Transcript

An umpire named Babe Pinelli once called Babe Ruth out on strikes.

When the crowd booed with sharp disapproval at the call, the legendary Ruth turned to the umpire with disdain and said, “There’s 40,000 people here who know that the last pitch was a ball.”

Suspecting that the umpire would erupt with anger, the coaches and players braced themselves for Ruth’s ejection. However, the cool headed Pinelli replied, “Maybe so, Babe, but mine is the only opinion that counts.”

We need to realize that the Lord’s opinion of us and His judgment at the Judgment Seat of Christ is the only one that counts!

In 2 Corinthians 4:18, the Apostle Paul wrote that “we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Looking at the Judgment Seat of Christ through the eye of faith is to look at something eternal, with eternal ramifications. In our lives, we should look at and live in light of this judgment day by faith, knowing that there is a day coming when we will stand before our Lord to give an account of our Christian lives.

2 Corinthians 5:9: “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him.”

“Wherefore” Paul says. What Paul says in this verse is in relation to what he previously said in chapter 5. And so in light of being absent from the body and present with the Lord and the certainty of our eternal hope and eternal purpose, Paul says that “we labor.”

“Labor” here means an aim or ambition, to make something a point of constant effort, to strive. Paul had a strong ambition for something as he says, “whether present or absent.”

Paul has already used those words in verses 6 and 8 when he talked about being “at home” or “present” in the body and being “absent” from the Lord.

And then in verse 8 being “absent” from the body and being “present” with the Lord.

What Paul is saying is whether he was living here in this life in my physical body, at home, “present” in my body, or whether he died and was “absent” from the body but present with the Lord, in either case, his ambition was the same.

And Paul’s aim, his point of constant effort that he strove hard for was that “we may be accepted of Him.” Now all believers are “accepted in the beloved [Christ]” Eph. 1:6 says.

In Ephesians 1:6, the word “accepted” means to be graced, highly favored, endued with special honor.

Our acceptance and high favor by the Father is based on His grace, the shed blood of Christ, and our position in Christ. We are fully accepted in Christ for eternity.

Here the word “accepted” is a different Greek word which means acceptable, well-pleasing.
It is translated this way in other places. And in those passages we learn of the things that are well-pleasing & acceptable to God that we should make our aim and strive hard after.

Romans 12:1 says it is “acceptable” to God when we present our bodies as a living sacrifice for Him. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ACCEPTABLE unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Ephesians 5:10 teaches that we are to be “Proving what is ACCEPTABLE unto the Lord.”

Colossians 3:20 says, “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is WELL PLEASING unto the Lord.”

Hebrews 13:20-21 says, “Now the God of peace…Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is WELLPLEASING in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

The Lord reveals by His Word what is pleasing to Him. Trusting the Word, obeying it, applying it, rightly divided, pleases Him. And living by faith and being faithful to God’s truth for the Body of Christ under grace pleases Him.

Paul’s purpose and constant aim, what drove and motivated Paul, was to live a life well-pleasing to God. He had a deep desire for his life and service on earth to be acceptable and well pleasing to his Savior.

Paul’s life did not lack focus or care, he wasn’t indifferent, he lived a focused life for the Lord. As long as he was here “present” in this body his aim was to please the Lord.

He was careful about how he lived his life, he was careful to live in light of eternity and serve the Lord, careful to make every effort to use his life to the fullest to please Him.

Our motivation too for faithful labor should be a desire to please the Lord with our words, thoughts, and actions. We should have this as our highest goal as well.

The thought of living a life well-pleasing to Him, and being absent from the body and present with the Lord, leads Paul into his next subject, that when he stands before the Lord at the Judgment Seat, Paul wanted the Lord to be well-pleased with him. You see that with the connecting word “for” at the beginning of verse 10.

The knowledge that he would give an account of his life and serve before the Lord someday elevated Paul’s sense of devotion to Him.

It heightened his desire to please the Lord, and he wanted Christ to be well pleased with him at that day when he stood before Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10: “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 hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

Often the Judgment Seat of Christ is confused with the Great White Throne Judgment. The Great White Throne is the judgment of all unbelievers of all ages, where they are judged for their sinful works and then cast into the lake of fire.

The Judgment Seat of Christ, however, is a believer’s judgment.

When Paul says “WE must all appear,” he’s writing to a group believers, and he’s writing to the Body of Christ. So putting that together, the Judgment Seat of Christ is a judgment for believers who are in the Body of Christ.

Israel will have their own judgment one day prior to the millennial kingdom. But this judgment, the Judgment Seat of Christ, is only for the Church, the Body of Christ.

The Judgment Seat does not decide whether or not we go to heaven. Whether we trust that Christ died for our sins and rose again in this life is what determines whether we go to heaven or not.

