Judgment Day For The Christian - [1 Corinthians 3:10-15]

Grab your Bibles and turn them to 1 Corinthians, please. Today I'm going to preach on the most under -preached doctrine in Christianity.

If you are in junior church, you can be dismissed now. The most under -preached doctrine in all of Christianity.

What is it? Lots of doctrines we don't really want to talk about.

Maybe the church won't grow if we do. Maybe people might get offended if we discuss them.

But this morning, I think it's imperative to talk about the most under -preached doctrine in all of Christianity.

Any guesses? Judgment Day. Judgment Day for the

Christian. Today I'm going to preach from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and 2

Corinthians 5 about Judgment Day for the Christian. Yes, you heard me right.

I rightly said Judgment Day for the Christian. Now immediately you're thinking, but Jesus has paid for all my sins.

I am a child of God. Judgment Day for the Christian was at Calvary. Yes, that's true.

But this is another Judgment Day and not a Judgment Day for your sins, but for what you've done in your body as you've served the

Lord Jesus Christ. There will be a Judgment Day. And you know, we don't really like to think about judgment, do we?

What's the first doctrine in all the Bible that was denied? When you think about the corpus of biblical data from Genesis to Revelation, as far as you can go back to Genesis, there was a doctrine denied by Satan.

And what was that doctrine? Now the serpent was more crafty than any other of the beasts of the field that God had made.

He said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die.

But the serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die.

Judgment is the first doctrine denied in all the Bible. And today we're not going to talk about Judgment Day for the

Christian. If you're a Christian, your sins have been judged once and for all, never having to answer for them again.

Aren't you glad? That is wonderful. It doesn't take too long to just think about some of those sins that you can never get out of your mind because they just linger there.

You know you're forgiven, but you know you've sinned against God. But today we're going to talk about Judgment Day for the

Christian. Can you imagine standing before God, and God judging you for your ministry to the body of Christ, to give an account for what you've done, for your motives, for your message, for the way you've ministered.

So you're not a Christian this morning. This doesn't necessarily apply. There's a bigger Judgment Day for you, standing before God to be sentenced for your sins.

But if you're a Christian, God has taken care of that judgment, but yet we will still stand before God and give an account for what we've done in this body for the

Lord as we minister to other people. There will be a day of reckoning. And do you know what that day of reckoning is supposed to make you do?

Slack off. It's, you know what, this is church ministry, government work.

It's good enough for government work. I remember when I was a telephone company employee, I was 16 years old.

My dad was my boss's boss's boss or something like that. And I got a job putting wire into framed houses.

Drywall wasn't up yet, but I would put wire in so there would be phones. And so I'm dating myself,

I know. They put wire in houses. Ma Bell. And so I wanted to make money, please my boss, but I also wanted to please my boss's boss's boss, my dad who got me the job.

And so they'd say, you know, there's 15 houses up there. It takes you about five hours a house. And so I would just work as hard as I possibly could because I wanted to honor my father.

And within one week, I got a little talking to. Somebody came alongside of me and they didn't put my their arm around me, but it was one of those kind of chats.

The guy's name was Stoney and he was a Lithuanian and he came right over to me and he said,

Mike, you can fill in the blank, can't you? You're working too fast. You got to slow down.

You're making all of us look. Well, that was quite a dilemma because I wanted to make my father look good, yet I was working with these other people.

But for the Christian, we should be motivated to serve the Lord for lots of reasons. At the top of the list, we deserved hell forever and we get heaven.

We get to be adopted as sons and daughters of God. We get to be co -heirs with Christ.

Christ is our brother. He's our captain. He's our friend. All of our sins

Christ bore at Calvary and we bear none of those sins. Can you imagine the ferocious wrath of God poured out on Jesus Christ on Judgment Day at Calvary?

For those three hours, the sun couldn't even shine and the sun is darkened at noon, from noon to three.

We deserve that. That should have been for us. But God and his love punished his son in our place.

And since that's happened, shouldn't we be good workers for the Lord? Shouldn't we be motivated? Shouldn't we care about more than just the bottom line?

Shouldn't our message and our motives be for the excellencies of Christ? So today, this will be a good motivator.

Love should motivate us, but God uses other kind of motivations like, you will give an account one day.

