(Based on a message preached August 6, 2023 at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO; not an exact transcription).
Introduction: Have you noticed that some things change? We have one student who’s going away to college next week, and school’s going to start before long. I’m sure you’re all excited, right (audience groaned and laughed)?
But there are some things that never change. One of those non-changing things is that each one of us is on a one-way journey of life. We’re one day closer to the end of our time on this earth than we were yesterday so it’s important to be prepared.
Paul mentioned something like this in our text this morning, taken from 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We’ll start with verse 1 and read through verse 10:
Text, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, NASV: 1 For we know that if our earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For indeed, in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 since in fact after putting it on, we will not be found naked. 4 For indeed, we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a pledge.
6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight—8 but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad.
<Opening prayer>
1 The people—“we”
We need a little bit of background here. First, Paul is writing to believers in Corinth. I’ve mentioned in other messages that Corinth was not only one of the largest cities in the world at the time of Paul but also one of the worst in terms of morals (or, lack of these). One preacher even said on a radio message some years back that if someone told you, “Oh, go to Corinth” or “Oh, go Corinthianize yourself”—it wasn’t a compliment! That was one of the worst insults anyone could hurl at anyone else, like telling someone where to go, who to take along, and how you all could get there.
But even in Corinth, as evil as that place was, people were finding salvation through Jesus! Paul certainly wasn’t the only preacher but he did “plant” the church during his time there. The details are in Acts 18. These believers are our brothers and sisters in Christ and we’ll meet them in Heaven when we all get there!
Now, just because these Corinthian believers were believers didn’t mean they were always following the Lord completely! In fact, the books of 1 and 2 Corinthians detail some of the problems these folks were having. After all, they were all either Jewish-background believers (or, Messianic Jews) or pagan-background believers (they had worshiped any number of deities, such as Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, and who knows how many more or others). They didn’t have the wealth of Christian information like we do today, and they caused and encountered problems. Paul had to give them the Word of God to help them solve these problems.
And it seems these Corinthians just didn’t seem to grasp the idea of being accountable for the deeds they had done in the body. Paul had already explained this in 1 Corinthians 3, that the total package of things each believer does would be tested by fire; anything remaining would be purified and rewarded but anything that didn’t remain would be burned up. The underlying message is if you use what lasts, it will last when it’s put to the test.
Guess what? They still hadn’t got it and that’s why Paul was led to write this second reminder that, in keeping with “back to school” terms, every believer would face a “final exam.” Of course Paul is only writing to believers in Jesus here, those who had genuinely repented of their sins and trusted Jesus to be Lord and Savior. It goes without saying that those who have never repented of their sins, and died or will die lost without God, will be judged for their sins and deeds at the Great White Throne judgment in Revelation 20.
All right, we’ve seen that believers, and only believers, are in the group to face this “final exam”. There’s more to consider, though, so let’s take another look.
2 The location—“the judgment seat of Christ”
Paul said in verse 10 that each believer would—must—stand before the judgment seat of Christ in order to receive a “compensation” for the deeds done in the body. A couple of things to remember; first, and I may have mentioned this before, for believers, we will never be judged for our sins at this final review or final exam. When Jesus died, all—ALL!—of our sins were blotted out, forgiven, never to be held against us anymore.
It goes without saying, though, that this forgiveness isn’t something to treat lightly. Paul would write in Romans 6, at another time, striking back at the idea, “since we’re forgiven, let’s do as we please” or something like that. No, Paul reminded them, and us, that sin brings discipline to every believer. 1 Corinthians had any number of reminders about this.
But the beauty of a forgiven life is that not only are all of our sins forgiven, we also can perform deeds for our Lord and Savior. Now, I get it, we’re a small church in a small community, and we rightly feel our opportunities are limited. And that’s right, there are only a few things we can do in a situation like ours, but look at it like this: we can still help out in cleanup, take up the offerings, invite others to attend and all in all share Jesus with as many as you can. Dr. Vance Havner wrote in one of his books about a letter from a young lady who was not sure she could do anything in her home church but was sure that there was plenty she could do for the Lord if she could get to Pittsburgh, according to the story.
There was, of course, more than that to the story: the lady in question, as I recall, refused to assist the church where she was at the time. I’m reminded of a saying I heard many years ago: if you’re too big to do the little things, then you may be too little to do much of anything. What a true perspective and evaluation.
Then, whether we can do great things, or only small things, it doesn’t matter; what does matter is doing what you can where you are. Let me give you one example: I can’t serve the Lord in Africa for one very important reason—I’m not there! And I may never get there but that doesn’t mean I can quit, give up, throw in the towel—you name it—and still expect to receive a reward from Jesus when I stand before Him at the judgment seat.
Paul, too, would know about judgment seats. In fact, when he was at Corinth, he was taken to the judgment seat of Gallio, a brother of the Roman orator Seneca, when Gallio was proconsul (“deputy”, Acts 18:12, King James Version). Paul’s enemies were trying to get rid of him but Gallio said in so many words, “Not my problem,” and threw out the case, charges, everything.
Paul may have also known or at least heard of the Lord Jesus Christ standing before Pilate’s judgment seat (John 18-19). Now he’s maybe thinking of standing before the Lord Jesus Himself, at a future time, when the Lord would reward Paul for the good deeds Paul did while he lived on this earth.
We have got to remember that this life, on this earth, is the only chance we have to do anything for Jesus. Once our life is over, that’s it. There’s no going back. So please take advantage of every opportunity you come across—there may not be any more/
I’ve blended the notes about the location and evaluation in this portion but really, the two do go together. We may not know when we’ll stand before the Lord’s judgment seat, but one day we will. I hope you and I are all ready for that day when it comes. If not, why not make things right between you and the Lord today? That way we all can be ready for our truly final exam.
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Version of the Bible (NASV)
