Ruler of Maui or Janitor in Greenland
Matt 25:31-34, Rev 20:11-15
Introduction
We are on week six in our exploration about what the Bible says about
Heaven. To understand Heaven, we must also discover what the
Bible says about God’s bigger plans for humanity and for all
creation.
Today, we are going to explore a topic that can be either very
frightening or extremely exciting depending on how you are now living
your life. This is the sobering topic of God’s eternal
judgment of our life. Here is one of life’s most important
questions: How will the Almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful,
Creator God evaluate your life to determine your place and position for
all eternity?
Our two main Bible passages today, reveal a rather fear-provoking scene
of what Christ will do when he returns to planet Earth very soon.
Matt 25:31-34:
"When
the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he
will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be
gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep
at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will
say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world….”
We discover more details about this destiny-defining judgment of Jesus Christ in Rev 20:11-15:
“Then
I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth
and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and
books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of
life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as
recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it,
and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person
was judged according to what he or she had done. Then death and
Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the
second death. All whose names were not found written in the book
of life, were thrown into the lake of fire.”
Now I don’t know about you, but this whole topic of eternal
judgment stirs up in me all manner of troubling and important
questions. So I’ve structured the sermons on this topic
around these questions. This week and next, we are going to
explore five questions about God’s eternal judgment.
Today, we explore three of these questions, and next week will explore the final two questions.
Questions about God’s Eternal Judgment of Our Lives
1. Isn’t salvation by grace alone and not based on our works?
The answer of course is absolutely, unquestionably, irrevocably,
“yes!” There are so few truths in life worth dying
for, but this is surely one of them: “For
it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can
boast!” Eph 2:8-9.
No one is granted entrance into Heaven, into God’s eternal
kingdom, because he or she did more good deeds than bad deeds. No
one gets into Heaven just because he or she belongs to a particular
denomination, or because he or she dutifully goes to church, or
faithfully does all the right Christian stuff of reading your Bible,
praying, or witnessing.
Salvation—having one’s sins forgiven, being made an adopted
child of God, and being granted eternal life in Heaven—is a pure
gift from God given to whomever God wants to give it to.
God’s gift of salvation is based solely on what Christ
accomplished by becoming a human, living a sinless life, dying of the
cross to pay for our sins, and rising from the dead to make a way for
us to rise again as well!
Listen and listen well my friends,
you cannot behave your way into Heaven and you cannot sin your way out
of Heaven! Once God declares you His son or daughter, it is a
forever done deal! No power of heaven, hell, or earth, or even
personal disobedience can ever make a person go from being saved to
being unsaved. This is the rock solid assurance we have from
God’s Word!
If you right now today believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is your
only hope and source of salvation, and you have called upon the name of
the Lord to be your Lord and Savior, you are Heaven-bound no matter how
you choose to live your life. That’s the power of
grace! God’s final judgment for those who have at anytime
fully surrendered their life to Christ is never a matter of determining
salvation.
But hear this well: A
believer’s disobedience to Christ does have eternal and
monumental consequences! Christ will judge the life of every
believer as to his or her deeds and motivations. This judgment
will determine the degree of reward they will receive, and their
eternal position in God’s kingdom of Heaven.
You see, God’s judgment comes to humans in two stages:
a. There is the initial Judgment of Faith when you die, and then
b. the final Judgment of Works that determines degree of reward or degree of punishment.
Randy Alcorn illustrates this is a helpful chart.
a. Judgment of Faith
• This is the judgment that happens to each person the second he or she dies.
• This judgment determines whether a person goes
directly into God’s presence, or into the place of darkness
awaiting final judgment called Hades.
• The basis of this judgment is how did that
person respond to whatever degree of the gospel he or she heard and
understood.
Here are some more to-die-for
truths: Salvation is by faith alone through grace alone in Jesus
Christ alone. There is no other way to a saving relationship with
God the Father but through Jesus Christ. Christ alone is the way,
truth, and life. All who call upon the Lord will be saved.
All this is true. And God’s primary avenue of extending
salvation is through the gospel being proclaimed, and the Holy Spirit
granting someone the gift of faith to believe and accept this gospel.
However, God is a just and
loving God, and He will not sentence someone to eternal damnation for
rejecting a gospel they never even heard!
In the Bible, in the book called Romans, God makes two truths about judgment very clear:
• No one will be
able to stand before God and claim ignorance of God’s existence
as God has designed creation to reveal that there is a Creator.
Atheists and agnostics will have no excuse come judgment day.
• Each person
will be judged based on how they responded to whatever degree of
God’s Law and gospel he or she understood.
b. Judgment of Works
• When Christ
returns, He will set up what the Bible calls the “Great White
Throne Judgment Seat.” We read about this in our Bible
passages earlier.
• At this judgment, the Books in Heaven will be
opened that have recorded every person’s life in detail.
• People’s eternal destiny is already set
by then. Those whose names were written in the
“Lamb’s Book of Life,” that is, those who are
embraced by the grace of the gospel, are granted access into
God’s eternal kingdom. Those whose names are not in
Christ’s Book of Life, are shut outside this kingdom forever.
