John Martin - Class 4: You are the Temple of God

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

1. 0:00

   To speak to us and direct us, ye are the temple of God. My beloved brethren and sisters and our Lord Jesus Christ. Well we come to this third chapter of the first of Corinthians. Which of course in our fourth study brings us to a very vital element brethren and sisters as far as the word is concerned.

2. 0:22

   Where Paul is going to tell us that every one of us has opportunity to individually contribute to the work of the truth. Whatever our ability may be, there is opportunity for every brother and sister to do something in the cause of truth. Now just to put that chapter in its context, let's very broadly review what the first two chapters have told us.

3. 0:48

   As we all know the first four chapters of the first epistle to the Corinthians are confined to that problem which had arisen among that ecclesia. Of division of thought. Not on the fundamental doctrines of the truth brethren and sisters. But upon those matters where they were attracted to certain leaders in the ecclesia.

4. 1:11

   And according to their attraction of course they were drawn to these personalities. And because they followed personalities and not what the people taught, there inevitably arose among them a division of thought. And it was a very great problem in that ecclesia. The apostle had exhorted them that it was wrong to trust in big names.

5. 1:33

   Men may have reputations. They may come with a notoriety of being Bible students. But if they're Bible students, they will direct men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest of all names. And this was Paul's point in the early chapters of those Corinthians. He pointed out that it was wrong to glory in men because God was the true source of wisdom.

6. 1:59

   If a man knows anything at all, it's because God taught him. And therefore if men glory at all, let them glory in God. And the very fact he pointed out that the very ecclesial membership consisted not of the intelligentsia of this world. But God has chosen the weak things of this world, the dishonorable things.

7. 2:19

   Men and women who weren't highly regarded for their intellect. And yet here they were, God's choice. And God had obviously not made his choice on the basis of human abilities. He pointed out to them, brethren and sisters, that it wasn't so much human ability that was necessary to attain to a spiritual mind.

8. 2:41

   A lot of people worry about this. Being attracted to the truth and they know that the Bible contains profound truths, they often wonder how far do we have to go in understanding the Bible? What does God expect of men and women? Will he expect the best according to the ability which is given?

9. 3:02

   And God will reveal that truth to men and women of ordinary walks of life. And it does not depend upon the measure of their human intellect or their status in society. It is a question of the revelation of mighty God through his word. When people who, because of their love of him, dedicate themselves to him, when a burning desire to know what that book teaches.

10. 3:30

    And brethren and sisters, the Apostle Paul points out in those verses, that the implications are that there's nobody, doesn't matter how mean they may feel in their abilities, there is nobody who is prepared to give time and energy in their study of God's word, with a burning desire to know what it means, and to pray to their Heavenly Father, there is just nobody that God can't educate.

11. 3:56

    And so it's not a question, therefore, of human abilities or intellect, it is a question of an attitude of mind. And so the Apostle went on to point out, I can only teach spiritual things to spiritual people. And spiritual people are those who have matured in the things of God, and who by reason of use, having their senses exercised in the word of God, understand what they read, because their minds are constantly feeding upon thoughts higher than their own.

12. 4:35

    Thoughts that originate not with man, but with God. Thoughts that are not native to them, and which they adopt into their thinking, and they become spiritual people. And brothers and sisters, it is true, that as a person develops in the spirit word, so that development accelerates accordingly, because they go on from the point where they're at, to build upon what they know and understand, and the spiritual understanding of that person accelerates accordingly.

13. 5:04

    And we're not necessarily talking about the spiritual understanding of detail so much as what the Bible is all about. For a man may know many things, but if he does not see the purpose of those things, the driving moral force in his life, he knows nothing. And the simplest-minded brother or sister, with the imprint of Christ's character upon them, are those who know more about the truth, than those who may necessarily know more in detail.

14. 5:41

    That's Paul's point. It's alright, we can't follow big names. Jesus Christ is the only name under heaven, and we're all comprehended in him. We can't glory in human ability, because God is the source of all wisdom. We can't say we can't understand the Bible, because God can educate anybody. And therefore, brethren and sisters, we have a personal responsibility.