One day you'll give an account for how you've served the Lord. And you'll either get a reward or you will suffer loss.

Now the passage specifically today is for leaders. But we'll learn soon enough that lay people get judged too.

So how's your ministry? If you had to stand before God today and you died today. Tom died this week.

What about you? You stand before God. You've been given one life to live. You say, well, you know what?

I just kind of coast in my ministry. Maybe you say, I don't have a ministry.

I'm too busy. Maybe you say, I'm a new Christian and I don't have a ministry, but I'd like to get one.

Maybe you say, you know, I'm just weary in the work of serving, but I'm not weary of the work.

Maybe you've poured your life out for the Lord. No one notices, but God notices. Today is a good motivator for you to say,

I have one life to live. And in light of Calvary and in light of Judgment Day for me and my works for the

Lord, today's the day as the summer is over. I think summer is over, isn't it?

Maybe not technically. Summer is over and it's time to serve other people in the local church.

All Christians, including you, will stand before God and you will be judged for your ministry to Him as you serve the saints at Bethlehem Bible Church.

Now, I don't know about you, but that motivates me. As I've thought this week,

I've thought to myself, I can kind of do this in my sleep almost. I know how to do this.

I've been teaching the Bible regularly for 15, 16 years. And I can just slap things together.

I can kind of make shoddy things happen. I can just by sheer personality pull it off.

But somebody's watching me. Somebody's watching everything

I do. Much more than my wife watching, my children watching, you watching. God is watching me.

And I will give an answer for how I've served Him as I've served you. I've read a lot of leadership books, but there's nothing like knowing at the end of the day the omniscient, laser -beam -eyed

Christ is going to look in my heart and say, well done, good and faithful servant. Or after I've died for you, you are saved by the skin of your teeth.

What have you been doing? The same will happen for you.

So let's go to 1 Corinthians and let's catch up. We're in chapter 3, verses 10 through 15 today.

Marching through 1 Corinthians, verse by verse by verse. I'm trying to teach you as a congregation, this is how you should study the

Bible for yourself. Verse by verse by verse. I'm trying to teach you that if you've got kids, you teach your kids.

Here a verse, there a verse, everywhere a verse verse. No. Verse by verse by verse. Context.

Flow. And so we're working through 1 Corinthians and Paul is writing the church of Corinth. And he's saying, there's some sins to be dealt with.

And in light of what God has done, he's calling you to himself. Have conduct befitting an officer.

Live up to your name. You call yourself a Christian. God has made you a Christian. He's caused you to be a born -again

Christian. Then live in light of who you are. Act like an Abendroth, I might say to my daughter.

Well, if you have the name Christian, then act like a Christian. That's all he's saying.

And Brian Bartlett said to me last night, Mike, you know, you've been preaching and you say regularly, I don't think our church is a

Corinthian kind of carnal church. But Brian was implying that some people at the church are carnal and are

Corinthian -like. So I'm not going to say that anymore. I didn't pick this book because I think we're fleshly, but we have fleshly people.

And maybe one of you sitting right here today, on the outside you look good, but on the inside, you're a raving

Corinthian. Then I hope God does surgery on your heart today. And I won't vow before Brian Bartlett never to say that our church isn't like Corinth, and this is just preventative maintenance.

I'll say it again, but maybe you are a Corinthian. And the good news is, God uses his word to make people who are like Corinthians into people who are like Thessalonians.

Isn't that good? Paul says there are issues when it comes to sin that we're going to deal with.

He answers questions too. It's one of these fascinating books. If you look back in chapter 1, verse 18,

Paul says you've got some divisions and it's because you're exchanging God's wisdom, the cross, for worldly wisdom that just produces folly.

For the word of the cross, 1 .18, is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

And Paul says I've determined to use God's wisdom and not man's wisdom. Accidentally on purpose?

No, on purpose. And he says that's actually how God does it in verses 26 -31. God picks people that we would never pick.

We pick celebrities. God picks nobodies. Paul says when

I came to you Corinth, look at chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, I just picked this message.

When I came to you brothers, remember he was there for 18 months? I did not come to you proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

And then in chapter 3 the leaders are dealt with, excuse me, the congregation is dealt with as they look at leaders and you say yeah, but all these epistles just say congregants you better shape up.

