惟一的根基 The Only Foundation
哥林多前书 1 Cor 3:10–15
Remember these points
I put these points at the top of my sermon-prep template to remind myself every week:
- Show that main point of passage relates to Jesus and his saving work
- (1 Cor 1:18) A truly gospel-centred message will not be acceptable in a synagogue or mosque
- Did I proclaim the gospel as the headline news of the sermon, rather than as a “by the way…”?
- Unbelievers are called to repent, believe, and be saved
- Believers are encouraged to abandon their old self, renew their minds, put on the new self in Christ
- Preach simple sermons, so that God’s people can see Christ more clearly and love him more dearly
Review
Last month for 1 Corinthians, we looked at 1 Cor 3:8–9
Main lesson: We’re all God’s servants.
Hook
What are these things?
These are all modern construction equipment, an absolute requirement for today’s building construction.
For cathedrals like this one, how long would it take to build (without modern construction equipment)?
Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France.
These are world famous cathedrals.
Typical cathedral would take many decades, at least, to build.
Most take centuries, with many generations of architects and builders.
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, UK (about 145Km south-west of London).
Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany.
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Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica welcomes about 11 million visitors a year.
Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral is only slightly more, at 12 million visitors a year.
Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica is the only building in Canada voted by Tripadvisor users as the 20 most beautiful buildings in the world.
This is the Lotus Riverside Apartment Complex. Wikipedia
A total of 11 buildings. Building No. 7 collapsed in 2009, because of bad construction, bad materials, bad inspection, etc. Several contractors and people were heavily fined.
One migrant worker died.
These beautiful cathedrals have been standing for many centuries.
They took so long to build because the builders were careful.
Careful with the laying of the foundation, the material, the workmanship, etc.
These things take time.
When we cut corners, use shoddy material, hurry things along, etc., disasters happen.
This is today’s topic: Foundation and building construction.
Passage
Contents here
Exegesis
Paul’s skills are given by God.
Same for us, so don’t be too proud of yourself!
Paul is the architect (Greek ἀρχιτέκτων, transcribed as architeckton ) or engineer.
The CUV translates it as foreman, which gives the connotation that’s not quite the same as architect.
So for the Chinese, we’re reading from the TCV (Today’s Chinese Version), which has the better translation of architect
We all have to careful where we build.
The foundation is key, and Jesus Christ is this foundation.
There are no other foundations (at least not for what we’re looking at here).
What are these different materials?
What are the 2 classes of material?
The 2 classes are ones that can endure fire, and ones that get burned up.
You don’t want to build with material that won’t last through a fire!
The materials are, of course, metaphors.
What is this reward? We’ll postpone that topic to another time.
ds
- Paul is talking about church leaders, not carnal Christians.
- This is definitely NOT purgatory (a Catholic concept that’s very unbiblical)!
- We have to always be care not to take things out of context.
Jesus Christ is the only foundation for the church.
What are some of these “other” foundations that people might be building the church on?
与我有什么关系? So What?
- Today’s passage is about the builders, the leaders of the church.
- Church leaders have a heavy responsibility to properly build the church.
- But, each of us “regular” Christians also have a responsibility…
- We’re all leaders in some way…
- What material are we using to build the church?
- We arrange for our kids to go to good schools, have piano classes, languages classes, tutoring, etc.
What are we arranging for our kid’s spiritual life? - The only foundation for the church is Jesus Christ and the gospel of the cross.
You can build on some other foundation, but that won’t be the church.