The Judgment Seat of Christ - GraceLife Church of Pineville

Introduction

The following story was relayed to me by Dr. Earl Radmacher:

He was having dinner with two other ministers—both of whom are well known (you would likely recognize their names) and are with the Lord now. The topic was grace. Dr. Radmacher, a champion of grace and of the Bible, was having a discussion with these two other men about things like the nature of salvation, free grace, heaven, and rewards. One of the other ministers said to Dr. Radmacher, “I just don’t understand all this focus on rewards. Isn’t heaven reward enough?” To that, Dr. Radmacher responded, “Heaven is not a reward; heaven is a gift.”

What an important distinction! And it’s that distinction—and others—that really define or characterize GraceLife, the church where I serve as pastor.

Heaven is not a reward; heaven is a gift.

As we look at the Scriptures, and the working out of the current times and the end times, there are several important distinctions that I think we should make. Most are minority distinctions. A majority of Christians probably do not make these distinctions but, rather, lump them together in one whole. These distinctions include:

Gifts and rewards
Justification and sanctification (i.e., there’s a difference between being declared righteous and holding onto that status, versus living out of that righteousness and gaining progressively in sanctification; every believer is justified in Christ for all eternity, but some, out of love for the Master, choose to be bond-servants of Christ)
The rapture of the Church and the second coming of Christ to earth to reign
General judgments and specific judgments (it’s true that we could say, in the end, all are going to either the “good place” or the “bad place,” to the place with God or the place apart from God; but I think the Bible speaks to more than just a judgment toward Heaven or Hell—there are other specific judgments)
Heaven and the kingdom (i.e., there will be a time on earth known as the kingdom period, when there will be a literal kingdom)
The Church and Israel

These distinctions got controversial all of a sudden, didn’t they? And yet, views on Israel shape how we talk about eternal judgment.

In this sermon, we will focus specifically on the distinction of specific eternal judgment.

Eternal Status

When we think of eternal judgment, we usually think of eternal destination (Heaven or Hell), but we’ve talked about those things already in our study on eternal judgment.¹ In this message, we focus not on eternal place, but eternal status.

Eternal status is the result of a judgment based on what you have done in your earthly life.

Heaven and Hell are all about whether you have accepted or rejected what Christ has done for you about death and life. Being rewarded by Christ, on the other hand, is all about having worked as a servant for the Lord—that is, whether you served well or poorly. Those who have served well, I believe, will reap that reward for eternity. They will have gained an eternal status.

Heaven and Hell are all about whether you have accepted or rejected what Christ has done for you about death and life. Being rewarded by Christ … is all about having worked as a servant for the Lord

An Analogy from Baseball

Let me draw a loose analogy for this concept of eternal status using the example of the World Series.

The 2025 World Series featured the Los Angeles Dodgers versus the Toronto Blue Jays. Now, professional baseball players who reach the World Series are, as the name implies, world-class athletes. But at the very base level, these players can say, “I was a Major League Baseball player,” even if they don’t ever make it to the World Series.

How hard is it to achieve that base status? Well, among even just high school baseball players (never mind those who play at the T-ball, Little League, travel ball, or other levels), only 1 in 1,000 makes it to the Major Leagues. And of those, only a very few will be able to one day say, as the 2025 Dodgers and Blue Jays team players can now say, “I played in a World Series.” That ratio is just 1 in 15,000 high school baseball players!

But let’s keep going: What if you lived the ultimate dream and you played in the World Series and you hit a home run in the Series? (That’s a big deal for a baseball player.) If you lined up all the high school baseball players on a field, only 1 in 100,000 will go on to not only play in a World Series but also hit a home run in the World Series. And the number is 1 in 5,000,000 if you are looking at not only home runs in the World Series but grand slams in the Series (i.e., get a home run with bases loaded). Addison Barger, a player for the Blue Jays, did just that—he was the one in five million among high school players to hit a grand slam in the World Series. But he also made history because he did so as a pinch hitter; no one has ever done that—he will carry that status with him for the rest of his life.

I use these statistics to illustrate the possibility of how greatness can follow us for all of our days. If you don’t like sports analogies, then … too bad, because that’s exactly the kind of analogy the apostle Paul used when speaking about living well—that is, living a life that gets rewarded. He compared such a life to running a race and to boxing.

Now, here’s where the World Series analogy breaks down a bit: There’s a probabilistic slim chance of something like that happening. But here’s the biblical truth: Winning is hard work, but it’s possible for any of us in the Christian life. Prizes aren’t given out just for participation, but they’re also not out of your reach or under threat of being stolen by someone else except the enemy. Prizes could be forfeited by our own lack of pursuit, however.

Prizes could be forfeited by our own lack of pursuit.

Let’s see what Paul has to say about it in the book of 1 Corinthians.

