One day we’ll find out whether our spiritual “building materials” — our teachings) — are combustible or non-combustible. The Lord Jesus Christ will examine our work and his eyes are as “a flame of fire” (Revelation 1:15). Nothing that is combustible will escape the fiery inspection! Gold is purified by fire (1 Peter 1:7). So is silver. (Zechariah 13:8-9; Malachi 3:1-3)
Although resistant to heat, precious stones are not purified by fire but blackened and somewhat spoiled. Wood, hay, and stubble have increasing degrees of flammability. Our church teachings need to be fireproof!
In referring to “man’s day” (1 Corinthians 4:3), Paul addressed the judgmental attitudes of some in the Corinthian church. Many prefer to judge prematurely, rather than to wait for the Lord’s judgement. But each person’s work will become clear, for “the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire.” This refers to the Day of Christ.
The fire will be a test, not a punishment. It will test the value of our work. Not our salvation, which is our standing in Heaven, or our sanctification, which is our increasingly improving state on earth.
We see ourselves as acceptable to God through the finished work of Jesus on the Cross, and as kept through the priestly work of Jesus in Heaven.
In the midst of his severe trial, Job was sure of the outcome (Job 23:10). He knew that he was not perfect but never said anything wrong about himself. God believed in him too, and so allowed Satan to do his worst. The would-be destroyer did all he could and failed, as God had known before the trial began.
Job had known God “with the hearing of the ear” but through the trial he advanced to a point from where he was able to “see Him with the eye” and “repent in dust and ashes”. “Dust” in that he was made from it; “ashes” in that he had been literally burnt out of house and home. God blessed him in the end to the point where he gained far more than he had lost.
The person whose work has endured will be rewarded. How much of today’s teaching will survive the ‘fire’ of the Lord’s gaze? Christ-focused teaching builds Christ-focused believers! Sermons that are “spiritualized” are of little value. Preachers have done that with the Good Samaritan, turning it into an allegory of multiple meanings, when it is simply a parable that ends in the injunction to Love Your Neighbour! (Luke 10:30-37)
Paul’s warning was directed at the teachers in the church at Corinth rather than at those who were being taught. Worthless teaching is a waste! “Don’t taste, don’t touch, don’t handle” (Colossians 2:16-23) is not just time-wasting but mind-binding! Those who are “saved but by fire” will be incompetent teachers who barely escape the inferno in which their poorly-founded, shabbily-constructed and highly-inflammable “house” of doctrine will be burnt to the ground!
Corrupt teaching undermines personal faith and destroys churches. The belief that miracles and healings ceased with the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles. It denies the present reality of spiritual gifts. Extreme Futurism postpones victory to a future reign of Jesus over the nations. Preterists would have us believe that the promise of the Lord’s return was fulfilled when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in AD70.
Such errors strike at the faith of believers. As do legalistic “musts” and “must nots” aimed at robbing them of their freedom in Christ and putting them in joyless bondage.
In ancient times false prophets were the problem, but nowadays it’s more often false teachers (2 Peter 2:1-3; Titus 1:10,11; 2 Timothy 4:3). If a ‘revelation’ is found only once in the Bible, reject it. If it is found twice, consider it. If it is found three times, accept it — even if that means changing what you may believe. The biblical rule is 2 Corinthians 13:1, which goes way back to Numbers 35:30 and Deuteronomy 19:15. Jesus commanded the use of it in Matthew 18:15, 16, and in Matthew 18:19, 20.
I refuse to allow anyone or anything to rob me of my freedom in Jesus Christ my Lord. “The world’s a stage” said Shakespeare, and I refuse to allow demons dressed in people to even come On Stage -in my life — much less Front and Centre! When Jesus saved us, Satan exited BackStage, and although his flunkies jeer from the audience at times — who cares?
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1) Christ has set us free and our role is to stay free!