What does Tribe teach about dead works?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on dead works starts with a distinction that surprises a lot of people: dead works are not only sinful things. Brian Hunter has pressed this across the Full Reward series by drawing on Watchman Nee's argument that God does not only reject our bad deeds but every deed, however noble it looks, that has its source in ourselves rather than in God. The Greek phrase from Hebrews that Brian worked through, 'nekron ergon,' combines the root for death with the root for energy, which means a work can be visibly active and still be spiritually lifeless if it did not come from God's life in us. Reading the Bible, preaching, leading worship, going to the mission field, none of it earns eternal reward if the flesh is its source.
Brian used the image in 1 Corinthians 3 of fire testing every believer's work to make this concrete. The fire is not about salvation, which is a free gift that cannot be earned or lost. It is about reward. Wood, hay, and straw burn regardless of how impressive or useful they looked. Gold, silver, and jewels survive and get refined. The person is still saved either way, but the passage describes those whose work burns as suffering great loss. Brian pointed to Matthew 7, where Jesus says 'I never knew you' to people citing their own prophecies and miracles, to name what is actually at stake: relationship. Work that looks spiritual but is not rooted in ongoing intimacy with Jesus is exactly what gets counted as nothing.
The Laodicea passage in Revelation 3 gave this teaching its most personal edge. That church believed they were rich and self-sufficient while Jesus described their actual condition as wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. His response was not condemnation but an invitation to come and buy gold from Him, gold purified by fire. Brian says, 'You don't work to be saved. You work because you're saved, and that work leads to reward.' Dead works are what fills the gap when obedience is replaced by self-effort, even well-intentioned self-effort, and the teaching here is that the remedy is not trying harder but returning to genuine dependence on God.
Taught from 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 · Hebrews 6:1 · Matthew 7:21-23 · Revelation 3:14-18 · 2 John 1:8
“You don't work to be saved. You work because you're saved, and that work leads to reward.”
From Partial Obedience Is Disobedience
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 3:10-14
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.
11 For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble;
13 each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- September 8, 2025 Partial Obedience Is Disobedience A Wyoming pastor walks through what Scripture says about heavenly reward, obedience, and what it means to build a life with gold rather than wood, hay, and straw.
- September 7, 2025 The Gold of Jesus A Jackson Hole pastor teaches that Christians are rewarded not for good intentions but for obedience to their specific calling, and that every moment of faithful surrender matters for eternity.
- September 1, 2025 Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones Brian Hunter walks through what Scripture calls "dead works," asking whether the things we build for God are powered by his Spirit or just our own effort.
- August 31, 2025 Dead Works: Built with Wood, Hay, and Straw A Jackson Hole pastor walks through what it means to build your life on dead works versus Spirit-led obedience, and what that costs you at the final reward.