HOOK

High School english class. (Hand out Bibles)

Just the thought of it conjures up images of Ben Stein from The Wonder Years or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. But despite my general lack of interest in learning the nuances of the language I spoke every day, I still discovered some works that stick with me even now. From books like “The Cay” by Theodore Taylor and “1984” by George Orwell to incredible short stories like “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “August Heat” by W. F. Harvey to poems like “The Lady of Shallott” by Alfred Tennyson — which was set to beautiful, haunting music by Loreena McKennitt — and the thought- provoking “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. In fact, let’s read Shelly’s poem to set the tone for this morning’s study. WARNING: This poem is from 1818, so the language is a bit archaic and you’ll need to stick with me here.

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert… . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

We’ll come back to that later, so let’s pop old Ozymandias in our pocket and move on to our actual topic of study this morning… the Bible, as we continue our study chapter-by-chapter and verse-by-verse through the book of First Corinthians. Picking up in chapter 3 and verse 10.

BOOK

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay

than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. 23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

PRAYER

LOOK

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.

We’re going to take a look at a couple of key words in this verse.

The first is “another”. Paul says that he has laid a foundation, but that another builds on it. That “another” is Apollos. And indeed, there may be more who come and build on it, in fact there could be a great many building into it. In fact it could be that every person in the church is building into it. And each one who builds on it should take heed… but you know what? Let’s stick that into our other pocket, because we will also come back to that.

For now we’re gonna back up and provide some context to what’s happening. Way back in Acts 18 Paul comes to Corinth and meets power couple of Priscilla and her husband Aquila, a fellow tent-maker. He founds this church in Corinth and stays there teaching and planting for 18 months. The Corinthians placed an incredibly high value on rhetoric, on eloquence of speech. Paul knew this. And yet despite his oratory acumen (he could talk real smart-like) he chose to “preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect” (1 Cor 1:17).

So Paul challenges their expectations of leadership for 18 months, then moves on to Ephesus, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. He leaves them there in Ephesus while he continues on to Caesarea. Meanwhile, back in Ephesus this converted Jew named Apollos shows up on the scene, Luke

describes him and “eloquent” and “well-versed” in Acts 18. Priscilla and Aquila spot this guy and see his great potential, so they take him under their wing and mentor him, teaching him the fullness of the Gospel. Then this guys heads over to the church in Corinth with the blessing of the brothers and sisters in Ephesus.

And with his “well-versed” knowledge and “eloquent” speech, the Corinthians took to him like a moth to a flame. And he became the new golden boy. And this, unwittingly, led to the division in the church! Why? Because the Corinthians had what George G. Findley perfectly describes as “freshly awakened and eager but undisciplined minds”.

Paul is illustrating to the Corinthians that this is not an either-or situation, but rather one of collaboration and cooperation that he is hoping they will follow him in. Which brings us along to our second word worth paying attention to in this verse… “wise”.

Throughout the beginning of this series Pastor Joel has talked about Philosophy (love of human wisdom), the problem of course is not that all wisdom is bad, but that human wisdom is bad and here Paul uses that same word ‘Sophia’, ‘wise’ to describe his work in laying a foundation. Because his wisdom is grace from God. Like Solomon says in Proverbs 9, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. And, of course, Solomon would have done well to take his own advice, but that’s a whole ’nother sermon for a whole ’nother day.

So, Paul has laid a foundation which many will build upon, which carries us neatly into verse 11:

11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

I hope we can all agree a foundation is critical to the construction of any building; in this case a temple of God. This language of building and foundation was not unique to Paul, in fact his words here evoke the word of Isaiah, who wrote:

Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.

A precious stone, interesting. I wonder if that will matter later… But don’t miss this, folks: there is only one foundation. There is no house nor building nor temple with multiple foundations. You have one and you go up from there. But what does that mean? It means that any foundation other than Jesus Christ will produce something that is not the Church of Jesus Christ.

This is why arguing over which teacher you might follow is so useless! Apollos is building on the foundation Paul laid. And if Peter came, he would do the same. And all three of them are building on the foundation of Christ Jesus. It’s HIS church!

So then the question becomes what do we build upon this foundation? Fantastic question, verses 12 and 13 say…

12–13 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

This is metaphorical language, as Paul did not make a physical foundation in Corinth, and the people of his church are not expected to sell everything they own to obtain some silver and gold to build with, nor are we… but I think the challenge that was laid before the Corinthians and, in turn, us is much greater. So, let’s try to break this down, let’s try to get our heads around what is being said here.

