Let's turn in our Bibles to II Corinthians chapter 5, that's where we're at tonight, II Corinthians chapter 5. Let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we continue our worship by devoting ourselves, body, mind and spirit to what your Spirit would say to us. We believe that the word of God does the work of God in the hearts of the people of God as you instruct us, as we give you our attention, we pray that we would be motivated with a spiritual incentive that would go beyond a message or beyond a week but would last our lifetime as we think about what's ahead. In Jesus' name. Amen.
What motivates people in life? What motivates people to do a good job? To work hard? To produce the right kind sof things? Well here's an example of what doesn't work: Now here's an in-company memo to all the employees and it's regarding sick leave policy. First of all, sickness, no excuse, we will no longer accept your doctor's statement, if you're able to go to the doctor, you're able to come to work. Leave of absence, that is for an operation you might be having, we will no longer allow this practice. We wish to discourage any thought that you may need an operation. As long as you're employed here you will need of all of whatever you have and should not consider having anything removed. We hired you as you are and to have anything removed would certainly make you less than what we bargained for. Additionally, too much time is being spent in the restroom. In the future we will go to the restroom in alphabetical order. For instance, those whose names begin with A will go from 8am to 8:05am, B will go from 8:05am to 8:10am and so on. If you're unable to go at yourt ime you will need to wait until the day your turn comes again. Death other than your own. This is no excuse, you can do nothing for them and we're sure that someone else in a lesser position can attend the arrangements. However, if the funeral can be held in the late afternoon, we will be glad to let you off one hour early provided that your share of work is done ahead of time to keep the job going in your absence. Death, your own, this will be an accepted excuse but we would like at least a two-week notice as we feel it is your duty to teach someone else your job. Now that would hardly motivate anyone to do anything. That would not give anyone proper incentive. I've always found it interesting that you can go into any bookstore and find bookshelves stacked with motivational books, how to get employees to do what you want them to do, how to give them incentive to dow what's right on the job. There's also seminars with the same kind of subject manner. That's not just on the job, even in school, teachers are trying to figure out, how can we motivate our students? I was looking at some research papers recently, they conducted tests of young students in school and they found out that giving them rewards would give them incentive to do homework. And it's not just the reward of a job well done, it's external rewards like pencils and pens and notebooks and candy, because they realized rewards will motivate people. And of course whenever there's a crime to be solved, oftentimes there will be a cash reward for any information leading up to the arrest of the individuals in question. I read an article recently about a Nazi war criminal they think is still alive somewhere down in South America, named Albert Heim. If he's alive he's ninety-four years old. Some believe he is still alive. He was responsible in World War II Nazi Germany removing organs from victims without any anesthesia, experimental operations. And they're offering $495,000 to see him arrested. A reward, a cash reward. And oftentimes in all of these cases, cash or other external rewards are given to get people to just do the right thing because they know that it works, it provides motivation. But here's a question: what is it that motivated guys like Paul the apostle? Just think for a moment what Paul went through. He was willing to travel long distances, to suffer heat and cold and fatigue and shipwreck and be beaten up and antagonism and jail time over and over and over again. What motivated him to do that? What made him tick? Or you could say, what motivated guys like David Livingstone to be educated in Hamilton, Scotland, get a medical degree as a doctor and then give his life as a missionary in Africa. Why would he do that? Or Hudson Taylor, or E. Stanley Jones to go to India, what gave these people incentive? 
Well Paul answers that question in these verses that we look at tonight, and the answer is found in this phrase: the judgment seat of Christ. The judgment seat of Christ. That is, that in heaven after we die at some point we will be given rewards based upon what we do in this life for Christ. Now don't misunderstand, you don't get into heaven that way. You get into heaven by faith but your rewards once you get to heaven are based upon works. You might say you get into heaven by the finished work of Christ but you will get rewarded in heaven based upon your works done on the earth.
