Tag: 2 Corinthians

Text: 2 Corinthians 12

Paul is speaking of himself in the third person…and he is giving his personal testimony of the time when he was caught up into the third heaven. He says it happened 14 years ago and as you count back and study the Book of Acts, it is probable that this took place on his first missionary journey and perhaps when he was stoned at Lystra and left for dead…maybe that’s when the Lord caught him up into the third heaven and gave him a glimpse of that…we don’t know that for certain.

But, in these opening verses we need to understand why Paul is including this. The first few verses, Paul is speaking about of his own personal experience of God catching him up and showing him a vision of what it meant to be in heaven with the Lord.

Read 1-10:

A third heaven and a thorn in the same chapter. My, how real that is to the Christian experience. Do we ever get to the place we think that heavenly experiences exempt us from all difficulties. It is true in the life of many of you here this morning that in the very same chapter of your life you have experienced a high spiritual exaltation and a low Satanic depression.

Did you know that heavenly experiences are dangerous? And those that are blessed of God and those among whom and in whose midst God moves, that there comes to those kinds of people a very special kind of danger. You’ll notice in verse 7 Paul mentions twice this statement, “unless I should be exalted above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh”…lest I should be exalted above measure…” Paul was frustrated like some of you have been at the turn of events…In one minute he’s caught into Paradise. Not a living soul has ever made that trip and come back except Jesus Christ. Paul said “I saw things…well, it’s not lawful for me to write about them…I saw things that you wouldn’t believe if I told you…I was caught up into Paradise…I don’t know if I was in the body or in the spirit…it doesn’t make any difference…I was there! And I saw the glories of that place and God gave me an abundance of revelations. But, he said, “after that a very frustrating thing happened to me…suddenly I was thrown into the valley of depression…I was thrown into the depths of despair…and I prayed three times for God to deliver me from this and He never did it.”

I think that’s a startling and frustrating response to a man’s prayer. I know that there are many of you here this morning who can identify with the Apostle Paul. You’ve been a little frustrated at some of the things that have happened to you because in one minute God has so marvelously blessed you and one minute God has lifted you up almost to the third heaven…you’ve made it to the second…and if you stood on your tiptoes you could almost have seen over to the third heaven….you never dreamed life could be so filled with joy…you never dreamed there could be so much ecstasy in just living everyday life…God has lifted you up to heavenly places and you’ve walked in that realm of glory and you’ve been praising the Lord and rejoicing…your heart just as light as air and all of a sudden, you fall flat on your face. Mountains of obstacles stand in your way. Depression comes upon you. Difficulty comes…sickness settles upon you. Infirmities, distresses, persecutions, and you can’t figure out what in the world’s going on. What’s happened? And you pray, “Lord, remove this thing…what’s going on? Lord, remove this thing..” And yet, God doesn’t answer in the way you want Him to answer.

You see, it’s not inconsistent as far as God is concerned for you to be lifted up to the third heaven one moment and to have a thorn a “messenger of Satan” in the next moment. And really the greatest revelation that Paul ever had in his life was not the revelation that he received when he was caught up to the third heaven…it was the revelation he received when he had the thorn in his flesh.

And I want you to know this morning the greatest revelation from God you will ever receive and the most profitable revelation you will ever receive from God will not be one that you would receive by being caught up into Paradise today and having your eyes exposed to all the glories of that place, but the most profitable and the greatest revelation you will ever receive is the revelation you can receive this morning from understanding the ministry of the thorns. Why in the world does God do it like.

As I was studying this passage I began to remember other incidents in the Bible and I found that this is God’s method of working. If you’ll go back and trace the great prophets and great heroes of the Old Testament and even in the New Testament, you’ll find the same thing is true. Even Jesus, after His baptism when the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended upon Him as a dove, and the voice from heaven cried out, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”…immediately after that, Jesus was plunged into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil…to fast and to pray for 40 days.

After Moses’ greatest spiritual experience came his most severe times of testing. It was after Elijah conquered the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel and witnesses the fire of God falling that we find him whimpering under a juniper tree, praying that he would die.

So, I want you to know this morning if some of you have come from mountaintop experiences into the valleys of depression…I want you to know you’re in good company. Don’t be surprised, and ask, “Well, why does God do it this way? Why after God gave Paul that marvelous vision and that abundant revelation did He allow Satan to buffet him with a thorn in the flesh.”

