Building God’s Temple Together

So what we've seen the past couple weeks is that this church in the city of Corinth was a messed up church.

They had lots of issues, which is a big part of the reason that this book of 1 Corinthians in the Bible exists,

because Paul was writing to them to address all of the issues that had come up in their church,

and to tell them, here's how we should be approaching these things from a godly perspective.

In chapter 1, we saw that there was divisions in the church, that people were fighting and arguing about the different teachers there.

Last week in chapter 2, we looked at how they had this desire for worldly wisdom,

and in their desire for worldly wisdom and their pursuit of it,

they were threatening to give up the gospel that set them apart and that made them unique as God's people.

And today, Paul is going to continue addressing these two issues, and he's going to use two images.

He's going to mix his metaphors a little bit.

He's going to talk about the church as a field and the church as a building,

and show how because the church is a field, is God's field, and because the church is God's building,

there shouldn't be divisions in the church, and we shouldn't be pursuing worldly wisdom instead of godly wisdom.

So, the first thing, let's look at the first couple verses,

and then we'll jump into what we want to see in this passage today.

He says,

What then is Apollos? What is Paul?

Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

So, like I said, the church in Corinth was divided.

They were arguing.

They had fights about who was the best teacher, who was the best preacher.

In a watermark perspective, maybe we could put it this way.

There was the Tobin group.

They sat front and center because they were excited to hear him preach every Sunday.

Whenever he got up on stage, they were excited, and when it wasn't him, they were upset.

They would discuss his sermons.

They would come sit as close to the front as possible so that when Tobin got up, they would be right there, ready for it.

Over here, you have Chris's group.

They don't get to hear him preach as much, but when he does preach, they love it.

And because they don't get to hear him preach as much, they just continually listen to his sermons on podcast

and have discussion groups that get together throughout the week to discuss what Chris said in his latest message.

Over here, we have Graham and Alfie's group.

They love the African teaching.

And like Chris's group, they don't get to hear Graham and Alfie as often as you get to hear Tobin.

And so what they do is they have discussion groups that meet up throughout the week.

They podcast it.

They maybe pull Graham and Alfie over to their houses for dinner.

And then right up here, a little off center, you have Justine, who's in my group because she's married to me and she has to be.

But to make up for the fact that she's all alone, she sits there and when I'm preaching, she live tweets the sermon

so that people around the world can follow and join in on her group.

And this is comical because that's not the way that it is at Watermark, but it was the way that it worked at Corinth.

And it spilled over and it affected their relationships because Tobin's group and Graham's group would not talk to each other

and interact with each other like they were supposed to.

And I know that different people at Watermark may have our favorite preachers,

but I think that generally we see that we are a unified body rather than a group of rivals.

You know, one Sunday after church, one of my youth came up to me and he said,

Hey Eric, you know you're not my favorite preacher at Watermark.

Chris is.

I think he expected a reaction from me or something, but I was just like,

I'm excited that there's someone preaching God's word out here that you're excited to listen to.

Right?

But what happened here in Corinth is that the people were fighting.

The people didn't see themselves as a unified body.

They would go around and rather than saying, I'm part of the church at Corinth,

they would say, I follow Paul.

I follow Apollos.

Or in our context, I follow Tobin.

I follow Chris.

And Paul is addressing this issue and he says, this cannot be the case.

You know, there was actually a funny story.

One of the groups just went around and said, you follow Paul.

You follow Apollos.

We follow Christ.

Because who would follow a mere man?

And they didn't say it in this way of trying to bring everyone together.

They showed it.

They did it as a way of showing how superior they were to everyone else.

Bringing the fighting even further.

So when Paul starts off the passage today, he wants them to see these divisions shouldn't be

because of the nature of what the church is.

He says, what is Apollos?

What is Paul?

Servants through whom you believed just as the Lord assigned to each.

He says, Apollos, me, we're nothing.

We're servants.

You go around trying to build the church on servants, really?

It can't be built on us.

We can't sustain it.

Then he says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

He says, look, Apollos and I, we came here.

We told you guys about Jesus.

But the fact that you're Christians is not because of our work.

The fact that you're Christians is because God came in and he blessed what we did and made

something happen from that.

But if you're trying to build the church around me and Apollos, you're building it on people

who have no real power to change you.

Then he says, he who plants and he who waters are one.

Remember, Paul planted Apollos waters.

We are one.

And each will receive his wages according to his labor.

He says, look, you guys are fighting over Paul versus Apollos.

But Paul and Apollos are actually on the same team.

We support each other.

We're encouraging one another's works.

