for the bemissy of Christ and receive awards for what we have done good. And then we'll see here that if your work is made of wood, hay and stubble, it will be burned up. Starting at verse 10, according to the grace of God, which was given to me, like a wise master builder, I laid the foundation and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it, for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire. And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. But if any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss. But he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. So we need to be careful. I think that's the main word here in this passage. We need to be careful as we build on the foundation of Jesus Christ. It's the foundation that the Apostle Paul laid, the foundation of Christ. So we must be careful how we build on it. And in this context here in 1 Corinthians, Paul is talking to the church, of course, in Corinth. And this church has become divided, and some people are following Paul, some are listening to Paul, some are listening to Apollo, some are listening to Peter, and maybe even others. And they become divided because the congregation has their favorite. And so in so doing, it's becoming a mess. So Paul is writing this letter, of course, to the Corinthians to get them straightened out on these issues. But as I said, in the context, he's talking about teachers. He's talking about pastors in this church in Corinth, men who are teaching. And there was a lot of false teaching going on there. And they were spreading false doctrines. And so that's the application there, but it also has an application to us today. Because we're all builders. We are all builders. And we're building on the foundation which is Christ. So we need to be careful how we build. And that can take a lot of, in a practical sense, what does that mean as we build? And we talked about that a little bit last time. In what way are we building? What way are you building? What way am I building? The Church of Christ. So in other words, maybe a better way to ask the question, what do people do? Maybe not yourself, but what do we do in general as we build? What is that referring to? So staying close to the word, it's living in obedience to what it says. You're building. What's another way that we're building? Janet, you got your hand up? Okay, service to others. Taking maybe the gifts that we've been given by the Holy Spirit. We each have been given a gift, and maybe more. But we are to what? To be using those in the advancement of his kingdom. And particularly teachers and pastors, as they bring the word, they are to build upon the foundation of Christ by teaching correct doctrines. correct doctrines. And that's what these false teachers were doing. They were taking doctrines and twisting them. And when we begin here in a moment, we'll be talking about man's wisdom. So they were building on the foundation of Christ using false doctrines because they were using their own human wisdom, not the wisdom of Christ. If any man's work is burned up, a little scary passage there, what this is is worthless work. So as we build in each of our ministries, and we all have ministries, even if you think you don't, you do, as we build, we want to do things that have eternal value and not just temporal value. So think about this, we profess Christ, He's the Lord and Master of our lives. He's the Lamb slain for our sins. We were chosen for this amazing salvation before the foundation of the world. He is the creator and sustainer of the universe and all that is in it. There's not an atom that He is not in control of. He loves us more than we can comprehend. He loves us more than we can even think. He's our redeemer. He's our protector. He's our rock. He's our high tower, our strength. He's our provider. He's our healer. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He sanctifies us and he's constantly working, helping us to become Christ-like in our walk, an ongoing process that never ends, this side of heaven. He is faithful and true. We are co-inheritors with Christ. We will share in his glory for all eternity. We serve a holy and sovereign God. And then think about it, to be in front of the Lord Jesus Christ as he judges our work, our deeds that we have done in the body. To think that our work maybe for this glorious king may be burned up. That'd be a sad thing, would it not? To see your efforts, your ministries that were done maybe with motives that weren't Christ-like. Maybe it wasn't a ministry done by the grace of God but was done in your own strength, maybe for your own glory. But we serve such an awesome and great God, and to think that we would have work that would not survive the fire, the light of His Word. So because we used worthless building materials on the chief cornerstone, this foundation which is laid, Jesus Christ, verse 10, each man must be careful how he builds on it. And this is a serious, this is a serious warning. So I think I have a little question here and it addresses the question here, how can we avoid having our work go up in flames and I think we pretty well answered that. So moving on, it also reminded me of, flip over to Mark 10, 28, reminded me of this passage. Mark 10, 28 through 30. Matt, would you read that for us please? Mark 10, 28. 