Eastertide: Temple Building, 1 Corinthians 3, Dan Claire

So we're looking at First Corinthians chapter 3, page 896

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

in the black. Church Bible, I urge you.

To turn there to follow along, we live in a time of

unprecedented church shopping, something that our grandparents

would have not known what to do. With the.

Slogan has become It's not a church, it's a.

Choice Sad. Isn't it?

Search for the perfect church has.

Become often times very discouraging.

It's hard to find a perfect fit in terms of finding your people.

And once you find them, if you find them, then the pastor is

undoubtedly really disappointing.

But just as we heard, Jesus is the good.

Shepherd. This is Good Shepherd Sunday.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. What is he?

Doing to lead. Us his people to safe pasture,

safe places. Where we can grow, where we can

thrive. That's what Paul wrote.

First Corinthians chapter. Three to help.

Us understand. To trust what?

Jesus has done and what he's doing now with us in the church.

Before we look at the passage together, let's pray we.

Praise and thank you God. That you.

Have given us. Your holy word to.

Guide and teach. Us, we ask that you would fill

us with your Holy Spirit to. Understand what you're saying

today and then give us the courage and the.

Faith to. Go out from this place and live

faithfully according to. What you teach?

Us for we pray in Jesus name Amen.

So chapter 3 verse one starting page 896 Paul's continuing

argument that he began really in chapter 1 and he's cautioning

the church against divisiveness. Paul had planted this church in

Corinth about maybe. Four years before.

And he had spent 18 months. As their pastor.

Before moving on and after Paul left, then another missionary

named Apollos came and he was their.

Pastor for a. Season, but look at verse one

now. After all of.

This time they are still infants in.

Christ verse. 2 They still need milk rather than solid.

Food, these are. Very strong words from their

friend and. Pastor the Apostle Paul.

Why would he say this? Because verse 4 they had.

Divided into factions, they were favouring one pastor or another,

and this was a. Grave error.

Because the unity. Of the church.

Is of paramount importance. Unity was important in Corinth,

in Paul. 'S day.

It should be for us too. Unity is essential in our life

and mission as an embassy of Jesus Christ on Capitol.

Hill, the House of. Representatives over there may

be divided into factions, but not the.

House of God. We must be united, we must be 1

and This is why when politics became divisive couple of months

back within our congregation. Your pastors.

Droned on and on and on about unity.

We had to talk about it. When each of us was ordained.

We swore that we would work to protect.

And promote the unity of Christ. Church, it's our job, please.

Don't hate us for it, Paul knew. That the.

Outward mission of the Church depended upon the inward unity.

Of its people. So he prioritized.

Unity as his first concern in this very long letter, 16

chapters long and he. Starts out with.

Unity. As his.

First concern, and by the way, First Corinthians is kind of

like Paul's foundations class for the new church.

It covers. All of the essentials for living

together as God's people. In a way, it's sort of the New

Testament version of Genesis One through.

Three, it's just. Covering the.

Basics of life together over the course of first.

Corinthians. We're taught how to think about

gender and sex, how to think about food and drink, worship

and idolatry, sin, death and resurrection.

But the starting place. The first topic that Paul.

Spends. 3 chapters on. Is unity.

That's the most important thing to begin with.

Paul knows that if we don't have unity then it will be very hard

to be aligned on anything else. So Paul gives us.

In this chapter. 2. Vivid illustrations to help us

remember what unity is to look. Like.

The first illustration. Is verse 6.

Through 9 and it's an agricultural 1 he says you the.

Church are God's. Garden Wonder where we've.

Heard that before. God's garden and you are.

The leaders of the church. Are the field hands in the

garden who bear responsibility for different tasks in the

garden like planting and watering and so on?

Pastors. Don't own the garden?

It's God's garden. And observe in both 6 and verse

6 and verse 7 the. Church leaders don't cause the

growth. In the garden.

God gives the growth, Paul. Says it twice and both of those.

Verses he says God gives the growth.

So verse 8, he says church leaders are paid for their

labor. Not.

For their produce. Because in some places.

Church leaders. Working very hard are going to

see. A lot of fruit other places.

Church leaders working very hard are going to see no fruit the.

Soil is is. Rocky and hard.

It is God who gives the growth. And that's why no pastor.

Should be so. Venerated that.

God's glory is. Diminished at some point.

Because it's God. Who does it and This is why.

A party spirit is so. Dangerous within the.

