Why Should We Think About the Judgement Seat? (2 Corinthians 5:10)

The gospel is good news. In it, we see God providing the information that we need to hear, and that we need to respond to for our own benefit. The gospel brings to us the possibility of a change of identity and a change of destiny. So we can think about that aspect briefly before considering the question, Why should we think about the judgement seat? 

The Gospel and its Blessings

We live in the information age. Life is made up of knowing so much. We can even know through our phones if one of our friends is geographically close by. Yet the availability of information is causing concerns because the constancy of it is preventing people from having time to make priorities. What is the most important piece of information that we have received? It is the gospel. In it, God speaks to us clearly about how we can be saved from his judgement. 

 

What does the gospel say? It speaks about the divine initiative. God engages in many initiatives in his providence. One obvious initiative was his creation of the universe at the beginning. After all, no one else could have done that. Another initiative was his provision of a Saviour, his own eternal Son. And no one else could have provided such a Saviour for us.

 

This initiative was planned long before it happened. It was devised in eternity. No doubt, many companies have their business plans, which may or may not happen. Sometimes, a person sees a space and imagines a factory where things could be produced. He or she consults with experts and advisors and eventually a plan is produced. It was not like that with God. The formulation of his plan did not even take a microsecond. In fact, he has always known he would do it.

 

The initiative is concerned with a divine Person, the second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God. The other two Persons are involved since it is impossible for them not to be. Yet the gospel focuses on what the Son of God would do. He became a man, so as to live a perfect life and die an atoning death. We might be surprised to know that the Bible regards that period as his humiliation, the years when he veiled his identity and was unknown by most. When he walked down the street, who said, ‘There is the Son of God.’ Very few. When he hung on the cross, who said, ‘There is the Son of God.’ Very few, apart from a few soldiers and a criminal who realised that something unusual was happening at Calvary. But it was the way that the problem of sin was dealt with as far as blessing people is concerned.

 

Jesus’ period of humiliation was followed by his exaltation, beginning with his resurrection, and followed by his ascension and enthronement, all leading to the day when he will judge the world. It is good to know that Jesus is currently engaged in bringing the gospel to sinners all over the world, and that he will do so until he returns. After all, whatever day he returns, it will be evening in many places, and in those locations, it will be the case that the people will have been notified earlier that day about the gospel, in the morning and the afternoon. And in the evening, he will appear in his glory.

 

Meanwhile, along with the information about the divine initiative, God sends an invitation to everyone to receive the blessings of the gospel. He does this mainly through preaching and other forms of communication. The invitation is to unbelievers, those estranged from God by their sins, to trust in Jesus and receive pardon for all their sins. Trusting in this sense involves committing themselves to Jesus out of gratitude to him for coming into the world. Faith has initial actions as well as subsequent actions. We cannot expect the initial action to be the same as subsequent actions. The initial one is like an introduction to a relationship whereas the subsequent ones are expressions of the ongoing relationship.

 

This believing response to Jesus is accompanied by repentance, which includes sorrow for personal sin, but also includes a determination to forsake sinful ways. The presence of repentance is one way of indicating that the response is more than head knowledge of the information revealed in the gospel. After all, Jesus is not only the Saviour from the penalty of sin. He is also the Saviour from the presence of sin, and this activity by him begins at conversion and is carried on throughout life. 

 

So, such begin the Christian life which is all about serving the Lord in lots of different ways, with the prospect of arriving one day in the world of glory. Paul describes the Christian life and its completion in 2 Corinthians 4 and 5. And one of the experiences that lies ahead is appearing at the judgement seat of Christ, which Paul describes in verse 10 of chapter 5: ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.’

 

The judgement seat of Christ

Appearing before any authority is a serious business. Paul obviously took this future prospect very seriously – his outlook is indicated in the little word ‘for’ at the commencement of the verse. As has often been said, when the words therefore or for appear in a sentence, we should ask what they are there for. In this instance, ‘for’ points back to the previous verse: ‘So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.’ By the word ‘home’ he means life in heaven and by the word ‘away’ he means life on earth. Paul knows that, when he goes to heaven, he will do what pleases the Lord. That was his desire for his earthly life as well. But he provides the reason for his serious outlook – the prospect of appearing before the judgement seat of Christ.

