The Bema
The Judgment Seat of Christ
Part 2
I Corinthians 3:10-16
Good morning! Welcome to Gateway Community Church. This is the second part of a very special two-week presentation on the topic of Stewardship – but it’s not about your money! As we said last week, the Biblical definition of stewardship is not based on how much money you give to your church – it’s defined by how much of your life you live for Jesus. We stated that biblical stewardship is defined as Living for THE day instead of lving for TOday.
Living for THE Day instead of living for TOday.
For some idea of what we’re talking about, let me take you to a passage of Scripture found in I Corinthians chapter 3, verses 10-16. The text will appear on the screen behind me, please follow along as I read it to you:
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
Do you see the phrase there? “THE DAY” in verse 13. THE DAY will bring it to light. It is clear from Scripture that One Day every person who is a follower of Jesus Christ will stand before Him, and we will be judged according to the life that we built while on this earth. Apparently there will be fire at this judgment, to test the quality of the life we built. Perhaps the most important word in this passage is the little two-letter word “if.” Verse14 – “IF what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.” Verse 15 – “IF it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames…”
So what does all that mean? Well, the point of last week’s message and this week’s conclusion, it to give us some idea of what that day might be like. No one knows for sure – but based on the biblical evidence from several passages of Scripture, this dramatic presentation has been designed to help us get some idea.
For those of you who were not here last week, let me bring you up to speed… We were introduced last week to Daniel Scott Matthewson, who had a very big day. It was the day when he had to make the big pitch to a major client for his company – and if he got it – it meant a partnership for him. He’d put everything in his life into his job – and this was the big payoff. The presentation was all done two hours early, and he was on his way to grab a sandwich at Subway when it happened – the rapture!
Daniel found himself in heaven! Surrounded by hundreds of millions of celebrating, hugging, laughing and singing people. He was introduced to Uriel, who identified himself as an angel who had been assigned to Daniel from his conception.
“You mean you’re my guardian angel?”
“Yes, Daniel, I’m here to explain to you about heaven, and about the coming judgment.”
“Judgment?”
“Yes. The BEMA – the Judgment Seat of Christ.”
Uriel took Daniel to a huge coliseum, filled with the entire history of the Christian Church. One by one, Daniel watched people called to stand before Jesus. As they did, Jesus saw their life story played out before him – and he watched as they received their rewards – treasures, some great, some small – some received crowns – some received special commendations from Jesus “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Every one was glorified and received their glorified bodies, and flew back to their seats where they shined like a bright star in a dark sky.
[Lights down…pause 5 seconds]
[Lights up]
[Seated – in character] As I looked around, I could see that most of the coliseum was already shining in their glorified bodies, and I thought, “my turn must be coming soon. And sure enough, after a couple hundred thousand others, the angel rapped three times on the stage…
[Three raps, then…”DANIEL SCOTT MATTHEWSON”
Uriel swooped down and lifted me up, and set me before the platform.
[nervously] “Oh, boy!” “Oh boy!”
I climbed the three steps to the platform, and as I did, I couldn’t help but think that the entire history of the Christian church was looking at the back of my head – but it didn’t matter – because looking me in the eye was Jesus. I stopped at the edge, teetering at the very edge. Jesus said, “Daniel, come closer.”
“OK” I stepped in.
We began to talk, and while I had never heard the conversation between Jesus and the others before, me, now I knew what it was. Jesus said, “Daniel, before we begin, I want to explain to you exactly what’s going to happen. This is not a punitive judgment – you know that right?”
“Yes.”
“You are not on trial here. You are not going to be judged for you sins. I died to pay the penalty for your sins, and you believed that. My blood, based on your faith in Me, has washed your sins away – and they will never appear before me.”
I said, “I understand, thank you, Jesus.”
HE said, “Thank you for believing in Me.”
