I Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, [d]precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident, for the day will indicate it because it is revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test [e]the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are a [f]sanctuary of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If any man destroys the [g]sanctuary of God, God will destroy him, for the [h]sanctuary of God is holy, and [i]that is what you are.
The source of Spiritual maturity is God; I planted, Apollos watered, God brought the increase.
The reward of Spiritual maturity we will get to today.
The present state of Spiritual maturity. (vss 16-17) You are the sanctuary of God; holy.
The reward of Spiritual maturity. Some works will be rewarded, some will burn up.
I’ve mentioned before that we use rewards as motivators in school. At present, we have state testing coming up on April 13th and 14th, and we are trying to keep students focused so that they do well on those tests. So, I’ve been giving our Dress down bands on Mondays and Wednesdays. If they get their work done, they don’t have to wear the school uniform dress the next day. We’ve gone on field trips with students who satisfactorily completed a list of lessons. There are classes that give away candy and chips for completing work.
Rewards are used in practically every aspect of life to motivate. We use rewards to train animals. Your paycheck is really a reward for coming to work and completing the tasks that you’ve been assigned.
And reward is also a motivator for the believer and the church. After this life is over, believers are promised not only the reward of eternal life for their faith, but other rewards for faithfulness. And so, it is a motivator.
Philippians 3:13-14 Brothers, I do not consider myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great;
Matthew 6:1 “Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
Even in the epistle that we are currently studying;
1 Corinthians 3:8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
1 Corinthians 3:14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
Revelation 22:12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his work.
So, we are promised a reward for our faithfulness.
So, we seek the reward, and it is right to do so. But what will we be rewarded for? There’s no sense in saying, “Seek the reward, if you don’t know what behavior will be rewarded and what will burn up.
But each man must be careful how he builds on it. We will not be judged for sin after our death, but we will be judged for reward. So, this is not telling us that the gold, silver, and precious stones are good deeds, and the wood and straw are evil. So what is it that we are rewarded for?
The rewarded work… is built on Jesus Christ, is of varying value, will be tested by fire, is not burned up, comes to every believer.
prayer
A. The rewarded work is built on Jesus Christ
11 For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Paul is using the analogy of a building to talk about Spiritual growth, maturity, and reward.
The rewarded work is built on Jesus Christ.
Built on Christ? Paul is talking about the church in Corinth. They have been arguing about who was greater in the Corinthian church work. Some said, “I am of Paul, I of Apollos.” He is saying, “Neither are greater.” “I laid the foundation of the church in Corinth. I was the one who first came to you with the gospel. Apollos came after the foundation was laid and began building walls, roof, etc.” But the foundation that I was Jesus Christ. Jesus is the foundation of the church. Jesus is the foundation of a Christian’s life.
That has got to be one of the most befuddling things about all the quasi-Christian movements and “Christian” cults that exist in the world. They very often begin around some big personality. Or they are built around some elite group and what they say. So, they are building their denomination or faith around one person or several people’s words.
Now each of us, I’m sure, have had preachers and teachers contribute to the building of our Christian lives. Our church has had pastors and teachers from its founding. Each of us have grown spiritually for whatever number of years based on how we received the spiritual truths we were given. But, our church, and our lives were not built on pastor Hays, or pastor Harmes, or pastor McClain.
The foundation of the church, and of the Christian life is Christ. The foundation is Christ; it is not Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas.
And I’ll say this; anything I say from this pulpit, or in a podcast, I want you to test it against Scripture. And if you think it is incorrect, come and talk to me about it. I don’t want this church built on me, or my vision. If it is, it, and I will be judged.
Matthew 16:18 upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Psalm 118: 22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.
Isaiah
28:16 16 Therefore thus says Lord
Yahweh, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the
foundation, [a]firmly
placed. He who believes in it will not be [b]disturbed.
Today, many are trying to build churches on many things other than Christ; the interpretations of men and women since Christ. Signs and wonders, morality and good works, social networks, feel-good or entertaining messages.