Let's look at II Corinthians chapter 5, three verses only tonight. Verse 9, "Therefore (and it's good that we have covered this section in a previous study in this series because we know what is before this) Therefore we make it our aim whether present or absent to be well-pleasing to Him, for (or because) we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men. But we are well known to God and I also trust are well known in your consciences." 
Now this evening I want to look at in these three verses a threefold incentive that drove Paul the apostle. A threefold incentive, in three directions. And we want to make it our own. So we want to look at the ambition, his ambition, we want to see if it's our ambition, our ambition Godward, in view of who God is and what He has done, what's our goal, our ambition. Second, our heavenward motivation. What makes us follow that passion? And then finally, our earthward occupation. Let's go back to verse 9. We have only three verses, we want to look at them very carefully. "Therefore we make it our aim (or that's where we're pointing, here's our goal) whether present or absent (whether I live or die, remember he said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Whether I live here on this earth or I am with the Lord in person) to be well-pleasing to Him." Now verse 9 is Paul's stated goal for his life, this is the apostle Paul's purpose statement. This verse, this idea forms the grid to which every single thing was filtered in Paul's life.
I'd like you to listen to that verse in the Amplified Bible. We are consciously ambitious and we strive earnestly to be well-pleasing to Him." Do you understand then, pleasing Christ was Paul's lifelong passion, his ambition. It was his lifelong and eternal ambition to please Christ. Question: do you think that's commonplace today? Would you say that this stated goal and passion of Paul, is this commonplace or is this the exception rather than the rule? I just, I wonder what we, if we were to take a poll and I won't do it for time. I believe it's very rare. It's certainly not what the world lives for. It's certainly not the passion and goal of unbelievers. But I'll go a step further, I believe among most Christians this passion and ambition to live with the utmost goal of pleasing Christ is rare, very rare. Even Paul the apostle when he was looking around for a partner in ministry, he talked about young Timothy as being like-minded. And he said in Philippians 2, "For I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state, for all seek their own not the things which are of Christ Jesus." Boy, that's an interesting phrase, of all the people that I know in the churches that I frequent, says Paul, I know only one person who thinks like I think and that's Timothy. The same goal, the same passion. Now oftentimes a single word or phrase will sum up an entire person's life. Golf. Fishing. Running. Cars. Painting. Music. In fact, there are even bumper stickers, "I'd rather be..." whatever it would be, they'd rather be doing. That's their goal, that's their passion, that's what they love to do more than anything else. And sometimes people will be bold enough and honest enough to say it. They'll say, "My life is music," or "My life is bicycling," or "My life is painting." It's the stated goal of their life. Question: What is your bumper sticker? If there's one word or phrase that sums up what you're about, what would that be? And I'd like you to just think about that through tonight and through this week. Because we know what Paul's was, he stated in so many places, not only here but Philippians 1:21, "For me," he said, "to live is Christ and to die is gain." It's gain because to live is Christ so what could be better than living for Christ? Dying and being with Christ. That's his stated goal.
I've got a question for you: Do you know why you were made? Do you know why you were made, why you are here on this earth? What purpose do you have? Why are you here? Because you'll often hear people say, "I was made to do that." Do you ever hear that phrase? "I was made for this." What were you made for? What was I made for? Revelation 4:11 tells us exactly. Here is the anthem that will be sung in heaven: "For you created everything and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created." Do you know why you're here? Do you know why you were made? Simple, to please God. To please God. That's what Paul says his goal and aim in life was, to please Him. That was his goal. 
