Sunday 11 • 03 • 19

It's an honor to be with Russell at this ordination service. I know Russell through the work of Leaders Collective, which Elliot Grudem leads. I met Russell through a Church Planter cohort. He's become a friend over the past couple of years, and so I'm honored to be here.

I'm secondly honored to be at CTK because I met Elliot when he was a college freshman and I was a college senior at Miami of Ohio. We were both involved in student ministry together, and even more importantly, perhaps, Elliot credits my wife, Kim, for making space for him and Casey to hang out. Kim doesn't remember that, but that's the kind of credit when someone gives that to you, you take it. We're glad to be at CTK.

And thirdly, I'm honored to open up God's word this morning. First Corinthians 3, which helps us understand how to build a ministry that lasts. So it is a great passage to look at as Russell comes for ordination, but it's also a great passage for the rest of us who are building ministries—whether it's a ministry in a church, whether your ministry is at home and you're raising children and they're your primary focus of ministry, or whether you're ministering in the marketplace. How do you build a ministry that lasts? That's what we're going to be looking at this morning.

Let's pray and ask for Jesus' help to that end.

Lord Jesus, you are the king and the head of your church. You're our gracious savior, and you are our great friend. We pray that you would send your Holy Spirit on me as I teach and all of us as we listen, that you'd encourage us from your word. We pray this in your name. Amen.

Context: Corinth and Our Cities

Paul, as he's writing in Corinthians, is writing to a church in a city which shares a lot of similarities with the places where you and I live. I come right now from Columbus, Ohio. Like Corinth, Columbus is the regional capital—our state capital. Corinth was a regional government powerhouse. It wasn't the seat of the empire—it wasn't Rome—but it was where the local leadership lived. So it's like Raleigh too. It's a capital city.

Corinth was an economic powerhouse. It was a city that, because of its geographic location, had two seaports. So it was a transportation hub. It had a booming economy. It was the kind of place in the world where a person could go to make it. That shares some similarities where I'm from—at the intersection of I-70 and I-71, a transportation nexus in the Midwest. And of course, you experience a lot of economic well-being right now too.

Similar to Columbus, where we had Ohio State University (of which I'm not an alumnus—I graduated from Miami of Ohio, and we too play football, often with different results on Saturday than the Buckeyes), Raleigh being part of the Research Triangle, Corinth was famous for its intellectual capital.

There were many blessings that went with living in Corinth. Paul was also familiar with how the Corinthian culture would bring challenge to a young church movement starting in that part of the world. Corinth was a place where image and reputation were everything. We live in that kind of world too, where we can be consumed with reputation as well.

The Beautiful and Messy Church

The church plant that is in Corinth is beautiful and messy. The people that we meet—that Paul is writing to—Paul has greeted at the beginning of the letter and he has reminded them of the beauty of God's work in their lives. Just in the opening words of this letter, he identifies them:

The church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.

Saints set apart by God, beautiful because of God's work uniting them spiritually to Christ. They can anticipate a beautiful future that they'll be sustained by God to the end, guiltless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. So God is doing amazing things in their present. He's doing amazing things for them in the future. But they're also facing big challenges, which is why he's writing this letter. They are, like every church is, beautiful and messy.

And so he begins chapter one:

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

There was a maturity struggle that was going on in Corinth. Now, it would not be my place to assume that that's going on here at CTK as a guest preacher. And I'm not opening up Corinthians for that reason. I am opening it up because as we watch Paul minister to his friends—people who are part of this beautiful and messy church—what we watch Paul do is describe how to really build a maturing ministry that lasts. And that's what we want to think about this morning. Whether we're off to plant a church, whether we're going to go with the launch team of a church plant, whether we're primarily ministering to children or coworkers.

We want to build ministries that last and the first thing that Paul shows us to do is that we build a ministry to last when we relentlessly insist on a superior identity. Because the maturity problem that's facing the Corinthians is at root an identity problem. They've confused who they were at their core. Again to the opening verses of chapter three.

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ, I fed you with milk, not solid food for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not ready for you are still of the flesh. — 1 Corinthians 3

What's the big challenge that they're facing? It's jealousy and quarreling about who the preferred preacher is. Which doesn't at first seem like a very big deal.

For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says I follow Paul and another I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human? — 1 Corinthians 3

This does not seem at first blush like a big deal. But it's a big deal to Paul, such a big deal that he says that when the Corinthians who were called to be saints, who were set apart by God, when they do this, they're being merely human. So what's the big deal?