28 through 30. Mark 10, 28 through 30. Peter began to say to him, See, we have left everything that follows you. Jesus said, truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left the house, or brothers, or sisters, or mothers, or fathers, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the gospel. Lord, now receive me a hundredfold now at this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life. OK. So again, when we get rewarded, this is a fulfillment of the promise of Christ. And as Tim, I believe, remarked last week, Tim reminded us that it's not what we do as much as our faithfulness to do it for Christ, and with the right attitude and the right motivation, all to the glory of Christ. So we look again at verse 15 in 1 Corinthians, If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, so as through fire." Again, in the context, he's talking about the preachers in the church, but ultimately all of us. And I was talking with Pastor Calvin last week. We were talking about this little sentence down here, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. That would be, if you picture this, you're dancing on the edge. In other words, if you are a Christian who uses wood, hay, and stubble, and you're not being faithful, or you're using your own wisdom, you're not doing things in the grace of Christ, but in your own strength, and these things contribute to this wood, hay, and stubble. But it says, you will be saved, but so as through fire. That sounds like you're being saved to me by the skin of your teeth. Because that's kind of a picture of a nominal Christian, I would think, in a way. A nominal Christian. And so there is a cost to following Christ. And I think this building is certainly a cost. And so we need to take it seriously. John Gill, just one passage here from John Gill, he's a theologian, commentator. He says this regarding verse 15. If any man's work shall be burnt, if any man's doctrine he has preached shall be destroyed and disappear, shall be disapproved of and rejected by the churches, not being able to bear the light, and the heat and the fire of God's word. He shall suffer loss of all his labor and pains he has been at in collecting together such trifling, useless, and inconsistent things, and of all that glory and popular applause he might expect from men on account of them, and which was the snare that drew him in to such a way of preaching. but he himself shall be saved with an everlasting salvation. not by the ministerial labors, much less by the wood, hay, and stubble, which will be all burned up, but through his being, notwithstanding all the imperfections of his ministry, upon the foundation of Christ, yet so as by fire, with much difficulty, and will be scarcely saved." Look at, turn over to 1 Peter. First Peter 4.17. First Peter 4.17. Wade, would you read that for us please? For the time has come for judgment to begin in the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the judgment of those who do not obey the gospel of God? So it begins with us first. And if we're under such an examination, and our work may be burned up, or some of it may be burned up, what's going to happen to the ungodly who don't even believe? So John MacArthur says, this judgment is not condemnation, but the purging, chastening, and purifying of the church by the loving hand of God. It is far better and more important to kingdom work to endure suffering as the Lord purges and strengthens the church than to endure eternal sufferings of the unbeliever in the lake of fire. And if God so strongly and painfully judges his church, which he loves, what will be his fury on the ungodly? Turn to Zechariah 3.2 for just a moment. Again, this just kind of ties this theme, this idea together. Zechariah 3.2. Dale, would you read that when you get to her? Please? And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord be with thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem be with thee. Is not this a bran plucked out of the fire? A bran plucked from the fire, talking about Israel. John Gill continues, he says, with great danger, loss, and shame, as a man is burnt out of house and home, he escaped with his own life, but loses all about him. Think of that with the fires in California, and that's real life to them. So the Syriac version reads it as out of the fire, as out of the fire. Another quote by John MacArthur, God's favor rested on Israel above any nation on earth. He snatched them from potential disappearance in their captivity like pulling a stick out of the fire. just before it is torched. Amos chapter 4 verse 11, you don't have to turn there, he says this to Israel, the Lord speaking, I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze. Only because of God's mercy was Israel saved from extinction. And then, I hate to read to you, but I'll get through this last part here of John Gill's closing comments on verse 15 in 1st Corinthians 3. But he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. The sense is that he shall be tried by the fire of the word and convinced by the light of it of the errors, irregularities, and inconsistencies of his ministry. either in his time of life and health or on a deathbed, and shall have all his wood, hay, and stubble burnt up. For nothing of this kind shall he carry with him in his judgment to heaven, only the gold, silver, and precious stones, and will find that the latter doctrines and not the former will only support him in the views of death and eternity. So we spent a little bit of time on this subject of carefully building on the foundation, so we'll move away from it here in a second. But I think this is a serious enough teaching to spend some time on it. And so it's important, I think, that we bathe all of our ministries in prayer. All our service to Christ, bathe that in prayer, place our confidence and trust only in the grace of Christ, and we dare not build with wood, hay, and stubble. And moving on, back to 1 Corinthians 3, verse 16. Anybody have any thoughts, questions, or maybe don't understand this building? Carl? I think regarding verse 15, the hard thing for me to wrap my mind around is the fact that all true believers are bearing fruit. And so once the entire, everything's burned up, yet you're safe, that just, I have difficulty understanding that, which I think in context, given I'm going up to verse 9, it's best speaking of the apostles and the teachers, that makes a lot more sense in