Will Your Work for the LORD Pass Through the Fire?
What it looks like for the saints to "be equipped"
Welcome to Part 8 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.
In the last post, we explored the contrast between the passive consumerism of a “cruise ship” church and the active participation of a “sailboat.” I shared my conviction that God designed the Church to function where every member is trained to catch the Wind, making discipleship and service to the saints our chief responsibility.
If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly emails, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal weekly newsletter!
In this post, we look at how Judgment-Day fire will test what we build in this life, and why true “equipping” is about raising saints to speak the truth in love rather than managing church programs.
Will it Pass Through the Fire?
Another way to look at it is this: The Scriptures testify that a day will come—known as “the Day”—when Jesus Christ returns to judge the earth. On this Day, everything in heaven and earth will have to pass through the most intense and all-consuming fire that creation has ever known.
After the Flood, which God enacted to put an end to all flesh, God promised he would never again destroy all flesh via water (Genesis 9:11-16), but he always knew of a coming Day when he would destroy it by fire (2 Peter 3:6-13, Isaiah 66:15-16). When that Day comes, everything that can be burned up will be burned up. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, “in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27; cf. Isaiah 66:22).
Although we Christians will be saved if we hold firm in our faith until the end, there is more for us to think about than merely making it through the fire. I find that the scripture below offers some wonderful insight in this regard:
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are . . . God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones [which the fire will not consume], wood, hay, straw [which the fire will consume]—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:9-17)
Do you see here that only one thing will pass through the fire, and that is the Church, God’s temple, Christ’s Body? It is only the people of God that will remain, who are the living stones being built up into a spiritual house for God (1 Peter 2:5; cf. Ephesians 2:21-22, Hebrews 3:1-6). And do you see, as a result of this, that anything you work towards, anything you build in this life, that does not directly contribute to the building up of the saints, is in vain and will perish? Though you yourself may be saved, if everything you did on earth is burned up, you will suffer great loss.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. As a living stone yourself, as a member of Christ’s Body, if you learn to work properly, relying on the Spirit within you to love others, you will make the Body grow (Ephesians 4:16), and you will have much to rejoice over on that Day when you get to see with your own eyes what you’ve been building this whole time.
It’s important at this point to clarify what I am not talking about—that is, the buildings, the seminaries, the denominations, or the individual organizations that you’re a part of, which we commonly associate with the word “Church.” Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Charismatic, and all the rest (sorry if I missed you)—these are not the Church. Schweitzer Church, Fellowship Bible Church, Hill City, High Street, James River, Hope, North Point, and Life 360 (all “churches” from my hometown in Springfield, MO, USA)—these, likewise, are not the Church. The youth ministry, kids ministry, young adult ministry, small-group ministry, grief ministry, outreach ministry, prayer ministry, and all the others—these are not the Church, either.
Do you know how I know this? Because they won’t pass through the fire. Therefore, if these are what you’re building, if these are what get you excited, if these are what you’re serving and hoping to grow and using as a measure for success—as opposed to the sanctification of people—then you are flat-out misguided. For all of these things only exist on earth. They are not eternal or spiritual realities, but temporal things that will one day cease to exist.
But the Church—i.e., the people—will remain.
In a similar fashion, you need to know that your marriage will not pass through the fire (see Matthew 22:30). Your spouse will if they are in Christ, but your marriage will not. For you became one flesh, and flesh will be no more (for we will be raised in spiritual bodies, not fleshly ones). All the saints will be married to one Husband, Christ. So be careful not to lose sight of what your marriage is about, which is to love your spouse as Christ, with the hopeful intention of helping to conform them into Christ’s image (Ephesians 5:22-33).
Also, your earthly family will not pass through the fire (Matthew 10:21; 12:48-50). Your family members will if they are in Christ, but your family (according to the flesh) will not—i.e., there will be no Hotchkiss family in eternity. I tell my kids that they won’t actually be my kids in heaven; they’ll be my brothers and sisters, and we’ll have the same Father! So, just like my marriage, this is what my relationship with my family on earth is all about—making Christ known to them, that they might know him and the Father. (As a brief side note, I acknowledge that there remains some mystery regarding what these relationships will mean to us on the other side of life; therefore, I am only trying to argue here for the primary purpose of these relationships that will most definitely never fade.)
You probably know this one, but your career, your business, and your wealth will not pass through the fire, either (Luke 12:16-21). So please don’t fall into that trap.
The point of all of this is that only people will pass through the fire, and only those in Christ, and only the part of them that is the eternal image and glory of Christ.
Therefore, if you want your life on earth to be aligned with your true purpose, then you must devote yourself in service—i.e., the ministry—to the saints. You must lay down your life for the transformation of souls (particularly those God has called you to serve), from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18).
This doesn’t mean that everyone needs to become a pastor or missionary. Those are specific kinds of appointments that only some are appointed to and gifted for (1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11; 1 Corinthians 12:27-30). It also doesn’t mean that certain activities are inherently more spiritual than others. Virtually anything in life, if done by the Spirit, holds the potential to build up the Body of Christ (if even just you).
It does, however, mean that to walk in a manner worthy of your calling (Ephesians 4:1), you must live your life with hyper-intentionality toward the spiritual growth of God’s people. To live out your purpose, you must mature in the ways of God so as to effectively help others mature in the ways of God. This is what it means to be equipped for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:12), and it is not the unique role of a pastor but of every Christian.
My question to you, then, is this: Do you think the average Christian is equipped?
