1 Cor No.7 building for God

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good, as you come to him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a holy house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For in Scripture it says, See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe, this stone is precious, but to those who do not believe, the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone and the stone that causes men to stumble and the rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the presence of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. May the Lord God bless his reading.

Now I read to you from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians and the third chapter, from the tenth verse and down to the seventeenth. I'm reading again from the New International Version of the Bible. I'd like to recommend this version of the Bible to those who perhaps are somewhat new to the Christian faith, to young people in particular.

I appreciate older friends have been reared on the AV and you know and understand the language and the concepts there. But in these days with the AV and some of its language being very difficult for more modern ears, thank God that at last the church has a Bible that was interpreted by believing scholars drawn from many evangelical denominations. And we have here a version which we can trust and which is exceedingly helpful, particularly to those who find the language of the AV not being used to it somewhat difficult to follow.

It's increasingly my practice to preach from the NIV. That's why I recommend the version to you. But where there's any problem with the AV, then I try, if I remember, to draw your attention to the AV, those friends who are working from that volume.

And I'd say there is a crèche out here on the left. If any of our folks would like to take youngsters there, then they would be well looked after. 1 Corinthians then chapter 3 and verse 10.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it, but each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Christ Jesus. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burnt up, he will suffer loss.

He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple, and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

Now, I'm bringing your attention to this passage of Scripture once again for two reasons. The first, quite obvious to friends who were present last Sunday morning, I ran out of time. And secondly, because here is important teaching that is good to reflect on again and again.

From the 10th verse down to the 15th, you remember I said we are confronted with the picture of a building site. You've often, I'm sure, seen wimpies or some of the more local builders engage in putting up blocks of flats or houses. And you've perhaps from time to time looked at the progress as you've seen many a laborer, many a foreman, cooperate in the erection of such buildings.

Well, it's that sort of picture that we've got, an absolute hive of activity that's described to us between those verses. And then from the 16th verse and on to the 17th verse, the building itself is identified. And we are told certain things about it, and certain responsibilities that attach to us as Christian people.

So, in the opening verses, we have a picture of putting the building up. And in the latter two verses, there is exhortation on using the building well. Now, I told you last time that this building is none other than the Church of God.

Sometimes referred to as, in this passage, as the Temple of God. Otherwise described, in other places, described in Corinthians as the Body of Christ. Now, you will again recall my arguing previously that in one sense, we do not come to church because we are the church.

We bring the congregation to the sanctuary at the tabernacle, and then these precincts become a church. But the building itself is completely inconsequential. We could meet, God forbid that we would have to, but we could meet in Searle's garage across the way.

A big garage that they've got, and we would still be a church because we, as people, are there. The building is completely inconsequential. So, what is happening here, in the 10th verse, right down to the 15th verse, is a description of the building up of the Church of God.

Now, I repeat this because nothing is more important than for you to grasp it, particularly if you are new to the Christian faith. The church is not a building. The church is not a conglomeration of buildings around the world.

The church is people. You, me. We constitute the church.

Our African brothers and sisters. Folks here in Europe, in China, in the Americas. All those who have confessed Jesus Christ as Savior, they are the church.

But the church is here, described in the 16th verse, as a temple. The temple of the living God. And it's good for us, as we come into the New Testament, to have the word temple very much at the forefront of our thinking.

Why? Well, you see, you read a great deal about temples in the Old Testament, don't you? And the most famous one of all was that erected by Solomon. There was this magnificent structure. One of the wonders, if not the prime wonder of the ancient world.

A great building, if ever there was one. The best materials, they were fetched from all over the Middle East to put into that building so that when men saw it in Jerusalem, they would hold their breaths in absolute awe. That was the place where God would come down in His Shekinah glory.

That would be the headquarters of the religious faith. This would be where God tabernacled with men. But there's no temple at Jerusalem today.

There is no Christian temple, physically speaking, materially speaking, around the world. Why not? Well, you see, my friend, all that the temple in the Old Testament predicted has been fulfilled in the church of Jesus. It was a visual aid, helping the Israel people in the Old Testament era to look forward to the coming of one who would, by His life, His death and resurrection, lay a foundation of salvation.

That one was our Lord Jesus, sometimes referred to as the master builder, the architect of the plan of salvation. He was the one who, when He offered His life at Calvary's cross, made it possible for you and for me to be saved. This is the essential part of the message of salvation.

This is why the Apostle Paul, in the opening chapters, you'll remember, will say in this epistle that he was concerned to know nothing else save Christ and Him crucified. That is the foundation stone of the church. It's the foundation stone of the temple.

