What are the six building materials God gives believers?
God provides six building materials for believers: gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble. Three—gold, silver, and precious stones—withstand fire; three—wood, hay, and stubble—are consumed. These materials represent believers' works, which will be tested by fire to determine reward.
Les explains that in the Christian life believers become builders by virtue of their works, building into the building they are constructing with God. God gives six materials: gold, silver, and precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble. Three withstand heat and fire; three go up in a puff of smoke. In the quoted Scripture, every believer's work will be made manifest and tested by fire. This is not hell fire or the lake of fire; it relates to the judgment seat of Christ in 2 Corinthians 5, where believers answer for reward, not salvation or sin. Christ's fiery eyes penetrate the Christian record. What remains—only gold, silver, and precious stones—becomes the basis for eternal reward, which Les suggests will be responsibilities in the kingdom, not the crowns.