Paul is trying to show that “all are
justified by faith” and there is no difference between the way God will judge
Jews and Gentiles, or in today’s thinking, Christians and the world or
non-Christians. We can go back to Romans 3:9 and we find the following under
the heading; “No One Is Righteous” -
Romans 3:9 - “What shall we conclude then? Do we
have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the
power of sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All
have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who
does good, not even one.”…verse 18 - “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those
who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and
the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the
law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”
Romans 2:12; “All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and
all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.” And
also 1 Corinthians 5:10; “For we must all
(Christians) appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may
receive what is due us for the things done while in the body,
whether good or bad.”
Let me insert something here that is very
important. Immediately
after the rapture of the church, every believer will stand before Christ to be
judged by Him. This is not a blanket judgment of Christians but an individual
judgment because it says, “each one may receive what is due him”. Neither is it
a judgment of sin, because that takes place at the Cross. It is a judgment of
rewards.
The good works that we do in the name of Jesus
will earn eternal rewards. Salvation is free to all who trust the Savior, but
heaven will not be a society where all are treated alike. Paul says some of
those who are redeemed will learn that they have wasted their lives doing works
having no eternal value. He uses a figure of speech to make this point. Some of
the redeemed in heaven will find that that their life effort is made of wood
and hay, fit only to be burned in fire. They had faith, but they lived for
self, and they will enter heaven realizing that they wasted their lives on
trivialities. If all we have to show at the end of life is our fine homes, our
high priced cars, and all the other worldly signs of success, all of that will
go up in smoke. It has no eternal value. One of the great rewards will be the
approval of Christ Himself. To hear His words “well done thou good and faithful
servant” will be a priceless reward.
A second part of our reward in heaven will
be the “Thank you”
rewards. The presence of persons we have helped
spiritually. Some
of which we don’t even know. I cannot imagine the joy one would feel to find someone
in heaven who said, “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here.” When you
encourage a fellow Christian, when you pray for another’s salvation or
spiritual growth, when you feed the hungry and clothe the naked, when you
practice forgiveness and offer a good or encouraging word, when you give or
help someone financially, not expecting anything in return, these are the kind
of good works that can help others in their spiritual life. These are the kind
of works that will be rewarded, and to know that we have helped another in
their spiritual journey will in itself be a great reward.
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