1 Corithians 3:10-17

     Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.

     Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw.  But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.  If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward.  But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.

     Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?  God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

     We have covered the importance of knowing the home owner and setting a solid foundation, now we will explore the materials by which the home is built.  In John 3 Jesus makes a very important statement that we need to get:

     Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

     The Spirit of the Lord gives birth to his life, the durable building blocks by which we build our lives.  Unless we are building with materials established by our Lord's Spirit of truth, our homes will not stand the test of God's glorious standard. 

     Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 3, we discover the various materials we can use to build our homes.  Some are more durable than others.  And there is a time when our materials will be thoroughly tested through the Lord's cosuming fire.  Although we can rest assured that it is all filtered through his great love for us. 

     So what are these fireproof materials that will withstand his fire?  

     1 Corinthians 12:31 through 1 Corinthians 13:13   

     But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.  If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

     Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

     Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!  Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!  But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

     When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.  Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

     Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 

     The fruits of the Spirit will pass the test (1 Corinthians 13, Galatians 5:22).  They are the lasting materials, those unseen essentials of the Lord's life by which a home is well established and endures. 

     And how do we bear fruit?

     John 15:5 

     “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.