Now admit this too, that is the very antithesis of what this world you should live for. You live in a world that lives for itself and tells everyone who lives in it to live for themselves, right? It's in all the adverstisements. I just took a little snapshot of a few different companies that advertise and you can pick up on that. Erickson Electronics, their theme, "Make yourself heard." T-Mobile, "A better world for you." Airtel Cellular, "Express yourself." One airlines company, "Embrace your dreams." One magazine, "Acquire what you desire." L'Oreal Cosmetics, "Because you're worth it." Budweiser beer, "For all you do, this Bud's for you." And finally Sprite, "Obey your thirst." You see how everything in life gets measure on a scale of personal pleasure. And that same warped thinking has even crept into the church. Here's the truth: the more you do as you please, the less you will pleased with what you do. And you want something else. But them ore you live to please God, the more you will be pleased with your life. That's how we were made. 
Now a followup question to that and looking at this verse is, what made Paul this way? What gave Paul the motivation for that ambition? That was his ambition and passion. What is it that fueled that? Why was Paul that way? Well, he answers that. There's two things that gave Paul this motivation and both of these things were yet future to Paul. One was the future glory and the second was future judgment. Now follow me carefully: future glory, future judgment. Those two things motivated everything Paul did in life. Future glory, verses 1 through 8 of chapter 5, "we know that when this house, this body is dissolved, we have an eternal house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We groan earnestly desiring..." He's talking all about the future glory. Also, the future judgment, that he calls here the judgment seat of Christ. And notice in verse 10 is the word for, or because. Here's the heavenward motivation, here's the second slice of this message. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad." Now this verse, verse 10, describes a scene that's going to take place in our future. You will be there, if you're a Christian, you will be there. If you're not a Christian, you'll be at another judgment called the great white throne judgment. I'll talk briefly about that in a minute. But this describes a scene in the future that you will be at. For it says, notice, "We must all appear." Every one of us, and he's writing to believers, we must all appear. When you appear at the scene it will be a time of evaluation and conclusion, because it's called the judgment seat of Christ. And then finally after the verdict is rendered, you're going to receive a reward or not, you'll either receive one or lose a reward. Because it says, "that each one may receive." So this scene that is described is a place of revelation, a place of reckoning and a place of receiving. Revelation, reckoning and receiving: the judgment seat of Christ. Now I'd like to, in the time remaining, unpack that for us. I want to unpack these verses and these thoughts.
First of all, notice the term judgment seat. There's two words in English, not in Greek, it's one word. It's the word behmetos. Bhemetos. And it means a raised platform. We will all stand before the bhemetos of Christ, a raised step. Now here's the root word of that word bhemetos. The root word means the distance covered by a step of the foot. And eventually it came to mean a raised step. And eventually, raised and exalted position of an official like a judge. An eventually it meant the judgment seat. And in every great town in the ancient world was a raised platform in town called the behmetos. From that place speeches were given, from that place laws were given also to the people, verdicts were handed down. This is writing to the Corinthians, right? There was a behmetos in Corinth. I've been there, I've stood there. And four years before this letter was written Paul was also at that behmetos, Acts 18 verse 12. It says, "And they rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat," the behmetos. Now get this, every Greek citizen at one point in his or her life had to be a judge on the behma seat, we would call it a jury really, very similar to today. And the members of the jury were each given two bronze discs, a hollow disc and a solid disc. A hollow disc was for the guilty verdict, a solid disc for the acquittal verdict. So they would hear the case and then there was a little urn made out of bronze up on that raised behmetos, that platform. And they would place their disc inside, they would collect all the verdicts that each juror gave. That's the idea of the judgment seat of Christ. But it was also the judgment seat, a place of giving out awards or rewards. And that was because of the Olympic games, they sort of took that term and applied it to themselves. Now next month are the Olympics in Beijing and so it's fitting to even talk about this. The first Olympics started in 776 BC, it ws for men only. There were footraces, chariot races, javelin throwing, boxing, and wrestling, and that was about it. At the end of the competition all those who participated would be brought before a behmetos, a raised platform, and there were judges who would give out awards, or you would lose a reward if you didn't compete very well. And what kind of crown, that's what they got, crowns back then, what kind of crown did they get if you won first place in the Olympics? A little crown of leaves. That's it. If you win you get a little crown of leaves on your head, a laurel wreath that would fade away in a couple days. All that labor for a leaf? Yep, all that labor for a leaf. And that's what Paul has in mind and he uses this analogy in I Corinthians 9 verse 25 when he says, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run but only one receives the prize. Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown (a little crown of leaves that will fade away in a week) but we do it for an imperishable crown." It's all about motivation. It's all about working now and serving now to win a prize. They do it for an imperishable crown.
