God's Building: The Church - 1 Corinthians 3:9-17

Well, good morning, Northland Church. I'm excited to be here with you this morning. If you don't know me, my name's Dalton Leslie. director of outreach and discipleship here and church planting resident. I do announcement about every other week, so hopefully, at some point, you learn my name, and I don't have to start saying my name every time, but still glad to be here. Matt is on his way home from Rome, and Rustin took the week off. I don't know why. I'm just joking. Sorry. But if you don't know me, my wife, Carole, is right over here. And we have three kids, Hadley, who's about to be four, Xander, who's about to be three, in Prairie, who's about to be one. So, we covet your prayers. We need them a lot. But they're a lot of fun, and they have all kinds of things. We play together in all kinds of certain, uh, building stuff. Who knows what these are? Has anybody seen these before? Luke knows, he's the only one. Luke, he's an adult. Just joking. There was other people. But, um, these are magnet tiles. Our kids love these. These are just simple ways of building, it's like, I had Lego and Megablock when I was younger, and then they are like, hey, slap some magnets in there and see what happens. But my kids will wake up in the morning and play with these like every single morning. These are the type of toys that dads buy their kids a little too soon because they don't want an excuse to play with them themselves. This, you know, Lego, Nerf guns, our kids have all those, and they don't play with any of them. I just play with them. It's awesome. But they'll wake up every morning. throw these together, and they'll throw them down after we've just cleaned the living room the night before, and our house is now messy again, and but they're, they're, they like to build. And Xander likes to build little towns. And so he'll get all of the toys and he'll dump him onto the ground and he'll build just tons of buildings, tons of towns. He loves to build bridges as well, and he stores his cars in there. He also loves hot wheels. If he asks him what he dreams about at night, he says, blue car, that's all he says. That's all he dreams about. But he'll build bridges and he'll slide him under there. Hadley likes to build. about to be four-year-old. She'll build big castles, big shapes, really ornate stuff. Um, and then my my 10 month old. She's not old enough to build, and she only knows destruction. So, when she wakes up, there's a violent fury of sweeping tiny hands, like a tiny Godzilla, going through destroying, every single work of art that they've worked on for the past 30 minutes, it's torn down in seconds. Xander cries, prairie laughs, and I'm trying to console my son. But I tell him the same thing every single time. I said, Xander, you need to build somewhere where she can't reach it, right? You need to take better care of where you're building. He always builds it on the ground. And the living room is just like everyone's there. So she'll crawl and destroy it. We also have a piano bench at our house, and I tell them, Xander, if you build on the piano bench, she can't reach it. So you need to take better care of how you build, and that thing will be safe. But I say that, but now she's standing up and she knocks over the piano bench. So, Godzilla gonna Godzilla, I guess, but, um, he needs to take better care of how he if he wants his structure to last. And just like me telling my son that he needs to take better care of what he's building and how he's building it. Paul, in the passage that we're about to jump into, is telling the Corinthian church they didn't need to take care of how they're building the church. of what they're doing, how they should be building on the foundation of Christ and moving towards a set goal. So let's, if you have a Bible, you can open it to 1st Corinthians chapter 3. We're going to be in verses 9 through 17. First Corinthians 3, 9 through 17. I'm going to read it and then we're going to pray. For we, our God's coworkers. You are God's field, God's building. According to God's grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw. Each one's work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire. The fire will test the quality of each one's work. If anyone's work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will experience loss. But he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Don't you yourselves know that you are God's temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him, for God's temple is holy. And that is what you are. Let's pray. God, your word is eternal. Your word is truth. Lord, it always accomplishes what you've set it out to accomplish. And Lord, I pray that this morning it would do just that. But we stand firm on your word, we pray that it would be glorifying to you, and that it would build up your church and faithfulness. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen. So Paul here is writing to the church at Corinth, the church of God at Corinth. He right here, when he says, for we are God's co-workers. If you were to read that out of context, you might try to throw yourself into that context, say, we are God's coworkers. And in some ways that is true, but the way Paul is writing here, he's writing about himself and Apollos. Apollos and Paul are God's coworkers and God's building plan. He's just now switched this metaphor. He was using a field. Remember that Paul was the planter or the sower, and Apollos was the waterer, but God gives the growth. We got some contrasting illustrations here, and Paul's using it for a reason. If we think about working in a field for growing up crops, the sower is throwing out seed, but he has actually no power to make that seed grow himself. The water go behind him and water the seed, and it's kind of in the proper process that would make a healthy environment for that seed to grow. But the waterer has no actual power to make that seed grow. But God, being the grower, has all the power to make that seed grow. When God sets his mind to grow something, it grows. But Paul is switching his metaphor from the salvation metaphor that he was saying that Paul planted, Paul is watered, but God is the one who brought salvation. We've now moved to a building, um, where, uh, we're working in the field. There's no concrete way of measuring, right? Like I throw in a field. Okay, it's going to come up, all those seeds are going to come up. There's no actual way of measuring that. There's a certain amount of waste that happens in that. But in building, there's a blueprint to be followed. There's actually, literally, a concrete way of measuring how you're building. You have a cinder block and you start to stack them, right? You have some other kind of building material, and you're building it up. You know what you're building. You can know the progress that's being done. You can also know if the foundation is not level. Or it's like magnetiles. You can know that if you're in the wrong place, a tiny little baby will come and destroy it, right? But if you're building on the wrong foundation, if you're building with the wrong materials, you're going to know that. So Paul has switched the metaphor from this not concrete way of measuring growth to a very concrete way, that there are steps that must be taken, that when a building, when building a building, you must have a strong foundation in appropriate materials. So we switch this to show that we're no longer talking about salvation, but we're talking about church formation, that the church is now being formed. He calls himself God's coworker because he's not the one who's doing it himself. It's God who's building the church. So the 1st point that we're going to see is God is building his church on earth. God is building his church on earth. Just like I said, Paul, Paul is telling the Corinthian church that Paul, himself and Apollos are God's coworkers and how he is building his church. You, Corinthian church are God's building. Now, what is God's building? If you were to go to the very end of what we just read, it's God's temple. It's the temple that is filled and indwelt with the spirit of God. It's the Holy Spirit dwelt building that we see in the Old Testament. In reading this, we as Bible readers would rightly think about the Old Testament temple. Now the Corinthians, not being of Jewish descent, whenever they hear the temple, they're going to think of maybe pagan temples. But either way, whenever you see a temple, the outside material of a temple is meant to reflect the value of the one being worshiped within. Right? I'm not going to build a temple to something that is very highly valued with mud. I'm not going to build it with magnetiles. It's not gonna last, right? We see temples built with strong precious stones, gold. We see it with ornate decorations. We see all of these things, because the outside material is reflecting what's on the inside. But we know that Paul is not talking about 1st Baptist Church Corinth in their new building project. He's not talking about the lobby that they were building. He's talking about the gathered people, the people that are in dwelt with the Holy Spirit. To illustrate this. We could look in our Bibles at one Corinthians 2, 9 and 10. This is Peter writing, but he says this to a church. He says this to believers. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness, and into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So Peter in this, but also Paul, calling them God's building, God's temple, he's saying, Corinthian church, you are a part of God's chosen people, honored by God, a chosen race of priest, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. He sent it to the Corinthian church, but in the exact same way he's talking to a church, I would say this to you, Northland church, you are also a chosen people honored by God, a chosen race of priests, the holy nations, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. We know this is the church, just as God's building. This is his holy temple. This is his holy gathered people indwelt with the Holy Spirit that are giving him praise. Paul here is writing about this type of building, this type of church. And we know this about God. God loves his church. He's the one who called his church. He's the one who will protect his church. We just saw in verse 17 that if anyone tries to destroy God's temple, God will then destroy them. The one who treats it well would be rewarded. God that God has gathered at people for himself. He's gathered some Corinthian believers for himself, and he's building his church for a purpose. He's building his church for a purpose. And thinking about this purpose. I think about Matthew 16, and it's 13 through 18. don't have to turn there. just going to summarize it for you. Jesus is with his disciples. And Jesus asked the question, who do the people say that I am? And they're like, they think you're a prophet. They think you are John the Baptist resurrected. And then Jesus looks and says, but who do you say that I am? And Peter, in his bold confession, says, you are