Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
Believers are to live holy lives because they been made clean of all their sins by Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross through faith. The Holy Spirit indwells all believers. They are the temple of God. But if believers having been freed from the bondage of sin chooses to go back to the filth of sin, defiling themselves, God will deal with such ones.
The Apostle Paul exhorts God’s people to be actively serving their Lord Jesus Christ. Upon Jesus, this sure foundation we are to build. He enlightens us in 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. He especially charges those in the ministry – pastors, preachers, missionaries to be watchful how they will serve. Unless Jesus Christ is assimilated in their lives and in their teachings the name of Christ is exalted, their ministry will surely suffer loss.
There is only one way by which man can be saved. It is faith in Jesus Christ. This is the sure foundation that will stand the severest test. The only true foundation in which we receive spiritual life and the perpetual sustenance of it. This is the message of the gospel that the Apostle Paul preached, the same message we learn to preach.
The Apostle Paul knows that the foundation of his faith is in Jesus Christ. This faith is real because he met the risen Christ, Jesus, on the road to Damascus. He is a witness to the resurrection life. Therefore, his teaching is based upon the truth of the resurrection life which he personally experienced.
The Apostle Paul shares the secret of his success. He is doing the will of God and so God endows him with wisdom and favour to build-up spiritual lives compared here to a building project. The word “master-builder” literally means “architect”. He speaks of God helping him to preach the gospel and enabling those in Corinth to believe. He laid a good foundation for their faith to grow. But he was not the only one labouring. There is another servant of God Apollos who continued the work where he left off. His concern for the church in Corinth did not cease when he left Corinth to carry on God’s work in other places. He is keenly aware of the strife and division in the Corinthian church and he is writing to defuse that animosity amongst brethren.
The Apostle Paul presents to the believers a proper understanding of God’s servants. They are fellow workers of God cultivating the crops in God’s vineyard. The vineyard belongs to God. The church belongs to God. The believers are God’s people. God’s servants are working together to accomplish God’s will and purpose for the salvation and edification of His church. He alone must receive the glory. With such an understanding, all division and strife will cease. Notice the emphasis of the verse on “God”, repeated three times in the “genitive” signifying “ownership”.
The Apostle Paul shows us that the labourer in God’s vineyard will receive a reward from the Master Jesus when He returns. And the assessment will be made based on the work that the individual does. The planter and the person that waters are both labourers for the Master.
The Christian can be a witness only with God energizing, leading and blessing. Except God will supply His people with life, they cannot prosper. Jesus explains this by the illustration of the Vine to His disciples in John 15:4-7 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
The Apostle Paul explains to the believers in Corinth that God’s is in charge of advancing His work of saving souls and speeding them on in the journey of faith. It is God who by His mercy called him to this work. It was not on his own volition. It is God who directed and bring about spiritual progress in the work of the gospel.
The Apostle Paul knows that his name was used by those in the Corinthian church to sow discord and disunity by this deliberate attempt to form factions and create cliques. He reasons with them that ministers like himself are servants of God, entrusted with the spiritual mandate to fulfil the Great Commission. He serves his Master, Jesus Christ. They are to follow him as he follows his Master Jesus Christ.