The Opportunity for Reward

In 1 Corinthians, Paul uses an athletic example that would have been particularly appealing to his audience, given that Corinth was the site of the Isthmian Games. We’re more familiar with the Olympics today, but there were several sets of games in ancient Greece—including the Isthmian Games, set near Corinth every two years. In 1 Corinthians 9:23, Paul writes, “I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.”

As the letter goes on, Paul continues to talk about running the race, but before we get into those verses, we should consider that this was a strange thing for Paul to say. Why does he say “… that I may become a fellow partaker” when, of all people, Paul was certainly already a partaker of the gospel? Here’s where I think the previously mentioned distinctions make all the difference in how we read the New Testament. See, there’s a difference in being a preacher of the gospel and a partaker of the gospel, between being a believer in the gospel and a partaker in the gospel.

We see these sorts of distinctions elsewhere in Scripture, too. The book of James, for example, says, “Receive the word implanted” (1:21). But if the word of God is already implanted, hasn’t it already been received? The answer is, yes, but the idea is to seize the word—to take hold of it, appropriating it in your life.

All believers are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, but not all believers live out of the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 9:23, is saying, I’m going to preach the gospel, and I’m going to partake of it to the fullest extent.

Let’s read on:

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath,² but we an imperishable.³ Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24–27)

Paul uses this analogy of sports (running, boxing) to point to a real possibility of rewards and status and being a “winner.” All of us who believe in Christ have the opportunity for eternal life, and we all will be judged according to how well we lived. Here’s where that judgment based on what you’ve done in this life occurs. It occurs at something called the judgment seat of Christ.

This judgment is taught by Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians:

For we⁴ 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. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

From this verse, we learn that judgment is not just a possibility but a promise. It’s going to happen for those of us who are believers—we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

This judgment is not only an opportunity but also a requirement. We “must” all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, Paul says.

Let me give you a visual.

If you hear the term “judgment seat of Christ” and are trying to picture what this refers to, you may be thinking of a modern courtroom. Perhaps you’ve been in a courtroom and seen one firsthand, or you’ve seen them on television. But a judgment seat at the time of Paul would have looked quite a bit different. Following are images of the (remains of the) judgment seat at Corinth (appropriate since we’ve been reading in Paul’s two letters to the Corinthians):

The above is what would have been in the mind of the Corinthian readers as they read Paul’s words. The left-hand picture shows the foundation. The two photos on the right contain a plaque with the Greek word “Bema” on it. You might even hear the judgment seat of Christ called the Bema judgment. Some people may say Bema seat. If so, they’re referencing this particular structure. A magistrate, a judge, or whoever was in authority would have been on top of that platform in the right-most photos, rendering judgment.

The bottom right photo—where I’m standing by the Bema seat in Corinth—helps you see the scale of this seat. The structure is fairly tall, and you’d be hard-pressed to reach the top of it.

Now let’s see a reconstruction of what the judgment seat would have looked like:

Above, in the bottom right photo, you see the foundation. And that structure in the middle is a platform that would perhaps have been covered with marble or a different façade. (You’re seeing the foundational stones and some of the things that have been stripped away.)

The Bema seat had an ornate superstructure on top that would have been featured prominently in the city. Paul was actually almost tried at this particular judgment seat, before the judge said, “This is crazy—get this man out of here.”

Bottom line: This is the cultural and geographic reference when Paul speaks of a judgment seat.

Distinctions about the Bema

Now let’s discuss some distinctions about the Bema judgment or the judgment seat of Christ. Here, we’ll begin to see how and why the distinctions become important.

Generally speaking, all Christians understand that the Lord in the end will judge the world. Some will go to Heaven, some to Hell. But there are varying views of the doctrine of rewards.

I’m going to make a distinction between the judgment seat of Christ and the Great White Throne judgment. The latter is spoken about in the book of Revelation.⁵ It’s not a judgment that believers will participate in. The Great White Throne judgment is a judgment of those who are not written in the book of life. They are judged unworthy of the place in which only life dwells, and so they have to go to the place where there is no life—thrown into the lake of fire.

The Great White Throne judgment is a judgment of those who are not written in the book of life.

This Bema judgment is not a judgment for life and death; it’s a judgment based on works, a judgment of rewards. The Bema judgment (or judgment seat of Christ) is only for Christians.

The Bema judgment is not a judgment for life and death; it’s a judgment based on works … of rewards. … [It] is only for Christians.

Recall that 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,” meaning all believers must appear before the Bema judgment. Then, at the end of the verse, it says we’re judged for our works—and we see this little phrase “whether good or bad.” This probably distinguishes the optimists and the pessimists among us. Some read those words and they hang on that word “bad.” (True, that doesn’t sound good!)

My position is that all punishment for sin has been dealt with at the cross. If you’ve trusted in Christ for salvation, there is no eternal condemnation and no wrath to be experienced in a future judgment. Yet, the text is clear that there are some things that we have done on earth that will be judged as bad, or not good. However, I don’t think we will be actively punished or disciplined for those things.

