For believers, it is not people that are on trial, but their works. It is like the judge at a county fair. He is judging what people have made or done, not the person—even though it is the person who receives the reward. The judgment seat of Christ for the believer will never be a question of being judged for sin. That was all taken care of at the cross (Heb. 10:14).
In the New Testament the judgment seat of Christ for believers is taken up in four different ways.
1. “Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him” (2 Cor. 5:9). Here our whole life is brought into review, suggested by verse 10, “The things done in his body.” Everything will be manifested in the light of His presence.
2. In 1 Corinthians 3:8-15, the judgment seat is in connection with our service—“laborers together with God.” We (believers) have the privilege of building on the foundation which has already been laid—the truth of God’s Word. “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.”
3. “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Cor. 4:5). Here it is a question of motive. We sometimes say that we cannot judge motives. But the Lord can and will. He “will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” Our God wants us to not only do the proper thing, but to do it with the right motive as well.
4. In Romans 14:7-12 we have the spirit in which we do things taken up. Our actions affect others, and God wants us not only to do the right thing with the right motive, but He also wants it done in the right spirit, or with the right attitude. (See Psalm 32:2 and Caleb in Numbers 14:24.)
Of course, we will all cast our crowns (rewards) back at His blessed feet—He who alone is worthy (Rev. 4)—realizing the full import of that verse, “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
J. Hyland