Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: 1 Corinthians 3 | Date: April 25, 2010 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Chapter 3. Pastor Greg said I was going to attempt to cover the entire Chapter 4. Actually, it’s a minor miracle I’m attempting this morning: I’m going to attempt to cover Chapters 3 and 4. Obviously, we can’t do it in detail, but these two chapters do combine to finish out Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians regarding the first problem at hand, and that is the problem of divisions in the church, as you remember. In chapters 1 and 2, we have just the glorious presentation where the Apostle Paul takes us into the heights of glory, presenting not only the gospel but how the gospel works. You remember what occasioned that exposition was the problem of divisions in the church and the misunderstandings regarding the gospel and gospel ministry. And so Paul has begun by expounding for us at some length the nature of the gospel and how it works. And it has been just glorious to see that.

Now we come to chapter 3 and the other foot drops. And here he comes with a sterner note of criticism to the people at Corinth. Saints, though they were, they were terribly misunderstood on this point. And so we’re going to hear his counsel regarding that this morning in chapters 3 and 4. Let’s begin our reading with chapter 3, verse 1.

“Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly, mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you’re still not ready. You’re still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not mere men? 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 made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor, for we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. 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. Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple? That God’s Spirit lives in you. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple. Do not deceive yourselves. If anyone of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’ and again, ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.’ So then, no more boasting about men. All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours. And you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.”

Let’s look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, this is a passage of your word that gives us instruction as to how your church is to function. And we ask that you will minister to us through your word, by your Spirit today; teach us and shape us by it. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As I say, it is the previous chapters that have taken us up to the heights of the glory of the gospel and the glory of how the gospel works in the hands of the sovereign Spirit and so on. But yet it’s difficult to imagine on another level a passage more contemporary, more relevant than a passage like this in the topic that Paul addresses in this passage. We have an endless line of books, conferences, and seminars today being held to address the question of, as we say it today, “How do we do church?” Very often those books and seminars and conferences focus on trappings and non-essentials and even fluff. Some of it is helpful, some of it not. Some of it just drives us to more of a market-driven church. On another level, the question is foundational. It’s difficult to imagine a more basic question than the one that’s addressed here. How do we do church? What’s it all about? And what is the gospel ministry and what is it to look like? And here the Apostle Paul goes to great lengths to address that question for us.

Now we should remember that what occasioned all of this is the problem of divisions in the church at Corinth. We were introduced to that way back at the beginning just after the Apostle’s introductory section of the letter. Back in chapter 1 in verse 10, he starts off, “I’m of Paul,” “I’m of Apollos,” “I’m of Cephas.” I hear what’s going on there with you guys. The household of Chloe has told me about it. And you’re all divided up into factions in the church. And those factions are divided up around different figures that have been leading the church: the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter, Apollos. And you’re fighting over these kinds of things and creating factions in the church accordingly.

We saw also that this tended to focus on what the apostle calls “wisdom of words.” That was evidently a catchphrase of some kind in the day referring to the kind of Greek rhetoric. And the point was that, well, my guy can package the gospel better than your guy. My guy can make it flashy. My guy can help the gospel. My guy has more ingenious methods of making the gospel work and so he’s more successful. And so we saw that Paul launches into an attack on that kind of thinking and shows how fundamentally opposed to the gospel it is. Focusing on style and form and things like that and pitting one good ministry against another good ministry is surely not the way to do it. But it’s this kind of triumphalistic spirit that’s going on in Corinth. And Paul is writing to deal with it and to deal with it firmly in a way that will deal with it finally as well.

So Paul had heard of these factions and he writes to deal with them. He launches in chapters 1 and 2 in this somewhat lengthy exposition that we saw on the question of how the gospel works. And we saw that all of this enamoring with form instead of content is completely missing the point. There’s one message that saves, Paul says: it is the message of the gospel. It is the message that the world thinks is foolish, and yet it is the only message that works. And the reason it works is not because of only some inherent power in the words themselves, but because this message, coupled with the Spirit of God working in a powerful way, opening hearts to see it, becomes effective and we believe. And so it is the word and the Spirit in the Apostle Paul’s emphasis to the church at Corinth. And so we preach the gospel. That’s all we do. We preach Christ and him crucified. I determine not to know anything else among you but that. And that’s what we’re all about, and that’s what shapes ministry, and all of this focusing on form and style misses the point entirely. You make an impressive show with all of the other trappings. You might make the gospel more palatable with other things, but in doing so, you’ve changed the gospel in a way that it won’t accomplish what it is set to accomplish.

So that was chapters 1 and 2. Now we come to chapters 3 and 4, and on one level the Apostle Paul is continuing that same discussion, and we’ll see some of that. But here he has a sharper note of criticism, and you can see that from the first verse. Chapter 3, verse 1: You’re carnal. You’re worldly. The older translation has it “carnal,” I think because of the specifically sexual connotations with the word carnal. The newer translations have gone away from that and have just translated it “worldly.” But the point is, in this respect, he’s saying, “You’re behaving like men of the world, men of the flesh.” Now, we won’t take time to examine this at length. We just can’t right here. But there is no ground here for the popular teaching of two classes of Christians—those who are spiritual on the one hand, those who are carnal on the other. What the Apostle Paul is saying simply here is that in this respect, in the way that you are behaving in this respect, you’re carnal. You’re worldly. You’re behaving like mere men.

Or to change the figure, again in verse 1, you’re a bunch of babies, infants. You should be beyond this by now. You ought by now to have learned better than this. You ought by now to understand that human ingenuity of whatever kind can’t help the gospel. The only thing that makes the gospel work is the Spirit of God working sovereignly in the hearts of men. The gospel itself is foolishness until it is coupled with the sovereign call of God, and then it becomes powerful. And you ought to be grown up enough now to recognize that, and you ought to have progressed beyond the point of this entertainment mentality. Or to put it in a more contemporary setting, you ought by now to be able to handle more than sentimental praise choruses and warm and fuzzy sermonettes. You ought by now to be able to think and to grow. Or to use the figure he uses also, you ought by now to be able to handle solid food. You ought to be able to think and grow. And you ought to be beyond these kinds of factions that are happening in the church. “I’ve been away from you some two years,” Paul says, in effect. “And here you are just about where I’ve left you in this respect.”

As he progresses in his criticism—and we won’t take time to look at these at great length, but it would be a devastating sermon indeed if we did—but throughout this passage Paul goes more to root causes of division as well. And all of your triumphalistic spirit at bottom, what it is, is simply pride. And all through this passage he points that out. Chapter 3, verses 18 and following: your arrogant party spirit, it’s contrary to the faith that you profess. Chapter 4, verse 7, he deals with it from the opposite standpoint. What do we have that we have not received? Whatever we have, it’s because of grace. How is it then you boast as though you’ve achieved it in some kind of way? And then chapter 4, verses 8 and following, we have this blistering sarcasm that the apostle just heaps on the people. “You’ve arrived, haven’t you? Which I had. Oh, you’re mighty, and I’m just weak. And you’ve arrived as kings, which I could rule with you.” This biting sarcasm.

Then he gets to the end of the chapter and he says, “I don’t write this to shame you.” To shame them is exactly what he was doing, but of course it’s a comparative negative. The idea is I didn’t write it merely to shame you. My point is to correct your misunderstandings in the way that you’re behaving. At bottom of it all, he’s a proud spirit taking a party line and triumphing over other ministries, and it’s a way that’s completely at odds with the gospel that you profess to believe. And so he ends up the section as we saw, chapter 4, verse 21. “What do you want? When I show up, should I show up with a whip, or are you going to take care of this on your own? You think this is biting. You wait until I arrive. If you haven’t fixed it by then, you’ll see more.”

So the apostle deals with problems that affect the gospel in a way that’s not so subtle. And he flexes his apostolic muscles, as it were, and says, “You shape up or it’s not going to be a happy visit when I return.” Well, that’s the setting of the entire passage then, chapters 3 and 4. But in the midst of all of this, what the apostle emphasizes is the true nature of Christian ministry. And he’s wanting again to fix their thinking by offering this correction of how they should be thinking toward the gospel ministry. They’re dividing over ministers and the style and form that they have individually. But now he draws our attention. What is a minister of the gospel after all? And what is it the ministry of these ministers should look like? So you can keep in mind the focus here is on the ministers themselves and how they are to conduct the ministry. In other passages, the Apostle Paul will speak of all people equally as ministers or servants of the gospel and so on. In this passage, he’s speaking of those who do it in a way of leadership. But he’s addressing the church to recognize how it is to be done and then so to behave accordingly. And he gives us some metaphors or some pictures of the gospel ministry.

