This coming Sunday, I have the privilege of preaching at Southern Calvert Baptist Church. I am going to preach on the importance of the Judgment Seat of Christ. The Judgment Seat of Christ lays a foundation of accountability for all followers of Jesus Christ. Accountability is a cornerstone of personal growth, as it establishes a framework for responsibility, integrity, and continuous improvement. Accountability provides a structured framework for monitoring and evaluating tasks, projects, and processes, ensuring that they align with overall goals. It helps identify potential risks, errors, or inefficiencies early on, allowing for timely corrections. The practice of being held accountable is essential for fostering a resilient and high-performing work environment. Our passage for the message is II Corinthians 5:9-10, 14-21. There are three essential truths about accountability that we learn from the Judgment Seat of Christ; the catalyst, the character, and the calling.
I. Catalyst
The word catalyst means “the motivating factor that leads to action“. The Judgment Seat of Christ exists to motivate us to action.
Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. (II Corinthians 5:9)
The Judgment Seat of Christ motivates us to live in a way that pleases God every single day of our lives. This should be our first thought when we get out of bed, if we are followers of Jesus Christ. I need to ask myself, “how can I live to please God today“?
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. (II Corinthians 5:10)
Every single follower of Jesus Christ will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ one day and give an account as well as receive a reward based on that account. Don’t confuse this with the Great White Throne Judgment. Human beings who do not accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgment where the wrath of God will be poured out and they will face judgment of sin and condemnation. Once a person accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, his sins are forgiven, past, present, and future and he will not appear at the Great White Throne Judgment. Instead, he will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ. At that Judgment, he will be judged based on his deeds from the moment he accepted Christ until the day he died or Christ returned. If he is not going to give an account for sin, what will he give an account for on that day? According to verse 10, he will be judged based on his good deeds and his bad deeds. The Koine Greek word that is translated as “good” in verse 10 is “Agathos“. It means useful. So, from the moment that you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you can either choose to be useful to the Lord and the people around you or, the second option in this passage is the word “bad“. In Koine Greek, the word used is “Phaulos“. It can be translated as “mediocre” or in other words, “taking the easy way out“. If you accept Christ and then decide to live your life the way that you want to live instead of placing your life at the Lord’s disposal to do what He calls you to do, then you will enter the kingdom of God but without rewards. If you accept Christ and then place yourself at His disposal all the rest of the days of your life then you will enter the kingdom of heaven with rewards. The rewards are not solely based on you or solely based on God. The two of you work together to bring about these rewards. The Judgment Seat of Christ is designed to help us manage our time and activities in such a way that we please God by making ourselves useful to Him and the people around us. This encourages us to evaluate our activities, plan them, execute them, and then repeat the process until we die or the Lord returns. Early in my twenties, Elena and I were taught a session at the International Inductive Bible Study Institute called “Time Management“. One of biggest take aways from that session was the value of evaluation, planning, execution, and repeat. Do you plan your time and activities with the fact that you will be held accountable one day at the Judgment Seat of Christ? Are you available to be used by God and useful to the people around you, or, are you too busy which is another way of saying that you have taken the easy way out?
II. Character
When it comes to pleasing God, character matters. When you decide to make yourself useful to the Lord and to the people around you, the love of God will flow through you to those around you.
For the love of Christ controls us (II Corinthians 5:14)
Love becomes a character trait of a person who lives to please God and be useful to the Lord. The Greek word used here for love is “agape“. The following are the characteristics of agape love. It is Sacrificial. It is an Action. It is Constant. It is manifested for the good of the recipient. It is Unconditional. A second characteristics that I would like to point out in verse 14 is the fact that unity is another character trait of of a person who lives his life to be useful to the Lord and to others. The love of Christ controls His followers. The Greek word used in the original manuscript is “Sunecho“. It means to draw together. A person who wants to be useful to the Lord and to others is a team player. He works together well with others to please the Lord.
and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (II Corinthians 5:15)
This is the third character trait of a person who lives to please the Lord. He no longer lives for himself. He does not live each day to accomplish his own desires. Instead, he lives each day to accomplish the will of God. He does what is necessary to be available to the Lord. The final thing that we learn from the Apostle Paul here about those who live to please God is the fact that their lives have been transformed.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (II Corinthians 5:17)
A transformed life is demonstrated through a life lived for Christ, working as part of a team, extending the love of Jesus Christ to the people, and being available to be used by God in order to please Him every single day. Is this the way that you live your life on a daily basis?
III. Calling
The rest of the passage teaches us how we can live each day in order to please God. This is not vague things that we should be doing. The Apostle Paul gives very specific challenges to us that will help us prepare for the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ.
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, (II Corinthians 5:18)
As followers of Jesus Christ, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. Our marching orders each day are to reach out to the people around us and help them reconcile with God. Do you plan your day with this in view? Do you evaluate activities to discover opportunities to participate in the ministry of reconciliation? As you plan your days, do you seek to incorporate the ministry of reconciliation into every activity that you participate in? As you take part in the ministry of reconciliation, you need tools to help you accomplish the ministry of reconciliation. The Apostle Paul explains what those tools are in the next verse.
namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (II Corinthians 5:19)
The Word of reconciliation is the Word of God. As we participate in the ministry of reconciliation, we need to use the Word of reconciliation to help accomplish the goal of assisting people in connecting with God. Do you spend time reading, studying, and talking about the Word of God so that you can sharping your skills and familiarity with the Word of God? I remember when I used to work in the masonry during college. I was one of the manual laborers but I would watch the bricklayers and think, “that’s not so hard“. One day, one of the bricklayers gave his trowel to me and asked me to lay a row of bricks. I naively took it and tried to do what I had watched them do. It was an absolute disaster. They made it look so easy because of their familiarity with the tools. The same goes for the Bible. The more familiar you are with the Bible, the easier it is to use when working with others and assisting them in the process of connecting with God.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (II Corinthians 5:20)
Every follower of Jesus Christ is an ambassador for Christ. The question that we must ask then is, “are we going to be a good ambassador, a useful ambassador or, are we going to be a mediocre ambassador“? A useful ambassador is willing to humble himself to the point where he begs those around him to be reconciled with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Have you answered the call to be a good/useful ambassador for Jesus Christ? Do you make yourself available to the Lord so that He can use you to accomplish the ministry of reconciliation with the Word of reconciliation? Are you a diligent student of the Word of God so that you can invest the eternal Word of God in the lives of the eternal people within your sphere of influence? Does the love of God flow in you and through you to the people around you? Are you a good team player when it comes to serving in the ministry? Do you wake up each day looking for opportunities to please the Lord?
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