What’s the church? It’s God’s
field and God’s building. It never meant to be physical church buildings at
all, even the tabernacle in the wilderness and the Solomon’s Temple and never does
and will do. It was a mere shadow of the real substance that is Christ Jesus.
Church is people, men and women and boys and girls in Jesus Christ. The head of
church is Jesus Christ and every member of the church is part of the body of
Christ.
“And he is the head of the
body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so
that in everything he might have the supremacy.” (Colossians 1:18)
In God’s service, all are
co-workers in the one body of church, appointed to be functioning for diverse
and different task including Paul and Apollos.
“For we are co-workers in God’s
service; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I
laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But
each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than
the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:9-11)
Paul adopted two symbols to
expound what the church is—field and building. Field is used because it bears
the fruits and expands with almost no limit. It’s called evangelizing the world
by the Spirit. Building is used because it grows on the foundation of Christ.
It would be most likely the end of construction of the church for it has been
continually under the construction almost twenty centuries now. Who knows that
one of these days God may break into time and present all the unsearchable and incomparable
riches of God’s surpassing and glorious church?
All Christians are called builders
for the church of Jesus Christ but each for own purpose. God gave Paul to lay a
foundation as a wise builder and someone else is building on it. It does not
mean that Paul was a founder of the church. He was a master builder, laying a
skeleton of building for there is only one founder who is Jesus Christ the
Lord. Christ is the unshakable and immovable foundation of the church. So, each
one should build with care for, in fact, the time is coming for the test how
each one has built on it.
“If anyone builds on this
foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their 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 person’s
work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it
is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though
only as one escaping through the flames.” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)
The test will be conducted by
none other than Jesus Christ the Lord through fire. The Day of the Lord will
bring it to light and reveal with fire, and the fire will test the quality of
each person’s work. If what has been built survives like gold, silver, and
costly stones, they will receive a reward. But if it is burned up like wood,
hay, and straw, they will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as
one escaping through the flames.
What are these? These are what
Paul has been talking about in this letter. When he came to Corinth he preached
the gospel of Christ Jesus in weakness with great fear and trembling not
because he was ashamed of the gospel but because he was a called servant and
instrument to reveal the power of God, not himself. John the Baptist said so pertinently
that he must be decreased but Christ must increase. “He must become greater; I
must become less.” (John 3:30) Paul repeatedly said he did not come with
eloquence, human wisdom, or wise and persuasive words.
“For Christ did not send me to
baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross
of Christ be emptied of its power.” (1 Corinthians 1:17)
“And so it was with me,
brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or
human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to
know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came
to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching
were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the
Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s
power.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)
So, wood, hay, and straw
indicate eloquence, human wisdom and philosophy, and wise and persuasive words.
These are what the world keeps on adulating and praising. It’s totally and
completely the waste of life! It’s going to be all burned out. The life which
relies on the flesh is not acceptable to God and cannot pass through the test
of fire.
The forty years of wilderness
life was an illustration of the complete and total waste of life. The people
ate Manna and drank water from the Rock and had the sacrifice and the
Tabernacle. Most of all, they had the scrolls, the Law of God. However, they
rejected to obey God, refusing to enter the land of promise given to the father
Abraham. They were afraid of the Canaanites who had already occupied the land
and pitched their tents. They were the gigantic peoples. In the end, all
perished in the wilderness except two men, Joshua and Caleb. No one was allowed
to enter the land of milk and honey because they refused to obey God and His
commandments.
And gold, silver, and stones
are the attitudes in weakness and humbleness with fear and trembling, demonstrating
the Spirit’s power in the midst. It’s called a Spirit-filled life. Everything
is done by relying on the power of God because nothing in flesh can obey the
Law of God. Total submission to the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father is possible
for Christ indwells within by means of the Spirit. It’s a new life in Christ
under the new terms of life, new covenant. The moment of rebirth or
regeneration has happened because of the yield of total self to the Lordship of
Jesus Christ and God the Father. This is the life God has made and intended to
live before time began. In Christ, we no longer live but the life we live is
His life. It’s the exchanged life we live now and forevermore.
