Eternal Rewards
2 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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If you have been around Grace Church of South Park for any length of time, you know that reading your Bible is encouraged and stressed frequently. The phrase daily, deeply, and desperately has been branded in some of your minds because of how often I have repeated it. And as important as it is to develop a passion for reading Scripture for your own life and for the spiritual health of this church, we must go beyond reading into deep study.
The reason that I emphasize this depth of study is that it is easy to be led astray sometimes when the English wording of our Bibles does not convey the richness and depth and fullness of the underlying Hebrew and Greek languages that the Bible was originally written in. The meanings and usages of English words are constantly changing, which greatly alter your understanding of a passage of Scripture if you are only casually reading it.
Just one example is the English word conversation. Philippians 1:27 in the KJV reads, “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ…” In 1611 when the updated KJV was published, this was an accurate translation. The problem for us today is that the English word conversation meant something quite different in 1611 than it does today. In 1611 this word meant much more than the words we speak, but it encompassed one’s entire behavior and lifestyle. In today’s English this verse would be better translated as “Only let your behavior, or lifestyle, or conduct be in a manner that represents the gospel of Christ.”
And modern Bible translations can have some of these same problems in either softening the meaning of a passage, not fully representing what was intended by God, or even totally misrepresenting what was intended. I am not trying to give you cause to doubt what you read, most Bible translations do an excellent job of conveying what the Hebrew and Greek mean to say, this is just a challenge and charge to take your reading and study of Scripture seriously as a lifelong pursuit of God’s truth.
We have a passage this morning that has been misinterpreted and abused through the years and centuries even, due to a faulty understanding of the English wording in most translations.
Turn with me in your Bible to the Book of 2nd Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10
Let’s pray.
If we were to go back to read and review, we would discover that the Apostle Paul has been comparing and contrasting the temporal physical aspects of life with the spiritual and eternal aspects of life, and this continues with our passage this morning. But even more so in these two verses, Paul is connecting and attaching the two states of being. Paul teaches in these two verses that our temporal and physical lives play a tremendous role in our spiritual and eternal lives.
2 Corinthians 5:9
In Christian circles, especially in days gone by and in modern-day legalistic contexts, ambition has often been shaded with a negative pallor or viewed in a negative perspective. Ambition, in these respects has been associated with words like self-centered, proud, insensitive, ruthless, and driven. It has been viewed as a characteristic of those who are driven to worldly success, riches, power, prestige, social prominence, popular acclaim, and even dominance over other people.
Puritan author, Thomas Brooks wrote, “Ambition is a gilded misery, a secret poison, a hidden plague, the engineer of deceit, the mother of hypocrisy, the parent of envy, the original of vices, the moth of holiness, the blinder of hearts, turning medicines into maladies and remedies into diseases. High seats are never but uneasy, and crowns are always stuffed with thorns.”
Bishop Stephen Neill once said, “I am inclined to think that ambition in any ordinary sense of the term is nearly always sinful in ordinary men. I am certain that in the Christian it is always sinful, and that it is most inexcusable of all in the ordained minister.”
And while ambition can most obviously be a quality in one’s life that leads to all manner of vices and sinful pursuits, it can also be a tremendously motivating trait that leads to the pursuit of godly things as well. And no less than the Apostle Paul admonishes us to have God-honoring ambitions.
Having an ambition to please our Lord is not only a God-honoring and biblical pursuit it should be a noticeable mark and quality of every believer. This should hold a central place in every believer’s life – a passion for “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
That passage gives us a good place to start, but what else pleases our Lord?
Ephesians 4:8-10 says, “for you formerly in darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”
The thrust in this passage is that we must be in a continual state of seeking and learning that which pleases our Lord. And we do that by digging in with a passionate and consistent study of Scripture. Because let’s be honest, no matter how clearly and concisely that I preach and teach, no matter how engaging my sermons and lessons are, most if not all of you would be hard-pressed to recall much of anything that I preached in my last sermon or taught in my last Bible study, even if it weren’t three weeks ago. I’m not suggesting that you don’t pay attention and that you don’t get anything from these times together, but it takes much more than engaging with Scripture once or twice a week.
I am sadly no longer amazed at the lack of knowledge that most Christians have of the Bible. Of course, that doesn’t include any of you, right? In what little time I spend perusing social media these days, I see post after post from supposed believers that are blatant misrepresentations of the Bible. Biblical illiteracy is the true pandemic of our age, and it is killing many churches and even denominations today.
Connie recently counseled a friend, not in our church, on the importance of being diligent in the pursuit to understand instead of just giving up when you don’t know something. This is vital and essential and a non-negotiable trait for followers of Christ. We must passionately pursue biblical truth and then just as passionately apply that truth to our lives. It is only then that we will be on the righteous journey of pleasing our Lord.
Paul then tells us why he was driven with an ambition to please the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:10
Here is where far too many have misunderstood what is being taught by the Apostle Paul. The phrase, “judgment seat of Christ” has struck fear in the hearts of many believers. I grew up in fear of standing before the judgment seat of Christ. I was taught that I will have to answer for every sin that I ever commit at this judgment seat. What I was taught didn’t go as far as suggesting that I would lose my salvation if I had too many sins to account for, but some denominations, traditions, and churches do go that far with this verse. And the problem is mostly because of how this has been translated in most of our English translations.
