Introduction:     We are learning of five spiritual pitfalls that we must avoid if we are going to experience spiritual progress. As we have already discovered, the Bible warn us of...1. THE PITFALL OF CARNAL CHRISTIANITY (vs. 1-4) there are only two kinds of people in the world. 1) The Saved ( 2:15 ) "spiritual man" 2) The Unsaved ( 2:14 ) "natural man" We also learned that there are two kinds of Christians. (1) The Spiritual...or maturing believer (3:1) (2) The Carnal...underdeveloped...spiritual baby Christian. The Bible also warned us of...2. THE PITFALL OF COMPLACENT CHRISTIANITY. To keep from being complacent we must not lose sight of...Our Place, Purpose, Prize, and Power in God's Work. Today we are going to consider a third pitfall that must be avoided as we endeavor to progress spiritually THE PITFALL OF CARELESS CHRISTIANITY. Look closely at verse 9.  "Ye are God's building…" Notice verse 10 - The Corinthian Church is compared to a building project. Paul was the general contractor of the Corinthian project. His specialty was..."foundations". The Lord had supplied Paul with the necessary "grace" to lay the foundation of churches across Asia Minor , Macedonia and Greece . Paul spent 18 months in Corinth , faithfully preaching and teaching the gospel...."laying the foundation". As in any building project, putting in the foundation is only the beginning of the work.  In this passage, it is clear that he expected the "foundation" that he laid to be built on. The last part of verse 10 cautions "But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon." We need to be careful how we build our spiritual lives. You and I are building. The question is are we building carefully or carelessly? If we are going to avoid the pitfall of carelessness we must give careful consideration to three aspects of our spiritual building. First of all, we must give careful attention to....

I.          THE FOUNDATION OF OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE (VV. 10-11)
Paul says that he "laid the foundation". He did not design it or create it. In verse 11, he identifies that foundation as "Jesus Christ". Biblical Christianity is not built on the church, it is not built on man's morality or religiosity or someone's personality. Biblical Christianity is built on Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is:

A.        The Essential Person In Salvation.

In Acts 4, Peter declares Jesus to be the foundation stone that the Prophets said Israel would reject.  And in verse 12 of that passage Peter speaking of Jesus said: "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, where by we must be saved".

B.                 The Exclusive Provision Of Salvation

Salvation cannot be found in the name of Confucius, Buddha, or Allah. Nor is salvation found in some unidentified higher power. There is salvation only in the name of Jesus! He is the only provision of salvation! Today each of us is building a life.  What is your foundation?  If it is not Jesus, then you need to start building on Him today. Avoiding the spiritual pitfall of carelessness begins with making sure we are building on the right foundation. So we must give careful attention to the foundation of our spiritual house. Then secondly, we must give careful attention to...

II.         THE CONSTRUCTION OF OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE (V.12)
Each one of us who are Christians today is building on the foundation that has been laid. With what are you building? In verse 12 Paul mentions six types of building materials......"Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble" Notice that these materials seem to fit into one of two categories. 1) Gold, silver and precious stones...these represent high quality materials 2) Wood, hay, and stubble...represent inferior materials. In either case, the materials are symbols of what we are doing with our lives for the cause of Jesus Christ. Christians who are building upon the spiritual foundation of Jesus, with gold serve Jesus with the greatest degree of faithfulness. But there are other Christians (probably many in the church at Corinth ) who are building with straw. They have little faithfulness, they contribute little to the cause of Christ. The point is simple.  As we live for Jesus let's give Him what he truly deserves....our best. He deserves the best of our motives, abilities, efforts, service, and behavior! Let's not get careless. We are going to be tempted to offer the Lord the leftovers and scraps of our lives, but instead let's build with the best... because we are building for Him. Let's build in such a way that our lives bring both Praise and Pleasure to our Savior. Then finally let's see that we must give careful attention to....

III.       THE INSPECTION OF OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE (VV. 13-15)
"Take heed" how you build! Some Christians have the attitude, "just as long as I get to heaven, that's all that matters to me". That is the attitude of the careless Christian. The Christian will have a time of inspection (v. 13) this event is described by Paul in II Corinthians 5:10 as the "judgment seat of Christ". What is the purpose of this inspection? I believe there are two reasons for this event. Jesus will:

A.        Review The Christian’s Work

(Illus: Bad report card proved that I hadn’t done my best. To be honest, I hated handing that card to my father.) "Work" encompasses all of our Christian lives, not just our so called service. One day, our lives as Christians are going to be evaluated. He is going to expose "of what sort it is". Have we been faithful, have we been diligent, have we been motivated by love for the Lord and a desire to please Him? Have we truly lived lives filled by the Holy Spirit? Have we honored His word, His church, His servants? Jesus is going to inspect and expose our work as a Christian. So don't think it doesn't matter what I do or don't do as a Christian. It matters! Notice that Paul says that our works will be "tried by fire".  The quality of our Christian lives will be seen.

B.         Reward The Christian’s Work (vv. 14-15)  

This event is not going to be a Sunday School picnic for any of us. Verse 15 makes it very plain that the careless Christian...the Christian who fails to build with giving the best of his life..."shall suffer loss".  Some will see all that they lived for go up in smoke. Beloved, are you living with eternity in view? Verse 14 encourages us because it assures us that if we invest our lives in that which really matters and counts, we will be rewarded. Those who are rewarded will receive crowns. Five different crowns are mentioned specifically in the scriptures.

1. The Crown of Incorruption...as mentioned in 1 Cor. 9:25 which rewards those who refuse to yield to the flesh.

2. The Crown of Life…James 1:12 …is given to those who respond faithfully to trials and temptations.

3. The Crown of Rejoicing...1 Thess. 2:19-20...is given to those who witness and share their faith with others.

4. The Crown of Glory...is given to those Pastors who have faithful in ministering the Word of God. (1 Pet. 5:1-4)

5. The Crown of Righteousness...2 Tim 4:8...is giving to those who lived in eager anticipation of Christ's return.

In heaven one day, after the inspection is over, Jesus will be honored like he has never been honored before. The faithful saints of God will give glory where the glory is due... they will take their crowns and they will cast them at the feet of Jesus. Oh what a scene that will be. I can just imagine the how the hallelujahs will roll.  I don't plan to be a spectator when that happens.

Conclusion:       The devil wants to lure you and me into the pitfall of carelessness. He loves it when Jesus fails to get the glory He deserves. When we are careless in our Christian lives, we rob Him of glory now, and glory in eternity. If you are not a Christian, the Bible says that judgment is certain for you.