1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (HCSB)
10 According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one must be careful how he builds on it.
11 For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.
12 If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw,
13 each one’s work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work.
14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire.
There are all kinds of foundations built upon by men and each foundation is tested to ascertain its strength and durability, but their solidity depends on the building materials.
What are you building on? If your foundation is tested, will it stand or crumble?
Paul said in verses 10-11 that he laid a foundation as a skilled builder only by grace and he did not build upon someone else’s, how about you? Are you laying your foundation on the word of God or upon others’ foundation?
There is no “I” in TEAM, and if our foundation must stand the test of life and time, it must be laid with the right materials and people, “team effort and work according to Ecclesiastic 4:9.
The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. These first two lines to a hymn describe what every believer’s foundation should be built upon. Jesu Christ! The foundation is not subject to natural elements and with sure footing.
Essentially, a solid spiritual foundation should be the ground on which other parts of our lives rest or are overlaid with another part of the Christian walk without which we couldn’t withstand the storms that various seasons of life brings.
Jesus should be our foundation because He paid for it and obeying God’s word gives us the materials to keep building upon that foundation.
Paul is saying that when anyone tries to build a false gospel on the foundation of Jesus Christ, it will fail! You cannot build up others in Christ by teaching a false gospel… it just won’t work!
The gospel is teamwork that produces the power needed for salvation as verses 5-6 says one plant, another water but ultimately it is the foundation on Jesus that gives the increase. Yet! Competition came over Apollos and Paul.
Do we not all do the same? We find denominational competition and superiority play a major role in our foundation building.
We identify with certain servants of God and question the calling of others, we advocate certain doctrines and condemn others, just as we approve of some churches and ignore others. Why? We’ve aligned our beliefs in man rather than the authority of the gospel. Paul warns in Vs 7 to align with God and not His servants. In other words, we must readjust the way we think about our favourite teacher, pastor, church and denomination.
Why? What are they? Servants.
Earthquakes don’t necessarily kill people, buildings kill people. It’s the reaction of the structural foundation of a building to an earthquake and shockwaves that kills people who live, work, and congregate in them. Such destruction also occurs on a spiritual level as well, especially when unexpected events change our spiritual landscape. If our foundation is not rightly aligned on Christ, these shifts in the spiritual landscape will cause our foundation to begin to crumble according to 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.
Have you built a solid foundation? Will your foundation stand life storms as described in Matthew 7:24-27?
God expects us to build up our faith and spiritual maturity! However, we must use the right building materials and do things the right way! Are you building on sand, on man’s philosophy, on your friends’ advice, the teachings of this world? Or more appropriately on the solid foundation that is Christ Jesus?
Shalom