Where are those verses that say leaders better act godly? Oh, I've got a few for you right here. But what

I don't want you to do is say it's time to turn everything off. This is for the leaders. These are for the elders and deacons and no one else.

Friends, if you are an Awana worker, I'm preaching this message to you. If you're a

Bible study leader, for you. If you're a dad who teaches your kids the Bible, for you.

If you work at Awana council time, this is for you. When Paul says,

Timothy, these are the qualifications for elders, you say, well, I'm a woman so this passage doesn't apply. It applies a lot because you say,

I'm going to pray that my husband would be that kind of person. And if elders are to be above reproach and to be devoted to God and to the family, even as a woman

I want to be devoted to God and family and to be above reproach. It bleeds into it. So whether you're full time or volunteer, you're an evangelist or you teach

Sunday school, this is for you. My goal is at the end of the day you'll say, my best for God are nothing at all.

That'll do. Theology needs to just get slain. Let me give you 7 exhortations from 1

Corinthians 3 10 to 15 that every leader in this church and every lay person should keep in mind because they're easy to forget.

I might call them 7 mistakes that leaders make in a church. 7 blunders or slip ups that people make and they forget about this passage.

Number 1, the first mistake. Don't be a leader in this church who reads so many secular books on leadership they forget about the

Bible. Secular leadership books multiply like the plagues of Egypt.

I try to weed I don't try to weed at all. Look at my yard. I try to read one leadership book a year kind of secular leadership.

You know, Churchill on leadership. But there's more in these 6 verses on leadership than all the

John Maxwell books put together. I read some leadership quotes.

Mark these down, elders. Success is just a decision away. Don't ask time where it has gone.

Tell it where to go. When you refuse to change, you end up in chains.

If you don't decide for yourself, someone else will. Either you control your destiny or someone else will control it for you.

Leaders must live by higher standards than their followers. Leadership is the transference of vision.

It's lonely at the top so you better know why you're there. If you can raise up leaders you'll always have followers, but if you can't raise up leaders, you'll only have followers.

How about this? Just let me read the verses. 10 to 15, chapter 3. If this doesn't motivate you,

I have no other motivation. It's the cross and this. We should have people after this service scratching at the elders' doors.

I need to serve and I want to serve better. Could you hold me accountable? I need a ministry. For too long it's been work rules, home rules, and I've made all the excuses and I don't even have to be prideful anymore.

I've fallen short of the glory of God and my surety is in Christ Jesus who has forgiven me.

But today's the day. It's all out. I'm tired of shoddy workmanship, bad motives.

I just need to have a ministry because that's just what I do, but it's for the glory of God. You live once and then I'm going to bury you.

Are you me? These are great. Look at this. How about leadership verses for this?

According to the grace of God, 1 Corinthians 3 .10. Given to me like a skilled master builder,

I laid a foundation. Someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest for the day.

We'll disclose it. Because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss. Though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Forget secular books and quote unquote Christian books on leadership. How about 1

Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus. God has saved me from eternal hell and has loved me like his own son.

He loves me as much as he loves his own son and has given me spiritual gifts to serve the church.

And so how ought I to live? How ought you to serve? With excellence.

With thoroughness. Like the story of the Statue of Liberty.

No airplanes at the time it was originally crafted. But the person who designed it said, you know what,

I don't know if anybody's ever going to see the top of the head of the Statue of Liberty, but I better finish it off anyway because I want to complete the work

I started. Now aren't we glad that's happened? Ah, nobody else is looking.

I'll just kind of cut the corners. Number two.

The second mistake leaders make, we're talking from elders all the way down to home group leaders.

Don't be a leader who forgets that Jesus is the answer to every church problem. Look at verse 11. Don't be a leader who forgets that Jesus is the answer to every church problem.

Verse 11. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. If you know that it's

Jesus' church, Jesus is the cornerstone, Jesus is the foundation, don't you want to build with good materials on top of that?

The answer is yes. Every problem that you have in your life can be solved by the cross.

Every single one. And if you look through 1 Corinthians, if you look at chapter 5, how do you deal with sexual sin in the church?

He talks about the power of the Lord Jesus. Chapter 5 verse 4. He talks about Jesus the

Passover Lamb. Verse 7. For Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.

How do you deal with issues regarding marriage and divorce?

Verse 22 of chapter 7. For he who is called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman from the

Lord. Likewise, he who is free when called is a slave of Christ. And I could show you every problem in this book, 1

Corinthians, from the Lord's Supper to the resurrection to spiritual gifts, and Paul uses the cross and Jesus to solve every problem.

So, what I don't want the leadership of this church to do is say, well, we've got a problem. Let's bring in all the big -shot guru,

CEO, unbelievers, because they're good in managing people and problems.

The common problem for unbelievers is the gospel. The common solution, rather, the common solution for believers is the gospel.

The problem with most Christians today is this. Jesus and his cross and the resurrection and the substitutionary sin -bearing,

I needed that when I was an unbeliever, but now I don't need it anymore. Did you preach the gospel to yourself today?

Did you say to yourself, in light of what has happened, this is how I must live. How then shall we live?

Every single problem is solved with the gospel and how it applies.

So, I've got a marriage problem. The solution is the gospel. The solution is, remember your vows that you gave in the presence of Jesus.

I thought about this the other day. Why do we even have vows in a marriage? Answer, because when you say, will you vow before Jesus Christ who made you, created you, saved you and redeemed you, will you vow in his name, in his presence as he is right here now, for better or for worse in sickness and in health?

Why do we say those words? Because worse is probably coming and sickness is probably coming and you ought to sit there and say to yourself,

I better not enter into this covenant relationship very lightly because it's before Jesus and this is a fallen world, second law of throwing dynamics and it's going to be trouble.

I'm a sinner, I'm marrying a sinner and our only hope is the gospel and if I'm ready now,

I'll say by the grace of God, I do. Number three.

It's all I can do to just stay on target. Let's get basically into the text.

Those are introductory. Third mistake leaders often make. Don't be a leader who forgets grace.

Number three, don't be a leader who forgets grace. Now we really dive into the text. There are lots of lapses, faux pas that leaders make.

They want outside influence instead of going to the Bible. They forget about the cross and number three, they forget about grace.

Look at verse ten of chapter three. This is great. According to the self -sufficiency

I had as a self -trained Pharisee, according to the autonomy that I had, according to my own

IQ, according to my own skill set, according to my past things that I've done. I've built up churches before.

I've been around Macedonia and back a few times. According to the, well you know the answer, grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder,

I laid the foundation. Here's my point. Let's say you have a ministry and you're serving.

And you're serving well. By the way, thank you. Good job. And if you have a ministry and you're serving and the

Holy Spirit left, this is only hypothetical, can't happen, but the Holy Spirit left your ministry, what would happen to your ministry?

And if the answer is it would carry on just fine and dandy, there's a problem.

There's a problem if it isn't grace based ministry. Say, well

I've got enough organizational prowess that I can just make this thing happen. I've got enough personality that I can just pull it off.

Paul said it's all grace. It wasn't His popularity, it wasn't His money, it wasn't

His power. Sadly, too many churches grow without grace. I can think of John to Brian right now, can't you?

You either grow in grace or you've grown in disgrace. You either build a church on God's word through Christ or you don't build it at all.

Paul had been to Asia Minor and planted churches, Macedonia, Greece. Paul's not bragging. I'm the skilled master architect.

Skilled builder, the Greek word is architect, which is not just a designer, but back then, somebody who was the kind of general contractor.

I was a skilled general contractor and I made it all happen. No, he said it's by the grace given to me.

Romans 15, I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. God does use human instruments, secondary causes, like Paul, but it was all for grace.

Paul says I was there for 18 months and it was all the grace of God. I used to kill people and then now

God has used me to build the church and He says it's all grace. Listen to Ephesians 3, of this gospel

I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of His power.

To me, though I am the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

And by the way, if you build your ministry on grace and through grace and by grace, somebody else comes along who is better gifted and more skilled and has more spiritual gifts than you do, then what do you say?

Hey, this is my ministry. I have the spotlight. I'm the founding pastor.

What do you say? God has graced this person more than He has graced me. And if you can take the ministry farther than I can, welcome!

