Tested by Fire

1 Corinthians

Chapter 3

Pastor Tony Silveira

1 C

OR

INTH

IAN

S 31 But I,

brothers, could

not address you

as spiritual

people, but as

people of the

flesh, as infants

in Christ.

1 C

OR

INTH

IAN

S 32 I fed you with

milk, not solid

food, for you

were not ready

for it. And even

now you are not

yet ready,

1 C

OR

INTH

IAN

S 33 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 C

OR

INTH

IAN

S 34 For when one

says, “I follow

Paul,” and

another, “I

follow Apollos,”

are you not

being merely

human?

1 C

OR

INTH

IAN

S 35 What then is

Apollos? What is

Paul? Servants

through whom

you believed, as

the Lord

assigned to each.

1 C

OR

INTH

IAN

S 3

6 I planted,

Apollos

watered, but

God gave

the growth.

A. Spiritual people

versus People of

the flesh

He tells the

congregation that

they are:

People of the flesh

Infants in Christ

Babie

s gro

w a

nd

repla

ce m

ilk b

y so

lid f

ood

Paul is telling them that their growth stopped

CH

URC

H IS N

OT A

PLA

CE T

O A

TTEN

D

BU

T A

PLA

CE T

O

SERV

E

Christian service is about partnership and not rivalry!

B. The Apostle

builds a

foundation then

others build upon it

Without a good

foundation buildings are

at risk to collapse. The

same is true about our

Spiritual Life!

1 C

ori

nth

ians

3

8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

1 C

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nth

ians

3

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

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ians

3

11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

This statement is not a doctrinal

issue but a practical matter. There

are plenty of situations in which a

Church can have the wrong

foundation.

The foundation which is

Jesus Christ is

established by Apostolic

authority. The Church is

then called to built upon

it.

BAD FOUNDATION

The Wrong

Foundation

Churches with a

fellowship foundation.

Everything they do is

centred in social events,

dinners, tea parties,

fellowship retreats, small

group gatherings with the

purpose of fellowship, etc.

The Wrong

Foundation

Churches with a "Bless me"

foundation. All the activities are

centred in receiving and getting.

Receive the anointing, receive the

gifts, receive prosperity, receive

encouragement, receive

deliverance. People are not

encourage to give anything else

than their money to support the

ministry.

The Wrong

Foundation

Churches with a

leadership

foundation. Everything

they do is centred in

promoting the leaders

C. Tested by fire -

God tests to

approve and not to

condemn

VERSE 17

Paul then warns that

their work for the Lord

will be put to the test.

Genesi

s 22:1

After Abraham had walked with God for over 50 years, he was tested to go to a higher level. "After these things, that God

did test Abraham"

1 C

orin

thia

ns 3

12 Now if

anyone builds

on the

foundation with

gold, silver,

precious

stones, wood,

hay, straw

1 C

orin

thia

ns 3

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.

1 C

orin

thia

ns 3

14 If the work

that anyone has

built on the

foundation

survives, he will

receive a reward.

1 C

orin

thia

ns 3

15 If anyone's

work is burned

up, he will suffer

loss, though he

himself will be

saved, but only

as through fire.

What is th

e Te

st of

Fire?Hebrews

12:29 "for

our God is a

consuming

fire."

What is th

e Te

st of

Fire?Deuteronomy

4: "For the

LORD your God

is a consuming

fire, a jealous

God."

God is a

consu

min

g fi

rethere are two

different kinds of

things that will be

touched by the fire.

Some things will be

consumed and they

disappear,

a second group will

resist the fire and will

remain.

Only G

od ca

n ju

dge

us rig

hte

ously"How can you

judge what you

don't know?

How can you

evaluate what

you don't

understand?"

GO

D W

IL JUD

GE U

S

Will our work be

judged as gold, silver

and costly stones, or

is it wood, hay or

straw?

God will judge our

work one day and he

will reward us

according to the

quality of what we do

for him.

1C

orin

thia

ns 3

15 If anyone's work

is burned up, he will

suffer loss, though

he himself will be

saved, but only as

through fire.

Our Salvation is

not put in doubt

but our reward is.

SA

LVATIO

N

Like people running

away from a burning

house some

Christians will not

loose their salvation

but God's reward

will be completely

lost when the test of

fire is missed.

Matth

ew

6:4

so that your

giving may be

in secret. And

your Father

who sees in

secret will

reward you.

ENDURANCE

WILL YOU PASS THE

TEST?

2 Tim

oth

y 4:7I have fought

a good fight, I

have finished

[my] course, I

have kept the

faith

2 Tim

oth

y 4:7I have fought

a good fight, I

have finished

[my] course, I

have kept the

faith

D. God will destroy

whoever destroys

his Church

VERSE 17

Paul finishes this part of

the letter to the

Corinthians by giving

them a very severe

warning.

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nth

ians

3

16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in

you?

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3

17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy,

and you are that temple.

ESV

Bib

le

com

menta

ry

The one who destroys

God's temple (in this

context, the church)

is not part of God's people and so faces eternal destruction on

the final day, just as

God eventually destroyed the Babylonians who had

destroyed Solomon's

temple.

ARROGANCE

is at the root of the

divisiveness in Corinth

ESV

Bib

le

com

menta

ry

The Corinthians need

to learn that they ultimately belong to

God, not to the leader

who baptized them ( 1:13–17 ), who was

himself only fulfilling

God's purposes ( 3:7 ,

11 ; 4:1 ). They should, therefore, boast only in God ( 1:29 , 31 ).

Webst

er’

s D

icti

onary

defines arrogance as an attitude of superiority manifested in an

overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions

Prove

rbs

10:1

7

People who listen when they are corrected will live, but those who will not admit that they

are wrong are in danger.

Let

us

subm

it, le

arn

and p

ass

the t

est

.

You and I need to ask ourselves- Is my relationship with God producing fruit?

1 C

ori

nth

ians

14:2

0

Brothers and sisters, don't think like children. When it comes to evil, be like babies, but think like mature people.

AR

RO

GA

NC

E

Arrogance brings destruction and arrogant people will not pass the test of fire.