You Don't Build an Outhouse Out of Platinum

We have been spending a lot of time lately on the idea of discipleship (which, quite frankly, is what every church should be saying all the time). It is the task given to the Church in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). The word we have chosen to describe the process of developing disciples is  cultivate, which brings to mind the hard labor of a farmer working with God, who is the one who makes the plants grow. In 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, Paul employs the same metaphor when he describes his own strain and labor in Corinth, along with that of Apollos, in developing disciples there, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow."

In the next paragraph, Paul switches metaphors from farming to construction, but makes the same point. He teaches that our labor of "construction" (of disciples) can be done with valuable, enduring materials (such as gold, silver, and precious stones) or with unsturdy, cheap materials (such as wood, hay, and straw). In the end, all our labor of construction will be tested by fire (which, of course, will burn up the wood, hay, and straw, but purify the gold, silver, and gems).

Think about how valuable this building must be! If the general contractor gives us valuable ores and precious stones to build with, then he must think that the thing that we're building (disciples) is extremely important. You don't give the builders valuable materials to build an unimportant structure, and you don't give them cheap materials if you want them to build a special building. The materials he expects us to build with tells us the value he places on the thing he wants built.

There are other clues that God puts a high value on this building. Paul tells the builders they need to be careful how they build (v. 10) - such a warning would be unnecessary if the building wasn't important. The testing by fire (v. 13) tells us that the owner must care an awful lot about the building, since he has such a severe test for quality. This building (the community of disciples) is called a "temple," which houses God's own Spirit (v. 16) - no building could have a more important function! Furthermore, if anyone destroys that temple, he will in turn be destroyed (v. 17). This temple is holy (v. 17). What we are building is valuable and important!

Therefore, when we're talking about the process of cultivating disciples, we're not just talking about a nice thing Christians ought to do when they find the time. This discipleship that we're studying is flooded with descriptions of how valuable God considers it to be. Cultivating disciples is nothing less than the most important building project God gave us to do, and equipped us with gold, silver, and precious stones in order to do it. What we are encouraging you to do with your family, friends, and unsaved friends holds that kind of value in God's eyes.