“I have been crucified with
Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the
body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
(Galatians 2:20)
These things shall pass through
the test of fire because they have done not by us but Christ who lives in us. We
are God’s field and God’s building where God’s Spirit lives forever.
“Don’t you know that you
yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If
anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is
sacred, and you together are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
In the Upper Room Discourse our
Lord Jesus told the disciples that He would come to them and make God’s home
with them. “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love
them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (John 14:23) We
have been made as God’s habitation that is holy and sacred.
“In him the whole building is
joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you
too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his
Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:21-22)
What does it mean to destroy the
temple and God will destroy that person?
Since the fall of race, we were
useless, not acceptable to God. But since the regeneration in Christ Jesus, we
have been made useful, acceptable to God. We have been sanctified, justified,
restored, and reconciled to the Father God through the blood of Christ Jesus
the Son. By God’s grace and mercy, we have joined to the body of Christ Jesus,
God’s building and God’s field.
So, destroying the temple means
being out of the line of God’s intended purpose as His holy temple. They’re fleshy
works using wood, hay, and straw which are the sheer waste of life. When we
depend on ourselves like world wisdom and philosophical eloquence we’re destroying
the temple which is sacred and separated.
God’s temple cannot be
destroyed. So, destroying means putting damages or polluting the sacredness and
purity of the temple. If destroyed, God will destroy the person. What is it? It
is an unavoidable consequence that God cannot accept it, so it will turn out a
waste. There may be fantastic ministries in appearance, but no avail to God. Soon
or later all becomes nothing. Our God cannot be fooled. The world can fool the
worldly people and even the elect but never God. Whatever done by flesh, human
wisdom is total waste in the sight of God.
So, we no longer put our
confidence on our flesh. Rather, our confidence is coming from God through
Christ Jesus the Lord. Jesus Christ is our confidence forever. Christ in us
that is the hope of glory!
“Such confidence we have
through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim
anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us
competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit;
for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)
The Day of the Lord will reveal
everything in bare. Whether we have built using gold, silver, and stones or
wood, hay, and straw, God will reveal in our eyes on the Day. It is also true
that the judgment of God is going on right now in our midst. The judgment of
God was demonstrated in the wilderness as the people of Israel had to face
barrenness, loneliness, emptiness, dryness daily until they obeyed to enter
into the land of promise. It’s like a package deal that we cannot simply enjoy sin
and avoid the consequence of the violation of the Law of God. What we sow, what
we reap. Relied on the flesh, emptiness and barrenness are always manifested as
a consequence. But relied on the indwelling Spirit, Christ Jesus, overflowing
joy and life flows from within.
Therefore, Paul urges not to
deceive themselves or to be deceived by the wiles of the devil.
“Do not deceive yourselves. If
any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become ‘fools’
so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s
sight. As it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’; and again, ‘The
Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.’” (1 Corinthians 3:18-20)
The devil is lurking behind the
shadow and attacking the elect ferociously and cunningly using the infamous
tools of deception and violence. Do not listen to him but resist the devil and
reject every kind of evil. Choose to be fools by the standards of this age but
be wise in God’s sight. The standards of this age is to boost self-exhortation and
self-esteem in full force. They are detestable and abominable in God’s sight
(Luke 16:15).
“So then, no more boasting
about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or
the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you
are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)
So then, stop boasting about
human leaders—Paul, Apollos, or Peter, says Paul. Why must they stop boasting
about one particular person? It’s because all things are ours including human
leaders or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are
ours, and we are of Christ and Christ is of God. We are the heirs of God and
the heirs with Christ. We are God’s inheritance and God is our inheritance. God
provides us all things in His grace and mercy. Apostle James puts it aptly.
“If any of you lacks wisdom,
you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it
will be given to you.” (James 1:5)
Paul puts it this way in the
letter to the Romans. We shall appropriate our inheritance, Christ Jesus by
faith in our midst.
“Since we have now been
justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath
through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him
through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we
be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:9-10)
Prayer: Father in heaven, Thank
you for teaching us the truth on the church that we are God’s field and God’s
building, and God’s habitation. Help us, Lord, to build on the church with care
because we will be tested with the fire. May we be alert and cautious not to
rely on the standards of this age but to rely on Christ Jesus who is our inheritance
forever! In His name. Amen.
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