Skip to main content

re Judgment

The believer's judgment by his Lord is not the same as the divine wrath that will fall on unrepentant humankind in general. I Corinthians 3 tells us the believer, built upon the foundation of Christ will -- though personally secure -- be judged as to the quality of his work for Christ:

1 Corinthians 3:12-13 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.

Which raises the question, how do we determine which works are in the first category (gold, silver, precious stones) and which are in the second (wood, hay, straw). Big difference between the two and no mention of any kind of "in between" works.

One clue follows in chapter 4: (1 Corinthians 4:5) Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

It appears that hidden motives & purposes are critical in determining the value of a work. If I do something good for the following reasons:
  • to be seen and thought well of by others
  • to earn spiritual brownie points
  • to feel good about myself
  • to lessen feelings of guilt or fear
  • to receive reciprocal favors back from others
...then it seems the works --though good in relation to others-- are not valuable in God's sight as flowing from a relationship of grace, of love, of gratitude toward him.

If I do something good for the following reasons:

  • out of thankfulness to God
  • in response to his goodness and grace
  • as a loving response to who he is
  • to be a blessing to his creation & those who bear his image
  • to bring attention to God by honoring him
...then it seems that those kind of works would be valuable.

These motives are polar opposites, hence no middle ground. Outwardly we cannot tell if someone is praying, or serving, or giving, or sacrificing, or any good thing because of right motives and purposes.

Hence we really need the judgment of Christ that those who have served him well might receive their commendation.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

clement quotes hebrews

Clement of Rome wrote to the church in Corinth around AD 90.  This is perhaps the same Clement, companion of Paul, mentioned in Philippians 4:3.  Many hold him to be the first bishop / pope in Rome, aka St. Clement I.   Clement quotes from the letter to the Hebrews.  Origin suggested that Clement was in fact the writer (as transcriber or amanuensis) of Hebrews.  Perhaps this letter began as a "word of exhortation" given by Paul at the synagogue (Heb 13:22; cf Acts 13:15) which then became a circular letter for the churches.  Other possible authors of Hebrews include Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos.  The theology is Pauline, but the transcriber is obviously second-generation (Heb. 2:3-4). At any rate, this early church leader in Rome, is already quoting Hebrews in his letter in AD 90:    CHAPTER 36  ALL BLESSINGS ARE GIVEN TO US THROUGH CHRIST This is the way, beloved, in which we find our Savior, even Jesus Christ,  the High Prie...

Howard Hendricks on OT books chronology

When I was in seminary, Howard Hendricks (aka "Prof") gave us a little card with the books of the OT chronologically arranged. The scanned copy I have was a bit blurry and I wanted to make something like this available for our church class in OT theology ("Story of Redemption"). A few minor edits and here it is...

sword and trowel

"From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me." (Nehemiah 4:16-18 ESV) The great London preacher, Charles Spurgeon, published a monthly magazine called The Sword and The Trowel; A record of combat with sin and of labour for the Lord. It was published from 1865 to 1892. The cover of the journal had a drawing taken from Nehemiah 4, which included both a trowel (representing the work) and a sword (representing the fight). The sword was necessary to protect what the men with trowels were building. These citizen-soldier-builders would successfully complete the wall aroun...