The Eternal Significance of Today

Transcript

GR 1805
05/03/15
The Eternal Significance of Today
2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 3:1-4:6
Gil Rugh

2 Corinthians 5, talks about future things. When God provided salvation for us through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ, it is a salvation that not only cleanses us from sin, causes us to be made new, we're born again into the family of God, but it is a salvation that prepares us for an eternity in the presence of the living God. The transformation could not be any greater. We who were sinners, separated from God, hostile to God, on our way to an eternal hell, have experienced a transformation and change that almost defies understanding that we are cleansed completely, made new, the objects of His love and care, His constant attention. He doesn't ever leave us or forsake us, we are never alone. And what He has prepared for us in future glory is a reminder and encouragement to us to live for Him during the days of our earthly life. And Paul is talking along those lines in 2 Corinthians.

Remember 2 Corinthians started out in chapter 1 and down through those first seven verses Paul talking about the comfort that God brings in affliction. And He comforts us with His comfort and then we are enabled to comfort others in their trials and affliction. He goes on and talks about the trials that he has experienced in the ministry of God's truth, and it's a glorious ministry, it's a ministry of the new covenant, the ministry of the finished work of Jesus Christ. Salvation provided for lost sinners. It is a glorious ministry, but looked at from the human perspective, you fail to see the glory. And some who were criticizing Paul were using that against him because he personally wasn't of outstanding appearance. Later in the letter he will talk about that; we've referred to that. He was accused by his critics of not having a great physical appearance, of not being a very powerful speaker. Paul says the ministry he has is a ministry of glory, it's the ministry of Christ.

And yet it is a ministry of suffering, it's a ministry of trial, it's a ministry of difficulty. And we saw that in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, always suffering, trials, facing the reality of death. And when you talk about the reality of death, you came to verse 16 and he says, “We do not lose heart.” He started chapter 4 that way, “Therefore we do not lose heart.” What kept Paul from becoming discouraged, kept him going, keeping on, not growing weary? “We do not lose heart though our outer man is decaying our inner man is being renewed day by day.” We talked about that back in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the Spirit.” And that ongoing ministry of the Spirit is strengthening us in the inner man. “Momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen but the things which are not seen. The things which are seen are temporal, the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Some people play down the importance of eschatology, future things. We ought to be less concerned about the details of the future and more concerned about life here and now. But the biblical perspective is that we are concerned about the future and want to understand it because that shapes how we live here and now. And that's what Paul is saying. I endure the present affliction because of the eternal weight of glory. That's future. We're looking not at things which you see but things which are not seen. So he moved into a discussion of death. He talked about the Christian's relation to death, and the Christian, remember as we move through these opening verses of chapter 5, can live in three different states or conditions. He can live in this present physical body or at death he can leave this physical body and go into the presence of the Lord. “The body without the spirit is dead,” James 2:26 says and we've noted. And that is much better. Down in 2 Corinthians 5:8 he says, “We are of good courage I say and prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” That would be wonderful, but that's not the finality. He said what he really is anticipating, because when you move out of your body you are unclothed, as he put it. Remember the analogy of this body being like a tent and at death the tent is folded up and we move out. And so in that sense in verse 4, “While we are in this tent we groan, being burdened because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed.” So it's wonderful, at death we leave this body and go into the presence of the Lord, but my salvation has not yet reached its final stage. It is not yet complete when I leave this body and go into the presence of the Lord. Don't misunderstand, I am completely saved, salvation is full and complete, but I have not yet entered into all of its provisions.

So the third condition or state for a believer is the resurrected, glorified body, that time when the body of those who have died will be raised from the grave. Those alive will be transformed and we will live in glorified bodies. That is the goal and destiny of our salvation and we look forward to that time. And the realization of that and all associated with that is what enabled Paul to keep going, not losing heart. He'll say in verse 6, “Therefore we are of good courage;” he'll repeat it in verse 8, “we are of good courage;” verse 8, “we prefer to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” But as he said in verse 4, our ultimate goal is not to be unclothed. That's just a step, it's a great step. There is no one who has left this body as a believer in Jesus Christ and moved into the presence of the Lord through the experience of physical death who thinks this isn't much of an improvement. It's wonderful to dwell in the presence of the Lord of glory. But they are awaiting the next step, the resurrection of their body, glorified. So Paul is talking about that in 2 Corinthians 5.