If we do, there is no concern about the believer’s eternal destiny. Scripture says our life “is hid with Christ in God” and nothing will ever separate us from the love of God.

It is inevitable that every member of the Body of Christ will and must stand before the Judgment Seat. It says “For we must all appear.” This takes place in heaven.

The phrase “command performance” came into usage during the reign of Queen Elizabeth the 1st when she called for a theatrical performance. The idea behind this phrase is that when a monarch or royalty commands a performance it cannot be refused.

Here Paul declares that we “…MUST appear…” This is an imperative. We will have no choice but to appear. We cannot refuse. The reason to live a life pleasing to Him is because we “must” appear before the Lord one day. Every believer is to going to appear before the Lord and now is the time to prepare for that day that is coming.

“We must ALL…” appear means that this command to appear includes not only Paul himself but all of us in the Body of Christ as well! No one is excluded or exempt. We’re all going to be there. Romans 14:10,12 also says “We [the Body] shall ALL stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ…EVERY ONE OF US shall give account of himself to God.”

We will each individually give an account. No one else will stand there with you. Your spouse won’t. Your children won’t. Your parents won’t. Your friends won’t. Your pastor won’t. It’ll be just you and the Lord.

We are each individually accountable before God for what we believe and how we live and we’ll individually have to answer for it before the Lord someday.

He will call your name. Paul’s ambition was driven by the reality that there is going to be an accounting for what he has done in his body. Paul knew that he was heading for and facing a monumental event one day. And not only him, but everybody.

One commentator insightfully said this: “A clear and compelling vision of the future does have real power to affect our actions in the present.

“Think of the student who stands to get a scholarship if he can achieve a certain SAT score next month, the bride-to-be who wants to fit into her wedding gown in 6 weeks, the hardworking couple who is absolutely committed to the goal of retiring by age sixty.

“The Apostle Paul was riveted by the reality of eternity—the Judgment Seat of Christ helped him shape his behavior.

“By cultivating a mindset that continually recalls easy-to-forget realities, we become the people God made us to be, and our lives take on new power and purpose.”

When the Rapture happens, the whole Body of Christ will be in heaven, and it’s at this time the Lord will judge the Body at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

2 Timothy 4:1 says, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing [the Rapture].”

One day the Body of Christ will disappear without a trace at the Rapture. This could happen at any time. So we need to be prepared always.

Every day the Rapture could occur. After the appearing of Christ at the Rapture, the Body of Christ will then “appear” before the Judgment Seat.

“Appear” means “to make manifest, to reveal, make fully known.” The Judgment Seat is not just a matter of appearing there, but of being made manifest. When we stand before the Lord our lives and service will be revealed, manifest, made clear.

The Judgment Seat will be a place of revelation. The Judgment Seat of Christ will reveal our lives and service for Christ exactly as they have been. Everything we have done will be revealed by Him. Not only the amount of our service, but also its quality, and the very motives, beliefs, and attitudes that prompted it all will be revealed and reviewed.

We will be thoroughly evaluated. The Lord is all-knowing and knows every detail about our lives. We won’t be telling the Lord what we did for Him, He’ll tell us what we did for Him.

He knows what we’ve done for Him and why we did it. God looks at the heart and He will reveal the truth about what was done by Him and for Him and what was not and we will find out the real verdict for our lives, the real verdict for our service.

The boss caught Calvin sitting at his desk staring out the window. “Why aren’t you working Calvin?” Without much thought Calvin confessed to his boss, “Because I didn’t see you coming.” The Lord sees all that we do.

He will show us what He sees. The Judgment Seat will be a time when the Lord will “bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Cor. 4:5).

The words “Judgment Seat” here is the word “Bema” in the Greek. In its simplest definition it means “a place reached by steps.”

In ancient Greek culture the Bema was an elevated platform in towns where speeches were made and where magistrates sat to administer justice and their judgments were made and decisions were handed down (Acts 12:21; 18:12).

In Acts 18, in Corinth, Paul was drug before the judgment seat and was falsely accused of persuading men to worship God contrary to their laws.

In John 19:13, when the Lord was brought before Pilate it says, “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat.”

The Bema was a place for making judgments. And the Bema was also the place where awards and crowns were handed out to athletes, where the winners in sporting events in the arena received their reward.

So it was both a place for making judgments and giving rewards and that’s exactly what the Judgment Seat of Christ is all about, the Lord will judge our life and service and motives, and reward it or not reward it accordingly.

Paul calls it the Judgment Seat “OF CHRIST.” John 5:22 says, “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” We will be judged by the Son of God, our Lord and Savior.

The Judgment Seat is the elevated place where our Lord will sit in judgment of us and render the evaluation of our life. He will be seated in an elevated place, we will be in His presence and will stand “before” Him.

