"For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ!" (I Corinthians 3:11)
In last week's lesson (on I Corinthians 2:1-16), the apostle Paul claimed that in ministering to the Corinthians he "determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified"! He had come to Corinth after having been beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, run out of Thessalonica and Berea, and scoffed at in Athens, and must have wondered what was next for him in Corinth! But, as we noted, he was never one to complain about his mistreatment, or to allow his "weakness in the flesh" to affect his ministry for Christ! In II Corinthians 12:7-10 he wrote about the "thorn in the flesh" he had been given, that he said God used to "keep him from exalting himself," and how that even though he had "implored the Lord three times for it to be removed, it was not removed," but the Lord had allowed it to remain, assuring him that "His grace was sufficient for him and that His strength was made perfect in Paul's weakness"! And so he resolved to "most gladly glory in his weakness that the power of Christ might rest upon him"! And so, we can better understand why he would write, in I Corinthians 2:4, that "his message and preaching were "not with persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that their faith (the faith of the Corinthian believers) would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God"! And he makes repeated references to the working of the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer, making known to them "the wisdom of God," through revelation, inspiration, and illumination!
Remember how Jesus, in John 14:16-17--in preparing His disciples for His soon departure--said that He would "ask the Father, and that He would give them another Helper who would be with them forever...even the Spirit of truth, whom the world could not receive"! Then, in verses 26-27, how the Holy Spirit would "teach them all things, and bring to their remembrance all that He had said to them" (thus equipping them to write the gospels!) Acts 2 records the coming of the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, and verses 41-47 tell how "those who received the word...were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer...and how day by day they continued with one mind in the temple praising God and having favor with all the people, as the Lord added to their number those who were being saved"! And so, the "church age" got its start!
II Peter 1:20-21 tells us how "men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God," giving us the sacred Scripture! And II Timothy 3:16-17 (in the Phillips translation) says that "all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the faith and correcting error, for resetting the direction of a man's life and training him in good living...the comprehensive equipment of the man of God, and fit him fully for all branches of his life"!
But, as we learned last week, Paul says (in I Corinthians 2:14) that "the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned"! We, on the other hand (as believers), because we have the indwelling Holy Spirit, along with the inspired Word of God, are able to "know, and have, the mind of God"--and the wisdom of God! And so we pray, with the Psalmist (in Psalm 119:18), Lord, "open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law"! And that's why we gather--as MOBsters--to study God's Word, and seek the "wisdom of God"! We even sang about it last week--and it set the tone for our lesson last night on I Corinthians 3, which highlights "factions" in the church of Corinth, and the importance of pursuing spiritual maturity and the unity of believers in Christ!
The apostle Paul begins chapter 3 by addressing the Corinthian believers as "brothers," even though he says he "couldn't speak of them as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ"! Wow! And what's the evidence that this was the case? In verse 3 he says, "since there's jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and walking like mere men"! Then, picking up on what he says he learned from "Chloe's people' (in 1:11) that there were quarrels and divisions among them, with some saying they were "of Paul," others "of Apollos," others "of Cephas," and others "of Christ"! "Has Christ been divided?" Paul asks! And who are Paul and Apollos that they should be elevated? Yes, Paul says he "planted"! And Apollos "watered," but "neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth"! (Macarthur calls it "a humble but accurate assessment of the roles of pastors and teachers"!)
MacArthur also notes that "factionalism was the divisive product of carnality"--which is defined as "having the nature of the flesh...governed by mere human nature, not by the Spirit of God! Prone to sin!" And so, the Corinthians, after a year and a half of Paul's preaching, and five years later, were "still on milk" and, as a result, Paul says he wasn't able to teach them "the deeper things of God's revelation, and they weren't able to understand and apply Christian principles for their lives! So their growth as believers was stymied!
Constable notes that "this section of verses makes it clear that it's possible for genuine Christians to behave like, and to appear to be, unbelievers; that the Corinthians' conduct indicated both their immaturity and their carnality, but that not their lack of eternal life; and that prolonged immarturity as a result of carnality is a condition that is all too common in modern Christianity; and yet that we should not pass judgment of a person's salvation...because we don't really understand the heart of another person, and his (or her) relationship with Christ!"
In I Peter 2:1-2, Peter challenges believers scattered throughout churches in Asia Minor and elsewhere to "put aside all malice and deceit and hyposcrisy and envy and all slander like newborn babies, longing for the pure milk of the word, that they might grow in respect to salvation..."! And Paul writes, in Hebrews 5:11-14, "Concerning him (speaking of Melchizedek, as a type of Christ) we have much to say, and it's hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though, by this time ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil"!