And when you talk about resurrection, you have to talk about judgment. And that brings us to verse 10. Verse 9 he said, “We have as our ambition whether at home in this physical body or absent to be pleasing to Him.” That is the passion of our lives as God's children, to please the Lord whom we serve, the One who loved us and died for us. And then he reminds them, “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.” He's writing to believers here, the church at Corinth. He's reminding these believers that we focus and know what God promised, what God has provided and we live with the understanding that someday we will stand before Him to give an account. The general principle of Scripture is death and then resurrection. The exception to that will be transformed without seeing death. But Hebrews 9:27, for example says, “It is appointed unto man once to die, after this comes judgment.” So that's the general principle—men die, after death there will be judgment.

But that's not all the Scripture has to say about it. It unfolds in greater detail. Come back to John 5, a little bit of review, Jesus spoke of this in verses we've looked at. Verses 28-29, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come forth, those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed evil to a resurrection of judgment.” You are not saved by your works but you are judged on the basis of your works and your works reveal your character. You'll note, though, there are two resurrections referred to here, a resurrection of life and a resurrection of judgment. Now we see it is appointed unto man once to die, after this comes judgment, but now we see there are two resurrections that culminate in judgment—a resurrection that culminates in life, eternal life; a resurrection that occurs in the judgment of condemnation.

Come over to Revelation 20. We get further information because we might think that resurrection to life and that resurrection to judgment occur at the same time. Then we come to Revelation 20 and we find that's not the case. We're talking about the thousand hears here and at the end of verse 4. There are those “that came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has part in the first resurrection, over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign for a thousand years.” So you see resurrection to life that Jesus talked about occurs a thousand years before the resurrection to judgment. The first resurrection, all those “part of that first resurrection,” over these, verse 6 said, “the second death has no power.” If you are not part of the first resurrection, you will be part of the last resurrection. And here we have the last resurrection in judgment, in Scripture you come down to verse 11. And you see in verse 12, “The dead, the small, the great were standing before the throne and the books were opened.” They are judged. Then verse 14, “they were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. “Anyone whose name is not in the book of life is thrown into the lake of fire.” The Scripture puts pieces together, fills in details for us.

There is the resurrection of life. That is the first resurrection. There is a resurrection to condemning judgment, the last resurrection. They are separated by a thousand years. We put in the newsletter the chart that we put in last week so if you turn to the last page of your newsletter you get a chart of the resurrections that we've been referring to. You can put that up on the screen also, if you would. This is just to help you sort through where we are, the resurrections, and we've followed this from 1 Corinthians 15. Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end. And we start with Christ's resurrection which is the assurance and guarantee of coming resurrection, particularly for believers. Understanding is the first resurrection has two phases, we'll talk about that first stage in a moment. You see the pattern. There is resurrection. There is judgment. I take it the first stage is the church that will occur before the 70th week of Daniel, that seven-year period we've been talking about in our study of the book of Daniel. Then the second stage to earth where you'd have Old Testament saints, tribulation saints. We'll be talking about that this evening because we're in Daniel 12 and it just so happens that the resurrections, the two passages there will coincide. And that's why we spend a little extra time.

Then you have the thousand years, then you have the resurrection of unbelievers. With each resurrection there is a judgment. We've listed the resurrections on the other side of that, the judgments of Scripture. We've listed five. We have two judgments included here that are of living, not resurrected—the second judgment, the living at the second advent, and then the living believers at the end of the millennium. Brought those in because they are sometimes mixed in and confused with the other judgments. So these future resurrections, these future judgments, we want to be clear hat we separate them out. And we've listed the time of the judgment, the objects of the judgment, and the results of the judgment.

When we talk about the resurrection that Paul is talking about and the judgment associated with it in 2 Corinthians 5, we are talking about that first stage in the resurrection. The first stage in the Second Coming of Christ, He calls the church that came into existence in Acts 2 after the 69th week of Daniel, if you've been part of that study. And it's removed so that He can complete that final seven-year period of those 490 years prophesied in Daniel of God's program and plan for the nation Israel.

