- Chad Werkhoven
1 Corinthians 3:7-15 - Maximum Wage
Why work for the minimum wage in life when you've been offered the maximum wage?
Read / Listen
Read 1 Corinthians 3:7-15
7 ... Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 63
Q. How can you say that
the good we do
doesn’t earn anything
when God promises to reward it
in this life and the next?
A. This reward is not earned;
it is a gift of grace.
Summary
We're jumping into a discussion here in 1 Corinthians 3 in which Paul is helping these early Christians and us understand that God uses all sorts of different ministers, churches and denominations to build Christians, and so far as they are faithfully proclaiming God's Word, God is using all of them to grow His Church. But in making this point, Paul writes something that catches our attention here today: even though there are many different roles to play and jobs to do in building the Church,
each will receive his wages according to his labor (v8 - ESV).
This seems to be in conflict with the gospel's primary message that salvation, and the rewards of eternal life in paradise with Christ, are a gift of grace alone! It appears from this verse that a person's eternal reward will be commensurate with the amount of work that person did for the Kingdom in life!
Paul adds some clarification in v12-15. You have been called to build up Christ's church by using the Spiritual Gift that He's given to you. That work will be "shown for what it is," and half hearted efforts will not last, and although you will not receive an extra reward, you'll still get God's free gift of salvation, "even though only as one escaping through the flames."
But if you make this work your top priority in life, and you make the effort to develop your gifts and become proficient with them, the Bible - here and multiple other places - makes clear that you will be rewarded.
Dig Deeper
It's important to understand that even though you will be paid for the work you've done for God's Kingdom, these wages are still completely a gift of grace. As we began our study of our only comfort in life and death, we were reminded that on our own, "we are so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good (question 8)."
But we are not on our own any more, are we! We have been regenerated - born again. Along with that grace, God gifted you with an ability to live for His glory by using your skills and talents to build up others. Your ability to do this work comes only because God in His grace gave you the necessary tools.
As an extra grace, He will pay you for using the tools He's given you!
This reward is something that Jesus talks about often, especially in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and as we'll see tomorrow, one of the last things Jesus says to us in the very last chapter of the Bible is that He's coming soon to make payment! So be sure to work hard for Him, so that the treasure you build up is waiting for you in heaven.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who makes His Church grow by using the talents & skills He's given to His children;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will know how you've been gifted, that you will see the opportunities to contribute, and that your work will stand the test and be eternally rewarded.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Ephesians 6