Ministers Are Servants

We have in chapter 3, verse 5, the first picture. Ministers are servants. “What, after all, is Apollos? What is Paul? Answer, only servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord has assigned to each his tasks.” Well, the word here is a very simple word that’s regularly used for servant. It’s sometimes used in context of being a table waiter. The idea is that it’s not someone who’s in a position of authority, but it’s someone who serves others. It’s a self-effacing kind of statement. He says it that way: “We’re only servants.” And he doesn’t even ask here, “Who is Paul? Who’s Apollos?” He says, “What is Paul? What is Apollos? Answer: just a table waiter, just a servant who serves up the gospel. I haven’t originated anything. All I’ve done is serve up the gospel that was given to me.”

Whatever privilege and honor that might be associated with the work of the ministry—and the Apostle Paul does speak in those kinds of terms elsewhere—but whatever privileges or honor might be associated with the gospel ministry, the fact is, Paul is emphasizing here, “I didn’t save you. I’m not the one ultimately who did anything for you. I didn’t even help the gospel by making it more palatable. I’m only the servant by whom you believed.” The point then is that I’m working under orders that God has given to me. He’s assigned me to this task. I didn’t save anyone. Apollos didn’t save anyone. Peter didn’t save anyone. All of it is God’s doing.

And it’s important to note here the emphasis that he’s giving is what we found back in Chapter 1 and in Chapter 2, and that is the gospel is singularly useful. That is, there is only one means of salvation, and that is this message that the world instinctively thinks is foolish. But that message, coupled with the work of the Spirit of God, becomes effective. And so Paul is saying here throughout this passage again, “All we can do is preach the gospel, preach the gospel, preach the gospel, preach the gospel, preach the gospel.” That’s all we can do. And I have no ability to help that. But God has appointed me to do just that, and I’m under orders to do so. And in his will and in his time and in his power, it will become effective.

Ministers Are Farmers

All right. Verses 6 through 9, ministers are farmers. Beginning with verse 6: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes it grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.” That is to say, we—Paul, Apollos, Cephas—we’re under God’s employ to sow the seed of the gospel. This is what we’ve been charged to do. And so it is as though I came and planted the seed, and then Apollos came after me and watered the seed, and then it grows and bears fruit. Just as a farmer will plant the seed, cultivate the soil, fertilize, carefully work with it all, nurse it to maturity, so also the minister must faithfully preach the saving virtues of the person and work of Jesus Christ and preach it and preach it. I come and do it. I plant the seed. That is, I preach the gospel. Apollos comes after me and he waters it. That is, he preaches the gospel. And so on it goes. And in God’s grace, it grows.

It wasn’t something that I did that was any better than Apollos. It wasn’t something Apollos did that was any better than what I did. We preached the gospel. And God gives the increase. Again, this is the theme that we saw in chapters one and two, that the gospel is effective only as it is coupled with the divine calling. The farmer, after all, really isn’t the one ultimately who makes the seed grow. He does his work, but there’s something going on under that soil that he’s incapable of causing it to happen. And so Paul is saying with ministers as well, “What happened in Corinth is I planted the seed, preached the gospel. Apollos came and he watered it. He preached the gospel. And then your conversion is due only to this: verse 6, God gave the increase.” And so he draws the obvious conclusion from that. Verse 7: “So neither he that plants nor he that waters is anything. It’s only God who makes things grow.”

You’ve probably seen it. If you haven’t, you are very blessed. But there are few things more disgusting to see than a minister who boasts of his converts as though he’s to be congratulated, as though he is the one who makes things happen. Well, evidently, the saints at Corinth were crediting their favorite ministers in just that kind of a way. And Paul simply reminds them, “Whatever increase there was, I have news for you. They didn’t have any magical powers that made that seed grow. It was God who gave the increase.” Salvation requires nothing less than the supernatural workings of divine grace, opening our hearts to see the glory of Christ in the gospel and bringing us then to faith. And that’s something no man can effect. We’re utterly dependent on God for it.

Now, this is designed to help us understand the nature and the function of gospel ministry. That’s why this passage is here. Success then—and we’ll see this in our next metaphor—success is defined not in terms of the size of the work, not in terms of the programs, not in terms of money. Success is defined not in terms of how famous the minister is. In fact, success is not even defined in terms of the number of converts, although we would all love to see many, many, many, many, many more converts. But that’s God’s doing. Success is defined in ministering faithfully the message of Christ crucified. That’s it. The means by which God works to save His people, to sanctify His people, is the faithful ministering of that message of Christ crucified. And He’s simply saying that is what we do, and in God’s hands it works.

You Are God’s Building

Now he changes the metaphor next. You’ll notice at the end of verse 9 he says, “We are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field.” There’s that farmer imagery that he was using. But now notice: “You are God’s building.” And he picks up on that metaphor in these following verses. He pictures the church as a great building. By the time we reach verse 16, we find that that building is a temple, a temple in which God dwells. And so the church, viewed corporately here—not individual people in the church, but the church viewed corporately—now is envisioned as this great shrine, as it were, in which God dwells, reflecting His holiness, as it were. That’s the idea here of this building that’s being erected.

Now Paul enlarges on that metaphor in verses 10 through 12, and I want you to pay attention carefully as we work through this: “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 works 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.”

Now, two points of significance here before we can move on. First of all, and I owe this observation to our own Dr. J. Eddie Johnson, who has pointed this out to me, that there’s a possible connection here to the Book of Exodus. You remember in Exodus 31, 35, and 37, we have the instructions regarding the building of the tabernacle. And we have some of the men designated as a builder. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is the same term that Paul uses here. And it just may be that the Apostle Paul is picking up on that imagery. You do see some of these links in the Book of Isaiah as well. It’s being picked up here. Paul is now envisioning the church as this new temple and himself as the builder of the new temple in his apostolic ministry.

And that brings me to the more significant point I think that we should emphasize as we move along, and that is when Paul refers to himself as an expert builder, he’s not referring here to something that is true of every Christian. In fact, he’s referring to something here that’s not true of every minister of the gospel. He’s referring to the unique role that is given to the apostles in their ministry. They have laid the foundation. In a unique way, they are the ones who have laid the foundation of the church. Now, of course, as he clarifies in verse 11, that foundation is Christ. Christ is the foundation. But the apostles are the ones who give us Christ. And so in that sense, they’ve laid the foundation of the church. We find similar kinds of terminology in Ephesians chapter 2, where the Apostle Paul refers to the church as having its foundation in the apostles and prophets. I think this is the reference in Matthew chapter 16 as well where Jesus says to Peter, “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church,” speaking of the unique role of the apostles in their ministry of giving the church Christ and laying the foundation in that sense.

The point is that the gospel of Christ which the apostles have given to us is the great foundation of the church. Everything else rests on that foundation. Everything else about the church has to be built up from that foundation. In fact, Paul emphasizes it in verse 11 here that there is no other foundation. It’s in exclusive terms. No one can lay any other foundation than this. And here again, he’s back to the theme we saw in chapters 1 and 2. There is no other message that saves. There’s no other message that works. And so I’ve determined not to know anything else among you except this. In other words, there’s an exclusivity to the gospel, a singular saving usefulness of the gospel. And Paul says that’s all we’re about and nothing else. This is the church’s foundation and there will be no other. And just then it was given the apostles to lay this foundation.

And here he begins to apply it. So it is given to every minister after them to build responsibly on that foundation. And here he expands the metaphor a bit. Look at verse 10 again: “No one can lay any other foundation than what is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” And then verse 12: “If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw.” I’m sorry, verse 10 was, “I laid the foundation and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.” Excuse me. You ever wonder about that house that you see now and then? It’s a nice house. It’s respectable. It’s a respectable neighborhood. Painted purple. You ever see one of those? Your house is purple. I’m sorry. Or you’re in a nice neighborhood and the neighbor puts up one of those cheesy lean-tos against the side of his house and it’s just kind of… it’s not worthy of the neighborhood.

Well, the church, the Apostle Paul says, is built on the foundation of Christ. The foundation has been laid by my preaching of the glorious gospel of Christ. And what he’s saying here, very simply, is don’t anyone come along after me and offer any cheap substitutes for that. It’s not worthy of the foundation. Don’t come along with those ingenious improvements to help the gospel—wisdom of words, these things that you’re fighting over in Corinth—dressing up the gospel with empty liturgy, dressing up the gospel with showtime entertainments, warm fuzzies, or as he says to Timothy, those nice sad stories told to people who have ears that itch, entertainment kind of things. Don’t you dare come along after me, he’s saying simply, and offer some cheap substitute that’s not worthy of this foundation. In other words, don’t leave the people malnourished. I’ve given them Christ. I’ve laid the foundation. Now, for all who come after me, this is your marching orders: you give them Christ as well. You build them up in the faith. You labor in the word and in doctrine. That is, you press the claims of Christ. You feed them on good, solid food, not just milk toast. You feed them on good solid food. You press them to think of what it means to live under the cross and to live as a disciple of Christ. So as by the faithful preaching of Christ, you erect then a building that’s worthy of the foundation.

