Text: 1 Corinthians 3:5-15
WHAT GOOD ARE GOOD WORKS?
What good are good works? This is one of the questions you submitted for this series as we think about questions people ask about the faith that is ours. What good are good works? It is a perceptive question. The questioner obviously recognizes that our good works do not win us a ticket into heaven. I know you know that, you have heard it often enough, and I hope you know it in your hearts. But there are still people in our world who persist in believing that they will walk into heaven because of their good deeds. They cannot fathom the plain Scriptural truth that we are saved through faith in the sacrifice of Christ alone. There is nothing that you can do, there is nothing that you will do that can win your way into God's favour into the life eternal. So many people still believe that they can win God's favour somehow by living a good life, never realizing that God's definition of good and their definition of good are two different things. God's definition of good is, well, perfect - and their definition of good is, well, good. Helping out at the food bank when I can, not cheating on my taxes, treating people with integrity. Those are good things, but they are not good enough. There is only one who lived a good life, the perfect life and it is as we have faith in Jesus as the perfect life lived and offered on our behalf that we enter into God's full presence here and now. I love the story of a woman who came up to an evangelist after he had just explained that our good works do not win us into heaven, and that only by faith in Christ are we given eternal life - and she said to the evangelist, "Do you mean to tell me that there is nothing I can do to win salvation?" "That's right," said the evangelist. "You mean none of my good works make a difference for my salvation? "That's exactly what the Bible says," said the evangelist. "Well, God help us!" said the woman. And the evangelist looked at her and said, "That's the point!” God did help us, for at just the right time, while we were still powerless in our sins, Christ died for us. So, back to our question, what good are good deeds? If it is true in the words of Isaiah, “All our good deeds are like filthy rags in God's sight,” (Isaiah 64:6) then why do we do good deeds? What is the motivation? Well certainly the first answer is the love of Christ. It is as we experience the wonderful unmerited favour of God, that God's people are moved to serve Him, to do that which He asks us to do. And indeed, with the Holy Spirit living in us we are empowered to do that which is truly good. It is as we catch a glimpse of the one dying on the cross for us that we are able to say from the heart I will do my all, I will give my all for Him. For He did His all, He gave His all for me. But there is another answer, and it is this - our good works will be rewarded in heaven. “But Pastor, you just said that our good works have no bearing on our entrance into heaven?” you say. That's true - that is why you must listen closely to what I say. There are two judgments spoken of in the Bible. There is the judgment that we are all familiar with - that is, the judgment between those who believe in Christ as their Saviour and those who don't. At that judgment you will not able to claim any good work.
This is the great white throne described in Revelation chapter 20, verse 11 onward. But there is another judgment called the judgment seat of Christ. And this judgment has nothing to do with who will be saved and who will not, but will be a judgment of the work of God's children. We read about it plainly in 2 Corinthians:
This is a second judgment and it is reserved for those who have been justified by Jesus Christ. Again you say, “Pastor, you mean to tell me that it's not over? I thought Calvary covers it all?” And it is true - legally Calvary does cover it all. For those who are in Christ there is no more condemnation. That is the good news of the gospel. But that does not mean that God will not judge us. Think about it for a moment we all agree that God disciplines us now - this is what Hebrews 12 teaches us. Even though Calvary covers it all, God disciplines His children. He does it in this life and it will happen at the judgment seat of Christ. So what is this second judgment all about - what will happen there? Well, Paul gives us a clear picture in 1 Corinthians 3:5-15. Now quickly the background to this text is that the Corinthian church is in a real mess. They are arguing with one another, one is putting himself or herself above another saying, "I'm better than you.” "I have a better spiritual gift than you.” Or they are saying, "I'm a follower of Paul" or another "I'm a follower of Apollos". And Paul writes to these folks and says, "Give your head a shake; you are behaving like the world. Remember who you are. You are God's new creations, His children, made new through the blood of Christ but you aren't acting like it. Your works, your attitude toward one another doesn't show who you really are!" And so Paul writes saying:
What good are good works? Paul gives us two metaphors - one from agriculture and one from architecture and says there will be a Day when at the judgment seat of Christ our works will be on display before the Lord. There is the metaphor from agriculture. He says, that he and Apollos are like gardeners. Paul plants the seed, like an evangelist he shares the good news of Jesus Christ. Apollos waters the seed, like a teacher, he opens and explains the Scriptures in a full way. Each are important - one is not more important than the other for it is God who gives the growth. It is God who works through Paul, it is God who works through Apollos. They have a common purpose - that is, to glorify God and do share the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have a common Master. And each will receive wages according to the labour of each. This tells us that we will be judged individually. Each will receive wages according to the labour of each. And in 2 Corinthians 5:10, "Each one of us will have to give an account of the deeds done in the body.” I used to sing in the choir at school as a kid, but I can't pick notes off the page and sing them. I can only sing in the choir if the guy beside me is a strong singer and I just copy him. Stephanie, when I get to heaven I'm going to sing in your choir. (Stephanie may say, "Tom it will take heaven for you to sing in my choir!”) I don't mind singing in a choir, but one thing I won't do is sing a solo. When we stand before Christ there will be no one behind whom we can hide. Our works will be shown for what they are. Paul then gives us a metaphor from architecture. Paul again says that he started the whole process in Corinth. Here he laid the foundation, the only true foundation, which is Jesus Christ. Some in Corinth were trying to lay the foundation of worldly wisdom and of works. But Christ is the only foundation for our faith, so he says at the end of verse 10 to be careful how you build on that