1 Corinthians 3:10-15 Jesus, the Sure Foundation!

1 Corinthians 3:10-15  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 Jesus Christ.  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 burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

We can build on no other foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  This foundation was laid from the beginning of time: God would make men and women vessels of honor through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Jesus, The Lamb of God, remains the sure foundation, sacrificed for the redemption of men and women, freeing them from the consequences of sin: eternal death.  Accepting this plan by placing our trust in Jesus' works and not our own makes us temples of the Holy Spirit.  Our vessels are holy because of the blood spilt on the cross.  We vicariously accept that blood as our cleansing from sin.  With the washing of blood, we become the temples of God, where He dwells through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. This plan is to make us a new creation.  Peter talks about Jesus as the chief cornerstone, the stone which the builders rejected and goes on to say: But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.  (1 Peter 2:7-10)  We have been bought by a high price, the blood of Christ.  We are no longer our own, but now his new creatures, his children, in his family forever.  Knowing he can lay no other foundation than the sure foundation that was laid from the beginning, Paul is careful to build upon that reality, encouraging others to build upon God's divine plan.  He knows all other ideas added to God's plan of salvation will lead to destruction, causing death, not life.  Plans of salvation that include man's works, his efforts, illustrated by material which was once alive--wood, hay or straw--will be burned up.  Jesus Christ and his works, illustrated by materials that are inert, stable, substantial--gold, silver, costly stones--pleases God.  All other plans of pleasing God are attempts to enter his domain through another gate other than Jesus Christ, who is the gate to God's presence and eternal life.  Jesus said, I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.  He will come in and go out, and find pasture.  (John 10:9)  Yes, a man of faith will be saved Paul says, even if deceived by attempting to work his way to heaven through his own ideas and works: he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames, because of the mercy of God.  Yet this man, though saved, has missed out on fulfilling God's plan and affecting lives for Christ. 

Jesus was born of flesh, known as the Son of Man, a perfect man, for He lived by faith in God, to please the Father.  He said, By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.  (John 5:30)   We who are also born of flesh ought to live our lives by faith in God's plan, desiring to please our heavenly Father.  We should live with a faith that is energized daily by his Word and through his still small voice, speaking to us.  As his children, we should speak faith, act in faith, believing He is guiding us.  We should become familiar with the voice of the Comforter, Advocate, Counselor inside us.  We should recognize his unction in our souls.  Paul's life should encourage us to live a life of faith: he lived by the Spirit's will in his life.  Paul said, Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.  (1 Corinthians 11:1)  We should imitate, as much as we can, Paul's life of dedication to Christ.  Paul searched for God with all his heart, wanting to find God in his life more than anything else.  His desire was to build upon God's plan, not his own.  But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  (Philippians 3:7-11)  Paul's basic structure for his life, the skeleton of his life, hinged on God's will and not his own.  He wanted to live the life God had in store for him even though it led him through many trials and harsh circumstances.  Paul knew that he who loses his life for Christ will find eternal life with God.  He placed his life on a sure foundation, one that would exist beyond this temporary life.  He wanted the product of his life's work as a builder for God's kingdom to be gold, silver, and costly stones.  His life was poured out like a drink offering for the glory of God.  We should also willingly be poured out as a drink offering.

Breakfast companions, where are you this morning in your spiritual walk with the Lord?  Are you willing to be a drink offering for God's glory?  Are you the light that you want to be or are you struggling, constructing your environment around things other than God: wood, hay, and straw?  Is the skeleton that holds you up daily God's word?  Or are his words something of the past, something to recall, not active and powerful inside you?  The self can be very strong: my way, my life, my will.  I have only one life to live: I will live it the way I desire.  But Christian friends, God asks you to follow his ways, his will: to build your lives on gold, silver, and precious stones.  The materials of this transitory world can be very compelling as we journey through this life.  Obviously, we have only one life, then it is over.  But these acts, experiences, attitudes that seem to have life in them at this time will not hold up on the Day before the Lord.  Their transitory nature will be evident in the light, and they will burn.  Thanks to the Lord, your life will be saved because of your faith in Jesus Christ, but sadly you will have to escape through the burning structure of your life, a harrowing experience.  We all struggle with life; we all struggle with faith.  Things happen to us that we don't expect, we don't appreciate, we don't understand.  But God has asked us, as Paul's life clearly reveals, to stand firm, to endure to the end, to place our lives entirely in God's hands.  As Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus: Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  (Ephesians 6:13)  This is the faith that pleases God: unadulterated faith.  God understands, for Christ took the hard road of a human being; He was known as the Son of Man.  We see him in the Garden of Gethsemane, crying out with a loud voice: Do I have to drink the cup of flesh, the pain of life, the pain of death.  He said, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.  (Luke 22:42)  This is the cry of faith.  This is the cry of each of us who live by faith: not my will but yours be done, oh Lord.  Be faithful, stand in faith dear friends.  God loves you, and He will NEVER ABANDON YOU.