God, Our Firm Foundation
Last week we looked at the wisdom of God verses the wisdom of man. We discovered that God’s wisdom is nothing like ours. What may seem like foolishness to the world is really wise. Death became life, weakness was strong and and it takes humility to stand firm. Chapter two ends with, ” For who has known the Lord’s mind, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” The Greek word for mind is noun, which means understanding and reasoning. Having the mind of Christ means that we can know and understand the wisdom of God. We can walk in faith and know that God is able to do all things. But so often, we don’t act on our faith. We just don’t have the trust in God we need to. And this is why Paul writes this next part of his letter.
Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready because you are still fleshly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and living like unbelievers? For whenever someone says, “I’m with Paul,” and another, “I’m with Apollos,” are you not unspiritual people? (verses 1-4). Ouch! Paul says he can’t speak to them as spiritual people but as nepios (babies). Nepios means an immature or unenlightened person. They had the mind of Christ, but they continued to work things out in the flesh. And it is the same in today’s church. We have the capacity to reason and understand spiritual things, yet we don’t tap into it. We have the power of the Holy Spirit, yet we still act like we are powerless. We are people of the spirit, but we still walk, talk and act like people of the flesh. We live in a time when many believers give great lip service to following Christ, but the reality of their lives and walk do not bear the fruit of a spiritual life. We are not functioning and people that have the mind of Christ.
Many may remember the spiritual fad that went around called WWJD – What Would Jesus Do. There were bracelets and tee-shirts and Bibles… We would ask ourselves and others the question when anything came up, but as with all fads, it faded away and the tee-shirts can now be found at your local thrift shop. That’s the problem with fads. People get excited with the catchy phrase and the crowds at the praise and worship festivals, but we walk away the next week and nothing on the inside has changed. We still deal with the world around us and often times react to it in a fleshly way. Maybe we should really ask the question – What would Jesus do? How would he walk and talk? How would he respond to the world today? What would He say to the preachers and teachers in today’s world? What would He say to us – the church? If we were to really walk as people who have the mind of Christ, I believe this world would look a little different.
In the next few verses, Paul gives us a synopsis of the problem in the church at Corinth: “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now the one planting and the one watering are one in purpose, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building, (vs. 5-9). So now we understand why Paul went into such depth to talk about the wisdom of God verses the wisdom of man. The church in Corinth was divided by the man they followed. They aligned themselves to the style and teaching of that certain person and Paul is trying to set them straight. It isn’t the man they should be the focusing on – it is God. Each person has a gift and a specific task that God has assigned them to. There will be those who prepare the soil, others who are planters, others that water and still others that may fertilize and tend. The wonderful thing is God’s timing is always perfect. The right person will come along to do what they need to do at the right time. And the great thing – they all do it in concert with one another. When I lived in London we would bring groups in to pray in certain neighborhoods that were particularly closed and difficult. I remember one volunteer who came and was somewhat disappointed in “just praying”. He had been to other mission fields where he was able to see great harvests take place and where his wonderful gift of teaching and discipleship could be used. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t use those gifts where we were, but he went out with us anyway. At the end of the day he came to me and said, “Now I understand. I didn’t get it before, but now I do. There are places in the world ready for the harvest, ready for discipleship. But there are others where the soil has not been prepared yet. There are rocks to dig out and weeds to pull. I have never experienced the presence of the Lord like I have today. Each step I took and each prayer I prayed I could feel His presence beginning to prepare the hearts of the people for the planting to begin. I learned it is not up to me, but God to do the work in peoples lives.” Paul said, “God gave the growth.” When we are connected into the vine, which is Christ, we can be assured that no matter where in the process we find ourselves, He will give us the strength to produce the fruit that needs to be produced at the time. But if the branches are not connected into the vine, it doesn’t matter how much water or fertilizer it gets, that branch is going to die, thus becoming totally ineffective. It can only grow and thrive if it is connected.
There is a wonderful old hymn called A Firm Foundation and the lyrics go like this: How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent word. What more can He say than to you He has said. To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled? Paul continues in verses 9b-15, “You are God’s field, God’s building. 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. For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 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. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 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.” Our firm foundation is Jesus Christ, and on that foundation we must be careful how we build the building. We must be mindful of what materials we use to build it. Will our house withstand the winds, the rains, the fire? It reminds me of Jesus’ words in His sermon on the mount. “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great!” (Matthew 7:24-27) Several years ago there was a thriving church that suddenly collapsed. It literally went from a few thousand in attendance to about 75 in a matter of a few months. That sounds unbelievable, unless you look at where the attention and focus was in this church. The style of the building may give you a hint. It was one huge auditorium with no education space. All the focus was on the pastor as the leader and only teacher in this monstrous church. Unfortunately, he was just a man with faults and one very serious secret sin. When that sin was revealed the church collapsed on itself and within one year was no more. Our foundation must be Jesus Christ. If we stand on anything, or anyone else, the collapse will be great.
Finally, Paul ends this section with this: “Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s sanctuary, God will destroy him; for God’s sanctuary is holy, and that is what you are. No one should deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he can become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness; and again, The Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are meaningless. So no one should boast in human leaders, for everything is yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come everything is yours, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God,” (verse 16-23). We have come full circle. God’s wisdom is not the same as the wisdom of the world. In order to walk with God and have the mind of Christ we are going to have to become foolish in the eyes of the world. We are going to have to walk in faith with Him. We are going to have to stand on His firm foundation. Having the mind of Christ means looking at things through His perspective and His understanding. The only way we can do that is to be connected to the vine that gives life and that vine is Christ our Lord.
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