Welcome to Hank’s Place
As believers we stand IN Christ Jesus. Saved by God’s matchless grace, through faith. Let’s give Him humble thanksgiving, dear friends.
Yet despite being saved by God’s grace, in Paul’s day, Christians were already judging one another. In Romans 14:10-12 Paul wrote, “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 every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess GOD and give account to God. Isaiah 45:23.
What the bible identifies as sin is — sin. No question. Yet there are many things about which the Holy Spirit deals with us believers individually. From scripture we see division could emerge over what a person ate, or what days to observe as special. There was no clear command or universal right or wrong applying to every believer. “Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind,” wrote Paul. Romans 14:5. Paul was saying,“In these matters, stop worrying about your brother. You have enough to answer for before Jesus.” We will all have to give account of our actions to God.
Paul used the idea of the judgment seat — the ‘bema seat’ in Greek, where the judges sat in the ancient Olympic Games. When a race was over, the winners came to the judgment seat to receive their reward. That’s 2 Corinthians 5:10 and 1 Corinthians 3:12-15. The bema seat concerned only reward; it had nothing to do with punishment.
Ah, I hear you asking, “So, then what will be judged before Christ?” Think of the principle found in Hebrews 6:10: “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”
Our MOTIVES for what we do will be judged. We can do the right things but with a wrong heart. God can bring great blessing through them. But in the end, it is as if we did nothing for the Lord because our motives for service were ego, envy, jealousy, desire for personal fame, money — whatever. It did not stand up at the judgment seat of Christ. We won’t be punished for those things — those things will simply be burned up — it will be as if we never did them. We will simply be rewarded for what remains. Sadly, some will get to heaven thinking they have done great things for God and will find out at the judgment seat of Christ that they really did nothing.
So today, dear friend, let us walk in the Spirit. Let us live each day to His honor and glory. We’ll be living freely; we’ll have COME ALIVE!
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