Christ and Him crucified. Now, those of us who have acknowledged Jesus as Lord, we're in on that building. We're part of this spiritual temple.

Ah, yes, but we're not there to be inactive. We're there to enjoy our salvation, but we are called together to be co-laborers with our Savior. We too are to build.

There is to be an absolute hive of activity in the Christian church, the Christian community around the world. We've all got something to do. We are to fashion our lives so that they are like the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are to use our time in endeavoring to bring others to the Savior. Now, this is what the Apostle is saying in the 10th verse. He's addressing you, he's addressing me, and he does so in the name of God.

And he says, look, you who are co-laborers, you who too should have as your ambition to be expert builders like the Apostle Paul. Each one of you, be careful how he builds. In other words, examine, examine what you're doing for Jesus Christ today.

Examine your own life. Examine your lifestyle. Examine your activity.

What are you building on that foundation which Jesus Christ has put down? I remember being with the Turkana tribespeople, an experience I shall never forget, some years ago on the borders of the Sudan. They lived in the most quaint houses that you've ever seen. It looked like an upturned egg cup.

And these houses were made just out of clay, stubble. Doubtless under the burning sun that you find there, there were times when the houses would ignite. They would burn down.

There were times when the Turkana being nomadic people would move on and they'd leave their homes and they'd build somewhere else. It doesn't really matter when it's a land of sunshine about the stability or the impermanence of your home. You're only building for a short while.

And this is what you remember the Apostle Paul says about some people and the way that they build on the foundation stone that Jesus Christ has put down. They use, verse 12, wood, hay, straw. They build only out of the most inexpensive materials.

And as a result when testing comes, when the fire of judgment comes, they've got nothing to offer God. They're saved, yes. Saved like Lot, only by the skin of his teeth, only as through fire.

With the brimstone of Sodom and Gomorrah still smelling on his clothing. Well how tragic a thing it would be my friend. If on the foundation that Jesus Christ has laid for you and for me, we take only the valueless materials and build.

Instead of importing into the building project the most costly things that will stand the test of time and eternity. You say, I don't know what you mean. This hay and stubble and the contrast in scripture here of silver and gold.

What does this mean as a Christian? What is this gold? What is this stubble? What is this silver? What is this straw? What do you mean? Well it all comes down to the issue of how much does it cost you in certain areas of your life to live for Jesus Christ. Let me give you illustrations that perhaps will make Paul's teaching stand out very clearly. Let's take the whole notion for a moment, shall we, of prayer.

You remember how in the Acts of the Apostles, when Cornelius has an audience with an angelic messenger from the Lord. We're told in the 10th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles that his prayers and his almsgiving, his good works have come up as a memorial before God on his behalf. Let me read to you exactly what the account says.

The angel answers. This is verse 4 of Acts 10. Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a remembrance before God.

What does this mean? Well, Cornelius has spent time in prayer. Cornelius has spent time in sharing what he has with others. He has done so as a spiritually sensitive man, although he has yet to understand the full implications of the gospel.

Now the point that I'm trying to emphasize is simply this. Cornelius was offering God something that was registered in heaven. And that is the first thing for you to realize about this gold and this silver and these precious gems.

These are things that God counts as valuable, and they're registered on the computer of heaven. Now, the case becomes very clear, I think. When you remember the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, towards the end of Matthew's gospel, he has a group of people appearing in front of him as though it were the day of judgment.

And he congratulates certain people who are quite astonished. He says, you've ministered unto me. And they say, where unto have we ministered unto you? Well, he says, you gave those who were thirsty a drink.

You gave those who were hungry bread. You visited those who were imprisoned. Inasmuch as you have done it unto me, and as much as you have done it unto them, you have done it unto me.

You see, it's registered in heaven. These were people who used their time, who had a sensitivity to the needs of others. They were building, so to speak, on the foundation which Jesus Christ had erected.

And he said that that would stand the test of time and the test of eternity. Why is Abraham such a great and godly man as you read his story in the Old Testament? Well, he is so because he used what he had in the service of God. Abraham was a man who gave tithes to the Lord.

Abraham was a man who opened his tent flap to the Lord and gave hospitality in the name of God to strangers who suddenly stole in upon his life. And in the New Testament, we're told to look back to Abraham as a man who built well for God. Now, I put it to you.

In this whole business, as I mentioned last week, of handling of finances, do you recognize that what you have is the Lord's? You handle, I suggested to you last week, your finances regarding your home and your mortgage and so on. If you happen to have one, you handle them well to your best advantage and rightly so. You have every reason to have a mortgage and to redeem the tax paid on that mortgage.

It's government legislation. It's part of your right. But what about handling your money in terms of the King of Kings? Do you use those same disciplines? What keeps the Seychelles transmitters going? Prayer? Yes, indeed, my friend, prayer.