the Messiah. You are the son of the living God. And Jesus responds, and he says, um, blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for it is not flesh and blood who has revealed this to you, but it was my father in heaven, who has revealed this to you. You are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Now, the rock that he's talking about there is the confession of Jesus as Lord and Savior. This confession of him as Messiah is what he will build his church on. This is the faith that people call out and God gathers his people to himself to be his own possession. And it is Jesus who is building his church. He is the one who is gathering people who confess him as savior. Paul and Apollos and others are Christ's coworkers. It's God, it's Jesus who is the one building his church, but people like Paul and Apollos, and the pastors of Corinth are the ones who are helping or co-working alongside. on this mission. to build the church, but it has not been completed yet. Christ's mission has not been completed yet. God has given the church the purpose of continuing Christ's work on earth. God sent his son to earth, not just to die. God sends his son to build the church, to gather people to himself. If Christ is dead, then all we are doing here does not matter. But the truth is that Christ is not dead, that he is resurrected, that he has all authority. And in Matthew 28, 18 through 20, we see that, he says, all authority on heaven on earth has been given to me. And he says, go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And truly, I say, are we with you to the end of the age. Christ, live a sinless, perfect life that we could never live. He paid a price on a cross that we deserve. He died, but he raised the life with power over death and life. And he gives life freely to those who have faith in the confession of him as savior. And as he rose from dead victorious over sin and death. He gave his disciples and his church a mission. Because he has all authority. Jesus has not gathered. God has not gathered a people to himself to sit there and do nothing. He hasn't gathered you to put your name on the chair you're sitting in so you can come right back to that exact same one next week and not do anything in between. God does not gather to people for himself just to sit there. But he's gathered his people to be a blessing, to continue the blessing that he gave to Abraham in chapter 12, to go be a blessing to the nations by his offspring, to continue the work that he started. We know this, that God is interested in saving people. God is interested in saving people. He has been interested since the beginning. He has been gathering at people for his own possession to be holy since the beginning. And we know that the church is God's plan to reach a broken and lost world. Christ is calling a people to himself for a purpose. And that purpose is of drawing more, to bring more, to share his gospel with others, that they would come and have faith, and that they would also be a chosen people, that they would also be a holy nation that would be brought under to give him praise. He's desiring to expand his kingdom. This is fulfilling the very 1st command. We see in blessing, we see in the Bible. God is sitting there. He just created Adam. He just created Eve, and he says, go into all the world, right? He says be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. And he says, go fill the earth with my image because God, because man and woman are created in his image. Go fill the earth with my image. Be my representatives, be my ambassadors on the earth, that you would reflect my character. You would reflect my holiness. You would reflect my love. He reiterates this exact same command after the flood with Noah. Go into the world, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. The exact same reason, go be my ambassadors, go be my representatives, reflect this. And then Jesus reinstates this in Matthew 28 after he has been resurrected. When he has full authority. He says, go into all the world. Go make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded, and remember that I'm with you to the end of the age. This is why Paul came to the Corinthians. Not because Paul had a, he wanted to gather a group of people for himself. He came to the Corinthians because he has a mission from the Lord to expand the kingdom. to be obedient to share the gospel. So he goes to Corinthians, and he shares the gospel. He plants Apollos waters, but God gives the growth. God is the one who's gathered these people to themselves. But Paul is writing to them now to remind them of this purpose, to correct their sin. They have strayed from their purpose. They have taken their eyes off of Christ as the builder. And they're giving it to Paul and Apollos. They say, I'm of Paul. I am of Apollos. I am of Cephas. But Jesus, Paul, earlier in this chapter, and he'll say at the end of this chapter, the one who boasts should boast in Jesus. The one who boasts should boast and the one who gives the growth. So the Corinthians have taken their eyes off the one who gives the growth, the one who's building the church and they're giving it to the co-laborers. People not worthy of their worship. So Paul is writing to them to correct them and tell them that they're building on Christ's foundation, Christ's church, wrong. He's reminding them there is a correct way. There's a right way to build God's church. There are commands to follow. There is obedience to be lived out. There's sin to be repented of. There's nations to reach. There's