Well, that’s what Paul means at the end of verse 10 when he says, “Each one should be careful how he builds.” Be careful how you build. God is very concerned not with the size of the building. That’s his business. God is very concerned with what kind of building it is that we erect. That’s the business, he says, of every Christian minister. And according then to Chapter 4, as we have read, and then in Chapter 5 as well, that entails not only faithful exposition of Christ, but faithful application of Christ as well, pressing the claims of Christ on the conscience of the believers, enforcing discipline, and so on. It means faithful ministry of Christ.

So there’s what the ministry is to look like. The apostles have laid the foundation. They’ve given us Christ. And he says, for all you ministers who come after me, you make sure you build on that foundation only a building that is worthy of it. Now, to strengthen that exhortation, Paul gives us an extended and solemn and graphic reminder of a coming judgment. And he says that every minister will be called into account on just this score. Look at verse 12 again: “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’ll receive his reward. If it’s burned up, he’ll suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flame.”

What he’s saying here very simply is bear in mind that God will call you into account concerning not the size of the building, but the kind of building you have erected. Verse 10 again: “Be careful how you build.” And then verse 13, be careful: “it will test the quality of work.” What sort of work is it, is what will be tested. It’s a quality inspection. A building constructed of personality, oratory, entertainment, warm fuzzies—it’s not worthy of the foundation. A building which caters to worldly babies who are not serious about genuine spiritual growth—it’s not worthy of the foundation. And, here’s his point, it won’t pass inspection.

And so he expands on this imagery of building inspection. And he pictures this building that has been erected by the ministers who have followed the apostles. And he pictures this building as being tested with fire. And it’s really a graphic scene. You can imagine it. He pictures the end day. And here a minister shows up for judgment. And what he has is this building that he’s constructed. Now he may be a man who’s had a small ministry; he might live out in the middle of nowhere; it might be that no one’s ever heard of him. But he’s been faithful and he’s ministered Christ. He has, as we say, comforted the afflicted and when necessary afflicted the comforted as well. Pressing the claims of Christ and bringing all of the person and work to bear on the conscience and on the lives of his people. And he’s there to minister Christ to them at every point.

The last day, Paul says, God’s going to put a torch to it all. When the smoke clears, the structure is still standing. There might be a flame here and a flame there. I’m sure nobody got it all right. But in the end, after the smoke clears, the structure is still standing. And Paul says he’ll receive his reward. Here are people here and here and here and here whose lives have been deeply affected by the gospel that’s been preached. The word of God has been faithfully applied and faithfully applied and faithfully applied over the years. And through that ministry, this minister has constructed a building that’s going to survive the fire. It’s built with gold, silver, precious stones—things that don’t burn down.

Or he gives another illustration. It might be a minister who—let’s say he was successful in every way that the world judges success. It may have been a large building. It might have been a large crowd. It might have been lots of money. Might have been very famous. But to get it all, this guy had to trim on quality. Little true exposition of the word of God. Very little searching application of the word of God to the hearts of the people. Little enforcing of the claims of Christ on their life. A bit of milk toast here and there. A lot of entertainment, a lot of warm fuzzies. He’s trimmed on quality in order to build a big work. And this building is constructed then of wood, hay, and straw. The torch is put to it, and what happens? It burns, and he comes running out like a Lot running out of Sodom. He survives, and the work behind him has come to nothing. No reward. This building constructed of shoddy workmanship and shoddy materials will just go up in flames. It will not survive the inspection. The minister himself, he says, will be spared. But as he looks back, he’ll see the rubble and the ash from the so-called ministry that he had done brought to nothing.

Now Paul adds something very frightening in verse 17: “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is sacred.” Now that might mean here is a pastor who has given himself over to shoddy workmanship and in the end he may prove himself to be one of spurious faith. It might mean, here we have someone who has been exactly a false teacher in the church, destroyed the temple of God in that sense. It might be—notice Paul opens this up just a little bit. It’s not “if the minister” or anything like that, but “if anyone destroys the temple.” It might be here that the apostle is deliberately opening this up to anyone in the church. This refers to everybody: if you do anything to destroy this temple, this house of God. Oh, you understand, God thinks very deeply about his church and he loves it. And you destroy this work, he’ll destroy you. Whether through false teaching, shoddy workmanship, gossip, sowing discord, whatever it is, God cares very deeply for his church. For the quality of the building he holds his ministers and ultimately the entire congregation responsible. And so he says in verse 18 to the Corinthians, you need to adjust your thinking accordingly. Stop thinking like the world. Start thinking like the Christian you profess to be.