Here’s the reason He did it…God did it to keep Paul useable. God did it to keep Paul useable. God does it in your life to keep you useable. I said a moment ago…Heavenly experiences are dangerous. You know why? Because they have a tendency to make us spiritually proud and presumptious. Paul recognized he was in danger of becoming spiritually proud and presumptious because he said twice in that seventh verse, “Lest I should be exalted above measure…lest I should be puffed up and think that God had favored me above me other people…Now, I had it made and I could just coast the rest of my life on this marvelous experience. Because, you see, there is nothing that will so soon disqualify you for God using you and glorifying Himself than your spiritual pride and presumption.

God can only glorify Himself through us and God can only use us when we’re kept in the position of humility and abasement and weakness.

Now, I want us to do four things as we look at this passage of Scripture this morning…

Let’s establish this priniciple…
1) Verse 9: “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient
for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’”
(My strength is brought to completion in your weakness.

God says, “Paul, the reason I’m doing this…” and He says to you this morning, “Christian, the reason I allow these difficult things to come into your life is because your weakness is the stage on which I display My power and My strength.” You see, the condition for God displaying His power in our lives is not OUR strength and OUR ability…it is our WEAKNESS and our INABILITY.
Let’s read in 1 Corinthians 1:
“For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many
wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;
but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame
the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to
shame the things which are strong and the base things of the
world and the despised, God has chosen, the things which are
not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no flesh
should boast before God.”

Notice three times in these verses…God has deliberately chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise and God has deliberately chosen the weak to shame the things which are strong, and God has deliberately chosen the base things of the world to nullify the things that are…that no flesh should boast before God…glory in His presence.

Three times Paul says that God doesn’t simply use what He can…God isn’t simply getting along the best way He can with what He can get…God has deliberately passed by the great, the noble, the strong, the wise…God has deliberately chosen the foolish, and the weak, and the base things of the world…Friend, God doesn’t use you in spite of your weakness, He uses you because of your weakness.

You say, “Well, I have so much ability.” Well, God can use that if you’ll give it up like Paul did in Phil. 3…”But what things were gain to me I counted as garbage.” I have a little pet peeve. The pet peeve is to hear somebody talk to a lost man like this, “Oh, you have so much ability, there is so much you could do for the Lord…if you’d just give your heart to Jesus there is just so much you could do for God.” That is the world’s greatest mistake. We talk about some Christians who are carnal and living lives of defeat and we say, “Oh, if they’d just get right with the Lord…what they couldn’t do for the Lord!” Listen, God deliberately chooses the things that are base and weak. God does not use you in spite of your weakness. I wish we could understand this. We think that God is just getting along the best way He can and God just has to make do with what He has.

Listen, Paul says that God deliberately chooses these things so that He can be glorified and exalted and the only way God can use you is when He can be glorified in you. God is not going to use this church if He cannot be glorified in the using of it. The only way God will be glorified in the using of our lives and our bodies is if we recognize our utter weakness and inability. So, God is constantly reminding us that we’re just dust and He lets these thorns in the flesh come to us to remind us that we are weak…to show us our weakness and inability.

You remember over in 2 Chronicles 26, King Uzziah was a man God had greatly blessed (Remember we’re establishing the principle that God’s strength is made perfect when we’re weak)…
“And in Jerusalem he made engines of war invented by skillful
men to be on the towers and on the corners, for the purpose of
shooting arrows and great stones. Hen his fame spread afar,
for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.”

Now, there is a modern success story…King Uzziah has gained power and he’s gained prosperity and he says, “Here’s what we’re going to do…when we have to fight battles now, we’ve got it made. I’ve had skillful men to invent engines and we’re going to set these on the towers and my name is spreading abroad all over the land…I’m becoming famous…”
“…he was marvelously helped until he was strong…”

King Uzziah was marvelously helped by God…how long?…as long as he was weak, but when he became strong there was no more help…
“But when he became strong, his heart was so proud (lifted
up) that he acted corruptly…”

Listen, you know what happens in the lives of a great many Christians who enter into the spiritual life and God begins to bless…your heart is lifted up to your own destruction and the principle by which God operates in our lives is to remind us that we’re dust and He’s constantly weakening us and drawing out of us our OWN strength so that He can be glorified in our lives.