What gets rid of envy? Grace. Because what I've done, I haven't earned. It's not me. My contribution to life and salvation was one thing.

How about you? Sin. If it's all of grace and of grace, no rivalries, but thankfulness.

I've said a few things lately. I don't want anybody to think that I've got a plan to go. This is not my little way to let you know

I've got a plan to go. But if I leave and somebody else takes this church farther than what the grace of God has allowed me to take it, then what do you think

I should be doing? Yes! God, I took it as far as I could by the grace you gave me and somebody else has advanced the kingdom farther in West Boylston for your glory.

Hallelujah! When I was in sales and someone else, somebody else got my territory and they're cutting territories and increasing quotas.

How does that work? My territories get smaller, the quotas go up and you go, the boss just told me

I have to give the paperwork for the clients to the other guy. Sometimes I just seem to lose those papers.

Sometimes I just, I don't know where they went. Carbon paper didn't work out or something.

Because I didn't want him to come along and succeed. That was mine. Especially accounts that I couldn't close and now he's going to come along and close them.

I have one word for that, forget you. I say, well the leaders have asked me to serve someplace else in the church and the person that's taken my spot has done a better job than I was doing.

They're more committed. Seems to be more fruit. People seem to be getting saved.

So what should you say? Great! Hallelujah! I mean, we don't have to defend ourselves do we?

No. Number four. Fourth mistake leaders make in the church, and leaders make them, lay people do.

From elder down to nursery worker coordinator. Now here's where we really get into meddling as one preacher said.

Don't be a leader who's careless with Jesus' bride. Notice in verse 10.

According to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder I laid the foundation, a foundation and someone else is building upon it.

Then he says these words. It's like a hot knife going through butter. Let each one talking to leaders, but it will apply to each one.

Let each one take care how he builds upon it. Why should

I get some kind of cherry redwood where linoleum will do? Quality craftsmanship.

Paul said I care. Here's the foundation that Christ has laid, and as I build upon it, as the frame goes up in the house you know, the foundation's really good.

It's excellent. It's five star. It's the best. It's Jesus. But I'm going to help build the church with scratch and dent.

You know, I think building 19, I think they're, you know, I'd go to Spags but they're closed, and I think

I'll go down to building 19. I'm not talking about the real stuff that you buy.

I'm talking about your motives and your enthusiasm and your intensity and your desire to say this is the ministry

God has given me. You say, you don't understand,

Pastor. I'm just too busy. Friends, if you're too busy, you're too busy. And you will not stand before God on Judgment Day and say, well, you know what?

You know, my kid's music and my kid's sports and my own hobbies. God, you just don't understand because He will understand and you will suffer loss.

That doesn't mean you have to say, I'm sold out and everybody, today's that sermon, I can feel it coming. Everybody has to sell all their stuff, give it to the church for the new building program and become a missionary.

No. If you all go, I have no one to preach to. So some of you backsliders need to stay.

No, but this is talking about whatever ministry you have been given by God. You're saved. Spirit of God has sovereignly given you a gift.

Then you better use it. And if God says, you better take care because Judgment Day is coming, then

I wouldn't even allow some elder to say, well, you know, really trying to manage everything else and I don't know where you could serve.

I'd figure out something and I wouldn't take no for an answer. I passed around these little books and said, write down the ministry that you have here at the church.

And again, some are brand new and they don't know. They're just trying to explore. But most of the time, you say, you know what?

Here's a ministry that God has given me. Let's start with that. You need a ministry.

Now, each one is probably for evangelists, pastors, and teachers, but it spills over. Calvin said some without due care as though they were playing some kind of game.

No wonder Paul said to Timothy, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

That word means to do one's best. Effort, zeal, sweat. When was the last time you had sweat come off your brow for the kingdom of God?

You stayed up late at night, toiled, lost asleep. You say, well,

I don't do any of that. I just come on Sunday. This is the last Sunday for you to come and just sit.

Today's the day. And you know what the good news is? There's repentance found. You say,

God, please forgive me. I'm convicted. Now I know, and now I want to serve. And I'm even going to spend the time that I would normally,

I should have been serving, I'm just going to pray. God, give me a ministry. I'm just going to pray for the people at the church.