In verses 10-11, Paul says that "according to the grace of God which was given to him, like a wise master builder," he laid the foundation, and another is building on it; but each man must be careful how he builds on it," and that "no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ"! And he adds (in verses 12-13) that "if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, (or) precious stones (all good materials), or wood, hay, straw (the bad materials), each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it because it is to be revealed by fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work"! The materials represent the believer's response to how well they serve the Lord with what He has given them! In other words, they represent his "works"! We cannot be saved by good works but Ephesians 2:10 says that every Christian has been "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." MacArthur notes that "works are not the source of the Christian life but the marks of it"! Every Christian is a builder, and every Christian builds with some sort of materials, and God wants us to use only the best materials, which will last! MacArthur writes that:
The "day"? II Corinthians 5:10 says, "...we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad"! Every believer is ultimately accountable to God! The "judgment seat" metaphorically refers to the place where the Lord shall sit (following the Rapture!) to evaluate believers' lives for the purpose of giving them eternal rewards. Translated from the Greek word "bema" which was an elevated platform where victorious athletes during the Olympic games went to receive crowns! Corinth had such a platform where both athletes awards nad legal justice was dispensed! Paul was referring to a place for a believer's eternal rewards, not a place for judgment for sin, since that judgment took place for the believer on the cross of Christ! Romans 8:1 say "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"!
So, is it wrong for a believer to be motivated to serve the Lord in order to receive an eternal reward? MacArthur notes that the apostle Paul's greatest motivation was the Lord's coming to reward his own, and that his supreme objective was to stand before the Lord and hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" In Philippians 3:13-14, he wrote, "This one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus"! And he spoke of his life (in I Corinthians 9:24-27) as "running a race to win the imperishable wealth of the Lord's reward"! So, is it wrong for us to be motivated to serve the Lord to receive an award? Not according to Paul, apparently! But our greatest motivation should be out of love and gratitude for the Lord's grace and mercy showered upon us, which allows us to be part of the family of God!
This lesson should also motivate us to want to "pursue maturity" as believers, as Jim Clingenpeel challenged us last night!
II Peter 3:17-18 says, "But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity! Amen!"
May the Holy Spirit guide you into all truth! Shalom!
Lowell
In last week's lesson (on I Corinthians 2:1-16), the apostle Paul claimed that in ministering to the Corinthians he "determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified"! He had come to Corinth after having been beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, run out of Thessalonica and Berea, and scoffed at in Athens, and must have wondered what was next for him in Corinth! But, as we noted, he was never one to complain about his mistreatment, or to allow his "weakness in the flesh" to affect his ministry for Christ! In II Corinthians 12:7-10 he wrote about the "thorn in the flesh" he had been given, that he said God used to "keep him from exalting himself," and how that even though he had "implored the Lord three times for it to be removed, it was not removed," but the Lord had allowed it to remain, assuring him that "His grace was sufficient for him and that His strength was made perfect in Paul's weakness"! And so he resolved to "most gladly glory in his weakness that the power of Christ might rest upon him"! And so, we can better understand why he would write, in I Corinthians 2:4, that "his message and preaching were "not with persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that their faith (the faith of the Corinthian believers) would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God"! And he makes repeated references to the working of the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer, making known to them "the wisdom of God," through revelation, inspiration, and illumination!
Remember how Jesus, in John 14:16-17--in preparing His disciples for His soon departure--said that He would "ask the Father, and that He would give them another Helper who would be with them forever...even the Spirit of truth, whom the world could not receive"! Then, in verses 26-27, how the Holy Spirit would "teach them all things, and bring to their remembrance all that He had said to them" (thus equipping them to write the gospels!) Acts 2 records the coming of the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, and verses 41-47 tell how "those who received the word...were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer...and how day by day they continued with one mind in the temple praising God and having favor with all the people, as the Lord added to their number those who were being saved"! And so, the "church age" got its start!
II Peter 1:20-21 tells us how "men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God," giving us the sacred Scripture! And II Timothy 3:16-17 (in the Phillips translation) says that "all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the faith and correcting error, for resetting the direction of a man's life and training him in good living...the comprehensive equipment of the man of God, and fit him fully for all branches of his life"!
But, as we learned last week, Paul says (in I Corinthians 2:14) that "the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned"! We, on the other hand (as believers), because we have the indwelling Holy Spirit, along with the inspired Word of God, are able to "know, and have, the mind of God"--and the wisdom of God! And so we pray, with the Psalmist (in Psalm 119:18), Lord, "open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law"! And that's why we gather--as MOBsters--to study God's Word, and seek the "wisdom of God"! We even sang about it last week--and it set the tone for our lesson last night on I Corinthians 3, which highlights "factions" in the church of Corinth, and the importance of pursuing spiritual maturity and the unity of believers in Christ!
