Our Great Prize

I Corinthians 3: 1-10

(1) And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.
(2) I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it, indeed, even now you are not yet able,
(3) for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
(4) For when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not mere men?
(5) What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. 
(6) I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
(7) So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
(8) Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 
(9) For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. 
(10) According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 

Paul is dismayed that he cannot talk to these Corinthians as mature believers, because they are still acting like babies. So he is spooning out spiritual pablum to them, hoping they will take the nourishment and grow up.  

And he goes back to the factionalism again that he dealt with in Chapter 1, explaining how he and Apollos are both working for the same "company," the Kingdom of God. They are both just workers, God is the one running the "business." And the workers will each receive a paycheck for his work. 

3: 11-15 

(11) For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(12) Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 
(13) each man's work will become evident; for the Day will show it because it is to be revealed by fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.
(14) If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
(15) If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 

Paul said that he laid the foundation, which is Jesus Christ. Knowing Christ, recognizing who His is, and what He accomplished for us, is the foundation on which we need to found our lives upon. He is the rock that we stand on securely. 

Everything else builds on this base. All our teachers must base their teachings on the fact of Jesus being the Lamb of God who washed away our sins with His Blood, died in our place individually, and rose from the dead with a new, Resurrection Life. Everything else flows from these realities. 

Teachers and church leaders all need to take care that what they are teaching is according to the righteousness Jesus purchased for us, and not focused on just the benefits of trusting Christ. He is our prize, and all the things He provides are only peripheral to the central reality of His Person and Presence with us. 

These verses describe what has been called "The Bema Seat of Christ," in reference to the judges who award the Olympic Games prizes. There will be no punishments at this Judgment, only rewards. 

Those whose work burns up will suffer loss of rewards, but this does not affect their Salvation. 

Some workers will receive abundant rewards, many will receive some rewards, and a few may not have hardly any rewards at all. 

But we all will receive the real Prize--Christ Jesus Himself! We are His bride, He is our newlywed Husband, and He loves each one of us individually, as passionately as a newlywed husband is enamored with his new bride--and the honeymoon will last forever!

O my Father, thank You! Thank You for all You are, all You have planned, all You are doing today in this World and in Your church, and thank You that You have already determined the conclusion of this whole Earth Project. 

O Father, Your Love and Your wisdom has made everything that has been created, and Your purposes for each part of it will be fulfilled to complete all You have planned for all of us. 

I am just one tiny thread in Your grand Tapestry of Time; just one note in Your Great Symphony; just one worker in Your multi-national Company of Your Kingdom.

Help me, Father, to be faithful to You and to Your program, Your ways. Strengthen me to carry on, lead me into Your path of righteousness, grant me the victory over the enemy and my own flesh. 

Give me the privilege of broadcasting Your precious seed of the Gospel far and wide, into all the fertile fields ready to be planted, and cause the growth and increase of Your crops, Father. 

Keep me aware of using the time You have given me wisely, not wasting even a moment; so I will accomplish all that You have placed before me to do. 

May all Your lost sheep be found, and all the little lambs be carried home into the fold, that there be One Fold and One Shepherd. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Christ and Lord God Almighty, King over all kings, to the glory of Almighty God the Father. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!