Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
A great worship service will culminate as Jesus Christ leads the Church back into the third heaven. With the Church age over and the body of Christ completed, the Age of Israel will resume for Daniel’s Seventieth Week during the seven year tribulation period. Jesus Christ will be in heaven with his Bride, the Church. He will be preparing her to accompany him in his Second Coming at the end of the tribulation period as he prepares to set up his Millennial Kingdom right here on the earth, Rev.19:7-9, 22:17.
With all the New Testament believers assembled for the first time, in heaven, with all the joy and excitement experienced, suddenly it’s time for each one of us to give an account of our Christian lives to our Lord, Rom.14:12; II Cor.5:10.
Our goal as believers is not to get to heaven; that is established the moment we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Our goal as believers is defined in II Cor.5:9, which by the way, if read from some translations can lead a believer to doubt the doctrine of eternal security. “Wherefore, we labor that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.”
The verb labor is a present, middle, indicative from the word, philotimos. This compound verb is made up of philos, to be fond, and timos, honor. The biblical act of laboring for the Lord is much more than overt activity and busyness. The original Greek word, labor as used in our text means to act from We should be ambitious to be honorable.
The adjective, accepted, euarestoi, is better translated, well pleasing.
The infinitive, may be, is the present active infinitive, einai, from the root word eimi. It looks at first glance that there is a subjunctive mood here indicating that some believers may not make it; that they didn’t make it to heaven for the judgment seat of Christ; that they were not acceptable to Him. But the translation when it is closer akin to the original language reads this way. “Wherefore we labor that whether we are present with the Lord or we are absent from the Lord, we continue to labor to be well pleasing to the Lord.
This is our goal. We are to be ambitious to be honorable whether we are with the Lord or we are here on earth that we will be well pleasing to the Lord.
What you are in your character is more important than anything you may accomplish for the Lord. The judgment seat of Christ is more focused on what we were for Christ, than what we did for Christ.
Our doing for Christ is him working his work through the grace gifts he has given us. Our being for Christ is his character being molded in us. He will get his work accomplished as far as his mission on earth is concerned, but will his character be molded in our lives? The sovereign plan of God will be performed as to God’s time table of events here on earth. The question at the judgment seat of Christ regarding our personal lives is, did we allow God the freedom to transform our lives through Bible doctrine? Did we dishonor him by turning our backs on Him when it was time for Him to speak to us through His word from His servant which He appoints to edify His church, i.e., the pastor-teacher. Did we ignore His biblical advice?
Did we hold back His tithe for our own use instead of for advancing His causes through the only bonafide lighthouse to the world and our community, that is, the local church, not Para church organizations.
All of these things will come into view on that day. This judgment seat of Christ will not be related to our sins as some preach, for all of our sins were imputed to Jesus Christ at the cross, II Cor.5:21 “ For he hath made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
When are we made the righteousness of God in him? Do we not know if we are His until our judgment day? The answer is no. The moment we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior we are made the righteousness of God. God’s justice has already been satisfied regarding our position in Christ. Our position in the family of God is no longer in question.