holiness to live in. There's faithfulness to continuing. The 2nd point we're going to see is that the church is built on Christ. The church is built on Christ. This is the gospel. We know this to be the gospel. We already read Matthew 16, 18, but Christ declares that it is upon the confession of himself as savior that he will build the church. An unshakable, undefeatable foundation. is who Jesus is. The gates of Hades, the gates of hell, will not stand against it. They cannot shake it. They can't do anything to it. Paul takes this declaration and he communicates it back to the Corinthians in verse 10 and 11. He says, according to God's grace that was given to me. I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down, that foundation is Jesus Christ. No one can lay any other foundation because there is no other foundation. There's no other name under heaven by which man can be saved. It is only under heaven that we call on Jesus' name because he is the only name that we can be saved by. But I really appreciate, in verse 10, if you're reading out of CSB, it calls him a skilled master builder, out of the, if you read out of the new American standard version, it says he calls himself a wise master builder. Now, Paul is not trying to say he was humble, but now he's no longer humble. But what he's actually saying, he's continuing the theme of contrasting man's wisdom and God, God's wisdom. He's not switching from humble to prideful, but he's keeping with this theme. He came in God's wisdom, not in his own wisdom. Remember in 1st Corinthians 2, one through 2. He says, when I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God. That's the gospel to you. I did not come with brilliant speech or wisdom. I decided to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul came in God's wisdom, not man's. Paul didn't come with brilliant arguments. He didn't come with impressive speech. He didn't come with confident delivery, if you go and read that passage. He didn't come with political zeal to gather up a bunch of, um, people that are angry at the government so he can get a following and gather them together to get a bunch of tithe money. He didn't do any of this. He didn't come with a watered down gospel that diminishes the truth of the consequence of sin. He didn't shy away from the truth of the cross. He didn't come with a soft gospel that allows for the sexual sin that he will be writing about in chapter 5 to come into the walls of the church. He didn't come with confusion for the church, like we will read in the weeks to come in chapters 10 and 11. He came with the true gospel of Jesus. And he laid it as a wise master builder. He laid it rightly. He laid it correctly. He followed the blueprint. The church is built on the gospel, on Christ and is built by Christ. So we may ask ourselves this question. We might not be pastors, you might not be leaders here, so it might not be directly, but you might ask yourself this question. What do I want my church to be built on? What are the things that are um, pros and cons? What are the things that if a church doesn't do this, I'm out of? I'm out of here. Is it the style of worship? Is it a political leaning? Is it something like that? But I ask this question to myself often? We're looking to plan a church next year. And I ask myself, why are we planting this church? Why are we doing this? Is it just something to do? Is it the next step in ministry for some people? I'll be honest. I've never been a very humble person. I've always been pretty good at what I put my hand to. So I ask myself questions often. Why are you doing this, though? Are you doing this for yourself? Do you want the church to be in your image and not Christ's? I ponder my motivations? I ponder my desires. I ponder when I'm discouraged when something didn't go the way I planned. But it is my primary desire, my sole desire. And it is Northland's desire to plant churches on Christ alone. Not on talent. If it was on talent, I wouldn't be here. It's not on affluence, not on money, not on resources, not on anything. But it's on Christ alone. On sharing the gospel faithfully to the lost and to the saved. To build up the church in faithfulness. And Paul says the church at Corinth is built on Christ. Paul is sure of it because he preached the true gospel. In 1st Corinthians 15, we'll get there in the spring, you're actually going to see in greater detail the gospel exactly the way he preached it. Christ, uh, lived perfectly. Christ died, Christ resurrected, Christ is coming again. He preached it faithfully and rightly, but although there is obvious sin in the church at Corinth, Paul knows that he laid the right foundation because he followed the blueprint for the correct foundation. That foundation is Christ. It's the gospel. The 3rd thing we're going to see in this passage is that God is building the church to be like Christ. God's building the church to be like Christ. Paul described the foundation as Christ, but it is no longer Paul or Apollos that is building on that foundation in Corinth. We've already read that Paul and Apollos are no longer there. It's also important to note that Paul says when another is building on it. He doesn't mention, and Apollos is building on it. Up until this point, Apollos has always been the one who's followed after Paul. He said, I planted Apollos watered. He's the one who's been with you more recently than I. But here, he leaves out Apollos' name, because he's not trying to drag Apollos through the mud. He's not trying to cause further division