Building the church.
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BUILDING THE CHURCH 1 Corinthians 3:10-23
INTRODUCTION: Paul offers two illustrations of the church. The first (3:1-9)
pictured the church as a garden. This one presents the church as a
building.
I. THE FOUNDATION IS CHRIST
3:11 “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already
laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
II. THE CHURCH IS BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION
3:10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert
builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be
careful how he builds.
III. THE WORKMANSHIP WILL BE TESTED AND JUDGED
3:12-15 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly
stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is,
because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire,
and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has
built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will
suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping
through the flames.
IV. THE LORD HIMSELF OWNS THE CHURCH
3:16-17 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and
that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God
will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
CONCLUSION: We are building the church. Let’s build it God’s way. The only
possible foundation is Jesus Christ, and the workmanship must be the
very best, because this building belongs to the Lord.
3:18-23 “Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise
by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may
become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.
As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again,
“The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile. So then, no
more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos
or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—
all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.”