Ben O'Grady - Do All for the Glory of God (1 Corinthians) - Class 2 - Labourers Together With God

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Asked if we’d take a reading to introduce this talk from First Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 to 16. And I’ll call a brother Phil right to come forward and read that for us. So that’s First Corinthians 3, verses 1 to 16 reading together. First Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 to 16. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet are you able for ye. For ye are yet carnal.

2. 0:46

   For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walkers men. For while one says I am a pool, and another I’m of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is born? And who is Apollos, but ministers by whom he believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

3. 1:15

   I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one. And every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God, ye God’s husbandry, and are ye are God’s building.

4. 1:46

   According to the grace which God hath given unto me, as a wise Master Builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builder thereon. But let every excuse me, let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, 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.

5. 2:33

   If any man’s work be able work abide which he hath built, thereupon he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet by fire, yet so as by fire. No, you’re not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. Now call up on our brother Ben to give us his second study in the series.

6. 3:06

   Do alter the glory of God entitled laborers together with God study too. So good morning, my dear brothers and sisters and young people. The Corinthian ecclesia had formed into groups on the basis of personal pride. I’m of Paul. Wow, you think that’s good? I’m of Apollos. Well, I’m actually of Cephas. But we found that any form of human pride cannot dwell in the presence of the Father.

7. 3:38

   So Paul is dealing with some very tricky issues in the Corinthian ecclesia, but right from the start he gives us a fantastic example of how to deal with issues both individually and ecclesia. The first point, however, which I want to note this morning, is that Paul does deal with the issues, that they are not just left to fester until they have destroyed an individual or an ecclesia.

8. 4:05

   Paul to that ecclesia demands that they are fronted up to and worked through. And it’s an important point. It’s a fundamental point because it’s very easy to take the easy option and it’s very natural, isn’t it? When matters arise, something’s come up, it should be dealt with, but it’s just a little too hard to face.

9. 4:29

   But Paul’s example is encouraging us to face up wisely to these issues in eclesial life and to work them out before they become absolutely destructive and RIP the heart out of an eclesial environment. But secondly, in Paul’s personal hallmark, he deals with them by first inspiring to the foundation of godly principle. Rather than enter into the academic cut and thrust of clever human reasoning, he elevates the mind to the core godly principle that is at stake. And the key principle, well the key principle is that flesh is nothing.

10. 5:09

    That flesh can never be allowed to take the pre eminence in eclesial life or in in our own life, and never in the presence of God. And more particularly that our sole objective is to learn to develop together with each one of us showing the glory of the Father and in fact, as we shall find today, to be labourers together with God.

11. 5:36

    Can you imagine the incredible heights that our cliches are capable of if we could just learn to live this way, if we could just learn to put ourselves aside and to work together, not just together, but to work together with God in building the ecclesial environment? In chapter 1, we found an ecclesia that was riven by tis tis T division. But rather than getting into that argument with individuals on it was right, which you can never win, Paul showed that their attitude showed that none of them had wisdom, that none of them were right.

12. 6:14

    And therefore having been humbled, he elevated them to the glory of God. So this thing that flesh has no glory that we are not even our own in is is then picked up through the rest of the section here and really becomes the grand theme of the book that that we are not our own, but that in spite of that, God is able to elevate us to glory with him is the grand theme of this book.

13. 6:42

    I will just note that I’ve had some some really nice discussions after the talks yesterday and throughout the day. And there was a couple of questions which people asked around the question of So what if we get to in our ecclesial environment and we are not of the same mind and someone else has a wrong view of something or we can’t agree on something. And, and I, I think absolutely that that’s a, that’s a difficult question to answer, isn’t it? Because the point of Paul here in Corinthians is actually focusing on how a perfect ecclesia works. And we’re not perfect, are we?

14. 7:15

    What if someone else has, has a different view? I think the point from Corinthians, and we’ll find this as we go right through our studies together. The point from Corinthians is that its main power and the main thrust of Corinthians is its message to me as an individual, that if I as an individual can pick up this point and and make sure that I’m working, that both in my own life and in an ecclesial life, then my contribution to the ecclesial life will become powerful. But it’s also the point that every one of us as members of the ecclesia need to do that.

15. 7:49

    So if you have everyone living by the principles of Corinthians and putting themselves down, accepting that they are nothing and striving to live to the glory of God, then you are creating that environment in which anything can be worked through and which our same mind can be developed. Because it’s not about ourselves or our own pride, but we’re working together. And this concept of working together and of building with God is very strongly, which what comes through in these next few chapters.

16. 8:18

    It’s not a book to be used to point to others, because by doing that we create division. It’s a book to be used for changing ourselves, but if we’re all able to change ourselves, the transformation of the ecclesial environment will be substantial. So let’s now have a look. Just spend a moment looking at the actual structure and general message of the book. You would have seen this on the opening night, but had no chance to take any notes and probably forgotten it by now as well. So let’s just work through the, the, the themes that Paul goes through and you’ll see that really this mirrors the structure we have for our talks as we go through. And what I’m attempting to do through this series is to show you just the, the bites of the themes or the sections that Paul deals with.

17. 9:04

    I’m deliberately not going to go into them in, in detail in terms of the actual chapter breakdowns within that. Because I’m trying to show how within those sections, Paul is running a theme through that. He’s focused on a main theme or idea that he’s focused on and how that’s working through broadly through the book to give his general message.

18. 9:21

    So I’ve said that Chapter 1 to Chapter 4 is a section on overcoming division by by putting down self and glorying in God. We looked at chapter 1 yesterday and we’re finishing off this section today. I know that that’s connected because Paul also gives us little hints that he’s connecting sections by by little ideas that he pulls together. And we’ll have a look slightly later in this talk at the concept of Paul and Apollos.

19. 9:45

    And in this thing in this section, from chapter one through to chapter 4, he links that section together by talking about Paul and Apollos and their interaction together. Chapter 5 to Chapter 7, Paul deals with these very difficult moral issues that have arisen in the ecclesial environment. But interestingly, rather than just dealing or spending his whole time focusing on the issue itself, he deals with them very briefly, but focuses on the ecclesia and their response to those issues primarily. And the principle that he brings out is you are not your own. You’re bought with a price.

