Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Unity in Diversity, Part 16 of 33
TEXT: "But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God'” (Romans 14:10-11).
IDEA: We dare not ask others to give an account to us. All of us shall give an account for ourselves to God who loves us.
PURPOSE: How do we keep motivated to live in love with other Christians?
All of us have been to school and have received semester grades. How are grades given in different courses?
What is the teacher’s purpose in giving grades?
I. Christians will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
This is a judgment to evaluate the way we have lived our lives. Paul writes, "But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.'”
Paul has been urging us to live in love with other Christians and not to quarrel or divide over matters that we feel deeply about but are not directly forbidden in Scripture.
II. We should be motivated by knowing we shall give an account of the living of our days to God.
That judgment appears to have eternal significance.
We shall “bow to God” and “confess” to Him. What causes us to judge others or look down on them is arrogance. We will not be arrogant then.
Paul has been talking about the need for unity, but in that day, at that judgment, we will stand alone (Romans 14:12).
Each of us—each individual Christian—will give an account. None will be exempted.
Each one will give an account for himself. Other people will not run interference for us, and we will not give an account for them.
It will be to GOD and not to human beings to whom we shall give this account.
This is not a human court. God knows the motives that others cannot know. God knows the circumstances that others cannot measure.
III. We must also realize that we will not stand at that judgment alone. Jesus Christ stands with us.
We have His merit. That is what the book of Romans is about.
We have His love. Cohn Brooks writes, “God may be kinder than we think. If He cannot say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’ it may be He will say, ‘Don’t worry, my argumentative and arrogant servant; I don’t altogether dislike you.”
That is a playful way of stating a truth.
But it is much more than this. It is not that God doesn’t merely dislike us; it is that even though we are sinners, God loves us for the sake of Jesus Christ. If we lived with Him in life, He will not desert us in death.
Standing before His love, however, may be the greatest motivation of all.