It is indeed clear that all believers will stand before Christ to give an accounting of their lives, but it has absolutely nothing to do with sin. The truth about our lives will be stripped of all hypocrisy, of all pretenses, and of all justifications and rationalizations for the things that we accomplished as believers. Each believer will discover the true verdict on what we did or didn’t do with the gifts, talents, abilities, opportunities afforded to us, and how we chose to follow and access the power of the Holy Spirit or chose to do things in our own power and our own way. But again, this has absolutely nothing to do with sin.
So, what are we talking about then? The judgment seat of Christ comes from the Greek word, bema. And while there are specific instances where bema could be used in a manner of judgment rendered by a judge or ruler, the primary usage is for a seat or platform of reward.
In the ancient sporting games that were somewhat similar to our modern-day Olympic Games, when the event was over the winners would ascend a platform called the bema to receive their recognition and crowns for their achievement.
The picture then, is that all believers will have their earthly works and activities judged that took place after their salvation – not our sins because all of our sins were judged at the cross, but everything else about our lives. So, what does that mean?
The passage that we read at the opening of this sermon will shed some light on that. Turn with me in your Bible to 1st Corinthians. I’ll back up and read a bit more than we did earlier.
1 Corinthians 3:1-15
The end of verse 8 says that “each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor”, the beginning of verse 9 says, “According to the grace of God which was given to me”, and then verse 11 says, “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ”. These are all key components in this passage to understand the bema seat.
First, we have the responsibility to work or to labor in whatever aspects of ministry that God graciously gives us opportunity to engage in, and the quality of our labor will be rewarded in kind when we stand before the bema seat.
Secondly, all of our labors for the cause of Christ are acts of grace that God has already lavished on us. Every opportunity that we receive to minister to others with the love of Christ is given to us by His grace and should thus be administered to others in His grace.
Thirdly, all of our works and labors and good deeds are on the foundation of Jesus Christ, not on any temporal and insufficient foundations that we have erected to our own glory. Any work or labor or deed that we accomplish with the underlying motive to bring glory and human applause to us, are worthless. And here is the measuring stick of our labors that will be judged at the bema seat. This is the explanation of the gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw. It is all about the quality and eternal value of our labors, works, and good deeds.
Once again, eliminate from your mind any acts of sin – the wood, hay, and straw does not represent sinful acts or sinful deeds – Jesus paid the price for every one of those sins, past, present, and future and they will have no bearing on what the bema seat reveals.
Gold, silver, and precious stones represent those labors, works, and good deeds that have even the slightest measure of eternal value – things that you do that proclaim Christ, that shares the love of Christ, that disciples’ others, that encourages others in their faith, that refreshes other believers who are going through the wringer, that draws other to a closer relationship with our Lord, and that is following the principles of Scripture. All of these things are of a spiritual nature and are thus of an eternal nature.
Wood, hay, and straw represent all of the other labors and activities of our lives that have no eternal value. These things are not bad things or sinful things, just things that have no value for the kingdom of God.
Here are a few examples to help you grasp the concept being taught here:
· Reading and studying your Bible with the desire to know more about God and more about how you are to follow Christ is gold, silver, precious stones – this has eternal value.
· Changing the oil on your car is wood, hay, and straw – this is worthless from an eternal perspective. Now, if you are changing the oil on your neighbor’s car to have the opportunity to show him or her the love of Christ, it just turned into gold, silver, precious stones.
· Visiting a brother or sister in Christ who is sick or discouraged or visiting an unbeliever in the same condition so that you could pray for them – eternal value.
· Watching your favorite secular program on TV – worthless.
· Playing a round of golf – worthless. Playing a round of golf to engage others in spiritual discussion – valuable.
We all have responsibilities in this life that are worthless from a spiritual perspective. Many of these activities can be turned into valuable activities, but not all of them. There’s no sin involved they are just worthless from an eternal point of view.
So then, when each of us individually stand before Christ, not stand before everyone else in heaven but stand before Christ, all of our labors will essentially be piled up and set on fire. Fire burns away the wood, hay, and straw leaving behind the gold, silver, and precious stones. This will then be a vivid accounting of what we did with our lives as believers.
Some will have a great reward, some a decent reward, some a meager reward, and some virtually no reward – but all are saved and will spend eternity in heaven and in the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
What then is the big deal, what does it matter how large my reward is if I am saved and have my place secured in heaven? The Bible does not speak to this issue directly, but there are several strong implications. These rewards could be represented by the crowns mentioned in Scripture that believers will receive – crowns that we will have the opportunity to cast at our Savior’s feet in utter gratefulness for what He has done for us, and it is also possible that these rewards have some connection to ruling and reigning with Him in the Millennial Kingdom, meaning the level of kingdom responsibilities we will have.
I can’t be dogmatic about either of those connections to things taught to us in Scripture, but there is a reason that we are to have the ambition to please the Lord and there is a reason that we will all stand before the bema seat.
I believe that we must also be careful, which is why Paul says his ambition is the please the Lord and that we are to try to learn what pleases the Lord. We must be very careful to not slip into legalism in our pursuit of pleasing Christ. A good measuring stick to know the difference is that we are primarily called to love and serve others for their benefit and not for any feathers in our caps. We love and we serve to please Christ even if nobody ever pats us on the back or recognizes us for our efforts or even notices that we are doing anything. If we are desiring any measure of notice, recognition, accolades, or human applause, we have slid into legalistic reasons for our labors, works, and good deeds.
If we could always remember that we have an audience of One, that everything we do is for His glory alone, His honor alone, His fame alone, regardless of what the size of our reward means, we will be eternally humbled when we hear our Savior say to each of us individually, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
Let’s pray.