Judgement Seat of Christ

Dear Brethren - I thank our precious Lord and Shepherd for all of you and pray that only in Him we will live and move and have our being. I pray that we would grow in His grace and love for one another, as He commanded all those who are His friends and disciples. And that we would run this race as one seeking not only to finish, but to gain the prize.

For the past few months I have been deep in the Word, studying a topic that has never been altogether clear to me, and one mostly mis-taught in this current age - that of the sundry distinction between Israel and the Church, God's earthly and heavenly programs, and the Kingdom in all of its fullest applications. My studies have led me to the works of Pember, Govett and Panton, for example, and to hard-to-find works from bygone generations, dealing with the kingdom in all its manifestations and meanings.

Now as committed and heaven-borne disciples of Christ, all of our expectations of what lies ahead must be grounded solely in the prophetic truths of Scripture, which as we all know, can be puzzling to say the least. There are a myriad of explanations and interpretations for any given topic to be sure. Only the Holy Spirit can guide us in rightly dividing all of the various passages related to the Kingdom, the ages, judgment, eternal life, rapture, tribulation, reward and chastening. That these matters are not spelled out as clearly and directly as perhaps we would like, is maybe by design. The deeper things always seem to demand more of us don't they?

But God has revealed [them] to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Cor 2:10)

He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what [is] in the darkness, And light dwells with Him. (Dan 2:22)

Now a topic rarely mentioned these days is the soon-coming tribunal whereby all born-again human beings will be judged based on what they did with the new life bestowed upon by the free gift of God's grace. The "Books will be opened", the Bible records, and our service to the Master will be evaluated. It is called the Judgment (or Bema) Seat, and in fact when the weight of Scripture is added up, one finds this to be a major theme of our Lord and His Apostles. What one discovers is that all is not wrapped up so tidily in terms of our ultimate destiny, our place in the kingdom, our entering into His thousand-year rest, etc. Indeed, without understanding these essential matters, most if not all of the hard sayings of our Lord can ever be rightly appreciated in their full weight and measure. The Church has taught for countless generations that all is a simple matter of heaven or hell, blessing or cursing, grace or works, free gift or something earned. Dear friends, this "either or" eschatological framework ignores many, many passages of Scripture that suggest otherwise. Please review this material prayerfully in the Spirit, asking God if these things be so. I realize that to many these things may be new and strange. Your initial reaction may be in fact, "Never, this cannot be". Believe me I know. But we must be willing to lay down anything and everything that obstructs the full revelation of our Lord from being brought to us by His Spirit. Most certainly, patience and humility is required.

Just after his death in 1955, the following was recorded in a memoir of D.M. Panton, that we would do well to consider -

…the doctrine of Responsibility and Accountability of every redeemed soul to his Redeemer, naturally arising out of his redemption, has passed from the knowledge of the Church for the most part: certainly, in general, as a living and urgent power over the lives of disciples of Christ. And the future effect upon the believer of this present relationship to his Redeemer is completely ignored by most; namely, that, as a responsible agent of Christ, he must hand in an account of his stewardship before the Judgment Seat of his Lord; that from his Lord's lips he will receive the sentence due to him, be it good or bad, according as he has been faithful or unfaithful, obedient or disobedient, holy or sinful.

The Judgment Seat of Christ

by D. M. Panton

IT is the joy and wonder of God’s Grace that all saving merit in our Lord’s life and death becomes ours on simple faith: "for by grace have ye been saved THROUGH FAITH; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory" (Eph. 2:8). A sinner’s works, so far from saving him, have actually to be repented of—" REPENTANCE from dead WORKS" (Heb. 6:1) :—for "the FREE GIFT of God unfettered therefore by any obligation on the part of the Giver, and thus completely severed from our merit—" is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). The saving efficacy of simple, vital faith has been beautifully expressed in the moving words of Hooker. "Christ hath merited righteousness for as many as are found in Him; and God findeth us in Him, for by faith we are incorporated into Him. Then, although we be in ourselves altogether sinful and unrighteous, yet even the man who is in himself impious, full of sin, full of iniquity ;—him, being found in Christ through faith, and having his sin in hatred through repentance, him God beholdeth with a gracious eye; putteth away his sin by not imputing it; taketh quite away the punishment due thereto, by pardoning it; and accepteth him in Christ Jesus, as perfectly righteous as if he had fulfilled all that is commanded him in the Law; shall I say more perfectly righteous than if himself had fulfilled the whole law? Such are we in the sight of God the Father, as in the very Son of God Himself. Let it be counted folly, or frenzy, or fury, or whatsoever, it is our wisdom, and our comfort: we care for no knowledge in the world but this,—that man hath sinned, and God hath suffered: that God hath made Himself the sin of man, and that men are made the righteousness of God." We thus draw eternal life solely from the Son of God. "God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son HATH THE LIFE; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life" (i John v. ii. Eternal life thus rests for ever on simple, saving faith, which produces immediate regeneration, incorporation into Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and indefectible life. "He that believeth on the Son hath EVERLASTING life" (John 3:36).

REWARD

But even a casual study of the Word of God reveals that a new horizon now opens on the redeemed soul. If life is by faith, reward is consequent on works done after faith. For Scripture regards each saved soul as a runner racing, an athlete wrestling, a warrior fighting, a farmer sowing, a mason building, a fugitive flying, a besieger storming; and all this strenuous intensity rests on a fundamental of revelation—" that God is, and that He is a Rewarder " (Heb. 11:6). "With many disciples the eyes are yet blinded to this mystery of rewards, which is an open mystery of the Word. It must be an imputed righteousness whereby we enter; but having thus entered by faith, our works determine our relative rank, place, reward" (Dr. A. T. Pierson). Calvin, though seeing this truth but dimly, has packed into a sentence the Scripture doctrine of reward :—" There is no inconsistency in saying that God rewards good works, provided we understand that, nevertheless, men obtain eternal life gratuitously."

