“every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
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1 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Christ does not assume anything about our faith, church membership, good works or our tithes and offerings: He looks toward our fruit! Matt 7:16-20, 22-23

At the judgement seat of Christ 2 Cor 5:10, fire will be applied to both sides of our lives in this order:-

  • 1st our calling & service to Christ in the kingdom shall be tested to see if it produced the right Christ exalting fruit.
  • 2ndly our personal walk of faith in Christ shall also be tested in fire to see if we are conformed to the image of Christ which has been the Father’s goal from day1 of creation. Romans 8:29

What qualifies as Pass Mark?

Inner Life Qualifications:

As pertaining to our personal walk of faith, the simple answer is THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

To the extent we have properly abode in Him during the course of our born again lifetime as per John 15:4, we will have these fruits to varying degrees.

Outer Life Qualifications

Where our calling and work in the kingdom is concerned it has little-to-nothing to do with titles we accumulated, offices we occupy, congregational size, auditorium size, etc

As diverse as our callings, gifting’s and operations are, we are all called into the ministry of reconciliation! 2 Cor 5:18 and the fruit of all our respective callings should contribute faithfully towards this primary goal.

Apostle Pauls success parameters in Acts 26:17-19 perfectly encapsulates God’s framework in reconciling men to Him.

Wether you serve as an evangelist, teacher, pastor, choir master, sunday school teacher. prophet or in the ministry of helps all of your work should produce these 3 things effects.

  1. Open Men’s Eyes
  2. Bring Men from darkness into Light
  3. Bring Men out from under the power of Satan unto the power of God,

The impact of these 3 things will result in men’s sins being forgiven, and those forgiven receiving a portion in Gods vineyard/kingdom:meaning they now have an established personal relationship with him. This in essence is the ministry of reconciliation

When do men really come to Christ? at confession? or at conversion?
  • As pastors this is an increasingly important question to ask ourselves. Many perhaps place far too much stock in visitor numbers and membership numbers. You can have 5k members and only 140 of them have been properly reconciled to and rooted in Christ.
  • In a 1990 interview with PBS, Billy Graham himself stated his belief that only about 25% of those who come forward at one of his events actually became Christians.
  • In recent years, studies have shown that only 6% of people who “come forward” at an evangelistic crusade are any different in their beliefs or behavior one year later.
  • Christs great commision to us was to ‘go & make disciples‘ not attendees. It is a sobering responsibility and one not easily glossed over.

This weekends class, we will dig deeper into what it means to “open their eyes”, “bring men out of darkness into light” and “bring them out from under the power of Satan unto the Power of God”

But as a labourer in the body of Christ I need to critically ask myself – as it pertains to my service/ministry:

  • Am I opening the eyes of God’s people by 1 John 1:1-3 standards? Are they beholding Jesus or beholding me?
  • How many of them have been brought out of darkness into God’s light?
  • How much of their lives is manifestly under the power of God as opposed to being under the domain of Satan?

More grace to you in your labours.

[Homework: Discipleship Question]

According to our text in 1 Cor 3:13-15, “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

  • Is a believers salvation ever at risk during the test of fire? Can one’s salvation be lost and the person cast off from God?
  • Is it possible to bear fruit in your calling and ministry work without bearing any fruit in your inner life walk of faith?
  • Is it possible to bear fruit in your inner walk of faith and NOT bear any fruit in your calling / outer life? Or are the two correlated?

Answers should be scripturally backed.

Shallom.