Life Is a Race
Finally, SEE WHERE ALL THIS LEADS us. Man is MORTAL, without inherent life, possessing in himself only a transitory physical, chemical EXISTENCE. ETERNAL life comes as God's GIFT. It comes through the gift of God's Holy Spirit, GIVEN after the prior conditions of real REPENTANCE, and FAITH in Christ.
But, once receiving the GIFT of the Holy Spirit, entering upon the Christian life, this Christian life is pictured as A RACE in a stadium, or in a contest. We must TURN FROM SIN (and the Bible definition of SIN is: transgression of God's Law — I John 3:4). Notice: "Wherefore . . . Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Heb. 12:1).
FURTHER: Paul wrote: And this I do for the Gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Know ye not that they which roan in a race run all, but ONE receiveth the prize? So RUN, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they (those unconverted) do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we (Christians) an incorruptible. I, therefore, so run, not as uncertainly; so FIGHT I . . . Lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be REJECTED (1 Cor. 9:23-27).
We must STRIVE to overcome. We must fight temptation and sin. The Christian life was pictured by Jesus as the hard, rutty, difficult way — NOT the easy way that leads to destruction.
So, SALVATION — being born INTO God's Kingdom — depends not only on once receiving the Holy Spirit, but BEING LED BY God s Spirit through life (Rom. 8:14), and God's Spirit DWELLING IN us, at the end of life s race! That is, at the time of death, or of Christ's coming, whichever comes first.
God's impregnating Holy Spirit is received by GRACE, as God s GIFT, not as a debt or compensation earned; not by "works." But, once we receive the Holy Spirit, it does not remain bottled up; it does not stagnate; it is not static — it FLOWS in outgoing concern (LOVE) to fellowman, and in worship, reverence, obedience to GOD. It flows into us from God. We can love God only because He first loved us — our love toward God is only a return of His love, which He gives to us.
This spiritual LOVE — the HOLY SPIRIT — must be kept on that RETURN CIRCUIT — fulfilling God s LAW — flowing back to GOD by fulfilling the first four Commandments, and out to neighbor fulfilling the last six.
The parable of the sower and the seed illustrates this. There were four classes. The first heard the Gospel Message, but it never conceived — they never were converted. They may STILL have a chance — later. A second class was converted, with great joy, but simply had no spiritual depth of character, and endured only for a while, but yielded to temptations UNTIL they fell away — that is, CONTINUALLY, till they QUIT TRYING. A third was converted, received God's Spirit, but let the cares of this material life — earning a living — or former unconverted associates — keeping one foot in the world — seeking the PLEASURES of this world's materialism — and they brought forth No FRUIT to perfection. So THEY lost out! You MUST BRING FORTH FRUIT — make spiritual PROGRESS — develop spiritual CHARACTER! Too many, today, are preaching a FALSE salvation of No WORKS.'
Your "WORKS" won't get you converted — won't earn you God's Spirit — as I have made PLAIN in this article. BUT THE LACK OF GOOD WORKS CAN GET YOU LOST, if persisted in!
The fourth class of the parable are they, which in an HONEST and GOOD HEART, having heard the Word, KEEP it, and bring forth fruit with patience" (Luke 8:15). In Matthew's account of this same parable, those finally SAVED, enduring to the END of life's race, brought forth fruit — some thirty-fold, some sixty, some a hundred. ALL of these were SAVED! ALL of these go into God's Kingdom.
BUT those who bring forth a hundred-fold, during their Christian lives, will receive a higher REWARD, or position in the Kingdom, than those who produce only thirty-fold!
SALVATION comes as God's free GIFT, by GRACE.
But the DEGREE of office, once in the Kingdom — once made Immortal — the rank, the position, the degree of glory — this is NOT by grace — this is NOT God's gift — this is what you must QUALIFY FOR, by the fruits you bear in THIS LIFE.
THAT is the teaching of GOD!
We Must Produce "Fruit"
SALVATION, I repeat again and again, is GOD'S FREE GIFT — not something you can earn. BUT, once you have received God s Holy Spirit — BY GRACE — that Spirit, in you, must produce FRUIT!
The Bible explains this way: Jesus says He is the Vine — we are the branches. (John 15:1, 5). Here we are likened to a grapevine and its branches. The BRANCHES did not get themselves joined on to the main Vine by their own efforts. We did not become joined to Christ — receiving His Holy Spirit by our "works," but it was His doing — His GIFT — it came by GRACE.
BUT — once joined on, with the SAP flowing from the Vine into the branch (a picture of God's Holy Spirit flowing from Him into us), we must produce fruit. If we don't — then what?