20. 10:20

    So we’re not there because of of what we want to do. We’re there to work together as an ecclesia. And again, he says the answer to these issues deal with the issue. He deals with that very quickly, but then he shows how the ecclesial environment is the thing that has been impacted by that.

21. 10:37

    And this theme of, of being puffed up, of the environmental or pride within the ecclesia comes strongly through that section. From Chapter 8 through to Chapter 11. There’s a section on, on not justifying what I’m doing, but on focusing on building others up. That’s the theme that we’ve got in the book. All things are lawful unto me, but all things edify not. And we’ll find that this is actually the key answer that Paul gives to the concept of meat offered to idols. And that that whole section is actually linked together by the idea of eating and drinking of of eating and drinking meat, and in fact, the idea of eating meat, meat and drinking meat offered to idols.

22. 11:22

    From chapter 12 through to chapter 14, we see the perfection of the ecclesial body working together in love. But of course, Paul is actually dealing with an issue of the Spirit gifts and the ambition, the ambitious use of the Spirit gifts that was again causing problems in the ecclesia. But his answer to that is to transcend above that and to show the real power of a body and the diversity of the body as it works together in love. And chapter 15 in a in a fabulous into it to the sessions together focuses on the incredible victory of immortality as we are raised from mortality into the the power of immortality with with no more, no more death. And we’ll find, as I mentioned in the intro evening, that the real theme of that chapter is one of from death to life. And Paul concludes in chapter 16 with his focus on the pastoral care of the ecclesias, which we won’t have time to look at, unfortunately, in our sessions.

23. 12:25

    So this opening section of the book goes from chapter one through to chapter 4, and as I said, is connected by the themes of Paul and Depolis, which we’ll touch on shortly. This talk really continues on from the themes of yesterday and picks up those themes from yesterday, but we’ll show you how. So Paul’s answers to the division in the ecclesia, as we saw yesterday, was to say, well, the division’s bad, so fix it. He said, I’m Paul, Paul wasn’t crucified for you. And in a way, he gives this very quick and easy answer which shows that the division is wrong. But then he starts to transform them to the understanding that they are nothing and it’s about God’s glory, which they need to focus on.

24. 13:01

    And what we’ll find this morning is in such a beautiful way, he then picks up those concepts and he shows the real power of how that can transform an ecclesia. How if an ecclesia can pick up these principles we are to talk about this morning and use them in terms of how it interacts together, there will be no question of division. Division will not be an issue in an ecclesia that picks up the principles we are to talk about this morning. So let’s start here in chapter 2 and then verse one. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with Excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

25. 13:47

    And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech in my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

26. 14:01

    This is no longer soul of Tarsus. He’s no longer the the arrogant, brash, brilliant Pharisee who’s out to get what he wants in life and to accomplish his purposes. He’s not the the academic man there thriving in in the cut and thrust of the Greek argument. That’s that’s going on and and showing with his with his brilliance, the power of his reasoning. This is the contrast here to the angry man who is breathing out threatenings and slaughtering against the the followers of Christ as he came to conquer.

27. 14:37

    He’s a man who’s here in weakness and in fear. See verse three. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling and my speech in my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom. It’s a man, isn’t it, who’s completely broken, a man who’s come to understand that flesh is nothing, that no flesh will glory in the presence of God himself.

28. 15:02

    God has worked his work with this man and he has now been taken from the arrogant, brash soul to the meek and humbled man who is now able to do God’s work. You would have been thinking, no doubt, of the connections through the similarity through to the man Moses here who had fallen from that mighty warrior who was, who was as it were, one of one of those close in line to the Pharaoh, the great Pharaoh himself, a man mighty in Word and deed.

29. 15:32

    And he failed to become a broken, fearful man who who couldn’t even bring himself to go and to speak to Pharaoh and pleaded with God that he would send someone else. And so God took Aaron to act as his mouthpiece, so that Moses would go this this transformation from a man mighty and word indeed to a broken humbled man, who God was then able to use up and to pick up and use for his purpose.

30. 15:57

    Have a look at at Exodus chapter 4. Here Moses said unto Yahweh, Oh my Lord, I’m not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since there has spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And Yahweh said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth, or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind?

31. 16:18

    Have not I Yahweh? Now therefore go, I will be thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shots say. Can you see the parallels here between Moses, this meekest man on all the earth who had learnt that God alone could be his strength, and the position of Paul here? And, and Paul is giving his own example here in chapter 2 to show the power of of a man who understands that his flesh is nothing but can be lifted up in God.

32. 16:46

    It introduces a quiet comparison throughout the book between Paul and Moss and actually between the Corinthian ecclesia and the congregation of Israel in the wilderness, which as you can imagine becomes quite a sobering comparison. So keep an eye out through the series as we go through these talks and just watch out for those little hints as they come out and the the little warnings that Paul puts in place with those connections back to Israel and the wilderness.

33. 17:13

    And we’ll pull those together in one of our last talks together. But for now, just just let’s contemplate these two incredible men positioned by side by side. Once great men in a human sense, in their own wisdom and might and power, now humbled, meek and lowly and able to do some of the greatest work that has ever been accomplished upon the earth through the power of their God.

34. 17:48

    Yahweh’s strength is made perfect in weakness. It’s not when we’re at our greatest, using our own power and relying on our own wisdom that the Father is able to work in US. It is when we are bought low, when we recognize that our flesh is weak and nothing, that we’re then able to be used by God. But when we do, brothers and sisters, when we recognize that we are nothing, then God is able to elevate us from this nothing, to do incredible things in His service. And this please be beyond any other point. This week must be the point that we take home to our own eclises. If we can grasp this concept, if all of us in our eclges can learn to put pride in our self to one side and and allow God to shine forth, then it will absolutely transform the power and the working and the love of our own eclesial environment until they are completely unbreakable. That we are nothing but God is able to elevate us to do incredible things in His service. And so we come back to Paul, who is no longer a powerful, eloquent man, but now able to accomplish far more than he had ever done, as sold as Tarsus.

