BELIEVERS AS GOD’S TEMPLE
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
1 CORINTHIANS 3 : 10-23
Key Verse
“For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 3: 11
INTRODUCTION
When God created human beings He had an aim or purpose. He wanted them to become part of a family with Him God the Father, His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. This was no easy task, for the enemy of human beings Satan had tried to join the Father as the head of the angelic world and for that gross sin he was thrown out of heaven, and then known as a fallen angel. He knew as part of his punishment God would one day throw him into the Lake of Fire. The Father had prepared this Lake of Fire and revealed that to us in the Bible to warn human beings that they not allow Satan to drag them into his rebellion against God and like him end up in the Lake of Fire.
Why is it so important for human beings to believe in Jesus as their Saviour, Lord, and Master?
The Apostle Paul and all the Apostles teach that all believers must like him focus on “Jesus and Him crucified”. The act of Jesus to come to earth as a man, show us the Father, demonstrate the incredible love of God for men, and dying on the Cross to bear the sins of all men, sums up the love, the wisdom and the glory of God.
The Apostle Paul had to get this message over to the brethren in the church at Corinth. They were mostly poor and disregarded by their society and had been taught by Paul about the love of God for them and the great things they could do through the possession of the Holy Spirit. They had accepted the Gospel of Christ and had the Holy Spirit living inside them, guiding, helping, protecting, encouraging, growing, and transforming them into the image of Christ.
Paul had founded this church and had taught them for 18 months. But there was much they misunderstood. They thought that because they had been blessed with the supernatural gifts of the Spirit they could behave any way they wanted.
Some of them said they were followers of Paul, some said they followed the Apostle Peter, some said they followed a gifted speaker and teacher named Apollos, some said they followed Jesus, and others said they followed others. So Paul had to straighten them out for their spiritual immaturity and for their following the ways of the flesh which is called carnality. So because of their carnality, they behaved as the rest of sinful men in the world around them. They fought among themselves, created little groups and divisions, elevated the importance of men around them, envied, did not love each other, did not care for the poor among them, and thought only about their self-interest. So they like the rest of the world showed the sinful or carnal side of their nature instead of the many attractive and joy-filled virtue of the Spirit, the love, peace, and affection.
Paul said they were new Christians and were only behaving as ‘babies’ in Christ. They could only absorb the ‘milk” doctrines of the Word of God. But they should grow up and learn the “meat” doctrines of the Word of God. Then they would stop behaving like ‘fleshly’ sin-influenced men. Paul insisted he and the other Christian leaders were only servant of Christ and no one was superior to the other.
They should like the Apostles and other Christian leaders be led by the Spirit and build like the leaders on the foundation which is the Lord Jesus Christ. When they did that building out of love and obedience to the Spirit they would receive a reward from God on the Day of Judgment. If their work was based on bad principles the works would be burned up, not recognized by God as valuable. But they personally would be saved though they would get no other reward for the work they were doing. So let us follow the teaching of the Apostles. Be led by the Spirit. Work to build up the body of Christ based on the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