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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:3-23
After fellowshipping in the last chapter concerning the uncertain sounding of the trumpet in the Lord’s ministry, which refers to the army fighting the battle, I would like to fellowship in this chapter concerning the wise master builder and the building of God. The fellowship in this chapter is different in nature from that of the last chapter. When we go to the front to fight the battle, we have to be bold. Then we can win the war. But when we come to build, we have to be wise. We have to realize that the building we are building is altogether a matter in life. The twenty-one verses of the Scripture Reading show us that the wise master builder and the building of God are both matters of life and in life. First, Paul’s ministry was a matter of planting. Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6). This is not a matter of fighting but a matter of the growth in life. Then Paul goes on to say that we are God’s cultivated land, or God’s farm (v. 9). This farm is not wild or uncultivated, but it is a farm cultivated by God to grow Christ. A farm is also a matter of life. Then Paul says that we are not only God’s farm but also God’s building (v. 9). This building is surely a building in life.
Paul continues to tell the Corinthians that he has laid a foundation as a wise master builder, and the rest of the believers, whether they are co-workers like Apollos or believers in the church, are all workers, builders. Each one is a builder, yet you have to be careful, to take heed, with what you build and how you build. If you build with the transformed precious materials — gold, silver, and precious stones — you will receive a reward. If you build with other categories of material — wood, grass, and stubble — that will be burnt, and you will lose your reward. You will still be saved, yet saved so as through fire (v. 15). To be saved through fire indicates clearly that you will be saved through a certain amount of discipline. To be saved through fire is to be saved through a certain kind of burning purification, a certain kind of purging. This is a suffering, a discipline, and a kind of punishment. Those who build with the wrong material will be saved through punishment.
Paul continues to say that we need to realize that we are the temple of God (v. 16). Apparently, these verses are not in a good continuation. Although it may appear that each of these verses stands alone, in the apostle’s thought when he wrote this chapter, all these items are connected with one another. On the one hand, we are the workers who are working on God’s building. On the other hand, we ourselves are the building, the temple. It is not merely a matter of how we build, but we also need to realize how we treat this temple. If you deal with the temple of God carefully, you will not destroy it. If you deal with it carelessly, He will destroy you. First Corinthians 3:17 says, “If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him.” This is not to perish forever but to experience God’s dealing, God’s punishment.
According to my understanding of the holy Word, to be saved through fire will surely be in the future, but for God to destroy the one who destroys His temple is surely in this age. In this age the one who destroys the temple of God will suffer God’s destruction. This is similar to what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 11. If we eat the bread and drink the cup at the Lord’s table in an unworthy manner, we eat and drink judgment to ourselves. Paul goes on to say that this is why “many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep” (v. 30). The Lord first disciplined the ones who participated in His table in an unworthy manner so that they were weak physically. Then, since they would not repent of their offense, they were further disciplined to be sick. Because they still would not repent, the Lord judged them by death. This death is not a curse but a destruction because of a person ruining or destroying the temple of God. To partake of the Lord’s table in an improper manner is to destroy the temple, because the Body that we partake of at the Lord’s table signifies God’s building. The Body in chapter 11 is the temple in chapter 3.
First Corinthians 3 is a chapter full of seriousness. The church as the temple of God is also God’s cultivated land and God’s building. God’s cultivated land, God’s building, is altogether a matter of life plus transformation. We all have to be very serious concerning ourselves. We have to grow in life. We have to learn how to build and with what to build. The way you build must be the way in life, and the materials with which you build have to be the substances of life plus transformation. Our future destiny for at least one thousand years depends upon how we grow and how we take care of God’s unique building in this universe, His temple. You have to be careful to not do anything to destroy this temple. If you destroy this temple, the church, God will deal with you; God will destroy you. When you come to the Lord’s table, you touch the Lord’s Body, the mystical Body of Christ, which is the temple of God. If you touch the Lord’s Body carelessly, you will damage it, and to damage the Body is to destroy the temple. If you destroy the temple, God will destroy you.
