The Judgment Seat of Christ
2 Corinthians 5:1-11
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.
Have you ever heard that Christians will not be judged by God? According to Gods word, that isn’t true. There is both a judgment for believers and unbelievers.
If you look up the word for judgment seat, it is bema. We see in the scripture elsewhere the bema seat is where rulers of great authority pronounced judgment over their subjects. John 19:13 uses the same word for the judgment seat Pilate sat down on to judge Jesus.
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
Isn’t it ironic that Pilate will one day be judged by God in the same manner? We are assuming he most likely won’t be at the believers judgment. Let’s look at the judgment for unbelievers:
Revelation 20:11-15 (White Throne Judgment)
Truly an awesome scripture and terrifying for those who don’t know the Lord. It troubles us as believers because we know our lost loved ones are facing this judgment. I think sometimes we are so focused on it that we forget that we have a judgment to face as well.
When does it happen? Matthew 16:24-28 tells us that it is after the second coming of Jesus Christ.
What is this judgment about and why are we facing it? What can happen to us there? When does it happen? Let’s hear from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:
Revelation 22:12 And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work
We know this has to do with the believers judgment because Jesus speaks about rewards. Unbelievers don’t receive any rewards, only punishment. Lining this up with what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, we see that when Jesus says “to give every one according to his work”, it is not just for the good but also for the bad. Therefore the believers judgment also concerns punishment.
Does that give you pause? It should; there is a lot at stake in the believers judgment, although your salvation isn’t in jeopardy. Paul gives us assurance of that:
1 Corinthians 3:5-15 (gold, silver..wood, hay)
It says here that if our work endures, it will receive a reward. I believe this means that whatever we have done for the Lord that goes on into eternity will be rewarded. Isn’t that an exciting thought? Think about people you have shared the Lord with, the good works you have done for God. God will never forget them but will in fact reward you for them.
We also see that we can do things for God which do not last into eternity. What is the difference? One thing we can tell is that those who are bringing wood hay and stubble to the Lord didn’t listen to Pauls admonition in verse 10 “Take heed how he builds on it”. Did we seek God on the matter? There are plenty of good things we can do for God but Gods perfect will is that we simply obey Him and do what He wants us to do. He created us in Christ Jesus to do good works:
Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them
So we see that God has already planned out everything good we should do, and if we listen to Him and obey what He is telling us to do, the rewards will be taken care of too. Therefore, our rewards are in His hands and not something we need to worry about. We should only worry if we are not obeying Him. That is where the wood hay and stubble come in.
There is a warning in 1 Corinthians 3 that those who come before God with wood hay and stubble will suffer loss. You will still go to Heaven but you will lose out on the rewards God wanted to give you in Heaven. What are those rewards? Something that the bible mentions as a reward are crowns:
Revelation 2:10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life
2 Timothy 4:8
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing
Something that struck me here is that God is rewarding our obedience in the first example, and our heart condition in the second. There are more crowns, here is one for elders:
1 Peter 5:1-4
1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away
It sounds pretty good, but remember James’ admonition in James 3:1
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment
That puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t ask Lord to judge me more strictly, would you? It brings to mind the verse that to whom much has been given, much more will be required. Teachers are given a greater knowledge of the word but also a greater responsibility.
So what are these crowns good for? Well, who wears a crown? People in authority. That’s why I believe rewards have to do with our position in the Kingdom. The word bears this out:
Luke 19:11-27
We see that the first servant received more authority than the second servant. So, not everyone will receive the same reward in Heaven. We also see that the wicked servant suffered loss. What does this look like? What kind of punishments will believers suffer at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ?
Luke 12:42-48
We see that the wicked servant received his portion with the unbelievers. I’ll let you interpret what that means but I think it means He was cut off from the Kingdom. However you look at it, it should be something which gives us great pause.
We also see there are levels of punishment here. The servant who knew his Masters will but didn’t do it will be beaten severely, while the one who was ignorant yet sinned against God will receive few. Few or many, isn’t it shocking that believers will be severely punished for not obeying the Lord?
This flies in the face of much of the teaching of the last century that tells us that everyone who goes to Heaven sails in and we all receive the same reward. According to the word, this is not so.
Well, what does all this mean? Obviously God wants us to be well aware this is coming. He truly wants us to receive all that He has for us. Paul compares our striving for rewards to a race:
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
He mentions disciplining our bodies and bringing it into subjection to Gods will. Our flesh is the greatest obstacle to doing what the Spirit tells us to do. Having this perspective of an ultimate judgment for believers will give us strength to discipline ourselves because we are running a race we know we can win with the help of the Lord. We know these rewards are in our grasp if we will obey God. Paul is also telling us..look at how those who train for a race discipline themselves to obtain what is corruptible. Why are we not doing much more than that to obtain what is incorruptible?
2 Timothy 2:5
And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules
We won’t be crowned either if we don’t know and obey the word of the Lord. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to following the Lord. We need to know where we are going, and what happens when we get there. We need to purge ourselves of the cultural (and unscriptural) idea of getting to Heaven and see this is a serious thing which is worthy of our utmost consideration.
We are also admonished by the scripture to humble ourselves because of this judgment:
Romans 14:10
But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
This is a warning that we will reap what we sow when we stand in front of Christ and give account for everything we have done. We will have to answer for why we hated our brothers and sisters in Christ instead of loved them. Knowledge of this judgment should change our behavior.
There is also a verse that gives us a different angle on suffering:
Hebrews 11:35
Women received their dead raised to life again.
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection
Some of the heroes of the faith chapter chose to suffer rather than be delivered so they would obtain a better reward in the life to come. Can you imagine being so eternity conscious as to think about your trials this way? Instead of begging God to deliver us anytime something went wrong, we would accept or even embrace it because we know we will be rewarded by the Lord on His return. If you’re thinking that you can never live this way, don’t listen to that lie of the devil. You can ask God to grant you the spiritual sight to live and think this way. He is telling us all of these things to give us a much needed perspective while we are walking in this world.
Lastly, the bible shows us that we shouldn’t let the rewards get to our head:
Revelation 4:1-11
Only God deserves the glory. The fact that He wants to reward us shows His heart for His children, because surely we don’t deserve anything except the eternal punishment that God, through faith, enabled us to avoid through the life, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:1-11
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.
Have you ever heard that Christians will not be judged by God? According to Gods word, that isn’t true. There is both a judgment for believers and unbelievers.
If you look up the word for judgment seat, it is bema. We see in the scripture elsewhere the bema seat is where rulers of great authority pronounced judgment over their subjects. John 19:13 uses the same word for the judgment seat Pilate sat down on to judge Jesus.
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
Isn’t it ironic that Pilate will one day be judged by God in the same manner? We are assuming he most likely won’t be at the believers judgment. Let’s look at the judgment for unbelievers:
Revelation 20:11-15 (White Throne Judgment)
Truly an awesome scripture and terrifying for those who don’t know the Lord. It troubles us as believers because we know our lost loved ones are facing this judgment. I think sometimes we are so focused on it that we forget that we have a judgment to face as well.
When does it happen? Matthew 16:24-28 tells us that it is after the second coming of Jesus Christ.
What is this judgment about and why are we facing it? What can happen to us there? When does it happen? Let’s hear from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:
Revelation 22:12 And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work
We know this has to do with the believers judgment because Jesus speaks about rewards. Unbelievers don’t receive any rewards, only punishment. Lining this up with what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, we see that when Jesus says “to give every one according to his work”, it is not just for the good but also for the bad. Therefore the believers judgment also concerns punishment.
Does that give you pause? It should; there is a lot at stake in the believers judgment, although your salvation isn’t in jeopardy. Paul gives us assurance of that:
1 Corinthians 3:5-15 (gold, silver..wood, hay)
It says here that if our work endures, it will receive a reward. I believe this means that whatever we have done for the Lord that goes on into eternity will be rewarded. Isn’t that an exciting thought? Think about people you have shared the Lord with, the good works you have done for God. God will never forget them but will in fact reward you for them.
We also see that we can do things for God which do not last into eternity. What is the difference? One thing we can tell is that those who are bringing wood hay and stubble to the Lord didn’t listen to Pauls admonition in verse 10 “Take heed how he builds on it”. Did we seek God on the matter? There are plenty of good things we can do for God but Gods perfect will is that we simply obey Him and do what He wants us to do. He created us in Christ Jesus to do good works:
Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them
So we see that God has already planned out everything good we should do, and if we listen to Him and obey what He is telling us to do, the rewards will be taken care of too. Therefore, our rewards are in His hands and not something we need to worry about. We should only worry if we are not obeying Him. That is where the wood hay and stubble come in.
There is a warning in 1 Corinthians 3 that those who come before God with wood hay and stubble will suffer loss. You will still go to Heaven but you will lose out on the rewards God wanted to give you in Heaven. What are those rewards? Something that the bible mentions as a reward are crowns:
Revelation 2:10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life
2 Timothy 4:8
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing
Something that struck me here is that God is rewarding our obedience in the first example, and our heart condition in the second. There are more crowns, here is one for elders:
1 Peter 5:1-4
1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away
It sounds pretty good, but remember James’ admonition in James 3:1
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment
That puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t ask Lord to judge me more strictly, would you? It brings to mind the verse that to whom much has been given, much more will be required. Teachers are given a greater knowledge of the word but also a greater responsibility.
So what are these crowns good for? Well, who wears a crown? People in authority. That’s why I believe rewards have to do with our position in the Kingdom. The word bears this out:
Luke 19:11-27
We see that the first servant received more authority than the second servant. So, not everyone will receive the same reward in Heaven. We also see that the wicked servant suffered loss. What does this look like? What kind of punishments will believers suffer at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ?
Luke 12:42-48
We see that the wicked servant received his portion with the unbelievers. I’ll let you interpret what that means but I think it means He was cut off from the Kingdom. However you look at it, it should be something which gives us great pause.
We also see there are levels of punishment here. The servant who knew his Masters will but didn’t do it will be beaten severely, while the one who was ignorant yet sinned against God will receive few. Few or many, isn’t it shocking that believers will be severely punished for not obeying the Lord?
This flies in the face of much of the teaching of the last century that tells us that everyone who goes to Heaven sails in and we all receive the same reward. According to the word, this is not so.
Well, what does all this mean? Obviously God wants us to be well aware this is coming. He truly wants us to receive all that He has for us. Paul compares our striving for rewards to a race:
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
He mentions disciplining our bodies and bringing it into subjection to Gods will. Our flesh is the greatest obstacle to doing what the Spirit tells us to do. Having this perspective of an ultimate judgment for believers will give us strength to discipline ourselves because we are running a race we know we can win with the help of the Lord. We know these rewards are in our grasp if we will obey God. Paul is also telling us..look at how those who train for a race discipline themselves to obtain what is corruptible. Why are we not doing much more than that to obtain what is incorruptible?
2 Timothy 2:5
And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules
We won’t be crowned either if we don’t know and obey the word of the Lord. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to following the Lord. We need to know where we are going, and what happens when we get there. We need to purge ourselves of the cultural (and unscriptural) idea of getting to Heaven and see this is a serious thing which is worthy of our utmost consideration.
We are also admonished by the scripture to humble ourselves because of this judgment:
Romans 14:10
But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
This is a warning that we will reap what we sow when we stand in front of Christ and give account for everything we have done. We will have to answer for why we hated our brothers and sisters in Christ instead of loved them. Knowledge of this judgment should change our behavior.
There is also a verse that gives us a different angle on suffering:
Hebrews 11:35
Women received their dead raised to life again.
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection
Some of the heroes of the faith chapter chose to suffer rather than be delivered so they would obtain a better reward in the life to come. Can you imagine being so eternity conscious as to think about your trials this way? Instead of begging God to deliver us anytime something went wrong, we would accept or even embrace it because we know we will be rewarded by the Lord on His return. If you’re thinking that you can never live this way, don’t listen to that lie of the devil. You can ask God to grant you the spiritual sight to live and think this way. He is telling us all of these things to give us a much needed perspective while we are walking in this world.
Lastly, the bible shows us that we shouldn’t let the rewards get to our head:
Revelation 4:1-11
Only God deserves the glory. The fact that He wants to reward us shows His heart for His children, because surely we don’t deserve anything except the eternal punishment that God, through faith, enabled us to avoid through the life, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.
