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I Corinthians 3:9
Excerpted from: Is God a Magician?

The record of God's Word is clear. It says in I Corinthians 3:9 that "we are laborers together with God." Even Jesus had to learn by the things that He suffered. God was not always jumping in and intervening in Christ's life.

You study Paul's record of the tribulations, which show God intervened just enough to allow Paul to finish his course. You look at the things that man went through: he was stoned, he was probably raised from the dead (so God intervened). He was left for dead, and God raised him that time. But when He raised him up, did He take all the problems away from Paul? No. Paul got shipwrecked, Paul was in trouble with robbers, Paul was in trouble with the weather, Paul was taking persecutions from the Jews, and on and on and on it went.

I hope that you do not find that discouraging. Remember we are laborers together with God. God does not present Himself to us as a magician, but as a Savior. And spiritually-minded people take God at His Word, and endeavor to be responsible workers together with Him. God in His love does not choose to do all the work Himself. Because if He did, the character would never be written in our hearts and minds.

And so He miraculously intervenes just enough to supply our daily need, to give us the strength to finish the course. Occasionally He will do something miraculous to encourage us, let us know that He is with us, remind us that He is still listening to our prayers. He will do what it takes. But understand that this miracle-working God has chosen, for our good, to not just be intervening all the time. The miraculous thing in our life is that we learn, because we trust Him, to endure to the end. Those are the ones who are going to be saved. And that will be a tremendous miracle.

I Corinthians 3:8-10
Excerpted from: Love's Greatest Challenges

Let us go back into the New Testament to I Corinthians 3:8-10. Here is a different metaphor; but, again, it is one that shows that God expects a great deal of energy to be expended.

That is so clear, is it not? Reward and labor—we are talking about a process of growth here. It is not talking about salvation. It is talking, though, about producing things within one's life.

Here is yet another clear example of work associated with God's way of life. Building is hard labor, physically and mentally. Now if you can just conceptualize the building of a house or even a chicken coop for that matter, or the building of anything, you have to know that when you are building something like that, first you have to dig out a footer. And that is hard work, especially if you are doing it with a shovel and a pick and all kinds of rocks in your way.

But even before you get to that place, you have to do some mental exertion to plan the thing out. Draw up some plans. Go to an architect, work it through with him. You are thinking, "How can I put this together so that when I am done I am going to have produced something there that is in line with what I am about to embark on—so that it will fit my uses?"

After the footer goes in, then goes the building on top of it. And you do not just do it any old way. The whole way through the process, the apostle Paul is indicating here, we are working mentally and physically to produce the best that we possibly can. That is why he warns, "let each one take care how he builds."

I Corinthians 3:9-10
Excerpted from: Love's Greatest Challenges

Here is yet another clear example of work associated with God's way of life. Building is hard labor, physically and mentally. Now if you can just conceptualize the building of a house or even a chicken coop for that matter, or the building of anything, you have to know that when you are building something like that, first you have to dig out a footer. And that is hard work, especially if you are doing it with a shovel and a pick and all kinds of rocks in your way.

But even before you get to that place, you have to do some mental exertion to plan the thing out. Draw up some plans. Go to an architect, work it through with him. You are thinking, "How can I put this together so that when I am done I am going to have produced something there that is in line with what I am about to embark on—so that it will fit my uses?"

After the footer goes in, then goes the building on top of it. And you do not just do it any old way. The whole way through the process, the apostle Paul is indicating here, we are working mentally and physically to produce the best that we possibly can. That is why he warns, "let each one take care how he builds."

I Corinthians 3:6-9
Excerpted from: Every Action Has a Reaction

What we begin to see out of the book of I Corinthians is that there is an individuality in our relationship to God, but also there is individual responsibility of every person to the Body. Our faithfulness, and loyalty, and obedience to God go first of all up to Him; but we cannot leave out the duty—the responsibility—that that faithfulness and loyalty goes out to everybody else as well. It goes to your mate, the rest of the family, church of God.

I Corinthians 3:9
Excerpted from: The Purpose of the Church

I want to show you that seeing the church in the sense of a building is not entirely missing from the Bible. It is there to a very small degree and so that is what we are covering here, the places where it is indicated that it indeed might be a building, where it is called a spiritual house, we are living stones in a spiritual house.

So there the metaphor is shown to be a building.

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Bible Studies

Biblical Symbolism (Part Three)  
Parable of the Great Supper  

Booklets

Prepare to Meet Your God! (The Book of Amos) (Part Two)  
The World, the Church, and Laodiceanism  

Essays

Like a Growing Seed (Part Two)  
Will the Church of God Be Thrown Down? (Part One)  

Sermons

Privileges of the Temple of God  
Faith and the Christian Fight (Part 5)  
Magic Doesn't Work (Part 1)  
Is the United States a Christian Nation? (Part 2)  
Spiritual Maturity  
Born Again (Part 1)  
Building on Christ's Foundation  
Facing Times of Stress: Grieved by Various Trials  
Living by Faith: Humility and God's Justice  
Privileges of the Temple of God  
Dogs and Sheep  
The Foundation of the World  
Christ, the Chief Cornerstone  
The Church, One Body  
Go Not Out of the House  
Eternal Security (Part 2)  
Themes of I Corinthians (Part 2)  
Building on the Foundation  
Acts (Part Three)  
Are You Missing Out On Blessings?  
Sow for Yourself  
Maintaining Good Health (Part 1)  
Don't Go Out of the House!  
Of One Accord  
What Is the Church's Work Today (Part 1)  
Elements of Motivation (Part 5)  
The Purpose of the Ministry  
Don't Leave the House!  
Be Strong and Work  
Foundations of Sand  

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