One thing we need to know is that even though there are many persons who are workers in God’s work, some are manifested as master builders established by God. In 1 Corinthians 3:10 Paul said, “According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder.”
In 1 Corinthians 3 some are building and some are laying the foundation. Therefore, Paul says, “As a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it.” Everyone is a builder; some lay a foundation, and some build upon it. Therefore, the workers should not work according to the way they want. It seems like some have been assigned to lay a foundation, and others have been assigned by God to build upon it. By this we see that some are master builders.
The meaning of the foundation is as follows: Those who lay a foundation have to find solid ground, to locate a site where they can lay the foundation. They go to find a place, they make arrangements related to the place, and they determine the position of the building site. There is no need for those who build upon the foundation to seek out a place or to determine where the best site for the building is. This is not the responsibility of those who build upon the foundation. Their responsibility is to build upon the foundation no matter where it is.
When Paul said that he did not want to build upon others’ foundation, he was specifically referring to the work of the brothers in the region of Jerusalem. Paul did not want to build upon their foundation, because he was a person established by God to be one who laid the foundation. But 1 Corinthians 3 shows us that others need to build upon Paul’s foundation. In the future, at the Lord’s judgment seat, they will be judged according to how they built upon it. Some use gold, silver, and precious stones to build, but some use wood, grass, and stubble to build. The judgment at the judgment seat will be a judgment of how one built upon the foundation.
Because many brothers and sisters have quoted in a careless way the words that I spoke from the Bible during the last few days, I feel bothered. There are words that you cannot quote in a careless way. If we have not attained to a certain state, we cannot apply certain words. We must advance to that state before we can say those words. They are not to be spoken by young people lightly. I have often heard young people say, “I do not want to build upon others’ foundation.” These words are quite out of place. In the Bible there are not that many people who have been raised up by God to lay a foundation.
No doubt, there were some brothers in Jerusalem who were raised up by God. Paul was also raised up by God. For Paul to say that he did not build upon others’ foundation was right and was also to be expected because he was a master builder set up by God for the purpose of laying a foundation. If all of God’s children wanted to lay a foundation rather than build upon the foundation, this would result in what is described in Hebrews 6, that is, continually laying a foundation without any building upon it. Paul said that he came to lay a foundation. He said, “I came and I have laid a foundation. I was sent by God.” He said that he was an intelligent master builder, a wise master builder. Paul was not standing on an imaginary position. God actually established him. He was bold to make such a statement, and he was indeed a wise master builder who laid a foundation upon which others needed to build.
All of the brothers and sisters after Paul need to learn to build upon this foundation. In the future when you are judged, you will not be judged according to whether the foundation was right or wrong, but you will be judged according to how you built upon the foundation. When the judgment comes, it will be based upon whether you built upon the foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones or with wood, grass, and stubble. It will not be based upon whether the foundation was right, but on whether what was built upon it was right. Therefore, we should not say loosely that we do not build upon others’ foundation. Paul could say this, but others cannot. We have seen that whoever lays a foundation is a wise master builder. The brothers after Paul should build upon the foundation laid by Paul. Building upon the foundation is their responsibility, while laying a foundation was Paul’s responsibility. This is quite clear, and we need to learn this.