This church building was constructed about nine years ago. These are the blueprints for our church. Whoever put them together did a fine job, and they provided direction for the folks who built this structure which we often call First Baptist Church. It is good to keep in mind, though, that these are plans for a building, not a church. The wood, cement, pipes, wires, and carpet that have been put together at this location are really not First Baptist Church. Those materials make up a building, but the church is made up of people, believers in Jesus Christ. This building is no more the church than the Metrodome is the Minnesota Twins. Tomorrow morning First Baptist Church will be spread out all over the Iron Range. We need to keep this in mind as we read our text today. Our journey through 1 Corinthians brings us to Chapter 3, Verses 1-17. Here in Verse 16, Paul asks a remarkable question: 1 Corinthians 3:16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? As Christians, we are God's temple, God's building. Now of course, God is omnipresent. He is everywhere - in heaven, on earth, and in between. There is no place where God is not. That is why Psalm 139 reminds us there is nowhere we can go to get away from God. But, as His people, as believers in Jesus Christ, He is present within us in a very special way through His Spirit. So, even though God is the One who is building His church, He gives us the opportunity to share in that task. How are we supposed to do that? I think we find some very helpful blueprints in our text today. Let's pause and pray that as we look at God's Word, He will truly speak to each one of us today.
How do we build a church that honors the Lord? The first thing that Paul tells us is that we need to think (and act) like a Christian as we seek to build. That was not happening in Corinth. Listen to what Paul has to say. 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly -- mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? At the end of Chapter 2, which we looked at a few weeks ago, Paul talks about how no one can understand the Gospel, no one can become a true believer in Jesus Christ, without the help of the Holy Spirit. Paul is confident that the folks in Corinth have the Holy Spirit. They are true Christians. But they are not acting like it. The jealousy, quarrels, and factions in the church which he addressed in Chapter 1, are characteristic of people who are "mere men," of people who have not been born again by God's Spirit. Their behavior and attitudes are "like the worlds" or literally, "fleshly" and "carnally," what people are like before they become Christians. The best Paul can say about them is that they are acting like spiritual infants, people with spiritual life but not spiritual understanding. In fact, The Message translates the question at the end of Verse 4 as, "Are you not being totally infantile?" The implied answer is, "Yes, you are."
This little scolding which Paul gives the Corinthians is certainly a warning to us. I don't know about you, but I know there are times when my actions and thinking are totally infantile. Yes, on Sunday mornings I probably seem to be a pretty spiritual fellow, but other times during the week it is not always the case. Whenever I decide I will skip my quiet time, such as reading the Bible for a day, so that I can watch Sportscenter on TV, I suspect I am acting like a mere man, being totally infantile. Friends, sometimes churches even seem to forget what it means to honor the Lord. They sometimes think that as long as more people keep coming to church and the offerings keep getting bigger, it doesn't really matter if people are not growing in their relationship with Christ. Or perhaps they decide to reach out to certain neighborhoods in the community, but not a trailer court, because the people who live there probably won't contribute much money to their ministry. Whenever a church starts showing favoritism, treating some people as more important than others, it is acting totally infantile. As individual Christians and as churches, God is calling us to think and act like followers of Jesus Christ. We need to do that.
The second thing we notice is a warning. As you build this temple unto the Lord, don't make an individual personality the foundation. That was what was happening in Corinth. 3:4-9 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe -- as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. Note Paul uses both God's field and God's building as analogies to describe who we are as Christians. The main point Paul is making in the verses I just read is that the church belongs to God, not any human being. Christians are called to trust and serve God, not any human being. We talked about this a few weeks ago, but it is important to repeat because the American church has been so vulnerable at this point. So many folks identify with a pastor or another Christian leader more than they do with Christ. Paul says that what he does, or Apollos does, or Peter does is fine, but what really matters is what God is doing. He is the One who deserves the honor.
There is a magnificent, 2500-year-old bronze statue on display in Greece called The Charioteer. The realistic, life-size figure is the image of a young chariot driver who wears a garland around his forehead, indicating he has won the race. Yet the face on the statue is totally devoid of expression. Why? Because in those days the chariot driver was almost always a slave, driving his master's chariot. Though he won the race, all the honor belongs to his master. Now, Christians don't have to be expressionless. When God uses us in His work, we should experience joy. But, all the honor, all the glory, belongs to Him. What Billy Graham does, what Chuck Swindoll does, what Dan Erickson does, is not what really matters. God is the One who deserves the honor and praise. Friends, as believers in Jesus Christ, you must make certain that you don't place Christian leaders on pedestals where they don't belong. Yes, respect your leaders, but don't give them loyalty that belongs to God. Those of us who are Christian leaders or teachers must discourage our people from putting ourselves on pedestals. As I have said before, by the grace of God I will seek to be faithful to the commitments I have made to the Lord, to my wife, and to this church. But if I fail, if I let you down in some way, your faith in Jesus Christ should not be damaged. I am a sinner, saved by grace, as you are. Your confidence, your faith, needs to ultimately be in the Lord, not in me.