foundation. You can build with gold, silver, and precious stones. That is, faith, hope, love, peace, grace, mercy, forgiveness, humbleness, kindness, gentleness, self-control - all the fruit of the spirit. All these are lasting, OR you can build with wood, hay, or straw, that is pride, greed, jealousy, hypocrisy, anger, bitterness, which will not last. What good are good works? In verse 13 we read that, “the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire.” So Paul says we will not only be judged individually but we will be judged thoroughly. Notice the words in that verse, the work will be visible, The Day will disclose it, and it will be revealed. It will be a thorough judgment. The image we could use is one of a small child who is asked if he has anything in his pocket. And he takes his pocket and turns it inside out so that even the lint can be seen. You know that there is much that is unresolved in this life. There are arguments that are never finished. There are divisions that are left hanging. There are emotional wounds that are left gaping open. Do you think that when we get to heaven there will be resolution for what took place on earth? Of course there will be resolution and it will occur at the judgment seat of Christ. That means that we need to try to resolve everything we possibly can here on earth so that it will go better for us when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ. But there will be some things that will be unresolved until that day. So Paul says in Romans 12:19 - "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: It is mine to avenge, I will repay.” It is there at the judgment seat of Christ that the unresolved matters of earth will be resolved. We will be judged individually, we will be judged thoroughly, we will be judged graciously. Verse 14 - "If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward." Please do not develop a picture in your mind of the judgment seat of Christ, as you standing there before Christ, He with a scowl on His face, appearing as a rigid, inflexible judge who bangs the gavel and reads aloud your sins for the court. No, no! Your sins have been looked after. That's a done deal through faith in Christ. The judgment seat of Christ is different. This is not a judgment seat of wrath - there is no mention of that here. It is rather a judgment seat of reward. Jesus Christ will desire that we do well here. He will be on our side, even as He is now. We will be judged by someone who loves us, who died for us, and one who places us in the family of God as co-heirs with Him (Romans 8:17). Now think of that. Here we are saved by the grace of God, through a sacrifice that He provided. And we live by His Spirit that He gives us. And we say, “Thank you God - thank you for loving me. I will do whatever You want me to do. You want my money, my time, my skills, my gifts, my talents, my worship. You've got it.” And not only do we receive His blessing in this life while we do all that for Him, but He turns around and gives us a reward at the end. You know sometimes, I can't believe you pay me to do what I do. You want me to lead in communion? You’re going to pay me to do that? You want me to pray with you and for and take all your joys and sorrows to God? You’re going to pay me to do that? Am I over the top saying that working here is little like heaven? For God says to us He wants us to worship Him, to glorify His name, share the love and reality of Christ with others. And we say, “Okay, no trouble, it will be our delight!” And then He turns around and rewards us for that! Don't get the wrong picture of this judgment seat - we will be judged graciously. If God has been so gracious to us while we were His enemies, how gracious will He be to us when we able to say we are His children through faith in Christ? Now you say, "Well what this about ‘fire’ mentioned in our text? Why is fire necessary? I don't like the sound of that. Why can't the Lord just separate it?" Of course He can. But notice the imagery - the trouble with the natural eye is that it cannot always discern between junk and gems. As one commentator points out that "the natural eye is not capable of making that distinction. Sometimes what looks to us as a bar of gold, may actually be a very carefully painted two by four. That's why the fire tests it. And when the fire tests it, it is shown for what it really is.” If it is burned up, the text says in verse 15, the builder will suffer loss. That is, our works will be shown for what they are. All those times that I have stood before you full of myself and puffed up pride. It will be burned up. All those times I have preached for the praise of the audience and not for the praise of God, it will go up in smoke. Any manipulative behaviour I have used or lies I have told will all be reduced to charcoal. So Henry Ironside used to say that some Christians will enter heaven smelling like they have been purchased at a fire sale. What good are good works? They do not save us, but we will be judged individually, we will be judged thoroughly, and we will be judged graciously. There is this last word - what kind of good works will be like gold, silver and precious stones? Understand that what will matter will not be success but faithfulness. The story is told of an interview between Diane Sawyer and Billy Graham. Diane Sawyer asked Billy, 'How would you like to be remembered.” Billy said, perhaps misunderstanding the question, but he said, "Well I would like to hear Jesus say, "Well done good and faithful servant. But I don't think I will." And we hear that and think, "Well, Billy, you may be more humble than you really need to be.” Then we think, "Billy if you don't think you are going to do well, what about the rest of us?" But Billy had a point, in this regard. On the day of judgment Billy will not be rewarded for the fact that he was famous. He will not rewarded for exercising the gifts that he was given by God. He will not receive more reward because God used him to save more people and give the gospel more exposure than ever before. In a sense he has received his reward. Success is not the basis of the reward. What will matter is faithfulness with what God gave us. Jesus looks at the widow who gave two coins and says that she gave more to God than all the others - why? Because she gave all she had - she gave in faithfulness. Faithful in what? Are you faithful in the midst of persecution? Jesus said,
Can you love the unloveable? Jesus said,
How can you respond to those who do not love you? We sometimes pray, “O Lord, make me more Christ-like,” but then God sends someone who is unloveable and suddenly we don't want to be Christ-like anymore.
What about money?
So - what good are good works? To be sure they do not win us salvation but to hear from our Saviour, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” - they are like gold, silver, and precious gems.
Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - August 2002
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