When D. L. Moody first went to Britain years ago, one of the British reporters went to interview and watch D. L. Moody as he preached and conducted his services, because he was trying to find out the secret of this man’s success. Here’s what he wrote…
“Mr. Moody uses bad English, has a high pitched voice,
speaks with a nasal tone, is overweight and generally rough.
I can see nothing in Mr. Moody to account for the success
of his work.”

And when Moody read that, he said, “That’s the secret! There is no way to explain this work except for the power of God!”

Now, some of you have been praying, “Lord, use me.” Alright, the first thing God has to do if He’s going to use you is to weaken you and to abase you and to humble you.

Now, that’s the principle…let’s examine the process:

How does God do this? Paul says “lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh…” This is the process. God says, “I can only use you, I can only be glorified in your life when you’re weak. Now, here’s how I’m going to make you weak.” “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh.” That word “thorn” means a “wooden stake” that impales someone to a cross or to a tree. The verb form of that word means to crucify. And here’s the picture that Paul is painting…he says, “there was given to me a stake that nailed me to the wall and nailed me to the floor…” Now that’s about as helpless as you can get.

Paul says, “I besought the Lord three times to remove it.” Now, if anybody has their prayers answered, it ought to be the Apostle Paul. Man, I’d like to have him praying for me. Well, I want you to know this is a startling response…God didn’t remove that thorn in the flesh. Paul prayed three times…I bet that’s the first he ever had to pray three times for anything in his life, and he was frustrated just like some of you have been.

Some of you have said, “Oh Lord, I could serve you better if you’d change circumstances…Lord, if you would put me in a different position. If you would give me a different situation…What is the “thorn in the flesh” for you this morning? You know, I think it’s significant that Paul does not identify his “thorn in the flesh.” Some people say we know that Paul was married because he said he had a thorn in the flesh. Well, that’s just speculation. Paul doesn’t identify the thorn in the flesh. Why? Because what it was is not important. It may have been some physical disease or infirmity…it could have been anything. We know that it wasn’t spiritual or moral defeat because God would have removed that. But it was something that Paul looked upon as a handicap. He was given a thorn in the flesh…a physical handicap or obstacle. And Paul said, “Lord, I could serve you so much better if you’d just remove this and change this…” Is that the way you pray?

Women pray, “Lord, I could just serve you so much better if you’d just change my husband.” Men pray, “Lord, I could just serve you so much better if you’d just change my wife, or move me to another position or to another town, or if you’d just give me this or give me that, or just change this circumstance in my life…then, I could just serve you!!”

Is that the way you’ve been praying? I want you to just notice something. Here is Paul’s great revelation. He says, “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me.”

Well, you mean to tell me that a thing can be of the devil and of God at the same time? That’s right!! It was a messenger of Satan and yet a gift of grace at the same time!! I think that’s good. You know, God uses the devil. That must frustrate him something awful. The devil comes along and he says, “You know, I’ve got something that’s just going to wipe you out! You’ve been causing me no little trouble…” (You know, Paul was known in hell…those people over in Acts who tried to cast out the demons…the demons said, “Jesus, I know…and Paul, I know…but who are you?) Well, Paul was famous in hell…he was a constant thorn in the devil’s flesh and so, Satan said, “Paul, I’m just going to wipe you out…I’m going to destroy your effectiveness…I’m going to destroy your ministry…you just had this tremendous spiritual and you think you’re on top of it all…I’m going to show you what I can do.”

And Satan inflicted him with a thorn in the flesh. And God says, “Thank you, Satan…just what I wanted you to do…you played right into My hands…because I know Paul real well and Paul was beginning to get a little bit ‘holier than thou’ attitude. He was beginning to coast just a little bit. He was beginning to get lifted up just a little bit through all of these great experiences that he’s had and I want to thank you for playing right into my hands.”

Listen, if God couldn’t use the devil, He’d kill him. The only reason God allows the devil to do what he does is because God is using him.

Now, listen, what’s your thorn in the flesh this morning?
Is there some difficulty…not talking now about moral or spiritual difficulty. Those things always removes. It may be physical illness. It may be a job situation that you wish could be changed. It may be a thousand things…it’s your thorn in the flesh.

God allows Satan to buffet you. Why? So He can keep you useable.

Alright, let’s move on…

Let’s explore now the possibilities of this principle…
The principle is: God’s power is made perfect when I am weak.
The process is: God makes me weak by giving me thorns in the flesh…difficulties.
Now, the possibilities of this:

Verse 9: “Most gladly will I glory in my infirmities in order that the
power of Christ may rest upon me.”

