The Judgment Seat of Christ

One consuming question that has been at the forefront of my mind now for a good many years is this: How can I be sure that my works of service will pass the test at the Judgment Seat of Christ?Mind you, I’m not anxious about my salvation status with our Father in Heaven. With Paul I can say with great assurance, “for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (1 Tim. 1:12).¹ While I don’t take my standing with God for granted, I have the utmost confidence in His ability to preserve me in grace and fellowship and to keep from falling. “Blessed assurance Jesus is mine!”

But while my standing with God is both a settled fact and a growing relationship, the quality of service I’m rendering to God is a constant concern. The cry of the sinner is for God’s mercy and reconciling salvation. The cry of the Christian is for grace and power to render to the Lord works of service worthy of His name.

The teaching of the inspired apostle in 1 Corinthians 3, clearly addresses this matter of works-quality. Paul takes issue with these spiritually immature Corinthian converts for placing undue importance on the persons and roles of God’s ministering servants. These infants in Christ had developed a personality cult around their favorite minister. As they lined up one by one they lined up behind Paul or Apollos or Peter, jealousy and quarrels threatened the fellowship. The gifts and styles of ministry of the apostles in the eyes of these believers became more important to them than the Christ each man preached and taught. They were guilty of evaluating a man’s ministry by worldly standards instead of leaving it to God to judge a man’s work.

It is in this context that Paul assures the Corinthians that the “foundation” that he laid during his ministry among them was the foundation of Jesus Christ (v. 11). He then warns (v. 12) that every subsequent builder—i.e., evangelist and pastor-teacher,—needs to take care that he builds with quality teaching and works of service (“gold, silver, precious stones”), and not with inferior materials (“wood, hay, straw”) Next, he makes a sobering claim: “each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (vv. 13-15).

Tell me, in light of the above truth, how can any genuine follower of the Lord Jesus Christ be preoccupied in merely wanting to make it to Heaven? Thank God for His mercy and grace that make Heaven possible for every truly repentant, persevering believer who trusts in the Lamb of God. But will we have anything to lay at the Master’s feet once we arrive there? That is what should concern us in the here and now. Will our works of service—Christian service—pass the test of judgment? Will they be burned up, or will they remain? Will we be rewarded, or will we suffer loss? How can I be sure that my works of service will pass the test at the Judgment Seat of Christ? Let us now attempt to provide biblical answers to these questions. 

No careful student of God’s Word can survey the life of the Apostle Peter but what he will note two epochal experiences in this man’s life that were life-changing and ministry-transforming. The one was when he laid aside his nets to become a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ; the other was when the Holy Spirit came upon him on the day of Pentecost.

Between Galilee and Pentecost—some three to three and a half years—Simon Peter blew hot and cold in his devotion to His Master and Teacher. He loved Christ, but it was a love mixed with fleshly self-love. He followed Christ, but it was a discipleship of divided loyalties and priorities. One moment he was confessing that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God; and in the next breath he demanded that Jesus avoid the Cross at all costs. At one time he possessed enough faith to walk on water, while on another occasion he didn’t possess enough grace to take the lowly place—to be “last”, as it were.

At some point in time every earnest disciple of our Lord cries out with Charles Wesley:

Refining fire, go through my heart;
Illuminate my soul;
Scatter Thy life through every part,
And sanctify the whole.²

So did Peter. He, along with 119 others, intuitively knew they needed “something more.” His double-mindedness was in desperate need of a deep cure. His heart required a radical surgery and wholeness that only His ascended Lord could perform. He had been baptized with water, but he was sorely in need of an inner baptism—a fullness, a fullness of love—the very love of Christ. This, Peter experienced on one glorious day. Suddenly the fiery, purifying presence of the Holy Spirit reached him at his very core, cleansing his ego, filling him with agape love. In writing about this years later, the historian Luke records that Peter’s (along with that of all the others present) heart was purified on that occasion (Acts 15:8-9).

Without purified hearts our service to Christ will be done with tainted egos and mixed motives. Such service is none other than works of wood, hay and straw—works that will not pass the test at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Why we serve Christ and engage in works of Christian service is fundamentally important. What motivates us? Why do we preach, teach, pastor, sing in the choir, serve on the board, witness, give, attend the services of the church, visit the sick, feed the hungry, care for the needy, and a myriad of other good works? Why, why, why?

Paul said why. “For Christ’s love compels us, …” (2 Cor. 5:14, NIV). And the antecedent experience to this compelling love of Christ is found in “the love of God … poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5). Is it any wonder that his prayer burden for the Ephesian Christians was that they might “know [personally experience] the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge [human knowledge],…” (Eph. 3:19).

None of this means to suggest that a Christian receives in one spiritual experience all the divine love he or she will need to meet every contingency of life. We should always be hungering after more and more of Christ’s love. However, it does suggest that until our hearts have undergone a radical, spiritual circumcision—with all contaminants removed—that we cannot love and serve God and others with sincere and unmixed motives. Only with pure hearts can we build with “gold, silver and precious stones.”

