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30 Aug: 

The Certainty and Nature of Judgement Day:

“….For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God.

For it is written,   ‘as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me,

and every tongue shall give praise to God.’

So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. ”

Rom 14:10,11,12

 

This verse along with 2 Cor 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” indicates that everyone will be judged. The tone of these verses is rather sobering if not frightening. But that does not have to be. For Christians, the last judgement will be nothing less than the final step before we step into the heavenly place that has been prepared of us as Jesus told us in John 14:3.

The question then that is first and foremost is by what shall we be judged????

The passage in Rom 2:5-11 gives us a good answer to that:  “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶ who will repay each person according to his deeds: ⁷ to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life; ⁸ but to those who are self-serving and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, He will give wrath and indignation. ⁹ There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of mankind who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek, ¹⁰ but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹¹ For there is no partiality with God.”

You can see in this passage that there are two recipients of God’s judgement: one is those who have rejected God’s instruction and lived a self-indulgent lifestyle and will therefore receive condemnation and destruction. 2 Thess 1:8 “dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”   Mtt 3:41-43 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

“Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

And here you can see the second group at Judgement Day shining like the sun. This second group are those who were found to be ‘righteous”.

So now a second question arises and asks what makes one righteous???

James 2:17 tells us that faith without works is dead.  Eph 2:10 tells us that we are Christ’s workmanship, created in Him for good works.  Paul indicates to women in    1 Tim 2:10 that their claim to godliness will be seen by their good works. Later in 5:10  Paul stresses the need for recognized widows to be seen as one who serves and provides good work in support of others. Later, 6:17,18,19  Paul instructs the rich to be “rich in good works”.

The importance of doing these good works is because they are signs of the Holy Spirit working within us. Rom 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” James speaks to this ‘LIFE’ as living faith; our spiritual life brings forth works as James stipulates, James 2:18. Paul tells Titus “Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful” (3:14). And is that not the crux of the matter between the goats who are condemned and the sheep who are rewarded: faithful works rewarded and dead faith condemned.

So the first question was how are we going to be judged???  The answer is according to our righteousness. The second question asks what makes a man righteous and the indications so far is that a life of good works is something that is necessary. So are our good works making us righteous???

Consider these verses:      1 Peter 2:12 “Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.”     1 Thess 1:11,12  “To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you and you in Him”.    1 Cor 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”   Col 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”    Mtt 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

So the indication here is that our good works are for the purpose of bringing glory to our heavenly Father. What does 2 Cor 5:20,21 tells us – that we are His ambassadors so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  Through us the lost can see and come to know God and thus find salvation.

Here is the problem: Rom 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Rom 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death…”.  That is unequivocal.

So, God’s response to our sins is found in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Eph 2:8,9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”   Rom 8:10 “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”   Rom 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”    Rom 5:18,19 “…. even so through the one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s life disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”    Rom 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

So what is the purpose of our good works – it reflects our state of being saved. Jesus told us that if we love Him we will keep His commandments. 1 John 2:3 “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” If we are faithful followers of Christ then we will bring glory to God and salvation to the lost.

We in turn, being faithful followers, will have the Holy Spirit living within us and will receive that crown of life (James 1:12) when this life is over.  We will also receive an imperishable body with which to wear that crown:  1 Cor 15:42-44 “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”      Phil 3:20,21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory”.     Rom 6:5 “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.”    So not only will our image be conformed like Christ’s but our place at the right hand of God will also be accomplished.     Rev 3:21 – “To him that over-cometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.” And this is later confirmed: Rev 7:9 “After these things I looked and behold, a great multitude was standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands.”       

That will be us, gathered together with all of Christ’s faithful believers.

 

 

23 Aug:   Relationships    OR     Responses  -  ???

"But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.  Mtt 5:39

Today I want to look at the type of relationship that the Lord wants us to have with those who live around us. I want to look at what type of ‘responses’ we should exhibit. For instance, have you ever been in a situation where you wondered what your ‘Christian’ response should be? Or maybe, you wondered whether you wanted to act like Christ or rather act like yourself and punch the person in the nose???       Have you ever considered that taking up your cross and following Jesus means that you behave the way Christ wants you to behave INSTEAD of the way you would normally respond. Consider:

MTT 5:38-45 "You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.' "But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Clearly, operating under these conditions is exhibiting the ‘love your neighbor’ behavior that the Lord wants from us. You see a failure to comply with the Lord’s teachings in the Corinthian church: 1 Cor 6:1,5-7 “Does any one of you, when he has a case against another dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? I say this is to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?”

And is not this attitude to allow yourself be wronged rather than bring a broken relationship into the church be exactly what Jesus is speaking to when He answers Peter’s question about forgiveness?  Mtt 18:21,22 “²¹ Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?   ²² Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.” Jesus then follows up this discussion with a parable regarding a king who forgives one of his servants who owed him a vast sum of money which could have never been repaid. In this parable the servant then goes out and has a fellow servant thrown in jail until that servant pays back the money he owed which was about three months’ pay. The king hears about this and recalls the servant who owed him so much money: “Then summoning the slave, the king said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you? And the king moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owned him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of your does not forgive his brother from your heart.” Mtt 18:23-35

“Mercy’ and ‘love’ should be by-words which illustrate how we live our lives. Read what the Apostle John wrote: 1 John 4:10, 11 “In this is love – not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Consider another situation which the Lord spoke to His apostles: Mtt 18:1-17 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him about his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.”

It would appear that there are situations in which sin does need to be handled publicly. We can see this in Acts when Peter is publicly setting a non-Christian example by withdrawing from Gentile fellowship: Acts 2:11,14 “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned…. I said to Cephas in the presence of all…” 

It seems that when there is an ongoing sin in a person’s life then it needs to be publicly corrected: 2 Thess 3:14,15 “If anyone does not obey our instructions in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. YET, do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”  2 Tim 2:24-26 “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

The bottom line is that sin needs to be removed but done so in a loving and patient way. We need to remember that we all have sin in our lives and what is the old quote: ‘There but for the grace of God go I.”

The last relevant passage that I want to look at is the instructions Christ gave us in Matthew: Mtt 5:23,24 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

If you are like me, you get the idea that God wants peace and compassion and love to reign supreme in our lives.

What does Paul tell us: 1 Cor 13:13 “But now faith, hope, love abide still; but the greatest of these is love.”

In order for love to abide first and foremost in our lives we must live according to Col 3:

 Col 3:1,2 “Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above not on the things that are on earth.”