When he says in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,” he is writing to the church, to those who desire, verse 9, “to be pleasing to Him;” to those in verse 8, “who when they are absent from the body are to be present with the Lord.” But we understand that we won't be part of the resurrection, the judgment that Jesus talked about in John 5 will be resurrection of life. Why are we going to be judged if we are part of the resurrection of life? Well, there are different kinds of judgment—there is the judgment for condemnation. For example, someone convicted stands before the judge to be sentenced, it's just a question of what his sentence will be. Will he be in prison for 20 years, 50 years, life? There are other kinds of judgment. You watch the Olympics and you see people come to the judgment stand and it's to determine the reward or award they get, that's the difference. Romans 8:1 says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That settles it for those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, that's why they will be part of the first resurrection. “Over them the second death has no power.” They will be judged but not to determine whether they are going to hell or heaven, that's settled. That's settled the moment you place your faith in Jesus Christ and eternal destiny is settled, have eternal destiny. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Come back to Luke 14, Jesus speaking here and we're not going into the context but you can read it for yourself. But He does talk about a coming resurrection and judgment, if you will, associated with that. Verse 14, “You will be blessed since they do not have the means to repay you.” Note the last statement of verse 14, “for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” There will be a repayment and award if you will give it. So what you have done there may not have received a payment, at the time you did something that could not be recompensed. But that's all right. At the resurrection of the righteous there will be a payment. That's what we're talking about when we talk about the judgment believers. That's the resurrection of the righteous, the resurrection to life. But there is a judgment associated with it, an evaluation that takes place.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 5. “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” That word translated appear, literally, we all must be made manifest. It will be revealed what we are. There will be a revelation that takes place at the judgment seat. We often refer to this as the bema seat of Christ, and sometimes I think we wonder, what are you talking about, the bema seat? It comes from the word translated judgment seat here. The Greek word is bema and we just carry it over into English, pronounce it bema. It was a judgment seat. They would be familiar with it with the Corinthians because when Paul was in Corinth in Acts 18, he appeared before the judgment seat there, called the bema seat. The Greeks would be familiar with this because when the Greek games were held the awards were given at the bema seat. So it could be used for that kind of thing. When we talk about the judgment of believers, it is usually this word bema that is used. So sometimes we just end up using that Greek word, we are at the bema seat, talking about the judgment seat for believers.

“We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ.” Scripture seems to indicate from John 5 that Christ will be the judge at every judgment because the Father has given all judgment to the Son. And that's fitting because He is the Son of Man. So we are being judged not only by One who is God, but One who is man. And He will exercise judgment.

Why do we have this judgment? “So each one may be recompensed for his deeds,” the things we do in the body, “according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” Now this is a judgment of our lives as believers, this would not include things we have done before we trusted Christ. It has all taken place, been covered by the blood of Christ, we never did anything that did please God before we were saved. It's not possible for those who are in the flesh to please God. Jesus said to the religious people of His day and the leaders, you always are doing the will of your father the devil. You do what he wants. The unbeliever cannot please God. So then they do good things within a context of comparing, but they never do anything with the ultimate goal of pleasing the living and true God because that starts with placing your faith in His Son. That's the beginning.

So this is a judgment of what we've done with our lives as God's children, believers in Jesus Christ. We will be recompensed, what we've done in the body. This is a reminder to Paul that everything that takes place, everything that transpires is important during this physical life. This is a unique time, this is the only time I have to store up rewards for the eternity before me. I'm not earning salvation, but what I am doing with my life is important. Sometimes Christians live like, well, I've placed my faith in Christ, I know I'm going to heaven and I'm not going to hell. That's all that matters to me. That is arrogance. How dare we tell God that what you have promised and said is important is of no importance to me? Do you think He holds this judgment but it really doesn't have any importance? It is irrelevant? The only thing that matters is whether you are going to heaven or hell, so whether I'm judged as a believer or not, it's not particularly important. As long as I don't go to hell, I'll be happy. No one will stand at this judgment and say I'm just as happy I wasted my Christian life. I don't think so. It will be too late to go back and redo it. That's why we are to be redeeming the time because the days are evil. We live with our eyes on the future, looking at things not seen. But it's real because God has promised it.