But prayer also with practice. Prayer with the practice of folks who give monies, large quantities of monies, here in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to keep those transmitting stations open in the Seychelles, in Sri Lanka and so on and so forth. People who are disciplined, you see, in the handling of finances.

I've known the daftest comments, if I may use a Yorkshire-ism there, flow from the lips of mature people, allegedly so, in their whole attitude as Christians to finance. Let them pray it in. It doesn't really matter about me tithing, about me covenanting.

I mean, I can look after my own personal things extremely well. But when it comes to God's work, well, you get that pious answer. Let them pray it all in.

Yes, we understand your prayers. God understands the need of our prayers. But when we're building for Jesus Christ, we don't use pious excuses to get us out of practical duties and responsibilities.

We handle our finances in the name of the Lord. And when we do that properly, it is registered in heaven. What about tears? Ah, yes, you ask, what is this gold, this silver, these precious stones? I say they're in terms of tithing.

They're in terms of tent flaps, opening up your hospitality, opening up your home and giving hospitality. In terms of tears? Do you mean to say that God registers a tear on the computer of heaven? I do indeed. You remember in the ministry of our blessed Lord how on one occasion a woman came along before his death, before even his arrest and trial.

And she bathed his feet with her tears. And our Savior said, this act shall be a memorial unto her. You see, it's going to last.

It's not only going to be recorded in Holy Scripture, but in heaven itself. It shall be a tribute unto her. These are the ingredients with which we build on the foundation which Jesus has put down.

Our tithing. Our time. Our concern for other people, for the underprivileged.

We're not called just to sit in church on a Sunday and sing hymns. And have some experience and go out completely unchanged in our lifestyle, in our relationship to men and women. We are called, as those who belong to Jesus, to show that in our activity, in areas which I have just outlined.

Now when you start to build like this. When in the name of God you minister to those who are handicapped and are in need. He receives that.

And when the fire of judgment, so to speak. When you're passed through the crucible of testing. When your works are brought before the Lord.

Those things that have been costly. The time that you have spent in prayer. The money that you have invested.

The way you have opened your home. It goes through the fire. And it stands on the other side of the testing.

As a memorial. As a tribute to you. And the grace of God operative in your life.

You can learn a great deal about Lot. From Lot and Abraham. About true spirituality.

And a dud spirituality. Here is Lot. And he gets out of Sodom and Gomorrah.

He's saved. Yes, the Bible says so in the New Testament. Or else we would never have believed it possible.

He's saved. But he's got nothing to show. Saved as by fire.

Oh, God in grace. I ask that none. Within the confines of the tabernacle family.

Shall ever reach heaven. Saved, praise God through the blood of Christ. But nothing to offer.

Everything that we reckon to be valid service. God says no. Never cost you a thing.

It was hay. It was stubble. Go through the fire.

There's nothing there at all. I hope I've made this clear. This burns so much upon my heart.

God is calling us to be tithing people. God is calling us to be timing people. Giving hours in His service.

God is calling us to be tearful people. Shedding tears on behalf of men and women. Who are lost and need Him.

Well, that's the work. That's on the building site. That's how you put the building up.

I don't know why I'm looking at these notes. I brought the wrong ones. What about this whole business here? Having talked about putting the building up.

What about the looking after the building? Who is going to inhabit the building? Look at the 16th verse, will you? Of the third chapter. Because here Paul identifies the building. And he does so by telling us some very interesting things.

Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple? He's identified immediately that the building is people. And not physical bricks. And that God's Spirit lives in you.

If anyone destroys God's temple. God will destroy him. For God's temple is sacred.

And you are that temple. There are two words in the Greek language. Which describe a temple.

One gives the idea of all of the precincts. Of all the buildings. But then there is another word which describes just the main sanctuary.

In Old Testament terms. Not so much all the temple with its outbuildings. But the holy place.

The holy of holies. Two words in the Greek. For the whole building.

And for the central spot. The nerve center of the temple. Now it's interesting that if you push this back into the Greek language.

When our lives are referred to as the temple of the living God. It's the nerve center. It's the holy of holies.

It's in that place where God takes up his residence. Solomon's temple was magnificent. I spelt that out to you before.

It was the wonder of the world. Now listen if you can bear it. The church of Jesus Christ.

Is God's temple. You. Me.

The wonder of the world. Dare you go to the streets of Worthing. And accost the first person who comes down and say you know.

The community that I belong to. The Christian church. It's the wonder of the world.

And immediately. Would you get awe. And respect.

As your response. Or would there be a smirk. And a smile.

