1 Cor 3:10
Building people that endure

This verse comes from the first letter of Paul to the church in Corinth. He heard that the people in the church were being immature as they were divided in separate groups. Some claimed they belonged to the group of Paul, and some to the group of Apollos. Paul had to explain that both he and Apollos were not important, but that God is important. So the people should all see themselves belonging to the group of God.

He mentions that both he and Apollos did the jobs that were assigned to them, and that they will both receive a future reward, according to, or in proportion to, their work. After this introduction, we get to our verse today.

In verse 10, Paul said that he used God's grace (power) to lay a foundation. In verse 11 he explains that this foundation is Jesus Christ. And indeed, the very foundation of our faith is Jesus. We Christians are born again the moment we belief that Jesus Christ is God's son, who bore the penalty for our sins and hence restored the relation between God and us.

From the book of Acts, we know that Paul did indeed lay this foundation—of faith in Jesus Christ—in all the cities he visited. He frequently visited cities where no Christians had ever been, and he spread the gospel. But then he moved on and others had to build on top of this foundation. Now a foundation by itself is useless. The purpose of a foundation is to support a building on top of it. And what kind of building should be built on top of the foundation that Paul laid? Paul gives the answer to this question in verse 9. He writes: "You are God's building". So the building on top of the foundation is the church in Corinth, and by extension, us, Christians. We are the building on top of the foundation, which is Christ.

So after Paul laid the foundation, others have to build on it. What else does our verse say? Here we come to the real imperative of this verse. We have to 'take heed' how we do this. The Greek for taking heed is 'blepeto', which means 'to look at, to perceive, to pay careful attention to'. So we should be careful and thoughtful about how we build up the building of ourselves and others. In the next few verses, Paul gives some more information about this building.

12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

These verses are very important. Read them a few times. If we build a quality building of Christians (with gold, silver, or precious stones) that endures, we will receive a reward. The building will be tested by fire in the Day; when Christ comes back and judges our works. So if we build something that will go up in smoke (wood, hay, or straw), then we will suffer loss. We lose the reward, and suffer loss instead, being stained by soot, smelling like smoke, due to our work going up in fire. But yet we ourselves will be saved, we cannot lose our justification.

So ask yourself. What are you building? At the end of your life, can you point to people who have a better relationship with God due to your work? Everything else will go up in smoke.