In 1 Corinthians 11 the way that God disciplines us is first to give us an alarm. Whenever we get sick, we should not take it for granted. Do not think that your getting the flu is merely a physical matter due to the fact that everyone is getting it. Some people did not get the flu, so why are you among the number who did get it? There should be a reason. Whatever happens to us, we have to believe that it is sovereign of the Lord. Even a small case of the flu that comes to us may mean something. We have to consider in this way. If you have a small case of the flu, this should cause you to go to the Lord to have a full exam. Do not only go to the doctor to have a test of your blood, of your blood pressure, or of your heart. You had better spend more time to be tested by the Lord. Let the Lord speak a word to you. Take your sickness as a warning. I assure you that you will surely be healed. Do not excuse your illness as a mere natural occurrence. Whatever happens to us must remind us that we should go to Him to be enlightened, to be exposed, to be tested, to be examined. We have to receive the Lord’s warning; otherwise, death will come. Death surely is not a curse to us, because we have been saved from the curse already. Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13). But the New Testament does not say that we will not be disciplined.
The Brethren opposed the truth concerning the discipline of the coming age. But when I was with them, they always warned us to be careful in our Christian conduct; otherwise, God would discipline or chastise us. They taught strongly concerning God’s chastisement of the believers in this age. Later, I was enlightened to see that God’s chastisement is not only in this age but even more in the coming age. The Lord Jesus told us clearly in Matthew 24 and 25 that if the servants are slothful, He will punish them when He returns. Matthew 24:51 tells us that when the Lord comes, He will cut the unfaithful and evil slave asunder and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. To cut asunder does not mean to cut into pieces but to cut off. Because we believers have always been attached to Christ, the anointed One, we are one with Him. If we are unfaithful, at the judgment seat of Christ, the Lord will make the decision to cut us off from this attachment with Him. To cut the evil slave asunder is to cut him off from Christ and to put him into the outer darkness (25:30), where he will suffer the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. This will take place after the Lord’s coming.
The coming age of the millennium is still a period of time of the old creation. Although the millennium will be a time of restoration, it will still be in the old creation since the new heaven and the new earth will have not yet been realized. God’s dealing with His people and with mankind will not be completely finished in this age of grace. His dealing with His believers will continue in the next age. This age and the coming age are both parts of the age of the old creation. God needs another age, the age of the kingdom, to discipline the immature believers and to prepare the Israelites who are saved at the Lord’s coming back. Since their being saved was after the age of grace, they still need a period of time for God to perfect them. Furthermore, God needs to perfect some of the nations to be transferred into the new earth to be the people on the new earth for eternity. Through the time of the millennium God will prepare or perfect these three kinds of people for His new universe. This is a clear view concerning the matter of the dispensations. The Brethren are famous as dispensational teachers, yet they did not see clearly the details concerning the age of grace and the age of the kingdom.
On the one hand, we are an army, and with the army there should be a commander in chief. In the New Testament you cannot find the term commander in chief. We can realize this matter, though, by inference from Paul’s mentioning of the uncertain sound of the trumpet for the battle (1 Cor. 14:8). Surely the battle implies an army, and in an army there is the need of a general to command the army, to direct the army to fight. On the other hand, in 1 Corinthians 3:10 Paul says that he was a “master builder.” In Greek the word for master builder is architekton. The English word architect is the anglicized form of this word. An architect is one who designs the building and superintends its construction. In chapter 5 we saw who the apostles are, but not all the apostles are master builders. With a building, there cannot be two master builders. That would bring in confusion. A master builder may have a helper though. Likewise, in an army there cannot be two commanders in chief. A commander in chief may have someone who is second in command, but he is the one in charge of all the troops. Not all the apostles are wise master builders. Paul says that according to the grace of God given to him, he was a wise master builder (v. 10).