He continued, “This judgment is for the granting of rewards. You will be rewarded for your stewardship. How well you handled the resources that I gave you in your life. You will be rewarded for the things that you did in your life for me and for my kingdom. You were granted 48 years of life, 36 of which were after you believed in me. You were given financial resources. You were given spiritual gifts – two, to be exact, and we will see how you used those gifts. You were given talents and treasures. You had a family, a background, a heritage that all were a part of the opportunities you had. We will see today how faithful you were with those. Do you understand?”
I said, “Yes.”
He said, “Sometimes people ask me why I didn’t give these rewards on earth. Why wait until now, at the BEMA? The answer is that I did! I gave some rewards on earth, but you probably didn’t recognize them, or thought it was because you did it. But more to the point, it was not possible to fully reward you until today because it was not possible to fully evaluate your impact until this day. Before today I could not show you the full impact of your life – because that impact continued until the day I called my church to myself. When you invested in a person on earth, and made a difference in their life, they make a difference in other lives, and it goes on and on. You will receive partial credit for each life that was touched by you, and the lives that those lives touched like ripples in a pond that keep going out – until the day I called everyone home to this place.”
WOW! I thought of DL Moody, a great evangelist from a couple of hundred years before I lived. His judgment was just before mine. He got credit for each of the people who had come to Jesus through his evangelistic work. But he also got partial credit for everyone those people had touched. And that wasn’t all – Moody had started a Bible study that grew into a class, which eventually grew into Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. And Moody got partial credit for each person who went to that school, and partial credit for every person they led to Christ, and they led to Christ, and on it went until the day Jesus took the church to heaven! Wow!
Jesus said, “Today, Daniel, I can tell you the full impact your life on earth had.”
“Wow! I can’t wait to see it!”
“Well, before we get started, let me tell you about the process.” And Jesus took me to a passage of Scripture – I Corinthians chapter 3. He said, “Your life is like a house. When you trusted in me, at age 12, I became the foundation. And it was up to you to build on that foundation. Now just as you can build a house with cheap materials - like countertops made of glued sawdust covered with plastic, or you can build with solid material, like marble countertops – you can build you life with worthless things, or with the things that matter. I’m going to take a spiritual flamethrower to your life, Daniel, and burn away all the worthless stuff, and leave only the things that have eternal value.”
I learned about how Jesus defined worthless. I always thought worthless things were the sinful things, and they are, but they were already gone – but here, at the BEMA, it went beyond sin. Sometimes good things were worthless because they were done out of bad motives. I said,
”But Jesus, when did I ever do anything with a pure motive?” He said, “Never, your human. But I look for the dominant motivation, and when I apply my fire to that event, the impure motive will burned away, and your work will be purified by the fire, not destroyed by it.”
He said, “Sometimes you put money in the plate at church so that they guy next to you would see what you did, and be impressed. – GONE! Worthless! But other times you gave because you saw a need, and you did it when no one else noticed – that will last. Understand?”
“Yes”
“Ready to begin?”
[nervously] “NO.”
“Well, Daniel, we have to do this, so let’s move on.”
“OK, I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be!”
Have you ever heard the phrase “My life flashed before my eyes?” Well, my life “crawled” before my eyes! When I was in the seats watching all the millions of others before me, it seemed like each one took about a minute and a half – but here, with Jesus, we watched my entire life – all 48 years of it! Getting used to eternity is going to take a while…
Anyway, we saw my whole life – but from JESUS’ vantage point. I saw my parents bring me home to their one bedroom apartment – the joy they had. I saw my life as a toddler and preschooler – all my early years. As Jesus watched it, he smiled and as each moment passed it was consumed by flame – there was nothing of significance yet – I was too young to make an impact on the kingdom at that time – and I didn’t know Jesus yet. The major theme of those years was selfishness. I saw myself doing those things that young children do – it was all about me. I threw tantrums, got into little fights with the other boys, refused to share or care. I was embarrassed by it – I looked at Jesus, and…there was no change! He was still smiling at me – and I realized what He had said earlier – He couldn’t see the sin! His blood had washed them away – He had promised that He would remember my sins no more, and He was keeping that promise! YES!!!
