Wake Up! (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendroff. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.

The Resurrection as the Big Picture of the New Testament

It is a rare occurrence in the life of a pastor when he gets to start off his sermon with these two words that are in his text for the morning. Very rare indeed. So I, with great relish, will tell you these two words.

Wake up! Let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and that's exactly what Paul tells them in light of the resurrection. When you think big picture about the New Testament, you should say to yourself, James, most likely the first book written, chapter 2, verse 1 talks about Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

And then you go to the last book of the New Testament written, the book of Revelation. We see Jesus there, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. Everything about the Bible is about God and specifically Christ Jesus, the Lord.

Paul spent time with the Corinthians. Some things they did well, most of the other things they didn't. And so he laboriously, painstakingly writes 29 chapters to correct their behavior so that they might reflect what God in Christ Jesus has done, in fact, for them.

Salvation, full and free, forgiveness granted based on the sovereign grace of God. And so he wants them to live in light of that, to walk in a manner worthy like Ephesians chapter 4 talks about. Well, he's talked about unity, he's talked about sexual sin.

And then he comes to chapter 15, where it's 58 verses on the resurrection. Now verse 3, he says, yes, in fact, Jesus was raised from the dead bodily. But in verse 12, there are some people around there who are saying, you know what?

I don't know if we are raised from the dead bodily. And so he makes sure through 58 verses that people believe that there's a resurrection of their own bodies, that there'll be a day of reckoning, that one day when you die, you'll stand before God and give an accounting.

Not for your sins, not for your transgressions, aren't you glad? Jesus was condemned in our place, he suffered in our place, he bore our sins. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

There's acceptance, there's justification by faith alone in Christ. But there is going to be a day of accounting, and so Paul is talking about that in the middle of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I also love these verses because there is a pet Bible verse in here that people usually use and they forget the context.

The context here is resurrection. Chapter 15 is about the resurrection, 58 verses on the resurrection. I thought it was just for Easter. Maybe I could put it this way. There are only two worldviews in this world.

There's a lot of worldview talk, you know, in universities. Worldview one, live for today, no resurrection. This is it, you got one life, burn out, hedonism, go for it, go for the gusto because you were descended from monkeys and you're just going to be dead.

The other worldview is, there's a resurrection. Not only Jesus' resurrection, but yours. And if you are raised from the dead, if you will live on past your death, your body's death, then you should probably see everything in light of that.

Like Luther said last week, we heard from him through my quote, there's today and there's that day, that judgment day. So let's pick up in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 29. We were basically looking at some resurrection Q and A, or we could say resurrection truths that help us live out our Christian life.

Remember, what you believe determines what you do. Conduct and creed are tied together. And so out of the questions that we asked last week, or made statements, the first one was found in verse 29, since the resurrection is true, don't be surprised that people baptize others on behalf of the dead.

Verse 29, otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Paul says, remember, not that I agree with it, not that it's me and we and the other disciples and people that are around me, but pagans baptize with proxy baptism, vicarious baptism.

Pagans do that for what reason? They realize that I'm going to have to stand before God. I'm going to have to give an account. And so if I have to give an account, we want to make sure that I'm acceptable before God and we believe in baptismal regeneration, so we better baptize our dead relatives.

This isn't Paul's only argument, but he says, look at how the pagans live. They even demonstrate through their wrong practice that there's truth behind that wrong practice. There's a resurrection. Second question or truth, I guess I could put it that way.

Since the resurrection is true, why don't you live your life with fearless faith? Verses 30 through 32a. Why are we, verse 30, do you see now the changes to we? He's no longer associating himself with the people in verse 29.

Why are we apostles in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die every day. What do I gain if humanly speaking? I fought with beasts at Ephesus.

If the dead are not raised, let us eat, drink, and tomorrow we die. In other words, Paul is saying this. The reason why I was fearless and serving the Lord with a full-bore gusto is because I knew even if I got killed, even if I had gotten stoned and died by getting stoned those three times, I'm going straight to heaven.

I know there's a resurrection, so that influenced the way I live. And then lastly, we looked at last week, and we'll expand that this morning, found in verse 32b that I just read. Since the resurrection is true, make sure you live in light of it, knowing there's a day of judgment for your actions.

