Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:10-14
In this message we shall consider from 3:10-14 the subject of the building work with transformed materials.
In 3:10 and 11 Paul says, “According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, but another builds upon it. But let each one take heed how he builds upon it. For other foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is being laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Doctrinally speaking, many Christians understand what it means not to lay any foundation other than Jesus Christ. However, when writing these words, Paul was not speaking in a doctrinal way. He realized that by saying that they were of Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, the Corinthians were actually laying another foundation. Here Paul seems to be saying, “Believers at Corinth, you should not say that you are of anyone or of anything. Christ, the unique foundation, has already been laid. This Christ is the One who is both theirs and ours and also the One into whose fellowship we have been called by God. This Christ is the unique foundation.”
It is common for Christians to lay foundations other than Christ as the unique foundation. For example, when someone declares that he is for immersion, he is laying immersion as a foundation. The same is true of someone who is for tongues-speaking. Whenever you claim to be for a particular person, doctrine, or practice, you are laying another foundation. This is the right meaning of Paul’s word in verses 10 and 11.
Christians have been divided by the many different foundations. Thousands of foundations have been laid, and more are being laid. Thus, we should be careful not to say that we are of a certain thing or of a certain person. To speak in this way is to lay another foundation; it is also to cause division. Furthermore, in the church in our locality we should not say that we are of anything or anyone or that we are for anything or anyone. We are only of Christ and for Christ. It is possible that even the saints in the local churches are laying different foundations. Regarding this matter, my eyes are very watchful, not over Christianity, but over the Lord’s recovery. Even the saints who love the Lord and His recovery may still say that they are for certain things. This is to lay another foundation.
Instead of laying another foundation, we must build upon the foundation already laid. This means that we must build upon the unique Christ. We should understand this not only doctrinally, but also practically and experientially. For example, suppose a brother tells you that, according to his feeling, the church in your locality is not positive. How would you respond to this? The answer you give will reveal whether or not you are building upon Christ as the unique foundation. The best way to respond is not to correct the brother or argue with him, but to pray-read a few verses with him. What matters in pray-reading with such a one is not the particular verses you choose; it is that you have a living spirit filled with the riches of Christ. Then if you pray-read together instead of discussing the situation, that one will be watered and nourished. Nothing waters others and nourishes others more than your living spirit. As long as your spirit is living and is filled with the riches of Christ, others will be watered and nourished, no matter what verses you pray-read. After you have pray-read with this one, there is no need to argue with him about the church or to try to improve him. If he wants to say that the church is not positive, let him do so. What he needs is not correction or adjustment, but watering and nourishing. Every time this one comes to you, simply water him and nourish him. In a sense, such a one is spiritually sick, or he may be hungry and thirsty. For his sickness, he needs some medicine, and for his hunger and thirst, he needs food and water. Each contact with him is an opportunity to water him and nourish him. Eventually, what is supplied to him will become the medicine that will heal him. After a while, having been nourished and healed, he will no longer say that the church is not positive. He himself will realize that it is nonsense to speak in that way concerning the church.
To fellowship with others with a living spirit full of the riches of Christ is to build upon Christ as the unique foundation. It is also to build with Christ. When you contact others in this way, you build upon Christ and with Christ. As a result, others will be solidly built up into the church as part of the Body. This is to build upon the foundation already laid.
I am very concerned that the saints realize that 1 Corinthians is not a book of doctrine. It is a book which deals with practical problems. It is a mistake to regard this Epistle as one based on doctrinal matters. We may say that Ephesians is written with doctrine as the basis, but this is not true of 1 Corinthians. Whatever Paul says in this book is presented in a practical way in order to solve the problems among the believers. Thus, his word concerning Christ as the unique foundation should be understood not doctrinally, but in a way that is practical and experiential. For example, to say that we are for a certain person or for a certain practice is to lay another foundation. It is a very serious matter to speak in such a way. This is to lay another foundation and to cause division. Furthermore, to minister Christ to others is to build upon the foundation already laid. If we would minister Christ to the saints, we must have spiritual experience. It is not adequate merely to repeat in a doctrinal way messages given in the ministry. We must share with others not a doctrinal Christ, but a Christ we have experienced.
In verse 10 Paul says, “But let each one take heed how he builds upon it.” The church must be built with gold, silver, and precious stones. However, there is much possibility that we may build with wood, grass, and stubble. Hence, each of us must take heed how he builds, that is, with what materials he builds.