As the past was burned away, I realized that it was also being burned from my memory – I realized suddenly that I couldn’t remember those sins either! I was going to be really free from the guilt of all my sins for eternity when this was over! EXCELLENT!
The highlight of my early years came at the age of 12, when in Sunday school, my teacher, Mrs. McCabe, told us about Jesus, and I stayed after the class and prayed to ask Jesus to forgive me for my sins, and be my savior. From this vantage point I saw my heart go from stained with sin to purity. I saw my soul go from death to life, and I could actually see the presence of the Holy Spirit fill me!
I looked to Jesus, and he was looking at me – and tears were in his eyes, and he said, “Oh, Daniel, Thank you for believing in Me! Thank you for saying “yes” when the Holy Spirit convicted you! Thank you for trusting in my promises and for allowing me to save you!” I said, “No, Thank you, Jesus for dying for me…”
Jesus said, “OK, Daniel, now we can get down to business. Now the Holy Spirit is living within you, now we can see how much of a difference you made with your life. You have 36 years left of your life – let’s see what happened…”
Now, we reviewed every minute of my remaining 36 years, and believe me, you don’t want to be here through all of that – so let me summarize it for you by sharing with you three lessons I learned as I watched my life from Jesus’ perspective.
The first thing I learned was What Jesus thinks is more important than what anyone else thinks.
When I was on earth, I wanted people to like me. I was a people pleaser. I wanted to be popular, and to like me, so I did whatever it took to fit in.
One of the things we watched in my life was something that happened shortly after my salvation. I was 12 years old, and I was playing on the playground with my best friend Jimmy, when some of the older kids came over. They were going to play baseball, and they asked if I wanted to play. I said, “Sure, we’d love to play with you guys!” But they said, “No, we don’t want him, we just want you.” So I looked at Jimmy, and said, “well…” And Jimmy said, “Oh, go ahead, it’s OK…” So I left, and never looked back. But from Jesus’ viewpoint, I could see that I broke Jimmy’s heart. And I never really played with him again.
I realized that when I was on earth I never asked what Jesus thought about situations – it was just, “What will others think of me?”
It continued on as I went into my teen years. I dressed and wore my hair long like the others. Drove my dad crazy – and we argued and fought about it. I saw how I hurt my parents. And it wasn’t about the hair, or the clothes, it was about my image – all I cared about was what they thought about me…
Out of frustration I asked Jesus, “Why was I so concerned about everybody’s opinion of me? What was wrong with me?”
He said, “Daniel, I am the bread of life. If you had feasted on me- you would have been satisfied – but because you neglected me, and my word, you had an inner emptiness, and you tried to fill it with the world, and as a result you made poor decisions about your life.”
That poor decision-making continued into college. I left for the University with my best friend Jerry, we were best buddies – we were going to be roommates for the entire college experience, all 5 or 6 years!!!
But then as we were just getting settled into our apartment, some guys I had met invited me to be part of their fraternity, and I said, “sure, we’d love to be in your frat!” But they said, “No, we only want you.” And I abandoned Jerry, never looking back. He couldn’t afford the apartment, had no other close friends, and eventually left school and went home… I could see how my decisions and selfishness had hurt him and affected his entire life.
I remember thinking more than once, “Boy, if I could do it again, I’d stop and ask, ‘What would Jesus do?’ and really mean it!” It wouldn’t just be a wristband or a bumper sticker, I’d really want to find out how Jesus would react and respond – if I could do it over again. That was the first lesson.
The second lesson I learned was Investing in People is the only worthwhile investment.
In my life on earth, people were basically scenery – they only existed to make my life look good. I had a trophy wife, to make me look good. My kids were there for me to brag about their athletic and academic skills – and of course, we all know where that came from! It was all about me – everyone was there to make me successful, to meet my needs, to serve my purposes! All the worlds a stage – I’m the star – everyone else is a bit player!
But Jesus saw them differently – He saw them as unique individual people created in His image that He had DIED for! He loved them, he valued them. And I learned that when you pour your life into another person, it makes a difference in heaven, at the BEMA. And it makes sense – since human beings are eternal, the things we do for other humans have eternal implications.