On the one hand, Paul was very bold toward the Corinthians in dealing with divisions in the first four chapters. On the other hand, he was very humble in his speaking. He did not show or give the impression that he was superior to Cephas and to Apollos. Rather, he ranked himself among them. But regardless of how humble he was in writing this portion of the Word, when he came to chapter 3, he admitted that he was the planter (v. 6). The planter is much more crucial than the waterer (Apollos). A plant may not need a waterer for a certain length of time, but without a planter there is no plant. Paul was humble, but he would not give up the real facts, and he had to speak them. Between Paul and Apollos who was more crucial? Apollos could have been spared. To have Apollos is good, but to not have Apollos is not a great loss. Apollos was not a planter but just a waterer. He did not have the stuff of life, the substance of life. He had some knowledge of the Bible to water the saints, but the planter was Paul.
The shallow, superficial, and even blind Corinthians appreciated the Bible teachings of Apollos and puffed themselves up on behalf of Apollos against Paul (4:6). This shows the stupidity of the Corinthians. They forgot through whom they were born. Paul told them, “Though you have ten thousand guides in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (v. 15). This verse implies that Apollos was one of these ten thousand guides or teachers. I would like to say the same thing to all the churches that have been raised up by this ministry — you may have ten thousand guides or teachers, but not one is your father. All the teachers are expendable, but not your father. Although Paul was humble, he was also frank and bold. He would never ignore the facts. It was a fact that he begot all the Corinthian believers. He was the father and the planter, not Apollos or even Peter. Based upon these facts Paul declared that by the Lord’s grace he was a wise master builder, a wise architect. An architect does not control the workers or manage the work. First, he designs. Second, he superintends the construction. This was exactly what Paul did.
I want to get into all these points contained in this book to make the truth so bright in the Lord’s recovery. In the Lord’s recovery the heavens should not be closed. The heavens have to be open to us; the sky should not be cloudy but clear. Do not think that I am fighting against anyone or blaming anyone. My burden is to make God’s New Testament economy clear. Like Paul, I can never deny that the Lord has shown me something. A wise master builder is an architect who designs the building, and after designing he superintends and oversees the construction work.
I have the full assurance to say that among the elders and the co-workers there has been the ambition to be above others, to take the lead, and to have another line. It is very good if you can take the lead, but you have to ask yourself if you have that portion of grace. For years you have been doing your work with the materials from this ministry. I never said anything negative against anyone, but I have been watching over your writings. I would like to see that the Lord has really raised up more brothers. I would be happy. Actually, though, in whatever you minister, in whatever you wrote, there is nothing new in any point. Every point is a kind of copy of an existing point in the ministry. You just would not say that is something quoted from the ministry. You want to give people your kind of color so that they think that is your kind of teaching with the pretense that people will not be able to understand Brother Lee’s word. You have to consider what your position is in the Lord’s move. You may not have the portion to do what you are doing.
While I was involved in the work on mainland China for eighteen years, I recognized and admitted that I did not have the portion to take the lead there. I recognized, respected, and regarded Brother Nee as the unique master builder. I had no idea or opinion concerning the way that the Lord’s recovery needed to take. The design came from Brother Nee. He was the superintendent, not I, so I had no right and no position to express any kind of opinion. My position and my right, thank the Lord, were just to take Brother Nee’s instructions.
During those eighteen years on mainland China, Brother Nee had a number of conferences for the co-workers. Sometimes Brother Nee said, “Witness, what would you say?” I had nothing to say, and I had no opinion because I was just waiting to take the word from Brother Nee. I was learning under him, and I watched to see how the co-workers responded to him. I learned a great deal. Young brothers — this is wise. If you watch how others respond to the leading one and listen, you are wise. You will not say a word because you do not have the position to give any opinion. The steering wheel is not in your hand. For you to give your opinion concerning what direction the car should take causes trouble, bothers people, and makes people unhappy.
It is stupid to be ambitious. All the ambitious ones in the past twenty-three years of the Lord’s recovery in the United States were finished and even terminated by their ambition. We all need to condemn ambition. If you can design the proper, unique design for God’s building and if you can superintend the construction to point out all the needs of the building, you do not need to qualify or enthrone yourself. What you are and what you can do will enthrone you. Who are the apostles? Who are the leaders? This does not depend upon a person’s ambition, intention, proclamation, or claim. That does not work. It depends upon the facts. Do you have the ability to design God’s building according to His New Testament economy? You may be far off. Thank God that you may know how to preach the gospel. Thank God that you may know how to water the saints by teaching the Bible. You should be satisfied with that portion. You have to be contented with the portion that the Lord has given you with thanksgivings, realizing that you can do only that much.