15. 6:07

    Now, chapter 3 deals with the way in which we're going to exercise that personal responsibility in the truth. Now, this is how I feel this chapter is divided up. In the first four verses, he points out to them that the party spirit which had developed in the ecclesia had retarded their individual growth to maturity.

16. 6:33

    From verses 5 to 9, he points out that the preachers of the gospel who they admired so much were really only servants of the ecclesia of more or less efficiency. From verses 10 to 17, he uses certain figures to illustrate the opportunities that are available for everyone to contribute to the work of the truth.

17. 7:02

    And from verses 18 to 23, he returns to the factions issue and exhorts them to divine wisdom as against the folly of human wisdom. So let's take the first four verses. The party spirit had retarded their spiritual growth. Now, Paul said to them, I can only speak spiritual things to spiritual people. And I illustrated that, brethren and sisters.

18. 7:32

    You will remember in the earlier study that as far as we're concerned, when we're talking to each other about the mundane things of life, we're on a human level. We talk about things that we understand. They're native to us. We relate to them. We understand each other. We express ourselves in terms and feelings which we find a kindred spirit in ourselves.

19. 7:53

    But when we turn to God's word, where the prophet says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, we find that our human thinking won't fit the pattern of that book. And so we've got to adopt the thinking of the spirit word. We're going to read those words, interpret those words, see what they mean, and relate to a higher way of thinking.

20. 8:19

    And that takes time and effort. Now the Corinthians with these party factions, forever arguing among themselves, never gave themselves the opportunity to develop that spiritual mind. And so Paul couldn't get through to them. He couldn't get through to them. He says, brethren, I couldn't speak unto you. You don't understand me. Because he says, you're carnal.

21. 8:43

    You're still in babyhood. You're babes in Christ. Now you can't go to your baby and open up a mature conversation with that child. It's a ridiculous illustration, really. And this is what the apostle is saying. I cannot talk to babies. And you know, brethren and sisters, the word of God, in its simplicity, in its fundamental simplicity, is likened to the milk of the word.

22. 9:13

    All of us, at one time of our development, had to participate in that. The apostle Peter, in another place, exhorts us. He says, as sincere children, desire the milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. mine.

23. 9:33

    And you know, it is so wrong for people to imagine that God is satisfied if we stop at a certain stage of development and say, well, I know enough to be saved. So from this point onwards, I've got no need to worry. That is a disastrous doctrine. Desire the sincere milk of the word, says Peter, that ye may grow thereby.

24. 9:58

    And that's what Paul told the Corinthians. I can't talk to you in a mature way because you don't understand me. As Paul told the Hebrews in another place, for when the time come that ye ought to be teachers, ye have one that needs teach you again what be the first principles of the oracles of God, and have become as such as have need of milk and not of strong meat.

25. 10:22

    For milk, he says, belongeth to those who are unskillful in the word of righteousness. But meat belongeth unto them who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern between good and evil. So there's a very powerful exhortation, brothers and sisters, to continue on in our studies in the word. And again, I emphasize, he is not necessarily talking about the piling up of detail.

26. 10:46

    Though that is sometimes a very desirable thing in study leadership. But every brother and sister must in their own way could go forward in the things of God. Now you've only got to say, think to yourself, and this does happen. Medical science has recorded such things, brothers and sisters, that there are cases of children being born, nurtured up, from their mother, of course, and they grow on, and they are then fed with a bottle.

27. 11:16

    That child continues to grow. And there are cases known in medical history where a child will grow to sometimes to five and six years of age and appear to be perfectly normal until it suddenly reveals that that child is retarded and will possibly not progress much more beyond that age of understanding. And we know the tragedy of that.

28. 11:45

    Those of us who have been parents could only just imagine the tragedy of that in any household. It is no different, brothers and sisters, in the truth, as with the natural, so with the spiritual. What a tragic thing it would be for the Lord Jesus Christ to come back to find an ecclesia like that at Corinth that had never progressed beyond the fundamentals of the truth and were babies in Christ.

29. 12:09

    And these are the people that God is calling out of the nations to rule the world. that they might go forth in the maturity of manhood or womanhood, in the understanding of God's ways to bring to bear upon the minds of people all over this world what be the pristine glories of God's word and the wonderful things that will set people on a course of action that will glorify God.