There are two glorious possibilities once you realize the principle by which God words. First of all is:

I can have victory in the midst of my difficulties.

Paul says “Most gladly will I glory…” That word, “glory”, means to give a “shout of triumph.” Sometimes people want to know if shouting in church is Scriptural. It is…the word “glory” means to shout. Paul says, “I will give a shout of victory in my distresses.” Why? Because it changed his viewpoint of distresses. The revelation of God changed the way he looked at things that came into his life.

Now, listen. I want you to remember this…If there is a thorn in your flesh, if there is situation that seems to be unbearable, if there is a circumstance in your life that presents difficulty and distress and you pray and God won’t remove that…then the next thing you’re to do is to praise Him for it, because God is going to use that to glorify Himself in your life.

Now, the first thing Paul prayed (I think he did right)…He prayed. He wanted it to be removed, but after it was not removed, he realized then through the revelation of God that God is saying, “I want this to stay here because this is a ‘minister’ that I have given to you. I’m going to use this.” Now, you need to change your viewpoint of difficulties and distresses and obstacles in your Christian life. If God will not remove them, then you know that God is using them for His glory.

Now, I repeat…we’re not talking about spiritual and moral failure. You can never use sin as an excuse this way. It’s things that are not morally and spiritually wrong. But you begin to praise God for them…and when a Christian realizes the principle by which God operates in his life, he can look upon any distress and any persecution, any difficulty, any tragedy, and say, “I will give a shout of victory in this, because I know God is using this, and He wants to use it if I’ll allow Him to glorify Himself in my life.”

The second great possibility is:

Not only victory over distresses and difficulties, but the power of Christ is made available to us.

He says, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
That word “rest” means “a tent spread over us”. It’s the only time it’s found in the New Testament. Paul says, “The power of Christ is like a tent spread over me and I live under the shelter of the power of Christ. And every day of my life, and every moment of my life I am sheltered by the power of Christ and the power of the risen Lord abides on me and is made available to me.”

But, I want you to notice the power of Christ dwells on him and abides on him only when he glories in his distresses. Did you notice that? It’s a chain reaction there. Some of you say, “Well, now Preacher, I’ve had difficulties, I’ve had distresses, I’ve had infirmities, but I haven’t seen the power of Christ in my life…I haven’t witnessed the power of Jesus glorifying in my life…” No, because you’ve not gloried in those infirmities…you’ve complained and griped and grown bitter. You know what will turn the trick? When you get Paul’s viewpoint, the heavenly viewpoint and you agree with God and you say, “God, I know that you’ve sent this now as Your gift of grace and I praise You for it and I glory in it, because I know it means You’re working in my life.”

Now, the last thing…Let’s enter into the provision.

What is that provision. Paul says, “Lord, take this thorn from my flesh.” God gave him a better answer. God said, “I’m not going to take the thorn from your flesh…I’m going to give you something better….My grace is sufficient for thee…My grace is sufficient for thee.”

The provision! He doesn’t say, “My grace will be sufficient.” He doesn’t say, “My grace can be sufficient.” He says, “My grace is sufficient, right now, present tense…My grace is sufficient.” I think that has to be the world’s greatest understatement. “MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE,”

He could have said a lot of things. “My grace just completely overwhelms every problem.” No, He says, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

You heard the story of the man who purchased a Rolls Royce. It’s the policy of the Rolls Royce corporation not to publish the amount of horse power of their engines. And this man paid all that money for the Rolls Royce and he felt like he had a right to know how many horsepower he had under that hood. Well, he kept asking them, and they kept sending him back letters “it is our policy not to disclose the amount of horsepower that we put in our engines.”

The man just got so angry about it and he kept on and kept on… he went to the head office and sent telegrams, he demanded to know and the people said, “We’ve just to give this fellow some kind of answer. He’s never going to let us alone.” So, the next time he wrote, demanding how much horsepower was in his Rolls Royce, he got back a telegram with one word on it: “ADEQUATE”

That’s what God says…Paul says, “Lord, You just don’t know the problems I’m going through. Lord, look at my situation. Lord look at this difficulty…Look at this infirmity…Lord, do something!” God says, “My grace is adequate…My grace is sufficient for thee.”