There is a sense in which heart-purity is power. That is to say, if my will, passions, desires and inclinations have been purified by God’s deep work—and ongoing work of grace within me—this in itself brings a wholeness and integration to my entire being. The inner conflicts which once dogged my steps, no longer have any power over me, with the very holiness of God taking possession of every compartment of my inner being and transforming all my outer relationships and activities.

But in another sense, one can have a clean temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in and yet be in need of an ability, a power to do the will of God.

Pentecost brought these two needs together, meeting their demands. We are in need of pure hearts; we are in need of power to perform works of service and live as overcomers. Pentecost is both purity and power.

If Peter had experienced a pure heart without experiencing a divine anointing and filling, he would have been a good man, living a harmless life, but he would have never stood up fearlessly preaching to the thousands and seen the abundant harvest that he did. Without Holy Spirit power Peter would have been a “sanctified” man but never a fruitful man.

On the other hand, if Peter had received God’s power without God’s purity, he would have been no better than King Saul, who following his departure from God, could still prophecy but not control his temper. Power—even God’s power coming through a preacher—may be spectacular and impressive to us, but not to God.

God wants His children to be both sanctified and fruitful instruments of grace. This can only occur as God’s people experience the blessing of a personal Pentecost and subsequently live a daily renewed life in the Spirit’s power.

How many of God’s children are wanting to do right and live only for God, but instead go from one defeat to the next? They are not consistent overcomers. In their heart of hearts they know they are not living a life that pleases God. Their works of service are done with grudging complaints and grumbles. They have difficulty in resisting temptation. They are often preoccupied with self and appearances. They harbor some unsurrendered area of their hearts and lives. Jesus is not Lord of all—not to these.

These dear people fill our pulpits and pews. But they’re building with wood, hay and straw. They need purity; they need power. Pentecostal purity! Pentecostal power!

The extent of our Christian influence depends upon our respective gifts and callings. Christian works of service done in Jesus’ name will take few of us beyond our own localities. But where we serve is none of our business. That’s God’s business.

Let us be content with where Providence has placed us. Don’t aspire to be great. Don’t desire to have a wide influence. Aspire to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Aspire to live a holy, Christlike life. Aspire to be used of God. Aspire to produce a bountiful harvest of fruit to the glory of God that is rich in quality, trusting Him to give the increase.

I was recently reading of the far-reaching ministries and lasting fruit of the Twelve Apostles. Here was a small band of unlettered men—blue-collar workers, if you will—who had a life-changing encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, and who subsequently were purified and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Passionately in love with the Lord Jesus, these men lived daily in the Spirit’s power, traveling to the ends of the earth preaching and teaching, healing and encouraging.

Christian history and tradition informs us that Andrew preached the gospel in Macedonia, Scythia and Russia. Bartholomew preached Christ in many countries, but mostly in India and Armenia. James the Son of Zebedee is believed to be the first Christian missionary to Spain. John’s travels took him throughout Asia Minor and the Island of Patmos. Thaddaeus preached in Mesopotamia and Persia. Matthew traveled to Egypt and Ethopia. Peter evangelized throughout Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia and Asia. Simon Zelotes preached in Egypt, Mauritania, Africa, Libya and Britain. Thomas’ travels took him to India, the Parthians, Medes and Persians. All of these were martyred for their faith with the exception of John, who died a natural death.

On the other hand, there are far more nameless saints who have never engaged in the kind of works of service the apostles did, but who nonetheless have caught God’s eye because they are building with gold, silver and precious stones. They are God-purified and Spirit-filled believers. And wherever they live and serve, they are producing quality works to the glory of Christ.

Most of these dear people don’t stand behind a pulpit or sit on church boards. But their knees are calloused. Their hands are busy. Their feet are worn.

These select saints have a glow in their eye, a song on their lips, and a Presence in their hearts. They live on earth, but dwell in the heavenlies. They enjoy this life, but are living for the next world.

But though these hungry-hearted disciples of Christ are preoccupied with the next world, they go about their Father’s business in this world: loving, giving, encouraging, serving, reaching, caring, worshiping, sharing, communing, learning and growing—in the purity and power of the Spirit. Not that they feel pure and powerful! These acknowledge more than all the rest their utter dependence upon God and their total reliance upon Christ. They confess that they are helpless sinners apart from the mercy and grace of God, that they are the least of all the saints, that they are totally undeserving of Heaven.

How can we be sure that our works of service will pass the test at the Judgment Seat of Christ? Let us allow God to purify our hearts and cleanse us daily; let us invite the Holy Spirit to empower us and fill us continually. Then let our hope be that when our merciful Lord reviews our life on that Day that He will find our works of service as gold, silver and precious stones. Should this be so, let us not think, even now, that we will pass the test because of our own righteousness. Never! It is always grace from beginning to end—God’s merciful grace given through the Lord Jesus Christ.

- Soli Deo Gloria -

1. All Scripture references are taken from the New American Standard Bible except as noted.
2. Taken from Jesus, Thy All-Victorious Love by Charles Wesley.