Epistle: 1 Corinthians 3:9–17
Gospel: Matthew 14:22–34
Tone: 8
Founded on Christ
In the Epistle, Saint Paul describes the Church as God’s building, founded upon Jesus Christ and inhabited by the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel, the disciples are together in a boat, struggling against the wind and waves until Christ comes to them across the water.
The images are different, but the lesson is much the same. The Church belongs to God. Christ is both its foundation and its Lord. Its security does not depend upon the strength of its workers, the quality of its materials, or the calmness of the sea. It depends upon Christ, who remains with His people and preserves them.
The Epistle
1 Corinthians 3:9–17
9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.
11 For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw,
13 each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is.
14 If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward.
15 If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.
16 Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are.
“We Are God’s Fellow Workers”
Paul has been addressing divisions among the Christians in Corinth. Some claimed allegiance to Paul, while others favored Apollos. Paul rejects the idea that Christian teachers are competing leaders of rival parties:
6 I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase.
7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
—1 Corinthians 3:6–7
Paul and Apollos have genuine work to perform, but neither is the source of the Church’s life. They are servants working in a field that belongs to God. Paul changes the image from agriculture to construction when he says, “You are God’s farming, God’s building.”
There is both dignity and humility in being one of God’s fellow workers. Our work matters, but it is not finally our work. The field, the building, the growth, and the finished result all belong to God.
The familiar words of the Psalm express the same truth:
Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it.
—Psalm 127:1 (KJV)
“No Other Foundation”
Paul calls himself “a wise master builder,” but immediately attributes his work to “the grace of God which was given to me.” Even his ability to lay the foundation came from God.
That foundation is not Paul, Apollos, or any other apostle or teacher. It is Jesus Christ:
For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.
—1 Corinthians 3:11
A building may be enlarged and its visible appearance may change, but it cannot be separated from its foundation without becoming another building. In the same way, every work of the Church must remain joined to Jesus Christ. Christian teaching, worship, service, and personal devotion must all be built upon Him.
Christ used the same image at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount:
24 Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock.
25 The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock.
—Matthew 7:24–25
The strength of the house is revealed when the storm comes. That leads us naturally to today’s Gospel.
“The Fire Itself Will Test Each Man’s Work”
Christ is the one foundation, but Paul warns that not everything built upon that foundation is of equal worth. He contrasts enduring materials—gold, silver, and costly stones—with wood, hay, and straw.
“The Day” is the Day of the Lord, when the true character of every work will be disclosed. Much that presently appears impressive may prove unable to survive God’s judgment. Other work, perhaps unnoticed or poorly rewarded in this life, may be shown to possess lasting value.
Paul gives a similar warning elsewhere:
For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
—2 Corinthians 5:10
This does not mean that salvation is something we construct through our own efforts. The foundation has already been laid, and that foundation is Christ. Nevertheless, the grace of God does not make our conduct unimportant. It makes faithful work possible, and each of us must take care how we build.
“You Are God’s Temple”
Paul moves from the image of an ordinary building to that of the Temple:
Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
—1 Corinthians 3:16
In this passage, “you” refers first to the Christian community as a whole. The Church gathered in Christ is the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in her. Paul will later apply similar words to the individual Christian:
Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.
—1 Corinthians 6:19
Both truths must be preserved. Each Christian is called to holiness because the Holy Spirit dwells in us, but Christianity is not solitary. Together we are being built into the dwelling place of God:
19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God,
20 being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;
21 in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
22 in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
—Ephesians 2:19–22
To injure the unity and holiness of the Church is therefore no small matter. God’s temple is holy because it belongs to Him and because His Spirit dwells within it.
The Gospel
Matthew 14:22–34
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
23 After he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. When evening had come, he was there alone.
24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, distressed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
25 In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea.
26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It’s a ghost!” and they cried out for fear.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Cheer up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”
28 Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.”
29 He said, “Come!”
Peter stepped down from the boat and walked on the waters to come to Jesus.
30 But when he saw that the wind was strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
32 When they got up into the boat, the wind ceased.
33 Those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, “You are truly the Son of God!”
34 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret.
“He Went Up into the Mountain by Himself to Pray”
The Gospel begins immediately after Christ fed five thousand men, besides women and children, with five loaves and two fish. Jesus sends the disciples ahead of Him and dismisses the multitude. He then goes alone into the mountain to pray.
The solitude of Christ on the mountain is set against the struggle of the disciples on the sea. Jesus is absent from their sight, but He has not abandoned them. While they labor against the wind, He is at prayer.
There are times when Christ may appear absent while His disciples struggle. The Gospel does not promise that obedience will keep us from every storm. The disciples entered the boat because Jesus told them to do so, yet the wind was against them. Their difficulty was not evidence that they had departed from His will.
“Distressed by the Waves”
The boat has long been understood as an image of the Church. The disciples are together within it, surrounded by darkness and troubled by forces they cannot control. The boat is distressed, but it is not destroyed.
The Church’s foundation is Jesus Christ, as Paul teaches in the Epistle. In the Gospel, Christ is also the Lord who comes to the Church across the very waters that threaten her.
The Old Testament speaks of God’s authority over the sea:
He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.
—Job 9:8
Jesus does what Scripture attributes to God. He does not swim through the waves or travel around the storm. He walks upon the sea. What threatens the disciples lies beneath His feet.
“It Is I! Don’t Be Afraid”
The disciples do not immediately recognize Christ. His approach terrifies them because they interpret what they see through their fear.
Jesus answers them:
“Cheer up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”
The words translated “It is I” can also carry the force of “I am.” They recall the divine name revealed to Moses and the repeated declarations of Christ in the Gospel of John. At the very least, Jesus identifies Himself as the answer to their fear. They need not be fearless because the sea has become harmless. They are told not to fear because He is present.
Faith does not require us to deny the reality of the storm. It calls us to recognize that Christ is greater than the storm.
“Lord, If It Is You”
Peter’s request is bold:
“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.”
Peter does not simply decide to leave the boat. He waits for the command of Christ. Only after Jesus says, “Come!” does Peter step onto the water.
For a time, Peter walks where no human being can naturally walk. He does so not through confidence in himself but through obedience to Christ. The water bears him because Christ has called him.
Then Peter turns his attention from Christ to the wind. Matthew does not say that the wind suddenly became stronger. Rather, Peter saw that it was strong, became afraid, and began to sink. The danger had been present all along, but fear now became the governing reality in his mind.
“Lord, Save Me!”
Peter’s prayer is among the shortest and most complete prayers in Scripture:
“Lord, save me!”
There is no attempt to explain his failure or bargain for assistance. He recognizes his danger, knows who can save him, and cries out.
Christ responds immediately:
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Christ corrects Peter, but He saves him first. The rebuke comes from the One whose hand is already holding him.
Peter’s faith was little, but it was not absent. He left the boat at Christ’s command, walked toward Him, and called upon Him when he began to sink. His failure teaches us neither to remain safely where Christ has called us to step out nor to trust in our own courage once we have begun. From beginning to end, we depend upon Him.
“You Are Truly the Son of God”
When Christ and Peter enter the boat, the wind ceases. The disciples respond not merely with relief but with worship:
“You are truly the Son of God!”
The miracle reveals more than Christ’s ability to rescue people from danger. It reveals who He is. He walks upon the sea, commands the wind, receives worship, and is confessed as the Son of God.
This confession is the destination of the passage. The storm, Christ’s approach, Peter’s venture onto the water, his sinking, and his rescue all lead the disciples to a clearer knowledge of Jesus.
The Epistle and Gospel Together
Paul tells us that no foundation can be laid other than Jesus Christ. Matthew shows us what it means to rely upon that foundation when the wind is contrary.
The Church is both God’s building and the boat carrying Christ’s disciples across the sea. She is built upon Christ, inhabited by the Holy Spirit, and preserved by her Lord. This does not mean that her members will never encounter conflict, weakness, fear, or failure. The Christians at Corinth were divided, and the disciples in the boat were frightened. Peter himself began to sink.
The security of the Church does not rest upon the perfection of her members. It rests upon Jesus Christ.
At the same time, this security does not excuse carelessness. Paul warns us to take care how we build. The Gospel calls us to keep our attention upon Christ. Our works will be tested, storms will reveal our fears, and human strength will prove insufficient.
Yet the foundation remains. Christ comes across the water. When we cry, “Lord, save me,” His hand is near.
The proper response is the response of the disciples:
“You are truly the Son of God!”
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB). Familiar passages may be quoted from the King James Version (KJV) and are identified accordingly.