Have you ever driven past a building and noticed the walls are cracked, the doors do not hang straight, and the whole structure looks like it is leaning? You do not have to be an engineer to know what happened. Somewhere down below, the foundation shifted. And when the foundation shifts, everything built on top of it is compromised.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3 that Jesus Christ is the only foundation of the church. That foundation has been laid and cannot be replaced. But what we build on it, the materials we choose and the care we take, is up to us. One day, fire will test every bit of it.

According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident, for the day will indicate it because it is revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:10–15 (LSB)

The Foundation

Notice how Paul introduces this section: "According to the grace of God which was given to me." Paul recognized that whatever good he did, whatever great thing happened as a result of his work, was by the grace of God. He wrote similarly later in this letter: "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10). That Paul was a wise master builder was God's doing, not Paul's.

That word "master builder" in the Greek is the word architektōn, from where we get our word architect. In Paul's day it carried the idea of builder as well as designer. As an apostle, Paul's specialty was foundations. Notice what he wrote to the Ephesians:

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19–22 (LSB)

The prophets and the apostles were the Bible writers. The foundation is laid. The canon is complete. The Bible is foundational to who we are as Christians and as a church. Someone might ask: how can Jesus be the foundation and the Bible be foundational too? The answer is simple. How do you know Jesus? Could you know Him apart from the Bible? No. So when we say "Preach the Word" (2 Timothy 4:2) and "Preach Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:23), it cannot be either/or. It is one and the same.

The foundation has been laid. That foundation is Jesus Christ. No new foundation can be laid. But there is always a danger of a shift, even among those who should know better. Some want to make the foundation church tradition. Some will not believe a thing unless a particular man said it first. When your first instinct is to ask what a favorite preacher said about something rather than what the Scripture says, the foundation may have shifted and you have not noticed.

Paul's own focus, when he was with the Corinthians, was Christ: "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). We are not in the business of laying new foundations. Our business is building properly on the one that is already there.

The Materials

This is the heart of our text. "But each man must be careful how he builds on it." The church is the Lord's church. The foundation is Jesus. But each man must be careful how he builds.

Paul describes two kinds of building materials: gold, silver, and precious stones on one hand, and wood, hay, and straw on the other. Quality materials represent dedicated spiritual service to Christ and His church. Inferior materials have no eternal value.

What does "gold" look like in a church? It is the member who quietly serves, who speaks well of the brethren, who is faithful when no one is watching, who shares the gospel with a neighbor. What does "straw" look like? It is the hours spent tearing down another church's reputation while your own neighbors have never heard the gospel from your lips. It is the phone call that slanders a brother while the Great Commission goes neglected. Before you speak, before you post, before you pick up the phone to say something about another believer, ask yourself: is this gold or straw? Will this survive the fire?

In verse 13, Paul refers to "the day" when each man's work will be evident. He is referring to the Judgment Seat of Christ: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10).

Jesus himself warned his followers that the world would speak evil against them, and he encouraged them:

"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:11–12 (LSB)

The Spirit specifically addresses older women in Titus 2:3, telling them not to be malicious gossips. The word in the Greek is diabolos, from where we get the word devil. You may be a member of a church, but if you are engaged in slander and discord, you are doing the devil's work. Be careful how you build.

Nehemiah understood this. When his enemies tried to pull him away from the work of rebuilding the wall, his answer was simple:

"I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?" And they sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I responded to them in the same manner. Nehemiah 6:3–4 (LSB)

We have a great work to do. The Lord Jesus Christ has given us a commission:

"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18–20 (LSB)

We do not have the time or the interest to come down from the wall to answer every quarrelsome individual. Build with gold. Be careful how you build.

A Word to Baptists

There is a lot of talk online lately about what kind of Baptist a person is. Those conversations may have a place, but they are not the main thing, and they can become a real distraction. Especially when one brother accuses another of something that simply is not true.

I have searched this book from beginning to end. There is nothing in it that says one kind of Baptist cannot have anything to do with another kind of Baptist. Most of the names and titles we wear are newer, much newer, than the Bible. We should be humble about our labels and exalt the name of Christ. What is clear from Scripture is that God is not pleased with slander, malicious gossip, or the sowing of discord among brethren.

I will say it plainly. My favorite translation is the Legacy Standard Bible. But I will not bind your conscience over it. If you prefer the King James, I will not take that away from you, and I will not make Bible versions a matter of fellowship with another church that uses a different one. There is a difference between holding a conviction and weaponizing it against the brethren. Be careful how you build.

The same goes for our divisions among ourselves. There are differences between Landmark Baptists and Reformed Baptists, but there are probably five or six divisions among Sovereign Grace Landmark Baptists in this country alone. The churches in the New Testament had differences too, and somehow they did not splinter into separate camps. When J.M. Pendleton wrote An Old Landmark Reset, he did not write it to keep Baptists from fellowshipping with other Baptists. Somehow that idea has crept in, and it does not belong here. Be careful how you build.

How Then Should We Build?

The early church showed us the pattern: "And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers" (Acts 2:42). Continuing in the apostles' doctrine. And how is that done? By preaching the Word:

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:1–2 (LSB)

The Bible has to be our standard. And the subject of our preaching is not ourselves: "For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus" (2 Corinthians 4:5).

Examine your heart against the fruit of the Spirit:

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:19–23 (LSB)

Notice how the Spirit places enmities, strife, selfish ambition, dissensions, and factions alongside sexual immorality, idolatry, and sorcery as the deeds of the flesh. If your understanding of your building promotes self and arrogance, you have it all wrong. As the wise master builder Paul was humble: "According to the grace of God which was given to me." What you build matters. How you build matters just as much. Be careful how you build.

The Good News in the Text

You are saved and a member of the Lord's church. That is no guarantee you will have great rewards. The church down the road may be better off than you on judgment day. Do not let your work be burned up.

Within fifty years, most if not all of us will be dead and gone. What will it be when you stand before the Lord?

Here is the good news in this very text. Notice verse 15: "He himself will be saved." The man whose work is burned up still stands. Why? Not because his building was good enough, but because his foundation held. That foundation is Jesus Christ, who lived the life we could not live, who died the death we deserved to die, and who rose again on the third day. He bore the wrath of God in the place of sinners so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. If you are trusting in Him, your salvation does not rest on the quality of your work. It rests on Him. But precisely because He saved you, how you build matters. You are not building to earn salvation. You are building because He already gave it.

If you have never repented of your sin and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, I plead with you: come to Him. He is the only foundation. There is no other.

For those of us who are His: take one hour this week that you would have spent in an argument, a debate, or reading about what this or that preacher said about some other preacher, and spend it doing something that will survive the fire. Open your Bible with your family. Share the gospel with your neighbor. Write a letter of encouragement to a brother. Pray for the missionaries. Build with gold.

Be careful how you build. Christ is to receive all the glory for all we are and all we do.

The twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created." Revelation 4:10–11 (LSB)