35. 19:12

    See, Paul had learnt not just that he was nothing. He’d learnt more than just that his flesh could not glory in God’s presence. He’d also learnt that he could work with God. He had learnt that he could be elevated by God’s power and that God’s glory could shine forth from him and that in him God could him accomplish incredible things. Verse 5, he says that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

36. 19:45

    So Paul is there saying I’m not coming with enticing words of man’s wisdom. I’m not coming with the brilliance of my reasoning in a Greek way to be able to convince you so that you’re convinced of this and, and go away astonished at my reasoning. He says I’m there with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith doesn’t stand in my wisdom, in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. He’s wanting the Corinthians not to follow his words because he is Paul.

37. 20:16

    But to understand the power of those words because they’ve come from God himself and he’s answered, hasn’t he? Absolutely. I’m of Paul. You imagine anyone in the Paul brigade now who’s saying actually Paul himself is saying that’s not what he wants. He doesn’t want us to follow him. He wants us instead to focus upon God.

38. 20:37

    And he’s so perfectly answered this issue of of the the the different brigades who are following different people, verse six and seven. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the Princess of this world that come to naughty, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory.

39. 21:03

    So God had a plan from the very beginning. It was a hidden mystery that God has specifically chosen to take his wisdom and to hide it. And if men come to it from their own angle, from their own wisdom, from their own ego, with their own view of the world, then they’ll not comprehend it.

40. 21:23

    But they can’t understand it. They will never see the glory and the power of the wisdom of God. It’s, it’s this sort of picture, isn’t it? Hopefully you can see that down the back. You’ve got the sense of Yahweh’s glory, this overwhelming power and glory of Yahweh and His and His wisdom. And here down on this little corner, here we have an individual who’s there, but they’re there in their own strength, in their own wisdom. They’ve got this bubble, as it were, around them, of man’s wisdom.

41. 21:52

    And that bubble, this little bubble here means that they are utterly unable to comprehend or to see the power of God’s wisdom. It’s such a brilliant framework that God has created to deliberately hide His wisdom so that those who believe, who, who live by their own cleverness, are left without comprehension of the surpassing glory and wisdom that is around them, and they don’t even know it.

42. 22:25

    It happens so often, doesn’t it? In a worldly sense of of those who are ambitious to achieve things and may achieve their ambitions, which in themselves are hardly anything. And they stand in their own little bubble, luxuriating in their own capability, and completely miss the wonder and the power and the glory of the Father that cries out from every molecule of the earth around them and every pattern of life, let alone from his word and from his Son and from his living people around them. It’s surpassing brilliance, isn’t it, from a human perspective, brothers and sisters and young people, because the Father knows that the only ones who are capable of living the fullness of his glory are those who are able to empty the empty themselves and to turn unto him. It’s an incredibly powerful principle and it and it just gives this fantastic insight into the intense wisdom of the Father that so surpasses our glory and our approach to life. Verse 8 if we talk about ambition and the accomplishments of of human men, which none of the Princess of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

43. 23:42

    Here’s the Roman governor, the Romans who were there, who had achieved incredible things from an ambitious point of view, had scaled the world’s ladders to some of their greatest heights, but they didn’t perceive the hidden wisdom of God. And so they took, who did they take? They took the Lord of glory, one who was the encompass, the encompassed all of Yahweh’s glory.

44. 24:09

    They took that man and they crucified him because they had no idea that the wisdom of God was shining out from him. It’s, it’s an incredible insight into the fact that some of the most successful men could turn around and so utterly fail to see the power and the wisdom of God’s work and God’s ways.

45. 24:34

    He killed the greatest man who had ever lived upon the earth. That’s the principle, isn’t it? If we rely on the wisdom of this world, we will get nowhere. We will not even comprehend the fullness or any part of the wisdom of God that shines around us. But in verse 9 He changes, doesn’t He? As it’s written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.

46. 25:14

    So God has prepared something for them that love Him. But it’s something which the human eye cannot see. It’s something which the human ear and the human heart cannot hear or comprehend if we’re there in human focus or in a human wisdom, but God has prepared something for them that love him. It’s the hidden wisdom, isn’t it that the mystery of God from verse 7, which God ordained before the the world unto our glory and no human can contemplate the fullness of what that means.

47. 25:50

    We’re being told. Yet God has prepared it right from the beginning for those that love him. Just come across to Isaiah chapter 64, which is actually where Paul has quoted from out of out of verse 9 and just see here again, young people particularly. This is a really key point in terms of how to understand the use of of Scripture and to understand how Scripture unlocks because the key here is the perfect context of how Paul has used has used this quote. Paul, remember, is talking of the theme of this idea of God deliberately hiding his wisdom and keeping it for those who respond to him in humility and to acknowledge God’s position. So come to Isaiah 64 and in verse, in verse 8, sorry, verse, verse one.

48. 26:45

    So the verse that Paul is quoting out of is, is verse 4. But we’re just going to flow through the chapter briefly to see what Paul’s saying. So verse one, oh, that thou would rend the heavens, that thou would come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence. Verse 3 when thou did terrible things which we looked not for, they came us down, and the mountains flowed down at thy presence. So this is sense of the prophet pleading that God would come down and reveal himself.

49. 27:09

    And verse three they that is which when thou did terrible things which we looked not for. So from a human perspective, there was not the sense of the fact that God was in control, always going to do His work. This was God’s work that He was doing. Verse 4. For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God beside thee, what He hath prepared for him, that waiteth for him.

50. 27:39

    So there’s this sense in which the world is sitting there with no awareness or appreciation of the incredible work that God has accomplished, that He’s accomplished in the past, that He’s accomplishing now in His creative work with us, and that He will continue to bring to pass until it is completely finished. In such a powerful work, human cannot, human wisdom cannot perceive that.