Probably the most grueling formidable bike race in the world is the Tour de France. Two thousand miles of rugged terrain, eating and drinking on the run. One participant in that race called it "an annual madness." It's so grueling, he said it was the hardest thing you could imagine. Now when you're done with the race if you win it, what's your prize? Ten thousand, a hundred thousand dollars? Just a little bicycle jersey. That's it. If you win you get a little special bicycle jersey and the ability to say, "I won the Tour de France."
Do you get where Paul's coming from then in that verse that I just quoted? They do it for a perishable crown. We serve and work for Christ now for an imperishable crown. Okay, what kind of judgment is this bema seat judgment of Christ. Let me first tell you what it's not. It's not the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20 where the wicked are judged after the millennial kingdom and banished forever. Because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, believers will never ever have to face their sins. Hallelujah. Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And remember what Jesus said in John chapter 5, "He who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but is passed from death into life." So, the judgments seat of Christ doesn't determine your fate, that's settled. You're saved by grace, through faith, it is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. So it's not that judgment, it's not for your sins. It's not for your eternal destiny. Nor is the bema seat of Christ some spiritual competition where you're kind of comparing yourself with another person, you can say, "My mansion's bigger than your mansion." There's not going to be any of that in heaven. You know some of us are afraid that come our judgment day, that God's going to throw in the videotape or the DVD and everything you've ever said is going to be blared everywhere in heaven. And people are going to go, "Who did that? Said that?" Right? That's sort of the idea. I heard about a preacher who went to heaven and he noticed that there was a New York taxicab driver also in heaven. He got a bigger reward and a higher status in heaven and he was a little bit angry at that. The preacher went to Saint Peter, of course he's always present in all these jokes. And he said, "Peter, I don't understand, I've devoted my whole life to loving my congregation and doing the best that I could." And Peter said, "Look reverend, it's our policy inin heaven to reward results. Now when you preach, what happened? He sort of hung his head and said, "Well a lot of people did fall asleep when I preached." Peter said, "Exactly. Now when people got out of this guy's taxicab, not only did they stay awake, they prayed the whole time." So, it's not going to be like that. It's not going to be like that, it's not going to be a comparison with others. Because, where it says in verse 10, "you will receive for oneself," it's in the middle voice, it's reflective, you're going to receive for your own deeds what you've done and what you deserve.
So what is this judgment seat? What's it all about? This is the evaluation and reward for whatever you did on earth to serve Jesus Christ. Again, we are not saved by good works, but we are saved to do good works. Right? It says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 those words, "For we are his workmanshp created in Christ Jesus to do good works." And throughout the New Testament the Bible teaches that there will be rewards in heaven and position that will be determined by what you do now on earth. Matthew chapter 6 verse 20 Jesus said, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy. Matthew 25, we talked about the parable of the talents or using temporal resources. "Jesus will say, "Well done good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things, therefore I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.'" Revelation 22 verse 12, Jesus says, "I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work." And then, how many times in the Sermon on the Mount did Jesus say, "And when you do alms and when you pray, don't do it in public for those who do it in public have already received their reward. Do it in secret and you will be rewarded openly." There's a question: When does that take place that you will be rewarded openly? That is this judgment, the judgment seat of Christ.