To use the sports analogy, you won’t be crowned the champion; you might be disqualified for the prize. But you will not be punished for having failed. You will forfeit what otherwise might have been yours. You’d much rather be the champion. There’s a loss of sorts, but it won’t be a punishment.

To describe the process, the Bible uses another metaphor, again in Paul’s writings to the Corinthians.

3 Aspects of Heavenly Rewards

Having established this fact of the Bema judgment—this possibility, this promise, this opportunity, this requirement—let’s talk a little bit about the process.

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:1–15, writes this:

And I, fellow believers,⁶ could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.⁷ For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?

What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.⁸

According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 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 is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 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. (emphasis added)

In verse 13, there’s a reference to “the day,” which I believe is a reference to the judgment seat of Christ, the Bema judgment.

There’s so much in this passage that we could discuss pertaining to rewards. For example, what is the nature of rewards? What do you have to do to get a reward? But let me try to sharpen the focus. I’ll highlight three areas in which I think this passage clarifies and enlightens us with regard to the doctrine of rewards:

Deity (God)
Dignity
Dependency

I think this passage in 1 Corinthians 3 enlightens us in all three of these areas.

Deity

The position of Christ in all of this is clear: He is both above all and undergirding all.

In consideration of the work that we do in comparison to (or, perhaps I should say, in contrast to) the work that God does, we shrink. Paul says, “Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:7).

If you like to plant/garden, you know how much work you have to put into it. You put plants in the ground, you tend the roots and the leaves and the soil, and then you watch the plants grow. And to have a successful yield, you do have to tend to that process of growth. Yet, when just one plant dies (sometimes for no apparent reason), you realize who you really are in the process: utterly helpless to make a new plant! We can plant, and we can water, but when it comes to the essence of a plant, and when it comes to growth, it is God causing these things.

As Paul says, “No man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). When we consider this agricultural metaphor, we understand that there’s no growth apart from God. And when we consider the architectural metaphor, there’s no growth (no building) apart from God.

Nevertheless, we are not cast aside as worthless things. In His grace, He invites us to tend His garden, to construct His temple. He bestows upon us dignity in allowing us to labor in His power and in His plan.

Dignity

Let’s talk about that dignity. Apollos and Paul were servants through whom others believed as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. The Lord will give you opportunity as well. I believe He does so every day. The Scriptures teach us that His mercy is His lovingkindness. It’s new every morning. You get to wake up every day knowing there is dignity in being the Lord’s.⁹

Some people have jobs that they’re proud of; maybe they work for a company with a great name or have an occupation that carries with it a level of prestige. Some people find themselves in the opposite scenario—working in a job or for a company they’re not proud of, or that’s frowned upon, or perhaps not having a job at all currently. Some of us do work that doesn’t have a high payout according to this world’s currency but that has great dignity in the sight of God. Regardless, each one of us who is a believer in Jesus wakes up each morning as a servant of God. We therefore wake up each day with the possibility of depositing into an eternal account. We’re building something, whether we know it or not.

We [each] wake up each day with the possibility of depositing into an eternal account.

I’m reminded of the great priest and poet George Herbert, who in his poem “The Elixir” talked about ordinary things being turned to gold.¹⁰ In that poem, he writes that all could be turned to gold for the person who approaches any area of life with this attitude: “for Thy sake.”

What if your waking thought was, “Lord, for Thy sake”? Do you know how many mundane and ordinary things in this life you can redeem “for [His] sake”?

Herbert wrote:

All may of Thee partake,
Nothing can be so mean,¹¹
Which with his tincture—“for Thy sake”—
Will not grow bright and clean.

A servant with this clause¹²
Makes drudgery divine:
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws,
Makes that and th’ action fine.

Even sweeping a room can be “divine” when done for the Lord’s sake; that attitude brings dignity to the action and to the room being cleaned.

The doctrine of rewards helps us understand our own dignity. It’s not a group judgment. It’s an individual judgment, individual worth, a dignifying of merit-based systems. “Each will receive his [or her] own reward according to his [or her] own labor,” as 1 Corinthians 3:8 says. Paul goes on to say, “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” (vv. 13–14).

God’s grace to us dignifies us. It gives us the opportunity to grow in wisdom. It gives us the opportunity to exercise wisdom and to become, in fact, wise. “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation …” (v. 10).

Dependency

The doctrine of rewards teaches us about deity and dignity. It also teaches us about dependency.

Paul’s part was unique and necessary. Likewise, Apollo’s part was unique and necessary. But both were dependent upon one another: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

This holy dependency celebrates our diversity and our unity. As Paul writes, “He who plants and he who waters are one” (v. 8). They’re united. But each will receive his own reward according to his work. Unity and diversity: Planting isn’t watering and watering isn’t planting, but the co-laborers are united; they work in tandem, in harmony. Paul lays a foundation. Another builds on it.