between him and Apollos, but he's aiming to correct sin here. He's saying the leaders and pastors that are there. They need to be careful how they're building this church. They need to be building it with things that will last. They need to build it with things that will stand that day. Paul gives a firm warning in verse 10 says. Each one is to be careful how he builds on that foundation. Verses 12 through 17, he gives even further warning. He says, if anyone build on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one's work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire. The fire will test the quality of each man's work. If anyone's work that has been that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. And in the last little bit, he's talking about the one who would aim to destroy God's church. He says that that person will then in turn be destroyed. Paul's warning the leaders at Corinth to build on the unshakable foundation of Christ with equally unshakable things that will last on that day, things that will last, things that honor God. Remember, I said this earlier, the things that are on the outside of the building of the temple, temple of God or temple of whatever, is meant to reflect the value of that that's on the inside, that thing that's being worshiped. So if Christ, if we're and dwelt with the Holy Spirit, if God is the one who's dwelling within us, within the body, within the gathered body, we need to be aiming to build with things that reflect that value. to reflect the immeasurable value of God. He says, build with things that will last. And this temple language is showing that when we're building, we need to be doing so with care and intention. In Christ, we know this, because of the Holy Spirit, who's dwelling within us, the church is holy, that it is set apart by God. That the church is a people of God's own possession. We've talked about this in years past, that the church has a positional holiness. But because we've been saved in Christ. We've been made right with him. Holiness is set apart. If you want to get even more specific, set apart in rightness or righteousness by Christ. We've been placed in the right position. The right position of blessing. But now we're lining up that declaration. And we talked about this a couple weeks ago as well. This word sanctification. This is a big word. Individually, we are positionally holy, but we are also becoming holy. As a church, we have also been made positionally holy, and we're also becoming holy. We're aiming to build in holiness. The way I like to define sanctification is becoming in practice, what we are in position, becoming in practice, what we are in position. If we've been made right, if we've been made righteous, right, indeed, in word, in all these things, if we've been made right, our sins not being held against us any longer, then we need to aim to live our life in a way that reflects that. That's what sanctification is. In our life and in the church. The church has been set apart to be God's own possession for a purpose, and the church should reflect that. An imperfect illustration, and an imperfect example, I have 5 adopted siblings. Um, they come from 2 separate families. Four of them are full Native American heritage. They come from the China Arapahoe tribe. And when we adopted them on December, I think it was 23rd, 2012, they became Leslie's. We signed the papers, their last name is Leslie now. But here's the truth. They still look different than us. They still sound different than us. They have different humor than us. They don't have the same upbringing, they don't have the same values. But this is what happens. Once we adopted them, they were a little older. So if you've been through foster adoption, you know that sometimes that change takes a while for them to be integrated into the family. But they were adopted at 12, 13, 17, and 18, or I guess 16 and 17. But what we started to see is as they started to live in our home, we started to interact with them more because they were in our family, at our parties, at all the different gatherings, their humor started to change. The way they talked, started to change. The things that they valued started to change. That's like what the process of sanctification. Being in position, being made a Leslie, being made holy by Christ, but then becoming more like than through interaction with the one that you're meant to be like. Does that make sense? It's an imperfect example, but the church is called to be more like Christ as they're interacting with Christ. You have been given the title of Christian by the world. that Christ God did come up with that. It was actually given by people in Antioch. But we've been given the title Christian, which means a little Christ, which means we should be looking like little Christs everywhere we go. The church should be a bunch of little Christ giving praises to him. But the problem is that the Corinthians, the problem that they're facing, that they're building on something, they're building with something other than the true gospel. They're building in man's wisdom. They're boasting in man. They're boasting in Paul, I am of Paul. I am Apollos. I am of Cephas. They're not boasting in Christ. They're deviating from God's standard of sexuality in chapter 5. We'll read about that in a couple weeks. They're deviating from God's character because they're being disordered. They're disorganized in chapters 10 and 11. They're reverting from the gospel by excluding people from the Lord's supper in chapter 10. They had forgotten