Verse 32b and following. Since the resurrection is true, realize that you're going to be judged by God one day and live in light of that. See there at the end of verse 32, let me explain what I mean. What Paul means, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

Remember the context for that? Israel is going to be judged, Isaiah chapter 22, by an army that God is bringing in as the wooden paddle of judgment, and those people knew that judgment was close at hand.

And so what did they do? Well, instead of praying, instead of saying, God, forgive us, instead of sackcloth, ashes, please, God, we beseech your mercy. I was reading Psalm 25 yesterday, and I thought, this is brilliant.

God, remember your mercy. God, remember not our sins. God, remember me. That's what they should have been praying. Remember how much loving kindness you have, Lord. Remember how much mercy you have. Don't remember our sins, and instead, what were they doing?

They were parting it up. What does the text say? This is what they said. Instead of all the godly repentance and humility and asking God for mercy, we might as well eat, we might as well drink, because the hordes are coming in tomorrow, and we're dead.

If there's no resurrection, then we might as well live for today only. Do these verses sound familiar to you? By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the what? Reward. By faith, he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

There's a greater king on the throne. By faith, he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. Moses not saying, I'm going to live for today only, because if he did, why would he suffer the reproaches of Israel?

Josephus said Moses was in line for the throne of the most advanced civilization in the world, and he said no, because he believed in the resurrection. If you believe in the resurrection, there's like a gravitational pull that will pull you into its orbit, and you will begin to change.

If you say, you know what, I don't believe there's a day of reckoning, and today I might as well go for it, and what the world says I will do, then you're going to get sucked in the vortex of that black hole.

The Judgment Seat of Christ and Christian Motivation

Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, please. As we think about this a little bit more, let's talk about this day of judgment for the Christian, not for sins, not for transgressions, not for trespasses, not for missing the mark, not for sins of omission and commission, all the sins taken care of, it is finished.

But we are judged for what we do in this body. Can you imagine? Every one of you, if you're a Christian, will stand before God, and God will ask you on this day of reckoning, he won't necessarily ask you, but it will appear manifest, what you did.

He gave you gifts and talents and possessions. How did you use these things for the glory of God? And it's going to either be given, you'll be given a reward, or you'll be given nothing. And Paul says, in light of this coming, shouldn't it change the way you live?

This is called the judgment seat of Christ, or we call this what? What's the other synonym for the judgment seat of Christ? The Bema seat. It's a raised thing. I've been there with some of you. No, it wasn't that particular trip.

Some of you at Corinth I've been with. Has anybody been with me to Corinth? No, that was a different trip. There's a place in Corinth. I was there with somebody. I don't know who it was. A bunch of Germans, that's right.

And raised up, because you can imagine, if thrones are supposed to be very high, so the king seems more intimidating and in authority and has power, well, these local judgment seats, like at Corinth, are the same thing.

It's elevated, and so you stand underneath it and you receive the judgment. You receive what's happening from the judge. And the same thing's going to happen to Christians. Now, let's see this in chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians, verse 6.

Paul said to them, so we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. We're at home in the body, but we're still homesick. We're not experiencing the full pleasures of God's full presence in heaven.

But we know heaven is real. Why? Verse 7, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. What a great way to talk about heaven.

I'm home. The college student who comes back for Christmas break, I'm home. The person who goes to Corinth with people who aren't his congregation, but the pastor thinks that they are his congregation, finally comes back home and says, I'm home.

I'm just home. We're not meant for this world, ultimately, right? Our citizenship is in heaven, home. While we're here, we're here. We're not at home with the Lord. We do know we have an eternal destiny, but while we're here, verse 9, so whether we are at home in heaven, our way down here, we make it our aim to please him.

Why? To earn favor? No, because we've been favored. God has saved us from our sins, and we want to respond with, God, I want to please you. For, verse 10, we must all appear. He's talking to Christians.

This is not the great white throne judgment. He is talking to Christians. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Take a look at that little word, we must, those words, we must all appear. It's mandatory. You ever get the little jury things in the mail, the postcard? They have little boxes you can check. I'm out of town at Corinth with some people who aren't my congregation, but I thought they were.

