Consider these questions as you dwell in 1 Corinthians 3:16-23:

1. How does Paul emphasize the importance of seeking wisdom from God rather than relying on worldly wisdom? What implications does this have for how believers approach learning and teaching?

2. What does Paul mean when he says, "Let no one deceive himself...let him become a fool, that he may become wise"? How does this statement challenge conventional ideas of wisdom and understanding?

3. In what ways can believers ensure that they are building their spiritual lives on a foundation of lasting value, as opposed to temporary or worldly principles? How does discernment and a deep understanding of God's Word play a role in this process?

Transcript:

 I don't know how much you critique me as we go along here, probably not as much as I think you do or as much as I critique myself. But you may have wondered why didn't we include verses 16 and 17 with what we read on Monday? Well, I had a reason here. I wanted to go back to this idea. It was too much just to do the end of chapter 3 last time, but I wanted us to keep this thought here to connect verses 18 through 23 to what was above to see how all of this has sort of Come back here in chapter 3 to conclude some of Paul's opening thoughts about who they were siding with in the church in Corinth.

Whether, you know, Paul or Peter or Apollos. So, it all comes back together. So, we get this thought from Monday that we saw. Do you not know that you are God's temple? Remember we talked about  The people being built up in the faith and that God's spirit dwells in you this idea of the indwelling Holy Spirit And now he starts saying if anyone destroys God's temple God will destroy him for God's temple is holy and you are that temple so the idea here is that you're being built up in the faith through what you are taught and you wanted to have these things right that were that were permanent.

You wanted things that were valuable, things that were precious to build up the temple of who you are with, not things that would be tested by fire and go away.  So what Paul is doing here is he's finishing that thought saying, if anyone destroys God, temple, God's temple, God will destroy him. The idea is that if you are teaching falsely, if you're not building his people up, the people of God up with things that matter and things that are good, then you are liable to judgment because you are God's temple.

The idea is if you're his temple, then you have value and you need to be getting the right stuff, right. And so now we move on to the finish of it, and we see how this is going to come back to this idea of wisdom and folly, okay? So, it says, Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.

In other words, Paul is saying, you have been trying to be built up, but the things that are precious, the things that matter, are not the things of this world. They're not the, the earthly teachings, the, the wisdom that, that the culture would find to be wise. Instead, it's the wisdom of God. And so, if you're building your temple, who you are, your, your faith, for lack of a better way of putting it, with the wisdom of the world, then it's the straw and it's the dirt, right?

It's not something that will last. So, you need to become a fool.  You need to look for the things of God, the things that the world would think are foolish. And Paul comes back to this idea again. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. In other words, we need to pursue what God has to say. That's why we don't pursue our ideas about who God is.

We go to his word, and we try to understand who God is from that. Because that is how he has revealed himself to us, his people. And that's important because it is a revealed word. And it has, you know, everything that we need in it. I have multiple Bibles here. Sorry to go off camera, but the nice thing about this is that it has a cover, and it has an end, right?

Uh, a back cover, right here in this word, we know how God has spoken and he has spoken clearly. And so, if I say something that doesn't agree with what's between these two covers.  Then we have a problem, right? And so, God revealing himself to us in this way is important. This is how we understand this wisdom from God.

And even though the world would think that book I just held up is foolishness, it is truly the wisdom from God. And so, we want to make sure that we understand, that we build ourselves up in this, for it is precious, right? This is what is precious to us. to God what is precious in building us up. It is something that will last.

And so, as we see in verse 20, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile. All of God's wisdom lets him know, and he already would know because he's God, but the idea is that God looks at the wisdom of men and he says, that’s been brought to nothing. That's nothing. And so, Paul's finishing up what he started with here.

So, don't boast in people.  Now, he does say that all things are theirs, though. Whether it's the teaching of Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, all of things are yours, and you are Christ, and Christ is God. What he's saying is, is that you can look at these things, you can go after these things, but ultimately, you want to pursue what is best.

But Paul's teaching is not the greatest.  Apollos isn't necessarily the greatest. You want to go back to God's word. You want to be built up in the things of God, not the things of men.  And so let's stop for a second and think about what this means for you and I.  Are we building ourselves up in God's word or in the thoughts of people?

Now we can, we can go to different teachings for people. You're, you're listening to me. I listen to other people, right?  But ultimately, does that go back to God's word? And are we checking to make sure it does? Or are we just swallowing things whole, assuming that because they said the word God, or said the word Jesus, that it, that it matches up with God's word?

Are we doing discernment? Are we making sure that these are the precious things of God? Or are we just assuming they are? And it turns out that maybe they're straw, maybe they're the dirt that Paul talked about, right?  Maybe there's some good that can build a shelter, but is it the stuff that will last? So, we need to be discerning.

We need to be going to our Bibles and checking what we are taught against it. We need to know God's Word for ourselves. We need to understand how to interpret it, that we might make sure that what we are being built up in is that which is precious, that which will last, that which will endure fire.  And so may we be looking for ways to build that up, not only today, but every day, that our lives might bring great glory to our God.