Living With the End in Mind – Program 3

By: Dr. Kenneth Barker, Dr. Don Wilkins, Dr. Daniel B. Wallace, Dr. James White, Dr. Samuel Gipp, Dr. Thomas Strouse, Dr. Joseph Chambers; ©2000

How is it possible for us a Christians to do well at the judgment seat of Christ? How impressed will he be by our good works?

Our Relationship with Christ

Introduction

According to the Bible there is one future event all Christians will attend. It is called the judgment seat of Christ. Today on The John Ankerberg Show, what does the Bible say is the purpose of this judgment? What will happen when each Christian stands before God? Are real rewards going to be given to those who have faithfully served Christ on earth? What are the rewards that will be given? Will some Christians be honored more than others? Will some experience a great loss of rewards that will affect their status in heaven for all eternity? How can you live today in order to do well at the judgment seat of Christ? We invite you to join us for this edition of The John Ankerberg Show for the topic “How to Live With the End in Mind.”

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Ankerberg: Welcome. One night, Diane Sawyer was interviewing Billy Graham on ABC News and she asked the question,” “Billy, when you die, how do you want people to remember you”? Billy said, “I don’t know what people will think of me, but what I’d really like is to hear the Lord say to me when I get to Heaven, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’” Then he paused and looked at her and said, “But I don’t think that He will.”

My friend, Erwin Lutzer was listening to that interview. When he heard Mr. Graham say that, he thought, “Billy, I think you’re being a little more humble than you need to be. I mean after all you’ve preached the gospel to more people than anyone who has ever lived.” Then he thought, “Well, if the Lord doesn’t say ‘Well done’ to Billy Graham, what hope is there for the rest of us? If rewards are based on results, Billy has got to be at the head of the line, doesn’t he?”

But as Erwin kept on thinking, he realized a third thing. Billy was right. The judgment seat of Christ will not be based primarily on the results of our life, the number of souls saved, the number of sermons preached, the number of books written. No, what Billy Graham, you and I, and every Christian who has ever lived will be judged on will be our loyalty to Christ. How did we serve Him with the time, talents and treasures that were at our disposal?

The judgment seat of Christ will reveal the real nature of our relationship to Christ. It will reveal the quality of your loyalty and dedication, which brings us to the main topic we want to examine today: What will Jesus be looking for when you stand before Him at His judgment seat?

Is it possible for any of us as Christians to expect to do well at the judgment seat of Christ? Does God’s Word give us any encouragement along this line? The answer is yes. The apostle Paul was one of the worst sinners before he was saved. He blasphemed Christ and tried to capture and execute Christians. But after he was saved, he said he looked forward to receiving his reward from Christ.

First, a person believes in Jesus Christ and gains salvation, forgiveness of sins, and heaven. After you have believed on Christ and become a Christian, as a result, you discover that God promises to reward us for any service we do as Christians. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:24 advises believers to, “Run in such a way as to get the prize.” In this verse he compares the Christian life to running a race and says run the race to win. As we’ve seen, Christians can gain rewards and forfeit rewards by faithful or unfaithful service to Christ. Christians who faithfully serve Christ can gain the special privilege of ruling and reigning with Christ in His Kingdom.

They can also receive honor from the Father. Jesus said, “My Father will honor the one who serves me.” [John 12:26] And they can receive special crowns which symbolize privileges that continue on into eternity.

What we want to look at today is, what kind of behavior does God promise to reward? Well, first, the Bible Says God will reward those who are willing to die to self and live for Him. Look at Romans 12:1. The apostle Paul says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” Paul says, “Christian, present yourself as a living sacrifice.” What does that mean? Well, in the Old Testament, you remember, a person was to bring a lamb to the altar where it would be slain and become a holy sacrifice. Paul uses that background to illustrate that Christians are to come before God and say, “I now present myself to You as dead to my way of doing things (like a sacrifice), but alive to Your way of doing things. I die to self, and I will live for You. I present my body to you to become a living sacrifice.”

