What ‘work’ will survive at the Judgement Seat of Christ

What ‘work’ will survive at the Judgement Seat of Christ

1Co 3:11-15  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  (12)  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;  (13)  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.  (14)  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.  (15)  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

So many of us think that when we stand before the judgement seat of Christ, we will be judged by what we did in this life. The Bema Seat of Christ has got nothing to do with what you did in this life. It has all to do with what you know. It is essentially a judgement of one’s knowledge concerning Paul’s doctrine and your growth in it.

Rom 2:16  In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. 

Understanding Sin Under Grace

Understanding Sin Under Grace

When Paul tells the Roman believers, “You're not under the law but under grace” (Rom 6:14), he then rhetorically asks, “what then, shall we sin because we're not under the law but under grace?” (Rom 6:15). The answer should be obvious, but Paul hammers it down when he says, “God forbid!”

So, how do we understand this? As grace believers, do we have liberty, or is sin still sin under grace?

Yes! Sin is still sin. Grace does not redefine what sin is. In other words, lying, for example, is still wrong. However, what God’s grace does do, is free you from the penalty of death that sin demands. If you're not under the law, then the penalty of sin is not going to be imputed to you, Rom 5:13.

However, even though sins penalty is not imputed to you, and even though you won’t go to hell for it, there is a consequence. 

In Rom 6:16, Paul says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”. 

The issue of sin for a believer today is not an issue of wrong, but of relationship. You can't serve God while obeying sin! You cannot grow spiritually if you obey sin. Christ will not be formed in you. The Word will not take root in your mind. Your relationship with God will suffer. Faith will diminish. Paul informs us that sin results in death, not the eternal death, but a death to the functioning of the Word and God's Spirit within us. Sin still kills the work of the Spirit within us. On the other hand, if we obey righteousness, then the Word thrives in us, and through that Spirit we mortify the deeds of the flesh.

Since we, as believers, are not under the law, but grace, the law cannot condemn us to an eternal death. However, if we choose not to be renewed and influenced by the written Word but rather to continue in sin, then we forfeit our effectual service to God, and our ‘reward’ in the ages to come! That's the issue today. It is not about losing salvation or hell. It is not about laws and rules. If you want to serve God, then know that you can't live in obedience to sin.

As grace believers, what is our primary objective? (Part 6)

As grace believers, what is our primary objective? (Part 6)

Start this series of posts with: Part 1

Up till this point we have discussed the following regarding our primary objective as grace believers.

• We have dealt with the fact that, after we get saved, it is God’s will for us to come to the knowledge of the truth.
• We have looked at what is milk and what is meat in Paul’s epistles.
• We investigated the fact that without knowledge, there is no understanding of God, and without knowledge, there is no stable foundation of truth in our lives.
• After that, I revealed that Pauls church epistles are a curriculum that prepares us for an eternal purpose. The first part of the curriculum informs us of Christ in us, and the second part instructs us concerning who we are in Christ.
• In part 5, we determined that to teach God’s Word, one needs to grow in knowledge and understanding concerning rightly dividing the Word of truth. The Bible can only be understood in the correct context when it is rightly divided, and it is imperative to teach it in this form to avoid skewing the truth and leading people astray.

As grace believers, what is our primary objective? (Part 5)

Studying the Bible in the correct context

Start this series of posts with: Part 1

I stand firm on the fact that our primary objective, as grace believers, is to come to a knowledge of God’s Word. However, I also understand that we live our lives, day by day, bearing responsibilities, and being pulled into different directions due to demands, circumstances, and issues of life. So how do we balance the two? Well, the key to note is that 1Tim.2:4 does not have a deadline. We do not need to learn ALL truth and be experts in Bible doctrine before we can be used of the Lord. Life does not stop because we first have to learn ALL truth! No. The Lord provides us the opportunities daily, to encourage and edify others based on the measure of truth we know at our personal levels. We can offer ourselves as living sacrifices to the Lord daily, allowing the truth of the Word within us, to make us ambassadors of God’s kingdom, and reconcilers who show God’s love and forgiveness to others.

Even as babes in Christ, new believers can share the gospel with others through their testimony. However, our objective is to grow steadily in knowledge, not all at once, but daily, over our lifetime, so that we can increase in our responsibility of ambassadorship and in our ministry of reconciliation. Every grace believer can be a light for God’s kingdom, but when it comes to teaching others about God’s Word, this is when proper knowledge is very important. This is when the truth we know either approves us or disapproves us before God. Let me explain.

As grace believers, what is our primary objective? (Part 4)

Paul’s Encouragement to Increase in Knowledge and Understanding

Start this series of posts with: Part 1

Paul’s letters are full of statements that encourage one to learn, to increase in one’s knowledge of God’s Word, and to gain understanding of it, so that it embeds in one’s heart and becomes part of the outflow of one’s life, in thinking, reasoning, speech, and actions. You cannot go far in Paul’s epistles and not read statements that encourage growth and increasing in knowledge and understanding.

In Romans, the foundational epistle that establishes us in ‘the faith’, Paul immediately starts to fire up our minds, compelling us to think upon things, or to know things, coercing our learning and understanding. Have a look at the following statements that we encounter so early in the mystery curriculum,

As grace believers, what is our primary objective? (Part 3)

As grace believers, what is our primary objective? (Part 3)

Start this series of posts with: Part 1

No knowledge, no understanding, no foundation

The key verse in this series confirms that after we come to salvation, it is God’s will that we come to a knowledge of the truth, 1Tim.2:4. Isn’t it interesting that God’s one desire for us, having been saved, is not to get busy with any activities, no matter how spiritual or noble they might appear to be, but to sit down, to quiet our minds, and to study His Word.

2Tim.2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

Why is this so?