Indeed he is the Prince of Peace. This world will have no peace until the Prince of Peace returns. In the meantime, we will live our lives for him. In the providence of God, we now come to Second Corinthians five, verses 9 and 10. If you will take your Bibles and turn there, Second Corinthians chapter five, we're going to look at verses 9 and 10.

Having just celebrated the certainty of the resurrection, the Apostle Paul says this, "Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

I recently read an article this last week by a man named Ryan Berge. The title of the article was "On LGBT and Women's Equality: Stark Statistical Reality is Coming for White Evangelicals." That heading caught my eye. Let me read just a little of what he said because it fits in well with where we're going with this text this morning as we look at what the Apostle has to say. The writer said quote, "Evangelicalism is on a collision course with a culture that is rapidly liberalizing on two areas that define evangelical theology: their view on homosexuality, and the role of women in the life of the church. A tradition quite literally named for its ability to bring new people to the faith is finding that task harder each passing year as the doctrines of the tradition move further out of step with the country at large." He went on to say, "In 2008, just one in three white evangelicals between the ages of 18 and 35, believed that same sex couples should have the right to be married. Beginning in 2012, though acceptance of gay marriage jumped from 36 to 56% in just six years. There's a reason to believe the writer went on to say that two thirds of young evangelicals now disagree with their Church's position on this issue. When it comes to women," the writer says, "women taking on leadership roles, support for women's equality among evangelicals under the age of 35, has also exploded. A poll conducted by Denison University political science, Paul Jupe. In March 2020, found that just 12.4% of the youngest evangelicals objected to the idea of a woman preaching in the pulpit during a worship service." Well, my purpose here this morning is not to address issues of homosexuality, which is an abomination in the eyes of God. And thankfully, there is hope for all sinners, all of us regardless of what the sin might be, nor am I here to talk about women preachers and authority in the church, which is something that God clearly forbids. God's divine principle for subordination and authority is to reflect the inner Trinitarian relationship that exists between God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But my purpose, with this illustration, and I could give many others, is to merely demonstrate how most so-called Christians do not have as their ambition. to be pleasing to God. They fear man more than God and they seek to please man more than God or please themselves, because their spiritual authority is not the word of God so they can understand the will of God, but rather it's the word of man. This writer went on to say, quote, "One of the dominant understandings of how churches attract new members is referred to as religious economy theory. In this view," he says, "churches are equated with businesses. Each provides a product to a potential audience. If the product is palatable, it will see an increase in quote 'sales,' expressed as church attendance. If the Church does not meet the needs of consumers, attendance will dwindle, and the church will go out of business. From this perspective," he says, "the evangelical church is selling BlackBerry's while Apple has just begun shipping iPhones." Interesting insight.

Sadly, this is true in this age of pragmatism where many people believe that man, rather than God, is in charge of salvation. And so therefore, we've got to do everything we can to somehow get people to like us so that they will like the gospel. Paul warned about this in Second Timothy four, you will remember, beginning of verse three, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and they will turn away their ears from the truth and they will turn aside unto myths." Well, folks, we are there. Most professing Christians are Christians in name only; they really know nothing of what it is to be in relationship with the living Christ. Their lives bear no resemblance to Christ. Moreover, many people today embrace a gospel that bears no resemblance to the true gospel. To this end, Paul said in Galatians, one and verse nine, "if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ."

Dear Christian, let me ask you this morning, what drives you as a person? What is the real ambition of your life? If we could look at how you spend your spare time, and how you spend your monies, we would get a pretty clear picture of that right? Is your ambition to please God or to please yourself, or to please other people, your friends, your colleagues? Well, as we examine this text this morning, and other texts that are associated with it, we will answer two questions. Number one, what does it mean to be pleasing to God? And then secondly, why is it important to be pleasing to God? I pray that it is your heart's desire to be pleasing to God. Friends, this is what separates the hypocrite from the true Christian. The hypocrite strives to please himself, and others, while a true believer strives to please God, because he wants approval from God, not from man. And if this is your ambition, God is going to pour out blessing in your life. And if it's not, you will forfeit blessing in your life, and you will live under a cloud of divine chastening because he chastens those that he loves.