Who does Paul say will appear before the judgement seat of Christ? To find the answer to this question, we should check whom Paul means by ‘we’ in the verse we are focussing on. Obviously, he includes himself; in the context he also says that the ‘we’ are those who walk by faith and not by sight (v. 7). If we go back to verse 6, we will see that the ‘we’ are those who have been given the Spirit as a guarantee. So, in the immediate context, Paul says that Christians will be at the judgement seat. We know from other passages, such as Matthew 25 where the parable of Jesus about sheep and goats is found, that everyone else will appear there as well.

 

What does appearing there mean? It does not merely mean that we shall be physically present. Rather it means that we shall be present in reality – the real ‘us’ will be on display. It will be obvious then who we are, not just our names, but also our characters. The older versions used the word ‘manifest’ rather than ‘appear’, and ‘manifest’ reveals the truthfulness of the occasion or person. Many people appear in court in our country, but none of them have been made manifest. Something about them has remained hidden, but nothing will be hidden on that great day. Our motives as well as our actions will become known.

 

What will the outcome be? Paul tells us that each person will receive what he or she is due from the Judge. The basis of the outcome is what they will have done in the body, which is another way of saying what was done in this life before they died. This will be an incredible sight, observing what each person will be given by Jesus, including everyone we know.

 

What is the evidence of the decision that Jesus will make? The answer is that what we have done in the body will be the evidence, whether in thought, word, or deed. Paul says that there are two kinds of activity – they are either good or evil. Good here does not mean perfect and evil does not mean as bad as possible. Those doing good are Christians because they have been changed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Those doing evil are those who have not been changed by the grace of God. 

 

But there is a further aspect to this verse that we need to bear in mind and that is the original readers to whom it was sent. At that time in the church in Corinth, much evil was being done in the church, as we can read in 1 Corinthians. It is not hard to see what can be included in that evil: they were deciding to follow human leaders and thus dividing the congregation; they were tolerating wrong practices not found in the world; they were abusing the Lord’s Supper (some had already been published by God for that misbehaviour); the wealthy were despising the poorer members; they even denied the resurrection of Jesus as a literal event because people could not conceive of that possibility. What would we think would be given to them by Jesus on the day of judgement? Paul calls them ‘brothers’ at the close of chapter 15 and urges them to cease from their evil and get on with the work of the Lord. 

 

If those believers continued living with those sinful practices, it is certain that they will lose out in some ways at the judgement seat. It is difficult to say what the loss will be, but it is usually described as not receiving as much glory as they could have had. We might say that it will be sufficient to get there, but Paul would not agree with us because he wanted to have a crown of glory that was connected to his service of his Master. He wanted to do his best for Jesus and nothing less.

 

The gathering

At the judgement seat, there will be those who never heard the gospel, and they will be judged according to what they knew of God as the One who should be worshipped and according to what they knew naturally by having the law of God written on their hearts. Another division of those who will be there will be composed of those who heard the gospel invitation and refused it. They will have greater punishment than those who never heard the gospel. To put it in biblical terms, both those groups will be placed by Jesus on his left hand. 

 

On his right hand will be those who responded to the gospel in faith and were forgiven their sins. They will receive different degrees of rewards from Jesus in line with their faithfulness to him and their refusal to engage in what was sinful during their lives. Those rewards will all be expressions of divine grace even although they are connected to their devotion to their Master.

 

Applications

Applications from our theme are not difficult to describe. Some of us have heard the gospel numerous times and have still not responded to the gospel and trusted in Jesus. What is stopping you from doing so? The evidence that you will have done so is changed desires. A changed life, with new priorities that focus on sanctification, is the best evidence of a new heart. 

 

There is much that we do not know about the judgement seat. We do not know where it will take place, nor do we know how long it will last. But the Bible tells us we will be there, and it also tells us that we will be revealed as to who we really are. Surely this requires a serious response from us.

 

What is going to help us as we move towards the judgement seat of Christ? The divine helps are summarised as the means of grace. We need to observe the instructions that Jesus provides for his disciples. Through them, the Holy Spirit will give wisdom and power to believers as they endeavour to live for Jesus in this world.