51. 28:04

    Verse 5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways. So God is looking, isn’t he, for those who understand him in his righteousness, and rejoice in his ways, that remember thee in thy ways. But behold, thou art wrath, for we have sinned, and those as continuance, and we shall be saved. There’s continuance in going back to the things of God. This way of salvation is on God’s basis, verse 6:00 and 7:00.

52. 28:35

    But we are is all an unclean thing, all our righteousness. There is filthy rags, and we do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. There is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee, for thou hast hid thy face from us, and has consumed us because of our iniquities.

53. 28:53

    It’s the words of a man who is brought low. It’s the words of a man who understands that flesh is nothing, that no flesh will glory in his presence. So what Paul’s showing out of Isaiah is that Isaiah understands the concept of us being brought to nothing, but then that once we are brought to nothing, that then God will look for those who work righteousness and who meet him and rejoice in his ways. That remember God in his ways, we’re brought to nothing ourselves, but our focus goes upon the work of God and of his ways and verse 8 But now, O Yahweh, thou art our Father. We are the clay and thou our Potter, and we are all the work of thy hand.

54. 29:44

    That’s the picture, isn’t it? That we we’ve become a malleable hunk of clay. Who is able to say it’s not our work. This is the Father as a Potter who’s able to start to build us up, to work us on the world as it were, and to build us from a lump, an ugly lump of clay, and to make us into beautiful pots that can be used in His service.

55. 30:04

    It’s nothing to do with us. We’ve found out that we’re nothing, but we’ve opened ourselves up as a lump of clay and asking the Father to work with us as a Potter. And in that context, verse 4, we saw since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the earth, neither hath the I seen, O God beside thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. It’s God’s work, and He is going to accomplish an incredible work in US if we learn to wait for Him. God has taken His master plan for the world, His ability to develop His glory in US, and he’s deliberately hidden it. And a man comes along in their own wisdom and pride, and they miss this incredible glory, the power of what God is accomplishing.

56. 31:00

    But if we’re able to humble ourselves and to be elevated to the wisdom of God, we’re able to enter into the deepest and most powerful wisdom of the eternal mind itself. So Paul continues back in in first of Corinthians and chapter 2 as he starts to talk of of the power of his mind being opened up to us. First of Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit. For the spirit searcheth all these things, ye the deep things of God.

57. 31:36

    For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him. Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. It’s saying that if, if we look at someone, we don’t actually know what they’re thinking, do we? We don’t know what other people are thinking.

58. 31:52

    I don’t know what you’re thinking out there in the audience, and you probably know what I’m thinking because I’m telling you that, but not necessarily everything. The only person who knows a person’s mind is themself. The only person who knows God’s mind is himself. But he’s telling us that God has revealed that to us.

59. 32:13

    So God has taken his wisdom, which has been hidden, but he’s actually revealed it to us if we are prepared to listen to it. He’s shown us completely what he’s thinking, what his intentions are, what he is going to accomplish. And there’s this incredible sense of the open relationship that we have with the Father here.

60. 32:30

    It’s hidden, yes, from the wise of this world, but humble ourselves as little children. And He’s completely opened up to us the full wisdom of that hidden mystery that encompasses His mind and His thinking. Verse 13 which things also we speak not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. If we just had God there, we wouldn’t know His mind, but He’s revealed it to us if we listen to it. He’s He’s opened up to us if we come to God and are prepared to learn His ways.

61. 33:09

    But it’s not in our own strength. It’s with humility and an intense desire to understand the mind of God. See, God had a purpose which he ordained before the beginning of the world, that focused upon his wisdom. That wisdom was a mechanism by which God would come to understand, by which people, sorry, would come to understand God’s glory and his purpose.

62. 33:38

    And he took that purpose and that wisdom and that glory, and he deliberately hid them in a way that individual humans could never understand if they came in their own glory. But he’s telling that although he has hidden it, he has revealed it to us. If we are prepared to become spiritual in our thinking in a way that discerns the thinking of God, if if our purpose is about ourself, we’re not going to accomplish it. If our if our thinking is about how big my own ego is, then we’ll not unlock it.

63. 34:10

    But if we come with humility, then it will unfold and open to us in all its magnificent splendor. Just contemplate the sheer brilliance of Paul’s argument. Remember the the issue he’s dealing with here from the start is I’m of Paul, I’m of Apollos. There’s Chisins and divisions everywhere because people are out for themselves, wanting to be the greatest and aligning with the different groups.

64. 34:35

    And Paul answers that by showing them the need to transform away from that thinking to the principle of life lived in humility and with a deep desire to learn the wisdom of God.

65. 34:48

    Now come to chapter 3 and verse one, because Paul gives us the next little key as to how we can get the mind of God. Chapter 3. And the first thing I want you to know is the intensity and strength of this language. I brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as babes in Christ.

66. 35:14

    I’ve had to feed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal, whereas there is a mungu envying and strife and division. Are ye not carnal and Walker’s men for wild one saith I’m of Poland, another I’m of Apollos.

67. 35:31

    Are ye not carnal? It’s an incredibly strong language that Paul is using it. Can you just contemplate what he’s saying here? You’re babies, he’s saying. You think you’re there in your wisdom and and able to talk about your own power and and greatness and and ability to reason. But you’re babies, he says.

68. 35:49

    I can’t even teach you anything out of the truth that’s anything more than the milk of the word. You’re, you’re still down there as young babes in the truth because you are carnal, because it’s the thinking of the flesh getting in the way. And it’s not able therefore to, to open up and to have the power of God’s word revealed. And he absolutely rips into them. He doesn’t hold back because he’s teaching them that it’s them they’re talking about.

69. 36:16

    He’s raised the principles and now he’s making it blunt for them that they are carnal in not understanding things from God’s perspective. He’s laid the foundations and he wants the Corinthians to know that they are exactly the people that God that Paul’s talking about. He knows they’re carnal, mind you. He knows they’re missing the hidden wisdom of God for one very important reason. It’s because of the schisms and divisions that are racking their midst.

70. 36:46

    It’s, it’s these problems, isn’t it, which are there because there’s such a clear symptom of the underlying problem that’s there. And he’s trying to get them to understand that those schisms and divisions which they were caught up in was an evidence of the fact that they were still thinking after the way of the flesh.