Church, it divides God's. Garden against itself again,

where have we? Heard this before.

Satan delights in dividing churches.

Because it's the. Oldest trick in his book ever

since genesis 3 when he. First fouled up.

God's garden, and think again of another garden on the night

that. Jesus was betrayed.

And handed over to death in another garden Judas partnered

with Satan. To divide the apostles.

And to disrupt God's mission of salvation.

But he didn't succeed. God through through Christ.

Through His immeasurable love in the Lord.

Jesus Christ. We find ourselves in this new.

Garden the church where? God is present through the.

Power of the Holy Spirit. This is sacred.

Ground where we must not give in to Satan and be divided.

For this reason, our Sunday liturgy, going back for

centuries involves the passing of the.

Peace before we. Come to the Lord's.

Table the liturgy. Liturgy means the.

Work of the. People believe me.

This is work. It is work to be at.

Peace with one another. These things are connected and

have been connected in in. Church history through.

The centuries because you cannot come and be one with God at the

table until you're one with one another.

That's why we. Pass the peace, and passing the

peace is a lot more than just greeting friends.

It's the hard work. Of maintaining unity with one

another. That's Paul's first.

Illustration The garden Illustration.

The second one is an architectural 1.

You the church, he says, are God's.

Building. And as we keep reading, it

becomes evident that Paul's not talking about just any old

building, but he's talking. About the Holy.

Temple. Of the Lord.

Not the old one in Jerusalem, the one that the Romans tore

down. He's talking about a new Living

Temple made-up. Of God's people, we.

The United. Church are God's holy.

Temple, we are the ultimate fulfilment not only of the Old

Testament Tabernacle, the Old Testament Temple in Jerusalem,

but. Every altar.

Every. Shrine that's ever been made,

and this is such an important concept that we find it

throughout the New Testament in many different places throughout

the New Testament we find. This this topic.

Of us being the new holy eternal temple.

Of God Apostle. Peter Peter makes this a key

point in his. First epistle where he says that

we are. Living stones in the House of

God. He says as.

You come to Jesus, who himself is a living stone, rejected by

men, but chosen and priceless in God's.

Sight you yourselves as living. Stones.

Are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to

offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through

Jesus Christ. Living stones making up a living

eternal temple. Paul makes the same point here

in First Corinthians chapter 3, using the same imagery and for

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

the first time. He says UK oidate do.

You not know every time, he says.

Don't you know? It is like he's.

Using bold font, italics, underline, making it larger in

the text he is emphasizing. This is a key point.

Don't you know? He says.

Don't you know what God has done you?

Plural y'all are. God's temple and God's.

Spirit. Dwells in you verse 16.

He's not talking about sexual. Purity here, by the way.

He's going to. Use this expression again in

chapter 6. Where he'll.

Say you singular. Are God's.

Temple. So be holy, live a holy life,

but here. He's saying y'all second person

plural. Y'all.

Are God's temple. This is wonderful news.

Think about the implications in the beginning the first temple.

Was God's. Garden in Eden it was a thin

place where heaven and earth met, and when God and his.

People could fellowship together.

But then, after the serpent tempted Eve, not only were

heaven and earth split apart, not only was.

God separated. From his.

People, but we. Became divided from one another.

Disunity broke into every. Aspect of life.

Our rebellion made Unity reunion difficult and.

Costly God provided ways through.

The Centuries Altars. Tabernacle Temple.

All rudimentary illustrations. Of the.

Salvation that Jesus would someday bring for God so.

Loved the world. That in the fullness of time.

He gave his. Son to be.

Ripped apart so that. We might become one Jesus

nailed. To a cross split by a sword.

The ultimate peace offering to reunite God and man and on good.

Friday the. Jerusalem Temple became.

Forever obsolete. And unnecessary, a point made

emphatically when God himself ripped the temple veil from.

Top to bottom. Opening the way into the.

Holy of Holies for all, all people.

Jews and Gentiles. So.

What if the Romans destroyed the temple?

As Jesus predicted would. Happen, and as indeed happened,

not one stone left upon another. Who cares?

So what? If they never rebuild the

temple, or even if they do, it doesn't matter at all.

Because we are God's. Living Temple.

We are the. Ultimate thin place.

The thin place that will. Last forever.

And this was done by Jesus himself allowing.

His body to be. Broken And as God raises him

from the dead, he becomes the foundation verse 11 the

foundation for this ultimate thin place, God's eternal temple

made of living stones. Now if you want to know.