I saw that in one particular episode from my life. It was while I was in high school. I got involved in our church youth group and the leader was a really cool guy named John. He took me under his wing and encouraged me to study my Bible, and it was a time of real growth for me. I actually led a small group of kids from the church! One day a young girl came, her name was Sandy. She was shy, so I introduced her to John, and to other kids. She was placed in my group. I said to Jesus, “Hey, I forgot all about Sandy! What ever happened to her?”
Jesus showed me how she had prayed with John three weeks after I introduced them, and how she had grown in the study I had led. She had gone off to college, and was involved in campus ministry, and shared Jesus love with students there, and I got partial credit for each of them, and some of them impacted others, and I got partial credit for them. Sandy got married to a great Christian man, and they had three wonderful kids, who became strong Christians, and were active in their school and church, and impacted other kids, and I got partial credit for each of them! And I was stunned by the impact that one high school kid could have on eternity as I saw the interweaving connection of my investment in Sandy.
Jesus said, “Daniel, hold out your hands”
I did, and he placed a big jewel in them. It was beautiful and bright! I was amazed! And Jesus looked at it, and flames came and burned away all the impure motives that were part of it and when he was done it was even brighter than before, and HE said, “Way to go, Daniel! Thank you for pouring your life into Sandy and for making a difference for my Kingdom!”
Unfortunately, those times were few and far between – in fact, that was it…
Most of my relationships with others were of the “worthless” variety. I “used” people to get what I wanted. After joining the fraternity, I jumped right into that lifestyle, never asking what Jesus thought – I just wanted to impress the guys – so I drank, did drugs and bedded as many women as I could. Then I met Peggy.
She was different. A quiet, pure country girl from Wisconsin. She wasn’t like the other girls I dated in college. She didn’t drink, smoke or do drugs. She had never slept around. She was a good girl. I found her so refreshing, and we dated for about 6 weeks before I corrupted her. We began to fight, she was angry with me, and eventually we broke up.
I said, “Jesus, what happened to Peggy?”
He said, “She was married three times. The first two husbands were abusive, the third abandoned her. She turned to alcohol and drugs to ease the pain.”
I hung my head. “It’s my fault. I messed her up! I caused her terrible life!”
“No Daniel, it’s not your fault. People are responsible for their own decisions. You were responsible to Peggy, but you are not responsible for Peggy. Sure, you influenced her away from me, when you could have brought her closer to me – but she made her own choices in the matter. She is responsible for her actions and decisions.”
I asked, “Whatever happened to her?”
Jesus said, “Shortly after her third divorce, a person at a shelter shared my love with her, and she believed. She is here at the BEMA, and she wants to talk to you…Relax, Daniel! It will be OK – Grace abounds in heaven!”
And I thought again, “Oh, If I could only do it all again, I wouldn’t worry so much about my portfolio of stocks investments. I would invest in people – because that investment is the only one that matters in heaven!”
The third lesson I learned was that Everything looks different at the BEMA.
Do you remember the first time you walked into Lambeau Field in Green Bay, or Wrigley Field in Chicago? It looks a lot different doesn’t it?
I remember the first time I walked into the House of Representative in Washington DC. I had seen it on television at every State of the Union Address, or when President Bush gave his speech after September 11, and old film from Franklin Roosevelt’s, “Day of Infamy” speech, but the first time I went in I couldn’t believe the difference! It looked totally different in person – it actually looked much smaller in real life than on TV!
Now I realized that from the perspective of heaven, my life looked a lot different. In fact, everything looked different from Jesus’ perspective. Now I could see the big picture – I saw how my actions hurt others – deeply. How selfish I was, and thoughtless.