71. 37:04

    This is brothers and sisters, mind you, he’s talking to this is in an ecclesial environment and he’s saying you are carnal. You’re thinking after the flesh. You are just babes in Christ not understanding the principles of God. And it’s the same for us, because whenever our eclesial environment has decayed into division and schism and strife, it is always, always because the wisdom of God has been lost.

72. 37:30

    And instead of coming into humility, we’re coming in our glory. Just think about our own contribution to a collegial life, thinking about our our feelings towards or against brothers and sisters. Just stop for a moment and think about whether you have a problem yourself with anyone. If so, even if it’s just one person. And we have to think about our attitude because it’s a symptom that cries out to us that something inside is wrong is a warning for us today, a very strong warning. And we lose a focus on God.

73. 38:15

    And when we start to look at ourselves, we begin to cause issues and divisions that create gaping holes in our eclesias. And if we are party to this, if we are the ones who are causing division and schisms in our ecclesial environment, if our actions are causing divisions, then we are carnal. We are thinking after the flesh. We are not understanding God’s wisdom or His glory because we are glorying in ourselves.

74. 38:45

    It’s man’s wisdom, isn’t it? We can’t understand the things of God. Have a look in verse 5. Who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? But ministers by whom you believed even as the Lord gave to everyone. And so he expands the concept again to answer this issue of the Paul and the Apollos question. What’s his answer?

75. 39:13

    OK, I’m Paul, and this is Apollos, who you two groups are following. And what is our role? Well, we are just slaves. We’re just servants. And Apollos, he happens to just be a slave as well. He’s nothing great. I’m nothing great. It’s just Paul and Apollos. And our role was to be ministers, to be slaves by whom you believe, as the Lord gave to every man the glories not of ourselves, we are to be slaves along with Paul and Apollos. And so Paul adds the next little block on his reasoning, doesn’t it his, his answer to this ecclesia? It’s not just that we learn we are nothing. It’s not just that we learn it’s about God’s glory. It’s that once we understand these things, we learn to become the slaves of God.

76. 40:12

    To devote our lives in service to the God of heaven because we are owned by him. If I take this picture we had earlier, here’s man’s wisdom. And essentially we come out of man’s wisdom and man’s bubble recognizing that that is nothing and we become slaves to God. But in becoming slaves to God, we actually enter into the fullness and the power of his wisdom. Oops.

77. 40:42

    I won’t play with it. The man’s wisdom is meant to disappear off the top. Let’s just pretend that’s gone. But can you see the sense of, of, of the picture that’s drawn? We’re there in our own little bubble in man’s wisdom, and we start to learn that man’s wisdom is nothing. But it’s not until we learn that we are slaves to be working in God’s service that we can actually start to comprehend the enormity of God’s glory, and particularly the contribution that we can make to God’s glory, that we become his slaves who are working as part of his work to build and to grow his glory.

78. 41:16

    It’s so much more in that message, isn’t it, than just stopping us following Paul and Apollos as some super people to March behind with a banner. He’s actually showing us that Paul and Apollos were not like themselves at all. They didn’t want that, that they wanted us to learn from their example of being servants, of being ministers in the ecclesial environment, being having taught them.

79. 41:38

    It’s not about their own ego. He’s saying you need to learn the principles of service, of working and labouring in the ecclesial environment. It’s a brilliant answer to the divisions in in Corinth. Cut it out. Stop being carnal and fleshly focused on your own glory. Now turn around and start to work in the ecclesial environment. Contribute to the growth, be prepared to labour, and we’ll fix the problems and the issues in ecclesial life. If we forget about ourselves and we focus on God’s glory, every one of us, it’s made powerful when we are all working together in tandem.

80. 42:15

    How dare we as slaves of God use our energy to pull down and to destroy. God wants us as His slaves to use that energy in the ecclesial life to work and to labor and to contribute. And that’s Paul’s answer to the problem that had caused such pain and strife and division. Verse 7. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. It’s not about me, Paul, who planted. It’s not about him Apollos who watered, or anyone else who took the weeds away.

81. 42:52

    It’s all God’s work. We’re just ministers and slaves of God. What a what a beautiful focus and such a beautiful perspective that can give to our ecclesial life together. I just want to show you, I’ve said that this theme is one that’s bound by the concepts of Paul and Apollos. Here they are at the start, everyone of you saith I’m of Paul and I have Apollos, while one saith I’m of Paul and another of Apollos.

82. 43:20

    Are ye not carnal? So that was the issue, wasn’t it? They were following Paul and Apollos as men who they could stand behind and, and and look up to in human ego. But he makes the point to you in chapter 3, who, who are Paul and Apollos but ministers by whom you believed? And his point is actually Paul and Apollos had none of the sort of issues that the the ecclesia were talking about. Paul and Apollos did not want to be followed as, as sort of the head banner of, of a, of a Paul or an Apollos brigade. They were there as ministers or as slaves working together. And he gives such a beautiful view of that, doesn’t he, when he says he, that watereth so, so he says I’ve planted but, but Apollos watered.

83. 44:04

    So I’ve gone out there to do 1 work and I deliberately left that work there. I’d, I’d planted, I’d done the bit I needed to and I handed the work over to Apollos who came in and he watered. We are working in tandem as the slaves of God, he said. It’s not about me or him.

84. 44:18

    It’s about our working together as the slaves of God and our work can only be accomplished. Our work will only bear fruit if God is working with us to to, to give us the increase. I have watered, sorry, I have planted, Apollos watered. But God gave the increase later on in this chapter, he says, he says that all things are ours. Everything we have in this world, everything that exists in this world, he says is ours.

85. 44:45

    And whether it’s Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, everything’s ours. How ridiculous to be focused on Paul or Apollos when actually as the the slaves of God, as the people of God, we have the access to everything that exists in the world. We’re ears of all things and then he concludes that sort of section or that idea on Apollos so that this combination of Apollos and Paul in chapter 4 verse six with a with a comment. These things, brethren, I have enough figure transferred to myself in Apollos for your sakes that you might learn enough not to think of men above that which is written that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. What’s he saying?