Help them in their ministry. How about that? Isn't that a ministry? I mean, the church is going along pretty well without everybody serving, without everybody having a gift that's applied.

But just think of this place. If everybody said, I will answer to God one day, on the day, and I'm supposed to take care how

I serve. Long gone would be the Sunday school teachers who show up eight minutes late and go,

I wonder what I should talk today about. I'll just wing it. They'll be on their knees praying for their students, studying, preparing.

God, this is an offering to you, and if one kid shows up on that snowy day, it's for you.

I think that would revolutionize our church, wouldn't it? The bad news is we'd grow like mad.

The other bad news is a lot of people would be standing there with fig leaves on, saying, you know what?

I'm exposed because everybody's serving. God says, if you're confessing your sin,

God, I don't serve like I ought to. He's faithful and just to what? Forgive your sin.

This isn't the club. This is, Paul says, judgment day is coming. Be diligent.

Who wants to be shamed by God? I want to have a ministry that I work hard for, and I toil in.

I think about those people at circuses. I don't know if people go there anymore, to circuses, but remember the people that stand up against some kind of wall, and then 50 feet down there, other people stand, and they have knives, and they throw, and they purposely miss.

They have the fine art of missing, right? Because you're standing there, just like, that's not what the person

I want to be. I've got the fine art of missing when it comes to the one life I have to live for Jesus, and I'm too busy.

I just always seem to show up a day late and a dollar short, and I just can't be bothered. You know what?

The pastor's job is to serve. If I don't get some emails this week,

I forward them to Steve. If Steve doesn't get some emails this week, I want to serve! Because I know people here that come every single week, and maybe you have ministries to the body of Christ outside the church.

Great. I'm not saying you have to get a hammer and nails and serve this building. But if you don't have a ministry where you serve other

Christians outside your family, don't fall in this trap where, you know, I'm a woman and I'm saved and I'm ministering to my kids.

You should minister to your kids, but you've been given a gift for the body of Christ. Maybe you don't have a lot of time now.

There'll be a season you have more time when you're retired. I get that. But you should say to yourself, I need a ministry.

Because there's going to be an examination one time. Just think about a magnifying glass. Maybe we could do it this way.

You ever seen those little mirrors that are like 10x on them? And there's a little light bulb too that goes around it.

And you know, kind of far off you look and you go, it's not too bad. Okay. You know, driving in today,

I said to the kids, check for sleep in the eyes and check for food on the mouth. You know, it's just this double thing. You just automatically need to go.

Some of you are checking out. You forgot to check earlier. And you look.

And for other people, they see you like that and they go, yeah, they're here. They probably have a ministry.

They probably serve. They seem nice and everything. They look good. But then all of a sudden you get up close and you turn that little lamp on and you start looking at yourself and you go,

I now know what a pockmark is. My thoughts are always this.

I don't have the 10x, but I think I'm so glad Kim said I do, till death do us part.

Hallelujah. But this is the way God sees our ministry right here.

This is the way when it comes to living our lives. Of course there's a time for rest and pleasure.

I get it, but our society is rested and pleasured out. But this is how God sees us and he says, so take care because you're going to be judged one day as a

Christian. Not unto hell, but you want rewards. You want gifts. You want to please your master who bought you?

Then serve. Because this kind of examination is coming. Paul knew it.

So he worked hard. He thought about it. If you don't do anything except just pause this week to say,

Lord, help me consider the fact that I will answer to you with my ministry, our lack thereof.

Everything's cut away, all the mirages, all the facades that I could put on, all the kind of end -arounds

I do in ministries, all the shortcuts. I'm going to stand before you one day and answer for what

I've done. In the light of the cross, I ought to be a sold -out Jim Elliot, Mary Schleser Christian.

And I think you should think about it for at least 30 seconds this week. How about 30 minutes? How about right now?

We're 5 seconds closer to Judgment Day. 10 seconds closer.

You know the good news is? There are many of you who serve like this. I said last week,

I said, Erickson, will I see you at the party? And Erickson said, no,

I'm going to go visit. I'm going to take my family and go visit Tom. Everybody else, we want to go have a fun time, and that's good to do.

I think I need to go serve Tom. Number 5.

Fifth mistake leaders make. Other people make them too.

