Paul had a problem with the church in Corinth. They were still ‘babes in Christ’ - 1 Cor 3.1. Anyone who has been a parent knows the struggle it is to bring children to maturity - to potty-train them, to train them to eat nicely, to share, and everything else…
When you come to Christ, you leave behind worldly things to live in a ‘Christ dimension’ - a dimension so distinct and different from the world we grew up in. That’s why Jesus said you’ve got to be ‘born again’ - come on! You’ve got to die to the old, and, like a new-born, you’ve got to start and learn the basics. That’s why Paul says in v2, “I gave you milk and not meat, because you were not able, and you’re still are not able. You still behave like worldly people do…”
Let’s face it - there are many in the church who live and speak like the world, like they did before they became a Christian… No difference. The biggest problem in Corinth was the strife, envy and division. That’s not Christ. Christ is one. In Him is no division. But some of the people in Corinth were saying, v4, “I follow Paul”, and others were saying, “I follow Apollos.” That’s not of God!
Paul founded the church. His conversion from the life of a fanatical but highly educated Pharisee, opposed to Christ and persecuting Christians, was dramatic - the Lord Himself appeared to him on the road to Damascus. Apollos was different. An ‘eloquent man, mighty in the Scriptures’, he believed in Jesus, and spoke and taught diligently about the things of the Lord, but only knew ‘the baptism of John’ - water baptism for the forgiveness of sin. It seems he didn’t know the Baptism of the Holy Spirit; it was two of Paul’s co-workers, Priscillla and Aquila, who instructed him ‘in the Way of God more perfectly’ - Acts 18.24-28 - before recommending him to the church in Achaia, where Corinth was. The different experiences of these men are not what matter. Paul says in v5, “Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Simply ministers by whom you believed!” - ‘men who brought you to Christ’! V6, “I planted, Apollos watered - but it’s GOD who gives the increase.” It’s not Paul, it’s not Apollos! It’s not men. It’s God.
Even today we too easily follow men, rather than Christ! I don’t follow men, even though I grew up in the days of some very great Pentecostal leaders in Britain - among them Evangelist George Jeffreys, Smith Wigglesworth. I don’t look to those men, even though when I was born Jeffreys wanted to adopt me as his son. I don’t want to follow any man. I want to follow Jesus. Come on! I want to do what Jesus said, I want to do what He told his disciples to do - preach the Gospel, heal the sick. My power doesn’t come because somebody laid hands on me; my power comes because God touched me! The evidence is there, in my life.
The foundation of our Christian life is Christ Himself and the Word of God. But now Paul says, “Let every man take heed how he builds on that foundation!” What a challenge to leaders and pastors - and today’s influencers! V11, “There is no other foundation can be laid except Jesus Christ” - not some preacher, not Paul, not even David Hathaway! Come on! It has to be Christ who is the foundation on which our Christian lives are built!
You’ve got then to be careful how and what you build on that foundation, v12. “If any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or stubble - every man’s work shall be revealed - by fire on that Day!” Did you know that? It’s not just the sinner who gets tried and then cast into the fire, but when Christ comes back, when you enter the Kingdom, what you have done will be tested by fire! Fire will test everyone of us! You, me, every Christian believer. V14ff, if your work, what you’ve built, survives, you will receive a reward!
When I grew up, I was taught that there’s a reward in the Kingdom for faithfulness! What we do down here is building a home for ourselves for the whole of eternity! Some build with hay or stubble - it won’t last, it won’t stand the fire! I don’t want riches or fame down here. Jesus said, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” You can be the richest, most powerful man on earth - Putin or Donald Trump, whoever. But in eternity it’s gone! I know what Putin built, it wasn’t on Christ.
For some, if our work is burned, v15, we will suffer loss, but we ourselves will be saved - if our foundation is Christ. What you do after salvation - is tested by fire. Everything you build for your own profit and gain will be burned up. V16, “Don’t you know that you are the Temple, the House of God? … if any man defiles the Temple of God, God will destroy him, for God is Holy, and you are His Temple!!!
Even leaders in the Church can find that their work is destroyed and they’re only saved as out of the fire. Church, imagine your reaction if your house were burned down! But, v23, “You are Christ’s and Christ is God’s”!