We must take heed not to build with anything other than Christ. This means that whenever we give a message or a testimony, or whenever we have fellowship with others, we must be careful not to give others anything except Christ. Furthermore, the Christ we share should not be a doctrinal Christ, but a Christ whom we have experienced. We should minister not merely the knowledge of Christ or the doctrine of Christ, but Christ Himself. In everything we do in the church life, we must take heed not to minister anything other than the Christ we have experienced.
In chapter three Paul seems to be telling the Corinthians, “Brothers, be careful how you build on Christ as the foundation. God desires a building, a temple. Take heed that you do not build with your Greek culture, philosophy, and wisdom. Likewise, those with a background in Judaism must be careful not to build with Jewish culture, religion, and concepts. Instead, we all must learn to minister Christ to others.” This is what it means to take heed how we build on the foundation already laid.
It is very easy to build on the foundation with something natural or something of our culture, even though we have no intention to do so and are not aware of what we are doing. For example, we may build with something American, Chinese, or German. Furthermore, we may also build with certain elements common to the culture of our particular region. If we minister to others in this way, we are very careless. We are not taking heed how we build. Although I came from China, I am very careful not to build with anything Chinese, but to build only with Christ. It is crucial for us all to learn to build upon Christ as the foundation with the Christ we have experienced in a practical way. There is a lack of such building among us. I am concerned that many brothers and sisters will simply repeat messages in a doctrinal way. What is urgently needed is the actual, practical, present, and living Christ in our experience. To build with such a Christ is to take heed how we build.
In verse 12 Paul says, “But if anyone builds on the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble.” Gold, silver, and precious stones signify various experiences of Christ in the virtues and attributes of the Triune God. It is with these the apostles and all spiritual believers build the church on the unique foundation of Christ. Gold may signify the divine nature of the Father with all its attributes, silver may signify the redeeming Christ with all the virtues and attributes of His Person and work, and precious stones may signify the transforming work of the Spirit with all its attributes. All these precious materials are the products of our participation in and enjoyment of Christ in our spirit through the Holy Spirit. Only these are good for God’s building.
As God’s farm with planting, watering, and growing, the church should produce plants. But the proper materials for the building up of the church are gold, silver, and precious stones, all of which are minerals. Hence, the thought of transformation is implied here. We need not only to grow in life, but also to be transformed in life, as revealed in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Romans 12:2. This corresponds to the thought in the Lord’s parables in Matthew 13 concerning wheat, mustard seed, and meal (all of which are botanical) and the treasure hidden in the earth, gold and precious stones (minerals).
The church is a farm which produces gold, silver, and precious stones. These are minerals and are usually mined from the earth. But in chapter three we have a farm that eventually produces gold, silver, and precious stones. This implies that as the plants on God’s farm grow, they eventually become minerals. The plants, of course, are botanical in nature. But as they grow, they are transformed into minerals. Thus, in this chapter, we have both growth in life and transformation. Whatever is grown on God’s farm is eventually transformed in nature. Transformation does not involve mere outward change, but an inward, organic, metabolic change. In the New Testament transformation involves metabolism, a process in which a new element is added into our being to replace the old element. Hence, transformation is a metabolic change. First we are plants, but eventually we become minerals. Those who have the adequate experience of growth and transformation can testify that if we grow properly, transformation follows automatically. Growth produces transformation and even becomes transformation. The more we grow as plants, the more we become minerals.
Just as a child must have food in order to grow, we as plants on God’s farm must also have something with which to grow. If we would grow, we must have the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We do not grow by means of doctrine or by outward advice or encouragement; we grow by and with the Triune God. We grow with God as a living Person. If we would build upon Christ as the unique foundation, we need the gold, silver, and precious stones which come as a result of growing with the living Person of the Triune God.
What does it mean in a practical way to build with gold? Suppose a certain brother contacts you for fellowship. This brother is humble, kind, and loving. However, you realize that he is natural and that all his virtues are natural. It will not help to give him doctrine by saying, “Brother, you are natural. Your virtues and your behavior are all natural.” Instead of speaking to him like this, you need to minister to him in such a way that he realizes that his virtues are natural, something obtained from birth, and that they do not contain anything of the element of God. Look to the Lord for His leading and for utterance that you may know how to minister to him in the proper way. Eventually, this brother will be helped to see that there is not anything of the nature of God in his good virtues. He will realize that his love, kindness, and humility do not contain the divine gold, but are simply the wood of his natural humanity. Before we can minister to others in this way, we must have adequate experience ourselves. Then we shall be able to minister the gold, the divine nature, into the saints. After a brother has been ministered to in this way, he will begin to condemn his natural virtues. Whenever he is humble or kind in a natural way, he will say, “This is my natural virtue. I condemn it because there is nothing of God in it.” This understanding, of course, is altogether different from that found among most Christians today. Religion encourages believers to develop their natural virtues. But for God’s building we need gold; we need the divine nature added into us.