You do not have any idea or view concerning the design of the building of God. Do you have the ability to watch over, to oversee, the entire work in the Lord’s recovery concerning His New Testament economy? To do this is not merely a matter of a general leading an army and giving commands to go and fight. It is a greater thing to be able to design God’s unique building in the universe. The New Testament ministry is a matter in life, not just a battle, a fighting. The church is God’s cultivated land full of the growth in life that produces the transformed materials, which constitute the construction of God’s building.
By the Lord’s mercy and grace He has shown me these things. To some extent I have been forced to talk this way. The Lord’s recovery means something. Both Brother Nee and I had the boldness to share these things with others because we cannot deny that we have seen something. We have studied not only the Bible but also Christianity. We studied the Brethren, and we know who they are. Even they themselves do not know that much about themselves. We do not have any degree, so we dare not say that we are the learned doctors. We are like Jesus the Nazarene. Thank Him that we have seen something that we cannot deny.
I have been forced to present the real situation to you. I love you, and I am trying my best to rescue you from a vague situation. In that kind of vague situation you may be ambitious to be something. I beg you not to do this. If you have really been gifted with a certain capacity, you do not need to be ambitious. You do not need to consider that you are such a person. This is all vanity. It all depends upon how much the Lord has measured to you, what the portion is that the Lord has given to you. Be faithful to that portion, and you will get a reward.
First Corinthians 3 shows us what life is. First, we all have to realize that we are plants; you are a plant, and I am a plant. Let us forget about things such as service, work, eldership, and apostleship. I want to remember that I am a little plant. As a little plant in life, I need to grow, and to grow I need water. I will take water from whoever can water me. Then I will grow. Furthermore, I want to be transformed into precious material for God’s building — gold, silver, and precious stone. The first basic thing that we have to learn is the matter of the growth in life. As a plant, I am growing in the soil with all the riches. My soil is the processed and consummated Triune God. I want to dwell in Him and be rooted down in Him to absorb all His riches through my contacting Him. I like to contact Him, absorb Him, dwell in Him, be rooted in Him, and grow in Him to enjoy all His riches. Then I will grow into transformation to become precious material for His unique building in this universe.
While I am growing, He will lead me to participate in the divine work. What a privilege that I can be participating in God’s divine work! Then I work in this divine building, not by my natural ability, not by wood, grass, or stubble. These categories of material are natural and worldly, having nothing to do with growth, life, and transformation. I would never work with this kind of material. I should deny myself, put my soul-life aside, and condemn my natural ability. I build with what I grow with. I build with my growth, with my enjoyment of the Triune God. This is what it means to build with gold, silver, and precious stones.
I am also careful not to damage or destroy Christ’s Body; otherwise, I will suffer destruction because the church, Christ’s Body and God’s temple, is a treasure so dear and precious to Him, purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28). If I destroy the temple, God will destroy me. I do not want to be a Christian like the Corinthians. They did not take care of the growth in life. Paul says that they were still babes, behaving, acting, and touching the church affairs altogether in the flesh (1 Cor. 3:1-3). Because they were fleshly and even fleshy, Paul could not give them solid food. He could only feed them with milk.
The Corinthians were puffed up on behalf of Apollos against Paul and on behalf of Paul against Cephas (4:6). This is all in the flesh and is to build the church with wood, grass, and stubble. To criticize or condemn others carelessly is to destroy the temple, not discerning the Body, and will cause one to suffer loss. Most Christians today are suffering loss. Many are under a kind of destruction. Years ago I warned the saints, but the opposers twisted my word to say that I am cursing and threatening people. Actually, my warning was a word in love. We have to realize that it is not a small thing to touch the church.