Well, Paul has said in the opening two chapters of Corinthians that there are basically two kinds of people in the world. After every other way that people divide from each other is sorted out, Paul says essentially there are two divisions among humanity. Look for example at verse 18 of chapter one:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. But to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of god. — 1 Corinthians 1:18

Perishing or being saved. And those whom God saves, Paul continues, are not saved because of their or our inherent wisdom, power, noble birth, or personal strength, but simply because God has sovereignly worked in their lives.

Choosing what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. — 1 Corinthians 1

Those whom God saves, He unites to Christ. Those who are united to Christ receive from Him every spiritual benefit that Jesus has to offer—right standing with God, approval from God, membership in God's family, righteousness, sanctification, holiness, wisdom. So that they've received the most durable, unimpeachable identity a person can have: sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.

And the Corinthians are arguing about who is their favorite preacher. What's the big deal? Well, the big deal is that they're subverting a superior identity for an inferior identity.

In the first century world in Corinth, a person could build his or her identity around who or what they belong to—what trade guild they belong to, what religious cult they were a member of, what school of philosophy they ascribed to. But when the gospel came to a person in Corinth, what the person discovered, which is the same thing that you've discovered if you're a Christian, is that God has deeply, personally, individually prized him or her so that he sent his son to be crucified for him or her. So that consequent to their faith in the lord Jesus, they're united to Jesus. They are in Christ. They belong to Christ.

So for a Corinthian to say that I'm with Paul or I'm with Apollos is to subvert their real identity. It's a bigger deal than saying I like this guy's podcast or I like that guy's preaching. What they're saying is: I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos instead of Christ. They're subverting their superior identity.

They're not the only people to do it, are they? We do it all the time. My identity as a husband, as a father, as an employee, as a friend—it's easy for me to focus on those things and to build my worth and significance out of those things and forget that I am in Christ, that I am of Christ.

So Russell, your privilege, which is the privilege of every pastor, but not just of every pastor, but of every Christian parent, of Christian friends reaching out to not yet Christian friends, is to invite not yet Christians to find a true, real, durable, dependable, not losable identity that's rooted in Christ. Every other place that we build our identities, even among good things, will be lost. In a marriage, one spouse typically outlives another. Even the best of friends can relocate. Our work lives will come to an end. We'll get to middle age and can't play our sports at the level that we expect. We get to invite people to a real, durable identity. And as we invite people to this identity, we get to trust God with the results.

Paul continues:

Apollos and Paul—what then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believe does the Lord assign to each. I planted Apollos watered, God gave the growth. — 1 Corinthians 3

Paul keeps directing his hearers back to God's sovereign work behind the scenes. Behind the preacher is the Lord who assigns the ministry, the Lord who assigns the growth.

Now Paul says it a third time in verse seven:

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one. — 1 Corinthians 3:7

In other words, Paul and Apollos are united in the commonality of their work of gospel proclamation. They're accountable to God because he's the one who issues their wages. They are God's fellow workers.

Verse nine, we are fellow workers who belong to God and you, the Corinthians, are of God's field, God's building. — 1 Corinthians 3:9

Which shows us the next lesson that Paul wants to teach them and us about building a ministry that lasts. We build a ministry that lasts when we trust a superior foundation.

The Chicago Fire and Building Foundations

About seven years ago, my family and I lived and worked in Chicagoland. We lived and worked out in the West Suburbs, Naperville area, but we loved to go down into the city on holiday or on the weekends. And if work takes you to Chicago or if you've gone on tour and you've walked along Michigan Avenue, the Magnificent Mile, you'll have seen two of the oldest buildings in Chicago. The reason why you can see them is because of how they're made.

History tells us that a hundred and forty-eight years ago this month, a fire started in Downtown Chicago. A cow takes the blame. Mrs. O'Leary's cow is blamed for kicking over a lantern in a barn. That is not a proven fact. There's also a rumor that a poker party was going on in the barn and the cow took the blame, which sounds like what a group of guys might do. We didn't start the fire, the cow did it? No one knows. But wind and dry conditions and wooden buildings meant you had the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Three hundred people were killed, 3.3 square miles of downtown and the near North Side were destroyed.

It's debatable, but it's said that seven buildings in the path of the fire were saved, including the water tower and the pumping station, which were built of sandstone. The construction of those buildings made them built to last, to endure the fire. Paul wants us, as we build ministries, to know what the right material is so that we can build ministries that last.

