I Corinthians 3:8  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
9  For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
10  According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Paul stated that there is unity in the work of the Lord. There is no score card that each person keeps track of how many people they have led to the Lord. It takes more than one person to be involved in the human aspect of showing a person the truth. The real work is done by God. It is God’s Word that we use in witnessing to the sinner. It is the Holy Spirit Who works in the heart of the sinner. He takes the Word of God that we share with the sinner and drills it into the heart of the sinner. It is important to be praying and then listening to God as He directs the saint into which verses to use. The saint needs to be listening to what the sinner is saying. God will guide the saint to the right Scripture to answer the words of the sinner.
We see that God keeps track of our labour. It is His ‘well done’ that we want and need. That ‘well done’ is for those who are not in a competition, but rather are obedient to His leading. In verse 9 we see that we have the privilege of working together with God. What a blessing to be able to work with the Master. Those who are saved are a Work of God. True saints are God’s husbandry. In Ephesians 2:10 Paul wrote it this way:

Ephesians 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We are reminded again that we have no bragging rights. True saints need to be humble and willing vessels that God can use for His glory.

Isaiah 6:8  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isaiah learned the importance of this fact. He needed to be prepared by God for the work He had for him. When he saw the holiness of God, his only right response was to submit to His will. God prepared him and sent him to his own people. Isaiah had some great announcements to make. He also had some necessary rebukes to make. He was faithful and generations have been blessed in the study of his writings which came from God.
God was also using the apostle Paul in our text to write words that would benefit many generations. Today we are not writing Scripture. However, we can be a faithful witness and we can be a blessing to others that can be remembered for a short time. If we can faithfully point people to the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, we have done what is required of us.
In verse 10, the apostle Paul realized that he was a wise master builder. Notice that he acknowledged that this was a work of God in his heart and life. Every person is building. We all start off in our mother’s womb. Then we are delivered into this world as lost sinners and we begin to shape our identity. We choose what we will accept and what we will reject. We are building a life. What kind of a life are we building? Is it something that glorifies God or is it something that seeks to shame His holy name? Paul was a wise master builder. He laid the foundation. He declared the truth of God to those that God brought across his path. He did not invent the foundation. He did not design the foundation. He just laid it. He took what God gave him and put it down carefully and faithfully. Others like Timothy needed to build upon that foundation. The saints in Corinth needed to learn to build on that foundation, not on Paul or Apollos. Thus it was important that each builder be careful how he builds on that foundation.
There is a couple in Ontario that bought a house 1 year after it was finished. The original owners did not keep it long. The buyers soon discovered there were major problems with that house. When the house was 4 years old, through consultation with engineers and others, they discovered the house was not salvageable. It needed to be torn down. They claim they have a $500,000 loss sitting on their lot. They are trying to find their way through this mess and into a house they thought they had purchased originally. I do not know if they will achieve their goal.
There are many people today who are building a crumbling house, claiming to be building on the good foundation. Obviously they have corrupted the foundation. They are claiming that God is leading them, when what they are doing is not identifiable from God’s Word. The good news is that we have God’s Word. Those who are saved have the Holy Spirit indwelling them. Unlike that couple in Ontario, we do not need to go through life regretting being deceived. We can know the truth and we can build correctly on that right foundation.
In verse 11 we are reminded that there is only ONE true Foundation. That Foundation is Jesus Christ. Notice that this Foundation is laid. It is not in the process of being laid. It is laid. The Bible declares all we need to know about the true Jesus Christ. We can know all that is needed to be saved and then how to build our lives successfully after salvation.
In the following verses we are told of the importance of building properly on that foundation. We, those who are saved, have a choice to make in the building of our lives after we are saved. The Corinthian saints were not in danger of losing their salvation. They were in danger of missing out on the blessings that could be theirs’ as saved individuals.
In verse 12 we see that we can build with gold, silver, precious stones. We can build sound doctrine. We can develop a right theology. I was speaking with a person yesterday about our church. The person wanted to know what denomination we were with. That is a fatally flawed view of a true church. There is zero support for denominationalism in the Bible. Denominations have not accepted the right foundation. They build on a human hierarchy. They have a headquarters somewhere and their headquarters tells them how they should function. The Bible is secondary or even further down the list from what their headquarters tells them. Gold, silver and precious stones will stand the test of time.
Florida has just faced another fierce storm. Other southern states have also been affected. We do not know the extent of the damage yet. There has been massive flooding in that area. There may well be some houses that will not survive the effects of that storm.
A person that is saved and building right, can finish well as the apostle Paul did. He can look forward to hearing that “well done” from the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is also the distinct possibility of building with wood, hay and stubble. Those materials will not last. They need to be repaired and replaced over time. False doctrine is always changing. Notice that this wood, hay and stubble is still built upon the right foundation. It is built wrong and cannot last. It cannot benefit anyone else.
In verse 13 we are warned that every man’s work shall be made manifest. We might try to hide some aspects of our Christian life. On this earth, we can correct wrong doctrine, wrong theology. After death we correct nothing. Jesus Christ will reveal what it was that we believed and we cannot change any of it then. The fire of Jesus’ holiness will reveal exactly what we built. The book of the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ describes His eyes as a flame of fire. That is His description as He would reveal what He saw in the seven churches of chapters 2&3. Nothing was hidden there.
In verse 14 we see that little word “if”. If any man’s work abides after salvation, the person will receive a reward. That is guaranteed. The reward is not a red or blue or yellow ribbon. The reward is precious. It will be there for all eternity. It will be something the saints can give to Jesus for being the Great Shepherd that directed him in the building of his life.
In verse 15 we see that there is also the distinct possibility of the work being burned up. Again, it is not a matter of losing one’s salvation. However, a true saint does not want to just squeak into heaven. He wants to know that there has been a measure of faithfulness in his life. However, God tells us there are those who are saved who are quite stubborn. They know better but they do not follow what they know to be true.
Thus we are warned of the very real possibility of being saved though as by fire. Nothing to show for the time that God has been trying to lead us in the right way. Nothing to give to the Lord for saving us. This is not a payment, but rather it is a praise offering for His goodness to us.
The Corinthians needed to be reminded of this fact. They were carnal. They were building wrong. They needed to correct that. We can examine our lives as well. We can attend a true church where the pastor preaches the truth. We can ask God to examine our building. We need to be humble enough to accept His assessment. He is never wrong. He has no ulterior motive. He wants to bless us. We need to be ready to receive that blessing.
Pastor Bartel