First Corinthians 3 is a chapter not on fighting but on growing. To be a planter like the apostle Paul and to be a plant, you need some life. As a plant, you need to grow, and through growth you will have transformation to become the precious material for God’s building. You then will do the right work with what you grow and with what you have been transformed, building with gold, silver, and precious stones for the building of God. You would never use anything of your natural life or worldly ability — wood, grass, or stubble — to build the church. Nor would you touch the Body, the church of Christ, the temple of God, carelessly to suffer destruction spiritually, soulishly, or physically.
If you were such a person, the Lord would probably assign a portion to you so that you might be qualified and able to be a designer because you know His concepts, His heart’s desire, His eternal purpose, His eternal plan, His good pleasure. You also know His economy, the Old Testament economy and the New Testament economy, the eternal economy. Since you know all these things, this qualifies you to be a designer, an architect, a wise master builder. Because you know what you design, you also know how to superintend the construction.
An architect does not control the workers. His controlling would keep them away from their work. Nobody could work under another’s control; they may even go on strike. An architect does not exercise control; he imparts his view of the construction. Based upon this view, he renders much helpful, positive, and constructive instructions. He helps by adjusting and sometimes by giving a warning. The master builder is not the controller but the one who has the design and the one who oversees, superintends, the construction work in detail.
Paul exercised much of his superintending ability in writing 1 Corinthians. In this one Epistle Paul dealt with eleven problems among the believers in Corinth. Some of these problems were concerning division, fornication, bringing brothers to the law, and marriage. Could you have such an all-inclusive view to write an Epistle to such a complicated and complicating church? Maybe all that you would be able to tell them would be to contact the Lord and pray often. You might even tell them to fast and pray and to love one another. Your fellowship may sound very good. You may be very spiritual, loving, kind, and nice, but I do not think that someone “who is building a house” would hire you as an architect. You might be qualified to be a pastor in a small denomination.
I am trying my best to present to you what the Lord has shown me. By presenting these things to you in such a way, I hope that you can see the great difference between the Lord’s recovery and Christianity. There is no comparison. Such fellowship concerning the deeper truths of God’s New Testament economy may cause some to be angry with me. This has been my suffering.
Some of you may say, “Brother Lee, we will follow you and go to fight.” How will you go to fight? Even the soldiers in today’s United States Army need to be trained. You need to be trained in your character. Get rid of your looseness and inaccuracy in doing things. You cannot be a wild soldier. We must be so fine in being dealt with by the Lord to grow in life. We should have the attitude that we do not like to be anybody. We only like to grow to be transformed into precious material for God’s building. We should be altogether careful to not do or say anything to damage or destroy any part of God’s temple, which is the very dear Body of the Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.
With this building work there must be an architect who gives us the proper design. To lay the foundation is to give the design. These two things are one. Then the architect tells us, charges us, and warns us to be careful how to build and with what we build. This is his superintending of the construction. The architect, the wise master builder, gives us the design, which is to lay the foundation. No one can give you another design, another foundation, which is the all-inclusive Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit as the very embodiment of the processed and consummated Triune God. This foundation is the very contents of our belief, the very contents of the New Testament economy of God. The architect laid this foundation by such a design. After giving such a design, after laying such a foundation, he is now superintending to see how the building is going on. We need such a view in the Lord’s recovery. I believe that this vision will control us, restrict us, and preserve us from being wild. “Where there is no vision, the people run wild” (Prov. 29:18 — Heb.).
You may say that you follow Brother Lee, that you are one with this ministry. This sounds very good, but I am a little concerned that you may not know what it means to be one with the ministry. You may want to take me as your commander in chief and follow me, but I do not want to have many followers who know nothing about God’s New Testament economy. We are not doing anything but carrying out God’s New Testament economy. Christianity has delayed the Lord and missed the mark for centuries, but in the Lord’s recovery the one thing, the unique thing, that the Lord has been showing us is the New Testament economy of God. I hate that you would not see this. Because of your not seeing, some of you have been ambitious to be something and have tried to have another line in the Lord’s recovery. The seeing of the vision preserves you. The seeing will be the white line for your driving. What I have presented to you in this chapter is the white line for your driving to save and preserve you.
