Misled By Motivation
"For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-- each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." 1 Corinthians 3:9-15
The Judgment Seat of Christ has long been a topic of interest in my Christian walk. Partly out of a healthy reverence for accountability, but also because the Holy Spirit, through Paul, has promised a heavenly reward. Recently, however, the topic has not crossed my mind. It seems that the longer I walk down this Christian road, the more it all blurs together and the more I forget what I once held so dear.
Yet, this morning I am reminded of this inevitable moment for all believers, but not on the positive side of reward gaining, but in the negative side of loss. The text implies salvation, so don't ever think that sin in your life will somehow negate your salvation at the Judment Seat. No, the text does not teach that, but it does teach that this will be a rather terrifying experience.
Which leads me to an issue I have found present in me and the church around me, a low view of God. Imagine the Judgment Seat. The thunderous roar of swirling flames, devouring the manifest substance of each and every motivation that drove us toward some kind of work. I know what it is like to stand before a traffic court judge, and that is pretty stressful, yet to stand before the Sovereign and Omnipotent God of the universe, transparent and vulnerable shall be an experience like nothing we could fathom. Oh, in that time, how we shall yearn for the years to return to us! How we would see our futility and selfishness without the blindness of a sinful heart. Our understanding being perfected, we would surely realize straightway the error behind so many of our motivations.
Again, do we not possess a low view of God? Am I the only one who has sinned presumptuously, diving willfully into forbidden sin, presuming the grace of God to cover me? While I forget, that I must give an account of said sin before the Holy terror of the Living God. Please, do not misunderstand me, God is love and mercy and grace (that will be the only reason you are in His presence), but we do ourselves a disservice in fearing the traffic court judge more than the Almighty Himself.
I cannot help but wonder if the Church held such a reverence for the holiness of God, how strong she would be. Would not the righteousness of every believer be quickened by the Word and sanctified by the Spirit? Surely, a chasm would separate the deeds of the unredeemed and redeemed. Would there not be credibility to the Churches claims?
Throughout the New Testament, the apostles call saints unto obedience and holiness. I understand the difficulty of such obedience, as our flesh and the god of this world wars against us, but what if we refused to listen to all the false teachers that preach Jesus as our homeboy? What if we burned the books that promised our best life now? This is contrary to Scripture. Jesus is our Lord and he has promised your best life, but it's not this one.
My prayer is that the Church will rediscover the God of the Bible, and the faith of the apostles. We shall surely face a terrible day when the flames refine us, but the Refiner's fire only serves to purify us. Therefore, as our remaining days in this life expire, may our motivation for every deed be our appearance before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Perhaps we shall escape through the flames having our works deemed sincere by the one whose approval shall ring sweetly forevermore in our ears, the Lord Jesus.
The Judgment Seat of Christ has long been a topic of interest in my Christian walk. Partly out of a healthy reverence for accountability, but also because the Holy Spirit, through Paul, has promised a heavenly reward. Recently, however, the topic has not crossed my mind. It seems that the longer I walk down this Christian road, the more it all blurs together and the more I forget what I once held so dear.
Yet, this morning I am reminded of this inevitable moment for all believers, but not on the positive side of reward gaining, but in the negative side of loss. The text implies salvation, so don't ever think that sin in your life will somehow negate your salvation at the Judment Seat. No, the text does not teach that, but it does teach that this will be a rather terrifying experience.
Which leads me to an issue I have found present in me and the church around me, a low view of God. Imagine the Judgment Seat. The thunderous roar of swirling flames, devouring the manifest substance of each and every motivation that drove us toward some kind of work. I know what it is like to stand before a traffic court judge, and that is pretty stressful, yet to stand before the Sovereign and Omnipotent God of the universe, transparent and vulnerable shall be an experience like nothing we could fathom. Oh, in that time, how we shall yearn for the years to return to us! How we would see our futility and selfishness without the blindness of a sinful heart. Our understanding being perfected, we would surely realize straightway the error behind so many of our motivations.
Again, do we not possess a low view of God? Am I the only one who has sinned presumptuously, diving willfully into forbidden sin, presuming the grace of God to cover me? While I forget, that I must give an account of said sin before the Holy terror of the Living God. Please, do not misunderstand me, God is love and mercy and grace (that will be the only reason you are in His presence), but we do ourselves a disservice in fearing the traffic court judge more than the Almighty Himself.
I cannot help but wonder if the Church held such a reverence for the holiness of God, how strong she would be. Would not the righteousness of every believer be quickened by the Word and sanctified by the Spirit? Surely, a chasm would separate the deeds of the unredeemed and redeemed. Would there not be credibility to the Churches claims?
Throughout the New Testament, the apostles call saints unto obedience and holiness. I understand the difficulty of such obedience, as our flesh and the god of this world wars against us, but what if we refused to listen to all the false teachers that preach Jesus as our homeboy? What if we burned the books that promised our best life now? This is contrary to Scripture. Jesus is our Lord and he has promised your best life, but it's not this one.
My prayer is that the Church will rediscover the God of the Bible, and the faith of the apostles. We shall surely face a terrible day when the flames refine us, but the Refiner's fire only serves to purify us. Therefore, as our remaining days in this life expire, may our motivation for every deed be our appearance before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Perhaps we shall escape through the flames having our works deemed sincere by the one whose approval shall ring sweetly forevermore in our ears, the Lord Jesus.
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