I invite you to turn with me this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians 3 as we read together the chapter. The text this morning being verses 10 and 11 of 1 Corinthians 3. Beloved, this is the Word of God. Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly, mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos, are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, He will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple? And that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, He should become a fool, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written, he catches the wise in their craftiness. And again, the Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile. So then no more boasting about men. All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. Verses 10 and 11 again, By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, no doubt many of us here are familiar with that children's song, which explains what the church is. The church is not the building. The church is not the steeple. The church is not a resting place. The church is God's people. Now boys and girls, even though we call this building we're sitting in the church, that children's song reminds us that these walls and this roof and these benches and anything physical other than the people here is not what makes the church a church. God's people do. Yet in the Bible, the image of a building is used when speaking of the church. Especially Paul uses this image, as we read in 1 Corinthians 3. We read in verse 9, where Paul tells the church in Corinth that they are God's building. And in verse 16, he refers to the church as the temple of God. We know that in other places, Paul says that our bodies, our individual bodies, are temples of the Holy Spirit. But here, when he says, you are a temple, the pronoun you is plural. He's talking about this collection of people in this place. In Ephesians and in 1 Thessalonians, Paul talks about the spiritual life of believers as a building process. And in other places in Scripture, he says that Christians are being built up together in Christ. In other words, the church, we might say, is indeed like a building. But we also know that a building is not complete without a foundation, is it? It cannot and it will not stand, at least not very long, without a foundation. The foundation, you see, determines the character of the building with regard to its size and its shape, its strength and its durability. Paul is reminding the Corinthian church of the true church's one foundation. You see, there were divisions in that church. Divisions in which men were dividing their loyalties. One says, I follow Paul. And another, I follow Apollos. In chapter 1, I follow Cephas. Or I follow Christ. As if all of these were opposing groups. And Paul says, no, no, you've got it all wrong. Don't get caught up in the fancy words or the excellent sermon delivery or the astounding wisdom of men. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's building. God's field. And he closes this chapter, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. Paul reminds the Corinthians of what the church is, namely God's building. But not only that, it is a building that continues to be in the process of being built. And the Word of God through Paul is that God builds His church according to His, God's specifications. As we consider this this morning, notice first of all the construction workers. Secondly, the construction warning. And then finally, the construction warranty. Now beloved, indeed the analogy or picture of the church as a building really is a good one. And we know that especially in our day, it takes many different craftsmen with different specialties to build a building. Now boys and girls, think about, again, this physical building that we're sitting in here, this physical church building. What kind of workers did it take to build this building? Well, it took architects and engineers, concrete contractors, wood framers, plumbers, electricians, glaziers for the windows, painters, carpet layers, wood finishers, interior decorators, material suppliers, as well as many others to complete a building like this. And of course, every now and then we are reminded that the work really is never finished, is it? Because there are repairs that need to be made or things fixed, replaced, upgraded. It won't be long. We might need a new roof, they say. It wasn't too many years ago, I understand, that this sanctuary itself was remodeled, upgraded. But all those who worked to build this building had their own special function to perform. But the one thing that all the different contractors had in common was that they all built upon the same foundation. In the case of the church in Corinth, Paul is saying that he and Apollos and Cephas were different contractors, different construction workers working on the same building project. God was using them as builders or instruments in His building process in that particular place. In verse 10 again we read, By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder and someone else is building on it. See, with confidence, Paul calls himself an expert builder. Or as another version says, a wise master builder. In the construction business, to my limited knowledge, the master builder was considered to be the top builder, the superintendent, the foreman. We might say the general contractor for the project, as we might say today. One who ran the project from beginning to the end and made sure that everyone did what they were supposed to do. The master builder made sure that the work got done and that it was done right. As the expert or the master builder, Paul laid the foundation for the Corinthian church. And now the Greek tense is important here because this was a done deal. The foundation was laid. And once a building has started, you can't go back and relay the foundation without tearing everything up and starting completely from scratch. It's there to stay. In verse 11, Paul makes it clear that the foundation that he has laid, the foundation of this church, is Jesus Christ. And he has laid the foundation by preaching the Gospel of Christ. He preached the good news of Christ's coming, of His perfect life, of His