Sermon - 1 Corinthians 3:10-23 – God's Holy Temple

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon - 1 Corinthians 3:10-23 – God's Holy Temple
Beaver Dam and Pitts Creek Presbyterian Churches
February 20, 2011

This is my fifth sermon drawn from Paul's first letter to the Church of Corinth. The church has been divided into groups supporting different preachers. Paul has told them to always focus on Jesus Christ. Today we will listen as Paul tells this church about what church really is. And this has very important implications for us who continue to gather as church and focus on our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)


1 Corinthians 3:10-23 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-- 13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. 18 Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness," 20 and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." 21 So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-- all belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

As Americans we are part of an individualistic culture. We celebrate “rugged individualism”. Our capitalistic economy is based on each of us making decisions in our own self interest. “Peace and quiet” is what we all long for. Reading books, listening to the radio, watching television, doing crossword puzzles and surfing the internet are all solitary events. One 0f our of the most popular card games is called “solitaire” which, of course, is played alone. Even our national founding document is called the Declaration of Independence. We like to be left alone.

But church was always something different. We always came together on Sunday mornings for church. And many of us still do. For many people church is a source of friends and social activities. This is all good. But in the last century this changed and religious entrepreneurs began taking advantage of our desire to be alone. Radio spawned a new kind of Christian proclamation. Charles E. Fuller, founder of Fuller Seminary, had a very popular weekly radio program called the Old Time Revival Hour. People could sit at home, alone, and listen to church on the radio. Eventually people could attend church from the comfort of their living rooms by watching religious services on the television. And now there is an almost infinite number of sermons that you can read and listen to on the internet. Even my sermons are available on the church's web site.

As people began to worship God in isolation, a new theological concept was born. We began talking about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. All you have to do to have a personal relationship with Jesus is to pray and read your Bible daily, and listen to your favorite preacher on radio, TV or the internet. Having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is a good thing, but Paul would have cautioned us that individual worship is not the same thing as church. For Paul church is a gathering of people. It is only when we join together with others in a faithful community that we are truly worshiping God. And so we need to do more than just listen to sermons on the internet. We also need to be in church on Sunday morning to have a true relationship with Jesus Christ.

Paul said that church is like a building. We sometimes think that church is a building. We see a edifice with a steeple and and cross and we call it a church. For Paul, church did not refer to a building. Rather church was made of people worshiping Jesus Christ. But Paul did use a metaphor to describe the church, and said that a church of people worshiping God was like a building. The foundation of this building is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only solid foundation that we have upon which to build the church. Any other foundation will not withstand the satanic forces at work trying to undermine the church.

Several years ago I was in Southern California during a wet and rainy winter. One day, just after a hard rain. I heard a news story about six homes sliding down the side of a hill. These were brand new multi-million dollar homes being destroyed by some rain. It turned out that forty years before a developer wanted to put homes on that hill, but the engineers said that he had to anchor the foundation forty feet underground to make it stable. That developer decided that it was too expensive to build the homes. But forty years later a new developer, ignoring the engineering studies, built those homes without a firm foundation and discovered their costly mistake the first time it rained. The church must be built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ , or it will collapse at the sign of trouble.

Paul also said that the people who make up a church are like a building in that quality materials must be used in its construction. Unless quality is build into the church it will fall in the first strong wind. In the mid 80's I bought a townhouse in Northern Virginia. It was a beautiful place, surrounded by trees, near a lake. I lived there for 18 years. Around year 15 or so I heard that people in the community were having problems with their roofs. The plywood they had used on the roofs in 1984 was beginning to deteriorate from the constant freezing and thawing that followed. The result was a brittle roof that would one day cave in during a heavy snow. I didn't want that to happen, so I bought a new roof. Over the weekend all the materials arrived for the new roof. On Monday the old roof, shingles and plywood were all removed. The attic was exposed to the sky, and I was concerned that if it rained that night my house and everything in it would be destroyed. But they threw a large tarp over the exposed roof, and thankfully God held back the storms that night. And my new roof was installed the next day.

For a church to proper and grow it too must be constructed of quality material. Regular prayer is vital for building a ministry. So too are programs for Christian education for all ages with quality curricula and dedicated teachers. It is important for pastors and teachers to be trained to understand what the Bible says and to recognize how God is working in the world. If we have all of these building blocks church can be constructed to withstand the storms that will come.

As we build the church on the foundation of Jesus Christ using the materials of prayer and Christian education we have to be ready for the arrival of the building inspector. If you are building a house or office building the final inspection is from the fire marshal. The Worcester Fire Marshal checks to see that extinguishers are in place, emergency lighting works, and escape route are open. Only when the building is suitable will he permit the building to be used. According to Paul, God is the building inspector for the church. Anything that does not meet God's high standards will have to be removed. But anything that God blesses will grow and prosper.

Once God has inspected the building blocks of the church and has given us permission to open the church we have made will be visible to all. This is the vital nature of the church. If all you have is an isolated personal relationship with God then there is nothing for others to see. If you worship alone with the radio, TV or internet your worship is hidden from others. But if you join with other believers and build a church then your faith is visible to the world. Through you the world will know that the church is resting on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ. And in you the world will see the building blocks of the church that have been forged in the furnace of prayer and Bible study and have received God's seal of approval.

But there is one more thing that Paul has taught us. An award awaits for us. If we gather together as church, if we place church on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ, if we build church with the solid rock of prayer and Christian education, then God will bless us richly. We will belong to Jesus Christ. This is the great blessing of being church, we not only have a relationship with Jesus, but we also belong to Jesus as his followers.

Some of you are not members of the church. You worship with us, study Bible with us and pray with us, but you are not yet members with us in the church. So I will be teaching a class on Sunday afternoons on what Presbyterians believe. This will be an introduction to reformed faith. The class will begin three weeks from today on Sunday, March 13 from 2-3. Everyone is invited to attend this class, but those who have not yet joined the church have a special invitation. This is your chance to find out what Presbyterians believe so that you can make an informed decision about whether or not to join our church. One our our historic catechisms begins with the following question and answer: “What is your only comfort, in life and in death? That I belong—body and soul, in life and in death—not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Lord Jesus, we rest confidently on the foundation that you have set for the church. We are building your church with prayer and Christian education. We await God's inspection and judgment. And we look forward to the day when we are rewarded by belonging to you. In your glorious name we pray. Amen.