So Paul says, “Thank You, Lord…I know it is..I’ll take it by faith. Praise the Lord for difficulties. Praise the Lord for infirmities. Praise the Lord for thorns from the devil. His grace is sufficient for me.”

And, it’s sufficient for you, no matter what the situation is. That’s how God’s been working in your life.

This past week…these past months…this past year, some of you have been perplexed about the turn of events in your life. You’ve given Jesus everything you know to give Him. You’ve totally, without reservation, yielded it all to Him and not been able to understand it. Lest you be lifted up above measure, there was given to you a thorn the flesh, so you might walk, not in the power of your own strength or experiences, but knowing that His grace is sufficient for you.

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2005

2 Corinthians 5:9-11; 1 Corinthians 13:13-15

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:9-11,
9Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.  10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.  11Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

In a book a few days ago I came across a statement that gripped me. The statement was this: Do you realize that we are only a heartbeat away from a fixed state of reward, be it joy or shame. The phrase that really got hold of me was that phrase a fixed state of reward. Just one heartbeat, just one breath away from what I will be throughout all eternity. More and more I began to think about this fixed state, realizing that where I take off in time, I take up in eternity. As a man lives, he dies; and as he dies, he lives again in that condition throughout all eternity—just a heartbeat away from a fixed state of reward. The thought that came to me is if this heart should take its last beat, and I come into that fixed state of reward, is it what I want it to be? Realizing that there is nothing that can change it after that, that all I am going to do to determine my life, my existence in eternity, must be done this side of that heartbeat, what would it be? Would it be of joy or of shame? Paul realized that this life is just a prep room for eternity—that everything we do in this life, everything we do in our bodies in some way or another determines our fate, our condition, on the other side of that heartbeat. As he writes to these Christians at Corinth, his mind is traveling to that judgment seat, and he recognizes that all of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and there receive for what we have done, good or bad.

So Paul, in verse 9 says, wherefore we labor, we endeavor, that whether we live or die, we may be well pleasing to him because we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Here is what Paul is saying: the most important issue is not whether I live or die, but it is what my condition will be before the judgment seat of Christ. This issue is more important than the issue of life and death. Whether I live or whether I die is beside the point. That fades into insignificance in light of the judgment seat of Christ. Whether I live or die, I labor, I work, I make it my ambition, the aim of my life, that when I stand in his presence, I will be well pleasing to him.

He is not talking about that judgment where those who do not know Christ will stand. That is a different judgment when they will receive eternal punishment. He is talking about that judgment seat to which every believer will someday appear. The Christian is not going to be judged himself as to determine whether he is saved or lost. It is not a matter of salvation; it is a matter of stewardship. I thank God that Jesus said, he that believeth on me shall not come into condemnation but has passed from death unto life. Romans 8:1 says: He that is in Christ Jesus hath no condemnation. The one that condemns us is Jesus Christ who died for us and is right now interceding for us. The believer’s condemnation is past and done with. God judged me at Calvary, and I’ll stand in jeopardy of my salvation. I will never stand before God and receive salvation or loss of salvation. I’ll never come to that condemnation. I myself will never be judged, but my life, my works, what I have done as a Christian will be judged.

The Greek word he uses here for judgment seat is the word beama which comes from the athletic games they used to have in those days. The beama was where the judge sat and observed all the athletes as they participated in the games. When the games were over, the athletes stood before that beama, that judgment seat, and there they received their wreaths, their crowns, their trophies—or they did not receive them. There they received their reward, their prize, for running in the race. God uses this same word to say that every Christian as he lives his life is living it in the sight of that judge and when our life is finished, which may be only a heartbeat away, we will stand before that beama, that judgment seat and there Christ will reward us according to what we have done in our body, whether it be good or bad. That is going to be a day of revelation.

He says we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. To appear doesn’t simply mean to put in an appearance or to make a showing. The Greek word means we will be led into the light. It means to be turned inside out, to be displayed as to our proved character.

So the judgment seat of Christ is a time of revelation. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:13-15:
13Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.  14If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Paul says that we will all be led into the light of Christ, of that judgment seat. Our lives will be examined in the light of God. We will appear, be made manifest (1 Cor. 3:13). Every façade, every mask, every hypocrisy, every pretense will be ripped from us. We will stand before the judgment seat of Christ turned inside out. It will be a time of revelation.