I was thinking about this for Russell. Russell, you've worked hard at going through church planter assessment. You've apprenticed. You've been mentored. You've been coached. You're thinking. You're strategizing. You're gathering a team. You're working on documents and value statements. And all of these things go in the direction of building a ministry. But what if I could tell you that Paul shows us what we really need to build a ministry that lasts.

The True Foundation

Look at verse 10. According to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. — 1 Corinthians 3:10

What Paul describes applies not just to Corinth but to ministries everywhere, whether your ministry is vocational in a church or it's at home. All of us pass on ministries to the next generation, whether it's to the next pastor or to launching a child into adulthood.

Paul says we should let each one take care how he builds upon this foundation for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid. — 1 Corinthians 3:10b-11

The foundation laid for lasting ministry is not the personality or the eloquence or the giftedness of a favored preacher, but the foundation that's laid and upon which lasting ministry is built is Jesus Christ.

And we should pause just for a second to understand that what Paul is doing is very significant when he takes the personal name Jesus and he puts it next to Christ. We're familiar with the identifier, but Paul is intentionally highlighting the real person, Jesus from Nazareth, ascribing Him the real title of God's king, and reminding the Corinthians that real things happened in Judea about twenty years earlier, where this real man who claimed to be God's true king preached and taught and validated his claim to be the Lord and King and then was crucified. And consequent to his crucifixion, three days later, was resurrected.

So when he talks of Jesus Christ, he's speaking of a historical event tied to the historical person. Ministry that's built to last is built on the superior proclamation of Christ crucified and risen.

Now Russell, you've been working at coming into a new denomination. You've been examined. And then after you were examined, we examined you again. And then we examined you some more. We examined your writing. We examined your speaking. We examined your preaching. We talked strict assessment. We honor you for it. We're here today because you've done well. You've passed the test. But for you and me, the real tool of assessment is in verses 12 to 15.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest for the day will disclose it, the day being the day of the Lord, his return, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. — 1 Corinthians 3:12-13

If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss so he himself will be saved but only as through fire. The verses can sound confusing, so let's ask who does Paul have in view. First of all, the anyone who would build on the foundation are other pastors and teachers to begin with. But by extension, I think everyone who does ministry, that the real assessment of ministry durability happens at the final judgment when how the foundation gets built upon is assessed. As some materials are fireproof and other materials are not fireproof, on the final day of assessment, what will be assessed is not the pastor's eloquence, charm, personality, or charisma. What will be assessed is adherence to the message of the cross.

So Russell, I'm genuinely excited about you building a ministry on the foundation of Christ crucified and risen in Knightdale. But let me offer you one personal application, which is personal to you but also to the rest of us. Remember that the foundation of Christ crucified is the right foundation not just for Knightdale but for Russell and for your family. The paradox in church planting and in pastoring and in Christian parenting and in Christian friendship is the reality that we so dearly want others to embrace is also really for us and we can be really forgetful of it.

Church planting, like parenting, will force you to address problems that you're not prepared for, attempt tasks that you're not gifted for. You'll probably feel like a failure sometimes. We church planted out in the rural West out of seminary and there would be some Sundays during the summer where I would look out the window of our small church building wondering, Is this the Sunday where no one is actually coming to church? And on those Sundays a few people would come and I'd struggle with feeling like a failure. That's when you need to bring yourself back to the foundation. Christ crucified for you. Christ crucified for Russell.

Church planting can stir up in the flesh things like jealousy and ambition. The sweetness of wanting to hear others say, I love going to Russell's Church. But it's not Russell's Church. The foundation is Christ. It's Jesus' church and he loves you and he gave himself for you. And he approves and delights in you. Whether the plant becomes the next great church plant in the PCA or the next average sized church in Knightdale, make much about the cross. Make much about the cross. Cross deficient ministries are not built to last.

The encouragement is that the person who believes in Jesus is saved by Jesus' work for him or her, even if we get our ministry sideways, Paul says. But we want to build a ministry to last. When we keep the cross central, we're building on a superior foundation, but we're also, thirdly and finally, applying superior wisdom to every aspect of life. We build ministries to last because we know what God is up to and we apply what God has done to every circumstance of life.

What God Is Up To

So we know what God is up to, Paul says in verses sixteen and seventeen. You have to remember who Paul is writing to. He's writing to a small group of people in a big city with all of the good and bad of cosmopolitan culture swirling around it, this small church plant in this big port city, beautiful and messy. This is what Paul says:

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him, for God's temple is holy and you are that temple. — 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Corinth was full of holy places, small pagan shrines and one really big pagan temple. But Paul upends the cultural worldview. He says holiness is not found in special places. Holiness is found in special people. Holiness is found in people who are built on the foundation of Christ crucified for them so that they can be holy. Paul wants this group of Christians to know that they are God's holy place.