Don't be a leader who forgets that it's possible to build poorly on the great foundation. Very similar to the last one.

The one is just apathetic carelessness. Now it's actually building, but building wrongly.

Building poorly. It says there again in verse 11, For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is

Christ Jesus. This gospel of Jesus. The gospel of Jesus. The crucified

Savior. I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and I am crucified. That Jesus. But some people were building poorly on that foundation with the

Bible plus, ethics, politics, moralism, charm, personality.

It says don't do that. I need to finish this on number 6.

Don't be a leader who forgets judgment day is coming. I've said it before. Now I want to say it more clearly.

Take a look at verses 12 and 13. If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, there's another grouping.

See that in verse 12? Wood, hay, and straw. Each one's work will become manifest for the day we'll disclose it.

First of all, what does this passage not teach? It does not teach purgatory.

This has nothing to do with purgatory. Purgatory is a made up thing to extract money from people. There's no thing.

Purgatory does not exist. Jesus purged our sins at Calvary every single one. Hebrews chapter 1, 1 -3.

People take this and say, you know what? This is purgatory. This fire here is purgatory. Now we're talking about Christian people.

You can see that down in verse 15. We're talking about Christians whose work for the Lord will be examined, not their sins.

So this has nothing to do with purgatory. It says down in verse 15, they'll be saved only by the skin of their teeth though.

Yes, fire's involved, but not purgatory fire. This also doesn't teach the carnal

Christian theory. Many people say, well, you know what? I have a loved one. They accepted Jesus in their heart when they were nine.

They've lived an ungodly life for the last 20 years. They're just a carnal Christian. Friends, this is talking about leaders building on the foundation of the local church.

This has nothing to do with carnal Christian theory. But what does it say? There's building with two kinds of material.

The best gold, silver, precious stones. He used those.

They're not flammable. They were used in Solomon's temple. He's just using these.

There's no sliding scale from best to worst. Just two groups. Good and bad. Either build with great stuff or bad stuff.

Gold, silver, precious stones and flammable reminds us of building for the temple. Good Old Testament allusion there.

And then there's wood, hay and straw. You light it and what happens? Fire. Destroyed.

There are some things that we use to build the church that rely on the crucified savior and his gospel and his word and prayer in the

Holy Spirit. And there are some things we use that are just going to be burned up at the end. So use the best stuff.

Have the right motives. Go for something that's going to last. Gold, silver, precious stones.

It lasts. There's something to show. By the way, back in those days you could tell how good your house was when fire came through.

How well does this house stand up when the fire comes through? What will be left? One day there's going to be something that verse 13 says each works will become manifest.

When the fire of God's judgments comes through, we'll see what it's really like.

The Lord's coming back. He just tells us this to motivate us. Jump down to verse 15.

If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss. Though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

If you're a Christian, you're going to heaven. If you're a Christian who builds poorly, you're going to heaven. If you're a

Christian that doesn't build at all, you're going to heaven. If you're a Christian who becomes saved at the cross like the thief on the cross, you're still going to heaven.

But after there's a judgment day, and if you've been building poorly, you haven't been building at all, you've been building with the wrong motives, the fire of God's judgment comes in, and you're going to basically bring the whiff of smoke up to heaven with you, as it were.

You made it, but by the skin of your teeth. Now flip over to 2

Corinthians chapter 5. For some of you, you're probably saying, yeah, this is all for leaders. Context of leadership.

I know the leaders should do it, and they better do it or else. How about 2 Corinthians 5? It talks about the same thing, except for you, the

Christian. Christians too. Judgment day, called the Bema Seat.

Not for condemnation, but for rewarding good works.

This is wild. Look down at verse 10. He's talking about being with good courage in verse 6, and walking by faith, not by sight.

Good courage again in verse 8. Verse 9, so whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please

Him. That's what we're doing. For we must all appear. Context now is for every

Christian, not just the leaders like in 1 Corinthians. All appear before the what? Judgment seat of Christ.

Now there's something good here, and there's something bad. So that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or worthless.

You say, well, I just have to appear. Now I've got a ticket to appear before the court. That word isn't similar to appearing before a court.

That word is stand in front of somebody stripped down naked. Your real character will be seen.

After all, man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Especially that day.