Paul tells us that whatever your building material, whether perishable (wood, hay, straw) or imperishable (gold, silver, stones), the type of your work will be revealed when the capital-d “Day” — that is the Day of the Lord — declares it, because it — your work — will be revealed by fire; and that same fire will have tested all of the work laid on the foundation of Jesus and show what sort it is. And what are the “sorts”? What are the “types”? Another great question! There are “perishable”, “imperishable”, and “destructive”. But we’ll put “destructive” in our pockets for a minute, because we need to focus on the first two.

What is the perishable type of work? I think there are two categories embedded here, and this first one might hurt, so brace for impact… perishable work is the work done in the flesh! When we get caught up doing things “for the Lord” without involving or asking Him to be a part of what we are doing, without submitting those plans to Him, without even bothering to consider if those are things He even wants us to spend our time on… that’s when we are building out of straw and hay and wood. And we could be working so hard and it would still all be for nothing. Literally nothing as it is as burned up on the Day of the Lord.

But wait there’s more! The second category of Perishable work would be half-hearted efforts. If rather than serving to the very best of our abilities, we instead choose, like Cain, to give God some rather than the best… this is straw, wood, and hay construction. This is perishable. When the fire of judgement sweeps through, none of that will be counted in your favour. It’s as if you did nothing at all.

The perishable is represented by weak, insipid, flavourless work, teaching and life. This is the lukewarm of Revelation 3:16.

So then what is the imperishable type of work? This is the work done with the whole heart. With joy. Under the power and direction of the Holy Spirit. See, because we are Christians we are in submission to Jesus Christ. And he gave us free will, but we need to recognize that submission means that our will comes sub to the mission. And when we do that the same fire of judgement that sweeps through and wipes out the wood and the hay and

the straw, the precious stones will still be standing, and moreover, the precious metals will be not only standing, but purified through the fire.

Now I want us to really try to picture what is bring discussed here silver and gold make a bunch of sense to us, I think, but precious stones is likely a little less clear. We read earlier in Isaiah that Jesus was the precious cornerstone, so could this mean just costly stones, like marble and granite?

Yes. But I’ don’t think’m not sure it does. Let’s go back to Isaiah and look at chapter 54 verses 11b & 12.

Isaiah 54:11b–12 Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones.

I genuinely believe that God — through those appointed to write His Bible — is communicating that all the things we esteem of such high value on earth will be relegated to building materials in Heaven. You’ll get silver, gold, diamonds, and emeralds by the board-foot at Home Depot in Heaven.

And this leads us to pull that something out of our pocket: And each one who builds on it should take heed. Is this just for teachers like Paul and Apollos, or does this apply to all believers? I think a very good case can be made for all believers. Why? Let’s read on into verses 14 and 15 for the answer.

14–15 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

This is great. There’s so many layers. It’s like a cake, or an onion, or Inception.

First of all, how do we know that this is anyone, rather than just pastors and teachers? I think the continual use of the word “anyone” combined with being saved through the fire and the flames on the Day of the Lord tells me that this is probably not exclusively referring to teachers. When you combine this with the larger context of the call for unity and maturity, I think the case is very strong that this is a warning for all Christians (what are you sowing into God’s church? What are you building into God’s church?). And when you factor in the immediate context I think it would be almost out of place for Paul to make this weird diversion into talking about the perils of leadership to a church that needs correction within it’s congregational ranks for picking sides.

Important to note here is that being saved “as through fire” is NOT a purifying fire, or a purgatory where the fire refines us and gets us ready for our heavenly entry. Think of this more as being saved from a burning building. Like you get out, but all you have is the clothes on your back.

The second layer is that Paul is reminding us that all human work — by this I mean work done with purely human effort and motivations and intentions,

God-less work — is for nothing. It is just dust in the wind. And in that day when all of our human efforts are stripped away we will be able to see the truth about our motivation and effort. We often experience the temptation to look around at what people are doing and presume that we know their motivation, that we know their hearts, that we know their effort-level, but as noted theologian Tupac Shakur said, “Only God can judge me”. And this is what Paul is reminding the Corinthians of. God is the judge and he will judge what you are doing.

But Conrad, you capable orator and passable dresser, I hear you say, why do I care?

Isn’t Heaven just Heaven? What difference does it make if we “suffer loss” or “receive a reward”? Is there jealousy in Heaven? Will I still be keeping up with the Jones’? If that’s the question in your head, you’re not weird, I just think maybe you have the wrong perspective on this thing, let me try to explain:

If we do escape through the flames and come into the reality of salvation with nothing to show for the life that God gave us but a fistful of ash… how will we feel looking around at those who have much to present to God, to listen to other be lauded by our Father in Heaven saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” only to have God turn to us and say, “we’re just happy you’re here”. I want to be satisfied and content with what I am able to bring my King when I finally get to meet Him face-to-face. I know God loves me,

but I want Him to be proud of me. It’s not about the Jones’, and it’s not about me… it’s about God. Amen?

