Bible Studies

---

“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service. You are God’s field; God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light." (1 Corinthians 3:5-12)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After Paul greeted the church in Corinth, he began to address the issues that were robbing them of God's grace and peace. He used three analogies to describe the church: a field, a building, and a temple.

Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus at a time when agriculture flourished. I imagine him walking through the countryside as he ponders how to explain to the church in Corinth what their role was in the Kingdom of God. Hmmm....

The church at Corinth was a field on which God has labored so the church would yield a harvest. The word Paul used for “field” occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It referred specifically to a "tilled" or "cultivated" field. It refers to the dirt.

Its a very down-to-earth analogy, but what does it actually tell us? What is the role of a field? It allow the farmer to get rid of weeds and add compost. It let the farmer plant what he wants, then nourish what he planted.

What can the field do to bring about a harvest? Nothing - other than nourish what it’s been given. If someone else is not involved, the field is just dirt and weeds. The church is God's field, God's cultivated dirt. The dirt is important and necessary, but it’s the most humble part of the field. People wax eloquently about "amber waves of grain"; nobody writes songs about “dirty waves of dirt.”

“It’s not about you,” said Paul to a Corinthian church so desperate to be impressive. “Relax. Be soil. Be willing to nourish what’s been given to you. Let God do his work. You will be the field that produces a crop full of grace and peace.”

If Paul were walking from the countryside full of fields into the city of Ephesus, he would have walked past an array of impressive structures. Perhaps the second comparison fell into place naturally - church as a building.

If you have ever lived in areas threatened by natural disasters, you know how important it is to have not only a good foundation, but to use quality materials all the way up. Storms and earthquakes and natural disasters will show if a building was made to last.

Think of the foundation as the core truths of Christianity: There is a trinitarian God of all creation; Jesus Christ was God incarnate; Jesus died and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins; there will be a judgement and a life to come after this one.

The rest of church doctrine and life is built on core truths such as these. Paul said he laid the foundation, and then other teachers were finishing the construction. If the church wanted what they were building to last, it was important that they chose their builders well. The entire construction project mattered.

A field is just dirt, but a building is going to be seen.

A field nourishes, but a building protects and shelters.

There's more to being part of the Kingdom of God than the field analogy could capture. But even in this more outwardly impressive picture, the building did not build itself any more than the field planted itself. There was an architect and a builder. The building didn’t cut and paint itself, no matter how awesome it looked.

God uses the church as a field to bring about new life; God uses the church as a building to protect, shelter and showcase this life.

The Corinthians were used to earning favor from their gods, which meant bringing all their own personal awesomeness to the temple and the people. The gods gave them nothing that they did not earned. Paul turns this way of thinking on its head. They didn't have to earn God’s grace or prove their worth. They didn’t have to build themselves up and trample on others to rise to the top.

They just had to be surrendered to the One who plants and builds.

After using fields and buildings to paint apicture of life in the Kingdom of God, Paul closed with this analogy: “Don't you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16) Saints and temples - that sounds like a really good identity.

After telling the church that in Christ they were all saints and temples, Paul wrote in chapter three, “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly —mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?"

Even thought God has given them a new identity, they had not understood and embraced it. Their identity was somewhere other than Christ. This jealousy Paul speaks of is “zalos” - envy, indignation, or emulation. It’s an identity formed by comparing ourselves to other people. It’s checking out the competition to see how we compare to others.

Strife is “eris,” or contentions. This is thinking, “I must be right - and I should be revered for being right.” It’s an identity formed by feeling superior to others.

Paul goes on to make an important distinction between that kind of identity and one built by Christ:
“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their 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 person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.” (I Corinthians 3:10-15)

When we build our identity on how good we look, how good we are at our job, how much we make, how much stuff we have, who we marry, or what we know, says that’s a building of wood, hay and straw. It’s never going to sustain us when hard times come our way.

When Howard Hughes died in 1976, he was worth $2,000,000,000. He married beautiful women, built and flew airplanes, and made successful movies. However, he trusted no one; he was loved by no one. He died a recluse in a dark room, drug numbed, afraid of germs, Uncle Sam and people in general. He built with sticks and straw, and when hard times hit they could not sustain him.

As saints, we need to build with the material of temples: gold, silver, and costly stones. We need to honor this temple God has made of us.

We don’t belong to the world. We don’t need to work harder, get more things, go into debt, or trample on people to own the world. That's all wood, hay, and straw. 1 Corinthians 3: 21-22 says, “All things are yours, whether [the teachings of] Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future —all are yours…”

In other words, we don’t have to fight for position in the Kingdom of God so we can get part of a limited supply of grace, or peace, or hope. We don’t have to compare ourselves to others and make sure we are superior by the culture’s standards. Jesus came to give us true life, not only in the next world but in this one as well.

True wealth comes from an identity grounded in Christ's presence within us. It's not the fading riches of Wall Street, or the fleeting fame of strength and beauty. We belong to God – we are His saints, His temple - and this gives us an identity that will stand firm for eternity.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE