Tested by Fire

Every believer's ministry gets tested. Not by men. By fire.

1 Corinthians 3 11 thru 15

"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble... the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide... 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."

The foundation is fixed. Jesus Christ. Laid by the grace He gave us to learn through the apostle Paul. Nobody lays a different one.

But what gets built on that foundation that's where the fire comes in.

Gold, silver, precious stones on one side. Wood, hay, stubble on the other.

This isn't a checklist test. It's a substance test. The fire doesn't ask, "did you follow the right steps?" It asks, "what were you actually building with?" And that comes down to one thing. Was it for His glory. Or was it for you.

Some of you may already be asking the question.

If we're all in Christ, how can one of us "suffer loss"? Weren't they in Christ too?

Yes. And that's exactly the point worth bringing into the open. The works Paul is describing here are outside of salvation. They're not what got you in. They're your response to what He already did in you.

Philippians 2:12-13 puts it this way "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do." Not work for. Work out. God works the salvation in. We work the response out. The building in 1 Corinthians 3 is that outworking and it can be tested, tried, even burned, without ever touching the "in Christ" that was never on trial.

Watch what fire does to each material.

Wood, hay, stubble fire consumes it. Nothing left to show.

Gold and silver fire refines it. Burns off the dross. Comes out brighter than it went in.

Job says"when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

Precious stones fire can't touch them at all.

Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Thrown into a furnace so hot it killed the men who threw them in. Nebuchadnezzar looks in and sees four men walking — loose, unhurt and says the fourth looks like the Son of God.

Daniel 3 the fire had no power over them. Not a hair singed. Not even the smell of smoke on their clothes.

Fire didn't prove how strong they were. It proved who was standing in the fire with them.

Here's the good news underneath it.

Loss of reward is never loss of salvation. "He himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." The man doesn't burn. The wood does. Your standing in Christ was settled the moment you believed sealed, untouchable, done. That was never what was on trial.

So when the fire comes and it comes for everyone the gleam on the gold isn't the metal congratulating itself. It's proof of whose presence it went through the fire with.

Build for Him. Not for the show. He was already in there in the fire before you felt the heat.