Please turn with me to 1 Corinthians, chapter 3.
We are in week five of our series through 1 Corinthians.
This letter is written to a church that was in trouble. Wrestling with many problems. Their fundamental issue was that they were getting so many things wrong about how they were supposed to think of themselves and each other! One of these problems, the one Paul starts the letter with, was tribalism.
Because they had forgotten their focus on the message of Christ, they began to center their identity on human celebrities. Whether Paul as the founder, Apollos as the new powerful preacher, Cephas (Peter) as an imminent external influencer, or the rejection of any human authority, saying “I answer directly to Christ, not to you!” (Which often meant, in reality, answering to themselves, and the stuff they made up.)
When we take our focus off of Jesus Christ and His mission for our church, we start focusing on secondary or lesser issues, and this results in disunity and strife. Paul continues his correction of the church in chapter 3.
First, he shows that the problem is that 1) Division Reveals Immaturity (3:1-4), then he starts to correct them by teaching that 2) Ministers are Mere Servants (v.5-9), 3) Jesus is the Foundation (v.9-15), and 4) The Church is God’s Temple (v.16-17).
Division Reveals Immaturity
1 Corinthians 3:1–4 (CSB)
1 For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, 3 because you are still worldly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans? 4 For whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not acting like mere humans?
Paul pulls no punches with this church he so dearly loves. “You are not acting like Christians. You are acting like you don’t know what’s been done for you. You are acting like children. You are acting like mere humans, and you are so much more than that.”
Remember where Paul starts his thought:
1 Corinthians 1:4–8 (CSB)
4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge. 6 In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, 7 so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
They had received Grace from God! They were enriched in every way! They had everything they needed to live a godly life, reflecting the glory of Jesus Christ and spreading His message everywhere they went! But they were not acting as they belonged to Christ; they were acting like they still belonged to Corinth. Proud, boastful, jealous. Trying to prove they were superior.
“You don’t follow the right guy, I do. Paul’s ways are superior to Apollos's. Apollos’s preaching is superior to Paul…” Spiritual babies.
Paul’s next move in chapters 3 and 4 is to set them straight on how they ought to view their leaders: not as superheroes, pop stars, or idols. But as humble workers. Servants.
Ministers are Mere Servants
1 Corinthians 3:5-9a (CSB)
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s coworkers.
Planting a seed is one of the most anti-climactic experiences in human existence. You take what is effectively a piece of rock. You stick it in the dirt. And that’s it. Job done. Later, you, or someone else, comes along with a bucket of water, and (if you can remember where you put the seed) pour some on top of the seed. Job done.
What is exciting is the anticipation. The growth. The sprouting of the plant into a seedling, and later into a full-grown plant that hopefully produces fruit! But you don’t do any of that. From our perspective, it just happens. That’s God’s job!
As Paul said, “neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything!” Why then, Corinthian church, are you so focused on and arguing about which planter you follow!
What a humble perspective. Imagine a mother and a toddler out planting flowers in a garden. The mother hands the child one of the seeds, points, and says, “Put it in the ground there!” And the child does. And then the toddler spends the rest of the week bragging about how impressive their work is. “I planted a WHOLE FLOWER.”When the flower bed comes up, the toddler says, “See! I did that!”
Now imagine the flowers arguing over which one is superior. “I was planted by that adorable child!” “Yeah? Well, I was planted by that child’s mother, so I’m way better than you!” Who did more work, the toddler or the mother? They did the same work! Why are the flowers worshipping the gardeners, instead of the one who created plants and seeds and gardens and water and encoded all the genetic information for that seemingly dead stone to turn into a beautiful plant?
Paul does make the turn, though, and says simultaneously that they are nothing, but also that they both, Paul and Apollos, regardless of the type of task, are coworkers with God. Whether planting or watering, initiating the church, or caring for it after it was started. Both tasks are instrumental to the work, but neither is the source of life. God is the one who gives the growth, but at the same time, both tasks are very noble; they are God’s coworkers and will receive a reward from God!
There are several applications for us here in ministry.
First, in the way we think of our leaders. Our leaders, who minister to us, are God’s coworkers, charged with a task by God that they are to carry out faithfully. They are worthy of honor when they faithfully carry out their task. At the same time, they are not heroes. They are working with God-given materials, according to a God-given plan. And God is the one who gives the growth.
Second, in the way we consider our task in ministry. Christian, as you go about your ministry work, you should apply this to yourself as well. You are performing a vital task, and it deserves honor. And at the same time, any ministry effect comes from God. God gives the growth, so we stay humble and do not congratulate ourselves in a season of great fruit.