30. 12:36

    And Paul was very, very upset about that. I can't speak to you, he says, in relation to these matters because you're like children. I fed you with milk, he says, and not with meat for hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet are you now able. It was one thing, brethren and sisters, for them not being able to bear with the meat but he says that I could understand that early in your development but he says I'm still in that situation with you.

31. 13:06

    And here after a few years of development the Corinthians were still in that situation where he couldn't get through to them on these matters. There's a very powerful exhortation in that, brethren and sisters. You know, it is an observable fact of human behaviour that in any society that progresses they are at one on the fundamental basis of progression.

32. 13:35

    It is no different in the ecclesia. It is an observable fact of history that we are a group of men and women who have made up their mind once and for all what be the true foundations of the word of God who have gotten over any petty differences that may divide them who see the ideal of Jesus Christ before them as being bigger than any issue between them and him and all eyes fastened on that objective and striving towards that objective that ecclesia will develop like a bushfire because it is projected from a common basis.

33. 14:14

    But if in the progress of that there is divergence of opinion where the ecclesia has got to stop to deal with that divergence and bring it back into conformity then the time spent on that, brethren and sisters, must be time lost in progression and that's Paul's point. You're not yet able to bear it.

34. 14:36

    You're still in that state of immaturity and he said to them for while one saith, he says in verse 4, while one saith, I am of Paul and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Now you will notice that the four divisions have now become two. Remember in chapter 1 he said that there was a party which says I follow Paul, there was another party which says I follow Cephas or Peter, another one which said I follow Apollos, the other party says I follow Christ, falsely so, but there were the four of them.

35. 15:16

    Now they're down to two. And you know, when you look at that ecclesia and the rest of the epistle that comes after this, you see that really looking at the ecclesia it was divided basically into two large groups. And as I see it brethren and sisters as this argument developed that it was divided between those who followed rhetoric and ability to quote the Bible in debate as against those who lined up behind the Apostle Paul in more of the profundity in the deep things of the word.

36. 15:48

    And you know if we're not careful in our ecclesial activities we can become unbalanced one way or the other. We have a bounden duty to preach the gospel to the world. From time to time we stand on this platform and we deal with the doctrines of the word of God. We teach the mortality of man, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the setting up of the kingdom of God, the unity of God and a host of other fundamental doctrines which we abound in duty it is to preach those things from Sunday to Sunday and when every opportunity presents itself.

37. 16:22

    But there's got to be brothers and sisters those other times in our life when we come here like this to get down to what is the meat of that word and both of those things are vitally necessary. And you will always find in ecclesial life that we place in our own minds an emphasis on one or the other.

38. 16:46

    And you'll find in your ecclesial activities there are brethren who are fervent and who are zealous in preaching the truth to the outsider but not altogether do you find them with the same fervor and zeal for the particular study of the word. On the other hand of course the converse is true. Some brethren get so immersed in the details of the meat of the word but they almost treat with contempt their duty to preach the simple things of the gospel of Christ.

39. 17:17

    And these things do develop in communities that are not mature. We must see brethren and sisters very clearly our duty in both respects. But let's say this it wasn't Paul or Apollos that were at fault. And you know brethren and sisters it must have been a very painful thing for Paul to have to use his own name and Apollos' to demonstrate his point.

40. 17:40

    Because over in chapter 4 in verse 6 speaking in the same context he says and these things brethren I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written that no one of you be puffed up for one against the other.

41. 18:05

    Now you notice what he says. he says look Apollos and I we're not at loggerheads oh no Apollos was the preacher of the truth he was the debater Paul was the profound teacher of deep things of God but they worked together brethren and sisters wonderfully well they weren't at loggerheads they were brethren together and he says it's unfortunate I've got to transfer these things in a figure to Apollos and to myself to illustrate the folly of your mind and he was pointing out the folly of the mind of those Corinthian brethren and sisters in creating those party factions you know brethren and sisters if Paul and Apollos were lesser men then it could well have happened that all the schismatic movements in that ecclesia one against the other could have fed into the minds of those great men and set them against each other but they were above that they were way above that and it is true in ecclesial life that as we sometimes humanly make our comparisons we contribute sometimes to a brother's thinking things which are not altogether spiritual and we may be the cause brethren and sisters of some animosity between brethren of high repute and we may have to bear the responsibility for that even if they've got to bear their own responsibility for listening to such gossip but it does happen we all need to see our relative positions in the truth in the sight of almighty God and you know it's a terrible thing that Paul had to say what he did but now he talks about himself and Apollos why should they glory in Paul or Apollos