You can just check off things. Can't make it. I have some kind of thing that will prevent me from doing that. And you can opt out at least early on. Eventually, you'll probably have to serve. Here, we must all appear.

No opting out. Everybody appears. And this just isn't showing upward. I'm here. This is showing up, and the microscope is on you. Have you ever been to a place, and you think, this is kind of bad lighting?

And maybe it's a department store, and you just look at yourself in the mirror, and you go, this lighting's bad. I can't look that bad. This lighting's that bad. Other places you go to, the lighting is awesome.

And every little thing can be seen on you. It's like one of those magnifying mirrors. Ladies, I think, have some of these. It's got 10x on the front, and it's got a switch for the light that goes around.

And when you see yourself on that, you're like, just turn that off. You know, pockmarks are too much. Here, the light of God's penetrating gaze is going to judge you. Every single person here who's a Christian, you are going to be judged, not for your sins, but based on what you did.

God saved you at age 29. You live to be 55. What have you done? Now, you say, well, how does this motivate? Well, some motivation is by duty. It's not the best motivation, but this is my duty. I don't feel like loving my wife today, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Better than disobeying. Some, it's I just can't believe that God poured out his wrath on the son when I deserved it. I was in the slave pit of sin, and the ransom price for my sins was Jesus's life and death.

And I just want to go serve. I just want to serve out of love, out of thankfulness. It's not just because it's right, but because, God, I had great guilt. You had greater grace, and my gratitude is off the charts.

But then he gives an extra incentive. He didn't have to do this, but he does. One of your incentives should be, I get a reward in heaven. You say, well, for me, the reward is enough. The reward that's enough, rather, is I get to be with Jesus.

Well, then here's what I'm going to try to do. I'm going to try to get you to put verse 10 back in your Bibles. It would be enough, but God, in his goodness, in his generosity, in his graces, I'm going to give you something more, a reward for what you do.

Say, well, I didn't really do it. It's a grace of God in me. I know, but still there's a reward. Yes, God, you love me with matchless love. That's enough. But since you're offering the reward, I want to be diligent.

And if you're going to see me on that day, like you look in 1 Samuel chapter 16, not at the outward appearance, but at the heart, I want to make sure my motives are good. And I do it for the right reason.

This is the real stimulus package. This works, by the way. Divine stimulus package always works. And that is, I'm free from my sins. I want to serve, but I also, there's a reward. I get a reward on that day.

And I'm going to have to appear before God. So I might as well get a move on because I'm going to die. My body will be raised from the dead, united with my soul. And I stand before God. And then I'm going to receive a reward at the judgment seat.

Lots of times the judgment seats were for judgments. Other times they were to give awards, like athletic awards. Remember the Olympic awards? You usually have the guy on, you know, who did the best or the lady who did the best.

They get to stand at the highest, then second place, then third place, right? That's also a Bema seat. And that's exactly what it is. God knows we're sinners. We're depraved. We're wretches. He knows that he did all the work of salvation, monergistically regenerating us.

He did everything. And yet, even though his spirit is dwelling in us, motivating for these things, motivating us to do these things, he still puts on the gold medal. Or depending on what you've done, maybe the silver medal or maybe a platinum medal.

And you go, what's all this metal business? What really is a reward in heaven? I have no idea, but it's going to be good. Because I know the giver. And I know Paul wouldn't say these things inspired by the Holy Spirit if this was a dream.

Some people think the reward is this. The more rewards you receive from the Lord by his grace, the greater you can appreciate who God is in heaven. Right? I don't know much about classical music. I went to the Hollywood Bowl in 1989 with Kim.

Scalped tickets out front to go see Pavarotti at the Hollywood Bowl. $20 a ticket. And I sat there, and I smiled. Outside, Hollywood Bowl. People have their little lunch baskets there. Pavarotti. I knew I'd get to tell somebody eventually that I've seen Pavarotti.

I didn't know it was in 2012. And I was smiling the whole time. But I guarantee you those people who are trained in classical music, trained in opera, could actually understand what he was saying. They were smiling even with more satisfaction internally because they could appreciate everything that was being done.

So everybody in heaven is going to have that smile on of, God, you're awesome, worthy as the lamb. But some will appreciate more. That's probably what these rewards are. We know there's a reward. We know this is just extra.