the whole context. It is, it is, and that's the context. So here Paul is writing a letter, and he's writing it to the Corinthian church. So he's talking to the teachers, anyone who's in a position of teaching, because again, throughout the epistles, the warning of false teachers is spoken of often. And so that's the context. But again, we're all building because we're all working. We're all working, serving the Lord. We are, in His building, we are living stones. So we are building, but you're correct, we are talking about the, I was thinking maybe you could look at it as extra accountability maybe of teachers and because it says if you're going to teach, it says not many of you should want to be teachers because we'll be held to more accountability. And I'm misquoting it but it's a paraphrase. Any other thoughts about... And again, we don't want to get too close to thinking, well, are we working our way to heaven? No, not at all. Because again, at the demise of Christ, it's clear that the sin's been dealt with. So that is not an issue. But the Bible does say, you will be saved as through fire. So we have to think about that. Rachel. Jim, the time in the Scripture, the Holy Spirit is referred to as fire. And so I think each of us should take comfort in that we are purified, we're saved by the work of the Holy Spirit. In other words, we can have confidence that anything that we do that is wood-hating stubble is not going to go with us. The Holy Spirit will convict us of that. Sometimes it's painful, and it will be burned up. But the Holy Spirit is the one who purifies our lives, purifies our works. Even our prayers, it's the Holy Spirit who prays for us with groanings that we can't understand. Anything else about Mark Bailey? Yeah, I was here last Sunday at the Temple of the Pilgrims last Sunday. One thing that, we're told that the Word of God stands forever. So, as we're building, and you may have brought this up on that Sunday, but you can't deny it. It's in here with all of us, we're supposed to be saying it. What we do in the building of God's kingdom here, the foundation has to be the Word of God. And if it is, that will not be burned up. Our motives, our day-to-day, not doing things, According to our own will and God's will, that might be burned up, but that which is built upon the Word won't stand forever. Correct. I do appreciate the focus of what we try to do as Mormon believers here is how important the Word itself is. Exactly. And we dare not use our own wisdom. But again, as you say, we're following the word of God. Anybody else? reference to fire. Fire is being something that will take away anything that impedes us or comes in our way, but also anything that comes in the way of the Lord. So therefore, we need to make sure that we heed the Word of God, that we look to Him for strength. And if there's a fire, that it burn away the stuff that keeps us impure, or the impure parts, so that we can be as pure as we can to the Lord as He leads us. There are some things that need to be burned up in our own thinking, in our own way, and they can be our sins. We have to make sure that we try to stay away from sins so that we can be cleansed and allow the things, as I said before, that impede us. So Sam's talking about the fire which purifies us, it's like heating up the silver so that the dross comes to the top. It's a purification, same idea. It's in line with what Rachel was saying as well. Another thing I'll throw out, I think of the husbandman who prunes the vines, prunes the vineyard, and he cuts away things in our life. And in what he's doing, he's purifying us so that now he can use us. And there'll be those who bear fruit. All Christians will bear fruit. Some will bear more fruit, and some will bear much fruit. And God uses the fire of purification in our lives. And he's constantly working on us and some of the things that he wants out of our lives, it hurts when he takes them out. But remember Romans 8.28 in that case, it's for your good. All things for your good. So going on in verse Sixteen, do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? So you, individually, are temples. I'm a temple. We're a temple of God. But it's not only individually, but collectively. So the temple of God is made up of individual temples. Ephesians 2.21-22, and you don't have to turn there, but it says, "...in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." And again, a minute ago I mentioned the Living Stones, which is found in 1 Peter 2.5. Living Stones. in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit. McLaren's exposition, it's another commentary, Alexander McLaren, says this, says, God cannot dwell in the aggregate of men unless he dwells in the individuals that compose the aggregate. If the church as a whole is a temple, it is only because all his members are temples of God. And looking back on verse 9, it says that we are God's building, there at the end of the verse. For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, God's building. And again, I think it's such a vivid picture of Christ being the cornerstone, and we mentioned this last week. And our work, the work that each of us do individually when we're adding on to the foundation of Christ, as we build using our gifts and ministries by the grace of God, making sure that, as Dale talked about, that we're lining things up with the word of God. And Christ is the word. And so we must be plumb to that cornerstone, square and level. in all that we do. In the church here, we follow the Bible in the way that we do church. And I think this church is faithful in doing that. And so it's just so important that, for instance, we follow the discipline according to a church discipline with regard to the Word. When you look at Matthew 18, it talks about how we do that. It talks about, there's a regulative principle about how we worship the Lord. We can't do it any way that we want. And so many churches today use their own wisdom in how they conduct worship and the elements that go into that. It's not true worship in many cases. Turn to, just for a moment, to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. And let's look at verses 19 through 22. And Wade, would you be kind enough to read those? Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself became the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, rose into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for the dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Okay, thank you. So we are God's shrine. Another word for temple in the Greek is shrine, or that's the English word. Not built for men's glory. The word temple in the Old Testament always means the material temple. In the Gospels, our Lord spoke of the temple of his body. In the rest of the New Testament, the body of every baptized Christian is the temple of God because God dwelleth in him. 1 John 4.16 If you're writing these verses down, 1 John 4.16 and then again also of the same theme is found in John 14.23. In another aspect, Christians can be regarded as living stones. I mentioned that a little while ago in our spiritual house, 1 Peter 2.5. The temple or shrine wherein God dwells and which is the holiest part of the temple. You think of it this way, we have the Holy Spirit, we have Christ, we have God living within us. And when they were using the temple, of course, he was found in the Holy of Holies. So in a sense, we could look at it this way, that God lives in the Holy of Holies. Look at, excuse me, look at verse 17. Let's read verse 17 back in 1 Corinthians 3. Verse 17. Ethan, could you read that for us please? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. If a man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. When Matthew Henry comments on this, From other parts of the epistle, it appears that the false teachers among the Corinthians taught unholy doctrines. Such teaching tended to corrupt, to pollute, and destroy the building which should be kept pure and holy for God. Those who spread loose principles will render the church of God unholy and bring destruction upon themselves. Christ by his spirit dwells in all true believers. Christians are holy by profession and should be pure in heart in conversation. He is deceived who deems himself the temple of the Holy Ghost, yet is unconcerned about personal holiness or the peace and unity of the church. Personal holiness. What is personal holiness? How is that manifested in our lives, personal holiness? I didn't have this question written down, but just a thought. Janet? Our personal time with God. Personal time with God, the time that we spend with Him. Okay. Carl? There's a lot of things that we do, part of our walk with the Lord, but first and foremost, personal holiness is that work of God that He's setting us apart from sin and making us more and more sanctified and sublime in Him. Okay. The Bible speaks of walking in the Spirit as opposed to walking in the flesh. So we need to constantly speak to God. In fact, Paul says to pray unceasingly, keeping constant communion with the Lord throughout our day. What else? How else can we pursue holiness? It can be prayer. Sometimes we put prayer off until later in time. We need to be in prayer often, several times a day or whatever. But you don't need to be in a church to pray. You can pray anywhere. And I know when I was in the stells, We used to pray on some of these downtowns. Not this church. It wasn't a formal church, but it was a beautiful church where we could worship God in the forest. So it's important to pray often. So prayer, constant prayer, unceasing prayer. Prayer is a discipline, is it not? Prayer is a discipline. Sometimes we get busy or we get distracted and like Sam said, sometimes we procrastinate, we put it off. We've got a list of things to pray for and we'll lay it down somewhere and say, I'll do that this afternoon. The afternoon comes and we didn't get it done. We're not taking it. I think it's a matter of discipline and so we have to discipline ourselves. Anybody else have a thought on holiness, pursuing holiness? Okay. Look at Matthew 18 for just a moment. Matthew 18. Matthew 18 verses 6 and 7, Janet would you read that for us please? You're Janet right? But whoever caused one of these little ones who believes in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he had a heavy-billed skull hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks, for it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to the animal through whom the stumbling block comes. Thank you. Little ones. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble. Little ones. Those are true believers. That's not talking about the age. It's not talking about children. Necessarily. But true believers. Those who have humbled themselves like children in coming to Christ. This speaks of not literal children, but children in the sense described, again, they come to Christ as children. Those are true believers it's speaking of. The example that we set, too, among all people, many times a non-Christian will say, oh, if that's the way a Christian acts, then I don't want to be a Christian. So we really have to be careful that we demonstrate a faithfulness to religious beliefs and also act accordingly. Christians don't, right, that's a good point, because Christians don't blend into the world, or at least they shouldn't blend into the world, so you can't tell the difference between believers and unbelievers. It is expected that unbelievers will cause Christians to stumble, right? They can. Believers can cause Christians, can cause believers to stumble, and that's expected in the world. And they'll be judged for it. But it should not be that fellow believers, fellow brothers, lead others into sin directly or indirectly. One would