86. 45:28

    He’s saying that he deliberately took the concepts of slavery and of service of us being absolutely nothing and learning that we are nothing, but then learning to work as a slave of God for his glory. And he’s saying he’s proven that Paul and Apollos were both doing that. And by showing the picture of Paul and Apollos doing that, he’s he’s transferring the example of what he wants the entire teacher to do to say now you need to follow in exactly the same way. He’s used the Paul and Apollos situation to show actually that Paul and Apollos were living with flesh as nothing, as slaves of God to the glory of God.

87. 46:12

    Such a contrast to holding on to some issue that that someone’s done to us or to create issues in ourselves because it’s not about us. Instead to turn around and to labour and contribute is Paul’s antidote to the problem here. But if that’s not enough, let’s have a look in verse 8.

88. 46:38

    Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. What do you mean we’re one? It’s Paul or Apollos or individuals, isn’t it? Paul is saying it’s actually one work that’s being account. It’s Paul Apollos who are labouring together, working, planting and watering.

89. 47:08

    You imagine how transforming that could be from for the Corinthian ecclesia to know that it’s one ecclesial body bound together, working together, no room for division and schism. Who are there as slaves? It’s saying that this is about God and his glory and our desire to unlock that wisdom, the wisdom of God, the hidden mystery of God, to to understand his power and glory and then to labour in the Eclesial context so that the entire eclesial environment can be uplifted by it. It’s powerful for the Corinthian Ecleses and it’s powerful for us also in our Eclesial life if we come to understand these principles.

90. 47:51

    Verse 8 at the end of that section. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. The reality is that God will give us a reward according to the contribution that we have made to His ecclesial environment, that the reward we receive is in accordance with the contribution that we have made within the ecclesial environment.

91. 48:19

    Now that can be a bit of a tricky concept for us to get our heads around, isn’t it? We, we sort of tend to think that we’re not worthy. So this concept of a reward is something that gets a little tricky, but actually keep that in the back of your mind because as we go through this next section, you’ll find this idea of the reward just continues to build and to grow. We are nothing but we labour for God’s sake and God sees our work and rewards us as individuals.

92. 48:47

    Verse 9 For ye are labourers together with God, Ye are God’s husband, you’re in ye are God’s building. Hold on. Ye are labourers together with God. That idea is a work of a Co labourer with God. I’ll just read you out of out of Romans 16, just a couple of chapter pages back.

93. 49:14

    Romans 16 and verse 3, greet Paul. This is Paul talking of his helpers in the truth. Greet Priscilla and Aquila. My help was in Christ Jesus. It’s the same word, my Co labourers in Christ Jesus. Verse 9, salute urbane, our helper in Christ, our Co labourer in Christ. Verse 21, Timotheus, my work fellow, my Co labourer. See, Paul was working as a Co labourer with so many people in the ecclesial environment.

94. 49:44

    It’s all the same fellow labourers who are working together with Paul. But the point that Paul makes here in First Corinthians 3 is it’s so much more than that. It’s not just working together with our brothers and sisters as slaves. We are actually Co labouring with God. And when we are working as slaves in God’s environment, we actually are working next to him hand in hand with God, as it were with him labouring next to us. When we see that God is working with us, he’s labouring with us and we become Co labourers together with God. So what’s that about being of Paul’s group or of a policies to group group?

95. 50:28

    OK, you might be in a policies group over there. That’s an interesting nice group to be in. But actually this group over here who have put aside the wisdom of the world are in God’s group. They are Co labourers together with God and can you see how that completely overwhelms from a human perspective any accomplishments that we can we can accomplish.

96. 50:49

    We are called brothers and sisters and young people to the incredible power and privilege of working as a Co labourer with God himself. There cannot be any greater work we can be called to accomplish. Want the wisdom of of man’s world. It just is nothing compared to the glory of the fact that we can be Co labouring or working with God. That’s the work we are called to do in an ecclesial context. Step in step, hand in hand with the Father himself. We become labourers with God.

97. 51:26

    Verse nine. Yeah, yeah, halfway through the verse. Yeah. God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. So we are both Co labourers with God, but we are also his husband, or as the margin says, his tillage. It’s agricultural language for for plowing up the the land ready for for planting. So we labour with God, but we are also his tillage. He is working on us and we are his building. We are labourers together with God, but he is building us up as part of God’s building.

98. 51:55

    And it’s this, this beautiful juxtaposition of ideas where we are labouring with God in a on a building. And then we realise as the building is going up that actually that building is us, ourselves. And we contemplate that it’s also our brothers and sisters who are becoming part of that building.

99. 52:12

    This concept of building with God is something that binds us together into the ecclesia, into God’s building, and it transforms our view of ecclesial life because we’re not just labouring together with God ourselves, but in a way that picks up the ecclesial members and binds us together, locked and mortared into the building of God himself.

100. 52:36

     In faith in the last days we read a wise master builder never begins to to build without a design that that phrase of the master builder has come out of out of Corinthians there in verse 10. As a wise master builder I have built. A wise master builder never begins to build without a design.

101. 52:53

     That is, he draws after a scale of so much to the foot. This is the extension or time, so to speak, of the building to be erected. Having well considered the whole, he concludes that it’s the best possible plan that can be devised in harmony with the principles of architecture. It then becomes his purpose, his foreordination, predeterminational design. All subsequent arrangements are made to conform to this recorded purpose because it’s the very best His most deliberate wisdom and ingenuity can devise.

102. 53:22

     It’s not a hard concept, is it? Before building a building, we have a master plan that we work to, and God has created that master plan. We are called upon to build after that master plan, and in fact, we’ll find shortly to build upon the foundation. Actually, let’s have a look at that, that verse, verse 11 for other foundation.

103. 53:40

     Can no man lay in that which is lay, which is Jesus Christ? God’s Master plan is in place and we are called to build according to that master plan on the foundation of Jesus Christ. The next thing this Master Builder does is to collect together all the necessary materials, whether of brick, stone, limes, sand, wood, or what else that may be needed.