But what will the rewarded work be? That which is built on Christ. What about Christ? In its most basic form, Paul wrote,
1 Corinthians 15: 3 For I delivered to you [b]as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Do you know that there are churches, and people who call themselves Christian, who don’t even agree with this most basic of teachings about the work of Christ? There are churches where they do not teach that Christ died for our sins, and others that teach that He wasn’t raised from the dead on the third day.
But that is the bedrock of the church and the Christian life: it is of 1st importance.
And your Christian life is the same. We can build our lives around all kinds of priorities. We often build our lives on everything else but Christ. We build our lives on comfort. We build them on our kids. On money or personal advancement. We build our lives around our personal entertainment. But do you want to be rewarded when this life is over for your works? Build your life around the gospel of Jesus dying for your sins, and rising the third day.
A. The rewarded work is of varying value.
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, [d]precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
What this verse would indicate to us is that we can do things in building the church, or our Christian lives, that are of varying values. This is a judgement of building materials.
There is building material that is gold, silver, [d]precious stones, wood, hay, and straw.
Now, we might be tempted to think that what we are talking about here is a judgment of good deeds and bad deeds. The good deeds are gold, silver, precious stone, and the bad deeds are wood, hay and straw. But remember, we are talking about the judgment of Christians here. For the Christian there will be no judgment of sin. That happened at the cross. Your sins were nailed to the cross with Christ. In Christ there is no condemnation.
So, what are the wood, hay, stumble, gold, silver, and precious stones? They are simply building materials. They are not good or bad. They are perishable or imperishable.
In the 1st century these were all building materials. You could build a building out of gold, silver, and precious stones, or you could build it out of wood, hay, and straw. They would take hay and straw and mix them with clay to make bricks. And then they would have like a sod house. Likewise, a wealthy person could use marble overlaid with gold as a building material. None of these materials are evil. They are simply qualified by one difference; some will survive the flame; others will be consumed.
So, the only difference between the gold, silver, precious stones, and the wood, hay, and straw, is not whether they are moral or immoral, sinful or not. The only difference is whether they will withstand the fire.
Let’s jump right to the meaning. Gold, silver, and precious stones were materials that you could build with which were permanent. They could not be consumed by fire. They would not go up in smoke.
Wood, hay and stubble were temporary. If burned, they would become a heap of ashes.
So, the building material you should be using to build the church and your Christian walk are the materials that will endure, they will not be burned up. We do many “good” things in the name of Christ. But we need to ask if they are the eternal things.
So, what are the deeds that we should do that will endure at the judgment? We will get to that in a second.
So, what is a third truth about our reward? First, what is built on Christ is rewarded, second there are varying values to the work that we do, even in the name of Christ. Thirdly…
B. The rewarded work will be tested by fire.
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, [d]precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident, for the day will indicate it because it is revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test [e]the quality of each man’s work.
Your work, our church’s work will be tested by fire. Oh, we don’t like the idea of fire, so let me remind you. This is not the fire of hell or the fire of judgment for sin. How do I know? Look at verse 15.
15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
The work is burned up, not the eternal soul. “He himself will be saved.”
Here’s the picture. If you built a first century structure, you might use any of these building materials; Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble. And I think that Paul may have had in mind what happened in cities that were invaded by foreign armies. A foreign army may invade a city and search for anything of value. After the initial search, they set everything on fire. And if an entire town was set on fire, after the conflagration was over, you had piles of ashes. Then a crew of people would be sent in to do what? Search for anything left that was of value. There may have been a house made of wood, with gold nuggets hidden in the wall. There may have been some furnishings inlaid with precious stones.
The fire burns up the wood, hay and stubble. The wood, hay and stubble symbolize the works that we do that are not of eternal value. There are works that we do, in the church, in our Christian lives, that will not be rewarded. It is not that they are evil. What works are those? And there are two things that we look at to determine the reward; the work itself, and the motive.
Let me illustrate. Remember the story of Mary and Martha?