About how Paul set up this. Church you can go and read in

Acts chapter 18. About.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

How he ended up in Corinth and we get.

A few details that are. Very, very interesting and

relevant to this. Chapter.

Because when Paul got to Corinth, he met.

This Jewish couple. Whose business in Corinth was

tent making. And as it turns out, we learn in

Acts 18 that Paul himself was a tent maker.

And so he went into business with them.

And that was how for 18 months, he supported himself.

While he taught. The Corinthian.

Church all about Jesus. Now I think it's no coincidence

that. Paul was a.

Tent maker. For that's.

What he's doing in making this new living Tabernacle, in

establishing a church in Corinth and Ephesus and all the.

Other places. Where he did this thing like.

Bezalel, we heard. This in the Old Testament

reading, Paul comes as a master Craftsman making.

The House of God. And he's doing it not with with

canvas and thread, but he's doing it with.

People. Paul began verse 10 by laying a

foundation, the right foundation, with the gospel.

Of Jesus the crucified. And risen Messiah King.

No other foundation is strong enough.

To bear the weight of what is. To be built upon it, you think

about all of the temples around the world, these great temples.

Think about the Taj Mahal. Think about the cathedrals in

Europe. Think.

About the basilica up at. Catholic University or.

Our great temple to liberty. Here on Capitol Hill, think

about. All of these.

Buildings and and how grand they are above ground, and what must

be below them in order. To support all of that weight.

Right now, every foundation must be strong enough to bear what is

built upon it in the same way. Only Jesus.

Only the. Biblical, historical Jesus.

Died and risen from the dead on. Easter is able to support the

weight. Of this enormous bridge between

heaven and earth, between God and humanity.

And that's why, by the way, when churches stop believing in the

historical. Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible.

They their foundation becomes sinking sand, and they begin to

crumble and fall. Their buildings may still stand,

but they're broken on the inside.

Verse 12 Paul talks about. What is being built on the

foundation of Jesus and here? He describes the work of.

Pastors, in similar terms to what we read in the Old

Testament passages describing the construction of the

Tabernacle in the temple, we're being built together into a

living, eternal temple that will never.

Ever be destroyed? As I mentioned.

Earlier both Paul. And Peter elsewhere.

Describe this process. In terms of living stones being

cemented. Together.

Now I want you to think about this for a moment and actually

look around at the people. Who are here?

And consider what a beautiful temple.

This is look at all of the people.

Gathered in their Sunday finest. Look at you guys.

You're amazing and. Beautiful.

Very, very. Impressive.

Each of us a living stone in the temple of God.

OK, now look again and think about how each person is really

broken by sin, by our own sin, and by the wounds that others

have inflicted upon us. Each of us.

Permanently disfigured in one way or another.

Cracked, if you will, and. Now consider.

What God does? He slaps his mortar on us and

he. Lays us carefully.

Into the temple. Wall Ugly brick.

Mortar. Cracked brick.

Mortar, crooked brick, mortar, ugly brick mortar, over and over

and over again. He's doing it.

He's building this wall. And if you're up close?

All you see are the cracks. All you're.

Seeing is the crookedness, but as you begin to step.

Back. You can see.

Beauty there. Because what's happening is with

the mortar, all of the imperfections are being

resolved, repairing every crack and blemish.

And if you step back even further, what you see is

breathtaking. It's still a work in progress.

It isn't finished yet, but from the looks of.

What it? Will be when it's completed.

This will be the most amazing and breathtaking architectural

masterpiece in all. Of history.

It's like the. Japanese art of Kinsuki.

This piece thanks Nathan Wienger for loaning it to us.

Made by. Josh Little here.

In the church is an example of Konsuki, in which.

A piece of pottery. That was once useful, maybe

beautiful, but nevertheless broken.

And cracked apart. Now useless is mended.

Together. And then in all of the.

Cracks that show. Where it was mended.

Gold is filled. In to those cracks and so it

goes back to being useful and it also becomes a thing of much.

Greater beauty. And much greater value, Kinsuki.

This is what God has done in picking each.

Of us up. And gluing us together with the

mortar. Of the Holy Spirit, the.

Golden mortar that fills in all. Of our cracks.

Poured into every. Old defect.

And making us. Sparkle.

Yes, I said. Sparkle in a sermon.

God's. Living Temple.

Is like this. And it is enormous.

