What Must I Do: Appear Before The Judgment Seat Of Christ

Again, meeting God face to face is a serious, sober and terrifying event. That is why I find Paul’s “confidence” so encouraging … so helpful. Paul shows us that as Christ-followers fear can and should dissipate. I cannot help but notice that He shows no fear of the judgment. That does not mean he is flippant or casual about it but three times he speaks with confidence (vv. 1, 6, 8). Paul speaks soberly of facing God but not fearfully. What is true of Paul can be true of us too.

How do we face the judgment with hope like Paul? He gives us three reasons for confidence at life’s end.

I. WE CAN FACE THE JUDGMENT WITH CONFIDENCE WHEN WE REALIZE THAT WE LIVE IN A TENT (1-4)

** Special thanks to Rev. Steve Malone, Pastor of Maple Grove Christian Church in Charlottesville, Va. for this first point.

1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Two times in these verses Paul refers to our body/physical earthly life as "living in a tent." Now Paul knew a lot about tents -- he was a tent maker and he was trying to teach us something about OUR physical life when he compares it to a tent....

There are two qualities about tents that I want to apply to our lives.

(i) TENTS ARE DESIGNED TO BE TEMPORARY

After Hurricane Sandy some victims were forced to live in a tent when their homes were destroyed. But I am confident that every one of them planned on this as being only a temporary situation no one intended on staying in those tents permanently.

Tents, are by definition, transitory and temporary.

(ii) TENTS ARE INSECURE

Remember the “Occupy Wall Street” craze of a few years back? One of the things that the occupiers quickly learned was how dangerous things could be even when they were amongst “like-minded” people. They lived in tents on Wall Street (and elsewhere) and some were raped, some had things stolen, and others were violated in other ways.

A tent does not make a very good fortress does it? You cannot dead bolt the door against intruders. It is made of canvass and it is not too good at keeping a wild animal out that wants to get in either. A tent is not the place we seek as shelter during the middle of a raging storm either, at any moment it could collapse or be blown away. A tent is uncertain at best.

In like manner this life is uncertain and vulnerable. It can be destroyed at any second. One moment things can be going pretty good and the next minute …

No matter how much insurance we buy, no matter how much money we save, or security systems we install; no matter how much of the world’s goods we accumulate the fact remains that this life it temporary and fragile.