Now Paul switches metaphors to continue his point.
Jesus is the Foundation
1 Corinthians 3:9b-15 (CSB)
You are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. 14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.
Paul calls himself a “skilled master builder” - the word here is “architect.” He says that he is only this because of God’s grace given to him. Like a toddler being handed a seed and being shown where to put it. There is a little difference in the idea that architect Paul has here, and how we think of them, so the translation to “master builder” is intentional, so we don’t make mistakes. An architect, in this case, is handed the master design by the designer, God, and then carries out the project according to those plans. Jesus Christ is the plan. The foundation is Jesus.
Other passages say that Jesus is the cornerstone. Once the cornerstone is set, the rest of the building flows from it. Get the cornerstone off even a fraction, and the whole building will be off.
There is more work to be done in the project of building the church than just laying the foundation. Paul’s reference to building on the foundation has Apollos and other ministers who came after him in mind. Their job was to continue with the plan, the trajectory, the design set by Jesus. And to build with quality materials.
An illustration
When I was 19 and a brand-new believer, I went on my first mission trip to Amish country in Indiana. We were helping refurbish a 19th-century farmhouse.
Over the years, layer after layer had been added—wallpaper, paneling, carpeting, cheap siding. Some of it was style. Some of it was comfort. Some of it was probably just easier than doing the harder repair work underneath.
But what those layers did was trap moisture. Mold grew. The structure began to sag. The house looked worn out and tired. So we started stripping it back. And underneath all of that, we found the original wood floors, the original siding, the original plaster walls.
Once those were cleaned up and repaired, a little polish and paint, the house looked strong again. Solid. Beautiful. Like it always was meant to.
Paul says the church is God’s building. Christ is the foundation. Sometimes, what weakens a structure isn’t that the foundation has shifted. It’s that we’ve layered other things on top of it.
Gold, silver, precious stones. Or wood, hay, straw. Even when we’re doing ministry with the best of intentions, Paul says, the Day of Judgement will reveal what was actually built. When we build, remembering that it is the word of the cross that is the power of God for salvation, then what we build survives the fire.
There are several applications for us in the building analogy.
First, we are being built. As members of Jesus’ church, we are a work in progress. Throughout our lives, we need to learn and relearn God’s word. We need to understand it and put it into practice. Over time, that will mean reforming bad habits we’ve picked up along the way, like stripping back the carpeting and paneling that made sense when we put them up, but now we all look at them and think, “What were we thinking?”We need to study God’s word together with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and do what it says, even when that means the hard work of remodeling our lives.
Second, we are builders. We’ll see later in this letter that this task of building is not just something done to us, but something we are to do as well! As we leverage the different gifts of grace God has given us for the common good, we build each other up! Which is why it is important to remember:
Third, it is possible to build poorly. In fact, church history, including our own, including my own, shows that it is likely that we will at times build poorly! We chase fads. We grab on to less-than-helpful books or podcasts. That’s normal. The question is will we be willing to do the hard work of remodeling as well as building?
It matters so dearly how builders build in the church, because of what the church is. What the people of God are.
The Church is God’s Temple
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (CSB)
16 Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and that is what you are.
Paul starts our passage today by saying he can’t address them as spiritual people because they aren’t acting like spiritual people.And the reason this is distressing to him is that they are spiritual people. The most spiritual! They are God’s building project! They are His very own dwelling place!
This truth is the foundation of Paul’s argument for the rest of the letter. All of the corrections he is going to give them about marriage, sex, immorality, lawsuits, spiritual gifts, and worship are based on the reality that we, the church, belong to Jesus, and He to us. This project of sowing and watering, building with quality materials, and renovating when needed is crucial because we belong to Christ. We are His creation, his workmanship.
To divide the church into tribes, to build with materials that undermine Christ’s finished work, or to neglect it altogether… Paul’s warning is clear: judgment is coming.This is not a casual warning. God does not treat lightly what He calls holy. To tear apart the church through pride, factions, or careless building is not just immature; it is spiritually dangerous.
And yet, the same God who warns is the God who builds. He uses that warning to build! He is committed to His temple.But, Paul can say with confidence that it is simultaneously true that we are being built into God’s temple, and that we are currently God’s temple. That we are being made holy, and that we currently are holy, because we are God’s temple and God’s temple is Holy.
He wrote to the Philippians with great confidence:
Philippians 1:6 (CSB)
I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
He is sure of this because all the work needed to make you holy was completed by Jesus Christ on the cross. Do you believe that? It is God who gives the growth, so we can be confident that growth will happen. God is building Himself a dwelling place. And He lives in it while He works on it. He will not let His work fail.
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