For the third time in five years, today we are receiving new flooring in our kitchen and hallways. The first time, we laid new wood floors over some old, tired laminate. We were thrilled with the way it turned out and loved it.
Then one Saturday night at 9:00 I went to get a drink from the refrigerator and water seeped up between the boards when I stepped next the fridge. The line to our ice maker had a pinhole leak and had been spraying a fine stream of water onto our flooring, we later figured, for about 48 hours. Water and wood floors are quite incompatible, as we discovered when not only our floors but also our counter tops needed to be replaced so the repairmen could take out and repair a water-damaged cabinet.
In the grace of God, we received better flooring, a better installation job (a real contractor did the second job), and counter tops that we liked even more than what I had installed.
Then a few weeks ago we discovered another water leak (the dishwasher this time), and so today we get new floors — again — courtesy of our house insurance company.
So hearing saws and hammers (or mallets) in our home is getting to be not too uncommon (we’ve had many other repairs to our home as well!). And as I listen to the sounds of construction in my home, I’m reminded about another kind of construction — the construction of the church of God.
In 1 Corinthians 3, the apostle Paul reminds us of how God is progressively building His church. There are at least four principles that we need to be attentive to as we involve ourselves in the construction of the church.
Everyone is a builder (v. 10). The first time we laid the floors in our home, it was our choice to do it and it was a fun family project. It took longer than anticipated, but we were all involved and we all enjoyed working together. But when the floor had to be replaced the second time (and now the third time), I told my wife: “It’s not fun now. We’re not going to do it ourselves. We’re hiring it out.”
There is no such option in the construction of the church. For better or worse (or, for the glory of God or for the exaltation of self), everyone is involved in God’s constructing work of the church. Notice that Paul says, “Each man must be careful how he builds…” (v. 10). It is not just pastors or elders or deacons or teachers or disciplers or evangelists that need to be careful. All men (i.e., people) must be careful in the process of working in the church and how they are doing ministry. Every man is a builder and every man must be careful how he works to build up the body of Christ.
There is only one foundation (v. 11). The primary way one is careful about his work is by paying attention to the foundation. The kind of foundation that has been laid determines the kind of construction that can (and should) be done on it. And since the foundation is Christ, the kind of building that must be built on it must be one that reflects the glory and honor of Christ. The believer is not entitled to work in God’s church in whatever manner he wants; he must work and build in a way that reflects the foundation and purposes of God that are reflected in the work of Christ on the cross.
Everyone’s work will be revealed (v. 13). Just like everyone will build something on the foundation of Christ, so everyone will have the nature of his work revealed. And the revealing fire will make it perfectly clear what kind of building one has erected. If he has built a straw house, that will be quickly evident, and if he has built a house of precious stones, that too will be readily apparent. There is no escaping the test and there is no escaping the disclosure of the kind of work that has been done.
When I put in our floors, I took a few shortcuts and hid a few flaws that were undetected by most people. But on the day of testing by the Lord, every flaw and every inadequacy and every faulty motive will be evidenced and declared. There will be no hiding one’s work from the One who knows all.
Everyone receives something for his work (vv. 14-15). Those who build well and faithfully will receive rewards after the testing. So God provides the foundation, and God provides the empowering Spirit to dwell within us and work through us, so that when we work, God is the one who is doing the work (see vv. 6-7). And yet those who labor well still receive reward from God — God does the work and we receive reward. That’s grace. And even more grace is found for those believers who do not build well. They will not receive rewards, but they will still receive salvation. And that too is grace.
In all this, there is still one more implied admonition. Don’t be afraid to work for the reward of God. We tend to think that those who are motivated by the reward of God are motivated in faulty ways so that the reward is tarnished. “We shouldn’t be motivated by reward,” we think. And certainly, there is a kind of reward that should not motivate us. Yet the Lord has revealed the fiery test that is to come to prepare us for that day and to stimulate us to Godly motives in our labor. C. S. Lewis got it right when he wrote,
We must not be troubled by unbelievers when they say that this promise of reward makes the Christian life a mercenary affair. There are different kinds of reward. There is the reward which has no natural connection with the thing you do to earn it, and is quite foreign to the desires that ought to accompany those things. Money is not the natural reward of love; that is why we call a man mercenary if he married a woman for the sake of her money. But marriage is the proper reward for a real lover, and he is not mercenary for desiring it. A general who fights well in order to get a peerage is mercenary; a general who fights for victory is not, victory being the proper reward of battle as marriage is the proper reward of love. The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation. [The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, quoted by John Piper in Desiring God, 126.]
So remember: you are a builder, and a test of (and reward for) your building and building skills is coming. So build well.
Three years ago, Tom Pennington preached an excellent message on this passage at the Shepherd’s Conference. You may listen to or download it here, or read my notes from that message here.
Words of Grace 