about Christ's resurrection in chapter 15. They don't think that Christ was resurrected. They don't think that we will have a resurrected body. They're building on something that will not last. They're building on man's wisdom. They're trying to outthink the Bible. They're trying to outthink the word of God. They're trying to think that they are smarter. Go read Romans one to go see about that. And what it means to try to be wise in your own eyes. But we must take care of how we build on Christ in the church. Our work will be made evident. Our work should reflect Christ in every way. They should be faithful to the gospel in every way. Now, here in this passage, he says the day, the day that he's mentioning, is the last day when Christ comes back. He says that all the work of churches will be made evident on that day. There's another mention of the day. There's actually lots of mentions of the day in the Bible, but what I'm going to bring up is Matthew 7, 21 through 23. Jesus is talking, he's preaching sermon, and he says this. He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, enter the kingdom of heaven. Now that little part alone might keep you awake at night. But only the one who does the will of my father in heaven, and that should let you go to sleep. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name. Then I will announce to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers. On that day, many will say to him, Lord, Lord, did we not do all of these amazing things? I don't know about you, but I've never cast out demons. I don't know what kind of miracles I've done. Maybe I've done some, I don't even know, but I don't think I've done any miracles. On that day, I won't be able to stand before him and say, look at all these amazing things that I did. These type of people, you might look at it and be like, man, I'm so glad I'm not them. But in reality, so many churches, so many people want to be them. They want to have something to bring to God. Look at this mighty work that I've done. Look at this miracle that I've done. Look at how I prophesied in your name. Look at some churches. Don't churches want that exact same thing? Look at the mighty works that we do. Look at how we prophesy in your name. Look at the miracles that we perform. Look at all the demons we cast out. But Jesus will look at them and say, depart from me. I never knew never knew you. They had great works, but they lacked something. They didn't have the gospel. They didn't know Jesus, and Jesus didn't know them. They will suffer great loss on their day on that day. There's no fooling Christ. The work these people accomplish will not stand, just like many churches will not stand on that day because they're not built on the gospel, but they're built on their own work, their own power. There will be churches that will crumble under the weight of Christ's glory because they forgot that that was about his glory to begin with. So what building will stand on that day? It is Christ's church that is built on the foundation of Christ and is being formed to look like Christ through the ministry of the gospel. Did I say Christ enough? Probably not. We could say it more. Christ is our salvation plan. He's our foundation plan. He's the one we're built on. He's the one we're saved by. He's our restoration plan. When we found that we were building with things that weren't worthy of him. We're never just like my son, when he builds with lack of care, and it's torn down. He's our restoration plan. We repent, and he builds us back up in holiness. And he's our resurrection plan. That on that day, none of our works will stand. If you're not building on the gospel. But there will be a day where there will be no more tears, no more pain, and we'll be seeing his praises forever, just like the church was always meant to do. The passage we read during worship was Colossians one, and it said that Christ is the head. So if Christ is the foundation, Christ is the head, and Christ is the builder. We would know this, that we start with Christ, we go with Christ, and we end with Christ. The church is built on Christ, built by Christ, and built into Christ. It's all about Jesus. All about Jesus. And none of it is about us. It's all about giving him praise because we've been given salvation. So what do we do with this information? Just to wrap up, I got 3 little application points that we can use. The 1st one's a doozy, so I hope you have your pencils out. Number one, worship Christ in the church. I know, that's a really great application point. You've heard it before. I've been going to seminary and you're like, Dalton, this is all your seminary education's got you. Yeah, and I hope they don't teach me anything else because this is true. We are to worship Christ in the church. The Christ is, the church is totally Christ's. We are to worship God with all our mind, soul, and strength. And I've given, here's some gauging questions. Like a barometer, if you will. Ask these to yourself. Um, maybe not out loud. You can answer me out loud if you want in life group or something later, but here's some questions to ask yourself. What do you think about during the songs before and after the sermon? Are you thinking about lunch? Are you thinking about the person next to you? Maybe I can sing loud enough and they loud enough and I can impress them. What do you think about during the sermon? Are you thinking about your shopping list for the store afterwards? Are you falling asleep? I'm just talking. What do you think about when choosing a life