2 Corinthians 5:10
2 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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If you are a follower of Christ, then 2 Corinthians 5:10 says...
10 For we must all appear before the tribunal of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or worthless.
Four Observations from 2 Corinthians 5:10
All Christians will stand before Christ as Judge.
Paul is writing to believers and he says “we” must “all” appear before the tribunal or Bema of Christ. Not some of us but all of us.
Our Judge will be Christ. It is also God’s judgement too.
10 But you, why do you criticize your brother? Or you, why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before the tribunal of God.
11 For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will give praise to God.
12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
27 And He has granted Him the right to pass judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
So God the Son and God the Father are one in their judgment, but the Son is the one who stands forth as the immediate Judge, to deal with us.
3. Our Judgement will be after we die.
27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment —
Before we enter the final state of glory with our resurrected bodies on the new earth, we will stand before Christ as Judge.
4. When we stand before Christ as Judge, we will be judged according to our deeds in this life.
10 For we must all appear before the tribunal of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or worthless.
We see this in Matthew
27 For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will reward each according to what he has done.
We also see this in Revelation
12 “Look! I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to repay each person according to what he has done.
Works are Public Evidence of Salvation in Christ’s courtroom.
Works are Public Evidence of Salvation in Christ’s courtroom.
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Salvation is a free gift to be received by faith, not earned by works.
So if Salvation is a free gift recieved through faith what is the purpose of this judgement of our works.
John Piper...
“our deeds will be the public evidence brought forth in Christ’s courtroom to demonstrate that our faith is real. And our deeds will be the public evidence brought forth to demonstrate the varying measures of our obedience of faith (see Romans 12:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:11). In other words, salvation is by faith, and rewards are by faith, but the evidence of invisible faith in the judgment hall of Christ will be a transformed life. Our deeds are not the basis of our salvation, they are the evidence of our salvation. They are not foundation, they are demonstration.”
Caution
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward!
5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward!
A reoccurring them as we have walked through the book of 2 Corinthians has been our motives for serving the local church. As we see that our works are evidence to our salvation, I want us to continue to be aware of what we serve and who we want recognition from.
These verses are very clear that we don’t give and we don’t pray so that others here us and acknowledge us in front of others. Notice these verse also speak about rewards and if we do it to be acknowledged here on this earth then we have recieved our reward.
Our giving, our prayers, our works are evidence of God’s salvation and we don’t do these things for be acknowledged here on this Earth but they are evidence of God’s free gift of Salvation in our lives.
We see evidence of these rewards in Scripture
8 Now the one planting and the one watering are one in purpose, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
8 knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord.
The parable of the Talents
12 Therefore He said: “A nobleman traveled to a far country to receive for himself authority to be king and then return.
13 He called 10 of his slaves, gave them 10 minas, and told them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’
14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us!’
15 “At his return, having received the authority to be king, he summoned those slaves he had given the money to, so he could find out how much they had made in business.
16 The first came forward and said, ‘Master, your mina has earned 10 more minas.’
17 “ ‘Well done, good slave!’ he told him. ‘Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, have authority over 10 towns.’
18 “The second came and said, ‘Master, your mina has made five minas.’
19 “So he said to him, ‘You will be over five towns.’
20 “And another came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina. I have kept it hidden away in a cloth
21 because I was afraid of you, for you’re a tough man: you collect what you didn’t deposit and reap what you didn’t sow.’
22 “He told him, ‘I will judge you by what you have said, you evil slave! If you knew I was a tough man, collecting what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow,
23 why didn’t you put my money in the bank? And when I returned, I would have collected it with interest!’
24 So he said to those standing there, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has 10 minas.’
25 “But they said to him, ‘Master, he has 10 minas.’
26 “ ‘I tell you, that to everyone who has, more will be given; and from the one who does not have, even what he does have will be taken away.
27 But bring here these enemies of mine, who did not want me to rule over them, and slaughter them in my presence.’ ”
Salvation demonstrated by our deeds
Some strong words in the New Testament about how our deeds reveal salvation. Let’s look at some of these.
5 But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.
6 He will repay each one according to his works:
7 eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality;
8 but wrath and indignation to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth but are obeying unrighteousness;
21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance—as I told you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
9 Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or anyone practicing homosexuality,
10 no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom.
Jesus’s words
28 Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear His voice
29 and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of judgment.
John Piper
To hear and to believe is to have eternal life — it is by grace through faith. But when that faith is real — not dead — the life will change and Jesus can say, with no contradiction: the deeds of this life will be the public criteria of judgment in the resurrection. Because our works are the evidence of the reality of our faith. And it is faith in Christ that saves.
Deeds That Prove
Deeds That Prove
Let me close with an illustration that I think makes clear how deeds will function in the final judgment. Remember the story of how two harlots brought a baby to King Solomon, each claiming that the baby was hers (1 Kings 3:16–27). They asked King Solomon to act as judge between them. He said that a sword should be brought and that the baby should be divided and half given to the one and half to the other. The true mother cried out, “O, my lord, give her the child and by no means kill it.” Solomon said, give this woman the child, for she is its mother.
What was Solomon looking for? He was not looking for a deed that would earn the child. He was looking for a deed that would prove that the child was already possessed by birth. That is the way God looks at our deeds. He is not looking for deeds that purchase our pardon in his judgment hall. He is looking for deeds that prove we are already enjoying our pardon. The purchase of our pardon was the blood of Jesus, sufficient once for all to cover all our sins. And the means by which we own it is faith — and faith alone.