1 Corinthians 3:13-14 (ASV) each person’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each persons’s work of what sort it is. If anyones work shall abide which they have built thereon, they will receive a reward.
Some people have applied these verses to their personal spiritual growth. But Paul’s teaching here has more to do with our ministry to others. What do we do to build others up? Are we right and they wrong? Is that the kind of building we are expecting to “remain?”
Do we build on Christ as the foundation? Or do we build with something perishable?
Cease From Strife
We, the Christian witness, can can help build God’s Church with either lasting, eternal teachings, or with the ever changing temporary wisdom of the day. Do we attach others to ourselves as the foundation, or do we “attach” them to Christ? Do we use our abilities and spiritual gifts to build up others in the Church or to keep them tied to us somehow? Are we posturing as the “expert” or as the Witness?
Paul warned the church about such predicaments:
Acts 20:28-30 (KJV) Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men shall arise, speaking distorted teachings, to draw away disciples after themselves.
Paul spoke plainly of the dissensions that had arisen in the Corinthian church, and exhorted the members to cease from strife. “I beseech you, brethren,” he wrote, “by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (1 Cor 1:10) AA 302.1
As a witness for Christ we are to cease from anything that is strife. Or that leads to strife.
The apostle made no mention of the false teachers who were seeking to destroy the fruit of his labor. Because of the darkness and division in the church, he wisely forbore to irritate them by such references, for fear of turning some entirely from the truth. He called attention to his own work among them as that of “a wise master builder,” who had laid the foundation upon which others had built. But he did not thereby exalt himself; for he declared, “We are laborers together with God.” He claimed no wisdom of his own, but acknowledged that divine power alone had enabled him to present the truth in a manner pleasing to God. United with Christ, the greatest of all teachers, Paul had been enabled to communicate lessons of divine wisdom, which met the necessities of all classes, and which were to apply at all times, in all places, and under all conditions. AA 303.1
Paul knew that the higher Christian attainments can be reached only through much prayer and constant watchfulness, and this he tried to instill into their minds. But he knew also that in Christ crucified they were offered power sufficient to convert the soul and divinely adapted to enable them to resist all temptations to evil. With faith in God as their armor, and with His word as their weapon of warfare, they would be supplied with an inner power that would enable them to turn aside the attacks of the enemy. AA 307.1
The Corinthian believers needed a deeper experience in the things of God. They did not know fully what it meant to behold His glory and to be changed from character to character. They had seen but the first rays of the early dawn of that glory. Paul’s desire for them was that they might be filled with all the fullness of God, following on to know Him whose going forth is prepared as the morning, and continuing to learn of Him until they should come into the full noontide of a perfect gospel faith. AA 307.2
It is our own character and experience that determine our influence upon others. In order to convince others of the power of Christ’s grace, we must know its power in our own hearts and lives. The gospel we present for the saving of souls must be the gospel by which our own souls are saved. Only through a living faith in Christ as a personal Savior is it possible to make our influence felt in a skeptical world. If we would draw sinners out of the swift-running current, our own feet must be firmly set upon the Rock, Christ Jesus. {CSW 99.2}
The badge of Christianity is not an outward sign, not the wearing of a cross or a crown, but it is that which reveals the union of man with God. By the power of His grace manifested in the transformation of character the world is to be convinced that God has sent His Son as its Redeemer. No other influence that can surround the human soul has such power as the influence of an unselfish life. The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian. {CSW 100.1}
“The safest place for me to be is where God wants me to be, even if I don’t want to be there.” -Dan Jackson (April 10, 2015)
Conclusion
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, Isa 55:11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isa 55:10-11, NIV)