So let's begin by examining the language that Paul uses here in the text. He says, "Therefore, we also have as our ambition," the word "therefore"--it could be translated, "that is why." Of course, the question would be therefore what is why? Well, he's referring to the reality of death that will usher us into the presence of Christ that he's been describing in the previous verses. Notice at the end of verse six, he says, "knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord--for we walk by faith, not by sight--we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord." That is why also, we have also our ambition. Well, let's stop there for a second. "Philotimeomai" in the original language. It's an interesting term; the word ambition. It means a cherished goal, a lofty desire, a noble ambition. That's the idea. We see it used in some other passages in Romans 15, verse 20, we read, "I aspired," there's the same word, "I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man's foundation." First Thessalonians four and verse 11, "But we urge you, brethren, to make it your,: here it is, "ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands."

So again, back to verse nine. "Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent," in other words, whether resident in this physical body, or absent from it, "to be pleasing to Him." In other words, to be pleasing to Him imperfectly on Earth, or perfectly in heaven. So let's answer this first question by looking at this text and some others. What does it mean to be pleasing to God? You might recall that he urged the Ephesians in Ephesians 5:10, to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. That's what we need to do. That's what we're doing here this morning. I think of the passage in Hebrews 13, where the prayer is that, "that the Lord will equip you in every good work, to do that which is pleasing to the Lord," and so forth. Now, the idea of being pleasing to God, as seen in other passages of Scripture, for example, in Colossians 3:20--kids listen to this very carefully, I heard this a lot when I was a young child growing up--"Children," ah, "be obedient to your parents in all things for this as well pleasing to the Lord." Likewise, in Philippians, four, verse 18, Paul described the financial gift that they gave him in support of the ministry as an "acceptable sacrifice, well- pleasing to God." In Titus, chapter two and verse nine, Paul urged the slaves "to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect."

And he urged the saints in Rome, you will recall in chapter 12 and verse one, and I want to camp on this text for a few minutes, "by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice, acceptable to God"--that's the idea of being pleasing to Him--"which is your spiritual service of worship," Romans 12:1. In that text, when he says, "to present your bodies," the word "present," is a Greek term that is used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It was a technical term used to describe a priest placing an animal on an altar for sacrifice. And what are we to present, not an animal, but our bodies, the totality of who we are, not just this physical shell in which our soul abides, but the sum of all that we are the sum of our humaneness.

It's interesting when you think about it, worship has always included sacrifice, but the form of sacrifice changed under the New Covenant, you will recall and the Old Covenant, the sacrifices were always dead, right? They offered dead sacrifices. Under the New Covenant, the sacrifices are living. And under the Old Covenant, you would make a sacrifice. Under the new covenant, you would be a sacrifice. And that's what the text is saying. So we are to be a living sacrifice. "Living" suggests the voluntary nature of the act, we are to continually make a decisive and deliberate choice to voluntarily surrender every aspect of our life to God. That's what he means by "a living." And then he says, "a holy sacrifice." In this context, "holy" means to be set apart from sin, to be set apart from the world, from our dreams, our ambitions; from our own agenda, our selfish passions, and to be set apart unto the Lord. This speaks of a total voluntary surrender of all that we are. But even as Old Testament animals were to be without spot and blemish, so too, we must present ourselves in the purity of holiness and purity of heart; a heart solely devoted to the glory of God. And this is the kind of sacrifice therefore, that is, as Paul says, "acceptable to God." That's what's pleasing to him.

And how do we do this? Well, he goes on to say, in verse two, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind transformed," the Greek term "metamorphoo;” we get our word ""metamorphosis from that. And it connotes a change in outward appearance that reflects an inner nature, like like that of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. And of course, this is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the agent of regeneration and transformation. And he is the one that animates this outward transformation, by an inward transformation of our mind. He changes our desires, our thinking, our attitudes, our disposition. That's why in Second Corinthians three and verse 18, Paul said, "we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord," referring ultimately to seeing Christ in Scripture. What's happening? Well, we "are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." Beloved, you cannot present yourself as a living and holy sacrifice that is acceptable to God, while at the same time allowing the world to make you look and act like it; by allowing the world to conform you into its image. Moreover, you cannot be a living and holy sacrifice, unless you are allowing the Word of God to renew your mind so that there will be this transformation, where the inward part of who you really are, as a believer clothed in the righteousness of Christ, will manifest itself. Those things cannot happen unless you're guarding yourself against the world, and all that it teaches, all of the lies.

