“For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 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, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
What kind of work are you doing? If you are a follower of Jesus, you have a role to play in the advancement of His kingdom into the lives of the people around you. As Paul has described in the previous few verses, different people have different roles to play in the process.
Foreshadowing what he will talk about in much more detail later in the letter, Paul argues that some people have been gifted to lay a Gospel foundation in a person’s heart. They have the ability to get people thinking about the Gospel in ways they have not before. Others have the ability to nurture and encourage that curiosity. They help water those planted seeds so that the environment of a person’s heart is well-disposed to growth. God is the one who causes the growth (which is fully in line with Paul’s argument at the end of chapter 2 that growth in the faith comes only by His help), but He uses still others to fertilize the budding seed so that it grows in healthy way.
Given, then, that each of us has a role to play, what Paul challenges us with here is the question of the quality of our work. Using the image of a building, once the foundation has been laid and construction has begun, what kind of a job are you doing as the building rises? Are you building with materials that will hold up and last through various pressures and stresses that will be placed on it by life? Or are you cutting corners and doing things on the cheap? Your work will be tested at some point and the truth of your craftsmanship will be proved. When this happens, you will have to stand before God and justify your work.
How do you want that experience to go? Your salvation may not be at stake, but someone else’s may be. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to stand before God someday and explain why I played a role in a person not accepting the faith after having shown some interest in it. Let us be sure we are building with materials that will last. Let us be certain our work is always our best work from our hardest effort. Let us not forget that how we build is literally a matter of life and death. Eternity is at stake.
The Nexus 
At age 77 I’m coming to the belief, and the proposition, that I need to move my role “up and to the right” (which is something Willow Creek people say) about evangelism and taking the initiative about other people’s salvation and where they expect to be in eternity. So I have taken on the responsibility of teaching a class at our church in Contagious Christianity and another in Tell Someone (both with DVDs and print resources) — and I am probably (if in my right mind) scared to death. First, if anyone comes at the 11:15 class when most churchgoers are headed for their favorite Sunday restaurant, and second, I have no special skills in this subject. I know I need to pull back a bit; when asking a woman at the fitness club I attend about her attendance at church, she wasn’t attending nor was she interested in talking about her eternity. I can be too much a bull in the Christian china shop. A little honey works better than vinegar in approaching this topic.
I just love the C.S. Lewis quote: The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men [and women] into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply as waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.”
Pray that someone signs up for my class and that September 10 (the first class) goes well.
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Fortunately, God can take our efforts as meager as they may seem and make them far more than sufficient. A little of His power goes a long way. What He asks for from us is faithfulness. He’ll take care of the rest. The C.S. Lewis quote is right on the money (as they so often are). I’ll pray not just that people sign up, but that you are able to find a big enough space when things get up and rolling. Keep up the good work!
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