Will Your Work Survive?

Will Your Work Survive?

Who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross.

Malachi 3:2-3

On the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.

1 Corinthians 3:13-15

What happens if you throw a bunch of wood or hay on a fire? It will burn, right? And soon there will be nothing left. But what happens if you throw a gold brick or a chunk of silver or a diamond into the fire? The fire may burn around it, but it won’t consume the gold, silver, or jewels.

Paul used this picture to help us understand what is going to happen on the Day of Judgment. He said that all of us will stand before the Judge—Jesus—and that all our “good works” will be put to the test in the fire. It won’t be our beliefs that will be tested that day, and our deeds won’t determine whether we’re in or out of heaven. But on that day Jesus will test our works—not only what we did but also how and why we did those things. Any good works we’ve done on our own to build our reputation rather than God’s, anything done with a secret motive of getting something in return, will burn up.

One day each of us will give an account to God for how we’ve used what he has entrusted to us to build his Kingdom. And on that day, everything we’ve done for Christ to the glory of God will add to our eternal joy.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

What kinds of things burn up quickly when you put them in a fire?

On the Day of Judgment, what kinds of things do you think will burn up quickly in the test of our good works? What will make it through the fire?

Do you think it’s possible for us to tell if someone else’s good works will survive the fire? Why or why not?