By the way, this is why so many so-called Christians embrace, for example, just the unimaginable corruption, and satanic lies of the liberal leftist that we see; all of the stuff on the media. This is why they will embrace a social justice gospel, Black Lives Matter, the feminist movement and all of the women preachers stuff. This is why people will embrace the Word of Faith cult that is just kind of taking over the world. They see nothing wrong with any of this. Now, how can that be? Well, in most cases, they're not even born again. And to the natural man, the things of the Spirit are foolishness. And Paul says, and they cannot understand them, because they're spiritually appraised. But many are truly believers. Why don't they get this? Well, the answer can be seen in many passages, but certainly right here, they are not presenting their bodies as a living in a holy sacrifice acceptable to God. They've allowed the world to squeeze them into its mold. They refuse to allow the authority of the Word of God to saturate their minds so that they have the mind of Christ and live consistently with that. Because friends only when your mind is saturated with the Word of God, will you automatically do the will of God. Many pastors today are nothing more than entrepreneurs, or entertainers, not divinely called and gifted pastor teachers. I was thinking about this--my mind went to Jeremiah six. The context there's the false teachers and all of the deceptions that they were preaching to Israel, and Jeremiah says, well, actually, God says this through his prophet, Jeremiah six, beginning of verse 14, "'They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, 'Peace, peace.'" In other words, you're good with God, everything's good. Everything's great. You have nothing to worry about. "'Peace, peace,' but there is no peace. "And he says this, "'Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done?'" The answer is, “'They were not even ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punished them. They shall be cast down,' says the Lord." Instead, we are to be as people, and certainly as pastors, men and women who according to Colossians 1:28, "proclaim Him," the Lord Jesus Christ, "admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ." Not that we may get them to like us, oh we hope that they do; but that they might be presented to Christ complete. That's why in chapter three and verse 16, he tells us, tells us to, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in our hearts." This is why Jesus prayed before he went to the cross, Father, "Sanctify them in the truth, Thy word is truth." In other words, it's only your word that can cause them to be conformed into my image.

Practically speaking, dear friends, you must expose yourself on a consistent basis to sound teaching. You should always be reading something. There should never be, oh, "I don't like to read"--learn to like it. We're in war, we're in a war. Whistling "Jesus Loves Me," and parading around and coming to church and thinking that God is going to bless you and use you--we have got to have soldiers of the cross and you cannot be a soldier unless you train. And you must train yourself by getting into the word, studying the Bible, listening to expositors, reading, learning, applying these things. You will never be "a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship," as he says, unless your mind is constantly being renewed by the Spirit of God, and he uses, as his instrument, his word. So, get disciplined. Start reading.

By the way, notice the result at the end of verse two, "that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." The word "prove" it's carries the idea of putting something to the test, and it being approved. You see, only the renewed mind can know and live the will of God and thus prove, or in other words demonstrate it, and thus give glory to God. That's the point. And his will, if you'll notice, is good. It's acceptable. It's perfect. And beloved, when his will becomes our will--our living and holy sacrifice--guess what? We will be pleasing to Him. That's the point. Why? Because it is an expression of his very nature.

Similarly, in Colossians, one beginning in verse nine, Paul says this, "we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be," catch this now, "filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." Why? "So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects." Doesn't say this there, but it's almost you could add the word, "duh." "Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light."

By the way, here we see Paul's ambition to please the Lord being manifested in his prayer life, right? If you want to see if you're pleasing the Lord, just examine your prayer life. What is that, like? What are you praying for? I think of the godly 19th century Scottish Minister Robert Murray McShane, he said, "What a man is on his knees before God, that he is and nothing more." Folks, there's perhaps no better gauge of a man's spiritual maturity, and desire to be pleasing to God, then his secret devotion to God in prayer. You show me a man or a woman who is lacks in private prayer and I will show you a spiritual infant that lives to please him or herself. But for the man or woman who has as their ambition, to be pleasing to God, prayer will be the very air that they breathe. Because they know that apart from Christ, they can do nothing. The praying for the sake of praying is meaningless. The real issue is what are you praying about? Are we asking the Lord to show us specific ways where I am displeasing you; show me ways where I can please you more; show me ways where I can just to put it real simply, make you happy, glorify your name. Or is the content of our prayers, basically, God helped me to get this and get that.

Philippians one beginning of verse nine, we see the same thing. Paul says, "And this I pray," okay, here's the content of his prayer, "that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." So again, folks, is this the priority of your life? Are these the types of things that you pray for in your life? So that you can say to your family, as Paul said to the saints in Philippi, in chapter three and verse 16, "Imitate me, even as I imitate Christ?" Can those who know you best say, "Oh, yes. my father, my husband, my wife, my daughter," whatever? "Oh, it's so obvious that it is their ambition to be pleasing to the Lord, we see it in so many ways." Or would they say, "You know, frankly, as nowhere on their radar." Their Sunday morning Christians, cultural Christians, therefore vulnerable to all of the deceptions of the world.

