1st Corinthians 3:11-15

God Doesn't Judge Works Based On Our Motives

1st Corinthians 3:11-15, “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; 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.”

I love my new 'The Strand Study Bible.' I read it everyday as I read the inspired Holy Bible. If you'd like to buy one but cannot afford the high price, you can pick up a used one at Abe's Books online. I highly recommend The Strand Study Bible compiled by Pastor Brad Strand. He spent 30,000 hours over 33 years making this study Bible. I have learned a lot of new things from Brother Strand.

Having said that, I humbly disagree with some of his teachings. As with all preachers, no two agree on everything. In fact, I cannot name even one preacher with whom I agree with on everything he teaches. And I'm sure those men would all say the same thing. I read 1st Corinthians 3:13 today, 1st Corinthians 3:13, “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.”

On page 1878 of his study Bible, Pastor Strand says:

Christians will enjoy Heaven based on “motive” (what sort it is), not merit (what size it is). Why we do what we do is more important than what we did. If what we do isn't done with the proper motive, it doesn't count with God (Mt. 20:1, II Cor. 5:14 and Rev. 2:4).

SOURCE: Pastor Brad Strand, The Strand Study Bible, p. 1878

Kindly said, I do not find Scriptural support for what Pastor Strand is teaching. Here are the three Scripture passages that he cites as supporting texts for his doctrine:

Matthew 20:1, “For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.”

2nd Corinthians 5:14, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:”

Revelation 2:4, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”

Respectfully, these cross-references are worthless! I absolutely don't see how any of these passages can be used as evidence that our works won't count with God at the Judgment Seat of Christ unless we had the proper motive.

Jesus said that if we just do something to help a follower of Christ, but not Christ Himself, that person will still receive a reward on Judgment Day. Matthew 10:42, “And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.” So even if your motive is not to serve Christ, but just help a Christian, God will still reward you.

I once heard Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) in a sermon say there is nothing in the Bible which teaches you must have the right motives to be rewarded by God. I fully agree with Dr. Hyles. I cannot find anything in the inspired King James Bible which says you won't be rewarded by God in eternity unless you have noble motives.

Jesus Himself Gave Us Selfish Motives

Jesus Himself encouraged us to selfishly “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” by serving God:

Matthew 6:19-21, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

1st Corinthians 3:8-9, “Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.” Serving God just to lay up treasures for yourselves in Heaven is a selfish motive.

I have worked very hard day and night on my website ministry since I began in 2002. My work is a passion for me, what some might even call an “obsession.” When I attended the Lighthouse Baptist Church on Guam in 2018 for a year, their Pensacola Christian College (PCC) intern pastor, Sean Quinlan, shamefully rebuked me one evening after church, when he overhead me warning a fellow Christian brother about the Devil's modern Bible revisions, and warning him about Bob Jones University who use, sell and promote the Devil's counterfeit Bibles versions. Pastor Quinlan became visibly angry and called me “obsessed over the Bible issue.” I instantly knew that he was not right with God, for defending the Devil's crowd who promote corruptible seed. I consider it an honor to be persecuted by a wicked pastor who thinks I am “obsessed over the Bible issue.” Buster, you had better know that I am OBSESSED over the Bible issue, and I plan to stay obsessed!!! PCC are pulling on the same rope as the Devil today, preaching a false gospel, and refusing to contend for the faith by warning people about the Devil's fake Bible revisions. I won't SHUT UP for God!!!

As I said, I have worked very hard on my website ministry since 2002. I haven't kept track of the hours, but I must have at least 50,000 hours invested into my ministry over the past 21 years. The longest I have ever worked straight through is 37 hours. I shouldn't work that hard, but I get so caught up in my work sometimes that I'm like a child in a candy store. It is my privilege to let God work through me to feed Jesus' sheep, and win the lost to Christ (Galatians 2:20). I admit that I want rewards in Heaven. That is part of my motivation. Albeit, my greatest rewards will be the people saved through my labors for Christ, who will greet me someday in Heaven (Daniel 12:3).