That brings us to #3: We need to make Jesus Christ the foundation. Whether we are thinking about a church or our individual lives, He is to be the foundation on which we are to build. 1 Corinthians 3:10,11 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. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. When Paul says he has laid a foundation, he is referring to the fact that he brought the Gospel to Corinth. It was he who told them about Jesus Christ. He was the one who explained to them how faith in Jesus' death and resurrection brings life and hope. What does it mean for a church to have Jesus Christ as its foundation? Two things: First of all, the church must believe and teach the truth about Jesus. The Gospel message consists of some very basic, but important, facts. They include these four: First, Jesus is both fully divine and fully human. He is the eternal Son of God who became human in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Second, Jesus' death on the cross was a substitutionary sacrifice in behalf of sinners. "He bore our sins." His death paid the penalty for our sins, so that we would not have to pay it. Third, Jesus' bodily resurrection from the grave demonstrated that He is Lord of both life and death and worthy of our loyalty and worship. And finally, Jesus Christ alone is the source of life. There is no other foundation. There is no other source of salvation. He holds the keys of life and death. Those who trust Him receive eternal life, those who don't, face eternal death. This list could be longer, but those are four key truths that the church must believe and teach. If it doesn't, it is not really building on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Now, this means you might have a church which does all sorts of wonderful things, but because it doesn't teach the truth about Jesus, it is not really a Christian church. For example, the church may have a soup kitchen to help feed the poor every week; it may provide a wonderful youth program; it may have top-notch musicians; it may even have a large number of people coming to a prayer meeting each week, but if their teaching denies that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, or if they insist Jesus is just one of many paths to salvation, they are not truly a Christian congregation.
But, though right doctrine is essential, it is not enough. If a church is to have Jesus Christ as its foundation, it must be comprised primarily of people who are trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Many times we talked about the fact that believing in Jesus is something more than just believing the truth about Jesus. There might be a church where everyone believes the basic facts about Jesus, but if none of these folks has, by faith, come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, He is not really the foundation of that congregation. So, to sum up so far: As you seek to build a church or a life that honors the Lord, make sure you think and act like a Christian, don't make an individual the foundation for the building, but instead make Jesus Christ the foundation. This leads us to what I think is the main point of what the Lord is saying to us today.
The fourth instruction is that in order to build in a way that honors God, we need to use the right materials. Again this is true both in a church and in our individual life. 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. Over the years people have tried to figure out what each of these building materials symbolized, but I don't think that was Paul's intent. Now, each of the six things he mentions (gold, silver, stones, wood, hay and straw) has a number of different qualities. Yet the key, according to Paul, is how each survives fire. That means the gold, silver and stone are going to do pretty well, while the wood, hay and straw will not. So, even though I would much rather have a house made out of wood than of straw, in Paul's analogy they are pretty much in the same category. I guess there is a parallel with the Three Little Pigs story, where the wolf blows down the houses made of straw and sticks, but not the brick house. So, Paul's emphasis is on choosing to build with good materials, with stuff that will last. I think that means we need to build the church and our lives with things of eternal value, rather than merely temporal value. It involves building with things that will please God, not with things that will impress other people.
When people ask how things are going at First Baptist Church, I often reply, "Very well...from a human perspective." I would certainly give this church a 4- or 5-star rating. Our attendance continues to increase; we have new members; the financial giving is up; we have wonderful music and new instruments; and there are lots of programs and activities happening every month. Now, these are all good things. But, they could all be happening in a church built of wood or straw. To determine if a church is really healthy, we cannot just count nickels and noses. Instead, we need to ask these types of questions: When the congregation gathers on Sunday morning, do they worship in spirit and in truth? As they sing the songs, are people focused on the Lord, or are they just going through the motions? When the Lord's Supper is observed, are their hearts moved as they remember Jesus' death? Do the people in the church have a real burden for those who don't know Christ? Do they pray for others who are not Christians? Are they telling people at work and school about the hope they have in Jesus? Do they generously support missionaries who are proclaiming the Gospel in other places through their prayers, money, and other types of encouragement? Do the people in the church just love God on Sunday mornings, or is it something that impacts how they live each and every day? Friends, those are the types of questions we need to ask as we seek to determine the quality of the church we are building.