• This Judgment of Works determines a
person’s degree of eternal punishment, and degree of eternal
reward.
Some Supporting Bible Passages:
Rom 2:6-7:
“God "will give to each person according to what he has
done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor
and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are
self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be
wrath and anger.”
2 Cor 5:9-10: “So we make
it our goal to please Christ, whether we are at home in the body or
away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, that each one may receive what is due him or her for the things
done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
Luke 12:47-48: "The person who
knew his God’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with
God’s will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did
not know God’s will, and yet still committed deeds worthy of a
flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given
much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him
they will ask all the more.”
Now all this naturally leads to the next question…
2. Isn’t just getting into heaven and being with Christ enough reward?
Of course! Just being in Heaven with Christ forever is the ultimate reward, and this will always be our primary and most powerful source of joy.
HOWEVER, if God designed us to be disembodied spirits with no
other desires then to float around in front of God’s throne in an
eternal song of worship, then just being in Christ’s presence
alone would be a sufficient reward by itself.
BUT, God has designed humans in God’s image. Bearing God’s image means that we discover significant secondary joy from being engaged in meaningful work and thrilling recreation.
This dynamic will not change once we are living in our glorified,
resurrected bodies on the New Earth. It is not ungodly, selfish,
or unspiritual to admit that just spending eternity in an unending
worship service would be boring! On the contrary, not to admit
that is to deny the very desires that God has placed in us.
Here’s a profound statement: eternity is a really long
time! God would not design humans with all our abilities,
curiosity, and longings to explore, create, and relate, only to create
a heaven where we cannot use such traits! God is most
glorified whenever one of His creatures lives up to their full designed
potential. An eagle soaring, a whale breaching, a fast human
running, a singer singing, a craftsman creating, these are the acts of
worship that most delight God!
So here’s the deal: How you live your life now, determines
where you will live and what you get to do for all eternity. So
as the sermon title asks: Do you want to spend eternity as a janitor in
Greenland or a ruler of Maui? Now again, as David declares in Ps
84:10: “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”
Compared to being in hell, of course any position in heaven will be a
fully satisfying reward. But it dishonors God’s design, and
minimizes God’s plan and purposes to say that we shouldn’t
care what position we will have in heaven.
Which brings to our last question for today…
3. Isn’t it selfish to be motivated by personal rewards?
If it is, then to do so will put you in good company. God’s
people throughout the Bible found a powerful, sustaining, motivating
source of hope and perseverance by keeping there eyes on their eternal
reward. Yes, they understood this reward to be primarily life in
heaven with Christ, but they also longed for their personal rewards as
well. Heb 11:6 defines faith as a longing for both God’
presence and our personal reward: “Without
faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to God
must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly
seek him.”
Listen to all these Bible heroes who were significantly motivated by gaining eternal reward:
• Abel, Enoch, Abraham,
Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Rahab, Moses, Gideon, Barak, Samson,
Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets:
“All these people were still
living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things
promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.
And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of
their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had
left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they
were longing for a better country-a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not
ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for
them." Heb 11:13-16
• The Apostle Paul: “Do
you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the
prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who
competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a
crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last
forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I
do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and
make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will
not be disqualified for the prize.” 1 Cor 9:24-27
• Jesus Christ: “Let
us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who
for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and
sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb 12:1-2
So Why Does All This Matter?
If you are not a devoted follower of Christ, you should be frightened,
very frightened of Christ’s return. You will be assigned a
place outside of God’s kingdom forever. The good news of
the gospel is that to go from being destined for hell to assured of
heaven simply requires you to call on the name of the Lord to be
saved!
Rom 10:9-13 declares: “If you
confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved….for,
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
If you are a devoted follower of Christ, then please heed the dire warning given to believers in Gal 6:7-9: “Do
not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. Each person reaps what he
or she sows. The one who sows to please the sinful nature, from
that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the
Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
Do not live a day longer in the lie that says; “since grace
covers all sin and since salvation cannot be lost, than it really
doesn’t matter how faithfully I obey Christ.” Christ
will hold you accountable for the motivation of every act and every
word spoken, not to determine your salvation, but to determine your
eternal reward and position.
Now let me close with this:
The Bible sets up this major tension between revealing the sobering,
inescapable realty that every child of God will stand before the
judgment seat of Christ and be rewarded based on our works. Yet,
Christ also gives us promise after promise that as God’s
children, we should not live in fear of this Day of Judgment.
Remember the comforting truths so powerful proclaimed by Pastor Alan
last week, “this same Jesus” of compassion and grace is the
one soon coming back to judge the living and the dead!
1 John 4:16-18 assures us: “God
is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God lives in
them. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will
have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are
like Christ. There is no fear in love. But perfect love
drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.”
It does make a huge difference for all eternity what degree of reward
we will earn. But when each of us, as a child of God, stands
before the judgment seat of Christ, Christ will be looking on us with
unconditional love!
Christ’s will not execute judgment on believers in divine wrath, but in inexhaustible grace.
Christ will not judge Christians in disappointment or anger, but with the joy of being able to declare to each one us, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!”