And the third layer… is Paul essentially saying “time will prove me right”. He is defending himself in light of eternity. “You can chase human wisdom all you want, but in the end I know my work will withstand the fire.” Paul had his detractors, clearly because some chose the superior rhetorician, Apollos, some even chose Peter — a guy they had never met — over Paul! But he understood better than they did that there was no competition to be a superior leader, just to be faithfully led by the Holy Spirit in the service of Christ’s church.

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

This is so good! What really makes this little bitty sentence so remarkable is that the “you” is plural. We know from later in 1 Corinthians — 6:19 for the note-takers in the room — that each of us individually is a temple of the Holy Spirit, but so are we collectively as the body of Christ. That is the GLOBAL body of Christ. Don’t miss this, Church! We — collectively and individually — are the temple of God! This means that when we build on the foundation of Christ, we are investing in our brothers and sisters AND we are investing in ourselves. So when we shortchange our call to build into the church, we shortchange ourselves. We shortchange our fellow believers. We shortchange God.

And you know what makes this even cooler? You know what will blow your mind with space-time confusion? We might be tempted to look at our bodies and our congregations as echoes of the temples, echoes of the tabernacle… but that’s backwards. The truth of the matter is that the tabernacle and the temple were foreshadowing US! The whole thing was pointing to the preciousness of the believer and the body as the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. And that word “temple” doesn’t not mean the temple grounds, which included these superfluous outer-courts added by man — because man’s God-free work will be destroyed by the fire of judgement — no, no, no! The word ‘temple’ only means the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. The inner place. That’s us! Individually and collectively! I mean… wow. Can I get a “wow”?

17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

This is heavy. And it is a dire warning. A life-or-death warning. Aaaannnddd, here is where we pull that third type of building material — “destructive” — back out of our pockets. This word, “defies” is defined by Strong’s as shrivel, wither, spoil, ruin, corrupt, defile, or destroy. There are a few things we need to note here.

Number 1: the Church is the Bride of Christ. Folks, you do not mess with the boss’ lady. If you think that God would come to earth as Jesus for the expressed purposed of being tortured and murdered to redeem his church, but then stand by with indifference while the very people to whom He has extended an offer of grace instead try to kill his bride as well… you missed it. Bad.

Number 2: Hey division-sower… this is talking about you! It’s easy to point the finger at false teachers and self-proclaimed Christ-followers who compromise their faith to win the approval of the world. But remember; the context of this is people bickering and choosing sides over which leader is the best one. This is exactly the sort of thing we could convince ourselves is a worthwhile spiritual pursuit, but in the end we’re just sowing division. (Men’s, Women’s, Events, Conrad). Friends, if you find yourself talking about someone in anger, but never talking to them about what you are feeling, you are rejecting the clear direction of Jesus.

Number 3: Any attempt to corrupt, defile, or destroy God’s church will bring destruction on the would-be corruptor, defiler, or destroyer. And I don’t necessarily mean earthly consequences, because this type of person could die rich and happy at the age of 110. Then, however, they will stand before God to give an account of how they used the gift of life He gave them. And with all of the evidence laid bare before them, the consequences will be clear and obvious.

If you’ve watched the documentary-style TV show “The Office” you know that the Jim character often plays pranks on the Dwight character. In one episode the people making the fake documentary ask Jim to explain how he

did many of his pranks. While explaining the first one Jim is laughing at his cleverness, but by the end Jim looks sad recounting his exploits and says, “You know these don’t actually sound that funny one after another”. And when you stand before the King of Kings seated on his throne and have God play the most heart-wrenching game of “This is Your Life”, you’ll have no choice but to look at all your choices one after another and throw your hands up saying, “guilty!” Jesus pulls no punches on this one:

Matthew 7:21–23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Do you want to know the most heartbreaking thing about this?

Number 4: The destruction of the destroyer is neither retribution nor revenge on the part of God. It is the inevitable, natural consequence of actions that demonstrate a rejection of Christ. I’ll say it again: The destruction by God of those who corrupt His church is neither retribution nor revenge on the part of God. It is the inevitable, natural consequence of actions that demonstrate a rejection of Christ.

18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

Just this week in our staff bible study we were reading through Colossians 2 and we spent some time taking abut this gem in verses 20–23

Colossians 2:20–23 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

If you have died with Christ — as the Christian is called to do — you no longer have — get this — you no longer have any need for the basic principles of the world. The basic principles. The most fundamental ideas about “shoulds” and “oughts” need have no bearing on your lives! These things, as Paul says in Colossians “have an appearance of wisdom”, “but are of[.] no[.] value[!]”