Silver signifies the redemptive work of Christ. We also need to understand this in an experiential way. The more genuine experience we have, the more we shall know what is true gold and what is true silver. If we seek the Lord, we shall eventually come to realize that, no matter what we may be like in our natural being, we are fallen. There is a sinful element even in our goodness and love. This indicates that we are altogether fallen. Whatever we are and whatever we have is fallen in nature and needs God’s redemption.
According to the New Testament, God’s redemption first terminates us. When Christ died on the cross to redeem us, He terminated us. Whatever Christ terminates, He also redeems, brings back to God. Thus, being brought back to God comes after termination. Furthermore, whatever Christ terminates and redeems He then replaces with Himself. Redemption, therefore, involves termination, being brought back to God, and being replaced with what Christ is. This is a proper, adequate, and complete definition of redemption according to the New Testament.
When Christ redeems us, He terminates us, brings us back to God, and then replaces us with Himself. This is Christ’s redemptive work. We have seen that all that we have and are is fallen. But now that we have been terminated and brought back to God, the work of replacement is taking place within us. Christ as the life-giving Spirit has come into us and is gradually replacing us with Himself. This is the reason Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” In this one verse we see the three matters of termination, replacement, and being brought back to God.
If we have the adequate experience of Christ’s redemption, in our contact with the saints we shall impart the reality of redemption to them. In this way silver will be added to them. This is what it means to build with silver.
This kind of building will gradually eliminate death from the church life. Every local church is troubled by death, which comes from gossip, negative talk, and even from the natural virtues. How can this death be swallowed up? It can be swallowed up only by the building with gold and silver. Whenever you minister gold and silver to the saints, the negative germs within them are killed, and the saints are nourished in a positive way. The silver is a divine antibiotic to kill all germs. Then, spontaneously and automatically, death will be swallowed up by life. Life includes gold and silver, the nature of God and Christ’s redemptive work.
The precious stones are the totality of gold and silver. When in our spiritual experience we have the nature of God and the redemptive work of Christ, the result will be the transformation of the Holy Spirit. If we minister gold and silver to the saints, the issue will be precious stones, the Spirit’s transforming work. In other words, the Holy Spirit transforms us metabolically by the divine nature with the cross. In this way we become precious stones.
In chapter three Paul in effect is telling the Corinthians, “Brothers, instead of building the church in your locality, you are destroying it and tearing it down. You are not building with gold, silver, and precious stones, but with wood, grass, and stubble. You are building with your Greek natural man and your Greek culture, philosophy, wisdom, habits, and customs. Thus, you are destroying the temple of God and will suffer God’s destruction. I encourage you to take heed to avoid building with your Greek humanity and culture. You need to avoid everything Greek and be in the mingled spirit to minister the golden nature of God the Father into others and also to minister the silver of the cross of Christ. The result will be precious stones, a metabolic change produced by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.” This is to build with the Triune God upon Christ as the unique foundation.
It is significant that Paul mentions only three categories of precious materials — gold, silver, and precious stones — for these correspond to the Three of the Triune God. The gold refers to the nature of God the Father, the silver to the redemptive work of the Son, and the precious stones to the transforming work of the Spirit. This is the experience of the Triune God becoming the supply for us to minister to the saints and the materials for the building up of the church. If we build the church with these precious materials, and not with our natural man or culture, we shall be taking heed how we build on Christ. Then our building work will not destroy the temple of God, and we shall not suffer God’s destruction.
In 3:13 Paul says, “The work of each shall become manifest; for the day shall make it known, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.” The day here refers to the day of Christ’s second coming, when He will judge all His believers (4:5; Matt. 25:19-30; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 22:12).
The fire in verse 13 denotes the fire of the Lord’s judgment (Mal. 3:2; 4:1; 2 Thes. 1:8; Heb. 6:8), which will cause each believer’s work to be manifest and will try and test his work. It is not the fire of purgatory as pervertedly interpreted by Catholicism. All the work of wood, grass, and stubble will not be able to stand that test and will be burned.
In verse 14 Paul goes on to say, “If anyone’s work which he has built upon it shall remain, he shall receive a reward.” The work that remains must be that of gold, silver, and precious stones, the product of faithful ministers of Christ. Such a work will be rewarded by the coming and judging Lord. Reward is based upon the believer’s work after being saved. It differs from salvation, which is based upon faith in the Lord and His redemptive work.