If that's the wonder of the world. Then heaven help us. Because sometimes when we hear about the church.

It doesn't seem particularly attractive. Don't you know says the bible here. That you yourselves are God's temple.

Don't you know that God dwells in that temple. What would you expect to find in Solomon's temple. The presence of the living God.

What would you imagine to find. Amongst the community of the redeemed of the 20th century. The presence of the living God.

Where two or three are gathered together in my name says Jesus. There I am in the midst. The Shekinah glory.

Is how the old testament Hebrews. Described the manifestation of God's presence. And when the church of Jesus Christ in the 20th century.

Comes together in it's little communities. Groupings around the world. Then it should be apparent.

As it was to the patriarch Jacob. The beginning of the bible as it's story is recalled. The Lord.

Is in this place. God has come to his temple. Here are lives charged with the dynamic of the spirit.

Here are men determined to be holy. Because God is a holy God. And the resident within their lives is the Holy Spirit.

I preached an address some weeks ago. Which again burned in my own heart. On those who embarrass God.

Do you remember? In fact I think I put it more positively. I preached on God unembarrassed. And sometimes my friends.

We who are not only working at the temple. So to speak in evangelism. Tithing and giving hospitality.

Sometimes when we examine our own hearts and lives. We must confess we grieve God. He's come to us and we're part of the temple.

And he's distinctly embarrassed. I'd hate you to come to my home and you to feel embarrassed. I guess the objective of good hospitality.

Is to make a person feel that they're one with us. How often God must be embarrassed. As his spirit comes into the lives of ordinary people.

And amongst communities. What was the embarrassment at Corinth? Well the apostle. Is almost giving the answer away in that 16th verse.

Don't you know? That you yourselves are God's temple. And that God's spirit lives in you. Now if it's like that says Paul.

To these people at Corinth. What should your lives be like together? Harmonious. Friendliness.

Agape love flowing from one chair to another chair. For where the spirit of the Lord is. There is unity.

And that's no New Testament manufactured teaching. That's the Old Testament. And in the New Testament we're asked that we might know.

The mind of the spirit. And the unity of the spirit. And preserve the peace of Christendom.

By the blessing of the spirit amongst us. But look at these people will you? If you're pleasing Corinthians. The beginning of this third chapter.

Says the apostle Paul. Are you not acting like mere men? Look at verse 3. You're still fleshly. You're still worldly.

For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you. Are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? It was the divisiveness in Corinth. That Paul was putting to rights.

Before he even dealt with the sexual problem. Sometimes we categorize sins. And we think that sins of the flesh.

Adultery. Promiscuity. And so on.

Obnoxious though they be in the sight of God. We think that they take number one position. No says the apostle Paul.

They're wrong. They're diabolical. You're not to indulge in them.

If you name the name of Jesus. But there's something that's even more grievous. It's dissension on the building site.

It's the quarreling. It's the I'm of one man brigade. And I'm of the other man brigade.

You see you can't get away from this. In the apostle Paul's argument. He'll come back to it time and time again.

Why is he concerned? Well he's concerned for the glory of the temple. Whose is the temple? It's the temple of Jesus Christ. It's God's own temple.

Laid with the foundation stone of the blessed blood of our Lord Jesus. And to build upon that. What displeases God.

Is absurd. And the world looks on and it laughs. And it refuses to be attracted to the Christian church.

Which should be the wonder of the world. My time has gone. But the teaching is plain.

I leave the challenge. And it's application to you. Throughout those verses you read of Christ.

I talked about tithing. About your tent flap. I talked about your time.

I talked about your tears. All these being materials that are used in the building up of the temple of the living God. Jesus used all those materials.

Tithing. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus. How that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor.

Hospitality. He fed thousands of people. As for tears he shed them over the death of Lazarus.

And the knowledge that a fracture had come into the household of Martha and Mary. As for time he spent himself in the service of the living God. You see this is the example my friend.

He's a master builder. We're called to work alongside him. I'm sometimes not surprised that we have bad industrial relationships in our country.

I can understand people refusing to take 3% and 4% increase in salary. When the management are getting 40% and 50% and 60%. It's ridiculous.

It's just inciting them to rebellion. But you see the amazing thing about Jesus. If you like the management.

What he asks us to do. He's already done. His is the example.

We are to follow that. And that's the burden of the apostle Paul. Take it and think it through it further detail.

In further detail yourselves. Amen. Number 76.

Love divine all loves excelling. Joy of heaven to earth come down. Fix in us thy humble dwelling.

All thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus thou art all compassion. Pure unbounded love thou art.

Visit us with thy salvation. And enter every trembling heart. We'll start singing at the second verse of number 76.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen.