The metaphor of God’s people being a building was at the heart of His promise of a new covenant. Using the verb “build,” the prophet Jeremiah voiced God’s promise about the future, “It shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord” (Jer. 31:28). We might say God’s promise to build ultimately took the shape of the Church as His new covenant building.
It is a truism to assert that every building is built by someone. Buildings neither hatch nor drop from the sky. They are built by a cooperative effort. In the language of Ephesians 2:21 a building must be “fitly framed together.” A physical building requires a team of architects, construction foremen and workers, decorators and other craftsmen. The Church as God’s building is being fitly framed together by many workers. What began with Jesus and the apostles has continued across the centuries.
Human instruments
While the Church is God’s building He uses humans to build it. Human workers are “God’s fellow-workers” (1 Cor. 3:9). This divine-human partnership has been going on since God poured out His Spirit following Christ’s ascension. As was true for Paul and Apollos, the human side of the partnership depends on God’s enabling grace (1 Cor. 3:10).
In the final analysis, the building belongs to the senior partner. Every local church belongs to God. A church does not belong to its founding pastor or its charter members. It is not the exclusive property of prominent families or faithful leaders. The church has never belonged to an apostle like Paul or a teacher like Apollos. It is God’s building.
In the Church as God’s building the foundation is its first and decisive part. As with any foundation, it determines the size and weight that can be supported. The Church’s foundation was laid from the beginning, “No one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). While human workers in cooperation with God build on the foundation they work under a caution flag that reads, “Let each one take care how he builds upon it” (1 Cor. 3:10).
Testing workmanship
The work of all human partners in building the Church will be tested at a future day when their workmanship will be disclosed. The imagery about that testing centers on fire and its effect on “wood, hay and straw” in contrast to “gold, silver and precious stones.”
The work that passes the test will be rewarded. The work that fails the test will be burned up. Even though the worker may suffer loss, the worker himself “will be saved but only as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:12–14). The assertion of Deuteronomy 4:24 and Hebrews 12:29 that God is a consuming fire will have dramatic meaning on the day when God tests our workmanship.
As we choose to be involved in the work of the Church, we do well to always hold in mind that we “are workers together with God” (1 Cor. 3:9). He is the architect and construction foreman; we are simply His workers. As Church workers we always seek to know God’s direction and then stay in step with Him.
Share with others: