Be Careful How You Build God’s Church, Part 3

By Robb Brunansky

Published May 8, 2026

Goals are fundamental to any successful building project. Every architect needs to know why the client wants a site or building built, and every builder needs to know why he is building. When we think about building the church, the process is no different: Christians must have a clear goal and outcome in mind when we build.

Knowing the proper goal follows the first two points from 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. Builders must first build on the proper foundation of Jesus Christ (verse 10-11). Then builders should use lasting proper materials (verses 12-13).

Now we come to the necessity of building with the proper goal (verses 13-15). Paul clearly defines the proper goal for ministering the gospel to the world and in the church, which is passing inspection on the day of judgment and receiving a reward.

That goal raises many questions because it can often be misunderstood. We might easily envision ourselves as spiritual mercenaries, fighting the Lord’s battles and extending His kingdom simply for pay. Additionally, other people could become suspicious when we interact with them, wondering if we are only seeking to benefit ourselves.

An incentive-laden mission is fraught with all kinds of philosophical and ethical difficulties. Yet in this passage, the reward is presented as the proper goal of our efforts, along with the possibility of suffering loss if we are not careful builders. These verses show us how building with the goal of a reward aligns with a biblical version of Christ-exalting service.

We must build with a mind focused on the day of revelation.

Paul clearly outlines that great day of judgment when we will stand before the Lord and give an account of our work. Jesus also pictures this judgment in Matthew 25:19 with the parable of the master coming back to judge his slaves’ faithfulness (or lack thereof). All of history is heading toward this day.

On that final day, each man’s work and its level of quality will become evident with God’s revealing fire (verse 13). Everything hidden in darkness will come to light. All works, motives, and hearts will be exposed. No one will hide on the day of revelation.

The revelation of fire for our building efforts does not refer to a literal combustion, but the all-consuming nature of God and His holiness. God Himself is the fire that either consumes our work because it was built carelessly, or proves it was built carefully to last for eternity.

We must build, then, with this future-oriented mindset, with the day of revelation in view. This mindset isn’t easy because we are so conditioned in our fallen state to evaluate short-term results. Here, though, we see a spiritual corrective for this earthly obsession.

Our ministries will not be judged based on the accomplishments of one day, but on the work that lasts to and through eternity. We typically see the effects of our ministry or others’ ministries for less than a century. Yet, God has the full picture and the clear understanding, not only of how our service impacts people today, but how it might echo into next century and on into eternity. Think about the Apostle Paul, who couldn’t possibly know what God would do with his ministry. Instead, Paul focused on being faithful to the end and ministering toward that day of judgment.

There is no way we can know what God is going to do with our service to Him. What now seems small and inconsequential might end up being something God uses for countless generations. If we build carefully, we can have assurance that our construction will last through eternity.

We must also build with the desire for reward.

Paul draws our attention to the reward, which is better translated as a wage (verse 14). Someone inspects the work, and then the worker gets paid if the building is approved. Because these words are a metaphor, though, we don’t want to press it too far as if we earn something from God by our service to His church. Rather, Paul’s point here is that God will recompense us based on our building, which will be appropriate to the outcome of our labors in His temple.

So, what is the reward? This question is the heart of the challenge, because if we do not understand what the wage is, we will wrongly view what it means to build with an eye toward the reward. There is one thing the reward is not and two things the reward is to aid our pursuit of this heavenly goal.

The reward or wage God recompenses us with for our service to Him is not salvation. It is not that we get to be with God forever in a new creation, because that’s for all believers. Even careless builders who truly believe in Christ will be saved.

This reward is rather the joy of seeing those in our earthly ministry end up in glory with us. The joy we will experience on that great day will be enriched when we see those we ministered to, poured into, prayed for and served, rejoiced with, and wept with throughout life’s struggles. Our eternal fellowship of the saints is the reward.

The reward is also the pleasure of God. We want to be pleasing to the Lord in all we do, and the great reward for careful, faithful builders is that the Lord expresses His great delight and pleasure in our work! Being pleasing to the Lord is our highest aim, our greatest goal, and our grandest desire. So, when we desire the reward, we are not expecting something separate from pleasing Christ; we are looking only to be pleasing to Christ, because that is our great reward.

Seeking the reward is only mercenary if we conceive of it as something other than unity with Christ and His people – their joy, and His pleasure. If we think of our pay as something Christ gives us separately from Him, then it is mercenary. The great reward, though, is the joy of Christ Himself smiling upon us and our past work as we enjoy His pleasure with His redeemed people.

We must also build with the dread of ruin.

Paul’s words are a warning to keep us on the road to reward, lest we careen off a cliff into ruin because of carelessness (verse 15). The ruin here is not of our own souls, because Paul is clear we will be saved even if our work is incinerated. Rather, the ruin is the loss of reward such that all our labor in ministry ends up being in vain. This is the picture of the Lord evaluating our efforts and lacking pleasure in them because all the work is lost to the fires of His holy scrutiny.

Some will say that it doesn’t really matter if this ruin occurs because our salvation is already secured. While it is true that our salvation is secure, this mindset of indifference toward the reward is definitely not a biblical mindset. No true Christian can – or should – forgo a desire for God’s pleasure with our service for Him, simply because they’re making it to heaven regardless. Genuine believers don’t look for something for ourselves, but long to honor Christ.

As a church, to understand church growth and build carefully in God’s temple, we must ensure we build on the proper foundation with the proper materials for the proper goal. When we seek to build God’s church God’s way, God’s kingdom will be extended, God’s people will be edified, and God will be exalted.