What It Means to be Equipped
The following passage is commonly regarded as one of the most important scriptures about God’s design for the Church:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11–16)
Here, we see that Paul has the same goal in mind that we’ve already discussed, which is for the Body of Christ to become fully mature. We also see that the “work of the ministry” is not just for the Church’s leaders but for all the saints. In fact, the explicit job description of the leaders is not to do the ministry themselves but to equip the saints for the ministry, so that each member—working properly—would build up the Body.
But if I’ve not been clear up to this point about how this contrasts with the common understanding of what it means to equip the saints for ministry, then I will try to do so now. Throughout my years as a Christian, almost every idea of “equipping the saints” that I’ve encountered has revolved around one of two things: evangelism or empowerment, both of which I’ll explain below.
Through the lens of evangelism, it’s the notion that in order to equip the saints, we need to teach people how to share their faith with unbelievers. Sometimes this is less direct, like shining the light of Christ in the workplace or reaching out to your neighbors. Other times, it’s more direct—like sharing your testimony, taking someone through a pithy presentation of the gospel you’ve memorized, or just straight-up street-evangelism.
Without assuming these evangelistic activities are good or bad, helpful or unhelpful, let’s simply recognize what they are not. They are not the same thing as loving one another. They are not the same thing as serving the saints. Therefore, they should not be confused with “being equipped for ministry.” I have devoted Chapters 7 and 8 to this concept for later, so I’ll just keep it at that for now.
As for “empowerment,” the general idea is that it’s the church leader’s job to foster an environment where anyone can serve in the way they feel led: “Do you like children? We could really use your help in the kids’ Sunday school class.” “If you’re into music, we’ve got a spot in the praise band with your name on it (assuming you’re halfway decent).” “If you’re good with money, Joe’s getting tired of counting the dollars in the offering plate each week all by himself.” “And if there’s something we’re not thinking about that you’d like to start, let us know, and we can discuss whether it fits our vision.”
But after all this, the members we’ve “empowered” still aren’t making disciples of one another. They aren’t growing in their capacity to effectively conform each other into the image of Christ through love, but relying on their pastors to handle the business of spiritual formation.
It stands to reason that people are only capable of equipping others with something that they themselves already have, right? A fisherman is able to equip an accountant to fish, not to do his taxes. A father equips his son to be a man, not necessarily to be an entrepreneur. A math teacher equips her students to do algebra, not to understand history.
I ask you, then, what is it that the “apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers” (from the scripture above) all have in common that makes them capable of equipping the saints for ministry? It is that they themselves are equipped with the word of God that builds up the Church. They are capable ministers of the gospel—i.e., the truth that sets us free, the power of salvation from beginning to end. They are faithful stewards of the mystery by which people are transformed into the image of Christ. They have learned the ways of God and borne the fruit of the Spirit to an extent where they can say to anyone, “Imitate my way of life and thinking (Philippians 3:15-17; 4:9; 1 Corinthians 11:1; Hebrews 13:7), and you, too, will bear fruit.”
Ministers of the word equip people to minister the word, not to start a non-profit. Disciple-makers equip people to make disciples, not to usher people to their seats. Shepherds equip people to take care of sheep, not to organize social events. Etc.
With this in mind, I reject the notion that training someone to operate the sound at the Sunday gathering, manage the slideshow, or serve coffee is equipping them for the “work of the ministry.” While every act of humble service is beautiful in God’s eyes, we must stop conflating these things with being equipped for the work of the ministry because they can all be done without a single person growing up into Christ.
Equipping the saints isn’t getting people signed up for the hospitality team. It’s raising them in the Lord so that, having learned the ways of the Spirit and grown up in love, they are always hospitable to everyone. Equipping the saints isn’t plugging them into a prayer ministry; it’s teaching them to function organically in the ministry of prayer all the time. It isn’t just sending them overseas to build houses and pass out medicine. It’s making them effective ministers of the truth so that, wherever they are and whatever they’re doing, they’re prepared to meet spiritual needs, as well, to build up the invisible and eternal Body of Christ.
Moreover, equipping the saints isn’t training them to facilitate a small-group discussion or lead a Sunday School class, which is often as far as we get. It’s training them, as the passage above says, to “speak the truth in love” to one another, by which everyone is built up. They’re equipped when they’re bearing responsibility for the state of each other’s souls, when they correct and admonish one another, and when they exercise church discipline as Jesus taught. They’re equipped when they no longer minister the wisdom of man but have learned to effectively minister the wisdom of God into each other’s lives. They’re equipped when they don’t rely on others to build community for them, but they pursue one another of their own accord and fight for one another’s transformation. They’re equipped when they no longer depend on their human leaders for direction and answers, but instead, they consult with their Chief Shepherd alongside one another. They’re equipped when they become a self-sustaining (or, really, a sustained-by-God) church in their own right, making disciples of one another by the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit that is always uniquely relevant to what God is doing in their midst, where growth is all but inevitable.
If the pastor can be mostly hands-off with a group of Christians and they continue to grow and thrive together, then the pastor has done his job—the saints are equipped.
< Previous Part | Table of Contents | Next Part >
Questions for the Comments:
Look around at your current church activities and investments. If the fire of God tested everything this week, what would burn away as temporal hay/straw, and what gold and silver would remain in the hearts of people?
Have you ever been “equipped” for church service (like serving coffee, greeting, or running sound) and mistaken it for being equipped for the spiritual work of the ministry? What does true equipping look like in your life?
Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!
Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here
In Christ,
Jake