Building with gold, silver, and precious stones

1 Corinthians 3:11-15:

"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his 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 man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."

What does Scripture say it means to build upon the foundation of Jesus with gold, silver, and precious stones, rather than wood, hay, and straw? Ie. what does it look like to live an eternally significant life that lines up with God's values so that on the Day of judgement when everything is shown for what it really is in God's eyes, it will stand the test and last? No small question, ha:)

Quote by Zac Poonen: The Bible speaks about building with wood, hay and straw or with gold, silver and precious stones (1 Cor.3:12). What does it mean to build with gold, silver and precious stones? The answer is found in Romans11:36: “From God, through God and to God”. This is how Jerusalem (the true church of God) is built. The opposite of that is “From man, through man and to man.” That is how Babylon is built.

I spent some time meditating and thinking about the themes that emerge the most from the New Testament writings as to what it looks like to live an eternally significant life (building with gold, silver, and stones) that Jesus would be well pleased with. I categorized the list I came up with into four eternally valuable goals:

1. Becoming like Jesus (Romans 8:29, God has predestined us to become like Jesus)
2. Depending on/having faith in Jesus (Hebrews 11:6, impossible to please God without faith)
3. Living for God’s glory (Isaiah 26:8, his name and fame are the desire of our hearts)
4. Intimacy with Jesus (Luke 10:38-42, story of Mary and Martha)

These things will last and will sustain the fire of testing when we stand before Jesus one day. That is ALL that will truly matter. Who have we become and who or what have we truly worshiped, loved, and treasured all of our lives? To expound a little more on what is valuable in God’s eyes according to the Word, see list below (to be added to by you because this is not a conclusive list!)

Loving Jesus:

• Engaging in true worship (Romans 12:1, Micah 5:8 “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God”, mercy and obedience not sacrifice)
• True confession to God and others (1 John 1:9)
• Repentance (Luke 13:1-5, Matthew 7:21-23 only those who do my will will enter the Kingdom)
• Counting all as loss and rubbish compared to knowing Jesus (Philippians 3)
• Fear of the Lord—reverencing him and letting our words be few before Him (Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10, Ecclesiastes 5:2

Becoming Like Jesus:

• Loving the Father and others as you love yourself (Phil. 2, Matthew 25:31-46, Matt 7:12, 1 Corinthians 13)
• Humility before God and others/Giving up our "rights" (Philippians 2:3-11, Luke 14:7-14, Luke 12:4-5, faith like a child Luke 18:17, Luke 17:7-10 we are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty when we obey, Matt 5:1)
• Cleaning the inside of the cup not just the outside (Matthew 23:25-28, Matt 15:1-20, Luke 11:37-44)
• Selflessness, dying to self, and surrender (Col. 3, Luke 14:25-33, Luke 18:29-30, Luke 21:3-4 widows offering,)
• Adopting and living out an upside down view of power. Understanding how different the nature of power is in God’s Kingdom and what is truly powerful (Luke 13:30, Luke 22:24-27, Matt 13 parable of mustard seed and yeast!)
• Godly wisdom and a renewed mind (Romans 12, Luke 8:18 pay attention to how you hear, 1 Corinthians 1-3, building with gold, silver, and precious stones, aligning ourselves and living in accordance with the Word is Godly wisdom!)
• Walking and living according to the Spirit, not the sinful nature (Romans 8, Galatians 5)
• Loving the unlovely (because we are unlovely and Christ loved us and died for us while we were yet sinners)—loving our enemies and blessing those who curse us (Matthew 5, body of Christ)
• Forgiving others and having mercy on them as we have been forgiven much and been shown much mercy! (Matt. 6:14-15, Matthew 18:21-35, Prodigal Son story in Luke 15, Luke 17:4)
• Faithfulness with what we know and what we have been given (Luke 12:47-48, Luke 19 parable of ten servants, Luke 17:7-10 we are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty when we obey)
• Obedience= His will being done= His Kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven (Lords prayer Matt 6, Matt 7:21-23, John 4:32-34 Jesus’ nourishment comes from doing will of the Father, Luke 5:19 Jesus only does what he sees father doing, Romans 12:2 renewed mind leads to knowing God’s will)
• Generosity

Depending on Jesus:

• Brokenness which leads to a release of the Spirit through us (Watchman Nee) (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 his power works best in weakness)
• Faith—depending on God—anything done with trust (Heb. 11, Romans 11:33-36 doxology, his ways are not our ways Isaiah 55:8-9), (Matthew 5:1—poverty of spirit)
• Abiding in Him—John 15 remaining in Him for apart from Him we can do nothing (meaning nothing that is gold, silver, or precious stones)
• Being constantly filled by the Holy Spirit

Glorifying Jesus:

• Living for God’s glory and to please Him alone, not man or self (Isaiah 26:8, Galatians 1:10)
• Seeking God’s Kingdom and His righteousness first over my kingdom or the world’s kingdom (Matt. 6:19-34, Luke 12:13-34,

It’s all about Jesus☺

Here is a really awesome article by Zac Poonen that I read a few weeks after I compiled this list called "The Essence of Babylon - From Man, Through Man And To Man"

In Genesis 11:4 we read that the people of the world decided to build
a tower. They said to each other, “Come, let us build for ourselves a
city and a tower whose top would reach to heaven.” They wanted their
tower to be the gate of God (Babel). Human effort to reach God is a
major constituent of false religion. False religion is always a
religion of works – and not one of faith and dependence on God.
The leaders of false religion are always strong personalities with the
charisma of film stars. They are not weak, unimpressive men like Paul,
nor are they men with no reputation like Peter. The leaders of false
Christianity are people who seek fame and honour for themselves.
The true prophets of God however are always misunderstood and called
“heretics” and cast out by religious Christendom. That’s how Jesus and
the apostles were.