So Paul says, we live our lives, verse 9, in these physical bodies, desiring “to be pleasing to Him” because we will be manifest before Him in judgment and be recompensed. I believe it. Can I give every single detail and sort out why? No, but the God who cannot lie has told me the importance of this and living in light of it.

“We will be recompensed to what we did in the body, whether good or bad.” I thought we said there is no condemnation, now you say I'm going to be recompensed for my sins. I don't think that's what it is saying. There is an indication here, different words for bad, and the word for evil. Vileness is kakas, it even sounds bad. Kakas, sort of an ugly word, one of those words that it's sound says something. That's the word for evil, sin. This is the word falos and it can denote something just worthless. And here, sometimes we say it's not good or bad, the Scripture doesn't say, but a life wasted, worthless. Time not used for the Lord, not motivated and driven, if you will, by a desire to be pleasing to Him. Sometimes people say, can you say this is wrong? Well, I can't say the Bible says it is sin. Then there is nothing wrong with my doing it. No, that's not necessarily so. We will be judged on the basis of what was good or what was worthless.

There are two other passages and under your judgments this is the first judgment, the church at the rapture. This occurs after the rapture of the church, the resurrection of the church. And I have listed the Scripture passages there, so you have these passages. We picked up with 2 Corinthians 5, the last one referred to there, but that's where we are.

Come back to Romans 14. Again we're reminded the understanding and forward looking of the believer shapes his conduct now. The church gets off track because it doesn't have any interest. I was reading some material in preparation for a study I want to do with you, and some of it is critiquing the fact that Christians get too interested in the details of the future and they ought to spend more time focusing on living their life now. But it's understanding what God has said about the future that enables me to live my life pleasing for Him and now. It's not enough to live it the way I think He would like it lived, I must live it the way He says it should be lived with the motivation that He says should be.

So here we are and this, the time of the judgment, will be after the rapture of the church. The objects of the judgment will be the church and this is just believers from Acts 2 down to the rapture of the church. We'll talk about Old Testament saints tonight. The results will be rewarded and those verses there. We're going to Romans 14 and you see the context. Verse 7, “Not one of us lives for himself, not one dies for himself. For if we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Whether we live or we die, we are the Lord's.” Sounds like what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, doesn't it? Whether at home in the body or absent we live to be pleasing to Him. “For to this end Christ died and lived again that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living. But you, why do you judge your brother? Why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” Then he quotes from Isaiah 45.

Turn back to Isaiah 45 and these chapters in Isaiah emphasizing the uniqueness of God, that He is the only God and the foolishness of man who rejects God. Back up to Isaiah 44:18, “They do not know nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes, they cannot see, their heart cannot comprehend.” Verse 20, “A deceived heart has turned aside, he cannot deliver himself.” The hopelessness of man apart from the grace of the living God. Come into Isaiah 45:18, God said He is the creator. Down to the last part of verse 21, “And there is no other god besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior.” Those two things, He is a righteous God, He is a Savior. “There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.” How gracious He is, how patient He is, how merciful He is. Turn to Me and be saved. I mean, how patient God is, and loving and kind. “I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear,” confess. Even those on their way to an eternal hell will have acknowledged that there is one true and living God, but it's too late for them to turn and experience His salvation. At the Great White Throne that we read about at the end of Revelation 20, everyone there is there to be sentenced to an eternal hell. You don't think God will do that. Well, He would love to save you. He says turn to Me and be saved. He sends the invitation out to all the ends of the earth. If you stand at the Great White Throne because you chose to stay in your sin, reject the graciousness of God, that's the verse that is quoted. “Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess.”