Then, Paul says, “Present yourselves,” a word which means “to separate oneself apart for God and His service.” We are to deliberately, voluntarily set ourselves apart for God to use. Notice, when you do this, the apostle said, “It is pleasing to God.” So, if you want to be pleasing to God, if you want to do well at the judgment seat of Christ, tell the Lord, “Here’s my body. I present it to you. I will live in obedience to you. Use me as you will.”

Then Paul gives some practical advice as to how we can know what God wants us to do. He writes, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.” [Rom. 12:2] What does that mean? Well, you know our world has its own way, its own pattern of doing things. There are certain ideas and actions that are politically correct and socially acceptable. But the world’s ways and God’s ways are many times at odds with each other. The goals we have, our motivation for actions, what we believe and how we act regarding sex, money, how we treat friends and family members, in all of these, God’s overall scheme or pattern for living is different than the world’s pattern and scheme. The Bible says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world [that is, the world’s way of thinking and doing things] but [rather] be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” [Rom. 12:2] The word transformed is the Greek word metamorphoo, from which we get the word “metamorphosis.” Paul wants Christians to experience a complete change of mind, of thinking. He says, to do so, to be transformed in your thinking, you must read God’s Word. You must study the Bible. Why? Because in the Bible God has revealed His way of thinking, how He operates in our lives, how He wants us to live our life so that He can bless us. Our mind, our thinking will be transformed, that is, completely changed and renewed as we read and follow God’s Word.

The apostle Peter wrote, “[God] has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these [referring to God’s divine power and the knowledge He has given us] he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” [2 Pet. 1:3-4] In other words, what we need for life and godliness comes through our knowing God’s promises in the Bible. We are to use them to participate in the divine nature. This doesn’t mean Christians become divine themselves, or become little gods; rather, this participation refers to our being indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live for Christ and escape the corruption caused by evil desires.

Do you know what it is to find you have desires in your own heart to do evil? We all do. Some of us are overpowered by desires for drugs, alcohol, sex, money, prestige. And they are overpowering. Christ loves us, died to save us, and when we come to Him, He gives us the Holy Spirit to live inside of us and empower us to break our evil desires. Part of the process the Holy Spirit uses is God’s Word. In fact, Peter says, “Desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.” [1 Pet. 2:2]

So, what will Jesus be looking for in your life when you stand before Him? He will look to see whether or not you presented your body to Him as a living sacrifice. Was there a time when you deliberately stopped following the patterns and ideas of the world and allowed God to transform your thinking and to renew your mind by the study of His Word. If you haven’t done that yet, start now. Remember, the Bible says this is pleasing to God.

Now, the second kind of behavior the Bible says Christ will reward are those who faithfully serve Him. Remember Billy Graham said he wanted to hear the Lord Jesus say about him, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”? Well, if you want to hear Jesus say that about you, then you must be a good and faithful servant now. Think about this. We can’t all be successful, but we can all be faithful. The problem is, so many Christians aren’t faithful in anything. Consider church statistics for a moment. In any given church, ten percent of the congregation does about 100 percent of the work; the other ninety percent of the congregation is content to sit and watch them do it. That shouldn’t be. They should be faithfully serving Christ in some capacity.

Let me ask you, what do you do faithfully for Christ? Can I advise that you pick out at least one thing and do it faithfully? Maybe you could be an usher and shake hands with people as they come through the door. Maybe you could teach a Sunday School Class or sing in the choir. Maybe you could visit folks in the hospital. Every one of us can give regularly to ministries; each one of us can pray on a consistent basis. Some of you who are men could work in your church’s Boys Club. Some of you women could work with girls in the Girls Club. To some boy or girl it could make a world of difference and God could really use you.

When I was about eight years old, there was a neighbor of ours who used to work downtown in the city of Chicago. After work on Monday he would drive home through rush hour traffic, which would take him about 45 minutes. Then he would sit down and quickly eat his dinner. After that, his son and I would jump into his old black DeSoto and he would drive another 30 or 40 minutes down to our church where his son and I would race off to participate in Boys Club. As an eight year old kid, I loved that night. We had sports activities, games, food, and, oh, by the way, we also were taught Bible verses. I didn’t particularly want to memorize Bible verses as a kid, but if the prize was good enough, I could memorize a list of verses in a heartbeat. It wasn’t a very spiritual reason for doing it, but it’s amazing how many of those verses I’ve never forgotten.

