Transcribed by Beluga AI.
Thank you, Brother Ron. That was a good testimony. The Lord, He wants to be so near us. He wants to be our best friend, and we are distracted by many things. So thank you for that.
Let me read from 1 Corinthians 3. I was wrestling with what to preach, and God gave me a dream, and I felt like I was living in 1 Corinthians 3. And He confirmed that message. It’s one of those dreams you’re so happy when you wake up that it’s just a dream. The details are fuzzy, but I’m so grateful it was just a dream.
1 Corinthians 3:12-15:
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:12-15, ESV)
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, we want to understand and examine, with your help, what our foundation is and how we’re building the house of our lives on top of that foundation. Please give us revelation and understanding. We want to meet you. Send the Holy Spirit to help us. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
I got into a new hobby these days. And so if you watch my, if you watch my YouTube clips, you’ll see, like, what I’m interested in. I have a lot of mobility exercises, people in their 50s+, how to stay mobile. I’m amazed at how people move. I think I used to be able to move in that way, and I’m stiffening up. So if you watch, look at my—the algorithm of YouTube knows me, and so that’s one type of YouTube clip that you will see.
The other one that’s popping up these days is the planted aquarium. And I want to—I’m not going to charge you for this, but I’m going to give you a little tip on how to do a planted aquarium for yourself. You will really enjoy it. It is a good hobby.
A planted aquarium does not need a filter. You just need the right environment, and the water and the environment will clean itself. It’s like God’s ecosystem. So you can start with a little layer of topsoil at the bottom of the planted aquarium, and then on top of it, you put an active substrate, so it’s different than in the past. I just had rocks or gravel, but that gets dirty, that has no benefit whatsoever. But an active substrate is nutrient rich. It keeps the PH of the water low.
So you get the topsoil, a thin layer on top of it, you cap it with the active substrate, and then you start planting underwater plants. And so that by itself will start taking the ammonia and all the toxins out of the water.
And then you have to have distilled water, and so distilled water is one of the keys. It is a costly thing to buy a distiller or to buy distilled water, but if you use regular filtered water, it will not do the job because toxins will build up because it’s not clean. And I’ve proven this for years that I’ve added distilled water to fish.
So if you’re wondering, is it safe to drink distilled water as humans, I can tell you from the fish’s testimony that I have had fish that live for years. It’s not normal that fish live this long, but because they’ve been breathing distilled water all their lives, they’re doing quite well.
So you get the distilled water, the planted, the topsoil, the foundation, the active substrate, put the underwater plants, but then it’s still not enough plants to take all the ammonia and the nitrates and the things that are pooped out of the fish. So you need to supplement with above-water plants.
And certain plants—it grows well submerged. And so I started researching what kind of plants do this. Peace lilies. As long as just the root is underwater, but the rest of the plant is above water, a lot of roots come, and that’s what sucks in all the toxins. So peace lilies, monstera plants are amazing, spider plants…
So, if you’re interested in this, talk to me afterwards. It is a great, great hobby. You will find yourself being at peace just watching this creation, this ecosystem, and you barely have to do anything. You just top it off with distilled water and it works.
So yes, you can visit. And the reason why I bring that example is 1 Corinthians 3 is talking about a foundation and a house and materials that we use to build our house. And like an aquarium, if you use plastic plants and rocks, you’re going to have a hard time keeping that thing clean and you’re going to do a lot of effort. And I’ve gone through all of that. But if you have the right foundation and you build on top of the house with costly materials, then you will thrive in this life and into eternal life.
In 1 Corinthians 3:9, it says,
9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:9, ESV)
So this physical structure is not the church. I will never ask for a building fund because I don’t want to invest in structure. Although we need to gather, we need to rent. I will never ask you for money so that we can build a large building because God’s definition of a building is not the structure; it is us. We need to build ourselves up.
As I think through this text, I thought about four types of people in this life. The first type is: they’ve never met Jesus, and so their lives have the wrong foundation. It doesn’t matter how pretty it looks on the outside. There is no heaven, of course, if they don’t know Jesus, and there is no heavenly reward.
And this actually includes even many churchgoers, because if you read Matthew 7:21, many people call Jesus Lord and they do a lot of ministry. But Jesus says, “I never knew you,” not just “I met you,” but He says, “I never,” so the foundation was never laid. They never met Jesus, and the foundation of their lives was ministry or something other than Jesus Christ. So no heaven, no reward.
