JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad. (2 Cor. 5:10) ....Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved: yet so as by fire. ( 1 Cor. 3:13-15) (KJV); The following is based on the contents of a book by “Erwin W. Lutzer” To be clear, we must distinguish between two major judgments for two different groups of mankind.” The Judgment Seat of Christ” is for all those who are in Christ Jesus by His grace and through faith because they obeyed the Gospel according to the scriptures. “The Great White Throne Judgment” described in (Rev.20:11-15) awaits all those who are not in Christ Jesus according to the scriptures and consequently their name will not be found written in the book of life. They will be eternally condemned because they rejected the truth of the Gospel on earth. We will briefly consider what’s at stake when we finally stand at the judgment seat of Christ as genuine believers. The fact that you and I will be one-on-one with Christ, and He shall review our lives, is enough to give us pause. If the knowledge that we will one day give account to Christ does not motivate us to faithful service and loyalty to Him, it is quite possible that nothing else will. Imagine staring into the face of Christ. Your entire life since the day He saved your soul present before you. No hiding, no more opportunity to repent from dead works in the flesh or begin to serve Christ more faithfully. Again we can be quite sure that we will be judged only for what we have done in our body whether it was worthwhile (good) or worthless (bad) since our conversion to Christ. Paul expected to do well at the judgment.(2 Tim.4:6-8) He persecuted Christians severely for example, thinking he was doing service unto God prior to His actual conversion on the road to Damascus. These persecutions will not be mentioned. This should be of great encouragement for all of us in Christ Jesus. We have the assurance of God’s Word that there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus… see ( Rom.8:1- 10) Nevertheless we as God’s people will experience the LOSS OF REWARDS that we forfeited because of unfaithfulness during our time on earth unto our Lord and Savior as He defines loyalty in the scriptures. Paul says we as believers, shall “appear” at the judgment seat of Christ, the Greek word definition means “to be made manifest.” The imagery implies that we will be” turned inside out “ This should get our ATTENTION. One Bible scholar, Philip Hughes, says the word manifest means “to be laid bare, stripped of every outward facade of respectability, and openly revealed in the full reality of one’s character. Everything about us whether in thought or deed will be open to the scrutiny of Christ.--( It behooves us on a daily basis to yield ourselves to the sanctification and redemptive work of the Holy Spirit through God’s Word and instruction in Righteousness. (John 17:17) –(Rom. 6:12-13)–(2 Tim. 3:16-17)–(Eph.2:10) The judgment of God is according to truth, that is, according to reality. No one is allowed special advantages or given preferential treatment. All will be judged by the same standard of faithfulness and loyalty unto Christ during their earthly life whether they served in a greater ministry capacity or they served the Lord in some obscure backwater place of ministry. We will be judged individually, but will it be private or open to public witness by fellow believers? If you find this terrifying, take comfort in the fact that it will not matter whether others are quietly present or not. No one will be in a position to gloat. There will be things revealed both worthwhile and worthless found in all of us only determined so by Christ. ( again it cannot be emphasized enough to learn from God’s Word what God defines as godly character and what He commands regarding faithfulness unto Him, and what that requires of us according to God. If you feel distraught because of your sins and failures, take heart. All of us have experienced the depths of our own evil hearts and actions since our conversion to Christ. We need to judge our own sins through personal repentance continually. Repent and identify your worthless or sinful actions now. Do not wait for Christ to expose them at the judgement seat. Now is the time to repent of all that your hiding and also found to be negligent of, by judging your unrighteousness yourself according to scripture. Every day we live on earth as believers is either loss or a gain so far as our future judgment is concerned. We will be judged on the basis of our loyalty unto Christ with time, talents, and treasures that were at our disposal. We will be judged for the opportunities that were given to us, be they few or many, great or small. All believers have the potential to be generously rewarded. We need to be reminded to “CONSIDER OUR WAYS” during this earthly life as individual believers. According to ( Heb.10:23-27) ....let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.....exhorting one another....as you see the day approaching.........see also--( 2 Peter 3:10-12)------God provides us GREAT encouragement and also the means through His Word and spiritual power to live a life defined with godly character and faithfulness that pleases Him. ( 2 Peter 1:2-11) The purpose of this article was to both encourage and urge all of us to take God seriously in these last days and FINISH WELL according to God’s Word.- Other resources that go much deeper regarding the extreme importance of the meaning of our “Eternal Rewards” and the eternal positions in the Kingdom of God in the world to come-----see khouse.org ( article series The Kingdom Power and the Glory.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 00:18:27 +0000
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