1 Corinthians 3:10-15
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. Let each one take care how he builds 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, wood, hay, straw— 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. (ESV)

There are two things that Paul says here that I’d like to talk about for just a minute.

When we start building on the foundation of Christ, not all of our work will be of the same quality.

Paul uses imagery that we’re all familiar with to portray this.  Remember the story of the three little pigs?  One built a house of straw but when the big bad wolf came he was able to huff and puff and blow that house down.  And the same thing happened with the house made of sticks.  But when the wolf came to the house made of bricks he huffed and puffed and couldn’t blow the house down.  The house made of bricks withstood the test.  

And Paul uses the same idea here of buildings that are made of sticks and straw or gold and silver.  The buildings in 1 Corinthians 3 won’t have a big bad wolf huffing and puffing at them but Paul says that they will be tested with fire on “the Day”.

Peter talks about that on the judgement day fire will reveal the works that each person has done.

2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (ESV)

And when that day comes, some Christians will find that their works were of sufficient quality.  The works may not be perfect, but the works will be compared to “gold, silver, and precious stones”. 

Other Christians are going to find that their works aren’t able to stand up to the test of fire on judgement day.  Even though they tried hard and even built on the greatest foundation, good intentions won’t be enough to change the fact that their works were made of grass and sticks.

And God will absolutely reward his disciples based on the quality of their work.  This is the plain reading of 1 Corinthians 3 and passages like the parable of the minas in Luke 19.  

Those facts…
That some works will be of insufficient quality
That God will reward Christians based on the quality of their works

Those facts are undeniable, even if they make you uncomfortable.  

But Paul says one more thing, not about the works but about the builders.  

Paul says that the quality of your works has no bearing on your salvation.

Look again at what Paul says in vs. 15…
If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Paul couldn’t be more clear here.  The Christian whose works are compared to grass and stubble, who at the judgement day will see their life’s work to be declared polluted, unworthy, or Just.  Not.  Good.  Enough.  Those  Christians will be saved.

Paul says that when your works are burned you’ll suffer loss and there are several things that could mean.  I tend to look at it in light of the previous verse where Paul promises that if your works are found worthy you’ll receive a reward.  

Worthy = Reward
Unworthy = Loss (or no reward)

In light of passages like the parable of the minas in Luke 19, I tend to believe that in Heaven Christians will be rewarded with either greater glory or greater responsibility based on the quality of their life’s work. 

But whatever the terms “reward” and “loss” mean in verses 14 and 15, it’s undeniable that BOTH Christians, the one who is rewarded and the one who suffers loss, are both saved.

Paul says that the Christians with works of sticks and straw will be saved “as through fire”.  

The metaphor of fire is used in the Bible as a means of purification.  Fire burns away the defects.  Fire makes the polluted, pure.  Fire doesn’t consume the good because of impurities, fire makes the good perfect by removing them.

And so when the Christian with unworthy works is saved “as through fire”, he’s saved because the fire has removed the impurities.

Paul is talking here about disciples who have declared Christ as their foundation and who have devoted their life to serving Him, however imperfectly that service may have been.  

That imperfect service is not what condemns a Christian on the day of judgement, the imperfect service is what God purifies on the day of judgement so that we can be reconciled to Him.

Isaiah 1:18
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. (ESV)