Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:10-23; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2
Referring to Christ as the unique foundation, Paul says in 3:10, “But let each one take heed how he builds upon it.” In verse 12 he goes on to say, “But if anyone builds on the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble.” According to this verse, the proper building materials are gold, silver, and precious stones. Why does Paul mention only three such materials and not two or four? There are three because these materials refer to the Three of the Trinity, to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The precious stones are related to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Every precious stone is a transformed substance. At one time it used to be some other material, perhaps clay or carbon. Then as a result of intense heat and pressure this material has been transformed into precious stone. Thus, precious stones indicate transformation. According to 2 Corinthians 3:18, we are transformed by the Lord Spirit. This reveals clearly that transformation is the work of the Spirit. Therefore, the third item of the proper materials mentioned in 3:12 refers to the third of the Trinity, the Spirit.
In Exodus 30 we see that silver was used to redeem the life of God’s people. Silver signifies the redemption accomplished by Christ the Son, the second of the Trinity. Therefore, the silver in 3:12 refers to the redemption of Christ.
Gold, the first of the precious materials mentioned by Paul, refers to the first of the Trinity, God the Father. Gold signifies neither redemption nor transformation; rather, as a precious element, it signifies something which does not change or become corrupt in nature. Gold always remains the same. Hence, in the Bible it signifies the nature of God the Father. The divine nature, like gold, never changes.
We have seen that gold, silver, and precious stones refer to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Now we must go on to see what it means to build with these materials. In order to build with these materials, we ourselves must first be constituted of them. We need to be constituted of the Father’s nature, the Son’s redemption, and the Spirit’s transformation. This means that we must be constituted of the Triune God. When we receive Him, when we take Him into us by drinking Him and eating Him, when we are transfused with Him and by Him, the very Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — comes into us to be our element and substance. This causes a metabolic process to take place within us by which a new element is added and an old element is discharged. Another name for this process is transformation.
Transformation does not take place overnight. On the contrary, it is a work which goes on continually day by day. As we call on the Lord Jesus, praise the Father, read and pray-read the Word, pray, sing, worship, attend the meetings of the church, and fellowship with the saints, we take the Triune God into us. The more we receive of Him, the more His element transforms us metabolically and causes us to be constituted of Himself. Then we have gold, silver, and precious stones.
To have gold is to have the Father’s incorruptible nature. To be redeemed is to be terminated, replaced, and brought back to God through Christ. Even though we are saved, in many things we are still far away from the Triune God. When Christ becomes our redemption, He brings us back to God, terminates our natural life, and replaces us with Himself. This is to experience silver. Following this, the third of the Triune God, the Spirit, works both within us and in our circumstances to transform us into precious stones.
Transformation involves the Spirit’s working both inwardly and outwardly. The Spirit works outwardly in our circumstances for the sake of His inward working. For example, the Spirit may use our children to help transform us. We may expect that our children will be submissive and obedient. But a certain child may be stubborn or even rebellious. Such a child can cause us to be pressed for the sake of our transformation. As an elderly person with many children and grandchildren, I can testify that the Spirit often uses our children to press us and “burn us” as part of His work of transformation. When I first began to experience this in my family life, I was troubled and could not explain what was going on. Gradually I came to know that I needed the heat and pressure caused by my children. I also came to see that I need other pressures as well. It takes a great deal of intensified heat and pressure for clay to become precious stones. According to Romans 8:28, God causes all things to work together for good on our behalf. We need all things to work for us. Therefore, we should not be surprised when even our children are used to press us and burn us so that we may become precious stones.
Many Christians are under the influence of the teaching that if we believe in the Lord Jesus and behave ourselves properly for the glory of God, we shall be blessed and prospered in every way. According to this teaching, we shall be successful and prosperous. Furthermore, supposedly our children will become successful in their chosen professions. If this teaching is accurate, then Paul must be the most pitiful believer who ever lived. Listen to what he says in 4:11-13: “Until the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked and beaten and wander without a home; and we labor, working with our own hands; being reviled we bless, being persecuted we bear it, being defamed we appeal; we have become as the offscouring of the world, as the scum of all things until now.” Is this the description of one who is successful and prosperous? Paul’s situation was very different from that promised by the teaching that those who believe in the Lord and live properly will be blessed materially. However, Paul was in fact the most blessed of Christians, for he was truly constituted of the Triune God.
We in the Lord’s recovery should not be frightened by the process of transformation. We should not desire to turn from the recovery and seek an easier way, to go to a religious gathering where we can be comforted psychologically. We praise the Lord that we are receiving the Lord’s nourishment and are also undergoing the process of transformation. We are receiving more of the divine gold into our being. I can strongly testify that I do not regret taking the way of the Lord’s recovery. Yes, I have lost a lot, but I have gained much more. If there is no loss, there can be no gain. What I have lost has been material things, but I have gained the nature of God my Father. I have gained the gold of the divine nature, something that never changes or decays. Hallelujah for the divine nature that has been added into us! We also praise the Lord for the wonderful redemption we are experiencing daily to be terminated, brought back to God, and replaced by Christ Himself. We are also thankful for the heat and pressure which are transforming us from clay into precious stones.
As we become gold, silver, and precious stones, we are built up. Building is a matter of growth and transformation. The more we grow, the more we are rescued from our natural being. Then wherever we may be, we can easily be one with the saints. This is building.