You come back to Romans 14 you see that includes Christians. That includes believers. But then further revelation we develop and unfold there will be a judgment for everyone, but it won't all be at the same time. So additional revelation does not change or alter prior revelation, but it can give additional information, further clarification. So in Romans 14 the context is disagreements among believers over issues that are not biblical. We call it gray areas. In Romans 14 it was about what you eat and Jewish laws of diet and those who didn't follow those. Well, what does he say? Verse 10, “Why do you judge your brother? Why do you regard your brother with contempt? We will all stand before” the bema seat, “the judgment seat of God. Every knee will bow, every tongue shall confess. So each one,” and this emphasis on each one take note of. Judgment will be individual and personal, each one “will be manifest before the judgment seat of God.” Each one of us will give an account of himself to God. “So why are you judging your brother about these things?” Now this doesn't mean Christians shouldn't deal with sin, Paul addresses that, the Scriptures address that. There are responsibilities we have, but there are matters that are open to personal preference. The end of Romans 14:23 says, “Whatever is not faith is sin.” We don't have to agree on everything and I don't have to try to force my opinions on you or you force your opinions on somebody else. Well, I know the Scripture doesn't say it is required, but I think it's better. Well, you are entitled to think it is better, but you are not entitled to impose that on others. I'm not. Well, I'm the pastor of this church, I ought to be able to have it my way. In fact I like the song, I Did it My Way. The problem is we are called to do it God's way and there is freedom in that. If you want to eat vegetables, good for you; if you want to have steaks, good for you; if you don’t, do; if you do, do. You can have your personal convictions. The church gets torn apart by people who think their convictions ought to be the convictions of this church. Do you understand who is the Lord of the dead and the living verse 9, that we will give an account to the Lord. We have to be careful about usurping the role of the Lord.

Now there is balance, there is a balance in the judgment, we have to deal with sin as we've mentioned. But there is order established in the church and that has to be followed. Come over to Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders, submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” I think that would tell something, too, that we are responsible to governing leaders. God is ordering structure, so we respect governing leaders and function as good citizens to be pleasing to the Lord to whom we will give an account, because He has placed those in authority. So there is biblical structure—there is structure for government, there is structure for the church, there is structure in a family and between husband and wife, that order.

So when you are in Romans 14 this whole idea, there are realms of flexibility, room for personal conviction. When I went to Bible college, you had to agree you wouldn't smoke, you wouldn't drink, you wouldn't go to movies, you wouldn't play pool, and you wouldn't get married before you were a senior. And Marilyn convinced me to marry her after my sophomore year. And I got the boot, you are out, you can't come back. My friends said, that's not right, that's legalism. That's not legalism, they didn't tell me I couldn't go to heaven or be pleasing to the Lord, they just said I can't attend their school if I do this. It's their school, it seems to me that's their prerogative. Then I went to all the work of taking classes, you've heard the story, I took philosophy and sociology at Rutgers, I went to a seminary and took a whole year's Greek in three months, the same textbook that they were using at my Bible college. I'm not stupid. When I got back, they said, we'll transfer your stuff, everything but not your Greek. Well, it's the same textbook. Yes, but if we transfer those credits, and we admit you did well, you will be able to graduate with your class. You are not going to graduate with your class. So I had to take first year Greek all over again. Didn't hurt me, but it meant I had to stay in Philadelphia a whole another year. How unfair was that? Well, they were the ones God had placed in authority. The idea that I'm a student, I should be able to make the rules here would be contrary to Scripture. And the Lord worked it out, because do you know what? Indian Hills didn't need a pastor until after that fifth year of school. I would have just been sitting in Philadelphia twiddling my thumbs, what should I do? I'm waiting for Indian Hills, but I don't know it.

So we leave these things. There is room for personal convictions. There is room for differences. That's fine. Does that mean I'm going to go to a church that has my convictions? Well, part of what we are to do is learn to live with our differences. He didn't tell the Romans, start a church for those who like vegetables, start a church for those who like meat. That will solve the problem. Wouldn't solve the problem because we wouldn't have learned to function biblically together.

