Ye Are God's Building

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 14, 1884

Ye Are God's Building.

SEVERAL figures are used in the New Testament to represent the people and church of God. One is that of grain in a field. Said Jesus: "The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one." Matt. 13:38. All are ripening for the great harvest; the wheat to be gathered into the garner of the Lord, and the tares and chaff to be burned up with unquenchable fire.

Another, and one of which frequent mention is made, is that of a body; the members of the church are represented by the various parts of the human body. Christ is the head—the chief and mover of all. An interesting feature of this subject is Paul's argument in 1 Cor. 12-14 and Eph. 4, in which the various gifts of the Spirit are shown to be necessary to the completeness and unity of the body.

And another is the figure of a building, as in our text: "Ye are God's husbandry; ye are God's building." 1 Cor. 3:9. Each of these figures has its own lessons according to the terms used. The one last named we will examine. As presented in the Scriptures, it contains instruction of great practical benefit if rightly considered.

1. The foundation. This is Christ. No other can be laid. God has set forth his Son as the only way of salvation, and he accepts no work on any other foundation than this. Without faith in him no man can succeed in any work, for he said, and he is the truth, "Without me ye can do nothing." John 15:5. As no other foundation can be laid, 1 Cor. 3:11, he who does not build on him builds on the sand. Matt. 7:24-27.

2. The builders. These are the ministers of the gospel of Christ. The apostle has not spoken of any work outside the gospel, in his argument in 1 Cor. 3. In denying any other foundation than Christ, he shuts out of consideration every work but that of building on Christ. "But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon." They who are not building "thereupon" are not noticed. Very much of the instruction given in the Scriptures regarding this figure is to and for the benefit of the builders—the ministers of the gospel.

3. The materials. These are believers in the doctrine of Christ, or of the gospel. As Christ is the foundation, none but believers in him can have any place in the building. Thus Paul said to his brethren of the church of Ephesus, "Ye are . . . built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner." Eph. 2:20. The apostles and prophets were closely connected with Christ in his work of grace to the world, but he alone was the foundation—the chief corner-stone. All the members of the church are built thereupon.

Peter also, addressing the scattered saints, speaks of the precious corner-stone which God has laid in Sion, and says: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house." 1 Peter 2:5.

Paul speaks of those who build with various kinds of material. And here is the first strong admonition to the builders. He speaks of wood, hay, and stubble, as well as gold, silver, and precious stones. Now as every man's work is to be tried by fire, it is evident that they who build with wood, hay, and stubble must suffer loss; their work will not endure. None but imperishable material will be retained.

And thus it appears that the laborer will be rewarded, not according to the amount of work he does, or of material which he gathers, but to the kind of work he does, and the material he gathers. As has been so well and truthfully expressed (Testimony to the Church, No. 16), "God measures more with how much love one worketh than the amount he doeth."

4. This building is called a temple. The temple at Jerusalem was erected as a dwelling-place for Jehovah among his people. It was the place of his sanctuary, which was his dwelling-place. Ex. 25:8. And this gives us the idea of unity in the work and the building. Indeed, unity is one of the most prominent ideas presented in the Scriptures of the gospel work. Paul says, "There is one body." Eph. 4:4. All followers of Christ are members of that one body. So intimate is this union that Paul says again we are "every one members one of another." Rom. 12:5. There cannot be more than one body, because there is only one head. "Christ is the head of the church." Eph. 5:23. Even so there is but one temple, as there is but one King. And this idea involves several important considerations.

(1) If there is but one building to be erected, there can be but one plan. Builders cannot work on the same building and work on different plans. If one works on a plan for a certain size and a certain shape, he cannot work in unity with one who is working on a plan for a building of another size and shape. Their work will not agree.

(2) They must work by the same rule. Even though they should agree in regard to the general plan or outlines, if they did not work by the same rule their work would never come together. Abundant provision is made for this in the Scriptures. Although men say, "We cannot all think alike," it is a saying of our modern "Worldly Wiseman." It is not according to the word of God. There is a most powerful appeal on this subject in Phil. 2:1, 2: "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." And again: "Whereunto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." Phil. 3:16.

(3) The necessity of this is clearly shown by numerous expressions in the word. Thus in Eph. 2:21, "In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." Suppose one workman uses a rule twelve inches in length, another one of eleven, and another one of thirteen, all calling them the same rule; one frames timber for a square, and another for an oblong, building; one calculates on a height of twenty feet, another of fifteen; one cuts a tenon at an angle of forty-five degrees to work with a right angle; let this diversity be multiplied indefinitely, and when all the work was brought together, would any "master workman" say it was "fitly framed together"? By no means. Paul exhorted Timothy, and through him all other laborers in the gospel, to show himself a workman that need not be ashamed. But, in the case above supposed, the workmen would be put to shame if they professed to be working on the same building.

But the above is not altogether a supposition. Inspiration has furnished us the figure, and given the direction to be of one mind; to speak the same thing; to walk by the same rule. But now we find as many rules (creeds, etc.) adopted as there are different churches, and, in many cases, diverse rules recognized in the same church. The Saviour prayed that his followers might all be one. Now it is considered evidence of a true Christian spirit to generously and harmoniously "agree to disagree!" They agree to work together on the one building, though their rules are contrary to each other, and their speech as diverse as was that of the builders of the tower of Babel. "God is not the author of confusion." 1 Cor. 14:33.

(4) If such a state of things existed on any work on earth, we should expect the proprietor to send a general overseer to correct their errors, to bring them into harmony, and thus to insure the work being properly done. God, in establishing the work of the gospel, made wise and sufficient provision for this. This is the work of the Spirit of God, and it is to be accomplished by "the gifts of the Spirit" which he set in the church. The apostle Paul, in Eph. 4, after commenting on the unity of the work, enumerates the gifts, and says they were given "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Why, then, do we see such confusion existing among the workers? It is because they refuse to submit to the divine rule, and to accept the Heaven-appointed means of unity; because they have entered into a league to "agree to disagree." "My brethren, these things ought not so to be."

5. But one more point we can notice now. When the apostle says, "Ye are the temple of God," does he speak to the followers of Christ individually, or to the church collectively? We answer, Both. We are the temple of God if God dwells in us. And this refers to us as individuals, for the Spirit of God cannot dwell in the church, except as it dwells in the individuals composing the church. Every one would reject as an absurdity, the idea that God dwelt in the church, but not in its members. The perfection of a building depends entirely on the perfection of the materials of which it is composed. We cannot build a stone house of wood and hay. And some of the expressions of the Scriptures on this subject must be directed to individuals, such as 2 Cor. 6:14-18, which please read. Also Rom. 8:9, 11: "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." See also verse 11.

And, on the other hand, if the Spirit dwells in the members, it must also of necessity dwell in the church. If it can be said to individuals, "Ye are the temple of the living God," much more can it be said of the church in which these members are united in one body. And as all the members suffer when one member suffers, every exhortation to purity, spoken to an individual, makes it incumbent upon him to endeavor to preserve the church in purity. Every member ought to have the same care for the welfare of the church that he has for himself. The suffering of the church is really his suffering; the church's loss is his loss; the reproach of the church is his reproach.

These points might be enlarged upon to profit, but we leave the subject with these suggestions, hoping that some may be incited to study the Scriptures further which speak thereon, and be led to improve in faith and knowledge of these important relations. And above all, let us pray that God will not leave us to choose our own way, but to guide us by his counsel, that we may afterward be received into his glory.

Ferndale, Cal., Feb. 1.