Notice this whole picture, in John 15. God the Father is the Husbandman — the Vine-dresser — the chief Gardener, who PRUNES the branches. Now notice verse 2: "Every branch in me that beareth NOT fruit He taketh away." If, once having received the Holy Spirit, we do not produce spiritual fruit, we shall be cut off from Christ — and, (verse 6) shall be cast into the fire and burned up — referring to the final Gehenna or hellfire!
The Holy Spirit is GIVEN to us — we didn't deserve or earn it — but given to Produce FRUIT. HOW? Jesus pictured the Holy Spirit (John 7: 3739) as rivers of "living water" — FLOWING from Him into us, and on out of us. How will it flow on out of us? A "river" flows down a riverbed. The spiritual riverbed down which God's Spirit FLOWS is GOD'S LAW. This "living water" of God's Spirit is the LOVE that fulfills the Law. The FRUITS, then, are simply the WAY of righteousness — keeping God's Law.
Oh, one will vehemently object, THAT s WORKS. No — it s righteousness. But IT IS NOT OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS! God s Spirit GIVES us the FAITH that makes obedience possible. This is the FAITH that SAVES! It is God s GIFT. And the LOVE that fulfills God's Law is His love, flowing into and out of us — NOT OUR LOVE! It is not SELF-righteousness — it is GOD'S righteousness, GIVEN to us.
What KIND of Works?
One further passage of Scripture should COMPLETE the picture.
It is in the third chapter of I Corinthians. Notice carefully:
Some of these Gentile converts at Corinth wanted to be followers of Paul, others of Peter, others of Apollos. Paul was pointing them to CHRIST, and showing what human "nothingness" was he and Apollos.
"What then is Apollos?" he asked (verse 5).”What is Paul?" And he answered, "Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but GOD gave the GROWTH. Paul was showing them that he and Apollos, mere humans, were as nothing compared to GOD. The spiritual GROWTH — the FRUIT BORNE — came through God s Holy Spirit. The Apostle continued:
"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." Notice — God GIVES the spiritual growth — the fruits borne. It is GOD'S righteousness.”He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor" (verse 8). Once again, our WORKS do EARN wages — either good or bad. Evil works earn eternal DEATH. Good works earn a better position or reward in God's Kingdom — IF you get there by GRACE. Now continue:
"For we are fellow workmen for God, YOU are God's field, God's building" (verse 9). Apply that to this very Work of GOD today. Today God is using me, Garner Ted Armstrong, our active staff of several hundred, and our growing family of Co-Workers — all FELLOW-WORKMEN for God. Our WORK in carrying out Christ's Great commission — proclaiming His Gospel around the world by radio and printing press — our ministers counseling with and baptizing those being converted — the PRAYERS and financial support of other FELLOW-WORKMEN — will EARN a better position — a higher glory — IF we make it into God's Kingdom. But we shall be SAVED only by GRACE, undeserved — as God s GIFT. Yet our WORK, as instruments in GOD s HANDS, which HE uses in His WORK, is the most important Work or activity on earth today! And it contributes greatly to our individual and personal SPIRITUAL GROWTH!
But continue:
Paul says further, "According to the commission of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation and another man is building upon it" (verse 10). He now pictures THE CHURCH as a building being built. Continue: "Let each man take care how he builds upon it." Now referring to each individual member as well as the Body of Christ — the Church, as a whole.
"For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is JESUS CHRIST (verse 11).
Continue: "Now if anyone builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble — each man's WORK will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the WORK which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward" (verses 12-14).
Christ Does the Works "in us"
The FOUNDATION did not come by OUR WORKS! That was GOD'S doing. He GAVE us the FOUNDATION to build upon. That foundation is CHRIST — and it is "Christ IN us" (2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:17; Col. 1:27), by the Holy Spirit! God's Spirit — Christ IN you — was GIVEN by GRACE, not produced by your WORKS. BUT you must continue to build upon that Foundation. We must OVERCOME. We must GROW spiritually (2 Pet. 3:18).
Now notice the MATERIALS mentioned in building the superstructure of the building. The most valuable is mentioned first — GOLD. Second in value and QUALITY of building materials is mentioned next, silver. Next, precious stones; next, wood — far less valuable. But now we come down to CHEAPNESS, and INFERIOR QUALITY — HAY! Hay might be used in covering a tropical-zone hut — but it is very inferior building material. Yet, a horse could eat it — it has some little value. But, lastly, we come to stubble! You couldn't even build a hut with stubble. A horse wouldn't eat it. Its value is about NIL. It s fit only to be burned!
Must Build Character
In this Scriptural passage, we are primarily concerned with building CHARACTER.
But now Paul speaks of TESTING the quality of a man's building by FIRE. Let's understand it! Continue: "If any man s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire" (verse 15). WHAT is that fire?
