- 153/ Receive the Things Done
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
We are not necessarily eager to appear before the judgment seat, especially if we do not know what the judgment will be. However, this is the judgment seat of Christ, the very person that graciously saved us and earned forgiveness for us is the person who will judge us. Therefore, we know the positive judgment we shall receive. It will be a joyous blessing to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And we can’t wait.
The promise is that everyone will receive the things done in his body. At first glance, this could be a little frightening, for it says, “good or bad.” We are aware of the bad things we have done, and we don’t look forward to being judged for them. However, in the judgment no ‘’bad” will appear at all since all the bad has been taken away, and we are washed clean in the blood of Christ.
The only things done in the body that will be judged will be the “good.”We may not think that there are so many good things done in the body, but in reality for every believer there will be a ton of good done in the body, most of the good things done we do not even remember. The Good News is that it is God, the Holy Spirit, who is doing the “things done in the body.” God does the good works in us, but we get the rewards for every good work done. The things done are done by God, not by us. It may look and feel like we are doing the good work, but it really is God designing and the doing the good works we perform in life through faith in Christ. God is the One who is working these things in us, building strong character and goodness, and producing the fruit of the Spirit.
For example, God is doing “patience” in the body as if it were a solid thing. God is working patience in us with every test, large or small. God uses hardships and difficult circumstances, gives us the patience to endure it in faith while building something permanent is us, and we receive it (the thing done) and enjoy the reward at the judgment seat of Christ for something God actually did. Is that neat, or what?
We live our lives in faith and everything we do in faith is a good work. As Luther says, even eating breakfast is a good work when it is done in faith. That we should get a reward for it is really amazing when you think of it. We just walk by faith and let God do the counting; then we come to the Judgment with eager anticipation. The promise: we will receive.