What an encouragement that, though you will be rewarded based on your individual work, I have the opportunity to help you gain a reward, and you have the opportunity to help me gain a reward.

Conclusion

The doctrine of rewards clarifies and enlightens us in the areas of deity and dignity and dependency, because:

God is above all
The individual has self-dignity
Every individual is dependent upon one another

That sure sounds like the Great Commandment, doesn’t it? We’re commanded to love the Lord with all we have (deity—God above all) and to love others as ourselves (that’s dignity and dependency).

A great principle we can draw from this conversation about judgment is that the judgment of God will highlight servanthood over superiority. Look again at 1 Corinthians 3:5: “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed …” If you want to succeed at the Bema judgment, if you want to have gold, then serve. Serve God and, as part of serving God, serve others.

The judgment of God will highlight servanthood over superiority.

Lessons for the Bema

What does this passage teach us about the process of judgment? Consider verses 10–15 again and its talk of building and fire (and so on). These verses teach us that there will be rules. There are rules for the Bema judgment, a rubric.

There’s only one foundation you can build on. You don’t get to bring a project built on another foundation. That sort of show-and-tell is out from the start; there’s nothing worthy of judgment that doesn’t have as its foundation the work of Christ.

We learn from this passage that you can build well or poorly. Wood, hay, and straw … there are good and bad ways to build, and there are even degrees of bad ways to build. Some of your work will be better than other work; some will be altogether worthless. I don’t have the knowledge to tell you exactly what that looks like. But sometimes we have lackluster efforts, vain efforts, phony efforts, or lazy efforts. Some will present things to the Lord that are regarded like the offering of Abel (pleasing to Him). Others will present to the Lord that which is disregarded, as Cain did.¹³

We learn in this process that there’s going to be suffering of loss. Some will experience total loss.

“If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward,” Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:14. On the other hand, some may enter the next life smelling like smoke (see v. 15). I don’t know the emotional effect of this particular judgment. We do know that in the end every tear gets wiped away. There is no shame. That’s another reason why I think this particular judgment happens at an earlier time. There does seem to be some room for regret and shame for the believer, but you have to remember the testing is of one’s work, not the person.

The show MasterChef offers some good examples of this idea. There are times where there may be a chef, or an aspiring chef, who is safe from elimination, but who makes a dish that just wasn’t his or her best work. “We’ll take your appetizer and your entrée, but please do some more work on the dessert.” Other times, a chef on the show makes a perfect meal.

Some of what you do is, I hope, going to be gold. Some of what you do will sparkle and shine. I think there will be a lot of surprises at the judgment seat—a lot of gold coming forth from unexpected places, a lot of straw from places you thought were bringing forth gold.

That’s the problem that the Corinthians were dealing with. They thought they knew whose work was worthy and whose wasn’t. The underlying thread to this passage is that the Corinthians were foolish to be going around boasting “I’m of Apollos” or “I’m of Paul.” They were declaring themselves the judge, saying they knew who’s best and knew whose work is best. (“I’m aligned with the best!”)

Do you think you can look around a room—or look around your church sanctuary on a Sunday morning—and declare who’s most worthy of reward in eternity? No! We can’t. In fact, if we tried to do that, you might find that the most worthy servants aren’t those in the room at all—but back in the nursery, or cleaning the kitchen, or doing some other ordinary task “for His sake.”

No More Strawy Thinking

In a future sermon, I’ll share more specifics regarding what we’re rewarded, and how to go about building up for yourself gold and silver and precious stones. But for now, let me ask: Does that very idea sound too selfish to you—the desire to accumulate for yourself gold and silver and precious stones? Does it sound too self-interested? (I don’t need to be storing up things for myself! How selfish!)

We have to stop thinking that way. That’s strawy thinking. It’s Jesus who says, in the first Gospel, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20). And in the last book, Revelation, He says, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done” (22:12).

Do not be guilty of thinking your plan for spiritual success is more spiritual than Jesus’s.

The judgment seat of Christ calls us to intentionality, care, skill, and observation. We’re to build as wise builders.

I want to do my best to convey to you the importance of this doctrine. I fear that it is underappreciated within the church. I say that only because I believe the doctrine to be prevalent in the Scriptures.

This concept of rewards is what one writer called the “new horizon” that “opens on the redeemed soul.”¹⁴ This writer continues to say:

If life is by faith, reward is consequent on works done after faith. For Scripture regards each saved soul as a runner racing, and athlete wrestling, a warrior fighting, a farmer sowing, a mason building, a fugitive flying, a besieger storming; and all this strenuous intensity rests on a fundamental of revelation—”that God is, and that He is a Rewarder.”¹⁵

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