There can be a lot of unity in Babylon. It says here that the whole
earth used the same language (Gen.11:1) - not just the same language
in terms of speech, but also the same language of human cleverness,
human ability and human glory. That is the language spoken by the
world and that unfortunately is the language spoken by many
“Christian” leaders as well. Jesus Christ however was crucified
through weakness and there was no beauty in Him to attract people
(2 Cor.13:4; Isa. 53:2). He was a servant who washed people’s feet.
He was not a General Director or a Superintendent or a Pope. He called
himself an ordinary man (“son of man”) and had no title whatsoever.
These are the identifying marks of a true servant of God.

In Babylon they say, “Come, let us build.” They don’t need to consult
God about such matters. They could build the gateway to heaven
themselves! False religion does not depend helplessly on God for its
every need. They may pray. All religions have prayer, but it will be
meaningless prayer. The prophets of Baal prayed for hours on Mount
Carmel, but nothing happened? Elijah prayed for one minute and the
fire of God fell from heaven! Some of us may glory in hours spent in
prayer. That may be good. Jesus spent all night in prayer too.
But prayer has value only if it is an expression of our helpless
dependence on God for His guidance and help. Babylonians however do
not need to seek God’s will, for they depend on human cleverness.
False religion begins with man, not with God. It’s motto is: “In the
beginning man,” not “In the beginning God,” (as in Gen. 1:1). False
religion originates in man, it is done through man’s power and it is
propagated for man’s glory.

The Bible speaks about building with wood, hay and straw or with gold,
silver and precious stones (1 Cor.3:12). What does it mean to build
with gold, silver and precious stones? The answer is found in
Romans11:36: “From God, through God and to God”. This is how Jerusalem
(the true church of God) is built. The opposite of that is “From man,
through man and to man.” That is how Babylon is built.

Babylon is built by man’s ideas. A lot of Christian organizations are
doing their work today through human ideas and not God’s. They follow
the principles of multinational companies and large business
corporations, rather than the teachings of the apostles. They run
their organizations like business enterprises and not like the
churches that the apostles built. Why didn’t Jesus give His gospel to
an advertising agency? Wouldn’t they have done a better job than
those twelve apostles? But that would have been man’s method.
God’s methods are different.

Very few people know God’s methods, because very few people know God.
Man is a religious creature and he would rather have religion than
God. It is uncomfortable to live with God. It is comfortable to live
with religion. You cannot live with God and be a great man in the world.
But you can have the “Christian religion” and still be a great man.
People don’t want God. Even most believers would rather have
Christianity than God Himself. They don’t want the yoke of Jesus
Christ on their necks.

Babylon is built through man’s power. It does not need the Holy
Spirit’s anointing or the supernatural gifts that God gives. With
natural gifts, good music and electronic gadgets, the job can be done!
No wonder our work for God is of such poor quality! We do not know the
power that the early apostles knew. The baptism in the Holy Spirit
that many people claim to have experienced today, I am convinced is a
counterfeit baptism of their own human soul – a psychological
experience that satisfies them but far removed from what the apostles
received on the day of Pentecost. Few today have experienced that
genuine anointing of the Holy Spirit that came upon Jesus and the
apostles. I would urge you to seek for that genuine enduement with
power that Jesus promised His apostles, before He ascended to heaven.
Thus alone can we truly serve God. Why do I say that a lot that goes
on today in the name of the Holy Spirit is counterfeit? Because Jesus
said that we would be able to identify false prophets by their fruits.
The love of money is so glaringly obvious in most of those who claim
to be baptized in the Holy Spirit today. Such fruit is certainly not
from God, for the Holy Spirit is not a lover of money. These people
love power, position and the honour of men. These are not the fruit of
the Holy Spirit. Then their “power” must be coming from some other source, from some other spirit.

Babylon is built for man’s glory. “Let us make a name” is what we read
in Genesis 11:4. Years later, we read in Daniel 4:30 that
Nebuchadnezzar looked over the city of Babylon that he had built.
I have heard that it was built as a square, 25 kilometres long and wide,
with walls that were 87 feet thick and 350 feet high. It had a
beautiful hanging garden that was one of the wonders of the world.
And Nebuchadnezzar said, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself
have built, by the might of my power for my glory?” It was built from
man, through man and to man. Nebuchadnezzar lived nearly 2000 years
after the building of the tower of Babel. But he had the same spirit.
2500 years after Nebuchadnezzar, we find the same spirit in operation
in Christendom today. This is what Babylon is - From man, through man
and to man. And it is the very opposite of Jerusalem.

We read in Genesis11:5 that “the Lord came down to see what man had built”.
Remember that the Lord will come down to examine whatever we build.
He does not come to examine the size of our church or organization,
but the motive with which it was built. For whose glory was it built?
If He were examining the size of the Tower of Babel, it was very impressive.
But God came down looking for something else at that time.
And He comes down looking for something else today as well.