1 Corinthians 3:10-15

                                                             1 Corinthians 3:10-15

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

 

I believe that the Judgment Seat of Christ is one of the most important and neglected subjects in today’s preaching.  This is amazing because it is an often-repeated theme throughout Scripture but especially in the teachings of Christ and Paul.  This is one of the most important texts on the subjects.  Paul wants us to know how we should go about building the church so that there will be eternal rewards.  These three instructions should be helpful to us.

 

BUILD ON THE FOUNDATION OF CHRIST: We are all building something somewhere.  However, if we are interested in eternal rewards, we must build on the foundation of Christ.  God is on mission to call a people out from the world and into His Body which is called the Church.  Paul was used to lay the foundation and each generation continues to build upon that foundation.  Unfortunately, many people who claim to be members of the Church do very little to build up the Church.  Instead, they are focused on building their businesses and bank accounts.  The businesses we own and bank accounts that are in our name are supposed to be instruments that are used to build the Church.  They must never become an end unto themselves.  All that we do should be motivated by a desire to be able to contribute to the mission of God.

 

BUILD WITH FIREPROOF MATERIALS: Paul mentions six types of building materials: gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and straw.  The first three are elements created by God that man can discover but cannot cultivate.  The final three are all cultivated by men and can be reproduced simply by human effort.  The first three are all fireproof in the sense that they are all purified and made more valuable by fire.  The last three are simply destroyed by fire.  When we invest our lives for the growth of the kingdom, in dependence on the power of God, out of a desire to bring glory to God; we are using fireproof materials.  When we use our lives to build our own kingdom, do ministry out of our own strength, for our own glory; we are using wood, hay and straw.

 

BUILD FOR FUTURE REWARDS: The things that we do in life for the glory of God and the growth of His kingdom in dependence on Him, will result in eternal rewards.  None of us have completely pure motives.  At the Judgment Seat of Christ, all of those impure motives will be burned away and what is left will be completely pure.  These things will result in eternal rewards.  Many crowns are mentioned in Scripture.  They are given out in recognition of certain types of service we offer to Christ.  I believe that these represent opportunities, abilities, and responsibilities that we will exercise in the kingdom of Christ.  We will spend eternity ruling and reigning with Christ.  Our positions are being determined by what we build, where we build, and why we build now.  Those whose life’s work is destroyed by the fire will be saved.  All people at this Judgment Seat are saved.  However, they will enter eternity smelling like smoke.  We don’t know exactly what it means to suffer loss or to be rewarded.  However, we can be sure the rewards will be fantastic, and the loss of those rewards will be tragic.  We should be highly motivated by these rewards.

 

APPLICATION: Invest our gifts and abilities in building up the kingdom of God.  Depend on Him for strength and seek to promote His glory.  Be motivated by eternal rewards and the glory of our Lord.  Don’t allow the things of this world to distract us from that which is eternal.