And it shouldn't be lost on us that the people who Paul is describing as God's holy place aren't only Jewish, they're from all over the world, from all kinds of backgrounds, which is an amazing statement. I mean, we're two thousand years after this is written. In 2018, there were 2,200,000,000 estimated Christians in the world. It's hard to hear this through the ears of a tiny church plant, not many of whom Paul says were influential or powerful. The message of Christ crucified seemed out of touch with the you can make it here mentality of Corinth. Following Jesus might have seemed like a losing proposition.

Paul says, you, small but loved church, you are the main event. What God is doing in the world, He's doing in the church. He's building a holy people, and He's paying attention to it. He will actually hold others accountable for how they treat His temple, the people.

The warning leads to an invitation to repent. Verse 18:

Let no one deceive himself. — 1 Corinthians 3:18

If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. — 1 Corinthians 3:18

Foolishness to this point in 1 Corinthians describes one's response or rejection to the message of the cross. So to become a fool in order to become wise means believing in or recommitting to the message of the cross. That's a good word for us this morning, isn't it? We need to commit or recommit or maybe believe for the first time that Christ is crucified for you, and he's calling you to be part of his holy temple. That's what God is up to. And then we have the opportunity to apply superior wisdom what God has done to the challenges of life.

For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, he catches the wise and their craftiness and again the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they're futile. — 1 Corinthians 3:19-20

Two quotes from the Old Testament that reinforce the way that God turns wisdom upside down at the cross. Boasting in the cross includes applying the gospel to every life circumstance, especially the pressure circumstances of daily life.

So let no one boast in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours. And you are Christ's and Christ is God's. — 1 Corinthians 3:21-23

This is a confusing run of verses for me to understand. But I was helped by commentators who pointed out that world, life, death, present and future are all the things that stress us out. They're all the things that create anxiety. Paul has already used the term world to describe in Corinthians that which is opposed to God. I mean world can be a good term in Scripture. It can also be a negative term—the place of reality that is rejecting God. Paul says that life is good but hard but brief. It's in Corinthians that you're going to get an entire chapter on resurrection from death. Chapter 15. Resurrection hope in the face of death because life is short, sin is real, death is unavoidable and judgment is a reality.

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. If in Christ we have hope in this life only we are of all people most to be pitied. — 1 Corinthians 15:17-19

The brevity of life and the reality of death hang over humanity. We try to escape it. We try to avoid it. We try to pretend it's not there, but it's there. It's stressful. What about the present? In the New Testament, the word present can often describe the present age which is marked by evil and the future. Who doesn't worry about the future?

Paul says that all of these things are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. In other words, if you're in Christ, and he has been crucified, he's paid for your sin, so you have a different relationship to death. And if he's raised, then you have a different relationship to life, and then you have a different relationship to the things that stress you out in life. In a way, you could say that Paul is saying to the Corinthians, you actually own these things. You own these things that stress you out. They're yours in Christ and Christ in God's.

What is stressful about these things need not stress you when you tap into the superior identity that has been given to you, which is built on the superior foundation, which has been proclaimed to you. And this is what we still preach, and particularly this morning, what we call Russell to preach: to build a ministry that lasts by applying Christ crucified to the stresses of life that seem more permanent than anything else.

One of the stressors created by life's brevity is our deep desire to have everything right now. That creates stress. Tell the people that God has overcome the fear of the brevity of life by raising his son to new life and that we can have new life in him. We can have such a confidence in new life that we can do crazy things like slow down and waste time loving our neighbors.

Nothing seems more built to last than death unless there's something stronger than death. And there is. There's resurrection life. The evil of this present age which seems to press in on us so much has an expiration date, Paul says. There is a day when evil will expire. Tell the people that. Remind us of our identity. Preach the cross. Remember the relevance of the victory for every part of life.

And Russell, if you do this, by God's grace, you will build a ministry that lasts.

Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, our desire as we think about what it means to build ministries that last, whether it's church ministry or ministry at home or at work is that we would be men and women who are not ashamed of the cross, that we're confident to talk about the cross and that we're hooking our own hope into the cross.

And that we look forward to the day of your return when all will be revealed. And what will be revealed is that by your grace, these ministries have been built to last.

We pray this for Russell. We pray this for CTK. We pray this for NPC where I serve. And we pray this for your church around the world.

We pray this in your name. Amen.