“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
The Basket Case Chronicles #27
“Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 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” (1 Cor. 3:12-15).
There are several reasons why the apostle Paul is not talking about Purgatory here. First, we are talking about ministers and their ministries, not Christians and their venial sins. Second, this happens instantaneously—the day shall declare it. The fire involved is testing the permanence of a man’s work and ministry, and not the state of his soul. And last, the minister concerned is saved instantaneously on that day of revelation, but he suffers the loss of not being able to take the fruit of his ministry with him into glory.
Paul says that the faithful minister, by way of contrast, “shall receive a reward.” What kind of reward might that be? The apostle is not thinking of anything so crass as a chest of heavenly doubloons. The rewards of glory are commensurate with the rewards of the ministry itself. The rewards are consistent with the attitudes that attained to the reward. So what does that mean (1 Thess. 2:19-20)? What is Paul’s crown? His hope? What is his glory and joy? He tells the Thessalonians . . . is it not you? The gold and silver and precious stones that are built on this foundation of Jesus Christ are eternal souls. Wood, hay and stubble are ratings, web site hits, popularity, trendy relevance, blurbs from important scribes . . . and lost eternal souls.
Later on, Paul tells these same Corinthian Christians that their labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). Here we see that there is a kind of labor which is performed in this life, the effects of which carry over into the next. There are two areas where every minister should invest all that he has. What lasts forever? What stretches across the eschaton, with one end in the ministry of today and the other end in glory? I can think of two things that should be considered. The first is Scripture—the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord endures forever (1 Pet. 1:24-25). The second is your neighbor. Every faithful minister should yearn to be able to echo the words of the Lord Jesus when he finally appears before God . . . here am I, and the children you have given me (Heb. 2:13).