The man who brought us to the Boys Club would sit on the side and just watch. He wasn’t even a leader. He just faithfully brought us every week. After the Boys Club was over, we’d get back into the car and he would take us to a little restaurant where they had the best chocolate malted milks I’d ever tasted. We would sit there drinking those malted milks, laughing, and life just didn’t get any better.

Later on, both his son and I went to seminary and then into the ministry. One night, years later, this man said to me, “You know, I don’t feel like I’ve amounted to much.” And I told him, “You know, you faithfully took us to Boys Club every week. We were young, energetic eight-year-old boys who grew up in the city. It didn’t look like we would amount to much. But because you took us to Club, we learned those Bible verses, God called us into the ministry, and God has used us to help a lot of other people. I believe God is going to reward Christians just like this man who served faithfully behind the scenes.

Let me tell you another story. One time when we had been invited to speak in Africa, we brought along musicians, speakers, and a layman who was a carpenter. When we got over to Africa, the missionaries were glad to see us, but when they found out we had brought a carpenter along with us, they welcomed him with open arms. You see, there were so many jobs and things they had that needed fixing in their houses that nobody else could fix, he was kept busy from morning to night. I began thinking he was the most important person on the team. To those missionaries with their needs, he was.

Everyone has been gifted in some way by the Lord to serve Him. The question is, are you faithfully doing it? The Bible says we are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” [Eph. 2:10] According to this verse, God brings opportunities into every one of our lives to serve Him. They are all different, but they’re all important. If you want to hear Jesus say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” you must be faithful in doing something.

The third thing Christ will reward at His judgment seat are those who are servants, not bosses. Jesus said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Do you have a servant’s heart in all that you do for Christ? I want you to look at Matthew 20:25-28. “Jesus called [the disciples] to Himself and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whosoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Now from this passage I could ask you, “Do you want to be considered great in Jesus’ Kingdom someday?” The Bible says there will be those who are called great in the Kingdom and those who will be called least in the Kingdom. Which would you like Jesus to say about you?

Well, if you want to be called “great” in the Kingdom later, you need to be a servant now. Notice, Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them.” He is talking about how the world operates. Think of how things go at work. The guy who is ahead of you, he lords it over you. When the boss speaks, you jump. In a world filled with pride and egos, you find displayed the attitude of, “Kiss my foot! I’m above you!” That’s the world’s system. But among Christians, Jesus says, “It shall not be so among you. Instead, whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.” This is the way it’s supposed to be in the Church, but that’s not always the way it is. Rather, I find that there are two kinds of people who come to church every Sunday. There are those who come to be served and then there are those who come to serve. What do I mean?

First, there are those who come to be served. They walk up the steps to the church and say, “Where is the person who is supposed to greet me? I don’t see them.” As they walk through the doors, they check whether there is any dust on the windowsills. Has the church been vacuumed properly? Is it too warm? Is it too cold? Is the sound too loud or too soft? Is the music too contemporary? Too traditional? Have you ever met any Christians like that? These folks come every Sunday to be served. They’re the ones who say about the Sunday School teacher, “Well, he was a little dry today. Must have had a tough week.” When they go to the morning service, “The choir didn’t hit it today. They were a little flat. The song leader talks too much. The pastor, well he was okay, but he went a little long. I’ll give him a B-.”

Then, there are the people who come to church every Sunday to serve. This is the person who stands at the front door and welcomes people in and shakes their hands. This is the person who teaches the Sunday School class, sings in the choir, ushers people to their seats. This is the one who leads the music from the platform, works the sound system, plays the organ or piano, preaches the sermon. They are servants who are there to serve. Which one are you?

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to become great in the kingdom must be your servant.” Further, if you want to be “top dog” in the Kingdom, that is, you want to be first, Jesus says, “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.”

What is a slave? It is a person who has given up all rights; he is completely dedicated to serving his master. And what Jesus is asking of Christians here is no different than what He Himself did. In Matthew 20:28 Jesus said, “Just as the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” When we serve others, we are acting just like our Lord did, and it’s this kind of behavior that He promises to reward.

Read Program 4