Like an instance just a couple of years before the end. I was working for an old family friend, Jean Michelle. He had been college roommate to my dad, and had given me my big break in the business – saw me through the early days when I made a lot of mistakes, but he was patient and I had done pretty well with him. One day, in my office I got a call from Derrick Hogan. Derrick Hogan! The Number One guy in my industry – and he wanted to see me! SO I met him at his office, and he made me an offer – he had been watching me, and he wanted me to come and work for him – and he offered to double my salary! DOUBLE!!!
I said, “Well, I have to talk to Jean Michelle.” He said, “Make it quick, this offer doesn’t stay on the table for long…” So I went to Jean, and I said, “Look, Derrick Hogan has made me an offer I really can’t refuse – he’s going to pay me a salary that I know you can’t come close to – so, I’m going to go over there. And, look, I know I’ve brought a lot of good business your way, and I promise I won’t touch any of them for three years, OK? OK??”
And I left, and went to work for Hogan. Who immediately applied the pressure. I was going to earn every penny of that new salary! He set very high standards for me – high quotas – but I met them, because I am that good! I actually exceeded expectations and the salary and the bonus kept going up – I went up two house sizes in a year and a half – and you should have seen my sweet ride! I had front row tickets at all the sporting events – right next to the Senator, thank you very much!
And then one day, Hogan said, “I want you to go get the Metro Capital account.” I said, “But that’s a Michelle account. I promised I wouldn’t take any of their business for three years.” He said, “Do you have a no compete contract with Jean Michelle?” I said, “No, we just shook on it.” He said, go get it, or get out.
So I went and I stole that client from my old boss, and I left him broken – just like Jimmy and Jerry. But I hardly noticed – it meant another big bonus. But from heaven, I could see that it ripped the heart our of Jean Michelle, and it eventually destroyed his business.
I couldn’t believe how different everything looked from up here! Down on earth I had thought I was on top of the world – storing up a nice nest egg of investments and properties that would leave me secure and well off. But from heaven’s perspective I saw that I was leaving a legacy of broken, wounded people from my childhood, through my poor excuse of friendships, work and even my wife and kids, too.
I thought again, “Oh if I could do it over again…I would love for this day – I would keep this day at the BEMA in view.
Before I would do this… I would ask, “What will it look like from the BEMA?”
Before I would say that… I would ask, “What will it sound like at the BEMA?”
Before I would give these.. I would ask, “Will it matter at the BEMA?”
Sadly, the entire rest of my life was consumed – it was all worthless here. Until the day I saw myself climbing into my Beemer to run to Subway for a sandwich and Jesus brought me here…
Jesus said, “OK, we’re finished. It’s time for the summary.”
[Barely audible] “OK”
Jesus said, “Daniel Scott Matthewson.” And I realized that everyone in the coliseum would here my summary, just as I had heard the others before me.
I said, “Yes, Jesus.”
He said, “You were given financial resources beyond the dreams of most people. In fact, you were among the top 1% of wealth in all of human history.” I hadn’t realized that. He said, “You squandered most of it on yourself – you gave very little to my kingdom or my work. As a result there is very little treasure stored up for you here. There is very little to celebrate regarding your financial stewardship.
“You were given two Spiritual Gifts: teaching – but you rarely taught anyone, outside of a class when you were in high school. You were also given the gift of encouragement, but you rarely encouraged anyone, unless it was to help you succeed.
“In summary, Daniel, I must conclude that your life was mostly WORTHLESS…”
I thought, “There could never be worse words spoken than to hear Jesus tell you your life was worthless…” Then he said something worse!
He said, “Daniel, the summary of your judgment is this: YOU LEFT YOUR FIRST LOVE.”
I fell to my knees. I felt sick. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to stand again. He was right, or course! My life was worthless! I had trusted in Him as a kid, and then carried him around like a lucky charm for the rest of my life – complaining to him when he didn’t do what I wanted, never giving a thought to what He might want from me!
Worthless! Worthless! The word echoed in my ears!
Then Jesus said the most amazing words!
He said, “Daniel Scott Matthewson, you left your first love,
BUT – YOUR - FIRST - LOVE - NEVER - LEFT - YOU!”
He said, “Daniel, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!”