And yet it's not finished. There's still.

Room Think about who you would like to bring into this.

They don't have to be. Perfect, they could.

Be very broken, in fact. They all are.

But think about what the. Spirit does.

In making us fit and gluing us together and covering our

blemishes. With gold.

And as I. Survey God's.

Living Temple What I find most amazing is.

That despite all of the defects, with all.

Of the stones. The walls are.

Straight and true. Because the.

Walls are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, and

that's what makes everything right.

That's what makes it all fit. He straightens us out.

He holds us together so we are beautiful because of what the

Lord does to. Us and how?

He sticks us together. I'll just remind you from

chapter 1, we heard it a couple. Of weeks ago.

Consider your calling, brothers and sisters, not many of you.

Were wise. According to worldly standards,

not many were powerful, not many were of noble.

Birth, but God chose what is. Foolish in the world to shame

the. Wise God chose.

What is weak in the world to shame the strong?

God chose. What is low and despised in the

world? Even things that are not to

bring to nothing, things that are so that no human being might

boast in the presence. Of God, God.

Chose you and brought you in and glued you in and has made

something of extraordinary beauty and value.

Now Paul has a special message for.

Pastors. Here in this section in chapter

3 and verses 12 to 15, we will be held accountable for shoddy.

Work. As we are tent makers and

temple. Builders too, Paul.

Uses here imagery of the temple sacrifice.

The temple is a place of. Holy fire where?

Sacrificial offerings ascend to the Lord.

Some offerings are acceptable, furthering communion with the

Lord. Other offerings are unacceptable

and do not accomplish what was intended and in the same way.

Church leaders must. Bring their best offerings and

service to the. Lord for our God.

Is not a genie in a bottle. He's not a Magic 8 ball.

He's the creator. Of all things, he is holy and

awesome and an all consuming fire.

And so it is incumbent upon. Pastors to give it their best.

Like Nadab and Abihu in the Old Testament.

Who pay the? Ultimate penalty.

For shoddy work we all. Will be held accountable for

how? We.

Do the equipping of the Saints. It's a sober warning for

everyone who works in leadership in the Church.

Paul brings us all of this together now, at the very end.

Of Chapter 3. Starting in verse 18 last

paragraph and he makes one last call for unity partisanship.

He. Says is how the world does it.

And it seems very. Wise out there.

Think about 1st century Corinth. With their parties, their

philosophical groups, the Stoics, the.

Epicureans, the skeptics, all fighting, jostling for

supremacy. You however.

He says must become a fool in order to become wise for verse

19 the wisdom of this. World is folly with God.

God's wisdom, on the other hand, flips the script on our

divisions. Look at verse 21 where?

Paul says for. All things are yours instead of

the different factions belonging. 1 faction belonging

to Paul, one faction belonging to Apollos, another one to.

Kefos, Peter. Paul says no these.

Guys, these pastors. Belong to you, Apostles and

pastors and church leaders. All belong to you, the Saints.

Of God instead of. Dividing under pastors.

You know the Benedictines, right?

The Franciscans and the Augustinians.

Instead of dividing under them, they belong to you.

Instead of. Lutherans or Calvinists or

Arminius ends. All of these.

Guys belong to you. For by the power of the Holy

Spirit, we are the. One holy, Catholic and Apostolic

Church, and we in turn belong to someone.

Verse 23. We belong to Jesus and he

belongs. To God the Father, so Paul's.

Finishing this out and he just says.

Stop it. Stop.

Bickering and jockeying over things of this.

World. Take a look around at our

awesome glorious temple. Under construction gets better

and better. Because God just keeps.

Pouring gold into all of the. Cracks enjoy it.

Pay. Attention to what the.

Spirit is. Doing in our midst.

Come into this temple expecting that God is here and is at work.

Are you sick? Ask.

Someone to pray for you, anoint you with oil.

Do you have needs say so come expecting the?

Lord to work. In our midst come asking,

seeking, and knocking, in other words.

Let's. Get on with the Unity.

With the worship. And the mission of being an

embassy of Christ on Capitol Hill?

Nothing could be. Better for us to do for better.

Is one day in. God's house.

Than 1000 elsewhere. Let's pray.

We praise and thank you Lord. That you speak to us.

Through the centuries, even to today, will you?

Put these. Words in our hearts and help us

to be one with one another and one with you, for all the glory

belongs to you. For we pray in the name of the

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.