When you think about it, most of the Christian life is selfishly lived. We pray to get things from God. We serve God to earn rewards. We fast to get something from God. We go to church to be edified. We live right so we can feel peace in our soul and avoid guilt. When I give a homeless person some money, I do it because I want God to be pleased with me. I have selfish motives. And there is nothing wrong with those things, God wants us to live that way. Even when we serve God from a sincere heart of love for Him, we selfishly want His blessings on our life. Human beings are selfish by nature from birth, and we cannot change that.

I love Pastor Strand and am so thankful for his correct position on repentance. Sadly, that is becoming rare these days. I would guesstimate that 85% of Baptist pastors today have succumbed to Satan's lie that you must turn from your sinful ways to get to Heaven, which is works (Jonah 3:10). Christ alone bore the weight and penalty for our sins on Calvary's cross. Beware of any crooked preacher who tries to put the burden of sin burden upon your shoulders, by focusing on YOU changing your life, improving your behavior or following Christ as “Lord” to be saved. The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.

Please understand that I don't find any thrill in disagreeing with any preacher. God knows that my only intent is to help people learn the truth, that is, as I believe God has laid truths upon my heart. As Brother Strand rightly teaches, don't ever take the word of any man; do what Jesus commanded us to do in John 5:39a, SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES!!! (cf. Acts 17:10-11).

So, if you are a Christian man, and you volunteer to drive a church bus to bring people to church, but your only motive is that you like a woman at church, I believe God will still reward you. You are transporting people to church to learn about Jesus to be saved, to hear the truth and grow in grace, to fellowship with the saints, to receive comfort in burdens and losses, et cetera. Why wouldn't God reward you for helping the cause of Jesus Christ? Our God is more ethical than you or I could ever understand. Again, humbly, I don't find any Scriptural teaching that says motives matter in our service to God, as far as rewards go.

The Church Of Ephesus Had Wrong Priorities, Not Wrong Motives

Revelation 2:4-5, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” If motives matter, then show me, because I can't find it in the Holy Bible. In Revelation 2:1-7 we read about the church of Ephesus. The Lord commended this church for exposing false prophets and for hating wickedness. However, Christ rebuked them for not doing the “first works.” The Bible doesn't tell us what those first works are, but in my humble opinion it is soulwinning. I believe this because of Matthew 28:19-29 (aka, 'The Great Commission') and also Luke 8:11-15 (the parable of The Sower And The Seed, which teaches that God's main purpose for every believer is to mature to bear fruit, that is, win souls). If you are a believer and you don't regularly share the Gospel with lost sinners, you are an immature Christian (Luke 8:15).

So, concerning the church of Ephesus, humbly, I do not believe that they had the wrong motives; but rather, they had the wrong priorities. They had left off the first works. I cannot think of any work more important than preaching the Gospel. Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Contending for the faith and hating sin are very important matters, but not as important as soulwinning. Without sharing the Gospel nothing else matters.

All Believers Will Be Judged By God For Our Good And Bad

1st Corinthians 3:11-15 is a famous passage about the future Judgment Seat of Christ, when all saints will be held accountable for the good and bad done in the body. I hear most preachers teaching that Christians won't have to answer for their sins in Heaven. I humbly strongly disagree. What saith the Scripture? 1st Thessalonians 4:6, “That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.” As we just read, if you defraud your brother. Whether cheating him financially, having sex with his wife, misleading him or hurting a brother in any way, God promises to avenge that saint. So it is not true that we will only be rewarded for the good, but the bad won't be brought up ever again.

I have heard preachers say that when you got saved, God cast your sins into the depths of the sea, so that He will never bring them up again. That is only partly true. I agree with Pastor Max Younce that all of the sins done before you were saved won't be mentioned again, because you did it in ignorance. But all of the sins you've done as a child of God will be mentioned in Heaven, because you knew better. We must separate the Civil Court at the Judgment Seat of Christ from the Criminal Court at the Great White Throne Judgment. We know from John 3:18 and Romans 8:1 and 34 that there is no condemnation for any saint of God. Condemnation is only for the unsaved, that is, for all those sinners who have rejected Jesus as their Savior. God's wrath rests upon their head (Psalms 7:11; John 3:36).