Then there are people who meet Jesus in the beginning, but they fall into deception. And if you die in that state with the wrong foundation, because that’s all that Satan can do, He can just deceive you and give you a counterfeit. So you had the right foundation along the way, as it says in 1 Timothy 6, you swerved from the faith, and so the foundation was replaced, unbeknownst to you. And if you die in that state, there is no heaven and obviously no heavenly reward.
The third type of person is: you met Jesus in the beginning. There is a right foundation, so you’re doing well up until this point. But you built with cheap, cheap materials. And so you make it into heaven, barely escaping the fires of hell, and there is little to no reward.
And then there’s a fourth type of person. You met Jesus throughout your life. You have the right foundation, and you built with costly materials. Of course there is heaven for you, and in heaven there is a great reward.
And 1 Corinthians 3 talks about the third and the fourth type of person, and I want to talk about these two types.
So the first question I had is, what is a costly material? And I’ve been asking the Lord throughout this week. That’s why I was wrestling. Is this really what you want me to talk about? I can’t talk about it unless you give me an answer to this question. What is this costly material?
And the answer was in the very next chapter, 1 Corinthians 4:5.
5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5, ESV)
The secrets of the heart. If you have the right motives. If what drives you is the right material, a costly thing, then not only is there heaven for you, but there is a great reward.
1 Corinthians 3 talks extensively about cheap materials, and so that’s what we can glean from this chapter. Not—it doesn’t talk too much about costly materials, but there is cheap materials all over this chapter.
So 1 Corinthians 3:3, it says,
3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? (1 Corinthians 3:3, ESV)
And then verse four.
4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? (1 Corinthians 3:4, ESV)
And jumping down to verse 21:
21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. (1 Corinthians 3:21-23, ESV)
So the first cheap material that I see from this section is anything that flows from your flesh, the carnal person. This is selfish ambition. This is vain conceit. This is pride. These are the secrets of the heart that we might not even recognize that this is what drives all that I do. But we can ask the Lord, what is the secret in my heart that I don’t even see? Can you show it to me? Because I really want to know. Because I want to maximize the reward and make sure I have a proper foundation.
And so if you’ve been in certain communities, I think you understand what it’s talking about here. It is so much about people and my leader and them getting glory and me being approved by this leader and me being raised up in this community so that I also can become a leader. Other people look up to me, and that is such a cheap, cheap material. And if you live that way, you are forfeiting all of your reward because you’ve already enjoyed the reward here on earth: praise of man. These are cheap, cheap materials.
And in fact, if you live this way, it’s very difficult. Are you—is there a proper foundation? You really don’t know if you live carnally, if you live by the flesh, if you live out of selfish ambition and pride, and “I’m better than you,” and “I want to, I want to be praised by men,” or “I want to praise my leader.” If you live that way, it’s really hard to know: is there a proper foundation or not.? Obviously, it’s clear the reward is going to be small, if at all. But it’s really hard to know, is the foundation solid?
God is so gracious. Even somebody who uses cheap material, He will save you if you’ve met Jesus even once. That is the comfort that I receive from this text.
But we don’t want to be people who are making it into heaven, and the backside, all of our backside is torched. We don’t want to make it into heaven that way, barely. We want to have a right foundation and also clean up the motives.
There’s also verse 18. It says,
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. (1 Corinthians 3:18, ESV)
So that’s also a cheap material. If you trust in yourself, you trust in your wisdom, you trust in your experience, you’re always giving advice because you trust in all the things that you think have made you a wise person. And that is also so cheap. That is so cheap.
Let’s discard all of these cheap materials, because in the end it says in verse 5, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul?” Well, Apollo is a great speaker. Paul is an apostle. And then he continues: “Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth.”
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7, ESV)
So Apollos might say, “Why, I’m a great speaker.” And he may pat himself on the back. “Look at how great I speak, look at how people respond to my preaching.” And he can get so puffed up in this mindset of “Look at how gifted I am as a teacher, a preacher.” And if he builds his house—it’s a right foundation—but if he builds his house with that cheap material, he is forfeiting his reward.
Apostle Paul could have said, “I’m an apostle. Revere me, pay me, Church. I deserve all the money.” But he doesn’t do that. He is working with his own hands to sew tents because he doesn’t want to burden people financially. He says, “I had every right to ask, but I don’t want to burden you. I don’t want you to think I’m doing it for money.” He is blameless in all he does. Him, and Peter—he’s an apostle, and he says, “But we are brothers of equal standing.”