At that day, every one of us in the Body will judged for the “things done” in our bodies. The Judgment Seat is a judgment of the journey of the Christian life.

We’re not judged for what was done before we were saved, but for our service, life, stand for the truth, and conduct after we were saved.

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul longed for his resurrected glorified body, but he also remembered that what we do in these bodies now in this life matters for eternity, and it affects the glorification of our future eternal, glorified bodies.

What you do in this body in this life is going to be the issue in that judgment. This earthly body has an impact for eternity. It is the vehicle through which deeds can be done of eternal value and for the Lord.

The true character of our works & service will be revealed by Christ. He will reveal whether our works have been “good,” with a good motive and thru Christ and for Christ, with eternal value. And He will reveal whether our service has been “bad” or worthless, with a bad motive, for self and not for the Lord, with no lasting value.

Scripture is clear that God has a system of rewards: our reigning position, the light and glory of our glorified bodies, inheritance, authority, crowns will be decided at this judgment.

For eternity all will know how much we allowed the Lord to use our lives, how faithful we were based on the rewards that will be ours for eternity. It’ll all be to Christ’s glory.

It’s been said that, “No good thing done in His name and for His glory can pass His notice or fail to receive His blessing.”

Hebrews 6:10 says, “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward His name.”

God does not forget any good thing we’ve done for Him in our lives, and we’ll be rewarded for it. He’ll bring out things we’ll probably be shocked about because we completely forgot about them!

The rewards at the Judgment Seat are all grace. Because the service we’re rewarded for is when we yield and surrender to Him allowing Him to do the work through us, and He receives the glory. And so what you have with the rewards is: God does the work through us and we receive a reward! That’s grace!

And there is a reason why the Lord waits to judge us and why He doesn’t just judge us immediately when we get to glory: because often the impact of our lives and our influence and our service goes on and on and on, through the people we’ve loved, reached, touched and impacted, through the memory of our lives and what we leave behind.

And we’ll be rewarded for this, because the all-knowing Lord knows all this. Christ, the perfect Judge, has perfect knowledge of every single person, and He knows the big picture of our lives, and He knows how far and wide the influence of our lives reaches.

One wet and miserable morning in Ohio, Ray Blankenship was making breakfast in when he looked out the window onto the open stormwater drain that ran alongside his house. What he saw terrified him: a small girl being swept down the drain.

He also knew that further downstream, the ditch disappeared with a roar underneath the road. Ray ran out the door and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the little girl. Then he hurled himself into the deep, churning water.

He surfaced and was able to grab the child’s arm. They tumbled end over end. Within about 3 feet of the drain going under the road, Ray’s free hand felt something protruding from one bank. He grabbed a hold and held on for dear life.

“If I can just hang on until help comes,” he thought. But he did better than that. By the time fire-department rescuers arrived, Ray had pulled the girl to safety.

Both were treated for shock. On April 12, 1989, Ray Blankenship was awarded the US Coast Guard’s Silver Lifesaving Medal.

The award is fitting, Ray Blankenship was at even greater risk to himself than most people knew. You see, Ray can’t swim.

Stepping out in faith, doing the things we can’t through the Lord, and we just trusted the Lord for it, we will be rewarded for these type of things.

Faithfulness pleases the Lord. Being a good and faithful father, mother, spouse, employee pleases the Lord, and we’ll be rewarded for this.

Being faithful to the church, faithful as a testimony for the Lord by our conduct, faithful to stand for the truth, faithful to pray for others. God rewards faithfulness, He is pleased by it, and He will recognize and reward these type of things in our lives.

Paul says we will “receive” or be recompensed for the things done in the body. The Lord will give back what is due, He will justly honor and recognize our service for Him.

Alexander Maclaren writes, “The Judgment seat is meant for us, real and imperfect Christians; and it tells us that there are degrees in that future blessedness proportioned to present faithfulness.”

I personally don’t believe the Judgment Seat is only a pep rally, or an awards ceremony like the Academy awards for rewards. There will be a full range of emotions.

There will be joy in receiving reward and there will be regret at the loss we suffer in that day at what could’ve been. That will be true for everyone. We are all imperfect on this side of heaven and we all will wish we had done more for Him.

The important thing at the Judgment Seat will not be the rewards themselves that we may receive, but that the Lord was so pleased with this one thing I did for Him, that He desires to honor me for eternity because He was well-pleased by it. That will mean everything.

This text reminds us each of the importance for us to examine our lives regularly to see if we are living a life acceptable and well-pleasing to God and if we are ready to stand before the Lord at the Judgment Seat, which could happen at any time.

We will never regret giving it our all and holding nothing back in living for the Lord.

For eternity we’ll be glad we did, and especially because we’ll stand and give account before the One who gave His all for us in dying for us and rising again to save us from our sins.