Gospel of John [20:19]. Christ's Resurrection, part 21 (fellowship with Christ and the Father - Agape).Title: Gospel of John [20:19]. Christ's Resurrection, part 21 (fellowship with Christ and the Father - Agape).
John brings us to the result of abiding in God in time - confidence on the day of the Bema Seat of Christ.
1Jo 4:17 By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
No one who has believed in Christ need have any fear of judgment.
1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder [architect or chief engineer] I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it.
1Co 3:11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12 Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
We have durable materials and perishable materials.
1Co 3:13 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.
1Co 3:14 If any man's work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward.
The quality and purity that is divine will be all that stands the test. Divine good production - gold, silver, and precious stones.
Rewards: Eat from Tree of Life in the garden of God Not hurt by second death Hidden manna and new name Authority over the nations Order of the morning star
Clothed in white New title announced to the Father and college of angels Made a pillar in the temple Written upon with the name of God, name of NJ, and the Lord's new name Sit with Christ on His throne
1Co 3:15 If any man's work is burned up [literally - burned down], he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.
Suffer loss - loss of rewards.
Luk 9:25 "For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
This drastically applies to the unbeliever, but the believer who forfeited the life of Christ for the life of the world will lose some amount of rewards for eternity, yet he himself will be saved. For a measly few years of worldly prosperity, if it can even be called prosperity, what did he actually gain, and what did he actually forfeit for eternity?
Rom 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
He himself shall be saved - eternal life cannot ever be forfeited. He is a believer whose fruit in life went up in smoke.
It is the tragedy of a fruitless life, of a minister who built so poorly on the true foundation that his work went up in smoke. His sermons were empty froth or windy words without edifying or building power. On this day it will not matter how big his church was or what a great reputation it had. They left no mark in the lives of the hearers. It is the picture of a wasted life. The believer who enters heaven by grace, as we all do who are saved, yet who brings no grain or wine or oil with him. The result of his labors in the harvest field is only ashes. There was no growth in grace, no presence of agape love in his soul, no showing of divine mercy, and no hunger or thirst for righteousness of holiness.
The rewards were given to every believer before the foundation of the world. They are all grace gifts. None of them are earned or based on the merit of the believer. This is why they are "lost" and not "given."
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
Eph 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
Eph 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.
In my personal opinion the believer who has suffered loss agrees completely with it and loves the fact that it is burned down. He is in a resurrection body which is purely spiritual. He no longer has the effects of the sin nature upon his soul. He is perfect and will agree perfectly with the perfect Lord as to the lack of divine quality in his work and that it should be properly destroyed.
1Co 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
Each individual believer is the temple of God, but the context here is the temple that is the church, i.e. Corinth. The Spirit indwells the body of Christ and the church wrecker will himself be destroyed.
The destruction is not eternal if the church-wrecker is a believer, but he will be wrecked through divine discipline. The ones, pastors and members, who destroy a church in order to vindicate themselves in some way, should be very weary of the discipline of the Lord.
Since the true church is holy it should be revered in such a way and not treated with contempt or indifference, neither the building, but especially not the doctrines, or the people.
It is not the building or house of which Paul speaks as "the sanctuary of God", but the spiritual organization or organism of God's people in whom God dwells. The pronoun "you" is plural referring to all of them as a group. The Corinthians themselves in their angry disputes had forgotten their holy heritage and calling, though this failing was no excuse for the ringleaders who had led them on. In 1Co 6:19 Paul reminds the Corinthians again that the body is the temple, sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, which fact they had forgotten in their immoralities.
1Jo 4:16 And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
God's love is spontaneous and unmotivated. God is love. It does not come to man because of any value in him. It is unique - no creature has it. It is the initiator of fellowship with God - God comes to us. We cannot go to Him.
1Jo 4:17 By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
The one who has abided in God's love by the Spirit to its fullness will approach the throne of Christ with boldness (Greek: freedom of speech).
The Greek word translated "confidence" speaks of unreservedness of speech, a free and fearless confidence, with nothing to hide or be ashamed of. In that kind of life, the saint has nothing of which to be ashamed at the judgment of his works. That kind of life is a Christ-like life that was walked in a sinful world that hates Christ.
"as He is so are we in this world" - completely justified. Christ in us and we in Him.
Rom 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus
Sinner, thou thinkest that because of thy sins and infirmities I cannot save thy soul, but behold my Son is by me, and upon him I look, and not on thee, and will deal with thee according as I am pleased with him. [John Bunyan, Grace Abounding]
1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. |