And so always these true apostles, they’re not glorifying themselves. They’re not bringing attention to themselves. When people give them attention, they say, “Don’t do that, just get up.” Like in Revelation, there’s an angel of the Lord that goes to John and gives this amazing revelation of the throne room of heaven. And John obviously falls down, and the angel says, “Get up. I’m just a servant.” The angel is above us in creation order, slightly. Yet this angel, this servant of the Lord, says to Apostle John, “Get up. I am just a servant like you.”
And so a proper leader knows how to not receive glory because it is training, it is modeling. Don’t build with a cheap material, because if he receives glory, chances are you will also build with that cheap material and forfeit your reward.
And then there’s a costly reward.
Verse 6 and 7. Again it says,
7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:7-9, ESV)
A costly material from this chapter is somebody who does not receive glory for himself or herself, but gives God all the glory. And deep down, the motives of his heart confirm that’s what’s driving him or her. “I don’t need glory. I don’t need validation in this world. I’m just playing my part, whether it’s to plant the seed, whether it’s to water the seed.” If there’s salvation, who brought the salvation? Is it the evangelist? Is it the friend, the disciple who walked alongside of this non-believer? And then there was a conversion? Does either person take even one ounce of credit and say, “Well, I gave up my career to go into evangelism, to be a pastor”? And so, “This salvation, it belongs to me, and this person better thank me for the rest of their days.” And I should be puffed up because look at how many people have been baptized, how many people have been saved through this ministry. And we keep track. And every year we, we glorify ourselves and our church by broadcasting to the world the number of people that we are saving and baptizing because, secretly, that is what’s driving the ministry.
Or can we say, “God, you receive all the glory. I didn’t do anything. I’m nothing. So, so much of a privilege that I can participate in a small way to play my part. But without you, there is no salvation. Without you, there is no salvation. God, you did it.”
And so when people are trying to thank the evangelist, the evangelist says, “Give God the glory. He did it.” When the pastor has an altar call, people come forward and give their lives to Jesus, and that person wants to thank the pastor. The pastor says, “Don’t thank me. God did it.” That is building a life on a proper foundation of Jesus Christ and building with proper, costly materials, where there is no vanity, there is no conceit, there is no pride. There’s no desire for the praise of men. There’s no desire to evaluate yourself and say, “I’m a better Christian than the rest.”
This type of mindset is from the carnal flesh. It is cheap, and you’re forfeiting your reward. So let’s examine our foundation. First and foremost, that is the critical thing. Do you know Jesus, and does He know you? Have you cultivated a friendship? Is He the first person you turn to when you’re in trouble? Is He the first person you thank when good things happen? Is He your best friend that you call His name? You call upon His name often throughout each day, because who else are you going to call that’s more important than Jesus? Do you have the right foundation? Does Jesus know you? Because that’s all that matters. Even if you built this house, this life with cheap, cheap materials, it’s all going to be burned up when the fires of judgment come to test the quality of our work.
If you know Jesus, you’ll be saved, so I’ll see you in heaven. But for those who have the right foundation, I hope you aspire to more than this. I hope you desire to receive a great reward—not because you want the reward, but because you want your Heavenly Father to be so proud of you, because your heart was pure, you did everything with the right heart. You gave God all the glory for everything that happened, good or bad, in your life. You never took credit. You gave God all the glory. This is a costly material that God is inviting us to build our house with.
Okay, let’s pray. Father, forgive us for all vanity. Forgive us for all pride, selfish ambition, judgment, comparison, complaint, grumbling, jealousy, strife, quarreling. These are all coming from our flesh. Lord Jesus, we pray that you would meet us and that we would lay the right foundation.
There is only one. His name is Jesus. We pray, Jesus, you would meet us. And upon this proper foundation, we will build our lives with costly material: humility, giving glory to our Heavenly Father, us being obedient, doing our part. But if you bring the increase, knowing who to thank, knowing who to glorify, who to praise.
Lord, there are so many other things, costly materials, that are found throughout Scripture. So we pray that you reveal them one by one as we search for these treasures. We want to build this house of faith, this house, this earthly life on the proper foundation of Christ, and build with costly materials.
We thank you, Jesus, for dying on a cross for our sins. Thank you for dying for unworthy sinners like us. But Lord, you saw us as valuable. You loved us while we were enemies. And you allowed yourself to go through such brutality and mockery and scorn and suffering for the joy set before you and the Church being birthed and all of us being with you in heaven.
Thank you for your blood that was shed, that cleanses us every day when we call upon the Name of Jesus, and we plead the blood over our lives. We thank you that we are cleansed, covered, sanctified by the blood of Jesus.
We pray that you minister to us as we close this service. In Jesus’ Name, we pray, Amen.