If farmers with different ideas for what to plant, how to till, and the best fertilizer to use are all charged with cultivated the same field, there will be discord, and probably no crop.
If architects with different blueprints, contrasting styles, and favorite materials all try to build on the same foundation, there will be discord, and either no building at all, one that is hideous, or one that collapses.
Paul uses these images to address the church at Corinth regarding their problems with unity, and divisions over leaders and with leaders. For there to be unity in a congregation, it must be building according to the Lord’s blueprints for ministry. In 1 Corinthians 3:9-17, Paul uses the metaphor of workers and buildings to illustrate his point about unity.
The Foundation: Christ. The foundation of a building determines the structure’s size, design, and weight limits, among other things. It might even determine where running water, electricity, and heating and cooling are available. Christ, crucified, is the foundation of the church, and whatever ministers and members build on it must be consistent with the foundation.
If a congregation does not agree on what the foundation is, or how it governs the shape of the building and the purpose for its use, there will be division, not unity. Christ, crucified, has a direct bearing on how we teach, what a “disciple” is, when someone is “mature,” how preachers preach, how ministers minister, the nature of our corporate worship, and even on our church calendar.
The Structure. When the daily affairs of a congregation’s life are determined by something other than Christ, crucified, it is the worldly “wisdom” that Paul denounced. Furthermore, it will not survive God’s fiery testing on the last day. This “wood, hay, and straw” will be burned up, while the “gold, silver, and precious stones” of labor that is inspired, motivated, and executed according to the reality of Christ, crucified, will survive as a useful structure.
Congregations easily compete over methods, procedures, and essentially unimportant matters when they disagree over proper ministry building practice.
The Purpose: Holiness. The modern church in the West is permeated with worldly notions of the purpose of church life. Whether it is happiness, comfort, belonging, or self-fulfillment, these varying notions of our purpose can only lead to disunity and division as we compete with one another and with leaders to secure for ourselves this vision of the church.
Paul is clear that none of these worldly, fleshly, ideas are appropriate for God’s church. “You are God’s temple” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:16, and the implications of that reality is that “God’s temple is holy” (3:17). Holiness is the purpose for God’s building — each congregation — and there is no compromising this standard. “God will destroy” the one who defiles his temple.
Disunity, neglect of the gospel, failing to obey Christ, and building ministry according to human wisdom all certainly defile God’s temple.
To avoid disunity and cultivate unity, God’s people — his ministers and his members — must build on the right foundation, with the right materials, for the right purpose.
This is the second post of three from 1 Corinthians called “How to Avoid Division & Cultivate Unity: