THE BELIEVER’S DAY OF REVIEW
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on January 10, 2021 under 2021 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; January 10, 2021 2 Corinthians 5:9-11
Theme: We must faithfully live today as those who expect to—one day—be raised to give an account before our Lord.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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In 2 Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul declared his faith in the sure and certain expectation of the follower of Jesus. He looked ahead to the day when Jesus would return; at which time, he himself would become bodily glorified with the Savior.
This became a great motivator for Paul in his ministry. It was what made him willing to suffer the many things he suffered in order to proclaim the gospel of Jesus to others. It even gave him the courage and confidence to lay down his life for the cause of the gospel of Jesus. He could safely give his all; because he knew that no matter what—whether he would see the return of the Lord Jesus to this earth in his life-time, or he would die and his body would be left waiting in the grave—he would be bodily transformed and glorified at the Lord’s return.
He wrote about this sure expectation—and the confidence it gave him—in 2 Corinthians 5:1-8. He said;
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:1-8).
This was not only Paul’s hope; dear brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s meant to be our hope also. Just as Paul said that he ‘knew’ this—with a sure, complete, full, perfect, abiding kind of knowledge—so should we. The fact that our Lord was bodily raised in glory means that we, who are in Him by faith, will also be raised. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us as the guarantee of this. And to the degree that we truly ‘know’ this, to that same degree we too will be confident in giving our all for Jesus Christ and His message of love to this world.
But there’s another impact that the prospect of our resurrection should have on us. If we are destined to either be raised bodily from the grave at Jesus’ return—or if we are still alive, to be transformed by Him at His coming—then what we do today, and how we live right now, becomes very significant. Because of the hope of the resurrection, Paul not only felt great courage and confidence for the future, but also a great sense of responsibility and duty in the present.
He went on, in verses 9-11, to write;
Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing to Him. 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. 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 (2 Corinthians 5:9-11).
Do you notice how Paul begins this morning’s passage? He starts off in verse 9 with the word “Therefore …”; or “So …”; or as it can even be translated, “On this account …” This points our attention backward to the sure expectation he had that he would be raised in glory one day. The hope of the resurrection ought to be one of the greatest themes in our lives as followers of Jesus. It puts everything in perspective. It gives us a sense of where we’re going—that we are destined to be raised and glorified like Jesus. But it also means that we are “therefore” going to stand before our Lord and give an account of our work and of our life in His service.
Do we have our hopes placed in the glorious day of our resurrection in Christ? Do we draw courage and confidence from it for life today? If so, then we should look ahead to the day of review before our beloved Lord; and let it motivate us to faithfulness and obedience to Him right now.
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Now; the Bible makes it very clear that there is a future day of review coming for every one of us who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. But this coming day of review is not the same thing as the day of judgment for those who will not place their faith in our Lord. We shouldn’t confuse the two things.
That other day is sure and certain too. Those who reject our Lord, and who refuse His offer of salvation, and who even disbelieve His resurrection, will also be raised to stand bodily before Him in final judgment. That will happen at the end of our Lord’s 1,000-year reign upon this earth—just before the creation of new heavens and the new earth. The apostle John wrote about it in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Revelation:
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
That will be an unspeakably dreadful day of judgment for those who must face it. And the prospect of it is why we should urge people today to put their trust in Jesus—and to have their names written in the Book of Life—while they can. But that final day of judgment is not something that we need to fear if we’ve placed our trust in Jesus. Our Savior took the judgment for our sins upon Himself on the cross. And so, for those of us who have our trust in His sacrifices for us, that final day of judgment has no power.
But the Bible tells us of a completely different day of judgment for the believer. It is not a day of wrath, but rather a day of review. It is not a day of condemnation, but rather a day of evaluation. Jesus taught us about this day in one of His parables. He told about a certain nobleman who went to a far country to receive a kingdom to himself. But before he went away, he called ten of his servants to himself and gave them each a ‘mina’—which was a certain amount of money—and told them each to do business with it until he returned. Jesus said;
And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’ Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’ (But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’) ‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him” (Luke 19:15-26).
The day of our ‘performance review’ at our resurrection is not about condemnation and eternal judgment, but about commendation and reward. And think of how great His commendations and rewards will be! Think of what it will mean to have been found faithful with a small unit of money—and as a result, to be rewarded with a city! But just as our future resurrection is certain, so also is the day of our review. And as our Lord’s parable teaches us; to do nothing in preparation for that day is a very foolish choice. Now is the time to ask: Have we lived faithfully for our Lord in these frail bodies of ours? Have we used the opportunities and resources He has given us to advance His kingdom and spread His gospel? Have we ‘done business’ well for Him while He has been away? Will we hear Him say, “Well done, good servant” on His return?
The apostle Paul also wrote about this coming day in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, He said that, in building our Christian lives, no other foundation can be laid than that which is laid—which is Jesus Christ. We must begin with faith in Him and His sacrifice for us on the cross. But then Paul goes on to say;
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
No matter what we may suffer for Him on this earth and in these frail bodies of ours, nothing compares to the joy that we will experience if we can stand before Him and hear Him say, “Well done!” It was that future meeting—that future day of review—that motivated Paul to live faithfully for Jesus and to give His all for Him.
That’s what this morning’s passage in 2 Corinthians 5:9-11 is about. It teaches us that we must faithfully live today as those who expect to—one day—be raised to give an account before our Lord.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; Paul says that this expectation should show itself in our lives in three ways. First, because of it, he said we should be …
1. ALWAYS SEEKING TO BE WELL-PLEASING TO HIM.
In verse 9, Paul wrote, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”
Notice in this verse that there is a statement of ‘what we are to do’, of ‘when we are to do it’, and of ‘why we are to do it’. The ‘what’ is found in the words, “we make it our aim …”; or, as we can translate that, “we make it our ambition”. The word in the original language that Paul used is one that basically means “to love or be affectionate toward honor”; and though it’s better to translate it “we make it our aim”, I don’t think we should entirely do away with the idea of ‘the love of honor’ that is implied in that word. The joyful anticipation of the unspeakable honor of pleasing our Lord on that day of review—and of hearing Him say, “Well done!”—was the great aim and ambition that motivated Paul. And it should be ours too. We should set ourselves to this goal.
The ‘when’ is found in the words, “whether present or absent’. And what Paul meant by this is explained to us in verses 6-8. There, he wrote;
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord (vv. 6-8).
To be “present” means for our bodies to be laying in the grave and our spirits to be present with the Lord—awaiting the day of resurrection. To be “absent” means to still be dwelling in these frail bodies—awaiting the possibility of our Lord’s return in our lifetimes. And either way—in either state of being—either present with the Lord or absent from him—Paul said that he wanted to be found pleasing to the Lord. That was his great ambition. To be “present” or to be “absent” covers all possible conditions that we could be in. This ambition, then, should be our ambition all of the time.
And the ‘why’ of this verse—the reason that he had such a great, constant ambition that drove him in his service to Jesus—was found in the words, “to be well pleasing to Him”. In the old King James Version, it says that it is to be “accepted of Him”; but that wouldn’t be the best way to understand Paul’s words. Dear brothers and sisters, by God’s grace He has already made us “accepted in the Beloved”—as it tells us in Ephesians 1:6. We don’t need to make it our ambition to ‘be’ what we already are by grace. But there is a great difference between being ‘accepted’ by our Lord, and being ‘pleasing’ to our Lord. One has to do with our relationship with Him by grace, the other has to do with our delight to Him through our obedience and love. On that future day of evaluation, we don’t have to worry about being found ‘accepted’ by our Lord. But we should make it our constant, continual ambition to be found ‘pleasing’ to Him.
If we love the Lord Jesus—and if we have the anticipation that, one day soon, we will be glorified in His presence—then we’ll want to live in a way that pleases our Savior. We’ll want to get rid of the habits and practices that displease Him. We’ll want to put away our sins. We’ll want to live holy lives before Him—not only in the future, but right now. As the apostle John once put it;
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:1-3).
So; in the light of our sure and certain resurrection and glorification, and in the light of the prospect of standing before our Savior on that great day of review, do you make it your aim—your constant ambition—to be well pleasing to Him?
That’s one of the ways that the hope of the resurrection in Christ shows itself in us.
* * * * * * * * * *
A second way it shows itself in us is by …
2. KNOWING WE’LL GIVE AN ACCOUNTING TO HIM.
Paul goes on to write, in verse 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.” If we love Him, we won’t fear or resent that day. Rather, we want to be found pleasing to Him on it.
The word that’s used in the original language for ‘judgment seat’ is found in several places in the Bible. It has reference to a ‘raised step’ or ‘platform’ before the throne or seat of an official. It would be where someone stood when being judged in a court of law or evaluated after an athletic event. And as Paul says, we must all—each one of us who are in Christ—appear before the judgment seat of our Lord.