We have one another's backs.

For you guys to go and fight over who's the better teacher and over whose side you support

is fighting against the work that we're actually trying to do among you.

The church can't be divided because we're all on the same team.

The nature of what the church is, is a unified body.

And then he says, for we are God's fellow workers.

You are God's field, God's building.

Now, I love the ESV translation of the Bible, but I feel like this verse, they got it wrong.

Because it sounds like we are God's fellow workers.

We're working with God here.

But if you, and in a sense, that's true.

But if you look at what Paul is actually trying to say, he's saying, we are working together,

serving God.

A better translation might be, we are co-workers in God's service.

Paul, Apollos, we're not divided.

We are united.

Under a common head, God.

And you as a church need to be united under that same common head.

And then he says, you are God's field and God's building.

What you see is that the you here is referring to the whole church.

It's a plural you.

So he's saying, you, all of you together, are one field.

All of you together are one building.

All of you together can't remain separate because the nature of what the church is,

is one unified structure, united under Christ.

So for us as the church to go around fighting and arguing and discussing about,

my teacher is better than yours, so I'm a better Christian,

is counter to what the purpose of the church is.

And then he transitions from talking about the field to talking about the building.

And that's where I want to spend the most of our time today, if we can go to the next set of verses.

He says,

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.

He says the foundation of the church must be Christ.

And he actually also here attacks the desire of the Corinthians for wisdom.

When he says that he's a skilled master builder, the word that he uses there for skilled is wise.

He says, look, you in your worldly wisdom want to build the church around dynamic teachers,

around big personalities that can draw out crowds.

But the true wisdom of God, the true skill in building the church doesn't come in building it around personalities.

It comes in building it around Christ.

And this is counterintuitive to the world, because like we talked about last week,

Christ crucified makes no sense to a lost world.

But if we are God's people, that is the one thing that unites us and brings us together,

and that needs to be the foundation for who we are as a church.

He says anything else that you build the church on is not going to be strong enough to hold it up when the times of testing come.

You know, my dad is an engineer.

And if you ask him about foundations and why they're so important,

he could give you a talk for hours and hours and hours.

About different types of foundations and what foundations do,

and why it's important to have a good foundation under your building.

But really, the whole talk would boil down to the sentence that if you don't have a good foundation,

your building is going to collapse.

Now, if we think of this tower like the church, or like a normal tower,

would you ever build a tower with a music stand as the base, as the foundation?

People are laughing because that's foolish.

Because all it takes is some kid walking by and going,

and your tower is destroyed.

And Paul is saying, look, if you try and build your church with me as the foundation,

if you try and build your church with Apollos as your foundation,

if we as Watermark try and build the church with Tobin or Chris or Graham or Eric or Alfie as the foundation,

it's like building a tower with a music stand for the foundation.

It's not going to be able to hold up the structure of the church.

We need Christ to be our solid foundation,

because any other foundation will crumble when the day of testing comes.

And as we keep reading, we see that not only do we need the right foundation,

we also need to build on that foundation with the right materials.

It says,

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,

although he himself will be saved,

but only as through fire.

He says,

We have this foundation of Christ,

and then we build on that foundation.

You can build with gold, silver, precious stones.

You can build with wood, and hay, and straw.

But remember as you build that one day, fire is coming.

So be careful what you build with,

because you want your building to last after the fire has come.

And so, you know, we want to build on this foundation.

We don't want to build on a different foundation,

because then that's not the church anymore.

But he wants us to build up God's building together.

And what does it mean for us to build on this foundation?

Growing up, I learned it this way.

Now, Eric, you are a Christian now.

You have believed in Jesus.

Now you need to go build on that foundation in your life

by reading your Bible,

and praying and obeying God

and telling others about Jesus.

And I think all of these things are important for us as Christians

if we want to live a healthy Christian life.

The problem is I don't think they're what Paul is talking about here.

Because if you remember,

he's talking about the building

not being our individual lives,

but the church.

And so what it means to build into this building

is something bigger.

It's something about our community.

Each of us is responsible for building into that community individually.

Each of us will be judged individually

by how we built into that community.

But what we're building into is not just our own lives.

It's the community of the church as a whole.

So what does it mean to build with gold or silver or precious stones?

Maybe it means going out and volunteering for the kids or youth ministry

and investing in the lives of our next generation.

Maybe it means joining a community group for the first time

and actually getting involved in the life of other people around you in the church.

Maybe it means offering to host a community group

because there's a group that needs a place to meet

and you have a place available that they could use.

