Mandatory Testing

Women who suspect that they are pregnant can take a test to see whether they’re going to have a baby or not.

Young people who are ready to drive a car must first take a test at the Department of Motor Vehicles. If they pass, they get their driver’s license. If they fail, they have to practice more. And they take the test again.

If a child wants the praise of parents and teachers, he must pass his school exams. There’s no other way to ascend to another grade. You can’t get promoted any other way. The only way to graduate from primary school is to pass your exams.

There is also a test for anyone who wants to certify themselves as a Christian. There is a definitive way to determine whether you are in Christ or not. You don’t have to guess how Judgment Day will go for you.

There is a test available now to prepare you beforehand for judgment, and you manage the test. It's a "self-test." Will you take it? You should! Because the Bible exhorts us to ‘examine ourselves to see whether we are in the Faith.’

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the Faith; test yourselves. Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test (2 Corinthians 13:5)?

The test which demonstrates whether you are a Christian or not is a test God has ordered us to take. God’s Word orders us to test ourselves—it says ‘examine yourselves’--and that's an imperative, a command. Testing is not optional. It’s mandatory.

And the Bible makes it clear that any one of us could possibly fail the test. Scary, isn’t’ it? Yes, the repercussions could be catastrophic. Just ask Judas, Demas, Simon the Sorcerer, or Esau. Failing a test is a serious matter. And Paul pulled no punches. He ended his call to self-examination with a warning: ‘Do you not realize that Christ is in you—unless… you fail the test’?

Now or Later

Now, let’s deal with a stark reality: You will get tested. Testing will come to you. The only question is “when?” And in order to answer the question of “when” you get two options: You can get tested now or you can get tested later.

Let’s look at your two options. Option #1 is the self-test. It’s for you to administer the test of a clear conscience to yourself today. If you examine your conscience right now, and you're honest with yourself, you’ll figure out whether it’s clear or not. And if you confess your sins, you will receive God’s mercy. You're golden!

But option #2 is the test that comes without mercy. Jesus himself will test each one of us, and he will do it with fire! That's not symbolism. It will be real fire. We’re not talking metaphorically here. It’s the kind of fire that burns. Jesus will administer a judgment with the kind of fire that burns and consumes.

So, make your choice between option A and option B. If you make no choice. That is, if you ignore the warning and refuse to examine your conscience, and will not confess your sins now, you default to option B. Jesus automatically becomes a strict Judge for you. Jesus becomes a fire-wielding Judge to all those who will not judge themselves.

Here are two Bible passages which explicitly declare that Jesus will immerse us in the fire of judgment:

John answered them all, ‘I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come [that's Jesus], the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire’ (Luke 3:16; Matthew 3:11).

… If anyone builds on this foundation [of faith in Jesus] using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.

It [a Christian’s work] will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames (1 Corinthians 3:13-15).

Suffer Loss

The bottom line is that each of us will render an account of ourselves to Jesus. We must explain our actions to Jesus on the Day of Judgment. Will you be able to justify your actions? Get ready.

If anyone does not do well in the test our Lord Jesus administers, they will suffer loss. In other words, their good deeds (things such as giving to the poor, sponsoring abandoned children, caring for the elderly, or visiting prisoners), not having been performed by faith in Christ, will count for nothing. The worth, memory, and value of those actions be burned up and Jesus will find them to be useless.

… we will all stand before God’s Judgment Seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God (Romans 14:10-12).

God, through Christ’s judgment, determines whether you are in the Faith or not. You either pass his test or you fail his test—but you’ll be tested either way.

Just as a goldsmith places gold into a crucible and purges the dross before he shapes the gold into jewelry, we are not fit for the Kingdom until Jesus subjects our Faith to testing. Our Faith is gold, but God refines it now through testing just as Jesus who will test our Faith with fire.

God is increasing the worthiness of your Faith every time you pass through trials. Job, Joseph, Daniel, and Jesus all led lives that demonstrated a willingness to be tested like gold, and they all completed their testing successfully. Paul joined them.

Bothered By a Test?

