The Judgment Seat

Very soon, everyone who has accepted Jesus as their savior will stand before the judgment seat of Jesus. This is a privilege only for those in relationship...knowing and known by...Jesus:


Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’


The judgment seat of Christ is the "Bema seat." This was a well-known place in the ancient world. This was the seat the Olympic judge would have sat to give rewards to the competing athletes. The Bema seat of Jesus is different than the Great White Throne judgment , where unbelievers will receive judgment for what the guilt of their sins they carry into God's presence. The Bema seat will be a glorious day, but also a day of regret. This is the day people in Jesus' Body will find out what we have won, and what we have lost!


II Corinthians 5:9-10 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.


2 John 1:8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward.


There are rewards for loving Jesus well, cities and crowns...treasure...glorious garments that will reflect our measure of wholehearted love for Jesus...it won't matter how much money we had, or how smart in the worlds eyes we were...it won't matter how many people listened to us, or thought we were anointed...only one thing will matter: In the secret times, how much of my heart did I make available to Jesus to renew? How much did I reach for Him with my secret requests for His presence...for holiness, for love, for humility...for obedience?


Paul said that this course...the set amount of time each person has to know, and be known, by Jesus is like a race:


Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.


We reach forward with our words. We reach for Jesus with discipline. It isn't discipline to do good things and resist bad things...it is discipline to reach for Jesus with our requests: "I want to know you," "Give me endurance to do your will," "help me to hunger for obedience," "teach me to search for the lowest place" "Renew me!"


Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.


As I behold who Jesus is, I am struck with the differences between His love and my love, His motives and my motives, His humility and my humility." This is recognizing my spiritual poverty. Then, I mourn the difference! I cry out...I ask, seek, knock...for Jesus to make me more like Him.


II Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.


This is the exercise that produces the muscle that excels in the race. This is the spiritual training Paul spoke of. Paul, who wrote half the New Testament, said in Phillipians "I have not yet attained the prize..." Paul was not looking to accomplishment on earth to measure Himself by...He wanted to reach for more until his last breath!


I want a vision like Paul. How much more insight, fascination with Jesus and His kingdom, comprehension of love, obedience, zeal, and increase in agreement with God will God give to a man or woman this side of eternity? I set my heart to find out!


1 Timothy 4:8 “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”


We are in a training race right now. If this were a marathon, this week I feel like I am on mile 24. I am tempted to give in to weariness. But no athlete would come this far to get lazy and sit down! Now is the time for me to re-set my gaze, bear down, talk to Jesus, and finish well. Reaching with my words to God for new strength, new fascination with Jesus that will reignite my passion for Him and what He is doing...put a new spring in my spiritual step...imagining that moment when I stand before the smiling judge to hear His delight as He declares "well done good and faithful servant!"


Hebrews 12:12-13 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

Isaiah 40:28-31 Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.