Luke 10: 38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with [n]all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the [o]preparations alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
This is a good illustration of works that will be burned up, and those that will endure. It illustrates the two things that we consider; the work itself and the motive.
Martha was chastised because she wanted Mary to leave listening to Jesus’ teaching to work on meal preparation.
Is there anything wrong with meal preparation? No, it is not evil. It is often necessary. But, in this case, and let me say that again, in this case, Martha has chosen a work that would be burned up; wood, hay, stubble, Mary has chosen one that would endure; gold, silver, precious stones. Now before you get upset with me for dismissing housework as stubble, first, remember that Jesus is the one who said it, not me. And He knew more about Mary and Martha, and their motives than we do. And we have to believe that He knew better than we do how to properly assess their work.
And remember that I am illustrating something here. Let’s look at it from a different angle. And let’s use two men, instead of two women to illustrate.
Let’s say we have two guys who have a day off on Saturday who choose to do some work for the church. Billy and Johnny. Billy decides to mow the church’s lawn. Johnny decides to go door to door inviting people to the Easter service.
Now, right off the bat, you may think that I would say that mowing is Christian work that is “wood, hay and stubble,” and witnessing is “gold, silver, and precious stones.” And on the surface that would be the general assessment of the two activities. But remember that the reward is not only considers the work but also takes into consideration the motive.
Billy is mowing the lawn. Is mowing the church lawn wood, hay, and straw, or is it gold, silver and precious stones? There are a lot of things to consider. Maybe Billy is getting paid to mow the church lawn. Is there anything wrong with getting paid to mow the lawn. No, it is not evil. But, he is not doing it out of service, he is doing for payment. But what if he’s volunteering. Billy may be mowing the lawn, to relieve another person who is sick, and can’t do it this week. Or he could be mowing the lawn and bringing along a young man from the neighborhood as an opportunity for mentoring. He may also use his lawn mowing time as prayer time for the church and its people.
Mowing in and of itself may have no eternal value, but his reasons for mowing and his attitude while mowing does do. Even if he is mowing for a good reason, he may have a bad attitude about it. Maybe he is doing out of a sense of obligation, and he resents that.
That is not a rewarded motivation. As it says in Scripture…
Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
In that way, even going to the factory in the morning, or to the office, can be gold, silver, and precious stones.
You see, I think that part of the issue with Martha, in the story, was her motive, and attitude.
But let’s look at Johnny. Johnny is going door to door inviting people to the Easter service. Well surely this is gold, silver, or precious stones. It may be. But maybe Johnny has the wrong motive. Maybe he is doing this to impress the pastor. Maybe as he is going door to door, he is resentful of the people of the neighborhood because they don’t come to church and they ought to know better. Maybe is thinking of them as just bodies and wallets that will help his church grow bigger. Maybe he is motivated by pride.
Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
Galatians 6:3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
The reason Mary is commended, is because she was motivated by her love of the Lord, and His Word.
We do works that are wood, hay and stubble, and gold, silver, precious stones. And let me say this. I think that your gold, silver, and precious stones may be different than mine. I’m not saying that there are not things in common. We all should read the Word and pray. But you are gifted differently than I am. I spend hours each week studying the Word in preparation for Sunday morning, and Bible studies.
I would not expect that you would spend 10 hours preparing a sermon each week. God called me to do this. There are many “good” things that I could do. I could come to church and help make quilts. But if I neglect my calling to study and preach the Word, in order to make quilts, then making quilts is “wood, hay, and stubble” for me. For others it may be gold.
So, there is a work that we do, in the name of Christ, that will endure and be rewarded. And there is a work that we do, in the name of Christ, that will not endure and not be rewarded. And it will be different for each person. As Paul wrote…
1 Corinthians 12: 27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. 28 And God has [o]appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then [p]miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?
And the answer is no.
