June 29, 2023 | Be On Mission
Becoming and Building God's Temple
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3(NIV)
1 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. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?
5 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. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10 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. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 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. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 21 So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
Devotional
Paul used a number of metaphors in this chapter of his letter to the Corinthian believers. He first called them infants, who had not yet matured in their faith. He then called them God’s field, where people like Paul and Apollos planted and watered the gospel, but God made it grow. Then, he called them God’s building.
The city of Corinth was littered with temples to Greek gods and goddesses, along with the Jewish synagogue. Everywhere there were reminders that the followers of Jesus were not the dominant religious people of their city. But the Christians met in each other’s homes; they didn’t have any church building. So, Paul told them, “You are God’s building.”
Utilizing the concepts of construction, Paul reminded them that Jesus Christ is the only foundation of their lives. Paul was responsible to lay that foundation, but they and others are responsible to build upon it with care and quality materials. Gold, silver, and costly stones would withstand the fires of persecution; wood, hay and straw would not.
Paul took the building metaphor even further, saying, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (v. 16). Ponder this metaphor. A temple is holy, where God can be found, the place for worship and reverence. Paul is reminding all of us that we are that temple.
Later in this letter Paul wrote them, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And in his follow-up letter, he wrote, “What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:16).
What does it mean to you that you are God’s temple, where the very Spirit of God resides? In what ways is your life one of holiness, worship and reverence?
How is God challenging you to be careful in how you build onto the foundation of Jesus Christ in your life? Think about how you and other believers can live into this statement: “God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple” (v. 17).
Poem
Building
Hewed, chiseled from earth’s rocky bluff
A single stone, perfected
The corner piece, plumbed level straight
Important, non-defected
Once set in place, the other’s lean
Oft crooked yet corrected
By plumb line true, the Builder wise
Great labor is subjected
Foundation strong provides the base
Which most the world despises
When put to test by fire refined
Only the pure suffices
Become the fool in the world’s eyes
God’s wisdom meek comprises
For from the fire of trials and tears
God’s temple now arises