42. 19:58

    he says this in verse 5 who then is Paul and who is Apollos now you imagine these people they're lined up behind these two men they're following them instead of following what they're teaching instead of listening to what they're saying they're being attracted by the personality and Paul's point is this who am I who's Apollos who are we well he explained who they were he says we are the ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man now that's who they were they were ministers by whom they believed even as the Lord gave to every man now the word ministers in the Greek brethren and sisters is diakonos it's the word from which we get that English word deacon and a deacon in the true scriptural definition of that term was a man in the early ecclesia who ran all the errands of the ecclesia and was a little boy servant he wasn't the overseer he didn't run the ecclesia he didn't have any control of the administration he did all the menial tasks and Paul says who are we we're running around looking after you Corinthians that's who we are God has appointed us to look after you we your servants and here they were in the folly of their humanity brethren sisters elevating servants to the status far and beyond that which God intended and so this is what the apostle had to say now they were arguing according as they were going between each other they were arguing that Apollos had more converts than Paul or Paul had more converts than Apollos and they were lining up behind

43. 21:56

    the two men on the basis of how many converts those two men had made but he says look we're only servants of the ecclesia he says by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man so if Paul's addresses in the synagogue resulted in some conversions it is because God called those people to the truth all Paul was was a mouth if in Apollos' debates in the streets of Corinth publicly confuting the Jews he was able to bring a few of them to the understanding of the gospel of Christ it's because God converted them and all he was was an eloquent mouthpiece that God used for the occasion that's all Paul is saying why should they glory in us look he said I have planted and Apollos watered that's true historically that was true Paul came to Corinth when there was no ecclesia he planted the thing he put it in the ground Apollos came along later he was sent there by Aquila and Priscilla from Ephesus and when he came there he watered that plant he spoke to the ecclesia he educated them he thrilled them with the word of truth but God made them to grow I can get a tree you can take a tree no problems in the world to take it outside and plant it someone else can go out with a watering can and they can water it I cannot make it grow circumstances of soil atmosphere sun and rain will make it grow I can control none of them and I don't understand why it goes I understand that if I tend it it will grow

44. 23:46

    but I'm not making it grow and that's Paul's point so who are we he said but mere servants I plant Apollos watereth God gives the increase but he said in verse 7 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 you see brethren this is what he is saying they were lighting up behind the two men and making two divisions in the ecclesia but the two men were working together to make that ecclesia grow what they were doing was complimentary one to the other Paul didn't plant and Apollos pluck it up Paul put the plant in the ground and Apollos watered it and they had a single minded objective in getting those men and women into the kingdom of God now whatever our abilities are in the truth and where our vocation in the truth will be directed by our abilities God given we have to be honest with ourselves and say well this is my vocation the truth I can do this on the other hand we've got to be strictly honest with ourselves and say I can't do that and when we've worked out brethren and sisters where we're most effective then get into that work and find other brethren and sisters who are doing what you can't do and contribute together with a common objective to get us all into God's kingdom he that planteth and he that watereth were one but the Corinthians had made them two and that's where they'd made their great mistake now Paul to try to illustrate his

45. 25:37

    point uses a couple of illustrations verse eight again now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour by which he means this brethren and sisters that every individual in the truth labouring to the glory of God will receive his own reward that is we do act as individuals Paul is not saying that we have not got an individual responsibility what he is saying is that every individual labouring in the truth will receive his own reward he won't receive another man's reward and you can imagine the Lord Jesus Christ when he returns if this problem of Corinth hadn't been fixed up of a group of brethren and sisters from the Corinthian ecclesia coming before the Lord Jesus Christ and claiming they had a right to enter his kingdom because they supported Paul or Apollos and the Lord would point out to them as he will point out to all of us that though we are a cooperative team in the work of the truth yet nonetheless even in that cooperative team we have individual responsibilities and it won't be any good me going to the Lord and say Lord I didn't do anything for the truth but I was morally supporting that brother well he says okay that brother will go into the kingdom he'll receive his own reward now let's see what you've done oh well I

