Title: 13
Author: JOEG
Last saved by: Valued Gateway Client
Company: Auth Co

© 2002 Joe Griffin	                                   ▼                        02-02-07.JSH-611 /

The Inscrutable Question: Divine Good & Human Good Revealed with Fire, 1 Cor 3:13; Winner’s Reward, 1 Cor 3:14; Escrow Blessings: Definition of Terms
		37)	During the Egyptian captivity, the Pharaoh assigned the Jews the task of making brick for his construction projects.  Nile mud was mixed and then rendered more cohesive by the addition of chopped straw: vq qash.
		38)	In Exodus 5 Pharaoh became angry with the Jews because of Moses and Aaron’s pleas for freedom.  He ordered his taskmasters to require of the Jews their usual daily quota of bricks but not provide them with any straw.  In order to get the cohesiveness necessary to make quality brick, the Jews had to search for substitutes. 
39)	This sudden restriction and the resultant ordeal it placed on the Jews is recorded in:
Exodus 5:10 -	The taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I am not going to give you any straw.
v. 11 -	‘You go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it; but none of your labor will be reduced.’”
v. 12 -	So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble [ /bT tevhen ] for straw [ vq qash ].
v. 13 -	And the taskmasters pressed them, saying, “Complete your work quota, your daily amount, just as when you had straw.”
		40)	The Jews went to the grain fields and “harvested” stubble as a substitute for straw withheld by Pharaoh.  It was a time-consuming necessity that resulted in their failure to meet daily quota.
		41)	So the final building material is a waste product that the reapers leave behind and whose best use is a poor substitute for straw in the making of brick.  Except in a dire emergency for brick making it is totally worthless.
		42)	The three items on the second schedule of building materials are increasingly more flammable.  They illustrate the ever-increasing pressures that come on the reversionist in the area of divine discipline: (1) warning discipline, (2) intensified discipline, and (3) terminal discipline.  An expanded translation reads this way:
1 Corinthians 3:12 -	Now if any believer builds on this foundation with gold, the wisdom acquired from spiritual growth; silver, the production of divine good from this wisdom; and precious stones, the conveyance of escrow blessings in time; wood, the various expressions of human good that result in warning discipline; fodder, intensified discipline; and stubble, terminal discipline.
		43)	Before the bench each believer will be evaluated “according to what he has done, whether good or worthless” (2 Corinthians 5:10).  This same idea is found in:
1 Corinthians 3:13 -	Each believer’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
		44)	The phrase “each believer’s work” can be better understood by imagining it as the building materials we have just studied.  It is obvious that no one will have a building that is constructed entirely out of gold, silver, and precious stones or entirely out of wood, fodder, and stubble.
		45)	Instead, each building will be constructed out of a mixture of each.  What portion of each is contained in the building will be determined by the Lord’s evaluation which is done by fire.
		46)	The phrase, “the day will show it,” refers to the day of evaluation, or the “judgment seat of Christ.”  Therefore, we know what this event is all about: it is an evaluation of each believer’s production whether divine good or human good; where it will occur: in heaven prior to the presentation of the Nike Awards; when it will take place: during the seven-years that the Tribulation transpires on earth; why it will take place: for the purpose of conveying eternal rewards from the escrow to Church Age winners and the retention of rewards in the escrow from Church Age losers; and how it will be conducted: with fire.
		47)	Fire will put each man’s production to the test to determine its quality.  We can also benefit by imagining the building as a house which will be set ablaze.  The foundation will not burn but part of the superstructure will.  The mature believer’s house will endure the flames but the reversionist’s will be consumed by them.
		48)	The issue in the angelic conflict is for the believer to execute the spiritual life of his dispensation.  For the Church Age believer the objective is to execute the sophisticated spiritual life all the way to spiritual maturity.
		49)	The chronically carnal who are motivated by arrogance and the reversionist driven by antagonism have been led astray by their own free will.  They may have had poor teaching by their pastors and therefore become receptive to the doctrines of demons and vulnerable to the lust patters of their sinful natures.
		50)	The evaluation will sort these types out.  Further, each pastor will have not only his own house to be concerned with but also that of his ministry.
		51)	As the Lord evaluates the house of each individual pastor He will also scrutinize the value of his ministry since his duty was to teach that portion of God’s flock assigned to him.  Therefore, pastors will be evaluated not only on their own execution of the spiritual life but also the content of their message in the pulpit.
		52)	The outcome of the test of fire for the winner is the subject of the next verse.
1 Corinthians 3:14 -	If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward.
		53)	The house was set afire by the Lord in order to test the quality of its building materials.  The house is metaphorical for a believer’s production during his life between salvation and physical death.  If that production has intrinsic value it will have permanent impact and thus remain once the fire is quenched.
		54)	The production is accomplished by the development of wisdom that produces divine viewpoint resulting in divine good and the conveyance of escrow blessings in time.  
		55)	We call the rewards received in verse 14 the Nike Awards which are disclosed in Revelation 2-3.  This is the eternal escrow conveyed to the mature believer following his successful evaluation at the bema of Christ.
		56)	Escrow blessings are actually imputed to every believer in eternity past.  As was true for the terms “client nation,” “Pivot,” and “historical trends” this concept also needs a brief review so that those new to the ministry have a clear understanding of the concept.
Escrow Blessings
1.	The word “escrow” is a legal term that is used as an illustration to explain the mechanics by which God transfers rewards to believers.
2.	The concept is found in the Greek of Ephesians 1:3-4 and can be applied in several other passages.  Before we study this passage we need to define several terms.
3.	Escrow is a type of deed.  A deed is a contract signed by the First Party whereby property is transferred to a Second Party.
4.	However, in an escrow contract the transfer of property is contractually contingent upon the Second Party fulfilling certain conditions stipulated by the First Party.
5.	Consequently, the contents of an escrow contract are placed on deposit into a trust account held by a Third Party until the conditions are fulfilled.
6.	After the Second Party fulfills the conditions of the escrow then the Third Party transfers its contents to the Second Party.  However, the contents of the escrow become the legal property of the Second Party on the date its contents are put on deposit.
7.	The First Party is known as the Grantor.  The Second Party is called the Grantee.  The Third Party is known as the Escrow Officer or the Depositary.  The trust into which the escrow is deposited is called the Depository.
8.	The stipulation of conditions that has to be fulfilled before the Grantee receives the transfer of the escrow’s contents is called the Escrow Agreement.
9.	Consequently, the escrow must remain on deposit under supervision of the Escrow Officer until all conditions are fulfilled by the Grantee.
10.	Until fulfillment, the Grantee cannot hold title to the deposit although its contents are legally his.  The Escrow Officer, although he is the holder of the property, never holds title to it either.  He is simply an agent who agrees to guard the escrow until its conditions are met by the Grantee.
11.	If the conditions are never met by the Grantee and there is no predetermined manner by which its contents are to be disposed, then the escrow must remain on deposit forever.
12.	The Grantee owns its contents but he can never receive their transfer since he never fulfilled the conditions of the Escrow Agreement.
13.	With these things in mind we can now study Ephesians 1:3-4 and use these definitions as a way to illustrate the process by which God rewards believers.

Grace Doctrine Church Media Ministries:	     www.gracedoctrinechurch.com          www.joegriffin.org          www.gdcmedia.org