104. 54:02

     And if a spectator desire to know what all these crude matters were heaped up together in one place, the architect would reveal to him his purpose by submitting the draft of his plan in all its lines, circles, angles, etcetera. And he would describe to him such an arrangement of the materials as would impress the spectators mind with an image of the edifice, though it would fall infinitely short of the reality when perfected. It’s the idea isn’t it, that God is in control, He’s got His master plan He’s working towards and He has called us to become Co labourers together with Him, to build according to His master plan, the evidence of which is already here for us in the Scriptures.

105. 54:48

     And not to try and lay another foundation upon that already laid which is Jesus Christ, but to follow with meticulous detail the principles of building that He has laid down for us in the scriptures. We’re called to be builders together with God, and therefore we need to understand the plan that God is working too. There can be no divisions when we relay or when we attempt to relay a foundation that is already laid. We cannot change the foundations of ecclesial life because that foundation has already been laid. Paul has shown the Corinthian ecclesia that if they were trying to change the foundations, if they were deciding no longer to build upon the old foundation, then they could not be Co labourers.

106. 55:45

     Together with God. We were no longer master builders working hand in hand with the Father, but we were building our own human edifice. He’s asking us to contribute our our energy to build upon the foundation that has already been laid. It’s our responsibility to build, we’re being told, but to build upon that foundation that has been laid down for us. And in order for us to do that, we need to understand God’s his plan and his details.

107. 56:18

     So let’s come now to verse 12 and what is quite a tricky little section. I’ve entitled it the the testing of our work by fire. It’s a it’s a section I’ve struggled with previously because it the the word pictures don’t seem to quite tie up verse 12. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble, every man’s work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire. And you look at it in verse 12 and you think, hang on. So we’re coming along as individuals and we’re building upon the foundation.

108. 56:49

     It’s gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble and and the word pictures don’t quite tie together, do they? Because we don’t tend to build upon buildings with wood and hay and and stubble. We’ll do with wood, but not with hay and stubble. Nor do we tend to build with with gold upon it or precious stones.

109. 57:03

     They might be the things that we use at the end to put in place and to make it look pretty. So what’s the point or the idea that’s coming out here? Well, I think we see that if we carry on in the context of these verses, every man’s work shall be made manifest before 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. If any man’s worker by which he has put thereon, he shall receive a reward.

110. 57:29

     If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire. And So what Paul actually tells us here is the the word picture he is drawing is not so much the picture of an edifice being built up, but the particular focus of this section here is actually on what is the implication on our work when it is tested by fire. But the materials that he is talking about here is not so much the picture of the building up, but the question of how do these materials respond to a testing by fire. And so this section here is actually the idea of the fact that having Co labored together with God, our work will go through a testing of of fire.

111. 58:15

     And there’s a particular reason that he that he uses those ideas there. Just see if you can bubble around in the back of your head where you might have heard of of those things before gold, silver, gems, wood, hay stubble to see if you can see any echoes as as we go through this section. So having built our workers manifest and if the work is burned in verse 15, we’ve suffered loss, he says, but we are still saved and yet so is by fire. So how does that work?

112. 58:48

     How can we understand that as a concept? We tend to see it, don’t we, that that we’ve built and we go through a process of judgement and either we come through as purified gold or we’re destroyed. And if we’re destroyed, then then we’re gone and can’t be saved. But Paul’s point here actually is if any man’s work is burned, he he suffers loss, he loses that work and his contribution is gone, but he himself shall be saved. And yet so is by fire.

113. 59:18

     So we can’t go past that point, can we? Paul is talking about here about the fact that that individual has been saved, but they’ve suffered the loss of their work. So how can we answer all of this? Well, the word picture is how our work responds to the testing of fire. It’s not not a picture of a building that’s that’s lumped together with hay and precious stones and then falls apart when the fire comes.

114. 59:46

     The focus or the attribute that’s being picked up is how does our work respond to the testing of fire? So let’s just see if we can answer first what this idea of the testing of fire is in Jude one and verse 23 others save with fear pulling them out of the fire. And there’s this idea associated with the fire of of destruction of the fact that the fire can destroy and we’ve got to get in there and pull them out of the fire.

115. 1:00:08

     One Peter one, and verse 7. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So that’s a different attribute of the fire, isn’t it? That’s actually of the purification and of the fire being used to bring gold through so that it can be found unto praise and honour and glory. On the one hand, fire can destroy, on the other hand, it can purify and reveal.

116. 1:00:37

     Second Thessalonians one, verse 7 and 8 To you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So He’s there in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, that don’t obey God’s gospel, but at the same time he’s there revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. And again, you get the sense, don’t you, of the revealing and the destruction that’s associated with fire. So Paul’s point here in Corinthians is when the when our work is tested by fire, it does two things. It destroys what is able to be destroyed, but it purifies and reveals and brings in rejoicing forth what cannot be destroyed. That’s the concept of fire, both to destroy and to reveal, destroys what it can, but purifies and reveals what it cannot.

117. 1:01:31

     The other question we need to answer is the question of this day, because he says that it is in a particular day. Verse 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it so. What is that day? Well, I believe clearly that that day is the day of, of the coming of Christ and, and judgement when He shall become Second Thessalonians, when he shall come in fact the the one we just looked at, when He shall come to be glorified in His Saints and to be admiring in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day.

118. 1:02:06

     So that’s the talking of the day of the coming of Christ there. And Acts 17 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, and that hath raised him from the dead.

119. 1:02:20

     So this concept of the day that’s being talked about is the day of judgement, the judgement seat process. It’s a day of coming judgement. So let’s try and pull this together here. I’ll just quote to you out of a little section from Alpas Israel. Probation, Brother Thomas says, is a refining process. It purges out a man’s dross and brings out the image of Christ and all his character and prepares him for exultation to his throne. We can only enter the Kingdom through the fire, but if a man be courageous and hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end, he will emerge from it unscorched and be presented wholly unblameable and unrebukeable before the king. So that’s the power of of the refining process, isn’t it? That it, it destroys what it can destroy, but then it reveals and purifies, but cannot, cannot be destroyed. OK, so we’ve got all these concepts in our minds now. It’s a little hard to see what Paul’s saying, isn’t it? How can you have this, this judgement, as it were, by fire, where the hay is burned up?