Nor is there any doubt that this is a truth for the Church of God. "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each [disciple] according as his work is" (Rev. 22:12). To whom is this said? I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things (or the churches." Too often, as Dr. A. J. Gordon says, "just as the Legalist resents the doctrine that good works can have no part in effecting our forgiveness, so the Evangelical recoils from the idea that they can constitute any ground for our recompense." But Paul says :—" He that planteth and he that watereth are one "—in standing and redemption—" but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labour "1 Cor. 3:8), So also he balances the double-edged recompense. "Servants, obey knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive recompense of the inheritance: ye serve the Lord Christ. For" —on the other hand—" he that doeth wrong shall received again for the wrong that he hath done: and there is no respect of persons" Col. 3:24 It is thus a that concerns us. In the words of Dr. Eadie :—"The Christian doctrine of reward is too often lost sight of or kept in abeyance, as if it were not perfectly consistent with the freest bestowment of heavenly glory."

All honest difficulty concerning Reward vanishes, I think, when we examine what God rewards; and, first of all, God’s recompense rests supremely on god likeness, and god like conduct. "Love your enemies, and do them good, and lend, never despairing; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for He is kind toward the unthankful and evil" (Luke 6:35). Here reward turns upon likeness in character and conduct to our Father in heaven. Secret devotion, also, will be rewarded. "Pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense thee" (Matt. 6:6): not only will the prayer be answered, but the praying will be recompensed. Moreover, our attitude of heart will help to sway the Lord’s adjudication on our service: "Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven" (Luke 6:37). Our We is putting, word by word, the sentence upon ourselves into Christ’s lips: we are manufacturing, as servants, our own adjudication. For goodness and glory are but two halves of one whole: goodness is the suffering side of glory, and glory is the shining side of goodness.

So all labour, also, will be exactly recompensed. "Whoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only "—the minimum of gift—" in the name of .a disciple. verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." (Matt. 10:42). For what is reward? "To him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt" (Rom. 4:4): so, as requital for services He graciously owns, God is pleased to bestow tangible and equivalent evidences of His approval. Its measure will be exactly graded. "He that receiveth a prophet in name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward" (Matt 10:41): "for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Gal. 6:7).

But, most searching truth of all, God rewards supremely the why that underlies the service. "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness "—conduct really good in itself —"before men. to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 6:1). Motive is thus revealed as decisively crucial "The Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsel of the hearts; and then shall each have his praise from God" (1 Cor. 5:5). God gives unmerited salvation, but He never gives unmerited praise. So exaltation in the Age to Come is in inverse ratio to lowliness of service in the present Age. "For whosoever would [wishes to] become great among you, shall be your servant: and whosoever would be first among you, shall be slave of all" (Mark 10:43): for greatness, service; for actual primacy, slavery.

Reward is so reserved for all suffering undergone for Christ. "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice in that day. and leap for joy: for behold your reward is great in heaven" (Luke 6:22) Suffering generally ensures purity of motive; and the Lord counterbalances the fear of man, not only by the more tremendous fear of God (Rev. 2:11,16), but also by the magnitude of His rewards. "Every reward suggested is a prize of a value inconceivable by us at present, and can only be appreciated at the Judgment Seat" (J. H. Lowe) So Moses accounted "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward" (Heb. 11:26). He who of. all mankind best knew the value of the Prize, and who perhaps, after our Lord, laid down the costliest price for it ever paid, said, "This one thing I do." For reward is merely the tangible expression of the approval of GOD, and we may no more deny Him the pleasure of expressing that approval than we need abjure it for ourselves. He who despises a throne despises Him Who confers the throne. It was one of our Lord's rebukes of the Pharisees,—" The glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not" (John 5:44).

Thus Reward not only supplies a motive in itself legitimate: it is a motive to which our Lord and His Apostles made frequent and direct appeal :—e.g. Christ (Matt. 6:1), Paul (1 Cor. 9:24), Peter (1 Pet. 1:27), James (Jas. 1:12) and John (2 John 8)."I believe for my part," says Dr. Alexander Maclaren, "that we suffer terribly by the comparative neglect into which this side of Christian truth has fallen. Do you not think that it would make a difference to you if you really believed, and carried away with you in your thoughts, the thrilling consciousness that every act of the present was registered, and would tell, on the far side beyond? " A concordance at once reveals that no one so emphasized reward as the Son of God Himself, who, as Maker of the soul, knows best what stimulants it is wise and right to apply.

Three facts are of importance - that Sadoc, the founder of the Sadducees, started his career of unbelief by denying the doctrine of reward: also, that this principle took effect even upon our Lord—" who for the joy that was set before Him endured" (Heb 12:2): moreover, that no wise disciple can afford to neglect so great a mass of Scripture, or to throw away so mighty an incentive to holiness. Our discovery of this truth at the Judgment Seat will be too late. Even seed we drop into the soil—every thought and word and act—is banked in God, and will one day spring up in lovely, or alarming, harvest,—as we sowed, what we sowed, as much as we sowed, and why we sowed. Therefore" Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we have worked for, but that we may receive a full reward" (2 John 8).

Read the rest of this piece here.

Please pray for us here at Living-Walk, that we would watch and see the Master at work, and understand what He would have us be and do.

Your friend and servant in Christ Jesus,

Wayne