46. 27:33

    reward according to his own labour and he's been using the illustration of a farm for we are labourers together with God ye are God's husbandry the word in the Greek really means a farm we're God's farm so God has a farm you know sometimes the ecclesia is likened to a vineyard it's likened to a building as we shall see in a moment and here it's likened to a farm now Ronnie Gibson read for us the first Corinthians three he's a farmer he knows what it means to be a farmer farmer of course in today's world he's Australian farmer quite different than these people of course we have large land holdings but even that one farmer has got to be a many things he's got to be a farmer he's got to be a veterinary !

47. 28:32

    expert at none but he can do everything because he knows this that if he doesn't know a whole roles a whole manner of things on that farm then he's going to be in trouble that's how an Australian farmer operates but these people didn't have large land holdings and there was a cooperative effort so one did this and one did that and one did something else and they exchanged their barter and God on his farm had separated that farm into various little farmlets and each ecclesia was responsible for that area in which they worked and each brother was responsible in the ecclesia for his own particular work and as they worked on God's farm to do the various things that farms need done on

48. 29:18

    one needed the other had and what the other didn't have this one had and they bartered you might say exchange between themselves the spiritual things of God's farm but it had to be a cooperative effort and then Paul very quickly turns the figure to a building ye are God's building now why would he change the figure like that so quickly well you see I believe he knew the character of that city and he saw something in that city and Paul was a very observant man you know when you read through his epistles you read that he reflects much upon the activity of any particular place that he's writing to it may be the commerce of the city it may even be the sports arena from which he draws a moral lesson but in many ways the apostle was a very observant character and he would see the situation in Corinth and so he changes the figure to a building because he wants to make a point about this he wants to show them how we can all be individually responsible for a work of the truth and we can contribute to the building of God's ecclesia so according to that figure then in verse 10 responsible for a work of the truth and we can all contribute to the building of God's ecclesia so according to that figure then in verse 10 he says according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder now Paul saw himself as the architect the actual Greek word there for master builder is a word from which the English word architect comes

49. 31:15

    so Paul saw himself as the architect I want you to notice brethren and sisters that as he styled himself the wise master builder he does so he said according to the grace of God and I believe that there was an allusion in those words to a very wonderful prophecy which is found in the fourth chapter of Zechariah when Zechariah saw the temple being built and as the temple of course was constructed from the corner stone and every stone every single stone measured from the one on the building had come up perfectly the stone would go in perfectly and locked the whole building and that was called the head stone and as Zechariah saw the God's kingdom set up upon the earth in the figure of that temple and he saw that stone go in he heard shouting saying grace grace unto it now Paul says according to the grace of God as a wise architect and he's got in mind the figure of that prophecy of Zechariah 4 that whatever is built brethren and sisters to the glory of God is done by the grace of God if you feel if I feel that we've contributed in any way to the work of the truth then let's rejoice in the grace of God that's let us do that so he didn't say I'm just a wise master !

50. 33:18

    But do you know in verse 11 he says for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ if you read those words you would think well what he's saying is I've laid the foundation in the Corinthian area and I laid the foundation of the development of that ecclesia and I laid it in the fact that Jesus Christ was the foundation but the problem is this that the tenth of the Greek in verse 11 reads like this for other foundation can no man lay than that which is already lying which is Jesus Christ isn't that interesting so the apostles virtually saying now I've laid the foundation but really I didn't lay it it was already there and that's what he's trying to tell them what he did was to direct them to the foundation which was already there and you know why he did that because there was another prophecy in Isaiah 28 which said behold I Yahweh I lay the foundation in Zion he laid that foundation not Paul and all Paul did was to direct people to that foundation upon which everyone then had the opportunity to build and that's exactly the same as us isn't it we wouldn't dare come along and say I laid the foundation of this ecclesia because we didn't that foundation was laid 1900 years ago all we can ever do brethren and sisters is to direct people to that foundation and how to build upon it and when you got a foundation of course you've got the pattern of your building you !