How do we make sure we are building a church with the right materials? Let me give three suggestions. Remember that these apply in our individual lives as well. #1) We need to be God-centered. This should not come as a surprise, but it sometimes does. The church is about God. Yes, it is made up of people, and people and their needs are very important. But primarily, the church needs to be about honoring God. If we are honest, we will have to admit that plenty of things that happen have their focus elsewhere. So often when we make decisions, the question is not "What will be pleasing to the Lord?" but "What will make people happy, or at least what will keep them from becoming unhappy?" A church, or an individual, that is building with the right materials is constantly asking, "What does God want us to do? What does He want me to do?" A God-centered church will also focus on helping its people grow in their understanding of who God is and what He is like. Oh, that church should teach about many other topics. We are here to help people develop better marriages, and become better parents, and manage their finances in a better way. A God-centered church will talk about those practical issues, but it will not let them displace or obscure our main purpose of helping people. 1 Peter 3:18 says, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
John Piper tells about preaching a sermon from Isaiah 6 on God's holiness and majesty at his church, Bethlehem Baptist, in Minneapolis. The sermon did not have one word of what pastors call "practical application." The sermon was about God. Then he learned that one of the couples in the congregation had just learned that their child had been sexually abused by a close relative, and Piper felt guilty for not preaching a sermon which proved more practical for this hurting family. But, a few weeks later, the husband of the family talked to Piper and said, "Pastor, the last few weeks have been the hardest of our lives. But do you know what has gotten us through? The vision of the greatness of God's holiness that you talked about in your sermon at the beginning of the month. It has been the rock on which we could stand." Friends, when the fiery trials of life come -- disease, persecution, financial setbacks, abuse of various forms -- those churches or those individuals who have chosen to build with wood, hay or straw are going to burn. They are going to be devastated. Those who have chosen to build their churches or their lives on the precious stones of God's attributes and character, on the power and love and beauty that are found in Jesus Christ, will stand strong even in the midst of those fiery trials. That is why we want to be a God-centered church, and why we need to live God-centered lives.
#2) We need to rely on the Lord's wisdom and strength rather than on our own. To put it in very practical terms, we need to pray more than we plan. Oh, planning is good and important, but there are other things more important. A denominational leader once told me, "Dan, it would probably be better if our pastors had M.B.A. degrees instead of M.Div. -- business degrees instead of theological training." I replied, "That would probably be true if we were trying to build organizations, but we are trying to grow organisms. The church is alive, it is the body of Christ. And while management by objective is a very good way to run a business, it has severe limitations in the church." Yes, many churches should plan more, but I would dare say all churches should pray more. I know that many of you pray very faithfully for the ministry of this church, and I am very grateful for that. But to be honest, I think we could use some improvement in our corporate prayer life. We have two prayer meetings, Tuesday mornings at 7:30 and Wednesday evenings at 7:00, which are open to anyone, and we invite you to join us. A church that prays together is using the right materials to build. An individual who gives as much attention to prayer as to plans is probably building life out of the right material.
#3) We need to avoid shortcuts. Carpenters who are always trying to cut corners and save time and money often end up constructing inferior buildings. It is quicker to build a house out of wood, hay or straw, but the quality is not there. Sometimes I hear someone say, "If you would just read this book, or if you'd just go to this conference, or if you'd just follow this program, then your church, or your life, will be everything it should be." But it seldom works that way. Genuine spiritual growth doesn't usually happen overnight. Reading the Bible day after day and being involved at church week after week may not be nearly as glamorous or exciting as attending a certain seminar, but it is a much better path to spiritual maturity. I really believe that when it comes to the Christian life, slow and steady growth is usually much better than more rapid, erratic growth. We need to remember that though dandelions grow faster than oak trees, oak trees last a lot longer. The church needs more spiritual oak trees. We need to stay away from spiritual shortcuts.
Friends, what do you think? Are we following God's blueprint? Have we built a church, not a building, but a group of people which is pleasing to God? How about you as an individual? Have you been building a life which honors the Lord? If the answer to those questions is, "Yes," great! We need to keep going. As we follow God's blueprint, with Jesus Christ as our foundation and using the right building materials, our church and our lives will indeed bring glory to Him. However, if the answer is, "No, we have not been following God's blueprint, at least not always," it's time to start. Each of us needs to make sure Jesus Christ is the foundation of our life. If you are not sure He is the foundation of your life, take time today to talk to someone who can help you understand exactly what that means. Then with Christ as our foundation, we as a church and as individuals need to make sure we build with the right materials; make sure we stay God-centered; we need to rely on the Lord's strength and wisdom and avoid the temptation to take shortcuts. May we become a church and individuals where God is truly pleased to dwell.
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Go to www.life.1stbaptist.org/sermons.htm for Pastor Dan's full text Bible based sermon site