To get even more specific in First Thessalonians, four, beginning of verse one, Paul says, "Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and," here it is, "please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more." Folks, we don't ever come to a place where we've finally got it. I mean, there's always more ways that we can please him and he gets specific here. He says, "For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God," you young people, you're wondering what is God's will for your life--here's one passage you need to underline, you need to copy and you need to put it on your mirror, where you see it every morning when you brush your teeth, which I hope you do every morning. "For this is the will of God," he says, "your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel and sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles, who do not know God." But again, dear friends, you simply cannot be pleasing to God if you do not know his Word, and therefore know his will. And if you don't obey what you know to be true, in this case, especially in the realm of sexual immorality.

Turn to Second Peter chapter one. And I believe it will be on the screens here for you as well. Beginning in verse two, Peter says, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord." I love that phrase, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you." It carries the idea of "I'm praying that the grace and the peace of God will come to you in unending and abundant streams, I just want it to be lavished upon you." That's the idea. And how? Well, it comes "in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." That term "excellence" carries the idea of just living in a sense of breathless adoration over the glory and the excellency of Christ. He goes on to say, "Now, for this very reason also," and here we have a little list here, ways to be pleasing to God, he says, "applying all diligence"--in other words, there needs to be a sense of urgency here, this is important--"applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge." A term that refers to biblical doctrinal discernment, so that you have the mind of Christ; so that you think biblically about things, and you don't get snookered by people who know error better than you know truth. "And in your knowledge, self-control"-- refers to self-restraint, self-discipline, to make our bodies subject to our mind. "And in your self-control, perseverance." Boy, we live in a day where we need perseverance, don't we? The idea here of perseverance is having the ability to resist temptations and to endure trials. He goes on to say, "in your perseverance, godliness"--a term that is almost forgotten in our world today. The term literally means a reverence for God, a reverence for God, true worship. I want you to be diligent about adding these things now. "And in your godliness, brotherly kindness"--speaking of affection for God and affection for others--"and in your brotherly kindness, love." Especially love for other believers.

And then he says, "For if these qualities are yours, and are increasing"--not just stagnant, they're growing, they're increasing; it's a sign of life, right? "They render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you." You want to have assurance of salvation, look at your life, match it up against these things. He says, "For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble"--the idea of falling into doubt or despair or fear--"for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ will abundantly be supplied to you." In other words, these virtues will serve as a way of giving you assurance of salvation. That you look at your life, you see these things growing within you; this is your desire, your passion, and you're enjoying what it is to be pleasing to God.

Well moving quickly, this was Paul's ambition, but we'd have to answer the second question which he does here. Why is it important to be pleasing to God? Well, if we looked at all of the passages, we would see things like well, it's important because of all that Christ has done for us his mercy, his grace, his love for us, that he has lavished upon us. The abundance of blessings that he has given us, the promise of resurrection, the promise of eternal life. But also verse 10 he says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

Beloved, please hear this, man is not autonomous. He doesn't just live on his own. He will ultimately answer to a sovereign God who created him. God has made it clear in his word that a day of reckoning is coming. And all men will stand before their Creator to give an account of every thought and every deed. By the way, that is why it's so important for churches to be considered essential during the so-called pandemic. I forget exactly the words that John McArthur used in something that he that he spoke about, but it was something like this--it's infinitely more important to be about the business of rescuing souls from hell than rescuing people from the flu. Indeed, a day of judgment is coming, Hebrews four verse 13, we read that there "is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." And in chapter nine, verse 27, "And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment." Revelation 22 verse 12, "'Behold,'" Jesus says, "'I am coming quickly and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.'"

Now all believers, whose bodies are raised from death and Hades, according to Revelation 20 and verse 13, will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, at what is called the Great White Throne Judgment. You read about this in Revelation 20. Helpless, they will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. They will stand there in their sin, with heaven and earth, having fled away, no place to hide, and they will hear the verdict on their life which is guilty, absolutely horrifying. And then the sentence of eternal judgment will be carried out, and they will be thrown into the lake of fire, which is also called the second death. Jesus says they will be cast out into the outer darkness. In that place, "there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth," Matthew eight and verse 12. The passage is so frightening. It speaks of a place of outer darkness, that is the furthest removed from the light of God's glory. And a place of just inconsolable grief, continuous torment, the solitary confinement of an eternal hell. By the way, if you're here today, and you've never wholeheartedly embraced Jesus Christ as your Savior, this is your destiny. And so I plead with you to come to Christ in repentant faith to believe on him. For this reason, according to Acts 17 and verse 30, "God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed," referring to Christ, "having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." But the context here is that of a believer. Then Second Corinthians five, the judgment of the believer is far different, obviously, than that of an unbeliever. When Jesus returns, he will evaluate our life and reward us according to our works, that is referring to our earthly service for his glory, as you will see. He's not going to judge us according to our sins. You see that penalty was already paid in full on the cross, right? We can celebrate that. Ephesians, one beginning of verse seven, "In Him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us. There is therefore now no condemnation, to those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans eight one. But we all will be judged, in other words, we're going to be evaluated on the basis of why and what we did for the glory of God. And this is called the judgment seat of God or the judgment seat of Christ. Two passages that speak to this.

Let's look at the one here again in Second Corinthians five verse 10. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad"-- referring to what was worthless, or of poor quality or of low standard, not bad in the sense of evil. Jude 24 says that Jesus is the one who will make you "stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy." I got that word underlined, highlighted and you know-- "blameless with great joy." Oh, how we celebrate that. Psalm 103, verse 12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far, has He removed our transgressions from us."

By the way, this refutes the giant projector doctrine boy that scared that "we-willy-wink-em" when I was a kid. I heard some preachers preach on this; I remember one time it was a camp. And it's this idea that you better watch out because one of these days you're gonna have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. There's gonna be this projector and everybody you know--the Lord, everybody's gonna see all the stuff you've been doing. I mean, that was terrifying. It probably made me a better boy for a while, you know, but it's also unbiblical. All right? There was some bad theology there too. I was thinking, Okay, if that's the case, Wait a minute, I thought there was no more tears in heaven. I mean, there's going to be some serious tears in heaven if they show me but anyway, it's ridiculous. Second Timothy four, verse eight, we read, "in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness," Paul says "which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing." And every believer loves his appearing, those that truly know Christ. But again, like in Romans 14, verse 10, "we will all stand before the judgment seat of God." And because the Father has given all authority to the Son, John five; that authority, the one that will be the judge, will be our precious Lord, Jesus Christ.

Now, it's interesting, the Greek word for judgment is "bema," a raised platform that was used for athletic events or in the political arena where an authority figure would stand and be elevated to a "bema seat" to judge competitions, and award the winners. Even in legal cases, you will remember, Pilate judged Jesus and he was on a bema, he was on a bema Seat, Matthew 27. There he would render the decisions. So let's look at another passage here in light of this, it's so exciting. Turn to First Corinthians 3:10. Again, I think it'll be on the screens here for you. And here's where Paul gives further explanation concerning Christ's evaluation of good and bad worthless deeds. Speaking to believers, he says in verse 12. "Now, if any man builds on the foundation," referring to Christ in the Gospel, "with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay straw, 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." You see, here we see that believers, all believers, are continuing to build upon this foundation of the gospel. It was originally laid by the apostles, in chapter, or in verse 10, he says, "But each man must be careful how he builds on it." And here in verse 13, "...each man's work will become evident..." So think of it this way, we are all part of the church, we are all part of building upon this foundation of the gospel laid by the apostles. And I might add that if the gospel--if the truth of the Word of God is not your foundation, your life and your family will collapse in ruin. Jesus made this clear in Luke 6:49, he says that you will be quote, "like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it, and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great." So believers are the builders in Paul's little analogy here.

But Paul's point is simply this, some of our works will have lasting value, and will endure the testing fire of divine evaluation and some won't. God-centered service that we render in the strength of the Holy Spirit for the glory of Christ, will be of great value. Man-centered service offered in our own strength, for our own glory will have no value. Verse 13, "...each man's work will be become evident; for the day will show it because it has to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." And even as fire is used to purify metal, it is also used symbolically in Scripture. And we see that here; the consuming fire of divine omniscience and divine holiness will test the purity and the value of our service to Christ. And practically speaking, anything we do that is just done in the flesh, for people to notice us; or anything that's done based upon man's wisdom, those types of things will be of no value. God wants us to build with the very best materials, he wants us to give of our very best, not give our leftovers, not give some cheap imitation. Not see Church and the body of Christ is something that's kind of you know, you can take it or leave it, rather than a priority. No cutting corners, no winging it in Christian service. Wow, how I hate that. The Sunday School teacher that prepares on the way to church, the musician--and I'm glad we don't have this--the musician that didn't prepare at all. You can tell it. He wants us to build things right. With quality workmanship according to his divine standard for the church. He wants us to use our gifts and our opportunities to love and to serve and to worship the Lord Jesus Christ with the right motives.