R. Ken Hughes said, this means not to appear, but to be laid bare, stripped of every outward facade of respectability, and openly revealed in the full and true reality of one's character.

All our hypocrisies and concealments will be open to the scrutiny of Christ. And that is going to be a subpoena that will be delivered, whether it's good or whether it's worthless.

It's not really bad. It has nothing to do with evil, but just things that are good or worthless. On that day,

Judgment Day. Can you imagine 2 Corinthians 5 verse 10, so that we may save what is due?

That's for works that we have done. Not the great white throne judgment, but Judgment Day for Christians.

And then lastly, back to 1 Corinthians, one last point, then we'll be done. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 14.

Don't be a leader who forgets the reward for faithful service in light of grace.

It's going to be worth it. For those of you that serve, and for those of you that says, today I'm repenting and I will serve, it's going to be worth it.

If you never got a reward from God, but you got your sins forgiven and were in His presence, wouldn't that be enough?

But then He rewards above and beyond. Watch this. If the work that anyone has built upon the foundation survives the fire of God's judgment on the day, he will receive a what?

A reward. You can get a reward. I used to love it if I did something good and my dad just said, good job.

Kim's foster mother used to say, attaboy girl! Thank God!

Paul's the building contractor and I'm just, I'm the ditch digger. I'm the guy that puts up the sanitation square there and working over here but I've been working hard, nobody really sees me.

Does anybody ever see me? And then I get a reward from God? Jesus promises rewards for His believers,

Matthew. You say, well I don't want to be motivated by rewards.

You better be! He's trying to motivate you by rewards. One man said, the whole subject of rewards for the believer is one

I am afraid rarely thought of by the ordinary Christian or even the average student of the scriptures. But it is both a joyous and solemn theme and should serve as a potent incentive for holiness in life.

Absolutely! 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. Hebrews chapter 6.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father and mother or children or farms for my name's sake shall receive many times as much and shall inherit eternal life.

I saw this verse above the sink one day. We never can really keep the kitchen help for too long because it's hard enough to keep your own sink clean and your own kitchen clean.

I saw somebody wrote, they wrote this right above the kitchen sink. Right over there. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Not one thing that you've done goes unnoticed by God.

So how is your ministry? How is your ministry this week going to be different than it was last week?

When the woman went to the Pharisee's house and Jesus was there, the hair that she probably used to use to attract men illicitly was now used to wipe

Jesus' feet. Can you believe this Jesus? If he knew who that woman was, he'd never let it happen.

And Jesus saved that woman. And last night

I was looking online for the Rosetti drawing of that particular scene. He's got a full one, but the initial drawing's very interesting.

It shows the woman at the door to the house where Jesus was going to be. And it shows her lover draped on her shoulder as if he's begging her not to go into that house.

And here we are as unbelievers, when we were unbelievers, with the world, maybe with a woman, maybe with a man, maybe with sin, clutching, grabbing, don't go there because this man forgives sins, redeems, regenerates.

And then God said, I forgive you. Your faith has healed you.

Your faith has made you well. You're my daughter. Cleansed and forgiven. Wear white at your wedding.

Pure. Clean. In God's eyes. If she spent a whole alabaster full of nard for his feet, then

I wonder what she did the rest of his life. What a good picture of what

God has saved us from so that he saves us to ministering to Jesus in a local church.

I'll be interested to see what happens this week. And don't do it for my sake, but let each one take care.

Judgment day's coming for you. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we confess today as a church that our ambitions for you are too modest.

Father, would you increase our ambition for your name to be made great, for the saints to be built up?

I pray for those that are here today who do not know you and who are not part of your family.

I pray that you would grant them the grace to cry out, Lord, have mercy upon me, the sinner.

Father, for those that are here who serve, serve faithfully, wonderfully, pray that you'd encourage them with the hope that they're responding to your love the right way and that they will be rewarded for every cup of water delivered in your name.

Father, for those that are here, and they just come, they're just on the fringes,

I pray that you would convict them, cleanse them, and then give them a ministry.

It's a great thing to be called a Christian. And Father, we would even say that it's a great thing to be disciplined by a

Father who loves us. And so, Father, encourage and discipline Bethlehem Bible Church.