The Church, as the house of God, is a spiritual house built upon that Rock of Ages, the Lord Jesus Christ, and each believer in the Lord Jesus is looked at as a living stone in that house. "I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matt. 16:1818And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18). When the Lord Jesus is the builder, there is no false material in that building.
This is a beautiful thing to enjoy and we need to enjoy it more in the depths of our souls that the Lord Jesus through all these ages has been building His Church and He continues to build it. It is not a human organization. It is His Church and He builds it through the sovereign work of His Holy Spirit; calling sinners to repentance, calling them to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and when a sinner comes to the Lord in simple faith he is then added to His Church. There is nothing in Scripture about joining a church. No, when a person receives the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, he is joined to God's Church the moment he believes.
In Scripture it is also looked at in another way. It is looked at as a house of Christian profession. And in this way man is looked at as the builder. Every true believer, every person that professes the name of the Lord Jesus is looked at as a builder in this building.
In 1 Cor. 3:1-181And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 5Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. 10According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 14If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 18Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. (1 Corinthians 3:1‑18). Paul is writing to the Corinthian people; Greeks were the most renowned for human, earthly wisdom of that time. But the Church is not based on man's wisdom; it is based on the divine revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
We find that these Corinthian people were carnal. In what way were they carnal or fleshly? It was in having before them a certain person, a human vessel. It may have been Paul or Apollos. It was not spiritual mindedness to prefer one person, even one who was an instrument of God. No, Paul says, What are we? We are only ministers and that according to what God has given us. Paul may have planted and Apollos watered, but after all the planting and the watering is done, there is no fruit except God give the increase. So the work is of God whether He uses one instrument or another.
It is so natural to our human hearts to look at, or follow persons down here. We have to confess, there are certain people that we like to listen to more than others. The Scripture says, "Despise not prophesying. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." So God may use an instrument that you may not like to listen to very much. They may say something that is really for your good so you should listen. There may be things that are said that are not correct, as well. That does not mean you have to accept that, but prove it and hold fast that which is good.
Jesus Only
Consider what happened in Matthew seventeen; the Lord Jesus went up to the mount of transfiguration and He was transfigured before the Apostles Peter, James and John. There as they witnessed this glorious event, the Lord Jesus' face became shining as the sun and His raiment became white as the light. It was a preview of that coming kingdom of our Lord in the future day. Suddenly Peter, James and John noticed that there were two others standing up there, Moses and Elijah. They had never seen these tremendous figures, those men of God that were used so mightily in the Old Testament. Moses led the children of Israel from the land of Egypt to the borders of the land of Canaan and Elijah in one afternoon converted the whole of Israel back to Jehovah, the God of Israel. Mighty men of God!
There they were talking with the Lord Jesus. And Peter, without realizing what he was doing, took his vision off the Lord and started looking at Moses and Elijah. Then he got an idea. Ideas we produce when we do not have the Person of our Lord Jesus before our eyes, may be mistaken. And Peter started talking about his idea. He said, "Lord, it is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles." A tabernacle was a little booth. "One for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." He put the Lord right on the same level with Moses and Elijah—a terrible mistake.
Immediately a cloud came and covered the whole scene and Moses and Elijah disappeared. When they lifted up their eyes they see only Jesus. Then a voice out of that cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." God is jealous of His glory and He is not going to allow any person to be put at the same level as the glorious Person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
How important it is not to be occupied with men. Thank God for the gifts that God has given to be a help to us, but we do not follow men. We ought to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Building of God
The Corinthian people, in talking about Paul and Apollos, were saying, "I am of Paul; I belong over here." And another was saying, "I am of Apollos; I belong over there." That was carnality and not what God intended to be in God's Church. No, it was the Lord Jesus who was to have the supremacy. But notice in 1 Cor. 3:9,9For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. (1 Corinthians 3:9) "Ye are God's building." Here we have the building of God again. It is not a physical building but a spiritual building. It is a collective thing and every believer in the Lord Jesus who professes that glorious name is part of that building.
“According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon." 1 Cor. 3:1010According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. (1 Corinthians 3:10). Paul says that he was especially given the truth and was the wise master-builder and laid the foundation. Notice in Eph. 2, it speaks of the foundation and says it is of the apostles and prophets— plural. So in a certain sense there are principles that we use throughout the whole New Testament, and upon those principles the Church is based. It is built on that foundation work which the apostles and prophets have laid, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. If we want to build according to God's thoughts, we cannot ignore the directions that we have in Paul's writings.
“Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon." Here is an individual responsibility to everyone who is a believer in the Lord Jesus, to take heed how he is building thereon. Some real believer might think, "I'm not really a builder. Those people who get up and preach are the builders." Perhaps in a more public sense, yes, but I say everyone is a builder in one way or another. The youngest boy or girl is building, if they are a believer in the Lord Jesus.
Where to Build
There are two things that I would like to draw attention to in 1 Cor. 3. First, where to build and second, what you build into that building. It is important to keep that building on the foundation. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." All building that is done outside of that foundation will not last. Human ideas often appear good, but how important to test everything by the plumb line of Holy Scripture.
What to Build
"Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." 1 Cor. 3:12, 1312Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. (1 Corinthians 3:12‑13). Here we have six materials that we find are built into this building. They are figurative, but I think we can see very clearly the first three are durable things: gold, silver and precious stones. You are not going to be able to get much of a mound of gold and silver and precious stones if you work your whole life. Still, when you take a match and light it and then put in that gold, silver and precious stones it does not do a thing to it. It lasts! It is not quantity that is so important here, it is the quality of the work. So when that fire is put to those materials, they last.
But there are three other materials—wood, hay and stubble. I think it would not take too long to build a good-sized pile of wood, hay and stubble, or straw. But what happens when you put the fire to that? It isn't long before the whole thing is reduced to ashes, and the wind comes along and blows the ashes away and there is absolutely nothing to show for it. These are figures that Scripture uses to show what our lives are going to be in that future day before the judgment seat of Christ.
It is not a question of judgment of our persons. It is a question of our works that are going to be proved in that day by the fire of God's judgment. Each one of us! It is a serious, solemn thing to think of how much may go up in smoke in that day. It is a challenge. Are you making your life count for eternity's day? Are you trying to make some impressive mound down here? We need to look at things in relation to how they will stand in that day when the fire is going to do the work of proving what kind of work it is.
Three Kinds of Workmen
In 1 Cor. 3, verses 14, 15, and 17, there are three kinds of workmen. We all fit in here in one way or another. "If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward." Here is the workman who works and his work abides in that day. It is gold. silver and precious stones, those things that are according to God's mind, according to His precious Word. Not only does his work abide, but on top of that he gets a reward. Isn't that an encouragement to us to try to work according to the way that God has laid down in His Word?
A Workman
"If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." It is not a question of salvation here. This man is saved, but his work is lost. I think I can say though, according to 1 Cor. 4:5,5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. (1 Corinthians 4:5) speaking of that same Day of Judgment, "and then shall every man have praise of God." For every true believer there will be something that will abide for that day. I really believe it, even as it applies to that thief who died on the cross beside the Lord Jesus. His hands were fastened to that cross; he could do nothing, but still he had a tongue that was loose and he confessed that Jesus was Lord. He said, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.”
How many souls have been saved through the testimony of that dying thief. There was something in his dying moments that is going to last through all eternity. So I really think we can say there is going to be something that will remain for every believer. But it is something to exercise us that our lives be spent on things that will not go up in smoke in that day.
Another Kind of Workman
We have a different type of worker in that temple, this house. "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." Here is a person who has never really truly accepted the Lord Jesus as his own personal Savior. Yes, he says he is a Christian. Maybe he is a preacher or has some degree, but he has not known the Lord Jesus as his Savior. He is defiling God's temple, and it says God shall destroy him. It is a solemn thing to think that there are so-called Christian workers who are not real true believers in the Lord Jesus. The Lord grant that we may build according to His own precious Word so that there will be that which remains for eternity's day.
R. Thonney