We Are Stewards

Well, we get to chapter 4 very quickly then. Paul recapitulates much of this, beginning with verse 1, with further thoughts with respect to the coming judgment. He says, we are stewards. Here’s another figure that’s used: “So then men ought to regard us as servants of Christ, as those entrusted with the secret things of God.” The idea is one of stewardship, like in Jesus’ parables when the lord of the place would leave entrusting the work of his vineyard or whatnot to others there. They’re stewards. They’re entrusted with the work. And that is to say here these ministers are entrusted with the work of the gospel. And when the Lord returns, he will inspect accordingly. And it is expected of servants that they be found faithful.

But then in verses 3 and following, Paul reasons like this, and we’ll just run through it. “Think with me,” Paul says, “if it is the Lord of the church who will bring me into account, if it is not you, but Christ Himself who will call me into account for the quality of work that I have done, how much do you think in the end I really care about your criticisms?” You see his reasoning? That’s not that Paul is calloused. There’s never been a preacher worth his salt who hasn’t been criticized and told everything is wrong with him. And those are occasions of humiliation and we hate it and we struggle with it; and for what’s true about it, we make adjustments accordingly and all of that. But at the end of the day, what matters is what He thinks. In fact, Paul says, “I have a clear conscience. Even that is not what matters. I might have missed something. I might be a little too generous. What matters is what Christ thinks.”

And so, Paul says, whether this meets with your approval or not, all I want to do is continue faithfully, content to wait for the final accounting to come in in that day. And then, he says, every man will have praise from God. That is simply what Jesus said in those parables, isn’t it? “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Paul says, that’s what I’m after. I’m not in this ultimately for anyone else’s approval. I’d like it if you approved, but at the end of the day, that’s not what matters. The question is, will He be pleased? And so Paul says, “I’ve come to preach Christ and nothing but Christ. I’ve come to press the claims of Christ upon his people. Bring this message to bear on the lives and the experience of all of his people, knowing that I’ll be judged accordingly.” That’s what the shape of the ministry ought to be. And with that as our center, all of these things surrounding it, these trappings, are at the very best secondary.

What Can We Learn From This Passage?

Now then quickly, what can we learn then from this passage?

Number one, God cares deeply for his church. God cares deeply for his church and he expects it to be built right. He expects the message of his Son crucified to be preached and he’s determined that this will be the means by which he saves and sanctifies his people. God cares deeply for his church and he expects it to be built with quality building material.

Number two, God will call us into account. God will call us into question on this very score. Has this been the shape of ministry at RBC? Has this been the shape of ministry that you have encouraged and promoted? One of the obvious things about RBC that makes preaching through a passage like this so easy, one of the obvious things about RBC is that this has been the plan from the beginning. There is no doubt in my mind at all that on Judgment Day, the work that Pastor Boyd has done is going to survive the fire. There will be a flame here and there. We’ll all have it. All the time that he has been here, all the time Pastor Greg has been here as well, this has been the plan. This is what has been pursued. And what this passage has to say then is that we all must be very careful to encourage and pursue and make sure that objective is followed for every next generation.

Number three, we learn from this passage that as we follow this blueprint for ministry, we have the happy prospect of hearing words of commendation from Christ the Lord. Is there anything greater that we would want than that? In light of that, our responsibility is clear, and I think it’s very easy to choose as well.

Let’s look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, we’re grateful for Christ. We’re grateful for the one who is for us all that you require of us. We ask that you would make us as a church—those of us who minister here in particular—we pray that you will make us increasingly faithful to minister Him, with an eye on that great day when we will stand before him ourselves. We ask in his name. Amen.

As we close this morning, let’s turn our Trinity hymnal to number 270. As we reflect on that perfect foundation that we have been given, as we sing, “The Church’s One Foundation is Jesus Christ Her Lord.” Number 270, we’ll sing verses number 1, 2, 5, and 6, and we will sing “Amen.”

The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.
She is his new creation by water and the word.
From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride;
With his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died.

Elect from every nation, yet one o’er all the earth;
Her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses, with every grace endued.

‘Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation of peace forevermore;
Till, with the vision glorious, her longing eyes are blest,
And the great church victorious shall be the church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union with God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we,
Like them, the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with thee.

Thank you, St. George, for allowing us to chat with him. Yes, we are glad for you. It’s such a treat, isn’t it? It is deeply touching. Without you, nothing’s fine. Forgive and thank the King for the good and wrongs that you have wrought in me. Amen.