51. 35:06

    can't deviate from it because that determines the pattern of your building but everything that goes up on that foundation therefore must fit the pattern of that building there's no way that you can deviate from it because the pattern has been set so said Paul in verse 12 now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay and stubble he builds in many ways coming back to verse 10 at the end of the verse he says but let every man take heed how he build there upon and as we build upon the Christ foundation brethren and sisters it takes a lot of skill and thought that what we do build is in accordance with that pattern we must concentrate upon that foundation now the builders got going and here of course is where the apostles figure of Corinth comes into play upon that foundation members of the ecclesiants commence to build now some men built with gold silver and precious stones others built with wood hay and stubble now I believe the change of the figure from the farm to the building was because of the situation in Corinth because around about 150 odd years before the apostle ever got there it became a Roman province when the Roman general mummins came to that city in about BC 146 and he raised that city to the ground with fire some of the buildings of that city were very substantial and they withstood the fire because they were made of stone all the hovels of course which were legion in Corinth because it was a great thriving metropolis and seaport were absolutely destroyed

52. 37:01

    out of hand and there arose in that city all around that city they rebuilt the old buildings which were still scarred they say with all the searing flames and the smoke which left their mark upon those buildings and of course around those other buildings but there was the stark history before them that some of those buildings survived and some didn't survive it was according to how people built as to whether their buildings survived or not and it's the same with the ecclesia we got to be extremely careful how we build brothers and sisters but you know there is a wonderful encouragement in this figure he says this verse 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 if any man's work abide which he has built there upon he shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire now that introduces a very very interesting facet as far as our ecclesial life is concerned for you see brethren and sisters though there may be poor builders as against good builders no builder no builder builder will be lost there is not a brother or a sister who builds in any way that will be lost there's only one class in that chapter that will be lost the destroyer verse 17 if any man defile the temple of God him shall God destroy and the word defile and the word destroy in the Greek

53. 39:26

    are exactly the same if any man destroy the temple of God him shall God destroy now you think about that brethren and sisters and you look at your ecclesial life you look at the community of people with whom we mix absolutely one of the most glorious experiences of anyone's life who's ever been by the grace of God permitted to travel this world ask any brother in this audience who's been in that situation ask Peter ask anyone that's been around this world it's one of the most thrilling experiences to step off an airplane 10 17 20 thousand miles around this world and to walk into a family of people and you wonder if you've ever left home and they don't all build very famously some brethren are equipped some sisters are equipped by diligent research into God's word and application to build wonderful edifices their work has a divine stamp about it they are towers of strength in the meeting they encourage others and those that they encourage and who come under the immediate influence of them are themselves tremendous people there are other brethren and sisters way out in the confines of isolation haven't got your opportunities or my opportunities brethren and sisters some ecclesiast who haven't got a brother in them to minister from the platform and have to listen to tapes and have got no other access to the word of God poor people many of them inability there their building is not a great very great edifice at all you wouldn't come away and say well that's a tower of strength of the truth but you come away impressed with those people

54. 41:25

    that they're doing what they can in that circumstance wood hay and stubble it may be but they are trying and you do see from time to time the destroyer do you know when in the days of Haggai and Zechariah when they were called down to build that temple again after the captivity in Babylon 70 years captivity when the glorious edifice of Solomon's temple was swept away by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar and raised to the ground and they were dragged off into chains into captivity and there by the willows of Babylon they hang their harps and refused to sing the songs of Zion but the prophecy of Daniel was right within 70 years the captivity rolled back as Jeremiah the prophet had told Daniel and Daniel reminded God of his prayer and the time came for them to return and they returned back to build the temple and they laid the foundation and the old men that were there looked at that foundation and they could remember years ago the glory of Solomon's temple and they wept with depressed disappointment and the younger generation who had never known the glory of Solomon's temple but saw in that foundation opportunity to work for God sang for joy and so the record says you couldn't discern the noise of the singing from the noise of the crying but it wasn't long brethren and sisters before the old men's depression and despondency overtook them all and they left the building half completed and they went and wandered away to their own homes and the work of God crumbled and the prophet called them back and he pointed out to

55. 43:14

    them the building meant nothing to God yet once more he said I'm going to destroy it you build it I'll destroy it again it means nothing to me but your labors mean everything build it he said I don't care how you build it go up into the mountain bring wood Solomon's temple was built of gold you go and get wood he says and I will be glorified if you haven't got gold go and get something and so the people were exhorted brethren and sisters to build with whatever resources were at hand what did it matter the building was going to be destroyed by God again the prophecy was clear 80 70 came and away she went again but what did that matter brethren and sisters what really mattered was the character building characters were built into those bricks which war and fire could never destroy you take our ecclesial life today we are a poor and despised people we are a minority sect who are the christian elvins no one would be able to tell you it's the day of small things and what we do today in our ecclesial activity brethren and sisters will be superseded by the great ecclesia of the future when Jesus Christ comes to build the temple of God both spiritual and natural and the world will resound with God's praise and we'll look back upon all our puny efforts to sing his praises to organize our praise evenings and our song and praise evenings we'll look upon our puny efforts and they will pale into insignificance but God will be pleased with our endeavors and though they will not be any use to him

56. 44:54

    in the kingdom because now we have immortal voices and immortal bodies and an immortal ruler the indelible characters developed in the building of those things today which are despised are the things which tower as edifices brothers and sisters that no man can destroy bring wood says God and so when the apostle looked at that situation there were the brethren who built gold and silver and precious stones and there were the brethren who built with wood, hate and stubble but they built and that's the important thing and though their work may not abide they themselves would be saved yet so as by fire that is it would be an anguished and narrow escape because they hadn't been as diligent as they might be in the work of God but they had done something to contribute to the well-being of the ecclesia if every brother and sister of any particular meeting went home from with this weekend with a determination that what come what may happen to the two things they were going to do they were going to lift up their eyes look over the heads of all the problems and see the coming of Christ as the greatest single event in all history and because they want to be related to that the second thing they're going to put their heads down their shoulders to the wheel and do what anything they possibly can to contribute to the work of the ecclesia and I'll tell you brethren and sisters if you do no more than polish the floor in that objective you'll be in God's kingdom and that's the spirit that Paul was trying to get

57. 46:35

    into the Corinthians no good standing behind big names get out and do something for yourself he says in the work of the truth and so he returns finally to the matter of those party factions and he says in that 18th verse let no man deceive himself if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world let him become a fool that he may be wise now Paul of course is not exhorting anyone to become a fool in the absolute sense of that turn what he's saying brethren and sisters that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God and conversely the wisdom of God is foolishness to this world well says Paul let the world think what they like but if you really want to be wise then it doesn't matter in the world's eyes if you do become a fool so what let them think what they like but let us be dedicated to the ideals of God and that's all that matters so if we think if any man wants to be wise in this world then he become a fool to be really wise in the things of God and then you know brethren and sisters he quotes a couple of scriptures for the wisdom of this world in verse 9 he says is foolishness with God for it is written he taketh the wise in their own craftiness and again then the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain I told you before that whenever the Bible quotes the Bible don't leave it there we won't go into this in detail I'll leave you to

58. 48:31

    search the matter out but he quotes two scriptures he quotes Job chapter 5 and verse 13 which are the words of Eliaphaz who stood up as one of the critics of Job claimed to be the oldest of them all and to have visions of God and that God appeared to him personally in the night with a message to come to Job and in the pompousness of his pride he came along to teach Job that God takes the wise in their own craftiness and he did because he took Eliaphaz in his own craftiness and the other quotation brethren and sisters is in Psalm 94 where the psalm says as Paul quotes it the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain and you know why he quotes Psalm 94 because in verse 5 of that psalm and he quotes verse 11 in verse 5 of that psalm it speaks about the destroyers of God's heritage and that's the point he's making in that chapter they were expected to go back and search that context the apostles were ever doing that dropping in quotations not like sermons taking a text out of its context and making it mean nothing but taking a text out of its context to mean something expecting them to put it back into that context if you went back and read psalm 94 you would learn that God is against those who destroy the heritage of Yahweh and that's what he's been dealing with so just a couple of quotations dropped in there to warn them about the consequences of destroying the work of God then he makes this point