Now I want you to turn with me to I Corinthians chapter 3, just go back one back, let's do this quickly because this is a parallel passage to this. I Corinthians chapter 3, I Corinthians 3 verse 9. "For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, another builds on it, let each one take heed how he builds on it for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones (that is something's that going to last) wood, hay, straw (those things that won't last, notice) Each one's work will become clear. For the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire. And fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on endures he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss but he himself will be saved, yet so as through the fire." Now this is a final assessment of what Christians do from the time they're saved to the time they get to heaven. Another text is Romans 14, verse 10 where should end all backbiting and bickering against another brother or sister. Paul sys, "Why do you judge your brother? Why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." Now listen folks, God has a record in heaven of everything done on earth by saved and unsaved. Saved and unsaved. There's a little passage tucked at the end of the Old Testament in Malachi chapter 3. It says, "Those who feared the Lord and meditated on him, a book of remembrance was written for those who feared the Lord." Lives were motivated by that. Here's a question: When will this happen? When will this judgment take place? I don't know. Isn't that a good answer. I don't know. I have an idea. Let me tell you what some say. Some say it happens one by one as you die one by one, bema seat judgment takes place, you leave your body, you are present with the Lord you are judged and rewarded accordingly. Others believe that you'll be rewarded in the intermediate heaven from the between your death and the coming of the Lord at the rapture. Still others believe it will take place sometime between the rapture and second coming, during the tribulation upon the earth. It's just an opinion but here's my hunch. I think it's going to take place perhaps between the second coming of Christ and millennial kingdom. This is why I say so, I know we don't have much time so I want you to turn to the book of Daniel chapter 12, I'm always interested in this kind of timing stuff that is given. Daniel chapter 12, let's just look at this and you can meditate on it later. The last few verses of Daniel, verse 10, "Many shall be purified made white and refined but the wicked shall do so wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days." Now we know that it will be three and a half years in the tribulation period from the abomination of desolation set up by the Antichrist until Jesus comes back. Two times in Revelation, Revelation chapter 11 and 12, it gives the exact number of days: one thousand two hundred and sixty days. That's exactly three and half years according to the ancient 360-day per year calendar rendering. Well here in verse 11 we have an additional thirty days. What's going to happen? Don't' know exactly. My guess will be the judgment of the nations as outlined in Matthew chapter 25, the sheep from the goats that Jesus described. But notice in verse 12 there's forty-five more days given, "Blessed is he, happy is the one, who makes it all the way to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-fifth day. Why? For what? Well I'm going to guess again. Number one, to mop up after Armageddon. Number two, to set up for the millennium, the kingdom age, the government for the kingdom age. There will be topographical changes that will happen worldwide on the renewed earth. Perhaps number three, during this time period will be the bema seat judgment of Christ, where individual believers during that time will be prepped, evaluated, and their judgment given for their future. Now it's an interesting little phrase in a parable that Jesus gave, the parable of the nobleman in Luke chapter 19 where he says, "You have been faithful over little, I will give you authority over ten cities." He could be speaking of ruling in the millennium upon the earth. Okay, enough said with that.
Let's go back and finish out that last verse very quickly. II Corinthians chapter 5, verse 11. We have to take verse 11 because it says "Knowing therefore." Do you see that? That means the thought connects. So we have Paul's ambition, his motivation and his occupation. It should be our ambition, it should be our motivation and it should be our occupation. Watch it, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men. We are well known to God and I also trust in your consciences." What does that mean? I'm going to tell you what most people say it means. Most people say "terror of the Lord" shouldn't be there, the Greek word is fabas, fear; it should simply be the fear of the Lord, the reverential awe of the Lord should motivate a believer, which is true I do agree with that and it could mean that. It could simply mean, knowing that we're going to be rewarded or lose our reward depending on what we did and how we did it, we should persuade as many Christians as we can to live the right way. It could mean that. It could be simply written to get Christians to say, "Look, I don't want to in the end say, ‘Why did I waste my time on meaningless pursuits and meaningless things in life, meaningless advances and investments when I could have been investing in the kingdom? Why all that energy in stuff that doesn't really matter?' Or, perhaps the word terror is a good translation. Now just follow me here. Knowing the terror of the Lord, the Greek word fabas is a general word that can mean anything from generalized fear to panic and anxiety. And he could have this idea in mind. Yeah, we're going to get judged and we're going to be in glory and we're going to be rewarded but there's more than just us. So I want to share one last scripture with you. This, I've got to have you turn to it: I Peter chapter 4. I was reading this this morning, I Peter chapter 4, verse 17, I think it'll help put it all together. "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now (verse 18) if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" In other words, it's going to be so awesome for us, it's going to be an absolute terror to others who don't know Christ. And that should motivate us to persuade as many unbelievers as possible to be right with God. Either way, either interpretation works, because both of these things are true. The truth is, everyone will stand before God at some point for something: either salvation if you're a beilver and then taken away, or service, works and that is the bema seat of Christ.