If we have been built up in a genuine way, there will be no opinions, disputations, strifes, comparisons, preferences, or choices. We shall simply be for the Lord’s Body and desire to be part of the Body. No matter where we may go, we shall be one with every saint. This is what it means to be built with gold, silver, and precious stones.
The majority of today’s Christians are divided. It is difficult even to find two who have been built together in a proper way. The reason for the division and the lack of building is that the believers remain in their natural life, in their natural being, and in their worldly aspirations. Many still have their own preferences, desires, and choices. As a result, it is impossible for them to be truly one. Therefore there cannot be the practical Body life among them.
We cannot have the real Body life until, at least to a certain extent, we grow by being transformed. We praise the Lord that, to some degree at least, the churches in the Lord’s recovery are being built up in this way. The saints are becoming one and are not so much in their opinions, preferences, and choices. Furthermore, we have one goal — the central vision of God’s eternal purpose, which is to have Christ ministered into the saints so that they may all be constituted into one Body. Although we may not be fully one in this goal, we are in the process of entering into this oneness. The situation today is greatly improved over that of ten years ago. We praise the Lord for what He has done in the last ten years. However, we want to experience more transformation so that we may have more building.
First, we ourselves must become gold, silver, and precious stones. Then, spontaneously, we build ourselves into the Body. In this way we build ourselves up upon Christ as the unique foundation. The more we are transformed, the more we build upon Christ as the foundation. Furthermore, as we minister the Triune God to others — the Father as the golden element, the Son with His practical redemption, and the Spirit with the work of transformation — they will be infused and nourished. Then gradually one by one they will become the same category of precious materials. They will be in the same condition and situation, receive the same nourishment, and have the same destiny. Eventually, the Lord will get the church He desires — the Body as the corporate expression of Christ.
Do not expect that this work of transformation and building will be carried out on a large scale involving a very large number of Christians. On the contrary, it will be accomplished among a rather small number according to the principle of the overcomers. The Lord addressed the seven epistles in Revelation to all the churches and to all the saints in the churches. However, He did not expect that everyone in the churches would be according to what He is. For this reason, at the end of each epistle He says a word about the one who overcomes. Eventually, the Lord will gain a small number of believers, the overcomers, to satisfy the desire of His heart and accomplish His eternal purpose.
Do you know by what way the Lord will gain these overcoming believers? It will be through the way of feeding, drinking, eating, planting, watering, and growing. It will be by having a farm and a building with Christ as the unique foundation and constructed of the precious materials of gold, silver, and precious stones. Eventually, this building will become God’s temple.
In 3:16 and 17 Paul says, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God shall destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, which you are.” Here Paul warns us not to destroy God’s temple. When I was a young Christian, I thought that the temple in verses 16 and 17 referred merely to the church in a broad, general sense. Later, as a result of much study and experience, I came to see that whereas the temple in verse 17 may refer to all the believers universally, the temple in verse 16 refers to the believers collectively in a certain locality, as in Corinth. The unique spiritual temple of God in the universe has its expression in many localities on earth. Each expression is a temple of God in that locality. Thus, the temple must mean the built up church in a locality. The temple is built up with the believers in a practical way. Regarding the building, first we must gather the materials, and then the materials become part of the building.
In chapter three Paul warns the Corinthians to take heed how they build. On the positive side, he indicates that they should build on the foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones. On the negative side, he warns them about destroying the temple of God. The Greek word rendered destroy also means ruin, corrupt, defile, mar. To build with wood, grass, and stubble is to ruin, to mar, God’s building. According to the context of chapter three, we may destroy the temple either by laying a foundation other than Christ, or by building on the foundation with wood, grass, and stubble. For the Corinthians to say that they were of Paul, Apollos, or Cephas was to lay another foundation and thus to mar the temple. Furthermore, to build with natural things was also to ruin the temple of God.
The problem with the Corinthians was that they had other foundations consisting of their preferences and choices. According to the context, we defile the temple of God when we boast in men and say that we are of a particular person. Those who have their own choices and preferences may consider themselves wise; actually, they are foolish. As we shall see, at the end of chapter three Paul points out that all things and all servants of the Lord are ours. There is no need for us to have preferences or choices. Therefore, we should not say that we are of anyone or anything. All are ours, we are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
If we consider the last verses of chapter three according to the context of the first three chapters of this Epistle, we shall see that Paul’s concept is that saying we are of someone is to destroy the church. Paul seems to be saying here, “The church is in the process of being built up. Some parts have already been built. Do not destroy the church. Do not mar it, ruin it, or defile it. If you build the church with your natural being or your natural makeup, you defile the church. You also ruin the church when you say that you are of Apollos, Cephas, or Paul. If you destroy the church in this way, God will destroy you.” On the one hand, to be destroyed by God is to be deprived of the blessing. It is to lack the feeding, the drinking, the eating, the planting, the watering, and the growing. It is also to miss the opportunity to gain the gold, silver, and precious stones. On the other hand, to be destroyed is to be judged by fire and to have our work consumed. However, if we build with gold, silver, and precious stones, our work will remain, and we shall receive a reward (v. 14).
I encourage you to pray-read these verses in the light of what we have covered in this message. If you do this, you will be nourished and have the divine element infused into you. Then you will experience more transformation, and the church will have more building.