Come over to 1 Corinthians 3, this is the most extensive section on judgment. Again, Paul starts out this letter by emphasizing the importance of the Gospel and the need for salvation by faith in Christ. He said when he came to Corinth, he had one message to bring—we preach Christ crucified. He said I know the Jews wanted me to do miraculous signs, the Greeks wanted me to display wisdom. “We preach Christ crucified. I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Staid on course with the message. But he is concerned. The Corinthians are off track, divided, in conflict. Why do churches have so much conflict? The same reason Paul had to address the Romans, same thing he had to address the Corinthians. We get off track. Is this a doctrinal issue? Is this a moral issue? It is a matter of preference. 1 Corinthians 3 opens up, “I could not speak to you as spiritual men but as to men of flesh, infants in Christ.” You are still fleshly, you are acting like you don't have the Spirit. You are acting like an unredeemed person. You are walking like mere men who don’t have the Spirit. How so? “One says I am of Paul, another I am of Apollos. Are you not men?” I mean, I like Apollos, he is much more polished, much better speaker, much more dynamic character than Paul who is rather weakly looking and not a good speaker. “What is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed. As the Lord gave to each one,” now we're going to pick up this emphasis on to each one referred to in other passages. It's going to come up in verse 10, the last statement, “but each man, or each one.” Same expression basically as verse 5. We're going to have it in verse 13 twice, “each man's or each one's work.” The end of verse 13, “each man's, each one's work.” You understand what God has done, the Lord gave to each one. “I planted, Apollos watered, God was causing the growth.” We are just servants.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 1, see what Paul said to the Corinthians. Verse 4, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus.” That grace, it's the grace that brought salvation, but Paul's focus is not on that initial saving grace, it's on the grace that brought the gifts of grace to them. “That in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge as a testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you so that you are not lacking in any gift,” note this, “awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ who will confirm you to the end blameless. God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son.” Now there is a problem, “I hear there are divisions among you.” God has brought you His salvation and He has gifted you to function as members of His body, this is what he'll develop in 1 Corinthians 12-14. You're not lacking in any gift, you exercise those gifts, verse 7, “awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” You see that same focus, you see how do we exercise our gifts? We exercise them in the light of the fact that Christ is coming and I will give account to Him. They must be used in a way that pleases Him.

How do you get these divisions? Do you think God gave gifts to the body to divide it? We get that kind of problem when we begin to assert ourselves as the head. We know Jesus Christ is the head of the body, He is the Lord of the church. If the gifts are exercised under His authority, under the control of the Spirit of God, it produces unity. That doesn't mean I always get my way, you get your way; doesn't mean I don't have personal convictions, personal likes and dislikes. It means it is not my church. It's only my church in the sense this is the church I belong to, but it's not my church in the sense I own it and run it. How many of the divisions that come are over non-essentials.

I've shared with you, I pastored a church before I came here. It had the center aisle. How fitting it was—one group sat on that side, one group on the other. And I could tell you the names, I almost let it slip out. Whatever side you sat on, that identified. I asked them one time, what has caused this division? It's been there a long time. It was here when you came, it will be here when you go. And that church has closed its doors and no longer exists. What happened? Well, there was a major doctrinal difference. No. Well, it was over moral . . . No. Somebody did something someone did not like and the church gets divided and it just continues on.

1 Corinthians 3, come back, we have to finish this. God was causing the growth, verse 6, all we are is servants. “Neither the one who plants or the one who waters is anything,” God causes the growth. Get your eyes on God and what He is doing, His work. “Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward,” each, there we are again, “will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” Here you see the principle established. We belong to Jesus Christ through faith in His finished work, we have been gifted by the Spirit to serve Him. Some day we will stand before Him to be manifest and He will judge us and reward us according to our labor. We say this is a judgment of rewards. We are God's fellow workers. In other words we work for God, we serve Him. He said this up in verse 5, What is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants. I mean, that's what we are, and we don't bring about the results. God caused the growth, I simply planted, Apollos watered and God did the work. You see faithful with what God has entrusted me with, what God has enabled me to do, what God has gifted me for. And we each receive a reward according to our labor.

We are God's fellow workers, God's building “according to the grace of God which was given to me.” Paul uses himself as an example. When you get into chapter 4 he'll say I used myself and Apollos as examples, but this applies to you. “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder,” we get the English word architect from this Greek word we just transliterated over into English, “I laid a foundation.” Then he'll say, verse 11, “There is only one foundation, Jesus Christ.” So he's talking about the church. Paul came to Corinth and he preached the Gospel. By the grace of God some people believed it and were saved, the church was established. That's the only foundation. We have a lot of religious organizations that are called churches, but they are not all biblical churches. If they are not built on the foundation of Jesus Christ and the solid truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it's not God's building, it's not God's field. He uses a couple of metaphors here and mixes them, but the point is clear—the workers in God's field, the workers on God's building. We are responsible to Him for our labor, our work.