The apostle Paul begins chapter 3 by addressing the Corinthian believers as "brothers," even though he says he "couldn't speak of them as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ"! Wow! And what's the evidence that this was the case? In verse 3 he says, "since there's jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and walking like mere men"! Then, picking up on what he says he learned from "Chloe's people' (in 1:11) that there were quarrels and divisions among them, with some saying they were "of Paul," others "of Apollos," others "of Cephas," and others "of Christ"! "Has Christ been divided?" Paul asks! And who are Paul and Apollos that they should be elevated? Yes, Paul says he "planted"! And Apollos "watered," but "neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth"! (Macarthur calls it "a humble but accurate assessment of the roles of pastors and teachers"!)
MacArthur also notes that "factionalism was the divisive product of carnality"--which is defined as "having the nature of the flesh...governed by mere human nature, not by the Spirit of God! Prone to sin!" And so, the Corinthians, after a year and a half of Paul's preaching, and five years later, were "still on milk" and, as a result, Paul says he wasn't able to teach them "the deeper things of God's revelation, and they weren't able to understand and apply Christian principles for their lives! So their growth as believers was stymied!
Constable notes that "this section of verses makes it clear that it's possible for genuine Christians to behave like, and to appear to be, unbelievers; that the Corinthians' conduct indicated both their immaturity and their carnality, but that not their lack of eternal life; and that prolonged immarturity as a result of carnality is a condition that is all too common in modern Christianity; and yet that we should not pass judgment of a person's salvation...because we don't really understand the heart of another person, and his (or her) relationship with Christ!"
In I Peter 2:1-2, Peter challenges believers scattered throughout churches in Asia Minor and elsewhere to "put aside all malice and deceit and hyposcrisy and envy and all slander like newborn babies, longing for the pure milk of the word, that they might grow in respect to salvation..."! And Paul writes, in Hebrews 5:11-14, "Concerning him (speaking of Melchizedek, as a type of Christ) we have much to say, and it's hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though, by this time ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil"!
In verses 10-11, Paul says that "according to the grace of God which was given to him, like a wise master builder," he laid the foundation, and another is building on it; but each man must be careful how he builds on it," and that "no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ"! And he adds (in verses 12-13) that "if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, (or) precious stones (all good materials), or wood, hay, straw (the bad materials), each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it because it is to be revealed by fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work"! The materials represent the believer's response to how well they serve the Lord with what He has given them! In other words, they represent his "works"! We cannot be saved by good works but Ephesians 2:10 says that every Christian has been "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." MacArthur notes that "works are not the source of the Christian life but the marks of it"! Every Christian is a builder, and every Christian builds with some sort of materials, and God wants us to use only the best materials, which will last! MacArthur writes that:
- When a pastor preaches sound, solid doctrine he is building constructively!
- When a teacher teaches the Word consistently, he is building with good materials
- When a person with the "gift of helps" spends himself serving others in God's name, he is building with materials that will endure testing and bring great reward!
- When a believer's life is holy, submissive, and worshipful, he is living a life built with precious materials!
The "day"? II Corinthians 5:10 says, "...we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad"! Every believer is ultimately accountable to God! The "judgment seat" metaphorically refers to the place where the Lord shall sit (following the Rapture!) to evaluate believers' lives for the purpose of giving them eternal rewards. Translated from the Greek word "bema" which was an elevated platform where victorious athletes during the Olympic games went to receive crowns! Corinth had such a platform where both athletes awards nad legal justice was dispensed! Paul was referring to a place for a believer's eternal rewards, not a place for judgment for sin, since that judgment took place for the believer on the cross of Christ! Romans 8:1 say "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"!
So, is it wrong for a believer to be motivated to serve the Lord in order to receive an eternal reward? MacArthur notes that the apostle Paul's greatest motivation was the Lord's coming to reward his own, and that his supreme objective was to stand before the Lord and hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" In Philippians 3:13-14, he wrote, "This one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus"! And he spoke of his life (in I Corinthians 9:24-27) as "running a race to win the imperishable wealth of the Lord's reward"! So, is it wrong for us to be motivated to serve the Lord to receive an award? Not according to Paul, apparently! But our greatest motivation should be out of love and gratitude for the Lord's grace and mercy showered upon us, which allows us to be part of the family of God!
This lesson should also motivate us to want to "pursue maturity" as believers, as Jim Clingenpeel challenged us last night!
II Peter 3:17-18 says, "But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity! Amen!"
May the Holy Spirit guide you into all truth! Shalom!
Lowell
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