Americans have an aversion to being tested based on our religion. Our Constitution speaks against testing a person’s religion in Article VI the “No Religious Test Clause.” But if we see what it originally was about, we'll see the value of a religious test.

The founding fathers--men like George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison--wanted the “No Religious Test” Clause included in the U.S. Constitution to avoid a great failure of British politics. The founding fathers wanted to make sure that the British custom of discriminating against people who were not members of the Church of England would never take root in U.S. politics. So, they put Article VI into the Constitution. It specifies that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office” in the federal government.

Our American founding fathers wanted their new country to have religious liberty—but it was not a liberty that let just anyone join the government. Every state had religious requirements established to make sure that all government leaders were at least Christians.

Most states had laws that gave no opportunity to Muslims, atheists, or even Jews to participate in government leadership. For example, North Carolina prohibited anyone “who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old or New Testaments” from participation in government (see Article 32 of the Constitution of North Carolina).

The founders put the “religious test” clause in the U.S. Constitution so that intelligent, Biblically-minded men might serve in government. They wanted to protect the people from the leadership of atheists or false professors of the Christian faith. In other words, they didn’t want any men with twisted consciences in power. The founders believed that it was important for public servants and society in general to be led by a good and clean conscience--a conscience informed by the sound doctrine we find in the Bible.

Vermont is one of America's 50 states. Article 3 of Vermont’s Constitution states: “That all persons have a natural and unalienable right, to worship Almighty God, according to the dictates of their own consciences and understandings, as in their opinion shall be regulated by the Word of God; and that no person ought to, or of right can be compelled to attend any religious worship, or erect or support any place of worship, or maintain any minister, contrary to the dictates of conscience…"

"... no authority can, or ought to be vested in, or assumed by, any power whatever, that shall in any case interfere with, or in any manner control the rights of conscience, in the free exercise of religious worship.”

So, as you can see, the root of the matter of a religious test in early American history, is that it was considered a God-given “natural” right for every person to be led by their conscience. For our purposes regarding the interpretation of the Scripture passage we’re studying, this American belief reflects what Paul believed. Paul promoted the same idea, but instead of applying it to government, he applied it to the Church. Every person who serves in the Church must have a good conscience. They must serve God with liberty--free from a guilty conscience.

In the Faith

But where does this expression “the Faith” come in? Are you able to comprehend the expression ‘examine yourselves to see whether you are in the Faith’? It’s a beautiful expression, and we can understand it. Now that we’ve looked at what it means to be tested, what does it mean to be in the Faith? To understand the verse best, it helps to know about Hebrew parallelism—the number one most important poetic device the authors of the Bible used to reinforce an idea. They reinforced their teachings by repeating them.

In this verse, the parallel idea to being in the Faith is having Christ Jesus in you. In other words, these two are one and the same idea. To have Christ in you is to be in the Faith. They are equivalent.

Look again at the passage, but this time let’s use a different translation:

Test yourselves to see if you are in the Faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—Unless indeed you fail the test (2 Corinthians 13:5; NASB).

No More Delusion

You should be able to see that being in the Faith is equivalent to having Jesus Christ in you. The two ideas stand not in contrast, but in parallel positions to one another. So, let’s stop talking about how people have Jesus in them until they have been tested and have been found to be in the Faith.

Let’s stop the delusion that says that anyone who prays the “prayer of faith” can have Jesus in their heart. A prayer doesn’t make that happen. People only have Jesus in them when the Holy Spirit is in them--in other words, when Christ is in them.

So, are you ready to take the test to see if Christ is in you? Are you ready to examine yourself to see if you're in the Faith? Have you decided to self-test now so that you won't need to be judged by Jesus with fire on our Day of Judgment? That would be a good choice.

Will you take to heart Paul's command for us to ‘examine ourselves to see whether we are in the Faith’?

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the Faith; test yourselves. Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test (2 Corinthians 13:5)?

All of us need to take the test of a clear conscience. All you need to do is to participate in the Lord's Supper with sincerity. But few Christians are willing. And, among those who take the test of a clear conscience, how many will get an A+, how many get a C+, and how many will fail?