Our natural, fallen human desires are so UN-aligned with will of God that we have totally inverted His values! We desire not merely the less-than-good, but we, in fact, desire the polar opposite of good! And how can we know this? Because the wisdom of the age is so very, very fickle! It changes freely from time to time and place to place. It is nothing. It has no substance. It is, as Solomon so often says, like chasing the wind.

Again, you want to know the really sad part? Let’s read verses 19 & 20:

19–20 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

Those among us who think themselves wise, clever, cunning, deft, and capable are basically Wile E. Coyote from the Road Runner cartoons. He thinks of himself as a genius, but everything he does blows up in his own face. That is the wisdom of the age! The wisdom of the age is sold by ACME Corp and it simply does. Not. Work.

I know I’ve presented this in a comedic light, but the fact of that matter is that this is a tragedy; if you already think you are wise, you already know, you already have the answer, if this is you, then you have — perhaps unwittingly — built a wall around yourself, and the wall, that enclave, that secure little kingdom “protects” you from receiving God’s wisdom. In fact, when asked about the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of the age, Admiral Akbar said, “It’s a trap!”

That which holds so much esteem on earth has no value at all in Heaven.

21–22 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours.

Some of us will look at this and say, “Hey now, this sounds pretty good! I like this bit!” as though it was some kind of mind-blowing revelation. As though this isn’t exactly what God said in the very first chapter of Genesis:

Genesis 1:26: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

This doesn’t mean these things are ours to use and abuse as we see fit, this is actually exactly how some of the ancients felt about the earth. They believed as “friends of the gods” they do as they pleased with everything, even to the point of receiving themselves on the temple grounds.

Don’t be that guy. Rather, we are to steward and care for these things that have been entrusted to us. In the same way that God rules over us. He does not abuse us, he loves and cares for us. We are the caretakers of creation and of the temple. This should not be something that puffs us up, but a duty to be taken seriously. IF you are a note-taker, jot this down: Biblical authority is less about power and control than it is about responsibility and accountability. Again; Biblical authority is less about power and control than it is about responsibility and accountability.

That said, I think it becomes clear that it would be crazy to worship the thing over which we have dominion, despite our many and varied attempts throughout history to do just that, but it’s just as perplexing that we would seek to worship that which been called to bear witness to us! People have worshipped planets and stars, but these things are put there to witness to US about the glory of our Father in Heaven. And those who bring the Good News — see how smoothly I tied it all back into Paul’s intent here in Corinthians? — why should we exalt and esteem the bringers of the Good News. Paul doesn’t want to be worshipped, nor do Peter or Apollos. They could not bring salvation to the Corinthians any more than Joel or myself can bring salvation to Calgarians. We simply point to Christ Jesus, the foundation upon which we continue to build.

In boasting about who they follow, the Corinthians are getting it all kinds of wrong.

First of all, by elevating their chosen leader, they are really elevating themselves. “Look, I have chosen the best leader! Better than yours because I’m smarter than you!”. This is simple oneupmanship! What my grandfather called ‘a superiority complex’.

Secondly, all of these leaders can teach us something. They are all building on the same foundation! By picking and choosing sides, they are impoverishing themselves!

Thirdly, they are worshipping the witness rather than the one being witnessed about. We MUST remember that it is all about Jesus.

Fourthly, they are sowing division and discord. They are creating friction and

factions. They are defiling and corrupting the temple of Christ Jesus. They are messing with the boss’ lady. They’re playing with fire.

Paul finishes with this thought:
23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Are we seriously going to look at the creation God gave us as a witness, and use the gifts God gave us in His grace to tell Him that our ways are better than His, that we know more than He does, and we could do it better than Him?

Mark Twain famously said, “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

This is a prime example of immaturity coming home to roost in the form of self-deception. Our ways seem better until they return back to dust, destroyed time and the fires of judgement.

TOOK

Which brings us neatly back to the firs thing we put in our pocket: Ozymandias. See… the reason that this poem from 1818 still maintains its popularity over 200 years after it was penned is because it touches

something deep inside us that recognizes the truth it speaks to. All the things that we work so hard on in our own power come to nothing. As Solomon so aptly says,

Psalm 127:1a: Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it;

In the life of the church, God’s temple, what are you building? What are you sowing? What will you have to present to the Father of Lights when you stand before him with unveiled faces?

Let me challenge you, church, bring every decision to the Lord. Especially the ones you can do under your own power. Especially the ones that are deliver with a sharp tongue or a biting tone. Especially the ones fuelled by jealousy, pride, and earthy wisdom.

Close your eyes
If you don’t know Jesus, but see the folly of human wisdom
If you have been sowing discord and destruction
If you have been neglecting Jesus to do it your own way
If you have been phoning it in rather than giving God your best effort