Erwin W. Lutzer - Your Eternal Reward: Triumph and Tears at the Judgment Seat of Christ

2015 BY
ERWIN W. LUTZER

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ISBN-10: 0-8024-1317-8

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T ears in heaven!

In the minds of many Christians, tears and heaven simply do not belong together. Like war and peace, light and darkness, health and sickness, these simply cannot coexist.

But I believe there are good reasons why there will be tears in heaven. When we reflect on how we lived for Christ, who purchased us at such high cost, well might we weep on the other side of the celestial gates. Our tears will be those of regret and shame, tears of remorse for lives lived for ourselves rather than for Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood (Revelation 1:5 NASB). Perhaps we would never cease crying in heaven if God Himself did not come and wipe the tears from our eyes (Revelation 21:4).

The judgment seat of Christ is, to our shame, almost universally ignored among Christians. Most whom I have talked with think it will not be a very significant event. When I ask why, I usually get one of several reasons, often based on some misconceptions that have found their way into the minds of so many.

False assumptions die hard. I discovered that I could not teach the subject of the judgment seat of Christ until I had dislodged some impressions that had largely emptied this doctrine of its significance. Until we are willing to set aside these opinions, we will not be able to appreciate the rich teaching of the Bible on this topic. Nor will we be transformed by a doctrine that should impact our daily lives.

Here are some common assumptions that must be challenged if we are to recapture the biblical teaching on the judgment seat of Christ.

Leading the list of mistaken ideas is the belief that there cannot be a serious review of our lives at the judgment seat of Christ because as believers our sins are forgiven and cast into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). After all, the argument goes, as far as God is concerned, our past failures and sins do not exist. Doesnt Calvary cover it all? a friend of mine asked when I suggested that some people might experience deep regret along with lost privileges at the judgment seat of Christ. For him, the judgment seat of Christ is really no judgment at all. All believers will pass the judgment seat with flying colors.

Not so.

Let us hear the words of Paul. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds [done] in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10 NASB). That phrase, whether good or bad, rids us of the cherished hope that our failures can never return to haunt us. It reminds us that our Father in heaven judges us even though we are secure in the knowledge that we are His children forever.

Recall the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who lied about the price of some property they had sold so that they might withhold a percentage of the proceeds while pretending to give all the money to the church (Acts 5:111). Though they were Christians, they were smitten by God and instantly died for their dishonesty. Perhaps when they arrived in heaven they might have said to themselves, How could this have happened? Peter told us that Calvary covered it all!

This experience of Ananias and Sapphira, along with others like it in the New Testament, is a powerful reminder that God judges justified sinners. And if He judges us on earth, sometimes even to the point of physical death, it is certainly not difficult to believe that He will judge us in heaven for the way we lived here. As Jim Elliff says, Such warnings virtually bleed from the pores to Scripture. So it is.

King David, who committed the twin sins of adultery and murder, was judged for his sin even after he had confessed it and was assured of Gods forgiveness. Nathan said: The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die (2 Samuel 12:1314 NASB). If Ananias and Sapphira remind us that God judges us for unconfessed sin, David reminds us that