There was one night where a preacher asked a group of Sunday School kids, he said, "How many of you want to go to heaven?" And everybody raised their hand except one little boy, arms folded. He kept going like this__________. And so the preacher stooped over and said, "Young man, don't you want to go to heaven?" And he said, "No." And he goes, "You mean to tell me you don't want to go to heaven when you die?" And the little boy said, "Oh, well, when I die, sure. But it sounded like you were trying to get up a group to go tonight." Christian, when you die, you're going to heaven, you're not going to go burn your sins off anywhere, you're going to go directly to heaven. But until that day comes you have a task. Til that night comes, you have a task and that is to persuade people. As Thomas Guthrie, the old Puritan used to say, "Heaven will be a time for enjoyment, this earth is the4 time for employment." Isn't that what Jesus said? Work while it is yet day for the night cometh when no man can work.
C. T. Stud used to put it this way, "Only one life, twill soon be past, and only what's done for Christ will last." What would happen if we filtered all of our hobbies, all of our interests, all of our passions, all of our ambitions, through that single grid of "Am I living to please Christ?" Why should that matter? Because of the future glory and because of the future scrutiny called the judgment seat of Christ, for every believer that will determine our reward or lack thereof in heaven. That's a part of our future as well. Now knowing the terror of the Lord we always want to persuade men. And tonight, you may not be walking with God at all, you may not have any relationship with Jesus Christ at all, you may be living totally for yourself but you've come tonight because you thought, "There's got to be more to life than what I've already experienced. Could there be something else? Could I actually feel forgiven and with purpose and meaning and direction? Yes. It takes a thing called repentance where you're willing to turn from your sin and turn your life over to Christ, he's the only one that'll get you to heaven. I suggest you do that tonight. And if any means I could ever use to persuade anyone who is not saved, I'll do it. If God is speaking to your heart about your future, then tonight's the night to make that choice.
Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, it is in one sense very humbling to read the words of the apostle Paul to get the inside scoop into what made a guy travel the ancient world by foot with opposition, rocks thrown at him, insults thrown at him, put in prison, false accusations, hated yb religious groups, hated by secular groups and then just go to the next town and do it again. Now we understand why, whether he was living or whether he would be absent from the body and present with the Lord, his sole ambition was to please you. That's because he knew he would be in glory and he knew he would be rewarded for what he did on earth and so he wanted to do it with all, one hundred percent, until the day he passed. Lord I pray that we will not soon forget this teaching. And I too pray for those who have also gathered with us tonight who don't yet know you, who have not been living for you, who have been living for self. They've done as they pleased but they're not pleased with what they've done. They're empty tonight, they want to find purpose, joy, forgiveness; we know it only comes through your Son Jesus Christ. And we pray that some more yet would surrender to Him tonight. 
Heavenly Father, in this very unique and special moment where time meets eternity I pray that you would draw these unto the Savior in a meaningful way so that they'll never ever forget this night, the night of new beginnings for them, the night of forgiveness, the night where they were freely given everlasting life. In Jesus' name. Amen.