Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Last week, as we were getting into Romans 14, I mentioned that one of the distinguishing signs of a Christian is their love for God and love for neighbor, to welcome one another in love despite the difference in scruples.

This morning, we continue on in our study of Romans 14 and we must continue to look to love for one another as a driving force for our actions.

Whereas last week we saw our negative actions toward others, or perhaps we could say our negative reactions, this week, we are looking at our positive actions toward.

And there are two major proactive measures that we as believers in Jesus Christ need to take that we see in these four verses.

The two are interrelated.

So if you don’t do the first, then it is almost impossible to do the second.

And if you do the first, but the second is not an outflow of it, then it probably means that we really don’t do the first.

So what are these two proactive steps that every believer needs to do?

The first is to keep our judgment in mind.

The second is to keep your brothers and sisters in mind.

Consider our spiritual family.

Consider Our Judgment

Consider Our Family

Consider Our Judgment

The first proactive measure that we need to take is to continuously keep our time of judgment in mind.

And by our I mean our.

I will not be in heaven alone.

Paul wrote that “we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”

You see, this is Paul’s motivation for not judging or despising.

Last week’s question was “why should we welcome those of differing scruples?”

The answer was “For God welcomes him.”

This week’s question is “why ought we not judge or look down on others?”

The answer is “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.”

If we will keep that in mind, then our hearts will begin to be more compassionate toward one another.

But before we go further, I want us to take a look at these three verses as they make up this argument that we ought to consider eternity.

In verse 10, I want us to understand what the judgment seat of God is.

In verse 11, I want us to understand the text Paul quotes.

Finally in verse 12, I want us to see Paul’s conclusion for what it is.

The Judgment Seat

As we consider our judgment, we really can’t do that without understanding the judgment seat.

The word used here for judgment seat is the bema seat.

Back in the 80s and 90s when there as a great emphasis on the end times, there was a lot of talk about the bema seat.

And the problem is that a lot of that talk was misinformation.

I don’t think it was disinformation; I don’t think anyone was purposefully leading people astray, but they were misinformed and so inadvertently misinformed others.

I remember hearing things like the bema seat and the great white throne judgment are two separate and distinct actions.

The believers go to the bema seat and the unbelievers go to the Great White Throne Judgment.

The bema seat was for rewarding good deeds while the Great White Throne was for the punishment of the wicked.

But if we look at how the word “bema” is used in Scripture, this just doesn’t hold water.

For example, not only will Jesus sit upon the bema seat, the judgment seat, but Jesus also stood before the bema seat.

Paul also stood before a bema seat:

The word “tribunal” is actually bema.

So to say that a bema is simply for rewards is not true.

Thus, when Paul says that we will all stand before the judgment seat (the bema seat) of God, it is a very real judgment.

John wrote of the Great White Throne judgment.

Some Christians see the GWT judgment and the Bema seat as two different moments in God’s timeline.

I don’t see that.

John wrote

The books were open, including that book of life.

That book of life that Jesus promised the church of Sardis that he would not blot them out of if they would repent.

It’s that book of life that John mentions will be the cause of singing Jesus’s praises.

It’s that book of life that John talks about in Revelation 21 as he reiterates that only those who are in it will enter the kingdom.

The books were open, so that we would be judged for what we did and did not do.

We will give an account.

But we who live in faith in Jesus Christ, we are in the book of life, and will still be welcomed into the kingdom of God.

The Quoted Verse

The proof that Paul gives for us standing before the judgment seat comes from Isaiah 45:23.

He quotes in

In the context of this verse in Isaiah God is calling people to turn from wickedness and turn to him.

There will be a reckoning, and by that I don’t mean like the old west and Wyatt Earp saying, “There’s a reckoning coming,” and meaning vengeance.

Instead, that there will be a reckoning of accounts.

Each one of us is held accountable for our own actions.

How have we acted toward one another?

How have we acted toward our neighbor?

How will we respond when asked at the bema seat?

Because our response is going to determine the judgment we receive.

Every single knee will bow before him.

Every single knee will submit to his authority, give an account, and receive his judgment.

Every single tongue will make confession, swearing their allegiance is to God that he is sovereign and worthy to judge.

There will be no disputing that.

There will no longer be a desire or an effort to wrestle judgment away from God.

We will know our place and our place is on bended knee.

Which takes us back to

The Concluding Thought

Taking what Paul wrote about us all standing before the bema seat, the judgment seat of God and the verse that he quoted that we will acknowledge at the judgment seat that only God has the right and the sovereign authority to judge.

So Paul wrote,

In other words, we need to consider eternity because we will have to answer for our actions.

We must not forget that there is an accountability to come.

Remember, we do not live to ourselves, nor do we die to ourselves.

But whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

We are not held accountable for how someone else acted.

We are not held accountable for how someone else lived.

Each must give an account of himself to God.

Which means that if you or I go against our scruples, our moral understanding that keeps us from doing what we do not believe we should, then we will have to answer for that.

But if someone else goes against your scruples, you won’t answer for that.

Considering what happens at the judgment can be liberating.

And in part, that’s what Paul wants us to understand.

We are so concerned that people do as we think right on issues that are not sin related.

It’s as if we think that if we don’t get everyone to conform with our ways of thinking that we will answer for it for all eternity.

Paul, in part is saying, we—each one of us—will give an account of himself (and only himself) to God.

So we can live by our own scruples and not try and manage everyone else’s.

Consider Our Family

This leads us to the second consideration.

We need to take a second proactive measure and that is to consider our family—our spiritual family.

We ought to acknowledge that we have differing scruples and be accepting of them.

Again, we are to welcome one another, but not to quarrel over scruples.

But being considerate of scruples is the flip side of that coin.

Paul wrote,

Paul literally says here “Therefore we may not pas judgment on one another any longer.”

This isn’t so much a command as it is a realization.