At the Judgment Seat of Christ, believers will not be judged for our sins; but rather, for the good and bad done in the body. Christ suffered the penalty for our sins on the cross. 2nd Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

When O.J. Simpson was indicted in 1994 for murdering his wife Nicole Simpson and lover Ron Goldman, he was acquitted in Criminal Court, but later found guilty in 1997 in Civil Court (ordered by the court to pay $33.500,000 to the family of Ron Goldman). In a bizarre turn of events, O.J. Simpson in 2006 actually (and I think cruelly) admitted to murdering his wife and Ron Goldman in a book titled, "If I Did It" (you can read the book for free). Simpson provides vivid details up until and after the murders, but doesn't describe the murders themselves. It is clear from reading his horrible book that he was attempting to justify his crimes by portraying his former wife as an irresponsible mother, bimbo and adulterous spouse. You couldn't make this stuff up! Ron Goldman's father responded publicly to Simpson's cruel book by publishing his own book titled: "I Did It!"

The lesson I want you to take away from the Simpson case is that he was acquitted in Criminal Court, but later found guilty in Civil Court. In Civil Court there is no risk of going to prison or Capital Punishment. Likewise, at the Judgment Seat of Christ no Christian will be in danger of being punished for their sins on earth. But there will be more than rewards given at this time. Believers who hurt other people and refused to make things right with the victim, will be chastised by God. There will be embarrassment, tears and regrets. That is why we read in 1st Corinthians 11:31, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” If you have defrauded or hurt someone, and have not reconciled and made restitution with that victim, then God will avenge them in eternity.

Lordship Salvation Is A Counterfeit Plan Of Salvation

Also, we learn from 1st Corinthians 3:11-15 that Lordship Salvation is a fallacy. The man in 1st Corinthians 3:15 was “saved; yet so as by fire.” He barely escaped the fires of Hell, simply because he placed his faith in the Lamb of God. I am sick and tired of hearing lying preachers tell lost sinners that God won't save them by faith, unless they first are willing to turn away from their sinful bad habits. This is the garbage taught at cults like Pensacola Christian College. True repentance has nothing to do with “turning from sin” and everything to do with “acknowledging one's sinfulness” (Romans 3:19-20). Like the thief on the cross who simply acknowledged his sinfulness (Luke 23:39-43), the only part a person has in salvation is the beggar's part. Either God does the saving, all of it, or you don't go to Heaven!

The born-again man in 1st Corinthians 3:15 lived a worthless, selfish, wasted life for God. He did his own thing, lived for his own plans, and never shared the Gospel with anyone. His faith was “dead” as James said in James 2:17, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” Carefully notice that a dead faith is still faith. That is, the person is saved. If you are saved but living a life of sin by choice, then your faith is dead. For all effective purposes, you are dead to the world around you and ineffective as a light to the lost world.

This is exactly what the Bible means in Hebrews 10:14-16, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” Lot is a good example of a believer who didn't live a holy life. When he tried to warn his son in laws of the coming destruction of Sodom, they laughed at him, thinking that he was joking. Genesis 19:14, “And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city.  But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.” Friend, is your Christian testimony so poor that people take your Christian faith as a joke? I sincerely hope not. You may be the only Jesus that someone knows.

Every pseudo-Christian false prophet will tell you that they believe in salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, but then they lie by insisting that you are not saved unless your behavior has changed and you've forsaking a lifestyle of sinning. That is works, not grace (Jonah 3:10). Turning from your sinful habits has absolutely nothing to do with freely receiving God's gift of eternal life. That is why it is called “a gift” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Take heed to Jesus' stern warning in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”