group? Are you thinking about expanding the kingdom? What do you think about when walking in the door of the church? Are you looking at welcoming those who are lost, those who are new and maybe inviting them into this gathered people? I'll ask, good question is, are we planning for a week of worshiping Christ? Like we're planning lunch plans. If your mind fixates on anything besides Christ, you're not alone. Don't feel like I'm trying to batter you down. We're all like this. The Corinthians are like this. Their mind gets fixed on man's wisdom. Mind gets fixed on man's desires. But we should strive to make Christchurch about him. He's a restoration plan. He's a resurrection plan. He's our foundation plan. Let's tear it down and build it back up on his image. The second thing. Build the church and your life on the word. Another one, groundbreaking application points here. But sometimes a simple truth for the ones that we need to hear. We stray from the gospel often. Our minds stray from right thoughts often. We stray from worshiping Christ often. We sinners. We're imperfect. Our minds are fleshly and we're limited to our own experience, but we need something that's imperishable to ground us. to remind us, to correct us, because our wisdom is perishable. It will not last. The word of the Lord endures forever. Listen to Isaiah 47 through 8, one to memorize for sure. The grass withers the flowers fade when the breath of the Lord blows on them. Indeed, the people are grass. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever. The word endures forever. It stands the test of time. It will be there on that day. It accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish. Everything that God puts his hand to, he succeeds in. So with the word, read it. Memorize it, pray it, sing it, tell it to others. And when all else fails, God's word won't. Last one. Pray for your pastors in the church. Pray for your pastors in the church. This text was aimed at the pastors at Corinth, that they need to be taking care of how they're building on the foundation that he laid, that there will be a day where their work will be judged. Hebrews 1317 is a verse that keeps me up at night as a pastor. And it says, it tells the church, it says, obey your leaders, submit to them, and it says, because they will give an account for you. The pastors at Northland will give an account for you. They will give an account for how they build in the church. And it says, let them do so with joy. Let them do so without fighting and quarreling. Not saying don't bring it up when they're wrong, but pray for your pastors. Pray for the leaders, pray for the directors. They're imperfect just like you. Yeah, they might have a doctorate. Yeah, they might have a master's degree. Yeah, they might be doing ministry for a really long time. But pray for your pastors. Support them. They will give an account for us on that day. There is a large spiritual burden on the back of your pastors. I talked with pastors often, and they say that often. It's just a wait. Just to wait on them. They're praying for you. They're prayerfully applying scriptures for you. So maybe in your family on Saturday night, in the day by praying for your pastor for the next day. On Monday, pray for your pastor day. preparing a sermon for you, and preparing a sermon for the church, that he'd be building faithfully. They'd be preaching faithfully, that the lost would hear the gospel, that the saved would be built up, that we would be a church that doesn't just sit here, but that we would be a church that goes to the nations and proclaims his word and his praises everywhere, that we'd be faithful. In all thanks. Pray for your leadership, and pray for their families. We're going to finish in a way that we kind of started. So, We're going to read Colossians again. Colossians one, 15 through 20. And I'm going to ask you if you're able, if you will stand up with me. Stand up with him. I know we don't do this all that often, but it's not all that uncommon. We're talking about worshiping Christ. The church is about Christ built on Christ, built for Christ. Everything's about him. When you worship, what you think about matters. The goal is not to bring him a very beautiful song. Our worship leaders, Micah, and this team. They do a great job of giving God the praise. But they can give God praise all day long, but if you're thinking and worshiping the wrong thing, Then all we're doing is singing at a Christian concert. What you think about matters. We're going to read this, and I'm going to pray, and then we're going to worship. My hope and my prayer is that in reading this, that we would begin to stoke the flame of true worship to Christ. That we would read the word and be encouraged. So let's read this. Colossians one, 15 through 20. He is the image of the invisible God. The firstborn of all creation. For by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities, all things were created through him, and for him, and he is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him, to reconcile to himself, all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood, of his cross. God, you are good and gracious to us. We are unworthy of your love. We are unworthy of your grace. But lord, you saw it fit to save a people for yourself to give you praise. Lord, we thank you. Lord, let our worship be true, let our worship be pure. Let our minds not wander away from the resurrection. Let our minds not wander away from the true meaning of worship. Lord, we love you. Hope us love you more. Amen.