To understand this, we need to turn to the 3rd chapter of Malachi. It speaks of Christ as the Messenger of the (new) Covenant, suddenly coming to His Temple. This, like so many prophecies, is dual in application. It refers only typically to Christ's first coming — primarily to His Second Coming!
". . . and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant . . . But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's FIRE, and like fullers' soap; and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and Purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the ETERNAL an offering in RIGHTEOUSNESS (Malachi 3:1-3).
Plainly, this is speaking of Christ's second coming as KING of kings, to set up WORLD Government over ALL NATIONS. Then we who have received God's GRACE — in whom is the Holy Spirit, then made immortal — shall stand before Him for judgment as to what reward, or position, we have qualified for. Christ Himself is that refiner's FIRE that will burn up the dross. But the pure gold, silver, or precious stones we have built on the foundation of CHRIST will then be MANIFEST — it will come through the test. But the wood, hay and straw will be burned up.
Again, of those who, BY GRACE, do receive SALVATION, and are born Immortal into God's Kingdom at Christ's appearing, Christ says He will bring them "through the FIRE, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is MY PEOPLE: and they shall say, The ETERNAL is my God' " (Zech. 13:9).
Now back to I Corinthians 3:13-15. It ought to be plain, now!
This is speaking of begotten children of God, who have received God's Holy Spirit — that is, CHRIST in them, in Spirit — as the FOUNDATION. Some people, once converted and receiving God's Spirit, do begin to live by every word of the Bible, as Jesus said we must (Luke 4:4). They have had their hearts in GOD'S WORK for our time. They have sought, and found, the TRUE Values of life. They have striven to overcome. They have studied to know God's WAY — to show themselves approved unto GOD. They have kept close to God, by daily Bible study and prayer. They have BUILT RIGHTEOUS, SPIRITUAL, STERLING CHARACTER! In other words, they have built on the FOUNDATION with gold, silver, and precious stones. These have survived the TEST. They came through the fire. These are the ones who "brought forth fruit" — whose "pound" gained "ten pounds" — who will be given authority over MUCH.
But there are MANY — and I personally know of many such — who with Joy have received God's Holy Spirit — their conversion as Christians — and have remained in a GOOD ATTITUDE, but whose WORKS have been of inferior quality, pictured by the wood, hay, and stubble. Most of their "WORKS" of their Christian lives will be burned up, when the final examination comes. Their reward — status in the Kingdom — position qualified for — is very small, yet THEY, themselves, will be SAVED by God's grace! They suffer the LOSS of higher position — greater authority for service and doing good — but they themselves will be SAVED.
We are SAVED by GRACE, through Christ s FAITH — given as God s GIFT. But whatever REWARD — status, rank, position, degree of GLORY — is conferred, once we are changed to immortality IN God's Kingdom, will be according to our "works" in this present mortal life — and according to the character and quality of those works.
WHY the Christian Life?
WHY do most of those who claim to be the very CLERGY of Jesus Christ say there are NO WORKS WHATEVER in the Christian life?
Because of their false pagan and unscriptural doctrine about "going to heaven" when you die. Their conception of "heaven" seems to be an eternity of idleness and ease — with nothing to do. The development of the very CHARACTER of the living GOD — preparing for RULER SHIP — qualifying for SERVICE — have no place in their false pagan theology.
Many times I have asked, over the air, and in Plain Truth, WHY, if 'heaven' is the reward of the saved, and if there are 'no works' to the Christian life, is not one taken immediately, upon first accepting Christ, to his 'reward'? WHY must the converted Christian — if he is 'already saved' — if he has been already 'born again' — go on suffering IN THIS LIFE? WHY does the Bible say, 'Many are the afflictions of the righteous,' and 'All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall Suffer Persecution?' WHY not avoid all this suffering? WHY doesn't God take new converts immediately to 'glory' in ‘heaven'?"
The answer is that God put humans on this earth for a PURPOSE! That PURPOSE is stated in Genesis 1:26 — God is actually reproducing Himself! God is the Supreme Spiritual CHARACTER — holy, righteous, perfect. We, to be actually born of Him = born into His FAMILY as His divine children — must be changed, not only from mortal to Immortal — not only from human to divine — but from our human nature and sinning character, into His DIVINE NATURE (2 Pet. 1:4) and into His HOLINESS and Perfection of character (1 Pet. 1:16; Mat. 5:48). And that Moist be developed, through the Christian life! It means overcoming, growing in knowledge and character!
We are to become a NEW CREATION (Gal. 6:15, margin). God's SPIRITUAL CREATION is still going on, in us! We are now mere CLAY — made of the dust of the ground. God is the Potter — we are the clay (Isa. 64:8). we must, on our own derision, with our own complete Submission, and even with our own effort accompanying, yield so that the Master Potter may completely remake, re-fashion, re-shape our vile characters into the holy, righteous, spiritual and perfect character of GOD.