Oh, Thank you, Jesus!
And I realized there were tears pouring from my eyes, and I was confused because I had always been told there would be no tears in heaven. But then I remembered that that verse in Revelation says that He would “wipe away” all the tears – which means there would be tears. And here they were! Tears of regret, and shame and disappointment.
Jesus got up, walked to me, and wiped my face – and the tears were gone – and I never cried again! Jesus placed his hands on my shoulders. I stood there with my one jewel, and it was beautiful! And Jesus said, “Be Glorified!” And WOW! IT was amazing – and I flew back to my seat, and I saw my kids and my wife and they were celebrating for me, and when I got back to my place, my friend Indira Jenske from Japan was there and he hugged me and said, “Way to go, Daniel.”
The judgments continued on until the last one. And when it was finished, Indira, with his four crowns in his hands, flew down to the platform, and all the others who had received crowns flew down and laid their crowns in front of the throne of Jesus. And I stood up and reached for my crown, but I had not received one, and I thought, “Oh, if I could do it again, I would do all I could to earn a crown so that I could participate in this ultimate act of worship!” And the people began to sing – everyone even those without crowns began to worship the Lord in song:
SONGS:
Ø We Fall Down
Ø Thou Art Worthy
Ø I Love You, Lord
Ø Let It Rise
After the great worship time, we found our seats, and Jesus came to the front, and said, “The marriage supper of the Lamb is about to begin. When it is ready, we will summon you. But in the meantime, you have people you want to see – enjoy!
And the place erupted in streaks of light as billions of glorified people flew from the coliseum! I instinctively found my wife and kids, and we hugged and showed each other the treasure we had received, and we were amazed at what Jesus had been able to do with our lives.
And then I saw Jean Michelle running toward me, and we embraced and laughed together. Sandy came over and said, “Thank you for sharing Jesus with me, and for investing in my life.” And I said, “No, thank you for listening – you were the only one! I really needed you today!”
And then Peggy came over, the girl I had corrupted and failed, and I saw her, but there was no shame – no guilt. We talked and talked about the great times.
[Ticking clock – growing louder – alarm sounding]
In the distance I heard a sound that I thought might be the summons but it grew louder and annoying and….
WHAT!? IT was a dream! “I want to go back!” Which woke up my wife who was sleeping next to me…she just grumbled something and rolled over.
Then I remembered all those times I had said, “If I could go back and do it over…”
I looked at my wife and said, “Honey, you’re not going to recognize your husband when you wake up!”
I checked in on the kids, and thought, “Daddy’s home, boys.”
I went to my living room, and sat on the couch, and took out my Bible, and read 2 Corinthians 5, and I Corinthians 3 and Romans 14, and the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5,6&7, and I realized that everything I had dreamed was biblically sound.
And I knew that the first thing I had to do THIS DAY was make this right with Jesus, and start living for THAT DAY. So I got on my knees, to pray. Some of you may feel you need to pray right now to, and I invite you to join me. Kneel if you want, sit if you want. Pray out loud, pray to yourself – believe me – this is not about what others think! It’s about what Jesus thinks, remember?
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for me.
Thank you for giving me THIS Day.
I want to live THIS Day for THE Day
When I will stand before you.
Forgive me for living for myself.
Strengthen me to live for you.
Help me to make a difference in the live of others
I don’t ever want to be the same again!
I want to live my life for you!
In Your name I pray, AMEN
Closing Songs:
Ø Jesus, All For Jesus
Ø I Will Never Be The Same Again
NOTE: This material is based on a message by Pastor Pete Briscoe of Bent Tree Bible Fellowship, 4141 International Pkwy, Carrollton, Texas 75007. A DVD of Pastor Briscoe's presentation may be obtained from their web site at www.btbf.org. I am grateful to Pastor Pete for his work and willingness to share. Pastor Briscoe references The Bema: A Story About The Judgment Seat Of Christ by Time Stevenson, Fair Havens Publications (January 31, 2001) ISBN 0966480317. The book is available at Amazon.com.