There is only one foundation, but each man, one laid the foundation, another is building on it. The end of verse 10, “Each man must be careful how he builds.” We are each making a contribution, we are functioning to serve the Lord. I have to be careful. The goal is not to be pleasing to you, not to be pleasing to one another, but to be pleasing to the Lord. I want to be sensitive because God uses us together as a body, an input in one another's lives. When I begin to think I want to be preaching and I hope you are pleased, pretty soon I begin to adjust the message, leave out the parts of the Word I don't think will be pleasing, add little things that I think will be pleasing, and we're in a world of hopelessness. We want to please the Lord.

“If any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay straw, each man's work.” So here we have different gifts, it's really each of these individual pieces are not the point. There are two kinds of building materials, those that will endure and those that will not. “Each man's work will become evident.” Remember we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ in 2 Corinthians 5, made manifest. That's our same basic word here. Each one will become evident, be made manifest, “for the day will show it,” the day of judgment because it is to be revealed with fire. The fire will test the quality of each man's work. All my service for Christ put on the flames, what's left—the worthless things I did, the things I did for self, for self-glory, the things I didn't do because I didn't feel like it. All put to the fire.

“If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he'll suffer loss. But he himself will be saved so as through fire.” So you see this is not a fire to determine eternal destiny, this is a judgment to determine rewards. It is based on my labors for Christ.

Look in 1 Corinthians 4:1, “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, stewards of the mysteries of God. It is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.” And as Paul will go on to say, that, verse 6, I have applied these things to Apollos and myself. But it's true of us all. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have been gifted by God's grace, you are a stewardship of that gift. It's required that you be found faithful, trustworthy. Then Paul says, “But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you or any human court. In fact I do not even examine myself.” But he does in one sense. “I am conscious of nothing against myself.” This doesn't mean I just don't even consider what I am doing, but the ultimate examination and final decision doesn't rest with me, even about myself. “Yet I am not by this acquitted, but the One who examines me is the Lord. Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time. Wait until the Lord comes Who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness, disclose the motives of hearts. Then each man's praise will come to him from God.” Then he says, I've applied these things to Apollos and myself, the end of verse 6, “so that no one of you become arrogant on behalf of one against the other.”

We saw that in the letter to the Romans, we see it in the letter to the Corinthians, we all struggle with it. Easy to become arrogant, self-righteous. I just know I'm right; I'm not self-righteous, I'm just right. Wait a minute. And I have to be careful, I am confident in the Lord but the final judgment awaits. And that is a fearful thing. We'll talk about that next time. That should instill fear and have a factor in our conduct. To think someday I am going to stand in the presence of the glory of Christ and be manifest. The things of darkness, the motives of my heart, all there. I'm thankful I won't be there to be judged as to whether I'm going to hell or not, but I'll be judged there about my faithfulness and rewarded accordingly. That is an awesome thought. Understand, I don't want to waste this life, I don't want to dabble around half-heartedly doing the things of the Lord because I have a lot of other things on my mind, on my agenda. Are they bad? Not in and of themselves. Is it sin? No, but it could be wood, hay or straw. It will not endure the fire. Eschatology is important for my walk day by day, how I live my life. Not only what I do but why I do it. That doesn't mean I become overly introspective, but I want to be driven by the desire to please the Lord, to honor Him, to be faithful to Him, to be able to give a good account. The Apostle Paul said that motivated him. What a privilege. We've been forgiven, we've been cleansed, we've been indwelt by the Spirit, have been gifted by the Spirit. Now I can live a life serving the Lord to honor him, looking forward to being rewarded by Him.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. Lord, the wonder of the truths You have revealed, the greatness and splendor of the salvation You have provided in Christ. Lord, we have but tasted the good things that You have for us. Yet, Lord, we realize the seriousness of wasting the opportunities, the time, of failing to be faithful, of losing heart, being discouraged, not being diligent. Lord, we want to be pleasing to You in every situation, in every circumstance. We believe You are sovereign, You are working, and our desire is to be faithful servants. Thank You for the salvation that has brought such grace to our lives. We pray in Christ's name, amen.