Maybe there's a Christian brother or sister who's sick or in the hospital

and just needs someone to visit them.

And maybe building with gold and silver and precious stones

means that you go and you visit them

and spend time with them and encourage them.

It can mean a lot of things.

But it's about building up the community.

Investing in one another's lives.

Pointing one another towards Christ.

And conversely, building with wood and hay and straw

means doing things that appear to be investing and building into the community

but that when the day of testing comes will be revealed to not be.

Maybe that means you show up on Sunday morning

so you can hear this teaching

but then you go out on your own throughout the week

and don't get involved in community.

Maybe it means that you constantly point out the problems in the church

but you never are willing to get involved

and do anything to help out to fix them.

This next one I'm a little hesitant to say

because it needs lots of qualifiers

but I'm going to say it and then I'll say the qualifiers.

Maybe it means that when you see someone else who has a need in the church

you volunteer to help them

but then you have your helper do all the work instead of you.

And now I'm not saying that it's universally wrong

to have your helper do the work for people

but what I am saying is

if you're constantly doing that as a pattern

rather than actually investing in them yourself

that may be something to examine

and see is that something

where I should be getting more involved myself.

Paul wants us to build with the right materials

on this foundation of Christ

and he says someday

whatever you're building with

will be manifest

it'll be obvious and apparent

and you notice he says

your work will be tested.

He doesn't say your works

he's not talking about this checklist

like oh Sunday

May 3rd

at 11 19 a.m.

you fell asleep in church

we're going to cross that one off your list

no he's talking about

one body of work as a whole

he's talking about

the church

what are we doing building into the church

putting this structure together

there's going to be a fire

that comes to test the entire body of work

which means if you're pouring

and investing into this body

that's great news for you

because even if no one notices it today

someday God's going to notice it.

It means that if you're pouring

and investing into this body today

and you make a mistake here or there

it's just going to get burned up

and everything else is going to remain.

But it means if you're not

pouring into the body

and investing

there's reason to be terrified

because one day

the fire is going to come

and it's going to burn everything up.

And you know

our salvation is not based

on how we build

but there are rewards

that are dependent

on how we do

building into God's building.

And there have been plenty of people

throughout history

who have built these ginormous palaces

for God's kingdom

but they built them out of wood

and hay and straw

and just put

a nice fancy gold paint layer

over the top

so it looks shiny and nice.

But on the day of testing

it's going to burn up

and all they're going to be left with

is a pile of embers

and a couple drops of gold

that were used

in making the paint.

I wonder how we would feel

if we get before God

and 80 years of our work

is just reduced

to a pile of cinders.

It's essential

Paul is saying

to build properly

upon the foundation

of Jesus Christ

in the church.

And it's essential

because

even if we have

the best foundation

if we don't build on it properly

it's not going to stand.

In September 21st, 1999

there was an earthquake

in Taiwan.

7.6 magnitude.

We've got a picture here

of a 12-story building

that just collapsed.

It fell on a commercial building

next door to it.

Lots of people died

in this earthquake

but lots of the damage

actually could have been preventable.

In this earthquake

there were a number of buildings

that were advertised

as earthquake-proof

that fell over

in the earthquake.

In Taipei

a lot of the buildings

that were supposed to be

earthquake-proof

that fell over

collapsed because

the construction workers

had used cheap cement

to cut costs.

But when the day of testing came

their buildings

crumbled.

In another city

there were five apartment buildings

that collapsed

that were supposed to be

earthquake-proof.

But when they did investigations

what they found later on

is that the walls

that were supposed to be

full of bricks

were full of buckets

and plastic bottles

that had been put in there

to cut costs.

They looked really nice

and fancy on the outside.

But the day of testing came

and they were shown

to be what they were

hollow and empty

and unable to stand up

to the test that was coming.

And Paul is saying

don't let our lives

be like these buildings.

Build with lasting materials.

Invest in the community.

Invest in this building

of God.

So I want us to ask ourselves

how are we

building on this

foundation of Christ

in the Watermark community?

What does this look like

for us on a practical

week-to-week basis?

I think it's something

different probably

for each of us.

but that doesn't

remove this call

for us

to build

into this community.

Do some of us

maybe need to

change course now

to get more involved

to invest more

in the life

of this community?

Because God is saying

there are

literally

eternity

will be different

based on

whether or not

we build properly

on this foundation.

And the even

crazier thing

if we pull up

the next set of verses

is that it's not

just any building

that we're building.

He says

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.

The reason

that it's so important

that we build

properly into this

building

isn't just because

we're going to be

tested someday

but also because

this building

is where

God himself

lives.