59. 50:30

    brethren and sisters it was so foolish of them to glory in men for two reasons and he's going to point those two reasons out to them the first of those reasons he says was that mere human abilities of course were not a cause for glory so if they were glorying their leaders in the ecclesia there was no cause for that and the reasons were that those men were not working according to their own ability or their status and the second reason is this that whatever was done in the ecclesia was done to glorify them what foolish people here's God working to glorify them and in their great inability which these poor people found themselves in searching for some identity in somebody else here's God trying to tell them I'm working to glorify not your leader you and the inferiority complex which they had brethren and sisters was such that that never dawned on them and you know it wasn't a question of pride that was their problem although of course pride takes many forms but it was in the form of an inferiority complex that had developed that problem and if there had been a mere question of raw pride Paul could never have ended this chapter like he did but he tried to elevate their thinking and said look really it's stupid of you people for you're the ones that God's elevating you're the ones so he says this in verse 21 therefore let no man glory and men for all things are yours all things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas the world life death things present things to come all are yours

60. 52:55

    you see brethren and sisters they were theirs they're ours we've been called to the truth the truth of the bible we've been called to the hope of Israel we've been called to the great hope of the gospel the one hope the whole world is ours look the apostle Paul says this Paul Apollos Cephas they're your servants life was your opportunity death was a rest things present brethren and sisters were their provision things to come their final happiness everything in life every person involved in the work of the truth was belonging to them and they were glorying in others God says look I want to glorify you and he was trying to lift these people out of the slough of despond and from their inability to do something for themselves to stand up for God and to say well if that is the great cause to which we have been called if God is doing all these things for us what can we do to show our appreciation and to put their shoulders to the wheel and work their fingers to the bone and their minds to the greatest extent possible to elevate in their minds of themselves and their brethren and sisters the glory of God and if all things were theirs he says your Christ's so you see brethren and sisters it wasn't as if God was going to give them everything in their own right oh no God doesn't elevate men to think like that but men can be elevated in their thinking as long as they appreciate that any exalted status which they do have in reaping the benefits of the work of God

61. 54:40

    it is only because they are in Christ and if therefore they should glory in Christ never let them forget this and Christ is God see the finale oh it's glorious see that it's absolutely beautiful elevating their minds stultifying of course any pride that might be there by saying now you can only have those privileges if you're in Christ and if they were to run away with the idea that their glory was to finish there brethren and sisters never let us forget that Christ is God it's the same argument back in chapter 1 that no flesh should glory in his presence for ye are in Christ who is of God and as we go down or up the scale brethren and sisters we move up the scale the ascending scale of credit and honour it all centres finally in our creator starts with him and finishes with him he will be all and in all and once we see that when we come to grips with that fact that one day this world will light up with God's glory that one day brethren and sisters a day of which we know virtually nothing when the end cometh when he shall hand the kingdom back to the father when the son also himself shall be subject unto him that put all things unto him in that one day that epoch of time the olam and the ad be on it there'll come a time brethren and sisters when God shall be all and in all and the whole universe will become swollen up in God in a manner that is beyond our comprehension when we come to

62. 56:54

    grips with that then as we come down again the ascending scale to our ecclesial floor how petty are our differences how very small are they and when we come to that understanding brethren and sisters and we grow up beyond babyhood and we become mature men and women listening to the spirit's voice in the word of God then those sort of things won't ruffle us one little bit and looking over the top of all those petty things of the glory that lays behind we shall put our hands to that building and ever so carefully measure that foundation choosing the gold the silver and the precious stones and up and up and up and up and up we will contribute to the work of God an edifice of character brethren and sisters that is indestructible and in our endeavours knowing that somewhere along the line we're going to make a mistake as human beings we are and that in that place of that building somewhere we will put wood hay and stubble and yet not consciously doing it we know that this fact remains that if we are builders we'll survive there's only one class to warn for the destroyer you know brethren and sisters it's up to each and every one of us to stand back from anything we do in the ecclesia and always put the question going to say something we're going to say it quickly or slowly better slowly we're going to do something hastily or with careful thought better with careful thought but whatever it is the burning question is will it contribute to the building up of the ecclesia that is the

63. 59:08

    burning question because it will be tried by fire and if we can contribute to the work of the truth in that way brethren and sisters then we can look forward to being ourselves gold silver and precious stones in the house of God constructed of living stones of men and women from time memorial Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone of and and and and and !