ministry, His suffering, His death, His resurrection, His ascension. He preached the good news that forgiveness of sins and restoration with God are real. Not just a vain hope, but real for those who receive Jesus Christ by true faith. He preached that Jesus is the only source of salvation and eternal life that one is found righteous in God's eyes only through Christ, because He alone is the way and the truth and the life. Beloved, the church was built on the foundation of the person and work of Jesus Christ. And Paul laid this foundation in wisdom. But how? As he says, by the grace God has given to him. By the grace God has given to him. Remember, Paul was an educated man. He truly was an educated man. He was well trained in the Scriptures. He knew the Old Testament Scriptures well. As he describes himself elsewhere, He was a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. He was with regard to the righteousness of the law. He said he was blameless. He was zealous for what he thought was the work of God. His list of credentials really was impressive in that day. But now, he doesn't go back to any of that. None of that is important. Now, he could claim wisdom in the things of Jesus all and only because of the grace of God. And by God's grace, Paul could confidently confess in chapter 2, verse 2, For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Again, none of that other stuff mattered. Only that I know Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You see, God in His grace laid the foundation of this church through Paul. But Paul wasn't alone in this building effort. Except for the work of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who is one of a kind, The church as it exists on this earth is not a one-man operation. Paul was only one of many construction workers. He said, someone else is building upon it. Now again, the Greek tense is important. We said earlier that God's building continues to be in the process of being built. The foundation has been laid. That's done. Never to be added to. Never to be repeated. When Paul says that someone else is building, the tense tells us that he's talking about something that goes on and on. It is being built with no foreseeable end. We know that Scripture often tells us that Paul would send others to the churches which, by God's grace, he was used to start. And he would send these others in order to encourage and to teach and to strengthen those churches. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 3, verse 2, it says that he sent Timothy, who is described as our brother and minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and to encourage you concerning your faith. You see, Scripture testifies that the church of Christ is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. Boys and girls, the cornerstone is very important. That first corner that is laid with that important cornerstone sets the stage for the entire foundation and the entire building. It determines the straightness, the levelness, and the strength of the whole structure. Without that cornerstone, the building would crumble. Jesus Christ is the content of the apostles' and prophets' foundation. He gives their foundation strength. Because apart from Him, there is no foundation. And God continues to raise up construction workers today, beloved. Paul is specifically talking about ministers of the Word and God continues to prepare men, as we know well in this congregation, continues to prepare men for the ministry of the Word to His people. But other construction workers include elders, deacons, Sunday school, catechism teachers, Bible study leaders, gems, cadets, young people's leaders, Christian teachers. And all confessing Christians have a place in this building process. And, of course, we cannot forget about Christian parents. All those who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ are called to give themselves as living sacrifices for the kingdom of God, working for the advancement and the building up of His kingdom. But then, of course, as with every task, there are rules to be followed and obeyed. Many companies have company policies that govern the work that is being done. And God builds His church according to His specifications and therefore we must also see the construction warnings posted on the spiritual wall of His workshop. Paul says, but each man should be careful how he builds. Now as we have had opportunity to say with regard to many texts, this again is not an option. It's not an if you feel like it. It's a command. Take care. Be careful. Think clearly with regard to how you build. The building must be in harmony with the foundation for that building. See, boys and girls, you wouldn't build a 100-story skyscraper on a foundation that had been prepared for a four-bedroom house. And you certainly wouldn't build a four-bedroom house on a foundation that had been laid for a 100-story skyscraper. The building must be consistent with it. It must fit with the foundation for that building. Again, Paul knew what he was talking about before his Damascus Road conversion. He thought that he was working to build God's kingdom by getting rid of those pesky Christians. He thought he was doing the right thing. But Jesus let Paul know what he was really doing. That he was trying to take away and destroy the foundation of that church. What did Jesus say? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting who? My church? My people? No. Why are you persecuting me? You see, Paul knows what he's talking about, especially when he brags of God's grace given to him. How grateful he was for God's grace. How are God's construction workers to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ? Well, we know that God raises up ministers of His Word to take their place in the scaffolding called the pulpit. To lay brick after brick in place through the preaching of the Word of God. Paul says in chapter 1, verse 21, For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. But ministers need to be more concerned, need to be concerned with more than merely preaching. Not less than that, but they need to be concerned with more than merely preaching. They are called to take heed to what is preached. You see, Paul is exhorting builders to produce quality craftsmanship, which includes faithful preaching and teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ is to be preached and taught only according to what God has revealed in His Word, not according to man's reasonings, or man's feelings, or man's expectations, or man's agenda. All of God's construction workers in whatever capacity are called to build upon this foundation with the only building material being Jesus Christ and His Word. Parents, with the leadership of you fathers, in the workshop of the Christian home, parents are commanded to not provoke your children to wrath, but to bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Husbands and wives are called to build by demonstrating a godly marriage patterned after Christ and His church. All believers are called to build up and edify each other with the truth of the Word of God. You see, our work in God's kingdom and in His church must not contradict the person and work of Jesus Christ. Instead, it must be in harmony with it. And the same must be true with our lives. Our lives, the Christian lives we profess must not contradict the person and work of Jesus Christ, but must be in harmony with the person and work of Jesus Christ. It must be in harmony with the salvation that He has earned and which we profess is ours for the sake of Jesus Christ. It's so hard, isn't it? We've talked about this, I think, even last week. It's hard to be separate from the world. It's hard to desire to be separate from the world. It's so easy to compromise in so many ways. But it should be our delight, beloved, to live in harmony with Jesus Christ, with His person and work, which indeed means then to be separate from the world. You see, if you try to mix the wisdom of men with the wisdom of God and what is false with what is true, it's no different than building with alternate layers of gold and wood and silver and hay and precious stones and straw and just listening to that, we can hear that it doesn't work. It doesn't fit that way. And Paul is clear that the day of the Lord will reveal those building materials which were consistent with the foundation of Christ and will reveal those building materials which were not consistent with Christ. The gold and the silver and the precious stones will stand, but the wood and the hay and the straw will quickly burn away. Yet in God's building specifications, He gives a construction warranty. We know what a warranty is. We like warranties. We like our stuff to be guaranteed. A warranty is a guarantee for workmanship and a guarantee for a certain amount of time. Paul says in verse 11, For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. It can't be done. The foundation of Christ is firm and He is the only possible foundation for His church. Indeed, many deny this and throughout the ages so many have tried to change, tried to lay another foundation. But their denial and even their vain attempts at trying to lay another foundation don't change the fact that Christ is the only one. Jesus Himself spoke about the importance of a proper and firm foundation when He talked about the wise man building his house upon the rock and the foolish man building his house upon the sand. A foundation, once it is in place, cannot be changed. Especially the builders know that you can change certain things throughout the building process. You can move a wall. You can change a window. You can rearrange the kitchen. But you can only lay the foundation once. And by the grace of God, Paul laid down Jesus Christ as the foundation of the Corinthian church, and the apostles and prophets laid Him down as the foundation of the church, which still exists today. That foundation, beloved, remains the same. Indeed, the construction workers may build in different ways. Unfortunately, some with temporary building materials that will be burned away like wood and hay and straw. And the church may go through visible setbacks and has gone through visible setbacks in this life because of men. Not the foundation. But Jesus guarantees on this rock, the rock of Peter's confession, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. On this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. An eternal warranty. It doesn't get any better than this. beloved no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid which is jesus christ he alone is our confidence for justification and sanctification and for the salvation of his people and as we come to the lord's table this morning we see the church's one foundation in the signs of the bread and the juice and as the supper is is properly administered and partaken of god continues to build His church. And the truth of Christ and His saving sacrifice as it is communicated through the bread and the juice. Not only does the Holy Spirit of God strengthen the faith of God's people, but even the young children here are taught as they watch and observe. They are taught of the only way of salvation. Beloved, the table of the Lord is not to be profaned or abused or taken lightly. The bread and the cup are not to be partaken of except by true faith. Anything less is building with wood or hay or straw. What kind of construction worker are you? You see, those who knowingly build in a way that contradicts the truth of the Gospel of Christ, without repentance and faith, apart from that, not only will their work burn, but they too will burn forever. Remember, beloved, only God's kingdom is forever. You can only build with gold and silver and precious stones by the grace of God given to you. Yet Paul makes it clear that for the faithful, those who repent of their sins and look to Jesus in faith, and he knew this full well as does each and every one of us, their unrighteous work, and we all have unrighteous work, will be burned away in the judgment, though by God's grace they will be saved. That again, beloved, is the message of the Lord's table. Jesus Christ suffered the judgment of God so that our sin and our righteousness might be burned away by His wrath, yet believers, according to the grace of God given to them, will dine forever at the Lord's banquet table. Is Jesus Christ your firm foundation on which God is building your life. If so, then come. Come. For the feast is indeed spread.