The Quality of Each Man’s Work

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The Quality  of Each Man’s Work

All those who do  any sort of service  for God’s kingdom  are in some way or another  supposed to be building up  the church of God.      There are pastors,  teachers,  musicians,  councilmen,  and regular lay people,  who witness  in their everyday lives.      Just being a Christian at heart  includes living for Christ  and serving our Savior  in some way as a spouse, parent, neighbor and worker of every sort.

The Bible is our blueprint.      It has laid the firm foundation  of Jesus Christ  as the one and only Savior.      We are saved by grace  through faith.      Amongst all those  who surely believe in Jesus  are those  who add their own opinions  and feelings  to their faith  in Jesus.      They might feel  that Christians  should not eat or drink certain things — or that  certain Old Testament traditions  must be kept  to honor God — or that  a person must speak in tongues — or worship  in a certain manner — or dress  a certain way.      The list of personal opinions  is long  and varied.

All of these Christians  have faith  in Jesus,  so we know they are saved.      But,  they are not helping other people  to become strong  in the true faith,  with the firm foundation  of Christ Jesus alone.      All their well-intentioned opinions  are not really resting  in the salvation we have  in Jesus.      These Christians may be sincere,  but  all the hard work they are doing  to promote their personal opinions  is not God-pleasing.

The early Christian church  faced the same situation.      Paul and Jesus’ disciples  preached the solid gospel  of salvation  by grace  through faith in Jesus.      Many were saved  and also started sharing  this gospel.      That was good.      However,  amongst those  who shared their faith  were those  who added their own opinions,  desired traditions,  and personal rules  for living.      They meant well — but their work of preaching  was not as good  as it should have been  because  they went way beyond  the gospel of Jesus, as if their opinion was better than God’s word.

As Paul describes this scenario  in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15,  we should consider  our own witness.      What is the quality  of our work  in this building  of God’s kingdom?

According to the grace of God  which was given to me,  as a wise master builder,  I laid the foundation,  and another is building upon it.      But let each man be careful  how he builds  upon it.      For no man  can lay a foundation  other than the one  which is laid,  which is Jesus Christ.

Now  if any man builds  upon the foundation  with gold,  silver,  precious stones,  wood,  hay,  straw,  each man’s work  will become evident;  for the day  will show it,  because  it is to be revealed  with fire;  and the fire itself  will test the quality  of each man’s work.

If any man’s work  which he has built upon it  remains,  he shall receive  a reward.

If any man’s work  is burned up,  he shall suffer loss;  but he himself  shall be saved,  yet so as through fire.

In this scenario,  Jesus is the foundation.      We are to be building  upon Jesus alone  by the way we witness  and live.      If we witness  with things of  “gold, silver, precious stones”,  we are sticking  to the teachings and doctrines  of God’s word only.      So,  we would be showing  how Jesus is  the true Savior  based on how His life is  the fulfillment  of Old Testament prophecies — we would be guided  by the doctrines  in the Bible,  instead of the traditions of men — we would glorify God’s grace  in our attitudes  of humbly wanting God’s will  to be done  in our every life situation.

If we are witnessing to Jesus  with “wood, hay, straw”,  our lives are emphasizing things like  staunchly promoting our opinions  on proper worship,  defining and stressing good works,  desiring to rank people  in the church, etc.      None of these things  are a good witness  of Jesus — even though  a Christian might feel  they are important.

On Judgment Day,  all believers  will be saved.      Those who witnessed only  according to sound doctrine  will  “receive a reward”.      Those who witnessed  with their own opinions  will  “suffer loss”.      They will be saved  because of their faith,  but the opinions emphasized  will not survive  the “fire“.      There will be no reward  because human reasoning  was used.

As we seek  to let God teach us  in His word,  we say,  “Hallelujah!      Lord,  thank You  for teaching us  as we abide  in Your word.”

Love,
Margaret

 

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Pray for our country.

 

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Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
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The word of the LORD is tried;
He is a shield  to all  who take refuge  in Him.
Psalm 18:30

 

Sing for joy in the LORD,  O you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming  to the upright.
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How blessed are those  who dwell in Thy house!
They are ever praising Thee.
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Just as a father has compassion  on his children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
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Glory in His holy name;
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Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that
I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12

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