But notice something else in verse 12. He says, "Now, If any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it has to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." Now, good works here are the building materials. Now be very careful here, we are not saved by good works. We're saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Good works do not earn our salvation. Good works prove our salvation. That's the idea. Every believer according to Ephesians 2:10 has been "created in Christ Jesus for good works." Not because of good works, but for good works, "which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Colossians 1:10, "We are to bear fruit in every good work." Now, what's fascinating here is Paul describes two different categories of building materials: gold, silver, precious stones. These would have been valuable, noncombustible materials that would stand the test of fire. And then wood, hay and straw. Less valuable materials: combustible materials that would not stand the test of fire. And because most of the dwellings in the ancient Mediterranean cities were thatched structures, thatched roof structures, on top of clay combined with wood and hay, which is grass and, stubble--which is straw--and because the climate was hot and dry, fire was a serious problem in that day. And this analogy may have been quite vivid to the Corinthian believers in particular, because in 146 BC, much of the city was destroyed as a result of the Roman conquest. Later on, in about 44 BC, Julius Caesar rebuilt it, but it is likely that many of these ruins, the remains of these buildings, were still evident in various parts of the city where structures had been burned, and only noncombustible materials would remain. And that would have been more of the wealthy homes, the government buildings, pagan temples, and so forth. And we know that many of them were made of marble and granite, and some of them even had gold and silver and jewels embedded in the walls and so forth.

In fact at the "bema" it's interesting, he's not going to only evaluate what we did, but why we did it. Paul speaks of this in First Corinthians four. Remember, in verse four, he says, "For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I'm not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will," catch this now, "both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God. So to be sure, anything that is done for the purpose of self-promotion, anything that is done out of self-interest or self-gain or applause; anything that's done lacking in love, that's just wood, hay and stubble.

But Paul goes on to describe how Christ grants these rewards in verse 14, again, "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. It's as though there's two kinds of workers in the church, those who build with quality materials and those who use inferior materials. But all those who build, which includes every believer, will be rewarded for what they did by the power of the Spirit. We're not sure what all these rewards might be, perhaps a reference to those who came to Christ as a result of our service. And we all have a part to play in those things; faithful teaching, living, all of those things, they shall be, quote, "our crown of exultation," Second Corinthians 1:14. First Thessalonians 2:19 says, "For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy."

My what a joy it will be, someday, to be able to see people in heaven that somehow by God's grace, he used me, and used you to bring them to faith in Christ; my what reward. And perhaps it will include some degree of ruling with Christ. We know that, from what Jesus said faithful service in this life affects our position in the coming Kingdom, according to Luke 19:11, through 27, some will be granted more ruling authority than others. We can't be sure what all the rewards will be. They're going to be magnificent beyond our ability to fathom. But our works that are done in the flesh, or based on wrong doctrine or whatever will be burned up. He will suffer loss Paul says, But he himself will be saved yet so through fire. In other words, he himself will escape the fire of judgment as if someone just kind of pulled him out of the fire. The phrase "so through fire," was probably a metaphor like a "brand plucked from the burning," as we read in Amos 4:11.

And since we will stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy, evidently, we're not going to experience any remorse over our loss of reward. We just don't know all of these things, but what we know is the Lord is watching and he is going to reward us. Nevertheless, we want to do everything we can to build with the very best materials for the glory of God and be workman that do the very best we possibly can. First John two verse 28, "Now little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming." Second John 8, "Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward." Colossians 2:18, "Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize." The context there promoting legalism and other forms of false doctrine.

Well, dear Christians, in summary, get serious about your ambition in life. Get serious about being a person that wants to be pleasing to the Lord. Ask yourself, am I using my gifts for the glory of Christ? Am I serving Him? Are there any areas in my life that are displeasing? Husbands, wives, sit down together and talk about this, sit down with your family? Think this thing through, so that one day we can hear from the Lord, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Amen? Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these great truths. Again, by the power of your spirit, animate our hearts to be men and women, boys and girls who are bold for the gospel, because of our love for Christ; that our ambition will indeed be to please you in all that we do. And for those that do not know you, Father, again, I would just beg you to bring such overwhelming conviction that today would be the day of their salvation, that they would humble themselves before the cross, seeing the horror of their sin, in the inevitability of judgment, and cry out for that mercy that you will grant so instantly. So Lord, we commit this to you, that in all things Christ might have the preeminence. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.