It's gravy. It's topping. It's creme de la creme. And this is supposed to motivate us. And if the resurrection isn't true, then it's not going to matter. There is going to be evaluation. What does your text say in verse 10?

Either for good things, that is beneficial, right motives, kingdom work, gospel work. What you think is secular work, taking care of your kids at home, but you do it for the glory of Christ Jesus. Good things.

You work hard at work, even though it's not ministry. Still, we need good carpenters and good computer programmers. Godly for the glory of God and for his kingdom. And the other one is sometimes the text translated evil, but really is the Greek word fallen bad.

It means worthless. Think about a construction contractor. He goes to the site and he now let's not use a construction contractor, a construction inspector. Is that what they have? Bob Eulow, is that what they are?

Specters. And he checks things out and some, he goes, yeah, good job. Good, good things that they did. Good job nailing over there. No, they say it's right. It matches the specs. The architectural drawings have been represented well in the building.

And he says, that's good. Sign off on it. Next step. But if things are cut, corners are cut, it doesn't look so good. It's worthless. Knock it down, rebuild it. This isn't judging for our good deeds or our sins or our sins.

It's either if it's good or if it doesn't count. I did this sermon so I would look good. Doesn't count. I served other people so I would have more power in the church. Doesn't count. I wash these dishes to the glory of Christ Jesus.

Nobody sees this in all the world. But Lord, I'm happy to be serving you in any way I can by serving these people. You're a kid. You've given me good. First Corinthians 3 verse 14 says, if the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

Rewards are legitimate motivations for the Christian. Incentives for the Christian. How we live. One man said the Bible describes the judgment seat of Christ for one main purpose. To affect the way we think and live.

To motivate us to anticipate with joy his return. To live our lives to please him. So then what does this do? It says to the college student, well, I'm a sophomore in school and I'll serve the Lord once I graduate and get a wife and have kids.

Really? Do you know what? I'm too busy now at work to serve the Lord and have ministries and do these other things. The church seems to be going on just fine. I'll do that later. Really? Uh, I really am serving the Lord with sweat and toil and no one seems to notice, but God doesn't.

There'll be that great day of, of reckoning and reward. I'll keep going. I'll do it. One life to live. The other day I took Carl Truman, uh, to the new, uh, North Hampton Cemetery. And we walked over and there was a little tombstone.

It was about this big. It was a guy who burnt himself out for the Lord Jesus Christ and died at 29 years old. People just walk on top of it. Now it's not big. It's not fancy. It's just a gravestone countersunk down into the ground.

And it's David Brainerd. We don't even know. It doesn't even, we didn't even know how old, what year it was when he was born. Serve the Lord, serve the Indians, got TB and died. He believed in the resurrection.

Think about your favorite Christian Saint, Paul, Lydia, Mary Slessor, William Carey, Charles Spurgeon, your grandma. Think about the Saint that epitomizes Christian life at its apex. And I will tell you, they believe in the resurrection.

So I need a jumpstart. Work is consuming me. The resurrection. I need some, some encouragement because nobody seems to notice what I do. The resurrection rewarded by God for obedience. That's the key to ministry.

John Gershner said, we have an opportunity on earth to do something that you can never do in heaven. You currently have an opportunity to lay up treasures in heaven. Be Christian theological capitalists in heaven.

You enjoy your treasures, but you cannot, cannot add any more to what you have. Only on earth. You go for it. Church bulletin board I like, work for the Lord. Pay is not much, but the retirement plan is out of the world.

Hebrews 6, God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. I think some of the Corinthians were like the descriptions found in this scene.

Some folks remind me of blisters. They do not show up until the work is done. I love Whitfield's comment when he was asked, what will you do tomorrow? Excuse me. What will you do today? If tomorrow Jesus returns, if somehow you could know Jesus is coming back, what would you do today?

And he took his day timer and said, this is what I would do. Because he had it all planned out today. And that day living in light of the resurrection. Robert Frost, on the other hand, said the world is full of willing people.

Some willing to work, the rest willing to let them. Our Savior was a worker. Our Savior was a minister. Our Savior was a server. Our Savior did the work that his father gave him to please the father. No wonder 1 Corinthians 15, the chapter ends.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. And Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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