TEXT: II Corinthians 5:9-10
TITLE: What is your life worth?
Theme: The believer’s final reckoning with the Lord.
Proposition: Even though the believers security is final upon death, our lives will still be judged at the judgment seat of Christ.
Interrogative: How much would Christ say that your life is worth today?
Transitional Statement
In verses 1-8 Paul has been speaking of how we as believers have a desire to be with the Lord and to receive our glorified bodies. But just as glorious as that truth is, the fact that our lives are going to be judged is just as sobering as it is glorious.
Introduction:
There are two ways of placing value on your life:
A. Carnally: How much am I worth, and how important am I?
B. Spiritually: What have I done with my life in relation to Jesus Christ and what He has done for me.
Paul says in verse nine that above all else he is:
A. Ambitious to be pleasing to the Lord because his life will be judged!
BODY OF SERMON
I. This is not a judgment to determine fitness for Heaven:
A. Lost people will be judged because of sin.
B. Christians will be judged for the works or fruit if their lives.
C. Our sins were judged at the cross of Calvary! V. 21
1. Christ carried all of our sins to the cross of Calvary:
a. past, present and future! (God knew all of your sin when He saved you!)
2. Because of His work we are righteous:
a. He kept the law for us.
b. He paid the price of redemption for us.
c. Romans 11:6 (If it is grace then it is no longer of works!)
D. If we are in Him then we are the righteousness of God. V. 21
E. There will be no great white throne judgment for the Christian:
1. The lost man will be there.
2. The apostate who turned from faith in Christ will be there.
3. But no child of God will be there!
II. We shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ:
A. Appear: made manifest or stripped down.
B. The judgment seat: the bema seat. (Where rewards are meted out)
C. The fruit of our lives will be placed in the fire of God’s judgment:
1. I Corinthians 3:13-15
D. Only that which is profitable and good and godly will last:
1. The rest will be burned up by God’s judgment.
E. Every thought, word, deed, missed opportunity, wrong motive, accomplishment, priority will be there! Good or bad!
1. You will be rewarded for the good and suffer loss for the bad.
III. How can I increase the value of my life in the eyes of Christ?
A. vv. 14-15:
1. We were dead in our sins.
2. Christ died to give us life.
3. We should not live for ourselves but for Christ!
B. Illustration:
1. Someone saves you life and you never say thank you, send them a card, remember them… You would never do that!
C. “I am constrained by the love of Christ…”
1. It got hold of me!
2. I can’t understand it!
3. It won’t leave me alone; I can’t get it off my mind.
4. It is my motivation!
D. What Christ did for Paul shaped everything that he did!
1. Every decision, sermon, conversation, everything!
E. When motives are right the deeds will be right and profitable.
F. How long has it been since you reflected on the love of God?
1. We were not worth loving! But He loved us anyway!
2. We wern’t fit to be saved! But He saved us anyway!
3. He is worthy of our lives!
CONCLUSION
What is motivating your life? Is it your own selfishness? Is it the wisdom and the ways of the world? The only way to face the judgment to come is # 1 be saved by the grace of God, and # 2 live a life that is motivated by love for the Lord Jesus Christ. How much is your life worth this morning in the eyes of God?