be better off dead. That's an interesting thing that Jesus says here, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought, I don't understand that. Because if you look what it says here, Verse 6, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea. What does that mean? What is Jesus saying here? He's talking about a Christian who causes another Christian to stumble, and he's saying it would be better that he had this big grinding stone, this millstone, He tied around his neck and tossed into the sea, never to come up again. What is he saying? Janet? Okay. Well, I looked up, here's what pulpit commentary says, and there are different viewpoints on this, I suppose, but here's pulpit commentary. It says, quote, the crime specified is so heinous that a man had better incur the most certain death if by this means he may avoid the sin and save the soul of his possible victim. Does that make sense? So God may, in his sovereignty, take that believing brother out before he causes another to stumble. he might take him out, he would be saved. And I was thinking too as I thought about this. Later on in 1 Corinthians, I believe it's chapter 15, where it says, there's a verse in there talking about taking communion in an unworthy manner. And it says there were those in the Corinthian church that were doing this. And it said many of them were sick, and some of them slept, or died. So, anyway, there's something about it. Anybody else have a thought? on this man being tossed into the sea. I don't know. Well, the Bible also talks about, you know, a new Christian may have a stricter view, or he might think he has a more stricter view on what we can eat or not eat, what we can drink or not drink. And so, you might be a strong Christian, And you might be eating a big old hunk of ham in front of him, and maybe he's of the thought that he can't do that. The Bible says not to eat pork, and so he could maybe stumble in a sense in doing that, maybe lead to stumble, or to drink alcohol. The Bible doesn't say anywhere in it that it's a sin to drink, but it is a sin to get drunk. That's why we shouldn't mess with it, because it can cause us to stumble. Or if they see you, if they see Dan going into the store and buying a six-pack, and he's not going to get drunk on it, but he buys it for whatever reason, and then I come along, I'm a new Christian, I think, well, Dan's doing that, well, maybe it's okay, I'll go get some whiskey. and stumble. So you've got to be careful and I know those are probably just silly examples. Anybody else have anything? Carl? This is alcohol. Drugs is a big thing on the market these days. And when you're addicted to it very easily. I've seen people that have gotten into that stuff and they can't break away. It's like a monster. And when people observe Well marijuana is legal now, right? Or going to be. Open up a whole new, we just need something else to mess us up. E. Herndahl, E. Herndahl is his last name. I don't know what the E stands for, but again, he's a commentator, says this, speaking up about destroying the temple. He says, the Aaronic priest who violated the ancient temple were doomed to death. Injurers of the church of Christ will meet a terrible fate. In verse 17, the Greek verb for destroy, which means to bring into a worse state, is repeated. What we do in the church, God will do to us. If we injure it, he will injure us. At Corinth, the dividers of the church We're likely to become destroyers, and so God will destroy these, and so God will destroy. So these are far more serious offenders than those named in verses 12 and 15, those who built with wood, hay, and stubble. This is more serious here. God is jealous over his temple, and men may not do evil to it with impunity. Those who sin against it, sin directly against him. And he goes on to say, we may injure the temple in many ways, for example, by false doctrine, unchristian spirit, personal unholiness, conniving at unholiness in others, failing to do our part, failing to take our place in the church, And he closes with this, how careful we should be in all the concerns, the temple. In church life and in church work, how serious are these. In them there is no room for trifling. Alas, how many are living in the church and even laboring in it who seem to feel little or no responsibility. Let us realize that the Church is, and then assuredly with more care than the Aaronic shall we comport ourselves. To avoid offense and injury and failure, we shall need the wisdom that cometh down from above. That's what it was. And then quickly here, we'll close talking about verse 18. Back in 1 Corinthians 3, chapter 18, let no man deceive himself. Any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age or this world, he must become foolish so that he may become wise. And I think we'll stop there because this gets into a whole. new discussion about deception. We are, we can easily be deceived, and Christians less so, but I think we're, in our human nature, we're subjective to deception from others and as well as to ourselves. As we examine our own selves, we can see sometime, and we'll talk about it, that we can deceive our own selves. Any other closing thoughts here before we? Okay, let's pray. Lord Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your Word. Your Word is a guidebook to our life and how Christians ought to live. And it's commanded of us to examine ourselves to practice holiness, to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh. And these things sometimes are not easy to do, living in unredeemed flesh. But Father, we pray for your help as we live out each day and help us to live in your presence, knowing that you see us, we see our thoughts, our words, our deeds, our inactions. And we pray, Father, that you would just bless us as we walk closer to you and pray that you will bless the service this morning. In Christ's name, amen.