The light is bad down here. I often examine and judge my life in the light of your life. I see what you do, and what you fail to do, and I judge my life in the light of your life and think I’m all right, pretty good. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear someone say, well, nobody is perfect. We are always judging ourselves in the light of someone else’s life. The light is very bad. Some of us have an idea that we are pretty good Christians and that when we were saved 15 or 20 years ago, baptized and joined the church, that’s all there is to it. We come on Sunday. We may give an offering or tithe. We support the work of the Lord. That’s it—all that God asks of us. If somebody were to ask are you a faithful Christian? You’d say, sure, I go to church and I pay my tithe. There is so much more to it than that.

The day of judgment will be a day of revelation when we no longer judge and evaluate our lives by the preacher or this deacon or that Sunday school teacher, but now we evaluate our lives by the person of Jesus Christ. What a revelation that will be—to see what we really are. The truth of the matter is that none of us really knows what the other one is like.

One reason we get our feelings hurt so easily is because we think more highly of ourselves than we really are. We have a wrong idea of what we are. The Scripture I read a while ago in 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, says that He will try every man’s work, of what sort it is. Notice it doesn’t say of what size. Every man’s work shall be made manifest. The same word used there is shall be dragged into the light, and day shall reveal its true nature, everything I’ve done, everything you’ve done, in the name of Christ, or not in the name of Christ, shall be weighed in the balances. God is not trying to figure out how big it is, the quantity of what we’ve done, but the quality of what we’ve done. The important thing with God is the motive of the heart. You may come to church, tithe, teach a Sunday school class but if your life as a whole is not lived for the glory of God, then you are not ready for this appearance before the judgment seat of Christ.

In Matthew, chapter 6, Jesus is talking about the way a Christian is supposed to live. He says that some people when they do good deeds do them thinking about the praise they are going to receive from men. They want men to reward them. This is why if we do something in the church and nobody pats us on the back, we get a little bit hurt and upset about it. He says some people pray, and when they pray, they are thinking more about how good they are, and how much more they pray than someone else, than they are thinking about what God thinks of their prayer life. If you live for Christ—pray, go to church, teach Sunday school—and you are more conscious of the presence of the people than you are of the presence of God, verily you have your reward right now. You will not receive a reward from your Father in heaven because the Father who sees knows the motive of what you are doing.

The biggest problem I have in my Christian life is evaluating my motives—why I preach, why I teach, why I live for Christ. What a day of revelation it is going to be.

It is not only going to be a time of revelation, it is going to be a time of rewarding. Notice what Paul says: that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.  In the 1 Corinthians passage, he talks about receiving a reward. The purpose of it all is to reward us.

Notice that everybody is going to receive something. Sometimes I’ve heard it preached and taught that only those of us who are good and faithful to the Lord are going to receive anything. Verse 10 says that everybody is going to receive something. We must all appear above the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or whether it be bad. Everybody is going to receive something. Some of them will receive a booby prize, I suppose.

Notice what they are going to receive: the things done in their bodies. It is an interesting fact that the Bible teaches that every day I am building up a bank account in heaven. Do you have a savings account? I have a savings account. John B. Rockefeller has a savings account. The only difference between his savings account and mine is that I put pennies in mine, and he puts millions in his. Everything you do goes into that account. On the day of judgment God is going to give us the things done in our body. That is going to be a time of reunion when before the judgment seat of Christ I meet face-to-face everything that I have done for Christ as well as everything I have failed to do for Christ. Everybody is going to receive something, whether it be good or whether it be bad.

It is interesting to notice that the word bad doesn’t mean sinful or evil. It means worthless, trite, trivial. There are a lot of Christians who are separated from the world as far as getting drunk, taking dope, lying and stealing, and all those bad things. That’s not what he is talking about. He is saying that many of us are going to suffer loss at that judgment seat of Christ not because we have done those things that are not bad, evil, or sinful, but we have done those things that were worthless as far as God is concerned.

I wish I could get you to take a moment to review this past week. How many trivial things have you and I exhausted our time doing? Paul says that God has laid the foundation. That foundation is Jesus Christ. Now, you and I are to build a life on that foundation. What kind of materials are you going to use on building this foundation? He says some men use gold, silver, and precious stone for their foundation—building a life, a home, a tabernacle of their lives. This is good material; things that cost them something. They must sacrifice for it.

