divisions exist you are being merely human.  God has given you His Spirit and you have the mind of Christ!  Start acting like it!  If you have divisions, and I am sure they exist, you need to ask yourself if Jesus would react the way that you are reacting.  He wasn’t that childish and you shouldn’t be either.

Now that we have set the context we are ready to look that the passage that is before us.

1 Corinthians 3:10-17  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.  (11)  For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  (12)  Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw--  (13)  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.  (14)  If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  (15)  If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.  (16)  Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?  (17)  If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

II.                Builders and Buildings (3:10-15)

1 Corinthians 3:10  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.

Notice that Paul is switching analogies here from agricultural (vv. 6-8) to architectural (vv. 10-15).  The term “grace of God given to me” shows Paul’s continued effort of pointing people away from him and getting the focus on God.  He’s basically telling the Corinthians that is because of God’s enabling power that he was able to lay a foundation.

The Builders

The phrase “skilled master builder” fits in context nicely when using the Greek.  The word translated skilled is “sophos” which means wise (playing off the whole discussion of wisdom Paul has been having) and “architeketon” which is, obviously, where we get our word, architect.  So, Paul is saying that the foundation that he laid was one that a wise architect would lay.  One that will last, and one that will support that which is put on top of it.  The term has the idea of bringing the experience and knowledge of an architect to a building site.  This implies that any foundation other than the one laid by a wise architect is foolish.  The foundation hasn’t been described yet, but he will describe it in the next verse. 

Paul laid the foundation, but he stated that someone else is building upon it.  This indicates a couple of things.  In sticking with the analogy being used, Paul realized that the architect needs help.  He draws up the plans but it takes craftsmen to do the work.  This is the same idea that he was getting across in his agricultural analogy in vv. 6-8; one plants, another one waters.  Except this time is a bit different because it comes with a warning. Be careful how you build! 

The term “each one” is very ambiguous but contextually is referring to teachers although it has implications for everyone.  Each of us is responsible for how we build upon the foundation of Christ that has been laid in the heart of every believer that we are given the opportunity to minister to.

Husbands, it is your responsibility to spiritually nurture your wives.  You must be careful how you build on that foundation!

Parents, you are responsible for building on the foundation of Christ that has been laid into the hearts of your believing children.  Sometimes you may also have to lay the foundation!  Sometimes someone else will have to lay it.  But, if the foundation is there the primary responsibility for building on it belongs to you.  Do others build on it?  Sure.  But you are the ones that are primarily responsible for the spiritual upbringing and nurturing of your children.  Not the Youth Group, not the church, not the Christian School.  YOU!

Everyone one of you should be discipling someone.  If you are not currently discipling someone, start.  And when you start, be careful how you build on the foundation that is laid. 

We will see why it is important to be careful how you build in a little bit, Paul is going to address that issue in verse 12. 

          The Building

1 Corinthians 3:11  For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

                   Paul does not leave options open in regards to the foundation—it is CHRIST!

It is quite likely that some of the Corinthians considered Paul to be the foundation of their faith—hence his effort to continually draw the attention off of himself and onto God. 

There is also a chance that Paul is addressing those that are in the “Peter Party” (See 1:12) as they would have leaned on Peter (Petros in Greek means rock) as the foundation of their faith.  This would have been based on the statement that Jesus made in Matthew 16:13-18.

Matthew 16:13-20  Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  (14)  And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  (15)  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  (16)  Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  (17)  And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.  (18)  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

The Catholic church bases their belief that Peter was the first Pope on this verse but it is quite likely that the exaltation of Peter started long before the Catholic church came into existence.  Paul could very well be addressing this misconception and reminding the Corinthians of the “Peter Party” that Christ is the one true foundation of our faith. 

1 Corinthians 3:12-15  Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw--  (13)  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.  (14)  If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  (15)  If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Paul here was explaining to the Corinthians why they needed to be careful how they built upon the foundation.

          He lists different sorts of building materials:

                   Gold, Silver, Precious Stones

                   Wood, Hay, Straw

Much labor has gone into making correlations with each of these materials and what they represent.  It simple, really.  The two groups of materials represent things that are valuable and things that are worthless.  Paul was calling the Corinthians to examine how they were building; meaning he wanted them to examine what sort of materials they were using. 

The sort of material that the builder uses will be made manifest on the Day of the Lord (vs. 13).  This is not the fire of purifying that we sometimes think of.  This is the fire of judgment. 

Think about those two categories for a minute.  What happens to wood, hay and straw when it is put into a fire?  Burned up.  Gone.  Vanished.  But, what happens to gold, silver and precious stones when they are put in the fire?  They become more valuable because all of the impurities are burned away!  The fire of judgment will reveal what sort of materials you have used to build upon the foundation of Christ!  We must be careful not to build on a foundation as valuable as Christ with materials as worthless as wood, hay and straw.  Notice what the passage says happens during that fire of judgment.

1 Corinthians 3:14-15  If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  (15)  If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

This particular judgment is for those who have built, not for the building itself. 

Notice that is the person whose work survives that receives the reward and the one whose work is burned up suffers loss.  Lest we think Paul was suggesting that the workers salvation would be lost, he goes on to tell us that the worker himself will be saved.  The fact that he will be saved, but only as through fire gives the imagery of one who narrowly escapes the flames of a building fire.

Paul then gives another reason for building on the foundation of Christ with valuable materials, namely because we are the God’s temple.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17  Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?  (17)  If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

We are God’s temple mainly because God’s Spirit dwells in us.  Paul is making his closing arguments regarding the issue of divisions.  Granted, this closing argument will take us all the way through Chapter 4, but he is starting it here, nonetheless.  Paul stated that if anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him.  Contextually he is referring to division.  This is the seriousness of division!  It destroys God’s temple and Paul said God will destroy those who are destroying God’s temple. 

The word for destroy does not guide us to discern whether or not it is talking about annihilation or eternal destruction.  The key is that a grave sin (division) will result in grave punishment.

God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.  This statement is referring to the church at Corinth as a whole.  Later on Paul will address the truth that each individual is a temple of the Holy Spirit, but here he is talking about all the believers together in Corinth being the temple.  Individually each believer is a temple and together FCC is a temple.  Anyone trying to destroy that temple (the corporate one) will be destroyed by God.

III.             Conclusion

I hope that after this passage you can see why I feel so strongly about unity amongst the people here at FCC.  I do not want God’s destructive power to rest on anyone of you.  That scares me, quite frankly.  And it is intended to scare you, as well.  God takes unity very seriously and we should as well.  Reconcile those relationships, do it today.  You are not guaranteed tomorrow.