The rewarded work… is built on Jesus Christ, is of varying value, will be tested by fire, is not burned up,
C. The rewarded work is not burned up.
14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
So, we are building on the foundation of Christ Jesus, and our work will be tested by fire. You may ask, “what if nothing I have done passes the test?” If you are a Christian, there will be some gold, silver, or precious stones. It may just be one brick. But there will be some. How do I know? Let’s go back to what Jesus said.
Matthew 7: 15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will [h]know them by their fruits.
How will you know if someone is a false prophet? By their fruit. By their actions coupled with their motivations. Then Jesus goes on.
[i]Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
How many good trees bear good fruit? Everyone. How do you know a good tree? It bears good fruit. All of them? Yes. “Every good tree bears good fruit.” Every true Christian will have some actions, fruits in their lives coming from right motivation. There will be some Christians with one bag of apples, some with bushels and bushels. But all of them will have some good fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will [j]know them by their fruits.
So, you will have some gold, silver, precious stones. You will have times in your life when you sought God. You obeyed the Word. You were properly motivated. You did some act for God’s glory and motivated by your love of God, and others. You were guided by God’s Spirit to do Spiritual works.
But what if my valuable works are few?
D. The rewarded work comes to every believer.
15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
“He will suffer loss.” What does that mean?
https://www.bibleref.com/1-Corinthians/3/1-Corinthians-3-15.html
“There will be loss, however. Those whose work is burned up, found to be worthless by Christ's judgment, will suffer some unspecified loss. No detail is given, but it may be the simple loss of seeing all of one's effort in this life revealed as nothing more than selfishness and wasted potential.”
Every believer’s good works will be judged. It may be determined that it was a lot of temporarily good things; you replaced the starter on your car, you fixed dinner, you went to a meeting at work, you went to a meeting at church. There’s nothing evil about those things. And every life will have much of those things in it. But it doesn’t necessarily have eternal value.
“Suffering loss” may just be you, at the judgment of your works, seeing all that “business” go up in flames.
But there will be work that remains; the spiritual work you did, out of love for others and the Lord, motivated by your desire to honor the Lord.
The rewarded work… is built on Jesus Christ, is of varying value, will be tested by fire, is not burned up, comes to every believer.
So, what do I hope we take away from this passage?
For the unbeliever; judgment is coming-It is given to man to die once, and after that comes the judgment. You will be judged for every evil word, thought and action. So, you need to “call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, so you can be saved.”
For the believer, judgment for your works is coming. Everything done in the flesh, not the Spirit, from fleshly motivations will be burned up. Everything done in the Spirit, for spiritual motivations will be rewarded.
What is the reward? I don’t know. Scripture speaks of different crowns.
2 Timothy 4:8 In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
James 1:12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
1 Peter 5:4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Finally, for us in this church. The hope is that we are unified in our understanding of spiritual maturity such that we are inspired to live the Spirit-directed life in hopes of having our work here endure. Let me close with what I hope is inspiring.
Imagine, if you will, the Lord gives us the task of building a church building. And money is no object. We can use any building materials that we desire. We could build with the best. And we are told that God wants us to build a structure that will endure generation after generation. We want a facility that will last 100 or 200 years into the future and be a witness to the world of our God’s riches and grandeur. God’s going to get us the money. We can use the best; walls of marble or granite overlaid with gold. Silver fixtures. Stain glass windows embedded with jewels.
Now, if God specifically told us to do that, do you think that instead we would have a business meeting and say, “you know, marble is kind of expensive, why don’t we use oak, or pine instead? Despite having no limits on the cost of building materials, would we even dare to say, “you know that’s sounds like a lot of work, we could build a mud hut made of clay and straw, wooden doors and windows, for very little expense and effort?”
But that is often what we do when it comes to building the church. Not the church building, the church. The spiritual body called the church.
God has given us His infinite Spiritual resources. But we try to build it on the flesh. We try to build it on technology. On beautiful music. On campaigns and special services. Are technology, music, campaigns, and special services evil? No. But the spiritual tools are the Word, prayer, personal witness, obedience, forgiveness, hospitality, and sacrificial love from a God exalting heart.
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