Over here this Christian has said you don’t want to get too fanatical about this business. You can go overboard. I’m saved, and that is the main thing. The foundation is laid. So he doesn’t want to sacrifice. He goes out to the junkyard and finds some wood, hay, and stubble—the most worthless junk. He says he will build his life with this. Then I can take all my gold, silver, and precious stone and spend it on what I want. I’ll take the prime time of my life, and I will use it the way I want to use it. I’ll take the bad times, the worthless things, and I’ll give the exhaust to Christ. I’ll burn all the fuel in my own life and give the exhaust to Christ—give him the leftovers. So there are many of us this morning who are building our lives with wood, hay, and stubble. Everybody has built something into your life this week. You’ve laid brick or you’ve laid precious stones.

The tragic thing is that so many of us today are building our lives with worthless junk. On that day God shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. It shall be tried by fire. Here is the figure that he is using. Here is a man who has built a house. The Lord comes up to see what kind of house he has built. Let’s just see how much this house meant to you—how much you were willing to sacrifice and put into this house. He sets a match to it, and the fire rages through the house. The only thing left standing was the well built part—the gold, silver, precious stone, steel girders are still there. The wood, hay, and stubble are all gone.

He says if a man’s work abides, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. The Greek is that he shall be saved through fire. It is a picture of man caught in his burning house. He runs through the fire, gets out, and says thank God I’m saved. He looks back, and everything he possessed, everything he owned, everything he had lived for goes up in smoke. He comes out with nothing. His salvation is reduced to a minimum. He is barely saved. That is the way some of us will stand in the presence of Christ. Thank God, I’m saved; I missed hell. But we will have the smell of smoke on our garments, look around and there is absolutely nothing that we brought with us. Everything we did in our lives has gone up in smoke.

Do you see why the Bible teaches that you ought to live with eternity in mind? The biggest fool in this building is that person who lives only for this present time, not recognizing, not acknowledging that he is only a heartbeat away from that fixed state.

It will be a time of revelation and reward, but it will also be a time of regret. Ye shall suffer loss. 1 John 2:28 says that some of us will be ashamed before him at his coming. We often talk about the second coming of the Lord as a thing of joy, and the Bible does call it the blessed hope. The Bible also has a great deal to say about being embarrassed and ashamed at his coming. Because we are not ready; we will suffer loss. We may have worked a lifetime to build up our holdings, our possessions, but we will be paupers before that judgment seat of Christ.
The reason is that God is judging our lives as a whole. This is very important. Many of us have the idea that God is going to reward us like prizes in a carnival. Have you ever gone to a carnival? All those booths—robbery row I call it because they are going to take your money. Knock the milk bottles off and win this teddy bear. Take the gun and shoot it, and throw the hoops around the bottles. I’ve played these games. I’ll miss a lot, but I’ll come out with something. I don’t go home empty-handed. I’ll have something to show for all that money I blew at that ridiculous side show.

A lot of us think the judgment seat will be like this. I remember one time I prayed. Maybe God will give me a little prize for that. I remember one time I invited my neighbor to church. Maybe God will give me a little prize for that. I remember one time in a revival that I got right with God for about a week. I visited, tithed, and read my Bible for about a week. Surely God will give me something for that. I know I won’t be on the front row, receiving all of that, but I will have something.

No, that’s not the way God works. He takes life as a whole, as a unit. He is not going to take little isolated incidents, little unexpected occasions of service, and reward each one of those. He will give us one reward for the things done in our body. If my life has not been lived in submission to him for his glory, I will suffer loss. But it makes no difference how many times I’ve failed, or how many times I have disappointed my Lord, if I have lived my life to the best of my ability in submission to him–yielded to him for his glory, I shall receive a reward. God is going to take your life as a whole and judge it.

You say, what is that reward? I don’t really know. I can tell you what I believe the reward is. Every time Jesus himself talked about that time of judgment, here was the reward that he himself offered: Well done, thou good and faithful servant. I want to tell you that I am just a heartbeat from his presence and away from that judgment seat. If I can stand in his presence and just have him look at my life and say well done, that is enough. The golden streets and mansions and gates of pearl won’t mean very much is you do not have the Master’s well done.
Listen, if Christ cannot pronounce well done upon your life right now, then he cannot pronounce well done upon your life at the judgment seat. As you leave this life, you enter that life in the same condition in a fixed state of reward. Right now God is judging you and me. What is the pronouncement he makes on your life? If he cannot look at your life and say well done, then he will not be able to say it at the judgment seat.

©Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2008