Elmhurst CRC

Sunday's Comin' #152 - 1 Corinthians 3:10-16, 21-23

June 28, 2022 Elmhurst CRC
Elmhurst CRC
Sunday's Comin' #152 - 1 Corinthians 3:10-16, 21-23
Show Notes Transcript

Jeff Klein, Pastor of Outreach

Jeff  Klein:  0:07  

Welcome Elmhurst CRC's, daily dose the word of God. It's Tuesday, June 28. This is Jeff Klein, Pastor of Outreach at the church. I'll be reading from 1 Corinthians 3, verses 10 through 16, and 21 through 23.

Jeff  Klein:  0:21

Because of God's grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder, now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we have already laid, Jesus Christ. And anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials: gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple, for God's whole temple is holy, and you are the temple. So don't boast about following a particular human leader, for everything belongs to you. Whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future--everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Jeff  Klein:  1:30

I love that Paul points out that the foundation of his work as an apostle is Jesus. That is really the foundation for all of us: a deep and abiding connection to Jesus. And then as Paul points out, we all tend to build using various materials on that foundation. We create churches and ministries and lives that flow from our sense of what Jesus is calling us to do, or what we interpret to be following Jesus. In fact, each of us creates even a personal faith in that foundation. And we all make decisions about how we will live our lives, what we're going to believe and what we'll give ourselves to as followers of Jesus. Paul says that the fire of God will test the stuff we have built. I used to picture it as a conveyor belt full of all the stuff a person's or a group of people's lives are built around. All this was piled on the conveyor belt, heading toward a really hot burning fire and then passing through the fire. It's like we all get to see the fruit of our lives work building on this foundation that was laid our churches work. And after it passes through the fire, we'll all know how much of it really bore Kingdom fruit. How much of it really was worth lasting into eternity. I think about this passage sometimes when I reflect on how I'm spending my time or what I'm working on at the church. What will pass the test? What will survive the fire? What will be considered really worthwhile? And what will be revealed is a waste of time, and resources? It's crazy to think that you could be saved, but all of your life's work could be burned up. What are you doing right now that will survive the flames, that will pass the test? If the answer is nothing, maybe you should reevaluate