As Paul wrote

this to the Corinthians

they lived

in a city

of temples.

There was a big

temple

to Apollo

downtown.

If you go to

the city of Corinth

now you can still

see the pillars

standing from this

temple.

They had a temple

for Athena

and possibly

the most famous

temple in the city

on top of the

mountain next door

was the temple

for Aphrodite

filled with a thousand

priestess prostitutes.

The Corinthian church

knew what a temple

was.

They knew

that a temple

told you

something about

the God

that it was built

for.

And as they

this small group

of people

gathered inside

someone's house

to worship God

reading these words

would have been

puzzling

because they say

look, look at our

God.

He is so big.

He is so powerful.

How are we

supposed to show

the world around

us who he is?

Because that's what

temples do.

Temples show the

world who their

God is.

That's why the

temple of Aphrodite

the goddess of

beauty and love

and pleasure

and procreation

was filled with

prostitutes

because they wanted

to show the world

what worship

of Aphrodite

involved.

God.

And Paul says

to the church

at Corinth

you are a

temple.

You are supposed

to live a certain

way of life

that shows

the world

around you

who the God

that lives

inside you

is.

Now like I

said before

in Greek

there's a

separate word

for you

if you're

talking about

an individual

than for you

if you're

talking about

a group.

So he could

say you

like Eric

Scott

are God's

temple

and God's

spirit lives

in you

like Eric

Scott.

That's not

what he says

here.

He says

all of you

are God's

temple

and God's

spirit lives

in all

of you.

I think

the NIV

maybe gets

this translation

better.

It says

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.

What he's

saying is

it's not

just me

or him

or her

or an

individual.

He's saying

God's

spirit lives

in us

when we

are together

as a

body.

And while

it's true

that God's

spirit lives

in each

of us

individually

which we'll

see later

in chapter

six when

Paul says

that's why

Christians

shouldn't

go around

sleeping

with

prostitutes

he's

saying

here

that

God's

spirit

lives

in all

of us

collectively

as a

body

as a

unit

which

means

that

the way

that we

apply

these

verses

is slightly

different

because

if God's

spirit

just lives

in me

what does

that mean?

I should

take care

of my

body

I should

read my

Bible

I should

pray

I should

be positive

because I'm

God's

temple

and I

think all

of these

things are

things that

we should

be doing

but I

don't think

that's what

Paul is

pointing us

to here

because we

collectively

are God's

temple

so what that

means is that

we should

love one

another

what that

means is we

should serve

one another

what that

means is we

should remind

each other of

the gospel

and point

each other

towards Christ

we should

take care

of each

other

because God's

spirit dwells

in our

midst

and as we

do these

things for

each other

it shows

the world

around us

who our

God is

what God

is worshipped

in this

temple

the God

who loves

us

sacrificially

that's why

we love

each other

sacrificially

the God

who laid

down his

life for

us

that's why

we are

now willing

to lay

down our

lives for

one another

I think

throughout

history a lot

of people

have read

this verse

and seen

it as a

call to

this

isolationist

introspective

Christianity

where I

am God's

temple

and so I

can stay

home by

myself

I can

worship God

alone

I don't need

other people

around me

because God

is here

with me

and yes

he is here

with you

but what

these verses

are saying

is that

can't be

our response

our response

has to be

to go out

to get

involved

in community

to plug

into the

lives of

others

to love

them

to serve

them

that means

sometimes

hanging out

with a bunch

of annoying

and bratty

teens

can be more

spiritual than

staying home

and reading

your Bible

have you ever

thought about

that

sometimes

cooking a

meal for

a family

that just

had a new

baby

can be

more

spiritual

than

staying home

reading your

Bible

because God

wants us

to show

the world

around us

who he is

reading your

Bible

is awesome

reading your

Bible

is necessary

if you want

to have a

strong Christian

life

but it

needs to

lead to

action

that impacts

the community

and shows

the world

who God

is

and God

cares

so deeply

and immensely

about how

we relate

to one another

as the church

that he

actually

includes

threats

he includes

threats

he says

if anyone

destroys

God's

temple

God

will

destroy

him

whatever

harm

you do

to God's

temple

whatever

harm

you do

to the

church

God

will

do

to

you

uh oh

and again

the communal

application

of this

verse

means that

it's

different

if

if I

alone

am

God's

temple

then

destroying

God's

temple

would be

like

cutting

myself

and I

absolutely

think we

again

shouldn't

do that

but if

we

together

are

God's

temple

then

destroying

God's

temple

means

gossiping

about

one

another

it means

lying

to one

another

it means

starting

fights

with one

another

maybe

destroying

God's

temple

means

going

into

your

office

telling

all your

co-workers

and

clients

about

how

you

go

to

this

church

called

watermark

and it's

so amazing

and then

cheating

them

in your

business

deals

so that

they

assume

bad

things

about

everyone

else

in the

church

and giving

the church

a bad

name

through

your

actions

destroying

God's

temple

is destroying

the community

destroying

the unity

and purity

of the

church

and I

know

this looks

scary

but actually

God's telling

it to us

for our own

good

because what

he says

is you

together

are one

unit

you

together

are one

building

if you

think about

a physical

building

you can't

hurt one

part of the

building

without leaving

other parts

of the

building

more susceptible

to damage

if you break

a window

in a house

the walls

and floors

are much

more susceptible

to flooding

if you cut

a live wire

and just leave

it dangling

the whole

structure

is more

liable

to catch

fire

if you

break

the latch

on the

front

door

the whole

house

is more

susceptible

to having

robbers

or vandals

break in

and destroy

everything

and what

God's saying

is when

you lie

to or

about one

another

when you

gossip

and slander

about one

another

when you

start fights

with one

another

that's

breaking

in the

window

on God's

house

that's

cutting

the live

wires

and leaving

them dangling

there in

God's

house

that's

breaking

down

the latch

on the

front door

of God's

house

house

and you

are leaving

yourselves

susceptible

to attack

by doing

that

because you

are part

of that

unit

we

are

one

unit

we are

God's

house

God

lives

in us

together

and God

cares

immensely

about how

we

interact

as a

community

God

the good

news

is we

don't

have

to

destroy

God's

house

we

don't

have

to

build

badly

we

can

build

well

that's

why

Paul

writes

this

because

he

wants

the

Corinthians

to

build

well

into

God's

house

we

can

build

with

these

lasting

materials

and so

in closing

today

I want

to

throw out

a couple

ideas

of what

this

might

look

like

in

some

of

our

lives

this

week

these

ideas

may not

relate

to

you

maybe

as

you

hear

them

something

else

will

pop

up

in

your

mind

but

my

challenge

for

you

is

if

you

see

a

clear

way

that

you

feel

like

God

wants

you

to

get

involved

in

investing

in

the

community

investing

in

his

house

in

his

church

don't

leave

here

today

before

you've

taken

the

first

steps

to

doing

that

because

this

literally

is

something

that

has

eternal

consequences

so

here's

the

list

maybe

it

means

talking

to

that

person

in

your

community

group

who's

been

going

through

a

tough

time

and

can

be

a

little

bit

difficult

to

talk

to

and

letting

them

know

that

you're

there

for

them

and

actually

meaning

it

maybe

it

means

joining

a

community

group

so

you

can

get

plugged

in

to

the

life

of

the

church

maybe

it

means

stepping

up

and

volunteering

in

the

kids

or

youth

ministry

so

you

can

invest

in

the

lives

of

others

within

the

church

or

the

university

ministry

maybe

if you're

married

it means

finding a

special way

to serve

your husband

or wife

today

to remind

them

that you

love

them

and

that you

have

their

backs

maybe

it

means

apologizing

to

someone

that

you've

hurt

and

taking

whatever

steps

are

within

your

power

to

make

things

right

in

that

relationship

maybe

one of

these

sticks out

to you

maybe

none of

them

do

but

something

else

came to

mind

as I

said

that

but

again

my

challenge

for you

don't

leave

here

today

without

dealing

with it

because

the way

that we

interact

as a

community

as a

body

is

hugely

vitally

important

in God's

eyes

and

eternity

will be

different

because

of the

way

that we

treat

one

another

let's

pray

father

we thank

you

for

your

love

we thank

you

for

your

gospel

and

for

the

fact

that

you

care

about

us

we

thank

you

that

your

wisdom

is not

the

wisdom

of the

world

but

it's

a

greater

wisdom

we

thank

you

that

you

desire

our

good

that

you

want

us

to

be

protected

from

attacks

from

inside

and

outside

and

God

I

pray

that

we

as

a

body

would

support

one

another

that

we

would

love

one

another

and

encourage

one

another

and

build

on

that

foundation

of

Christ

in

each

other's

lives

that

we

wouldn't

tear

one

another

apart

or

pursue

things

that the

world

says

should

be

important

at

the

expense

of

what

you

say

is

important

God

help us

to love

you

more

and

to

love

one

another

more

in

Jesus

name

amen