120. 1:03:27

     And if our work has suffered loss, we’re still going to be saved in that day. What is the concept that that’s being talked about? The materials here seem disconnected from the building, don’t they? But as usual with Paul, I think he’s actually going somewhere deeper in this. So let’s come back to it.

121. 1:03:47

     Where have you heard those echoes before of gold and of silver being refined, of a day? Of a fire that tries and purifies and reveals of the precious stones or the jewels and the stubble that’s burnt in the fire? Let’s come across to Malachi in Chapter 3 and 4.

122. 1:04:21

     Malachi 3 And verse one. Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight, and behold, he shall come. S Yahweh of armies, this is a day, the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

123. 1:04:37

     But who may abide to the day of His coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like a fuller’s soap, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto Yahweh an offering and righteousness. I believe that Paul here is picking up this idea of, of the Lord Jesus Christ returning as that refiners fire to sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, to purify the sons of Levi and to purge them as gold and silver so that they can offer unto Yahweh an offering and righteousness. It’s all those ideas we’ve looked at, isn’t it, that the Lord Jesus Christ returns and he his, his fire of judgement goes out to purify, to destroy what can be destroyed, but to to in turn to, to purify and bring forth the gold. So why would Paul link back to Malachi? What is Paul doing in in taking us back to Malachi? Well, interestingly, Paul is clearly comparing the Corinthian ecclesia to the congregation in the time of Malachi. And that is because many of the issues that Paul is dealing with in the Corinthian ecclesia were actually occurring in in Malachi as well.

124. 1:05:56

     You see verse verse 5 of chapter 3. I will come near to you in judgement. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, against false wearers, against those that oppress the highling and the wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right.

125. 1:06:10

     And fear not me S Yahweh of armies, if you take the time in your in your own time to go through and have a look, you’ll find a number of connections between what was happening here in Malachi and the Corinthian ecclesia. But the message of Malachi is that one day the Lord will come suddenly to his temple, which Paul is saying is us and our work. And when he does come, a time of refining fire to test will arrive.

126. 1:06:42

     See. See, Paul’s transformed the issue so far beyond the tis tisn group of Paul and Apollos to the reality of the coming of Christ to all of us. What about Malachi 3? Verse 16? They that feared Yahweh spoke often one to another, and Yahweh hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Yahweh, and that thought upon his name. This is those who are going to be revealed by fire, isn’t it? Who, Who will be purified and shone forth? Verse 17.

127. 1:07:12

     And they shall be mine S Yahweh of armies in that day. When I make up my jewels, that’s the precious stones that Paul had mentioned in Corinthians. When I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man, spareth his own son, that serveth him that God will take them as his own son.

128. 1:07:31

     And then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and serveth him not. Malachi 4 verse one. For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yeah, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn them up.

129. 1:07:54

     Saith Yahweh varies, that it shall neither leave them root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow up his calves at the store. So Paul’s message to the Corinthian ecclesia is that they needed to understand the message to the Malachi congregation.

130. 1:08:15

     They needed to understand that Yahweh would come through his Son as a refining fire that would burn up the proud and those who were stubble but would leave the gold and silver and the precious stones. So that’s answered the question, hasn’t it? But not not quite, because there is still this matter that a man can suffer loss but himself be saved and so is by fire. See Paul’s focus is not on himself through the section of it.

131. 1:08:47

     It’s about the fact that we are Co labourers together with God, that our whole purpose in life becomes once we’ve understood we’re nothing, to become slaves that are Co labouring together with God because we desire to be part of His glory, to build upon his glory, to expand upon His glory, to contribute to the building of Yahweh’s building itself as an expansion of the glory and the power of God’s building.

132. 1:09:16

     And I believe that Paul’s point here in Corinthians is this, that how we build with God will determine whether or not in the day of testing our work that we have accomplished is going to give forth glory to the Father and remain as part of his building or not. It takes it up another level, doesn’t it? Because what he’s saying here, I believe this is what he’s saying.

133. 1:09:40

     If you are Co labouring together with God, if you have got to the point in your life where you are recognising that the flesh is nothing, that you are not prepared to work in your own strength, but that it is only through God’s strength and His power that you can Co labour and work with Him.

134. 1:09:56

     If that has become our attitude and we are labouring and building as a Co labour with God, then we will be saved. If we have learnt that principle, then we will be saved. And if we have learnt that principle, then the question of the coming of Christ is not our salvation, but the question is whether our work and the contribution we have made in the development of God’s glory is going to to survive or not. The question is essentially, has the contribution we have made personally to the ecclesial environment been one that will stand the day of testing when Christ returns? I believe it picks up the sentiment of the Lord Jesus Christ here in John 17.

135. 1:10:43

     While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gave us, me I have kept, and none is lost.

136. 1:10:55

     Imagine salvation where we enter into the Kingdom, but to know the anguish of our life’s work destroyed it in a moment. We want to build as Co laborers together with God because we earnestly desire to expand His glory to others. Our work is not about ourselves. It’s not just focused upon ourselves, but it’s with our children and with our friends and with those in need and with a broader ecclesial environment.

137. 1:11:26

     We are Co labouring together with God to build one another, fitting each other in as pure gold and as tried silver and as precious polished gems. How tragic to stand at the judgement seat and to find that while by God’s grace we are bought into the Kingdom because we have endeavored to build that, our work has been undone because at times we lost the wisdom of men of God and reverted to schism and division.

138. 1:12:00

     Paul’s plea to the Eclesia that he picks up so beautifully out of Malachi is to highlight that the Lord will come to his temple, which we are building as Co labourers together with God

139. 1:12:18

     in the day of Christ’s return. We will be tried by fire and our work will be revealed as to what manner of work it was. May it be brothers and sisters that having lost ourselves, having become Co labourers, together with God we are able to help one another, all of us to be there as His temple in that day.