What happens at that judgment seat? The apostle Paul gives us a hint of it in Romans 14. In that passage, he was writing to warn us—as fellow Christians—not to judge one another on matters that are not specified in the Scripture. We often call them ‘gray areas’ or ‘debatable matters’. We’re to let our Lord judge each other on such matters. Paul wrote;
For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 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. For it is written:
“As I live, says the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.”
So then each of us shall give account of himself to God (Romans 14:7-12).
It’s not our job to judge one another. We are not one another’s ‘servants’. We are—each of us—the individual servants of our Lord. He will evaluate His own servants one day before His judgment seat; and they will on that day give an account to Him. But we need to understand that just as our brother or sister will one day be evaluated by our Lord before that seat, so will we! And notice in verse 10 of our passage what that evaluation will be about: “that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
There was an ancient heresy in the early church called ‘gnosticism’. One of the forms of this ancient heresy taught that it didn’t matter what you did in your body. What happened in your body, it was thought, couldn’t affect your soul. And of course, you can just imagine where that kind of thinking would lead in that ancient heresy. (Or better yet, don’t imagine it.) But I think that there may be some modern versions of it that sometimes creep into the thinking of some Christians. They know that they aren’t perfect in the way they live in these frail bodies; but because they expect to be made gloriously perfect one day, they don’t worry much about it. They engage in practices that they know are wrong, or are in sexual relationships they know they shouldn’t be in, or are holding on to bitterness or resentment in ways they know they shouldn’t, or they habitually speak in ways they know that are wrong—but they don’t worry about it, because they expect to one day be raised in glory.
Paul is warning us not to be fooled into that kind of thinking. It matters very much what you and I do in the body right now; because one day, we will stand before the Lord Jesus and receive-back the things done in the body—according to whatever we have done—whether good or bad.
Maybe you have just now realized that you are not ready to stand before the Lord on that day. Perhaps you realize that you’re not ready for the great ‘performance review’. Perhaps you realize that you’ve declared yourself to be a Christian, but you are not living as a truly obedient follower of Jesus. Well; the good news is that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). You can repent of your sin, and ask the Lord to help you to obey Him and follow Him; so that you are ready for that coming day.
He shed His own blood for you in order to make you ready. Getting ready for that day now through confession and repentance, and by then rising up and obeying your Lord and Master, is one way that the hope of the resurrection—and that future day of review—truly shows itself in our life.
* * * * * * * * * *
And a third way is by …
3. REVERENTLY URGING OTHERS TO TRUST IN HIM.
In verse 11, Paul wrote, “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.”
When Paul spoke of ‘the terror of the Lord’, he used the same word that can be translated as ‘reverential fear’. And there’s a sense in which that would be the appropriate way to understand what Paul was saying. He knew that, one day, he would stand before the Lord for that great day of evaluation; and in a sense of reverence toward the Lord as His Master, he sought diligently to be ready for it. But that same word can indeed be translated as ‘terror’. And there is definitely a sense in which the dreadful terror of a holy God on the final day of the judgment of the wicked should also motivate us to warn people to turn to Jesus in faith, repent of sin, and seek His mercy.
Knowing then, this ‘reverential fear’ and ‘terror’ of the Lord, Paul sought to persuade people to trust in Jesus. We see this near the end of this chapter; where—in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21—Paul wrote;
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).
A genuine, whole-hearted faith in the fact of our resurrection to glory—and of our prospect of standing before our Lord and Master for that great day of review—should motivate us to persuade others to trust in Him now while they can.
And it will motivate us to urge them to do so with full integrity of our own life. We are well-known by the Lord, who knows all the details of our lives; and we then seek to be the real thing before others when we tell them about Him. When we talk to others about trusting and following Jesus, we want for others to be able to examine our lives and see the evidence that we trust and follow Him too.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are destined to be raised in glory at the coming of the Lord Jesus. That is as sure as the fact that Jesus Himself rose from the dead. But just as sure as we will be raised, we will also stand before our Lord and Master and give an accounting for how we are living right now. Let’s work hard to live in such a way that we are ready for that day—and will hear our Lord say, “Well done!”
But if you have never placed your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you need to know that you will be raised from the dead too. But it will not be for evaluation. It will be for judgment. The books will be opened; and you will be judged for your works. Those who would not trust in Jesus—and whose names are not found in the Book of Life—will then be cast into the lake of fire. So; now is the day to place your trust in Jesus. As Paul said, God made Him—that is, Jesus—who knew no sin to be made sin for you; so that you—by faith—can be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Then, you’ll never need to fear that day.
EA
